What are we reading in May?

Hi, everyone! What are you reading this month? I'm still trying to finish Ben Macintyre's A Spy Among Friends: Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal for the April DeweyCAT.

I've almost finished Trollope's Palliser series. Just read The Prime Minister and am now half-way through The Duke's Children.

Just starting Temple of a Thousand Faces by one of my favorite authors, John Shor. I am looking forward to the exotic setting of Angkor Wat. I am also reading a western called Three Rode Together, a nice light escape read.

Only two more chapters to go in The Rebel Angels! I've just learned what the title means. It's very appropriate.

I've been reading The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August by Claire North.

I'm reading The House by the Lake and I'm listening to Station Eleven. I'm still working on three booms that I didn't finish in April. They're all slower than I expected. We the People by Juan Williams, Middlemarch, and The Bloomsbury Reader on Islam in the West.

I was surprised to find that Everybody's Fool was available so I'm reading that in addition to The Deep Blue Goodbye.

I'm reading A Leaven of Malice, the second book in Robertson Davies's Salterton Trilogy and Truth by Peter Temple. They are very different books.

I started Americans in Paris: Life and Death Under Nazi Occupation by Charles Glass and, while the introduction was interesting, the first chapter literally put me to sleep.
So today I am starting in on some fiction Wind / Pinball by Haruki Murakami. Now, Murakami is one of my three-strikes-and-you're-out authors. He was officially written off. But this is one of his early works and if I don't like it, it's in good enough condition to trade on one of my book swap sites. And if I do like it, well, he might circulate among my readable authors again.

I'm still reading Harris in History and Legend by Bill Lawson, started at the end of April. It's slower reading than my previous few books, but I am enjoying it. He uses Gaelic names and place names, rather than the English equivalents, so I think that is slowing me down a bit. Gaelic looks so impenetrable, but sounds so beautiful when spoken - I wish that I knew enough to be able to pronounce it properly in my head as I read. He is at least offering a rough translation of the bits of Gaelic song and poetry he quotes.

I just started Olive Kitteridge on audio and am planning to read next The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor.

I'm working on several: Clever Girl by Tessa Hadley, Jane Steele by Lindsay Faye, Elizabeth I and Her Circle by Susan Doran, and Billy Connolly's Tracks Across America.

I've finished 2 this month so far: Lavender Lies by Susan Wittig Albert and The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. Now I'm going to start The Island of Lost Maps by Miles Harvey which is my Dewey book for this month.

>10 Jackie_K: Jackie, try this site:

http://www.standingstones.com/gaelpron.html

I've finished Robertson Davies's Leaven of Malice and it was wonderful. I have a bit of a book hangover as a result, but I'm reading The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini, set in Zimbabwe in the years just after it became an independent county and it's good so far.

Coincidentally to >14 RidgewayGirl:, I just finished The Rebel Angels, by Robertson Davies. I was reading on the couch and at one point the book left me so stunned I dropped it on my chest with a thud (and it's in an omnibus edition, so a bit painful). I'll need to wait a couple of days before starting the next book, What's Bred in the Bone.

As a change of pace I might continue with Lusitania: Triumph, Tragedy and the End of the Edwardian Age, by Greg King and Penny Wilson, which I received as a gift. Yesterday was the 101st anniversary of the sinking, making it a very appropriate time to start the book. It's a miracle that I've started the book a mere three weeks after receiving it. Usually it takes something like three YEARS for the new books to get read!

>14 RidgewayGirl: thank you, I'm going to bookmark that for music purposes. I'm not sure how much it will help me with this current book as it's Scottish Gaelic I need, but thank you for looking it out for me!

>12 Cariola: Is the Billy Connolly book (Tracks Across America) his Route 66 journey? I really enjoyed that one (it's called Billy Connolly's Route 66 over here).

>16 Jackie_K: I am seeing both titles on LT, and I'm pretty sure this is two different books. In this one, Billy takes a train journey across the country on the Sunset Express. As far as I've gotten, he has been in Chicago, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, New Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana, most of which aren't along Route 66. I'm listening to it on audio; I think it just came out a few weeks ago.

I'm reading Fieldwork by Mischa Berlinski. An American expat in Thailand is tracing the history of an anthropologist, trying to find out how she ended up in jail in Chiang Mai. I'm really enjoying the book, and having spent a week in Chiang Mai in December makes it even better.

Can't get the touchstones to work. Will try again later.
Fixed.

I'm about to finish Kindred by Octavia Butler - this book has been way more intense than I was expecting. I'm also reading Otter Country as well.

I'm reading One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding by Rebecca Mead, which is quite fascinating! It also works for this month's DeweyCAT.

I am in reading heaven right now, reading two excellent books, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel and Tomato Red by Daniel Woodrell.

I've just finished my April GeoCAT choice The Prophets of Eternal Fjord by Kim Leine. Now I am still reading my April DeweyCAT choice Der Crash des Kapitalismus by Ulrich Schäfer and will take Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet (May RandomCAT and DewyeyCAT) with me for the long weekend.

I'm absolutely loving Beautiful Blue Death by Charles Finch - why haven't I read anything by him before? Also reading Being Mortal which is incredibly informative and slightly depressing.

The series by Finch is one of my favorites. It's always great to find a new author. And you can look forward to the rest of the books in the series.

I finished The Book of Phoenix and started Ceremony for the GeoCat.

Somehow yesterday I thought I had quite a bit of a wait in the library queue for Fates and Furies but it was available for me this morning and I promptly started it this morning. I've been very curious about it, so far so good, it's different but it's holding my interest.

I'm also reading 15th Affair, which I don't know why I bother with this series any more, it's like James Patterson isn't really writing the books any more. Nevertheless, I remain vested in this and the Alex Cross series.

I'm glad you finally got your hands on Fates and Furies, Lisa. I look forward to finding out what you think of it.

I've finished two books recently, staying up late to find out what happened in The Boy Next Door by Zimbabwean author Irene Sabatini. It's set in the years after Mugabe comes to power and it was very well written - a compelling story set in a world I know very little about. I also forced myself through the last few chapters of The Improbability of Love by Hannah Rothschild. This book is exactly the kind of book I should love - it's set in the London art world and is long listed for the Baileys Prize. It just was not very good, being both badly written and mean spirited.

I have a stack of books both half-read and thinking-about-starting-next. Why We Came to the City by Kristopher Jansma is the choice for this month's RL book club, so that's next on the list.

I've just started Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel for the GeoCAT. Wasn't especially grabbed by the first chapter, but I'm hoping it picks up!

I finished Clever Girl by Tessa Hadley--loved, loved, loved it. It's one of those books that will be hard to follow, so I'm having trouble deciding what to read next.

I was stalking the library and noticed that Redemption Road was checked out to me. I was very impressed with John Hart when I read The King of Lies, Iron House, Down River, and The Last Child, and I am glad to see he's back.

Reading Trollope's The Warden. I've started this one before and put it down, but am persevering this time because it's the first book in the Barsetshire series. The next book, Barchester Towers, has excellent reviews, and people have told me that The Warden is the weakest in the series. Politics of the Church of England.

I have just started Queen of the South by Arturo Perez-Reverte, a novel about the rise of a crime queen. I have long wanted to try something by this author and so far, this book is really working. I have also started Until You're Mine by Samantha Hayes, a British crime thriller.

Starting a non-fiction book I borrowed once and ran out of time for: The Violinist's Thumb, by Sam Kean. I really enjoyed his book The Disappearing Spoon and am looking forward to this one.

>30 lsh63: Yay for more Hart. He is actually coming to my area but we didn't want to pay what they wanted for the tickets. I'll be curious what you think of Redemption Road

>32 DeltaQueen50: I wore myself out on Perez-Reverte, but if you say it's a must-read I'll consider it.

>33 rabbitprincess: I've always been curious about The Violinist's Thumb.

I finished The Island of Lost Maps: A True Story of Cartographic Crime by Miles Harvey for my Dewey selection this month. And now I've just started Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres but am having trouble getting into it as the beginning chapters are long, involved monologues. I'm hoping it picks up soon.

I'm made fair headway through The Bazaar of Bad Dreams by Stephen King.

I'm reading Blue Angel by Francine Prose. Very amusing so far.

>37 Cariola: I really enjoyed that book but for some reason, your touchstone goes to Moby-Dick. Touchstones have been wonky lately!

>That is just weird! I have no idea how to correct this.

>39 Cariola: Blue Angel

So if you touchstone a title like above, it should show up on the right side under touchstones. If you see the wrong title, you can click (others) next to it, and hopefully, the right one will be there in the list. Then you can click the little green + to use it instead.

This, by the way, is no excuse for Moby Dick coming up first when you touchstone Blue Angel. I see no relation between the two! Maybe if we all complain, TPB will do something...

Thanks--forgot about that (or figured this was so far off that it wouldn't come up under "others" for Moby Dick).

>34 VictoriaPL: This is my first Perez-Reverte, Victoria, but I am finding it a really good read. I think it may be more serious than his usually stuff, I am hope to start his "Captain Alatriste" series later this year.

Working my way through The Damned Utd, by David Peace, on the bus. Easier going than Red or Dead, but both have been interesting. Will be going home for a long weekend so I hope to finish it off over the course of the weekend.

I am currently reading Red Glass by Laura Resau and just starting Way Station by Clifford D. Simak.

>44 DeltaQueen50: Will be interested to hear your thoughts on Way Station. I picked up following a book bullet from I think @majkia.

I'm reading The Princess Bride, William Goldman's abridgement of S.Morgenstern's original (and, of course, the book that inspired the film). I'm enjoying it, although I still prefer the film.

>34 VictoriaPL: ***Waving at Victoria: I am loving Redemption Road. You must see if your library has it.

Am now on my fourth Charles Finch mystery this month as well as continuing on with Otter Country and having started The Vegetarian.

>45 rabbitprincess: Way Station was a BB for me as well. Dave (Wolfy) got me with this one. It's an interesting read so far. Set on earth but about a way station for Aliens who are passing through. It is definitely "old style" sci-fi in that it asks a lot of questions about mankind's future and the fear of a nuclear war is hovering in the background.

Reading One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. I meant to read it last month for the GEOCAT, but got distracted.

I took a little break from Corelli's Mandolin to read The English Breakfast Murder by Laura Child.

I'm reading Why We Came to the City by Kristopher Jansma for my RL book group. It's an odd novel - at heart a young-person-dies-tragically story with bits of self-consciously literary writing tacked on here and there. But I'm only halfway through and things might suddenly change.

I've also begun The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey, which I had intended to read in April, and it has immediately caught me. It's a retelling of Jane Eyre set in 1960s Scotland. But I need to exercise some literary discipline here and finish the book group book first.

>52 RidgewayGirl: Kay, glad to hear you are enjoying Gemma Hardy

I began The Nightingale last night and I didn't want to go to sleep. Monday being a work day, I forced myself to put it down. I expect it will not take me long to finish it.

>53 VictoriaPL: Hi Victoria, if I remember correctly The Nightingale was a five star read for me.

Usually I don't remember where my BB's originate, but this time I remembered that I am enjoying The Passenger thanks to RidgewayGirl (Kay)'s review!

Before beginning The Passenger I finished the wonderfully written stories in Fortune Smiles. There was one story that was uncomfortably icky, but overall it was well done.

Finally finished The Damned Utd, so now I will switch gears and continue with my second Lusitania book of the year: Dead Wake, by Erik Larson.

I am thinking that I will close out the month with the chunkster Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. I am also reading Shadows by Ilsa Bick and a play, The Mousetrap by Agatha /Christie.

>54 lsh63: Lisa, I loved it! I cried! LOL.

I am starting The Accidental Highwayman: Being the Tale of Kit Bristol, His Horse Midnight, a Mysterious Princess, and Sundry Magical Persons Besides by Ben Tripp.

I've just finished Corelli's Mandolin by Louis de Bernieres and decided to start my Jun Random book The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella.

Still reading about ships! This one is In the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick.

I started The Nightingale, my book club pick, and also Ruby. Recently finished Troubled Daughters, Twisted Wives and Ceremony.

Finished My Name Is Lucy Barton and am halfway through When Breath Becomes Air.

I finished the superb Larose and plan to dive into Jane Steele next.

I finished The Engines of God yesterday, which will probably be the last book I finish this month as I just started Arabian Nights. I also read Open Secrets, a short story collection by Alice Munro for the GeoCAT, Between Shades of Gray for the RandomCAT, and a (mostly) re-read of Aesop's Fables for the DeweyCAT. And I managed to fit in a short biography, Martin Van Buren, to re-start my US Presidents Challenge.

>62 lsh63: Lisa, I will be interesting to see what you think of Jane Steele, it is on my radar.

I am in the midst of three and not getting far in any of them. In the car, I'm listening to The Beast's Garden by Kate Forsyth. My non-fiction at the moment is The Unfree French by Richard Vinen and my fiction is The Accidental Highwayman: Being the Tale of Kit Bristol, His Horse Midnight, a Mysterious Princess, and Sundry Magical Persons Besides.

I finished Jane Steele which was a lot of fun. I won't finish anything else this month, but I am working on Close Range and The Shape of Snakes.

I'm trying to learn more about the world of finance with Naked Money, by Charles Wheelan. I might actually retain useful information thanks to this book, which is quite the achievement for me. (It helps that he says that if you can follow the plot of "It's a Wonderful Life", you have a very good understanding of the inherent vulnerabilities of the modern financial system.)