*** May - What are you reading?

May your reading be bountiful. May your reading chairs be comfortable. May your book pile be dwindled. May your book pile be forever growing.

May you write below what you are reading this May.

May I be the first? Douglass and Lincoln has been temporarily shelved for a little novel I found in the library stacks titled No, I Don't Want to Join A Book Club. Not great literature, but lighthearted and good for a chuckle every now and then. Will get back to more meatier reads soon .......

It is still April over here... even if my head insist that it is already May. Short travels on long distances make up for a great mess in one's head.

I am still reading Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It is a wonderful book.

I think next up is Queen Lucia by E. F. Benson, At Swim Two Boys by Jamie O'Neill, and Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell. I have a busy month, so those may change; but that is the plan for now.

I'm starting May out on a light and no doubt rather silly note with My Life as a White Trash Zombie by Diana Rowland.

I'm reading several books right now, which is something I try not to do. My novel is A Student of Weather, by Elizabeth Hay, and I'm also reading along with my daughter who is studying Macbeth. In non-fiction, I'm reading Overdressed: the High Cost of Cheap Fashion, which is self-explanatory, and also The Forest for the Trees, which is the musings of a publishing editor about writers and writing (and loosely claims to be an editors advice to writers, but really isn't.)

>5 bragan: ROFL! Once again, WHERE do you find this stuff?!?!?

I am reading The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet - somehow my history project got me back to the Big Bang. (Dan, don't even think of saying "I told you so" :) )

And on the Kindle it is Mary Coin - which I am not sure I will read a lot of in the next few days.

>5 bragan:

I like Rowland's other series (need to catch up with it) - the White Trash series does not really look like something I want to read. Maybe... will be interested to see what you think of it.

>7 avidmom:: I honestly don't know! These books just sort of ambush me, and with a title like that, well, how can you not read it? Just to see if it's a ridiculous as it sounds?

>9 AnnieMod:: So far, it's not remotely great literature, or, really, literature of any sort, but it's a pretty quick, light, entertaining-enough read, which seems to be exactly what I need right now. Kind of gross in places, though, what with all the brain-eating.

I'm currently reading A Touch of Death by Charles Williams. It's good pulp fiction and Williams was considered one of the neglected masters of the genre. I will post a full review when I finish in the next few days.

The next book to read is The Power and The Glory by Graham Greene. I've wanted to read that novel for years and now I'm ready for it.

Marion

Just finished the excellent Albert Camus: A study of his work by Philip Thody which I will review shortly

Started The Stolen Bacillus and Other Stories by H G Wells.

I'm reading The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo, which is set in a fictional country that closely resembles East Timor during its war of independence with Indonesia.

I started Random Violence by Jassy Mackenzie.

I like Detective novels, especially when they are set outside the USA. This one takes place in South Africa, and is brutal....at 45 pages the body count is rising. So far, the characters are "believable"....and i can smell the dust...

:-}

Been in something of a rut latley but now I'm almost half way through The Death of Bees by Lisa O'Donnell and quite enjoying it.

Finished Doomsday Book yesterday and launched immediately into The Sisters Brothers. Not sure what I'll pick up after that...

I have started reading Book of Blues by Jack Kerouac. It is excellent poetry. When I read it I feel like I am participating in a work of art. It is so emotionally powerful that I only read about 20 pages at a time.

I've just read and reviewed Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin, the haunting, semi-autobiographical story of a nineteen-year-old French girl who escapes from prison, and To Say Nothing of the Dog, a thoroughly entertaining novel in Connie Willis's time travel series.

ljbwell, I see you just finished Willis's earlier novel 00 waht di you think of it?

I've just breezed through The Wild West on 5 Bits a Day by Joan Tapper, but am staying here in the Western US with Days of Atonement by Walter Jon Williams, an SF novel set in New Mexico. Which is kind of slow so far, but I'm not very far into it yet.

I think I'm still reading Runaway Horses although I haven't opened it in a week. Last night I started The Narcissism Epidemic which was apparently written so as to be more difficult than informative; I may be able to deal with it.

Robert

Just finished and reviewed Viktor Pelevin's satirical look at Soviet space propaganda, Omon Ra.

Finished The Story of Earth: The First 4.5 Billion Years, from Stardust to Living Planet - very good even if there was one major issue - no graphics, maps and so on. Grrr.

Reading The Secret Garden. I thought I've read it before. I know I had watched at least one TV adaptation. And still - the first 1/3rd (which is where I am now) is very different from any memory I have about it. So either the translation I had read was... creative or it really had been long ago. I like it a lot though :)

I've finished Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates, and am now embarked on a journey to nineteenth-century America, reading The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain and Leaves of Grass and Other Writings by Walt Whitman.

With some time on my hands, I've picked up Lilla Stjärna ('Little Star' in English), by John Ajvide Lindqvist. This is the last book that came physically with me on the move, so until the 1st shipment arrives, I've got to drag this one out. Or hit the library.

Last night I started The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which so far is interesting and a little depressing.

>25 Nickelini: It is quite a story, isn't it?!?!

I have started Les Miserables. I have high hopes I'll actually finish it this time. :)

I finished The Redundancy of Courage by Timothy Mo yesterday, which was a superb fictionalized account of the Indonesian invasion of Timor Leste (East Timor) in the mid 1970s to early 1980s. I've started Never Mind by Edward St. Aubyn, the first novel in the Patrick Melrose series, and I'll finish it by this afternoon. On the nonfiction side I'm reading Bad Pharma: How Drug Companies Mislead Doctors and Harm Patients by Ben Goldacre, a British physician and science writer for The Guardian, which was a finalist for this year's Orwell Prize, and Why Me? A Doctor Looks at the Book of Job by Diane M. Komp, a retired pediatric oncologist and professor at Yale Medical school who writes about the spiritual side of medicine.

I am reading Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf. It is a re-read for me and I had forgotten how good it is.

I'm reading Of Human Bondage and Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum.

> 27 Why Me? A Doctor Looks at the Book of Job? looks like a very good book. Why is suffering such a big part of a world presided over by a loving God? There is no answer. For those who suffer there is simply a new and different reality.

I've finished the somewhat tedious Alien Hearts by Guy de Maupassant, the latest in the always delightful Inspector Montalbano series, The Dance of the Seagull, and the compulsively readable but somewhat manipulative Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue.

Finished The Diaries of Adam and Eve by Twain and Dirt Work an Education in the Woods. Now reading Afterzen by Janwillem van de Wetering and disappointed in it also. It must be my cranky mood. I have previously enjoyed van de Wetering and will continue to read him.

I'm currently reading Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature's Most Dangerous Creatures by Carl Zimmer, which is interesting, but which has the disturbing effect of making me want to go and live in a sterile bubble for the rest of my life. Next up, I think I'm going to finish up the last of those Annual World's Best SF anthologies from the 80s I picked up a while back.

I just finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which I found troubling in a way that the author didn't intend (have to ponder a bit before I write my review), and now starting First Fruits by little-read author Penelope Evans.

I am still reading The Superorganism. It is quite lengthy and I am getting a lot of use out of my dictionary. In the meantime I just started The Causes of the Civil War. It is a book of readings from all points of view.

I put The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene on the back burner for the Captives (Safe Lands, The) by Jill Williamson.

The Captives (Safe Lands, The) is a YA Dystopian novel that will have some comparison to the Hunger Games trilogy. However, there is a Christian viewpoint to the theme and it doesn't come off too preachy. Williamson writes well and it's quite readable. I will post a full review when I finish.

Marion

Finished The Secret Garden and need to think a little bit on it before I can write a review...

Onto The Professor now - Victorian novels never go out of fashion for me.

I'm still reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by M. Barnard Eldershaw, a bit of a socialist rant set in 24th and 20th century Australia...I do promise to finish it this month...

Sundays are usually good for reading. The Professor was as good as expected (minus the French....). Rogue Male is pretty interesting so far.

Need to write some reviews.

A trip to the library, and now a much needed, much lighter Burley Cross Postbox Theft is just underway. I also picked up Jamrach's Menagerie, which sounded interesting, too.

I had just started Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell, when the library called to let me know that a book I had requested was in. They had to get it from another library in the system, so I don't have as much time to read it, so I must read Knots and Crosses by Ian Rankin first. It looks like a quick read, and based upon the comments from some of you recommending the Inspector Rebus series to me, I am sure I will have it done quickly.

That's weird! I could swear I posted earlier that I had just finished and reviewed Transit by Anna Seghers, which I found stunning -- but it's certainly not here now!

#42 - Your posting was transitory.

Very funny!

The Wisdom of Emotions: Building Genuine Happiness and Finding Inner Peace, by Dr. David F. Coppola

good one Steven!

I've just started Santa Evita by Tomas Eloy Martinez. My Evita addiction continues .....

I'm currently reading The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, which I am enjoying. I think next up will be The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester. A friend gave me that for my birthday last year, and I really should get around to it before my next birthday!

I am trying so hard to find this book! Can anyone help? I have been searching for a book for so long! My grandmother was an avid reader and it became my passion as a young child! Reading Steven King before I was a teenager! This book was about a woman who boarded a train and exited back in time. I can't remember many details except that it seemed that the man she met there was named Matt?? Either he worked or she did in the general store when she traveled back... But she would travel back and forth and fell in love. She faced the decision of leaving her life to be with him or leaving him to continue her old life. I wish I could give more details but I just can't remember much more!

Read Colette's Cheri on the plane yesterday. Reviewed it on my thread. It was interesting. My first taste of Colette.

Next up for me is The Plague by Albert Camus

I started and finished my first graphic novel, Maus II last night and reviewed it today. If it weren't for LT I might never have known about it.

Just finished The Round House. Still working on Economix. Started Tiny Acts of Rebellion (grin).

I just finished The Man who invented Christmas. Not sure what I am starting next (besides writing a few reviews...)

Today I'll start The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez, a novel set in Colombia during the reign of drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Just gave up on Yukio Mishima's Sun and Steel. Too... Too... Hmmm....

I'm reading Murakami's Norwegian Wood and Gulag: A History by Anne Applebaum.

I've finished and reviewed the disturbing and stunning The Sorrow of War by Bao Ninh.

Reading Minority Bolshevism now, a member giveaway, good thing too because I would not have paid for this.

Reading The Planet in a Pebble. When a science book can make you smile and even laugh out loud without dumbing down the science or loosing anything from the power of what he is trying to say, the author is doing something right :)

I'm about 40 pages from the end of Kobo Abe's Secret Rendezvous. Interested to see how it ends and all ties together.

#60 - Annie - I read Planet in a Pebble last year and enjoyed it too, although I wish it had been full of illustrations (the ones that are there are fairly useless).

I recently finished the fun Ethical Assassin by David Liss. I'm currently humming my way through Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and I'm also chipping away at Macbeth along with my 16 year old daughter.

>62 Nickelini:

I actually find the illustrations pretty good and helpful - and at the correct places (but I just finished a book with no diagrams and talking about pretty much the same thing)

and at the correct places

Sounds like you had a different edition than mine, where all the illustrations were on two pages in the centre of the book. I wonder if you even had different illustrations if yours were good and helpful ;-) I think the book would have worked better as a script for NOVA--the whole thing illustrated. Am I asking too much?

>64 Nickelini:

No, these are only there as well but the black and white line drawings are what I was referring to - these are very helpful. As for the plates - well... they ARE referenced in the text so you know what you are looking at...

I started The Shallows:What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains last evening. I seem to be going through a "Weary of the Internet" phase...and this looks like a good companion.

I am starting Sirens of Baghdad. I read Swallows of Kabul by the same author. Reading it was a very emotional experience. One of Rebecca's questions reminded me of the author.

Just finished Kobo Abe's Secret Rendezvous. Very interesting book but I'm a huge Abe fan and just continue to be more and more of a fan as I keep reading his works.

I'm at Le Voreux mine in Germinal. Very good so far.

Love love love Germinal!

It was your recommendation that got me there...

I've just breezed through Reawakened: A Once Upon a Time Tale by Odette Beane, which was a tie-in for my current TV show obsession, and Britten and Brülightly by Hannah Berry, a well-done little noir detective story in graphic novel form. Next up is Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything by James Gleick.

I am currently reading and enjoying more short stories by H G Wells, which is on my kindle.

I am about to start John Coltrane: his life and music by Lewis Porter. I have been waiting thirteen years to read this book, but now feel more optimistic that I might understand the music theory that is an essential part of this biography.

Finished Mary Coin yesterday (my kindle book) - and I am pleasantly surprised. It had its rough moments but as a whole - better than I expected.

I've just finished the the thrilling and horrifying story of Varian Fry's attempts to rescue people from Nazi Europe, Surrender on Demand.

I finished Santa Evita Thursday and have started Everything I Know About Life I Learned From My Horse by Gwen Petersen.

I've finished another Zola, A Priest in the House (The Conquest of Plassans), somewhat melodramatic but a great picture of the pettiness and cattiness of French provincial life.

I just finished and commented on Agincourt by Bernard Cornwell. I am going to start Life After Life by Kate Atkinson.

Finished Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which I ended up liking more than I originally thought I would. Now I've started The Witch of Exmoor by Margaret Drabble.

I am in a funny mood... started at least 5 books, decided that I am not in the mood within 10 pages of each... so spent the weekend watching TV shows instead (I really hate it when good shows get canceled after one season...)

I have a few books in mind for my next read:
Erasmus and the Age of Reformation by Yohan Huizinga
Owen Glendower by John Cowper Powys
H G Wells: Another kind of life by Michael Sherborne

but tonight I am going to continue with some more short stories by H G Wells.

I am still in the mood for old sitcoms but finally managed to start a book John Forster' The Life of Charles Dickens

I've just finished two novels by Guy de Maupassant back to back: Bel-Ami and Pierre et Jean. For the rest of the week I'll get back to some books I already had in progress, then next week start my vacation with Hard Times on the Kindle.

I've just finished Life After Life by Kate Atkinson. Next up, At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O'Neil.

I've recently finished making my way through the Lost Encyclopedia, a guide to the TV show, which I've been dipping in and out of at random moments for months, and Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, a well-recommended fantasy novel, which I enjoyed. Now I'm reading Asteroid Rendezvous: NEAR Shoemaker's Adventures at Eros, which is telling me everything I will ever need to know about a certain lumpy space rock. Next up is Ian McEwan's Amsterdam, because I seem to keep acquiring McEwan novels faster than I read them, and I should probably do something about that.

I've just finished The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin, and now am finishing May with the book that will also start off June: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

I read and reviewed Lucifer Unemployed, a somewhat puzzling collection of short stories by Aleksander Wat.

I just started reading The Power And The Glory by Graham Greene. I've been looking forward to reading this modern classic.

Marion