What You're Reading the Week of 21 July 2007

Ernest Hemingway The Old Man and the Sea The sun also rises Finished JPod by Douglas Coupland with mixed feelings; I think that i just don't 'get' Coupland. Now well into Lynda La Plante's Red Dahlia, safe but pacy detective story.

Reading The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs by Irvine Welsh. It always takes me a few chapters to get back into the rhythm of his writing - especially the slang.

*inserts the "Reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" post for everyone lots of people*

Hey, Morph, I'M not reading that. Probably for a long time. I'm a REBEL. (OK, not at all. I just have no time/interest/never read any past the third one). But I hope everyone enjoys it!

>3 Morphidae: Morph, good one.

I just started Gate of the Sun last night. Too early to comment. I am usually a one book at a time person, so it will depend how "hooked" I am whether I continue til I finish, or set it aside for HP7 after my daughter plows through it.

I am reading Dean Koontz /The Good Guy

and waiting impatiently for my turn at the Deathly Hallows!

Just started The Grapes of Wrath -- for the first time! Can't believe I've never read this.

>7 teelgee:: teelgee, I read this for the first time in January and absolutely loved it. I hope you enjoy...

Thanks lindsacl. I read The Worst Hard Time this spring and learned a lot about the dust bowl and the time period and location, it's such an interesting history. And Steinbeck is such a good writer. Don't think I can go wrong!

I will finish The Johnstown Flood tonight and then I'll be onto HP7.

#7 and 8 - I agree! The Grapes of Wrath is amazing!

I'll be reading The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King and, when UPS arrives tomorrow, I'll begin that other book. What was it called?? Oh, thanks Morphy! I'll begin Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

**touchstones are a little strange**

I'm another non-Harry Potter reader, but I do hope alll of you enjoy his last novel. And that he doesn't get knocked off.

I am reading Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik right now. It's a very enjoyable novel. I hope to post my review this weekend. Not sure what I'll read next - it may depend on how quickly my Early Reviewer book, Tipperary by Frank Delaney, arrives.

I finished the The Thirteenth Tale and really enjoyed it. Next up is Lamb by Christopher Moore.

#13 ~ I absolutely loved Lamb and hope you enjoy it just as much.

Was halfway through Tigana and loving it but put it aside to read The Margarets by Tepper as it is a library book that needs to be returned on Monday. Am also listening to The Stranger by Camus and struggling.

no harry potter for me, im just not much of a fan, but i respect what Rowling has done and i can see the appeal.

Im almost done with Perfume: The Story of A Murderer and i will probably move on to The Plot Against America next, unless another book on my huge "to read" pile convinces me otherwise.
but i'll get to it sooner or later.

I'm reading The Fifties by David Halberstam at the moment, although that will be put aside for today because I'll be reading HP7 as soon as the postman delivers my order from Amazon!

I'm reading A Passage to India by E M Forster and am really enjoying it.

Good Omens: the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnus Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman
Bury Me Standing by Isabel Fonseca
I have been eyeballing The Story of B by Daniel Quinn, but I haven't actually started reading it yet.

I'm still reading:
-The Devil's Mode (Anthony Burgess): a good collection of short stories, most of which seem to have something to do with famous writers or composers; Burgess is one of those authors who makes me feel a wee bit stupid even as I am enjoying the read (I know there are allusions and such in here that I'm just not getting...)
-Paradise Lost (John Milton): very slow going here, not because I'm not enjoying it, but because it's so very dense.
-A Good Dog (Jon Katz): very good so far, although I'm worried, since in books about dogs, the dogs usually die in the end...
-Phantom (Terry Goodkind) (audiobook): good story, but sometimes he makes me feel like a Math grad student sitting in on a 5th grade class learning about long division: way way too much over-explanation of the plot sometimes.

Just started this week:
-Fanny Hill (John Cleland): only a few pages into this one so far.

I'm also, as many of you are, looking forward to the Big HP Book, although I have to say I find it refreshing that there are a significant number of you out there who are free from the HP spell...

--> 19

Recently finished A Good Dog myself. Despite some information being repeated (which I later learned was possibly because the material for this book came from essays), I thought it was a very good read.

Although Jon Katz is not quite a James Herriott, this book has made me want to read more books by this author. I love well-written animal stories. As a kid, my very favorite animal story was Lad: A Dog by Albert Payson Terhune.

Meanwhile, I'm in the throes of The Road by Cormac McCarthyand find that book fascinating.

I gave up on Chronicles, Volume 1 by Bob Dylan. Too much name-dropping and not much else was happening.

>18 januaryw: januaryw: have you read any of Quinn's books? Story of B was my least favorite. I absolutely loved Ishmael and My Ishmael. I would suggest starting with Ishmael if you haven't read it yet. So provocative. One of the few books I've read multiple times.

I read Ishmael and My Ishmael. My friend read The Story of B and gave me fair warning about it. I am interested in his ideas on religion.

Finished Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books by Lynne Sharon Schwartz today. I'm now opening Trust: A Novel by Charles Epping which was handed to me (with the instructions to return when done) by a friend yesterday. The latter is not a book I would have chosen on my own but am now under some sense of duty to at least give it a try since he has just finished one and is now starting another of my recommendations. No good deed goes unpunished.

#12 mrstreme: Last year I was a final candidate for a job with the ACLU and when I met with the Board of Directors was asked what I was reading currently. Had four books going at the time (three on rather heavy subjects) but admitted that one of them was Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik. We collectively chuckled over the title and I didn't get the job - not because of the book but because the other candidate had a law degree (not a requisite qualification for the position but certainly a bonus point, or two, for the ACLU).

#15 adobe4578, Although I'm generally a big Philip Roth fan, I was not enthusiastic about The Plot against America; while it was a good idea, I found it too contrived and preachy.

#18 januaryw, I read Bury Me Standing many years ago and found it fascinating.

I finished The Hudson: A History by Tom Lewis and A Month in the Country by J.L. Carr, a lovely little novel that will probably be one of my favorites for this quarter.

Still reading The Magic Mountain (touchstone mysteriously not loading0 and am dipping into Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski.

I'm also reading Teany Book, which is a lot of fun. Moby is a shockingly good writer, and Teany is a great place. The food is amazing.

I'm reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and just over haf way through and am loving it so far.

I'm reading The Moonflower Vine by Jetta Carleton. Forcing myself to read slowly and savor it it's so good. The only book she ever wrote too, darn! Also reading "The Good War" - An Oral History of World War II by Studs Terkel. I devoured the first half but finally had to stop, too painful. So now I pick it up and read a narrative or two a day and will do that until it's finished. A few weeks ago I started reading his Hard Times but my son started reading it and I haven't seen it since. Next it's HP7 if I can get hold of it.

I finished Their Eyes Were Watching God, which, once I could figure out the dialogue enough to get something out of it, was quite pleasant.

I'll be reading In Gravity National Park a poetry collection by C. L. Rawlins while waiting for Potter and for Gifted - an LT early reviewer book.

Still working on A Very Thin Line.

currently doing a very close read of My Cousin, Rachel for a book talk this coming Thursday evening.

Also on the nightstand, Fagle's translation of The Odyssey, An Ocean of Air, Sin in the Second City, and Jo Walton's Farthing

I'm still working on The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth. It is slow-going because I find it a really depressing book. I have to take breaks and watch dumb-a** TV because I can't even think of an appropriate book to break the mood. Trying to confine myself to one book at a time right now, since I find that I am easily distracted.

I found the The plot against America to have an interesting and feasible storyline - but the book only got good at the end.

For myelf, I finished Gone by jonothan Kellerman. If I have a reading vice, its my alex delaware novels. This one was as good as ever.

I'm abot 2/3 way through The kite runner and am enjoying it.

*raises hand*

Harry Potter fan, here.

I got my copy of Harry Potter at midnight, was home by 12:15 and spent the next 7 hours reading. Needless to say, my brain is a bit fried at the moment and I will probably have to take a day or so to let things return to what passes for normal in this skull of mine.

Still chopping my way through Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden. The journalistic account of the 1979 Irainian hostage crisis @ the American embassy is almost 650 pages long. The chapters are short and the read compelling, but work has gotten in the way as have a couple of magazine subscription arrivals. Hope to put the hammer down this week. Good read so far, even if that isn't very far yet.

Teelgee:

Grapes of Wrath is very good but to my mind what keeps it from becoming great is the dipiction of the growers in California. They are stock, cardboard props. Hope you enjoy.

Finished The Golden Compass this morning and was disappointed. I do plan on reading Potter but I think I will stay off young adult fantasy for a couple days after that. Started Giraffe by J. M. Ledgard and while I don't really know where it's going yet, it's intriguing so far.

July 21

Doctor on Everest : emergency medicine at the top of the world : a personal account including the 1996 disaster

Reading "The Book of Air and Shadows" by Michael Gruber.

I spent the day reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; it was everything I hoped it would be. An excellent end to a really good series.

I think I'll be starting Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay next, but I'm not sure. I might decide to whip through something tiny and inconsequential first.

I finished What is the What last night. I wasn't crazy about the character in the beginning but it got much better somewhere along the line and I was sad that it ended. Now I am going to start Yiddish Policemen's Union, as recommended by several of you.

Finished Stalin's Ghost by MCS and have begun Codex by Lev Grossman. Not exactly literature, but a light, fun read which will clear my head for something a bit on the heavier side.

I am in the middle of Eva Luna by isabel Allende. She is one of those writers that totally immerses me in their world, & her world is so much more interesting than mine.

I just finished Material World by Peter Menzel which was very interesting. I am currently reading Hungry Planet which is a book showing what different people in the world eat and spend on their food for one week. It also has essays about a day or so in their lives. Both are very good books. I am also reading The Stations of Still Creek which is a little slow and kind of seems to be a bit jumpy to me. It is an advanced reader's edition though so maybe it was fixed up a bit before being published. And, just like many others, I am currently reading that new book that came out yesterday. We ordered two of them since both myself and my two sons will be reading it. I thought it would be better than everyone waiting for the one book to be read and figured I can either give one away or sell one on ebay when we are finished. This way, two of us are reading it at once (my younger son still has one book to read for school that is a library book so he has to wait for his chance) and once one of us is finished, my younger son can get the book. I think my oldest son will be finished either today or tomorrow. He started reading it as soon as we got in the car after buying it, read for about an hour or so before we went to the pool, read for about two hours last night and got up at 9:00 (early for him) to read it this morning. It will probably take me until Tuesday. So far it is very good and I actually am finding it a little better written than some of the other ones. In the past, I found her style of writing a little choppy and felt that she used the same adjectives and descriptions too often but not so far in this book. I am very worried about the ending and am also hoping that I don't accidentally find out what happens at the end before I finish the book - I hate when that happens.

Finished Teany and Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs last night; they were both very good in different ways.

Now I'm reading Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman. It's quite good so far.

Currently reading Adventures in Unhistory by Avram Davidson, Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris and Twilight Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko.

Started On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan yesterday and finished it this morning. Fantastic book!! Probably the best I've read so far this year.
Highly recommend - very quick read, too.

Currently reading plenty of Ian Rankin. Great crime writer who I've only just discovered. At the moment reading Tooth and nails by Ian Rankin. Will then probably move onto something more dense (!) for summer holidays!

I'm almost finished with Practical Demonkeeping by Christopher Moore. I'm over halfway through The Sign of the Book by John Dunning. And finally, I still have a way to go in Blood Memory by Greg Iles.

Recently finished:

Five Days in Summer by Kate Pepper

Currently reading The Beauty and the Spy by Gayle Callen then will be picking up Memnoch the Devil by Anne Rice.

I'm a bit more than halfway through Alison Weir's Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley.

Reading Brown Owls's Guide to Life by Kate Harrison

I finished The Sound and the Fury -- it is hard to say I enjoyed it, but it does seem to be staying with me in a haunting fashion. Then I finished M is for Malice from Sue Grafton. . A good fast mindless thriller while waiting for -- yes -- you guessed it -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows which I started today.

Read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yesterday and started The Stone Diaries today.

I'm reading Night Life by Elizabeth Guest at the moment––I figured it as time I read a vampire novel by someone other than Anne Rice. Next up, Blood Price by Tanya Huff.

#41--I read Codex a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. Lev Grossman is the Time magazine book reviewer, and I think all those years of reading paid off.

I finished Middlemarch Saturday night while waiting in Barnes & Noble for midnight to arrive. I found Middlemarch to be a tough but very rewarding read.

HP7 was a very satisfying end to a wonderfully imaginative series.

I am now reading Gone With the Wind (for the umpteenth time) for a book club discussion.

I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallowsabout 2:00 a.m. and wound up with a reading migraine. However, that hasn't stopped me from very slowly sinking into my next read, The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey.

The Grapes of Wrath is one of my all time favorite books. Glad you found it teelgee and lindsaci.

My wife is reading Harry Potter and the deathly hallows, so I have from the library: Da Vinci Decoded: Discovering the spiritual secrets of Leonardo's Seven Principles, Anita Desai's The Zigzag Way, and All the Stops: the glorious pipe organ and its American masters.

About 50 pp into Naked to the Hangman by Andrew Taylor.

I just started reading God is not great : how religion poisons everything by Christopher Hitchens.

Finished The Stranger and started listening to The Thirteenth Tale while I was doing stuff around the house last night. It pulled me in from the first sentence and I couldn't stop listening to it ~ was up till 4 a.m. before I was able to stop when the iPod ran out of charge. Am still reading The Margarets and enjoying it more now that I'm about halfway through.

I have Assaination Vacation on my iPod and I listen to it on the bus when I forget my book. It is dark and cynical and I love it!

I am currently reading So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson, and Kingdom Come by Tim LaHaye (it isn't even that I want to, but I just have to put this darn series to bed). Also checked out from the library are: The Well-Educated Mind, Parenting with Love and Logic, and a couple others that I can't think of at the moment. Next up: Turn of the Screw by Henry James

I have finished last night Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte in order to watch the movie version at HBO tomorrow with Ralphe Fiennes in it.

Now I'm on my way to the book shop to purchase the Harry Potter and the deathly hallows and I will start reading it tonight.

.

Finished HP7. Terrific! No spoilers here.....

Going on vacation today - packed more books than clothes (hey you only need a bathing suit right!) Started Beatrix Potter: a life in Nature by Linda Lear. Mayflower is next followed by some seriously lightweight garden mysteries!

Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at 1:30 am Sunday morning and LOVED it, though I mourned for the end of the series. Just to get away completely, finished All for the Union by Elisha Hunt Rhodes. Next is Love in a Dry Season by Shelby Foote

>65 florahistora: florahistora
I love to garden and wouldn't mind trying a garden mystery--what are your top picks?

More than halfway through Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk ... quite a bit better than I thought it was going to be.

Finished Codex and thought it was so-so. I couldn't get a handle on the main character, very inconsistent. He seemed to do stupid things that went against what little we knew of him. The mystery was ok, but nothing stellar. Pacing was good though. A quick read.

Now I've moved on to The Murder of Roger Ackroyd which as a Christie novel, I expect to be much meatier and intricate.

Am still listening to Drop City in the car on my commute. Clueless hippies in Alaska. Excellent.

Reading Thunderstruck. About halfway through. Interesting, but a slower go than Devil in the White City or Isaac's Storm.

Next up is Secret of Lost Things.

#68 - Survivor is probably my favorite Palahniuk book. Twisted and beautiful.

Still reading Smoke and Mirrors, and very cross I have to be at work right now, rather than curled up in bed with a cup of tea and my book. Wow, I just sounded so awesomely British. I'm in the wrong country!

I've jumped from the ashen world of The Road - fabulous book! - by Cormac McCarthy to the brightly colored world of Astonishing Splashes of Colour by Clare Morrall. This is her debut novel. I just started it but am enjoying her keen insight into people.

One passage of Morrall's book made me remember fondly when my 3 kids used to play "sardine" when they were young. It was a form of hide-and-seek in which one person hid and the finder then hid with the hider(s) until there was only one seeker left. It was so much fun. I used to play it with them. This week my youngest "kid" turns 21 years old.

Finished All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris, Angel with Attitude by Michelle Rowan and Smoke and Ashes by Tanya Huff. Next on the list is Haunted by Tamara Thorne

Give you three guesses? Starts with Harry and finishes with Potter...!

I'm a fan since the very first book, so yes I'm devouring the last part of the saga. In the night table, waiting for me to finish is Anna Karenina - I'm in the last chapters there.

Currently enjoying Sleeper by Gene Riehl. (The touchstone appears to be in error - this author is NOT Steven Harriman.)

Recent finishes include A Cold Treachery by Charles Todd, The Closers by Michael Connelly, Shooting at Midnight by Greg Rucka, and A Gathering of Spies by John Altman. All enjoyable and recommended.

No Harry Potter. Not one word. Ever.

Peace.

No Harry Potter here either. I'm a sf/f snob. ;)

Over the weekend I finished Kushiel's Dart which was quite the beast clocking in at 900 pages. I wasn't sure I'd make it through ;) but did, and am glad I stuck with it even though it wasn't really my thing.

Now back to Slow River which I had started and then needed a break from. Have tried to read it twice already so hoping third time's the charm.

Daniel Silva "The Secret Servant" is the last in aa series of books published about art restorer Israeli agent Gabriell
Allon

Spoiler for kite runner
I finished The Kite Runner yesterday and enjoyed the book. It was good and touching but unsatisfying - I did not like the ending at all - or the fact that the two boys did not find out they were brothers until the one was dead - very very unsatisying to me. I realize its realistic and not everything is a fairytale but I can't help thinking the book would have been better if Hassan and Amir would have met as adults.

Now I am reading I know this much is true - only 20 pages in.

This week I will be mostly reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling and The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark.

For much of the past two weeks I have been into The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen. Can't imagine why I didn't read it sooner, except that it is rather thick, which can be daunting in a science book. But no math here! Quammen doesn't like the stuff and apologizes whenever it is necessary to insert even a short equation.

Although it is serious science, there are also some laugh-out-loud moments. Quammen has a wit, especially when describing some of his experiences in the field.

For the record, I've never read any of the Harry Potter books. I'm just not that into novels of any kind. But all the fuss has made me wonder if I should dip a toe into the first one some day, just to see....

Just finished Robert Silverberg's Roma eterna. Meh - an ingenious premise, but the stories are uneven, some thought-provoking, others look like "filler" material.

Now going into One man's justice by Akira Yoshimura, while slowly plodding on (but enthralled by) the Regeneration trilogy by Pat Barker.

#78 - I think if they had met as adults, it would have completely undermined the entire point of the book. The book is about regrets (not only, of course, but I think it plays a major part), and if they had met, it would have altered the entire feel of the novel. I think the ending was perfect; now the narrator has to forgive himself, not rely on someone else for absolution.

karen5l (#80): If you liked Song of the dodo, you should definitely check out Quammen's other books ... his writing is consistently good.

Still working on Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns. Next in line is Lady & the Law by Wilkie Collins and I'm going back to the beginning of Harry Potter before I read the new one.

I've only read a couple of chapters of the Christopher Hitchens book I started the other day, but I found Susan Wittig Albert's new mystery, Spanish Dagger, at the library today and decided to read that first --- like having your dessert before finishing your dinner, I guess.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows... I finished it too... I loved it.. I'm very sad that it's over!

#78 & #82, I thought the ending was unsatisfying in that it didn't tie things up in a nice package, and it made my heart ache for the loss, but it was also "right". I agree that it would have been a totally different book had there been some sort of confrontation and/or resolution between the brothers.

Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I liked the ending. (Seems like I may be in the minority there.)

Started Pride and Prejudice. First time ever, believe it or not. Enjoying it, so far.

Up next: Sixty Days and Counting. Not particularly looking forward to it, but it's the last book in a trilogy and I feel like I might as well finish, seeing as I've come this far.

And why does the "touchstone" for Deathly Hallows link to Zimmerman's unauthorized guide to DH instead of DH itself?

I've just started Lovers' Knots by Marion Halligan which has started nicely and looks like it will be a good read. After that I'm hoping to get a phone call to tell me Middlesex or The Road are ready to pick up from the library.

Just picked up Behind the Curtain: Travels in Eastern European Football by Jonathan Wilson. I love "off the beaten path" soccer books and this seemed to fit the bill.

As far as others that have popped up on the thread, I just finished Survivor by Palahniuk today. It was my first by him (though I had seen the movie "Fight Club.") I really enjoyed it.

I finished Guests of the Ayatollah a few months ago and thought it was well worth the investment of time it took to read a such a thorough treatment of the topic.

I finished Grave Peril by Jim Butcher last night and I started Aiding and Abetting by Muriel Spark this morning.

Having just finished and really enjoyed A Passage to India by E M Forster I'm just starting A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Maria Lewycka. Vive le difference.

>82 ellevee::ellevee: well said.

I remember hearing about, (20 years ago), literary theory where the reader is just as important as the author but readers wanting to change the whole substance/plot etc of a novel seems to be taking it too far.

silouan92 (#90): Coincidentally, I also finished Survivor yesterday ... he's one of those writers I really want to like, but I was again disappointed in this one, as I was with Choke and Lullaby ... he just seems very inconsistent ... some parts of his books are excellent, but the parts that aren't get too derivative and heavy handed ... like he doesn't trust his readers to "get" what he's writing about and has to over explain.

Anyway, I just started 'Nietzsche" (right touchstone not coming up) by David Farrell Krell ... it's a novelization of the last 10 years of Nietzsche's life ... the crazy years.

#82 I do understand the urge to 'rewrite' authors from time to time - especially when a character I love dies. However, if it bothers me THAT much, I obviously either A) didn't get the book, or B) didn't like it as much as I thought.

#94 I like Palahniuk because I consider him a writer with very interesting ideas, and find him entertaining. However, he definitely does get heavy-handed. It's weird; I own every one of his books - mostly hardcover - but I would never consider him my favorite author. I would suggest Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories - I personally consider that his best work, although Survivor is my favorite novel of his.

More on The Kite Runner - AGAIN SPOILER WARNING:

78, 82, 87, 93: I'm surprised how much from this novel I've forgotten. But I seem to recall that Hassan knew, or at least it was strongly implied he knew - or maybe I just completely made that up...

I am working on Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon but I am having a hard time getting into it. I may have to put it aside and try again another day.

I finished The Assault on Reason last night and this morning picked up Grace (Eventually) by Anne Lamott. Also still reading The Grapes of Wrath and loving it. Determined to finish the last bit of Power Down in the next few days, which I put aside for Al Gore, then I need to take a break from climate crisis and end of oil doom and gloom for a bit. Important, but depressing!

Finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows yesterday, and am now debating between Jodi Picoult's Plain Truth, which I need to read for book club, or The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield, although I must say the urge to reread HP is strong...

*Touchstones acting a bit wonky*

#96 I always thought he did - it was never stated, but he just seemed aware of things.

Blowing through The Observations by Jane Harris in anticipation of swooping in to prevent dad from getting his hands on HP as soon as mom finishes it...will be difficult since I don't live with them but I think mom is on my side.
Am liking The Observations though it isn't quite what I expected, which is fine, and I have no idea where it's going, which is better!

Recently finished:
* Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
* Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know

Now reading:
* One Nation Under Therapy -- I don't seem to be making much progress with this one
* The Mermaids Singing -- just starting this morning

I also just got an email that the new Thursday Next book, Thursday Next: First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde, is on its way to me. I may have to stop and re-read the earlier Thursday Next novels before it gets here.

#94 Kromes: would love to hear your opinion of the Nietzsche novel when you've finished.

I thought A Short History of Tractors in the Ukrainian was so funny...laughed out loud even...starting this week Letter From Point Clear by Dennis McFarland

I agree it would make the book a different book if the two met as adults, but that's my point. I think it should have been a different book - I think it would have been even more touching if Amir met Hassan and then Hassan died and he saved his son - hell - there could have been a lot of different endings.

I just feel Hassan was robbed of everything - including the knowledge of who he was - I get your point about regret and everything else - as I stated - I found it unsatisfying - thats my viewpoint of this book - for me

I really had an issue with how Baba was such a good man - but a good man would have insisted that Hassan got an education as well as Amir - it completely conflicted with this image of the good Baba - way before we found out about his indiscretions.

I spent the last 3 or so weeks reading Kushiel's chosen by Jacqueline Carey. Finally finished on Saturday and have already requested the next book from the library. I enjoyed the relationships, the travelling and the intrigue but it took me a while because, besides being nice and thick, I was sick for a while and actually didn't feel like reading (argg). I also just finished Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince, which I have been listening to on audio for the past month and a half. Now I'm almost halfway through the final Harry Potter.

#105 - Maybe we need a Kite Runner thread. Baba was a fascinating contradiction of heroism and its opposite. He was not such a good man.

I have been reading three books this week:

Underground by Haruki Murakami -- a fascinating series of interviews regarding the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway

The World According to Garp by John Irving -- highly recommended, beautifully written, very clever

Highsmith: A Romance of the 1950s by Marijane Meaker -- sadly, cannot compete with the other two, so I haven't been spending as much time reading this one as I would like to!

Read the last Harry Potter this weekend, like many people. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I'd hoped I would. I was glad to have finished it early enough not to be spoiled though!

I also finished off The Eyre Affair, which I really enjoyed: fantastic literary escapism!

I'm just testing the water with A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce. I'm not sure I'm in quite the right frame of mind to read it at the moment but I seem to be finding the writing style quite enjoyable - I feel I have to let myself go to read it and just float through, rather than thinking too much. Of course, this may change, but it's kind of fun at the moment!

And still trying to finish off The Ruby in the Smoke in French... pottering along with it, although sometimes it's a bit too exciting for my slow French reading skills!

Edited for touchstone issues

July 24 along with the slow touchstones

Is Pluto a Planet?: A Historical Journey through the Solar System
NASA America in Space
Androgyny and the denial of difference

Read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Saturday, finished Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle on Sunday. My commuting read is now Half of a Yellow Sun, and my bedtime book is Innocent Traitor.

It's a while since I had more than one on the go, but I'm really enjoying the non-Harry Potter-ness of it all!

edited for unco-operative touchstones

Like a lot of people here, I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in one marathon reading session the day it was released. Now for a complete change of pace, I'm reading The Myth of Sanity, a fascinating psychology book about the way traumatic experiences affect brain and memory.

Still working on HP myself (reading it aloud with my husband). Finished The Devil's Mode (Anthony Burgess) yesterday, so now onto Sad Cypress (Agatha Christie)

Reading HP7 didn't think I would read it right away, but couldn't resist the urge to buy it...
Also reading fragile things by Neil Gaiman...

Just finished Yoshimura's "One man's justice". Now for something less grim: H. V. Morton's In search of England...

I'm about to start Blood Price by Tanya Huff. Someone on here once told me they were surprised I didn't own any of her work, so I thought I'd give her a go.

#116: xicanti:

I'm about 80 pages into Blood Price myself, and loving it. We'll have to get in touch when we're both finished, and discuss. :)

Just started All Dead Together by Charlaine Harris and so far ~ about 1/3 of the way through ~ it's another good and funny read.

I've started Terri Windling's The Wood Wife for my takeout reading. So far, so good!

I just fnished HP7 and for something completely different, I’m ploughing through The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt in preparation for my visit to Egypt in September.

Reading Self Help by Edward Docx. If anyone has read The Calligrapher, this is very different, but also very good. Next, since I'll be by myself this weekend, I'm planning to marathon-read the latest Harry Potter. My husband finished it last Sunday, but he's been very good about keeping quiet.

Finished listening to Drop City and started Stiff: The Curious Life of Cadavers by Mary Roach which I'm finding hilarious and fascinating.

T.C. Boyle is becoming one of my new favorite authors and think that Talk, Talk might be next.

Finished Smoke and Mirrors yesterday, loved some of the stories and was left cold by others, although overall it was fantastic.

And now I'm reading Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis. It's brilliant and sick in the best way possible, and I wrote an exceedingly weird review in my blog last night. I only have a few chapters left. Everyone go buy this book. NOW. RUN!

The people at Barnes & Noble must have thought I was unhinged when I ran in straight after work yesterday, and demanded to know where the new Ellis was. Then I lectured them on giving it a more prominent place in the store. This is why I need to monitor my caffeine intake.

#122 I just Finished a T.C. Boyle book called The Tortilla Curtain... I am interested in reading other stuff by him.

I'm 33% through Wild Swans, by Jung Chang. The copy I'm reading is from the library, (due back tomorrow!) so I've requested it on Bookmooch so I can read it at my own pace.

T.C. Boyle's Drop City is in the 1,001 books to read before you die, maybe I should consider it next TBR...

FWIW, T.C. Boyle-wise, Riven Rock and The inner circle were my favorites.

I gave up on Poland by James Michener. I just could not get into it. I am currently about 130 pages into The Godfather by Mario Puzo. I am liking it a lot better. It has been a long time since I have seen the movie so the book feels new to me.

I finished Kushiel's Dart and promptly BookMooched it since it was clear that I'm never going to read that beast again. ;) Now am about halfway through Slow River by Nicola Griffith -- a scifi novel all about a sewage treatment plant, who woulda thunk it?

I finished The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly, a beautifully, even poetically, written book, moving and thought-provoking. Still reading The Magic Mountain and Travels with Herodotus by Ryszard Kapuscinski.

#127, fuzzy_patters, I haven't read The Godfather since it came out in paperback, but this is one case where the movie(s) are much, much better than the book. The movies (1 & 2, anyway) are brilliant; the book is a run-of-the-mill Mafia story.

I also read Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows this past weekend. Now I'm trying to get through The Scarlet Letter, but it has not been easy.

I just got HP7, but it's been so long since I read any HP books that I must refresh my memory by re-reading HP5 and HP6. I did see the latest movie, Order of the Pheonix, which helped a little. I hope I don't get gist of the ending of HP7, but that won't bother me too much. I read a book for its merit, not its top-secret ending. Right now I am halfway through the sequel to Rebecca which is called Mrs De Winter. It is somewhat disappointing. The author, Susan Hill tries unsuccessfully to capture the style of Daphne Du Maurier. So far, the plot is dragging, relatively uneventful. I suppose the idea is to develop the character of the timid Caroline De Winter, the successor to Rebecca De Winter.
Then to come full circle, I will read Rebecca's Tale by Sally Beauman.

The Looming Tower. Dreadfully fascinating.

Read Stardust on Monday and I really liked it. It was simple, but good. I'm loving Neil Gaiman's style right now and want to read more from him.
I've started The Devil in the White City which is fascinating and The Shadow of the Wind, which hooked me immediately and I feel like I've fallen into the 1950s in Spain.
When I started it I was covering a 4-H fair cattle show for the newspaper I work for (not my favorite thing to do). While I waited for the judge to finish poking and prodding the animals I sat in the bleachers, surrounded by farmers and clouds of sawdust, and I curled up with Carlos Ruiz Zafon's book. I must have looked ridiculous.

> 95 ellevee
Is Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories as graphic as some of his other work. I almost picked it up the other day, but was a little worried about that. Some of his stuff makes my stomach churn.

>122 Bookmarque: Bookmarque
I'm also reading Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers right now. It's my "on-the-go" book, so I've only been reading a chapter or so every now and then, when I'm stuck somewhere getting my oil changed or something.
You'll have to let me know what you think of it as you go. It's completely different form what I thought it would be, very funny and packed with interesting tidbits.

133: There are some explicit bits, but no, I wouldn't count it among his more graphic works (that being in my opinion, Haunted, which actually made me nauseous in parts.) Stranger Than Fiction: True Stories is a collection of articles/essays he did, and while I haven't read it in a while, I don't remember anything being particularly horrifying - there is one article about a sex fair thingy, but I personally just found it funny.

Overall, it's tame by his standards. And honestly, the article about wrestling, and the essays about his father, are so beautiful and devastating that they simply MUST be read.

In other news, I just finished Crooked Little Vein. That's all I can say without devolving into obscenities.

From the first post about Crooked Little Vein I was intrigued, so I read the first chapter of it on Amazon and now I want to read the whole thing. When you say you would have to devolve into obscenities, is that a negative or a positive?

So positive. So very, very positive. OK, here's the edited thoughts that popped into my head after finishing it:

Jesus ****ing christ, that was so ****ing good. ****! WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE OVER?! WHEN IS THE NEXT ******-****ing book coming out?! WHY DO I NOT HAVE IT NOW?! WRITE FASTER, ****er! ***-****** ***-**-*-************ ****!

For further (slightly more coherent) opinions, I posted a blog entry yesterday, and just wrote a review of it for LT. Although the blog entry is more me just being insane, and the review doesn't have many full sentences.

I started and finished Harry Potter #7; wanted to be able to avoid spoilers.

I am *thisclose* to finishing The Great Influenza and have been for a couple of days. I'm pushing hard to finish this tonight or tomorrow.

I'm making my way through Vol. 1 of William Tenn's collection of short stories and thoroughly enjoying it.

No idea what I'm going to start next.

> The World According to Garp by John Irving --
> highly recommended, beautifully written, very
> clever

Wow, that's not the book I remember, but with so many people claiming it's great, maybe I should revisit. Then again, I think Garp is one of the very few instances where the movie surpasses the book by a MILE. Again, this is from memory, and the movie is one of my favorites ever.

> I just Finished a T.C. Boyle book called The
> Tortilla Curtain... I am interested in reading
> other stuff by him.

Tortilla Curtain could be one of the worst novels I've ever read. It was my first Boyle, and I know it shouldn't be my last (given his rep), but it was THAT bad.

I loved Garp, both the book and movie...back when John Irving wrote really good books.

Message 136: ellevee
Looks like I'll have to put that Amazon order through now!

have gone back and reread a couple of good ones, "The River That Flows Uphill: A Journey from the Big Bang to the Big Brain by William H. Calvin - essentially it is a series of conversations with imaginary companions during an actual float trip down the Colorado River where he dicusses evolution and its relation to the environment upon which it is built. Successive geological strata exposed by the river's slice through the Grand Canyon spur discussions among the voyagers, who contribute details from the scientific disciplines they represent. Sounds dry to some, but really fascinating.

The other one is "The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind " by Julian Jaynes a fascinating book for me. Basically, the author posits that lacking full consciousness (yet having language), prehistoric man's actions were often governed by voices, which are in many ways similar to certain forms of schizophrenia. His full argument is much deeper and far more subtle than I can deliver in a one-line synopsis. The thesis is, of course, utterly unproveable, and both orthodox classicists and anthropologists are at odds with it. But it is remarkable in its originality. One needn't be convinced by the book to enjoy it; read it purely for Jayne's breadth of knowledge and his originality of thought and it will be well worth your time.

#138 and 139 I recall that I also loved The World According to Garp when I read it what seems like aeons ago. I also saw the movie and enjoyed that too, but it's the book that has stuck with me all these years as being really really good.

If I didn't have so many new-to-me books on my TBR pile, I might reread Garp (along with a dozen or so others from the past that I wouldn't mind revisiting). Unfortunately, there are just too many I haven't read yet that I desperately want to read.

Have finished Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali which is excellent. Have started The Epic of Son-Jara. Next up is Singing Away the Hunger another memoir by an African woman.

Count me in with the people that read HP7 over the weekend. Now I'm reading Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser.

I've held off on HP7 until I could finish Gate of the Sun, by Elias Khoury. All done now, so will start HP tomorrow.

Reading "Supreme Discomfort: The Divided Soul of Clarence Thomas" by two African-American male Washington Post journalists. Had previously read "Strange Justice" by two white(?) female Wall Street Journal journalists, which came down heavily on the side of Anita Hill, so I was interested to see if this has a different perspective. Both books are well written. Supreme Discomfort appears to be trying not to draw any conclusions, and it casts a wider net than simply covering the controversy over the confirmation process, but the information it presents is much the same. Interesting, and sad.

July 25

It was a VERY good day! Got through a couple huge books.

Garfield's big book of excellent excuses
The Great Mortality : An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time
The New Solar System
The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and the Dream of Space Flight
American Heritage Picture History of the Civil War
Another kind; science-fiction stories
Inflation-Proofing Your Investments
Winning the Games Scientists Play

I finished last Dan Simmons' A Winter Haunting last night, and I found it a thoroughly enjoyable read. It's my first from Simmons, and I think I'd like to check out his other works. =)

It's a year now since LouisBranning started this Group. It's not the oldest (Mainers is 11 days older), nor the biggest in members or messages. Yet I'd hazard a guess that it does top the list in books and in authors. BTW the first of these 'weekly' threads started on 5th August 2006 so we've almost completed a year here too.

Happy reading in the next twelve months.

I just finished Sad Cypress by Agatha Christie, which is one of my favorite Christie books so far. Now on to The Drawing of the Three (Stephen King)...

#149 I hope that Louis Branning will one day return to us from wherever he's gone. (Helping Mrs B with those triplets, perhaps.)

I have just finished The Lizard Cage by Karen Connelly and I'm recommending it to everyone.

Started The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly.

I am beginning to read 3 library books:

Last chance to eat : the fate of taste in a fast food world by Gina Mallet. It deals with the safety (pathogens, e.g.) and the enjoyment of foods and eating, and our paranoia. Mallett lives in Toronto, but grew up in England during vast shortages in the 1950's.

Small pieces loosely divided : a unified theory of the web by David Weinberger looks at the impact of the web on sociality, how we define groups, the expectation of information, and what is the real world.

Da Vinci Decoded : discovering the spiritual secrets of Leonardo's seven principles by Michael J Gelb is a self-help book only loosely related to Dan Brown's novel, but kind of fun to see Gelb's connections on what is going on around us.

I'm still working on Mary, Queen of Scots, and the Murder of Lord Darnley, which is 580-odd pages (not counting endnotes and whatnot), so is taking a while.

Earlier this week, I started reading Jasper Fforde's latest, First Among Sequels: A Thursday Next Novel as an at-home book -- one that I can handle after a day at the office, and which doesn't leave the house with me in the morning (meaning I won't get caught without reading material at lunch).

Reading Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, which I love, because this is EXACTLY what my college was like. Exactly.

Just about to start Black Swan Green by David Mitchell

>155 happyanddandy1:: happyanddandy1, I loved Black Swan Green! If you like it you might also like Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.

Happy 1st Birthday, Group! And here's wishing us all another fulfilling year of reading great books!

It's my b/day too (but a great deal more than the 1st) and my plan was to spend the evening finishing All Dead Together and, time permitting, The Thirteenth Tale. And having a big bowl of Ben n Jerry's Cherry Garcia, my once-a-year-only-on-my-birthday indulgence. But I was just invited by a co-worker whose birthday is also today to go out to dinner and then to the Ahmanson to see "Jersey Boys," a musical.

It was a real toss-up whether to accept or say no and stay home to read, but I decided to accept ~ I'll just have to stay up a little later than usual tonight to read. ;D

Happy birthday, Storeetllr!!! And the group too.

July 26

Thinks-- : a novel
Publish and Perish: Three Tales of Tenure and Terror

I Just finished Blood Price last night (or more accurately, very early this morning––it was about 2ish), and I'm well into the next in the series, Blood Trail. Good stuff, that––if you like murder mysteries and the paranormal, definitely check out the Blood Books series. The author is Tanya Huff.

#149, #151, I too hope that Louis Branning will return to us -- soon! I always found his comments on books interesting and inspiring, and miss them.

I finished perfume:the story of a murderer yesterday after much delay with a busy schedule. I thought it was one of the most original books i have read, every time i try to explain the outline of the plot to someone I cant help but laugh because it is just so clever.

Now im about 45 pages into hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea. Ive never read it.

its a short one so i will probably start The Plot Against America or They Shoot Horses Dont They? by Horace Mccoy.

probably the latter since its short and afterwards i'll read The Road on the plane to the midwest

I started Joyce Carol Oates's High Lonesome last night for my bedtime reading. I've read a couple of stories and I'm liking it so far.

This week I read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows by J.K. Rowling. Then I tried to finish Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland but couldn't make it past page 50. I then picked up The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman and am enjoying it emmensly

I started Marley and me by John Grogan during my lunch hour. Can't wait to go home and finish it.

>162 adobe4578: every time i try to explain the outline of the plot to someone I cant help but laugh because it is just so clever.

A friend of mine read Perfume before it was translated into English, and when he tried explaining the plot to me it sounded great - crazy, but in a very good way, and he was loving it. I saw the movie last year, and enjoyed it, but haven't made time for the book yet.

Just finished Giraffe after taking two days off for Potter, and loved it. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoyed novels set in the Eastern Bloc. Though I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who likes any kind of plot - there is hardly any. Very ambient and effectively written though.

Started Heavenly Date after that for something a bit lighter and faster.

dihiba, I just finished On Chesil Beach and totally agree with you, it was great. I didn't think it would grab me, but it did--especially the reflections at the end.

Just started two new books:

Indiscretion by Jude Morgan
The World of Christopher Marlowe by David Riggs

I'm listening to Innocent Traitor by Allison Weir on my iPod.

>165 izzybee:: izzybee, I loved Marley and Me, it was so sweet. Enjoy!

#160 - I finished Blood Price yesterday afternoon too. I wasn't too sure about it at first, but I ended up really enjoying it. I'll be keeping a lookout for the next book in the series.

Last night I read Fables: 1001 Nights of Snowfall, (excellent stuff; I like this series more and more with each new volume), and this morning I started Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. I'd heard mixed reviews of it, but so far I really like it. Her style works for me.

159: What did you tink of Publish and Perish? It's been on my to-read list for a while.

#167 - Cariola - totally agree, the ending was great, the most satsifying part of the book.
I am definitely on the hunt for more of Ian McEwan's (at least until I finish the other 20 or so I want to read soon).
Finished Naked to the Hangman by Andrew Taylor on Wed. and started Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult that day. It's not going as quickly as I hoped - it's not up to the standard of
We have to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver which is the same topic (school shooting).
Went to a library sale today and got 22 books. Am I crazy? yes.

Another paranormal (vampire) novel ~ Undead and Uneasy by MaryJanice Davidson ~ featuring Betsy, Queen of the Vampires.