What are you reading the week of June 17, 2017?

I'm currently reading Notes from a Dead House by Dostoevsky and wishing that I had read it years ago. You can see the genesis of all of his great works in this prison memoir.

I also wanted to thank everyone for their kind thoughts regarding my mom. It is deeply appreciated.

>1 fredbacon: Notes From a Dead House sounds interesting!

I've actually started enjoying Don Quixote. Instead of treating it like any old novel, I'm reading it with the same relaxed attitude towards reality that I apply to Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I'm enjoying it so much more now that I'm not so annoyed with the old fool DQ. A friend pointed out that I should be more sympathetic because his "brain melted from too much reading". Is my friend trying to me something? :))

Still reading The Sudden Appearance of Hope and The Redeemer.

Finished The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North. Meh.

Next up is Crosstalk by Connie Willis.

June 17 - Currently reading

TEXT: Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos

AUDIO in the car: Something Rotten by Jasper Fforde

MP3 portable audio: The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone

Finished reading two fluffy books: True Love by Robert Fulghum and The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet by Bernie Su. The Secret Diary was actually very well done and there was a lot of heart behind the quite original re-telling of the Pride and Prejudice story.

Up next is Thirst, the new Harry Hole novel by Jo Nesbo. I'm really looking forward to it.

I finished Last Friends, the third book in Jane Gardam's Old Filth trilogy. It was lovely and maybe my favorite of the three and they were all excellent.

I'm back to Harry Bosch, reading Trunk Music by Michael Connelly, and also Great Colorado Bear Stories by Laura Pritchett.

>7 Copperskye: I loved those Jane Gardam books too.

Finished Jacqueline Woodsons Another Brooklyn which was a small gem.

In the middle of Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming. An extraordinary story. I'll have to find the episode of "Who Do You Think You Are" that figures so prominently in his story after I finish it.

>2 enaid: It is interesting. I think it's probably the best introduction to Dostoevsky you will find. (My first exposure was reading The Brothers Karamazov in high school.) It's a very easy read compared to most of his other writings. Dead House is basically a collection of character sketches and stories from Dostoevsky's time in a Siberian prison where he came into contact with all manner of criminals. Yet he has a tremendous empathy with the other inmates. You can see how the experience informed all of his later works and makes him so different from, say, Tolstoy. Tolstoy's writing is brilliant and genteel, but the characters don't have dirt under their fingernails. His works are a sort of Downton Abby view of life.

I'm reading the translation from Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. I generally enjoy their translations. The title has variously been rendered as "The House of the Dead", "Memoirs from a House of the Dead", and "Notes from the Dead House." The later is the more literal translation of the title, but probably lacks some nuance. The phrase translated as Dead House is frequently used as a synonym for a morgue. I think that "Sketches from a House of the Dead" would probably be a more appropriate title.

I finished and reviewed the excelling and disturbing White Man's Game.

I am now reading some short stories Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson

Just finished My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. Liked it. Will try Olive Kitteridge

Still reading Founding Brothers by Joseph J. Ellis. Happy to be connecting with the values of the American revolutionary generation. Also with their problems, some of them the same as today.

Also read Tank Girl: Gold. I may get a subscription to this comic. Not sure what's up with the touchstone.

And started reading we are never meeting in real life by Samantha Irby.

>10 fredbacon: I went ahead and got it on my kindle, Fred. You missed your calling, you should've been a bookseller! I'm really looking forward to reading it. I don't know much about Dostoevsky except from reading Crime and Punishment when I was in high school. Of course, I loved it and but was also unnerved by it. I tried Brothers Karamazov because a friend loved it but I didn't get the same feeling from it. It seemed brutish and boring whereas Crime and Punishment was like a roller coaster ride of brutish and frightening.

I feel a reread of Crime and Punishment coming on. I always enjoy seeing how my middle aged self differs from my teen age self.

I've stopped doing reading challenges for this very reason. I would've been so wrapped up in hitting my goal that I would often not read bigger novels or works. I'm not sure I'll ever do it again. It's been such a pleasure picking up anything I like and taking my time.

>14 enaid: When I was in graduate school, my office mates and I discovered a mutual love of The Brothers Karamazov. An undergraduate student who was working with us came in to the office one afternoon and mentioned that he had just started reading it. Soon everyone in the office was out of their chairs standing around discussing TBK. My favorite quote was, "It has everything! It's a soap opera, a murder mystery and a philosophical novel all rolled into one."

I've probably read TBK four or five times over the years, and it always yields some new insight. My last reading a dozen years or so ago left me feeling a little cold towards it, however. Dostoevsky's Russian Orthodox Christian mysticism has less appeal to me than it once did. I always disagreed with him, but I could at least respect our differences. Now I'm not so sure. Being an atheist brought up in a deeply religious family has left me with conflicted views of religion which I'm always trying to sort out. I could never decide if I identified more with Alyosha or with Ivan.

Added The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction March/April 2017 to my reading rotation. I enjoyed the first story, about genetically engineered toy dinosaurs, muchly.

I am enjoying the audio version of John Grisham's newest book ~
Camino Island. It is an interesting novel featuring the worlds of
the rare book trade and the writing profession.

I am also enjoying this non-fiction audiobook:
Go Down Together: The True, Untold Story of Bonnie and Clyde
by Jeff Guinn

I'm rereading Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery. My friend has never read it so I told her if she read it I would reread it too. I haven't read it since high school and I think I enjoy it as much now as I did then.

I am reading two Books:

Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher on my Kindle Tablet

Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics by Chris Grabenstein - Book #2. This is a Library Copy.

I have read Book #1 which is called "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" and now I am reading Book #2. I put on Hold Book #3 in this Series at my favorite Library.

>17 Molly3028: That is one of my favorite non-fiction reads. I thought it was really well done; I was captivated by their extraordinary story. One of the few books I knew I'd re-read someday! I hope you enjoy it as well!

>2 enaid: Don Quixote is on my list of the funniest books I've ever read. In my view, one definitely needs to read the book with an eye toward its satiric, even surreal at times, world view. Or, go with the flow, as we used to say. From your comments it seems like you've tapped into the book's true (or, "true," in my own opinion!) rhythm.

>13 kittycatpurr: I found Founding Brothers to be compelling and really well written. It filled in a lot of holes for me in my knowledge of the transition to and adoption of the Constitution.

As for me, I recently finished the excellent biography, Casey Stengel: Baseball's Greatest Character by Marty Appel. It's a fascinating (for baseball fans) look at an exceptional person, and provides a lot of insight into what baseball was like 80 and 90 years ago, as Stengel's playing days and early managerial career are highlighted very effectively.

Soon I will be starting And My Shoes Keep Walking Back to You by Kathi Kamen Goldmark, a humorous (I hope) novel about the world of Country music.

Finished A Room with a View - charming love story, told against a background of Edwardian manners, but with forward-thinking messages about knowing your own heart and doing the right thing even if it's....'unmannerly'.

Next up is an ebook, Her Privates We by Frederic Manning.

It was time for a classic. I finished The Picture of Dorian Gray, a parable denouncing hedonism, vanity, and youth worship. It's a thickly drawn portrait with a rather obvious device to present the perils of hedonistic flippancy. It's short and worth reading for its impact on literature, art and society but not my favorite book.

I have just finished Throne of Jade, the second in the Temeraire series and will be starting Book 3 soon. Very good series, and not typical for simple fantasy.

Also reading Wicked as a TBR book challenge and am intrigued by it. It deals with the land of Oz as well as different characters, not necessarily just Glinda and Elphaba, the friends from a boarding school. It gives much depth to the Land and its peoples and Animals and difficulties.

Also reading The Final Days because I just had to re-read for the 4th time All the President's Men. And because AtPM ends in early 1974, I wanted to finish reading about what happened. I have heard these names all my life and just need to make sense of it all since the televised hearings made no sense to my 8 year old life.

Just started Hard Times by Dickens for a F2F group and love it as much as I did when I listened to it on audio in 2011.

Finally, for bed time reading, I'm re-reading (or finishing reading, since I only made it through the wrastling match the first time) The Worm Ouroboros. And I beg your indulgence here, but I do want to include some lines from the book. It's one of those early fantasy novels everyone has heard of but seldom read, and Eddison's language is descriptive, archaic, sometimes pompous, and always well worth reading aloud:

"When night fell and supper was done, Juss walked alone on the walls of his castle, watching the constellations burn in the moonless sky above the mighty shadows of the mountains, listening to the hooting of the owls in the woods below and the faint distant tinkle of cowbells, and breathing the fragrance borne up from the garden on the night wind that even in high summer tasted keen of the mountains and the sea. These sights and scents and voices of the holy night so held him in thrall that it wanted but an hour of midnight when he left the battlements, and called the sleepy house-carls to light him to this chamber in the south tower of Galing."

Currently I am reading The House At The End Of Hope Street . It's a really good story with magical realism .

>24 threadnsong: Also reading Wicked as a TBR book challenge and am intrigued by it. It deals with the land of Oz as well as different characters, not necessarily just Glinda and Elphaba, the friends from a boarding school. It gives much depth to the Land and its peoples and Animals and difficulties.

I read that when it first came out for a book group and was wowed by it (he has written a few other 'fractured fairy tales' such as Mirror Mirror, confessions of an ugly stepsister, and a sequel to Wicked but non of them were as powerful as this one). Saw the musical and was horribly disappointed in what they did to the story (and what they did to the ending). I read Baum's books as a kid, been meaning to try them again to see how they stand up now

Oh and watched Wizard of Oz on the big screen a few weeks ago, great fun!

Finished All Systems Red by Martha Wells. Really enjoyed the story.

Next up is The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley.

The Gates of Europe: A History of Ukraine by Serhii Plokhy
A well-written history of Ukraine

Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History—without the Fairy-Tale Endings
Linda Rodríguez McRobbie
5/5 stars
McRobbie tells the fascinating and factual tales of real life princesses who are far from the fairy tale princesses we all grew up with as children. Many of these women had miserable lives and some caused a lot of misery. The author also deals with the inbreeding of the royals causing their children to be born with genetic defects and there is a section on the dollar princesses who were not royalty but were rich and married into royalty.

Started my ER book The Lauras and continuing with This Is How It Always Is

The Popsugar 2017 Reading Challenge lists as one of its categories, A Book With More Than 800 Pages!

Just finished Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse which I loved.
Started Who is Rich? by Matthew Klam, The Action Hero's Handbook, and Attack of the Theater People. The last one is the sequell to How I Paid for College which I adored.

I've got several going. Most significantly, North Korea Undercover. Frightening.

Finished Al Franken: Giant of The Senate which I really enjoyed.

Next up for listening is Curious Minds by Janet Evanovich.

I continue reading Death in Spring by Merce Rodoreda.

Finished Crosstalk by Connie Willis. Really enjoyed it. Just the kind of book I was in the mood for.

Next into the rotation is The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie.

I just finished reading The Thirst by Jo Nesbo. It was enthralling; the man's writing gets better and better. I would have given it six stars had that been a possibility.

Life throws wonderful things our way sometimes, and the latest cool thing is that I've been hired by an indie publishing group to read and review books. This is like bibliophile heaven. I will be starting with Expect Trouble by JoAnn Smith Ainsworth, which I understand is paranormal historical fiction. I'm so excited to begin!

Just finished Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming. The first half was better than the second, which lagged.

Next will be a reread of The Handmaid's Tale so I can finally watch the new series.

The Perks Of Being a Wallflower – Stephen Chbosky
Audiobook performed by Noah Galvin
4****

This is a coming-of-age novel featuring 15-year-old Charlie, who tells the story via letters he writes to an unnamed friend. Via these letters he chronicles his life during his freshman year of high school. As the book opens, Charlie states that his friend, Michael, killed himself the prior spring. This paragraph from the first letter gives the reader a sense of the tone: So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I’m still trying to figure out how that could be.

I like YA fiction like this. Charlie is very real. He has good days and not-so-good days, as he struggles to come to grips with has happened around him. His parents seem genuinely caring, though somewhat clueless about his use of alcohol. He finds new friends who also help him adjust to his new school. He is a great observer of teenage and family life. As he describes events and how he reacts to them, he gives the reader a pretty accurate view of high-school dynamics.

This is Chbosky’s debut novel. Since its release he seems to have concentrated on screenwriting and directing. I hope he writes another novel; I would definitely read it.

Noah Galvin does a superb job of performing the audiobook. I totally believed he was a teenaged Charlie. He is in turns excited, apprehensive, despondent, eager, cautious, frightened, and hopeful.

Knots and Crosses – Ian Rankin
3***

This is the first in the Inspector John Rebus mystery series. Edinburgh is plagued by a series of kidnapping/killings of young girls, and Rebus is on the investigative team. When he realizes that the anonymous messages he’s been receiving coincide with the kidnappings, he is forced to consider that he may have a personal connection to this killer.

Rankin writes a fast-paced thriller with several twists and turns in the plot. Rebus is a complicated character, turning to alcohol to lessen the pain of his past experiences, including a failed marriage, but still clearly an intelligent and resourceful detective. His former work as a member of Britain’s elite SAS adds a certain mystique to his background. A subplot involving his brother, Michael, and an investigative reporter, Jim Stevens, adds both tension and a distraction from the killings. Makes me wonder if these characters will also appear in later books.

I’ll definitely read more of this series.

Barely finished Death in Spring. Next up to read is The Life of Elves by Muriel Barbery.

>38 BookConcierge: Never read the book, but I loved the movie. I think the author also wrote the screenplay

Finished The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie. Comfort read. Enjoyed it.

Next into the reading rotation is The Fireman by Joe Hill.

The new thread is up over here.

>41 cindydavid4:
Yes, Chbosky did write the screenplay for the movie. Apparently he's working entirely as a screenwriter now ...