What are you reading the week of May 28, 2016?

Mary Doria Russell (born August 19, 1950) is an American writer of speculative fiction novels.

Russell was born in Elmhurst, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Her parents were both in the military, her father a Marine Corps drill instructor and her mother a Navy nurse. She was raised as a Catholic but left the church at age fifteen, and her struggles to figure out how much of that culture to pass on to her children fueled the prominence of religion in her work. She graduated from Glenbard East High School and later she earned a Ph.D. in biological anthropology at the University of Michigan.

The daughter of a sheriff, Mary grew up with cops and guns but also holds a Ph.D. in biological anthropology from the University of Michigan and taught anatomy at the Case Western Reserve University School of Dentistry.

Russell's first two novels, The Sparrow and its sequel Children of God—sometimes called the Sparrow series or Emilo Sandoz sequence—were published by Random House Villard in 1996 and 1998. They feature first contact with aliens. Both explore the problem of evil, how to reconcile the idea of a benevolent deity with a factual universe filled with pain and evil (Theodicy). The Sparrow won the Arthur C. Clarke, BSFA, and Tiptree annual science fiction book awards (below), and it was the basis for Russell winning the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1998. For the Science Fiction Encyclopedia, chief editor John Clute calls Russell an "author who established a strong reputation for cognitive subtlety and narrative power in her brief science fiction career; after the Emilio Sandoz sequence ... she turned her interest to other fields. ... Because of the quality of its writing, and the seriousness of its examination of various issues, some critics claimed that The Sparrow could not therefore be science fiction. Russell herself seems not to have encouraged the claim."

Russell's historical novel A Thread of Grace (2005) is set in Northern Italy during World War II, and features both the Italian resistance movement and the plight of Jewish refugees escaping Nazi persecution throughout Europe. Much of story is based on accounts by survivors from the period, when many Italian citizens allowed Jews seek safe harbor in their farmlands, cities, and ports. (Russell herself is of Italian heritage and is a convert to Judaism.)

Dreamers of the Day (2008), another historical novel, features the 1921 Cairo Peace Conference, which laid the foundations for the modern Middle East.

Her fifth novel, Doc (2011), is a Western and murder mystery. It is set in Dodge City, Kansas during 1878, when the friendship between Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday began, four years before the gunfight at the O.K. Corral. "It's about vice, bigotry, violence, and living with a terminal disease," Russell says. "And Doc Holliday is going to break your heart." DOC was nominated for the Pulitzer in 2011, named a Notable Book by the Kansas State Library and won the Great Lakes Great Reads prize.

"DOC is The Odyssey," she says. "What happened in Tombstone forms the basis of an American Iliad." Expect it in late 2014 from HarperCollins Ecco imprint.

In April 2015, renowned physicist Freeman Dyson told The New York Times Book Review that Mary Doria Russell was one of the three writers he would invite to a literary dinner party, along with Joan Breton Connelly and Kristen R. Ghodsee.

Russell resides in Lyndhurst, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, with her husband Don. They have a son, Dan.

I'm reading The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers. He was a prolific and successful American author in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work is mostly forgettable and forgotten except for this one book of short stories in the weird fiction genre. Most of the stories center around a play, titled "The King in Yellow," which has the power to drive its readers insane. He was a significant influence on H. P. Lovecraft and other weird fiction writers of the twenties and thirties. Like other affluent, white men of that era he was an outright racist. (I almost stopped reading on page two!) But he did create some beautiful prose in this work.

I went to Book Expo America earlier this month and came back with 15 ARCs. So I am digging into Leave Me over the long weekend.

Finished Beginning Operations and started Alien Emergencies, both by James White. Still reading Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay.

I finished a LTER, Pilgrim Spokes which is a description of a bicycle trip from Kansas to Maryland, not focusing on the details of the trip but rather on the author's musings prompted by the experience. While I enjoyed it through the first half, by the second half I could just about predict what his thoughts would be and his insistence on positivity especially in terms of other people began to grate. Pleasant enough but perhaps longer than necessary and better for a less cynical reader than I

Thanks, Fred.

Anna and the Swallow Man was a good WWII story, and now I'm about to start the new Longmire, The Highwayman.

I'm stlll reading the interesting history, When Tenants Claimed the City: the Struggle for Citizenship in New York Housing by Roberta Gold

Thanks Fred. I loved Mary Doria Russell's Doc and Epitaph. I went to her book signing a year or so ago and she's a very engaging speaker, too.

I finished The Woman in Blue and loved it. Still reading English Creek and The Resistance Man.

I finished The King in Yellow last night. The general description of it as "weird fiction" is something of a misnomer it seems. Only about half of the stories fall into that category. The second half of the book is composed of stories about young American expatriates studying art in Paris. The stories draw heavily on Robert W. Chambers' experience as an art student in France during the late 19th century.

I'm starting Anne Garrels' new book, Putin Country: A Journey into the Real Russia.

Finished Children of Earth and Sky. Liked it. About to start The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor.

I was in the mood for something light, but ended up disappointed in both Voodoo Ridge and Whack a Mole.

I finished listening to Soul of an Octopus, and while it was interesting for the most part, I did have some issues with it.

I've added lab Girl to reading The Highwayman.

Having so much fun reading Jane Steele which borrows loosely from Jane Eyre. This heroine, however, is a fan of the classic novel and while she recognizes the similarities in their stories, admits to one glaring difference. She's guilty of several murders.

Thanks, Fred! I'm going to have to look for Mary Doria Russell.

I'm reading The Tempest by William Shakespeare. I know Margaret Atwood is coming out with her interpretation of that play toward the end of the year and I want to be ready for itl!

I just started Rachel M. Harper's, This Side of Providence and regretfully forgot it at work Friday so I pulled out another promising ARC, The Squad Room by John Cutter and Robert Nivakoff. I am breezing through it enjoying all the police drama.

Finished Leave Me in one day. Engaging story. Now in the midst of In Gratitude.

Started Cat's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut last night. Also have Guns, Germs and Steel on my kindle waiting for me, which has been on my list for ages. That'll keep me busy for awhile.

>15 browner56: I've really enjoyed the first three books of the Hogarth Shakespeare series, although Shylock is My Name was my least favorite of the three. I knew that Margaret Atwood was going to write one of them, but didn't know details. It is titled Hag-Seed, and is due to be released on October 11th. It should be great!

I'm thoroughly enjoying To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, all the more because it hasn't been too long since I read the original and delightful Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog by Jerome K. Jerome.

I'm about to start reading Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt for the Writers at Risk theme read with the Reading Globally group.

I've finished A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian, and thought it very good, and then Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, which was also quite good. Now I am riveted to Through the Narrow Gate by Karen Armstrong, which is a memoir of her life as a pre-Vatican II Catholic nun. Fascinating to get a glimpse into the prayerful life.

The Highwayman was a good Longmire, if no great shakes. Now I've started Miracles on Maple Hill, a Newbery winner from a ways back.

>20 PaperbackPirate:: I loved Angela's Ashes and predict you will too. Is this your first time reading it?

>20 PaperbackPirate:
>23 framboise:

The audio book, with author Frank McCourt reading his own life story, is fabulous.

>23 framboise:
>24 nrmay:

This is my first time reading it. Good to know you both liked it!

I finished Lydia Millet's Sweet Lamb of Heaven which I liked very much. I've learned to depend on Millet's books -- always surprising, always trying something new and original, taking you places you hadn't imagined you'd go. I love her humor -- coming at times at the most chilling moments.

Now I'm reading Louise Erdrich's LaRose.

I just finished The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick which was wonderful. I started Britt-Marie was Here by Fredrik Backman which I have great hopes for as I loved his other two books. I also started The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin which has been good so far

Well this sucks. I thought that I was going to finish reading Putin Country this evening, but (surprise!) pages 167-198 are missing. Now I have to wait for Amazon to send me a new copy.

>28 fredbacon: That does suck. Sorry, man.

>29 rocketjk: The positive aspect is that I started Svetlana Alexievich's Voices from Chernobyl this evening. I'm going to have to recalibrate my ratings, because on a scale of 1 to 5, this book goes to 11.

Amazon says that my replacement will arrive on Thursday.

Reading Lab Girl and The Royal Wulff Murders.

Thanks to >ahef1963 and >coppers, I finished Mothering Sunday: A Romance. It was a delightful, twisty-turny, reflective story of a life. A gem I very much enjoyed.

I am re-reading (last reading being in high school and I am 48) Roots with my 15-year-old niece. I am also reading Early Reviewer book I just received today Living in a Blue Sky Mind by Richard Gentei Diedrichs ... so far, both are very good.

>32 snash: All that, yes! It really was a gem.

>30 fredbacon: I read Voices From Chernobyl in December and thought it was very good, but it was definitely a tough subject to read for long stretches and made me very angry at the government.

>20 PaperbackPirate: Since I'd already read Voices from Chernobyl, I chose A Russian Diary, figuring you couldn't get closer to "at risk" than a woman murdered (allegedly) by Putin.

On the lighter side, also reading Offshore, The Little Paris Bookshop, and Mennonite in a Little Black Dress.

A friend recommended Take Me With You by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I started it this morning. Hope to get some read time at work today. shhhhh boss is away lol

I finished reading Karen Armstrong's Through the Narrow Gate, her memoir about being a Catholic nun prior to Vatican II. It gets a full five stars. So much insight, so much detail.

I am now reading one of the oddest books I've ever read. It was recommended on this thread at least a year ago: The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld. I don't know what to make of it, but it certainly has my attention.

I just finished reading The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld. It was a brilliant book, imaginative, prose dripping with metaphor, strange and weird, redemptive. I give it five stars and recommend it highly. Be warned: it is hard going. It takes place on death row and is profoundly upsetting. Not a beach read. I feel in need of The Comedy Network and a stiff drink, but it is worth the pain that it caused.

I have no idea what to read next. Something much lighter. Alexander McCall Smith, perhaps.

>39 ahef1963: The Enchanted was recommended to me a while back by my bookselling friend. I is part of Mount TBR. Thank you for your review. I will find the right time to read it.

I am with you - light is needed this weekend. I think I will read Emma Straub's newest Modern Lovers.

Finished the satiric tale of The Zafarani Files. Very good read!

Next up are The Violet Hour: Great Writers at the End by Katie Roiphe and New and Collected Poems: 1975-2015 by Jay Parini.

I find Guy Gavriel Kay's books really smooth reads, evocatively descriptive, filled with enough "magic" in the magical realism to zap your "alert!" buttons. The historical foundations of the works make them all the more believable, though it's the willing suspension of disbelief in action. I last read his work two or three years ago. Children of Earth and Sky is one I missed. I'll be looking for it.

The new topic is over here.

>42 AlanWLehmann: Children of Earth and Sky just came out last month, so you're not very far behind.

>1 fredbacon: Thanks for the great bio on Russell -loved her book DOC and have plans to read some more of her books.