What You're Reading the Week of 27 October 2007

OOps, I forgot last week, thanks to cabegley for picking up my dropped brick. Actually we were off to London for a book buying trip (among a few other things) and then to Berlin for a couple of days of meetings, touristing and cold autumn sunshine (would have been better if the latter two had coincided).

I've been reading Trudi Canavan's Black Magician trilogy for the past few days, finished The Novice and Magician's Guild and just started The High Lord. Good enjoyable fantasy of a kind I haven't read for a few years (I think I thought I'd grown out of it). I also finished A Perfect Mess by Eric Abrahamson and David H Freedman which completely justifies the way that my desk and office floor are organised!

Interesting . . . I see that we have a new syntax for Author Touchstones, two square brackets to open and one to close, if I put the second closing bracket in all the touchstones disappear.

I'm still on my Outlander fix reading The Fiery Cross. I remember not enjoying this one the first time I read it years ago and I can't recall if I even finished it? Which is why I wasn't thrilled when the Lord John book came out and completely missed the release of A Breath of Snow and Ashes. And now I know why... it starts off with that day at the Gathering which goes on forever and ever and I'm thinking oh gosh move on already!

I'm also reading The Island of Adventure by Enid Blyton. I'm reading it for old time’s sake because those books were a favourite of mine when I was a child and I got it for free from a bookswap club. I am sickened by the racism prevalent throughout the book which I have to say is also surprising, as a child I didn't pick up on that at all.

Later on this week I will read Billie's kiss by Elizabeth Knox for Go Review That Book! group I am in.

I am going to read the new Peter Robinson for Early Reviewers. I am beside myself with excitement to have gotten this book early and for free! Thanks LT.

#2 - kiwiflowa: The Fiery Cross is definitely not one of the stronger books in the Outlander series, imho. You will probably like A Breath of Snow and Ashes better as several plot points are either brought into train or to fruition. I am hoping the last book in that series comes out soon! I am dying to know how she resolves the dilemma of Claire and Jamie living forever (lol).

This week, I'm reading The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro for a class, and 75 pages in I'm struck by its British-ness. I'll also be reading Sketches from a Hunter's Album by Ivan Turgenev for school, which I haven't started yet. For myself, I'm still reading Harold the King by Helen Hollick and despairing at the time it takes me to get through a slightly lengthy book when I have so much work to do.

This morning I finished The Brothers Karamazov, which I enjoyed, minus a few of the lengthier bits, especially as spoken by Ivan.

Does anyone know why certain author touchstones just turn red, as if they don't exist?

>5 littlebookworm: Remains of the Day is one of my favourite books. I love Kazuo Ishiguro's style and the 'Britishness' of Mr Stevens. I recommend the movie, also, if you haven't seen it yet :)

For author touchstones, see >1 GreyHead:
(thanks GreyHead I wasn't aware of the new style!)

Having finished Suite Francaise on Thursday, I'm now onto Arthur and George by Julian Barnes (more 'Britishness'!)

I am almost halfway done with The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo. It will probably take me all of next week to finish it.

For non-fiction, I'm going to try to get to the end of 50 Questions on Natural Law by Charles Rice. And start The Spirit of the Liturgy by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. We'll see how much time I'll be able to devote to reading this next week. They are all good reads.

I am reading The Zookeeper by Diane Akerman quite interesting so far. Was able to meet her at the National Book Festival in D.C. this past Sept and have her autograph the book. Would like to hear from anyone else out there who was at the festival.

>5 littlebookworm: & 6, The Remains of the Day is one of my favorite books too! I can't get enough of Ishiguro and his beautiful, understated style.

Right now I'm waiting on a batch of books from the library so I'm marking time with the second Lemony Snicket book, The Reptile Room. I wasn't terribly impressed with the first one, but I've got nothing else handy right now, so we'll see how this one goes.

#6 - I tried that, but it didn't work. =(

So glad so many people loved The Remains of the Day! I have high hopes for the rest. =)

I'm still reading The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon. I didn't read much of it last week. I'm also reading New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. Given time, I'd like to begin 20th Century Ghosts by Joe Hill this week.

I finished Diana Gabaldon's Lord John and the Private Matter earlier this week, and started Jasper Fforde's Something Rotten yesterday for my bedtime / home time reading. :)

A complete side-track on touchstones:

[[Ivan Turgenev]] gives me a red touchstone; [[Ivan Turgenev] searches but finds nothing (it actually locks up the touchstone area until I type in another ]; [Ivan Turgenev] gives me "Virgin soil by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev (others)".

[[Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev]] also gives a red touchstone but [[Ivan Sergeivich Turgenev]] gives me a nice blue one!!

[[Trudi Canavan]] now seems to work with two closing brackets (which I didn't think it did last night) . . . ah the mysteries of life . . .

I've just finished The Harmony Silk Factory by Tash Aw. Good story, thought-provoking ending. Next up is The Road by Cormac McCarthy for book group. I'm looking forward to it based on all the comments here.

>13 GreyHead: I give up then! lol ;D

Just finished three books last night:

The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
Without Mercy by Keith Ablow
Needle Work by Fred Rosen

It's been a long time since I have read any True Crime, but I think I liked the Fred Rosen over the Keith Ablow which surprised me. I would have thought it would have been the other way around.

Now I am presently reading: Bon Bon Voyage by Nancy Fairbanks and liking it a lot more than the last once I read by her (French Fried).

Still reading Infinite Jest and am up to page 450 or so.

Still plugging away at Kept - I had almost no time to read last week and I won't have much time this week either. Very depressing, especially as I like the book a lot!

My next will have to be something short and fast so I can feel like I'm gaining some momentum.

edited for sleepiness

>9 fannyprice: fannyprice - I read the Lemony Snicket series last year and it wasn't great literature, but I must admit, quite amusing. He has a bizarre sense of humor. I think after the fourth or fifth book, he gets into a weird conspiracy that keeps you reading till the end, but doesn't resolve itself in the 13th (last) book. It probably wasn't worth finishing, but I confess - I found it rather entertaining.

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There were a few members of LT at the 2007 who actually got to meet up with each other. See this thread. Join this group if you'd like to meet us next year!

What I'm reading now is Out by Natsuo Kirino - a Japanese female crime story (!) - and Marley & Me by John Grogan - a delightful nonfiction book about the author's yellow labrador retriever. Marly.author's

I am still reading Going Back to Bisbee by Richard Shelton which is really good. It is taking me a little bit of time to read because it is a not something that I can read quickly. It is very detailed with losts of description of wildlife and plant life in Arizona. Very good writing and very descriptive.

I just started Founding Brothers yesterday.

I'm alternating between rereading some Tamora Pierce (grr touchstones), specifically Lady Knight right now, and Peter Walsh's It's All Too Much.

I have been trying to keep to one book at a time, but, with school in full swing, I now have three going at once. My students are intrigued that I am reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter, my first Dexter book. It is entertaining so far. I also picked up Nickel and Dimed on recommendation here. I don't read much nonfiction but it definitely is holding my interest. At home, I am finishing up Paul Auster's New York Trilogy at home. I had it from the library and liked it so much that I decided to buy it.

Okay, now the touchstones are finally working after several tries.

I've been having the same problem with touchstones. When I type in the titles, it appears with the authors' names, so I KNOW they are in the system, but I can't get the touchstones to load.

I'm about 1/3 through The Accidental by Ali Smith (whose name is coming up red--no touchstone). I wasn't sure I'd like it, but it has got me hooked.

Also listening to The Alchemist's Daughter by Katharine McMahon. I should get through a chunk of that on my roundtrip drive to DC this weekend.

I just finished Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley and I'm about to start Ashes of the Elements by Alys Clare.

26 seitherin - what did you think of Dragonhaven?

Am in a frenzy, trying to finish the books I started last week before NaNo starts on November 1:

Dangerous Games, the 4th Riley Jensen, Guardian novel by Keri Arthur
Mysteries of theMiddle Ages by Thomas Cahill
The Civil Wars by Julius Caesar
The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde on audio

I'm still working on Marie Antoinette: The Journey. A lot of skimming...way too many royals names for me but I'm picking up interesting facts.

I'm finishing up Interpreter of Maladies which has been depressing and will bemoving on to I Am the Messenger which I picked up at the library yesterday.

Today I finished rereading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which my book group will be discussing on Thursday. I'm looking forward to the discussion--I loved it the first time I read it, and was just as entranced the second time around, but I know that some of our members are not so thrilled with it.

Later today I will start The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett.

I've just started A True and Faithful Narrative by Katherine Sturtevant. I hadn't read any YA stuff in a while, and this one came highly recommended.

The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles translated by Paul Roche couldn't survive my 50 page rule. I don't know if it was because I know the story too well already, have been reading too much about the Greeks lately, too long ago or maybe the translation, but I gave up on it.

Now I'm reading At Large and At Small by Anne Fadiman and loving it. Also started re-reading Thomas Flannagan's trilogy of Irish history. Started with Year of the French. All three novels are great.

Finished Evanly Choirs by Rhys Bowen and am now starting 3 books that I have to take back to the library Monday because I cannot renew them again: A Death in Vienna by Daniel Silva, The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman and Into the Arms of Strangers by Deborah Oppenheimer. Good thing I read quickly!

I am reading 'How to be Rich' by Paul McKenna. Just a bit of Personal Development reading which i think is very important every now and then.
Just finished reading Les Miserables By V.Hugo last week, which was fantastic.

Finished A Taste for Murder by Claudia Bishop and started The Education of Koko by Francine Patterson.

Rereading The Golden Compass this week. Also working on The Foundation Trilogy. Nothing for school...papers to write instead!

#21, bookaholicgirl, I know someone who lives in southern Arizona and is interested in plant and animal life, so I'm happy to learn about Going Back to Bisbee -- sounds like it would make a great present.

I am reading The World Without Us by Alan Weisman, interesting conceptually, and plan to start the just-arrived Potiki by Patricia Grace, an LT recommendation.

27 bluesalamanders - re: Dragonhaven - I really enjoyed the story - the who, what, where, how of it - but I did find the first person teenaged nattering annoying sometimes. Very occasionally I could almost imagine what a dragon induced migraine felt like. ~ smirk ~

I've finished Ashes of the Elements by Alys Clare and I'm contemplating Spellbinder by Melanie Rawn next.

I like "Remains of the Day" as well.
At the moment I'm reading Marie-Christine Josso.

This morning I started reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. I'll have to find another (shorter*) book to bring to work on Monday!

*for those who haven't read it, A Suitable Boy is 1392 pages. Not ideal to bring on my commute :)

Just started The Architect today by Keith Ablow

#16 I have not read any of Ablow's true crime books, but I highly recommend his mystery books. They are great reads.

39 seitherin

Very occasionally I could almost imagine what a dragon induced migraine felt like.

*snort* Yes. I usually love Robin McKinley's books, but that was my reaction to Dragonhaven as well.

Still plugging away at True History of the Kelly Gang. I really, really like it. I haven't had as much time for reading this past week as I would like, otherwise I'd be finished by now. I only have about 100 pages left which shouldn't take too long.

I'm looking forward to starting my next book, A Thousand Splendid Suns. I just picked it up from the library on Friday and it's calling my name ...

I read Crossing Open Ground by Barry Lopez yesterday and started Lady Chatterly's Lover by D.H. Lawrence last night.

Have started The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott, the first of the four books that make up The Raj Quartet. Like #41 (calvarez), I have recently read and finished the mammoth A Suitable Boy. How the author keeps all the characters and plot lines so beautifully interlinked is a minor miracle.

Forgetting for the moment literary worth, these two books are giving me marvellous new words with which to beat the family at Scrabble.

I finished P is for Peril by Sue Grafton. Not one of her better efforts. In honor of Halloween I have just started Dracula by Bram Stoker which I have never read. Creepy.

Something Rotten ...started it last week, but then spent the week watching for fires... also on the desk The Cell, Modern Science, and Biology the Easy Way for a test I'll fail on Saturday...

Food: A Culinary History
The Crimson Petal and the White
The Colour Of Magic

Good Omens was quite funny, incidentally.

I am half way through The talented Mr. Ripley and am enjoying it so far.

Still working on Love in the Time of Cholera. Got a bit further in it today.

I also have Pete Hautman's new YA Bloodwater Mystery Skullduggery waiting to be read next.

I've been reading The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow. I thought the first chapter was one of the most hilarious I've read in a long, long time--loved the concept of a book writing other books. Won't spoil it for others, but there are sentences and paragraphs that were so funny I had tears from laughing so hard. The book has since settled down but is worth reading if only for that first chapter.

Joycepa, I read that one recently too and really enjoyed it. Very imaginative and extremely entertaining.

#52 That's the reaction I had to the section in The Accidental where Amber is supposedly telling her past--all things that happened in history, movies, or TV.

I am reading The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian this week. It's a slow start so far, but I am hoping it gets a little more interesting and fast-paced as I progress.

I just finished The Giver. It was a very good book.

Now I'm deep into Gone with the Wind. I'm amazed at how closely the movie followed the book!

Oh yeah, forgot I picked up The Giver the other day... get to read that one this week as well....

On the menu for this week: Milk and Honey by Faye Kellerman, Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson and A River Running West by Donald Worster.

Careful - spoiler

I just finished The talented Mr. Ripley and I wanted to like this book more than I did. I found it a bit slow in places and really drawn out. Which is a pity because I know people review this book well. I also found it odd that no one caught one that when ripley disappeared Greenleaf was there, and when Greenleaf dissapeared Ripley reappeared. HMM - I would notice right away. But, perhaps I have an overly suspicious mind.

Next up I will be reading Nowhere man and I will let people know what I think...if anybody cares :)

edited to add the caution spoiler part - sorry for the people who read this before I realized my mistake

Just started The Dew Breaker, by Edwidge Danticat

#48: TeacherDad

I just finished reading Jasper Fforde's Something Rotten myself today. Quite an enjoyable read! :)

Still reading the hound of the Baskervilles and waiting to start death on the Nile after returning from Egypt last month.
I also picked up terry brooks

A little more than halfway through Trance by Christopher Sorrentino ... a very good fictionalization of Patty Hearst's time in the SLA.

Finished Kept: a Victorian mystery and started and finished Little girl lost by Richard Aleas, and enjoyed them both. Now I just have to figure out what to bring to work with me in ten minutes...

I'm at the end of Polystom by Adam Roberts and it's really good! It's getting weird and mysterious, which is a delicious twist! ^^

I read On by the same author and that one had a brilliant twist at the end, so I was excited when I found this book on sale! Hasn't disappointed me yet...

I also read some of his satires, but didn't care for those much.

Still reading The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander. I have also started Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert I have to recommend some wonderful children's books that I read this week ( picked up at a conference last weekend) - Blue 2 a pop up book by David A. Carter and The Arrival by Shawn Tan. Tan's book is without words-just illustrations and very effective.

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I recently also read The Minstry of Special Cases. I'd be curious to know what you think of it. I was impressed by the quality of the writing and the outrageous story (expressed through humor and sadness intertwined). Great book! I will be looking for Nathan Englander's debut fiction, The Relief of Unbearable Urges, hoping it will be just as good.

I'm now reading Out by Natsuo Kirino and find the story a bit silly but enjoyable it nonetheless.

I'm also listening to the audio version of Marley & Me by John Grogan - a delightful picture of life with the author's yellow Labrador retriever.

Just picked up Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock. Also still trying to work my way through River of Gods by Ian McDonald.

I just finished Nine Parts of Desire by Geraldine Brooks. Excellent read that furthered my knowledge of Islam. I misplaced The Road was to be my next read so for now I'm reading Bangkok 8 by John Burdett. It was in the trunk of the car--where I thought I'd find The Road.

Just finished:
* Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde
* First Among Sequels by Jasper Fforde

Now reading:
* Making Money by Terry Pratchett
* Queen Isabella by Alison Weir

>#68 bibliophool: You know, I had forgotten all about Mythago Wood--read it about the time it first came out and thought it wonderful. Got left behind in one move or another.

Still reading Dracula. Really good. I am sure someone has made this connection before but in addition to drawing on The Lord of the Rings heavily -- Rowling definately owes some props to Bram Stoker:

Voldemort's metamorphis is much like the Count's; even Voldy's hiding out in Romania bit. Renfield is the original Death Eater; the Dementors are rather like vampires and their "soul sucking." Harry and Voldemort sharing the same blood -- the whole doppleganger thing. Even the animagus concept with the Count being able to turn into a bat.

Anyway -- it's a good read.

i've been slowly working my way through False Memory by Dean Koontz over the last couple weeks. i've been a bit sidetracked with school, but hopefully will finish it up this week. it also didn't help that i found the first 150 pages or so terribly hard to get into, but the story has picked up and i'm finding it more enjoyable.

#60 I read The Dew Breaker a few years ago. For me, it didn't quite live up to the hype, and I don't think it's Danticot's best work. I'll be curious to see what you think of it.

I'm reading Best American Fantasy by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer. Great collection.

Last week I finished The Robber Bride and Agnes and the Hitman. This week it will be The Hound of the Baskervilles and Dealing with Dragons.

>62 mrsradcliffe: mrsradcliffe- I've always loved Sherlock Holmes. What do you think of the Hound of the Baskervilles?

I read The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks a little while ago. It was okay, but I think the series went downhill from there. I didn't bother to keep reading.

Got a sort of Korean synchronicity going on at the moment having just finished Digging to America by Anne Tyler and am now reading Free Food for Millionnaires by Min Jin Lee. Interesting to compare how two authors look at culture, families and belonging.

Just finished Light on Snow by Anita Shreve and will start The Ha-Ha by Dave King tonight.

Have finished Alice Pung's story of migration to a new and different land in Unpolished Gem and am now reading A Place Among People by Rodney Hall, one of my newest favourite authors.

Shakespeare:A Life
Josephus Complete Works
Furies of Calderon
Islam : A Short History

Really need to focus on one and get it finished!

I've had a few stops and starts over the past few days. I bought a horror novel called The Vanishing by Bentley Little which sounded interesting; plus I was once again drawn in by a positive phrase from Stephen King on the cover. BLECH! Bad writing and too much gore after 1 1/2 chapters. I'm actually returning it to the bookstore.

I'm reading An Unquiet Grave by PJ Parrish which is OK. I'm thinking of starting the new one by PJ Tracy, Snow Blind. Maybe. Trying for something a bit lighter in my favorite genre after reading Jesus Land.

Also, through my dh, who continuously reads from the book to me, The Year of Living Biblically which is funny, thoughtful and just barely irreverent. :o) The author (agnostic?) attempts to follow as many of the suggestions, commands and laws that are found in the Bible over the course of a year, including growing his beard, wearing a robe with tassels and attempting to stone adulterers. hehe

In the middle of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Kaled Hosseini.

Just started Miss Alcott's E-mail by Kit Bakke.

Last night, I started Tanith Lee's The Secret Books of Venus I & II (into Faces Under Water) for my bedtime / at home reading. :)

#78 I really enjoyed the hound of the baskervilles and think I may go on and read the rest of the Shrlock Holmes novels.

FINALLY finished The Blind Assassin, which I really enjoyed. (It took me 5 days because I've been tired and because my husband's best friend had the audacity to get married at the weekend.) I'm now about 4 chapters into Liza's England by Pat Barker, which seems fabulous so far.

I'm working my way through The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory. It's good so far, but I've yet to come to the point where everything clicks and I'm actually involved with the characters.

Finished Le Grand Meaulnes (THe Lost Estate) by Henri Alain-Fournier and found it a bit melodramatic. Now I've started The Gathering by Anne Enright and I immediately like the way she writes.

Just finished My Lobotomy by Howard Dully. An amazing read - sad, but never sensationalist, despite the shocking subject matter.

Next I think I'll be going to either The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly or Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace, which was an Early Reviewers Book that I requested, did not get and then was able to get from the library with no problem. Take that, silly algorithm! :)

I am reading a very interesting well researched book, Neanderthal by Paul Jordan.

Reading The Unquiet by John Connolly and Deception by Randy Alcorn.

I found my errant copy of The Road so I've set aside Bangkok 8 which will wait until I finish The Road and Luminous Cities, my early review book.

I SHOULD be reading for school, but I couldn't resist and am also reading The Road right now. After that it's back to archival science and computer science...

I just ordered The Road but it's in backorder... Oh well, still got a tantalising stack of books waiting for me, I have the time ^^

I just started Mr Dixon disappears
Hilarious!

Just starting Three Cups of Tea.

Just finished reading Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. About to start re-reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. I'm sure I'll re-read the rest of the trilogy after that. :)

I just (as in 10 minutes ago) finished Lullabies for Little Criminals. Overall, it was good... the idea itself didn't seem like anything new, but her treatment of it was well-done.

(Was that cryptic enough?)

Now I need to go to the old shelves to pick something else. I love this part!

I think I've spent more time avoiding reading than actually reading The Shadow of the Wind. I know lots of people here adore it, but it's falling rather flat for me.

woodbear - let me know what you think of Three Cups of Tea. I've been eying it for the Dewey Decimal Challenge.

Currently reading Will's Boy: A Memoir by Wright Morris and Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball by George F. Will because I am a baseball fanatic!

I finished Marie Antionette, and am now halfway through Robinson Crusoe. I wish I had kept track of time in the beginning. There have been multiple instances where he'll say "and then 5 years passed where nothing happened" or "that took me 2 years" I think he must be middle aged by now. I guess in the kids version it wasn't quite clear to me how long he was stranded.

# 101 - I know what you mean about The shadow of the wind
I couldn't get into it either.

I've just finished Mr Dixon disappears and am thinking about what to start next. Unfortunately, I finished it this morning so I will be forced to read a newspaper at lunch instead!

I've just started A Thousand Splendid Suns, and am finding it just as good as everyone said it would be.

I'm reading "The Lawless" by John Jakes. It is a pretty good book but it is not a page turner or anything. I think there are just to many books in that series. It is getting hard to keep up with all the characters that are coming and going. But I like the history that he puts into it though.

I snagged the brand new Mario Vargas LLosa "The bad Girl" from the library last night, the first person to take it out. too cool. the only down side: our library let's new books out for a week at a time. So i'll be up nights, but i love the way he rolls out a story, so i'll gladly suffer a few sleepy meetings at work for this.

Pontiacgal ~

i remember reading the John jakes sagas as they came out, was that back in the 70's? they were a lot of fun, a lot of historical gossip, if i remember correctly. now and then i'd check out some of his historical comments and a often as not found out he made some of it up. which, by the way, makes for a great novelist.

I read a quote of Gore Vidal, a great hsitorical fiction writer, where he said, to paraphrase, if it seems too crazy to be real, it is. it's the dull stuff i made up.

>#107 tim_watkinson: While I haven't read all of his output, for me the best book Vargas Llosa has written so far (and certainly I haven't read The Bad Girl)--by far the most powerful--is The War of the End of the World. It's based on a historical event--the Canudos massacre in Brasil in the 19th century. It occurred in the interior (sertão) of northeast Brasil, which is kind of a world in and of itself. I freely admit to being biased, having spent a lot of time in Brasil and especially in the northeast. But it is an incredible story, and he does it so well.

I finished reading Nowhere man and enjoyed this book, but also found it very puzzlings. There seem to be three or four narrators and several plots - with two characters with the same name. I loved the writing at times though, and often felt myself riveted to the page. But them, the narrator would switch from first to third person about the same person and I would become confused. I would recommed this book, and I wish I understood it better.

I finished reading Nowhere man and enjoyed this book, but also found it very puzzling. There seem to be three or four narrators and several plots - with two characters with the same name. I loved the writing at times though, and often felt myself riveted to the page. But them, the narrator would switch from first to third person about the same person and I would become confused. I would recommed this book, and I wish I understood it better.

#98 Let me know about three cups of tea, I have been eyeing that one myself.

#99 Rebecca is quite enjoyable I thought, although it has been a while since I have read it.

Still reading zookeeper that just came out recently

Currently listening to an audio book of Howards End by E. M. Forster. Also reading Brick Lane by Monica Ali.

Finished The Architect by Keith Ablow and starting up on Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. Haven't seen the movie for this book so I won't have any spoilers! LOL

#91 fannyprice .... I loved The Book of Lost Things you will really enjoy it!!

I finished The Star Garden: A Novel of Sarah Agnes Prine by Nancy E. Turner, which was the 3rd in the series that I absolutely enjoyed!! It's a great book to get to know a little history on southern Arizona. I am now going to start the 6th book in the Harry Potter series ( I know, I am behind!!)... Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. So far I've not heard what happened in the 7th and last book. SO..no one tell me!! :-)

I'm reading Desire and its Shadow, and it's a very strange book. I have to admit that if I hadn't gotten it through Early Reviewers I might have put it down already. I'm hoping that as I go farther along I'll start to get into it more.

82 Meijhen - How are you liking Furies of Calderon so far? I thought it was all a bit too formulaic.

I just finished the first part of Empire of Ivory, the fourth installment in the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. Still has the same great storytelling from the first three and it's really hitting hard on the suspense.

Finished The Man Who Wasn't There by Pat Barker last night. I'm now part of the way through Whistling for Elephants by Sandi Toksvig which is proving to be a lot better than I thought it would be (I tend to be a bit sceptical about these things, the genius of Stephen Fry's writing notwithstanding. After all, there is still Ben Elton...). I think she's put all her travelling to good use. Do hope it continues to be this high standard.

I finished The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett, which was an interesting story, and I especially liked the Arctic exploration, but I found most of the characters unlikeable. I am now reading Barrett's newest book, The Air We Breathe, for the Early Reviewers program.

On audio, I finished The Keep by Jennifer Egan yesterday. It was rather creepy and unsettling (in a good way). The last part of it veered into a completely unexpected direction, and I'm still trying to decide if I liked that. I'm just starting The Kite Runner on audio. I tried reading it about a year or two ago, and got irritated with it after a few pages, so perhaps I'll have a better experience with it this time around.

Finally finished with The Shadow of the Wind. It had some high points, but I thought it was terribly uneven, especially in the narration.

I've been listening to The Virgin Suicides by Air and it's made me terribly want to reread The Virgin Suicides (which is a little weird seeing as I listen to it fairly often and it hasn't inspired this urge before). Unfortunately, that book resides back in Denver and I do not. I hate that half my books are there. It's like having my heart split in two!

Anyway, that means it's on to The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2007 which I'm quite excited about. I've been reading this series since its inception and I look forward to the latest one every October.

I'm reading Marley & Me by John Grogan and enjoying it very much. If you're a fan of animal stories with a great touch of humor, this book is the book to read.

Marley and Me does for Labrador retrievers what Jon Katz did for border collies - which is to make each book come alive by recounting what makes those two dog breeds distinct and special.

I finished The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, but since my terribly cruel parents refused to take me to the library, I can't check out the books that I had been planning on reading. ;-) So instead, I picked up Under the Lilacs by Louisa May Alcott since it has been sitting on my bookshelf for a long time and I haven't read it yet. So far it's a cute little story.

I've been side-tracked from posting for awhile, but the last work I finished was The Last Samurai; which I might note has nothing to do with the movie!

As I'm finding The Jewel in the Crown by Paul Scott a stodgy read, have turned to The Enemy by Lee Child. Not much difference there then!

#75 I haven't read any other Edwidge Danticat, but I found it to be a decent collection of stories. I enjoyed how they interwove with each other.

I'm now starting The Golden Apples for GRTB.

I am about to finish both my print book, The Accidental, and my audiobook, The Alchemist's Daughter. Not sure what I will start next.

Wow I'm behind on these threads...

>115 Allie64: - Allie64 - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is easily my favorite of the series. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just leave it at that :)