What You're Reading the Week of 12 January 2008

Haruki Murakami The wind-up Bird Chronicle I read a good mixture this week: sex.com by Kieren McCarthy which is a book about a very messy legal case in in Californis; One hundred strokes of the brush by Melissa P. which is not very erotic teenage fantasies; and The 9/11 Commission Report which was remarkably well written for a Government report and much more gripping than I had expected.

Now I've started The Wayward Mind by Guy Claxton interesting start but too early too tell yet.

I think you guys should totally read A Great and Terrible Beauty by: Libba Bray. It's a really great book, including the ones that follow it.

Just finished Fables of Brunswick Avenue:Stories by Katherine Govier.

Just started The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I'm not sure if I'm going to like it or not. It starts off too much like those other old Oprah book selections. I'm going to give it a chance.

I'm reading a book in the 33 1/3 series on the Guided By Voices album, Bee Thousand. It's amazing how much influence -- for good and ill -- Greil Marcus has had on music writing; I feel like every book on rock I pick up is a shadowy homage/parroting of his stuff.

I'm now reading Time Dancers by Steve Cash it's the second in a trilogy the first was The Meq and I thought it was absolutely wonderfull, though some of the math during the time is wrong and slightly bothers me it's a good read.

I'm reading Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson - Chapter 13.

As it is the 12th here, I am reading Lucky by Alice Sebold, of which is easy to read and very well written so far.

I'm still reading The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano, but the end is finally in sight. Thanks to all who encouraged me to continue; it's quite a remarkable book, although I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it.

I'm still reading Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb, I have a feeling it will not be a quick read for me, though I enjoy it, I'm getting busier and busier these days with not a lot of time for reading. :(

I'm reading The Translator by Leila Aboulela, an LT recommendation. Slow to start but it may be me---I'm expecting it to pick up.

About three-quarters of the way through Altaf Tyrewala's No God in Sight. Quite entertaining, though no individual character is the focus of the book for more than eight-ten pages or so, as narrators change regularly.

Not sure what's up next...

Wow, rebeccanyc, and isn't it a whole lot more than you expected? It was a knock-out for me, and who would have thought that 2 of my Favorite novels of 2007 would have poets as protagonists?? (The other was Ha Jin's A Free Life.)

I'm about half way through the 900-page He Knew He Was Right by Anthony Trollope. Loving all the little sub-plots :)

I finally have the chance to read Justinian's Flea.

Yesterday I finished reading "Sons of the Buddha" and "Angels and Demons", and am still taking my time with "Nothing to do, nowhere to go: waking up to who you are" by Thich Nhat Hanh, and Basic Teachings of the Buddha, by Glenn Wallis. I've also begun re-reading Neal Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon". (Sorry, no Touchstones for most of these). I also have sitting on my reading table Bruce Lee's Striking Thoughts.

#2 Hi, J.T. A Great and Terrible Beauty sounds good ~ thanks for the tip. (BTW, I really like the title.)

#15 What did you think of Justinian's Flea? I read it and The Ghost Map one after the other, and confess to enjoying The Ghost Map more. More accessible, I thought.

>18 Storeetllr:, Ooh, I want to read both of those - what did you think of them?

These are the books I am working on this week: American Born Chinese - Gene Luen Yang (graphic novel); Global Woman: Nannies, Maids, and Sex Workers in the New Economy - edited by Barbara Ehrenreich and Arlie Russell Hochschild (essay anthology); Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction is Changing Men, Women, and the World - Liza Mundy (NF); The Farthest Shore (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 3) - Ursula K. LeGuin (F); After the Quake: Stories - Haruki Murakami (F-SS). Also still continuing with Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason - Jessica Warner (NF); The Intellectual Devotional: American History: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently about Our Nation's Past - David S. Kidder (NF) in bits and pieces; and The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen - edited by Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster (essay anthology).

I think I have too much on my plate. :) Obviously I'm not planning on finishing all these in a week.

Finished Olive Kitteridge. Subtle. The first several stories didn't really grab me, but I enjoyed the last five or six stories quite a bit.

Still experimenting with book selection. I'm trying to figure out what book I'm in the mood for. So, I've started two books, both of which I think will be good, but I'm only going to read one right now.

The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman (His Dark Materials, book 2)

By the way, thanks to everyone who has been pushing Out Steeling Horses over the last several months. I finished that last week, loved it, and I'm still thinking about it. Definitely an LT-Inspired book for me.

I will be feverishly reading The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein and On God by Norman Mailer so I can return them to the library... before they turn me into a debt collection agency for late fees!!

>21 dchaikin: dchaikin, so glad you liked Out Stealing Horses, it also stayed with me for awhile. Remarkable book.

I finished Girl with a Pearl Earring this morning. I'm tired of waiting for my early review book to arrive before I start Anna Karenina so I think I'm just going to dive in. Of course, I'll probably just really get into it and the book will arrive.

#19 I enjoyed them both. I've not read a great deal about the Late Roman Empire/Early Byzantine Empire, so Justinian's Flea was interesting to me for the history, and the theory that the plague was a prime cause for the final fall of the Western Roman Empire was a new one for me, but it went into great detail about the science of epidemiology (sp?), and those parts were a bit dry. The Ghost Map also discussed epidemiology, but it was still more accessible, easier to read, less textbookish. And, the epilogue (I guess you could call it, tho it was more like the author's musings on his philosophy) was great ~ it would have been worth the price of the book even if the book itself hadn't been really good!

The Illustrated Man and then The Thin Place...

and don't worry lawgrrl, they don't lock you up for late fees, or I would be smuggling files inside my sons' birthday cakes for the next 100 years...

I just consider my fines cheap rent for books. Plus supporting my local library!

I'm working through The Intellectual Devotional this year, which I like, but I also started Cultural Amnesia today and I am in love with it. I've only just finished the introduction and acknowledgements, but it's so crisp and so true that I actually had to stop a couple of times to breathe. This introduction, no kidding, is like the anticipation before the orgasm, if you'll pardon the expression. It's been a long while since an intro left me breathless, so I'm pretty excited to continue negotiating my way through the book.

Oh, and I finished Enna Burning and The Princess Academy in the last couple of days. Honestly, I don't think anybody today writes sweet, simple, empowering girl books as well as Shannon Hale. They are always a pleasure to read (easy but not insulting).

I'm reading Love in Excess by Eliza Haywood and Swedish Folk Tales beautifully illustrated by John Bauer.

I just started and finished Looking for Alaska by John Green and it was very good. Thanks to whoever recommended it to me (sorry I cannot remember) Although a young adult book, it is definitely highly recommended. I am going to have to check out Green's follow up book An Abundance of Katherines.

I am stiiiiiiiiiill listening to The Colour by Rose Tremain in the car . . . I will have to take longer drives! I am reading The Uncommon Reader by Allan Bennett at lunchtimes (a great read) and just finished The Restaurant at the end of the Universe. Now I am about to pick up The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst as part of my attempt to read all the Booker Prize winners.

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There were many people on LT who recommended Looking for Alaska by LT author John Green, which is why it had been on my wish list in the first place. I, too, enjoyed it very much.

I finished What Goes Around Comes Around by Con Lehane last night. Though I'm usually not a fan of detective mysteries, I couldn't avoid this one because it was personally handed to me by its author to circulate as a Bookcrossing bookray. I was pleasantly surprised by how good it was. I loved the main character, with his incredibly dry dense of humor, who continued to make all sorts of quips throughout his escapades. Then, I had to stay up late last night to read the ending because the action got a bit tense at that point. I looked at the clock when the story was done, and it was 1:30 in the morning!

Con (or Cornelius) Lehane is not a well-known author, but he should be. He lives in my local area (Washington, DC). Other than one scene in the book (which I thought was gratuitous), the book was a fun and interesting read. I'll be looking for the other two books (also starring Brian McNulty, I think) by the same author.

My copies of both books are now circulating as a bookrays. Should anyone be interesting in getting on the participant list for either book, please send me a private message via BookCrossing.

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5745898/J_9648194

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/5044592/J_8234703

Last week I finished Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain, which was fascinating and disturbing, and Tyrants, an Early Reviewers short-story collection by Marshall N. Klimasewiski, which was quite well done.

Now I'm reading Marie Antoinette: The Journey by Antonia Fraser.

At the moment, I'm reading The Illuminator by Brenda Rickman Vantrease, which is historical fiction set in the middle ages, about a heretical translation of the Bible into English. So far it's very enjoyable, a step or two up from brain fluff but not particularly demanding, either.

I'm listening to The Last Siege by Jonathan Stroud. I really enjoyed his Bartimaeus Trilogy, but I'm halfway through The Last Siege and I'm still not really sure where it's going, or what the point is.

I am continuing my pre-trip to Italy reading moving from McCullough's Masters of Rome series to The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. OK so far, only really ~100 pgs in and it's a thick one!

>34 jhowell: I remember hating The Agony and the Ecstasy when I had to read it in high school, it's probably deserving of a re-read.

I'm still on Vladimir Nabokov's Ada and Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. I've been doing so much reading for my comps this last week, I haven't actually picked up either of these all week, though. *sigh*

Starting Victoria Victorious by Jean Plaidy for Go Review That Book! here at LT.

I loved The Agony and the Ecstasy when I read it in high school. But I didn't have to, and that makes a world of difference.

I am in the beginning of two books, Almost Moon and Out Stealing Horses. Both are interesting so far. Both were picked up after discussion on LT.

>27 beserene:, beserene - Hah! Your description of Cultural Amnesia is hilarious. I really want to read that as well, since it seems like a deeper, artier (is that a word) version of The Intellectual Devotional. The thing I loved about The Intellectual Devotional was that it got me interested in reading so many new books about topics I had never thought about exploring. I expect that Cultural Amnesia will do the same.

I am almost finished with The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta, which I feel lukewarm about. Next up is The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid.

I am reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time this week. So far, so good.

I started reading Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's Good Wives on Thursday (after reading Jane Austen's Persuasion at speed -- despite the day job, I finished it in a day and a half).

#27 beserene and #38 fannyprice, Yes, after that description I'm going to have to pull Cultural Amnesia off my TBR pile and read it -- or at least the introduction!

Finished Out and Far from the Madding Crowd, both of which were enjoyable, but also finished my first 10/10 for the year with The Book Club Bible, which is an excellent guide - I highly recommend it to anyone who goes to a book group. Or, indeed, anyone who is on any kind of book discussion forum!

Now listening to an audio book of The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley, which I downloaded from Librivox, and reading The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux.

I am currently reading King Dork a YA title. So far, it is very good. This is the first book by this author who I believe is in a rock band (just got home from a birthday party for a 7yr old at a roller skating rink and my brain is pretty much not functioning right now) but the writing is very good and the tone of the book really comes across as that of a teenage boy - having two in the house right now I have a lot of experience with that.

Slowly but delightfully still reading Rebecca. Am also starting Captivating by John Eldredge.

I just looove LT! I've learned about so many great books here, and I continue to add to the TBR list every time I come online. Newest entries to the list: Cultural Amnesia and The Intellectual Devotional, plus The Book Club Bible.

I tried reading The Mayflower by Philbrick and, though it's well-written and interesting, I think I'm just not in the mood. So I'm putting it aside and reading The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins instead. So far, a couple of chapters in, and I'm hooked.

I about halfway through True at First Light by Ernest Hemingway. Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography by David Michaelis is on deck. Really looking forward to readin' it.

I started The Stand by Stephen King a couple hours ago and am totally hooked.

Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson for an online book club. First book since the baby was born; really enjoying it.

Just started Cry, the Beloved Country today and am finding it to be quite powerful. The prose is beautifully written and the plot rather melancholy.

I'm reading Things Fall Apart for school and Trainspotting, Torchwood Another Life, and Rant for pleasure.

#42 rebeccanyc: I too am reading Cultural Amnesia and can second the recommendations of beserene and fannyprice. It is very worthwhile reading!

Just finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Wonderful read - thanks to LTs for another great recommendation of a book I might otherwise not have read.

Have added The Intellectual Devotional by David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheim as well as The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett and The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America by George H. Nash to this weeks reading.

Touchstone for The Uncommon Reader not working - unfortunately, a common problem on LT these days.

Going to finish up I Am a Cat, then I'll try to go through as much of Ancient Egyptian Myths and Legends as I can by Wednesday afternoon. Hopefully, by then, two of the books I just ordered will have come in (Epic of Gilgamesh and The Tale of Sinuhe).

If they're not, I'll probably get to the Bookstore and get new copies of the Iliad and Odyssey, and read them... My current copies were used for class. AKA, they're gratuitously filled with doodles of cyclopes and stick people

#48 Oklahomabooklady: The Stand is my favorite Stephen King book, of those I've read so far, and one of my all-time favorites by any author - enjoy!

I've picked up a satirical, post-apocalyptic tale called Our American King by David Lozell Martin. This doesn't have the gravitas of the other recent post-apocalyptic fiction, but I'm enjoying the way this author pokes fun at our cultural foibles.

Still reading Emma. Really enjoying it. I just realized, and cannot believe, that the movie Clueless was based on it.

I've just finished Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (totally loved it), and am now going to start on Out by Natsuo Kirino. It's a re-read, and one of my favourites.

>57 sanja: That never would have occurred to me. Interesting! *scratches chin*

I am going to start Geraldine Brooks}'s People of the Book. It is getting great reviews and she will be visiting our bookshop on the 22nd.

edited to fix the touchstone

avaland, I mightily enjoyed Our American King, and have recommended it several times already.

I finished You've Been Warned} by James Patterson. One of his worst books. I am now reading Shattered Dreams by Irene Spencer.

This book explains the Mormans belief about plural marriage, as well as, a story from someone who lived it. It is really very interesting.

I started The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi last night and before I knew it, I was halfway through it. Really very good.

I'm reading New England White by Stephen L. Carter, The Terror by Dan Simmons and A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present. I've been stuck about 2/3 in on the People's History for a few months now. Hopefully, I can find a way to finish it.

I am finding snow by orhan parmukdifficult reading. I hope I can finish it!

The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey. I felt like a quick, fun read, so hopefully this'll fit the bill.

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I really loved Snow, but my best friend did not like it very much at all. Different strokes...

I finished Blood Rites and I've started Dead Beat, both by Jim Butcher.

I'm reading As Nature Made Him: the boy who was raised as a girl by John Colapinto and The Kite Runner by Khaled Hoseini - both captivating.

In the car on audio I've got Moby Dick going, a librivox download... this alternates between tedium and greatness. A good portion of it does not hold my attention - I have to keep rewinding to see what I've missed.

I've been ignoring my DailyLit.com email for about a week now, need to catch up on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, which I am almost finished with.

I've just started reading The Yacoubian Building and The Pesthouse, having eaten up A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers, The Somnambulist, and The Book Thief this weekend.

The Book Thief annoyed me intensely. Dictionary for Lovers started as an irritation but crept up into the back of my brain--it's a sneaky little book, and one I'd recommend. The Somnambulist was a delicious romp, which hit all the right notes, without falling into the trying-too-hardness of something like Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell or The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters.

#57--In high school we watched Clueless after reading Emma. We had to match up the characters. It was a fun assignment.

Will start Keeping the House: A novel by Ellen Baker today. Looking forward to it.

>61 LouisBranning:, Louis. Yes, it's a light-ish read, an intelligent satire - witty, yet thoughtful.

I finished King Dork last night which I enjoyed very much. I am currently reading The Story of Forgetting which is fabulous. I do not think this will take me long to read at all. I hope to finish it before the end of the week and begin Firefly Lane.

I may be repeating myself here...
Recently read The Memory Room by C.J. Koch which I thought very good. His other novels - The Year of Living Dangerously, Highways to a War and Out of Ireland - are exemplary in their writing and a little more interesting than this new novel.

Musicophilia by Oliver Sacks has no touchstones and doesn't deserve them. An unscholarly, mostly pointless and sometimes stupid look at "music and the "brain".

I also finished my summer crime read - The Chameleon's Shadow by Minette Walters. No blood and guts, but a well-paced examination of the characters involved in a homicide investigation. Kepps you guessing.

Just started The Gum Thief by Douglas Coupland this morning on my train ride to work. So far so good. I like his writing, easy to read.

I'm currently reading Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. This is the third of his books that I have read--the other two being Slapstick and Breakfast of Champions--and I'm wondering why it took me 41 years to give him a try.

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Ireed100, you're reading two especially captivating books. And how I agree!

I loved The Kite Runner which I discovered on the new book shelf of my library when that book was a newly-released debut novel.

I recently read As Nature Made Him and was totally outraged by the medical community's treatment of "Brenda". To find out the rest of this child's story, look up the following link only *after you finish* reading through to the end of this book.

The link to the wikipedia article is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Reimer

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Socialchild, I too discovered the great writing of Kurt Vonnegut just a few years ago. I read Breakfast of Champions, Slaughter-House Five, and Sirens of Titan.

Although I was pleasantly surprised by his novels, I especially liked his non-fiction book called A Man Without a Country which he wrote as an 82-year-old and which contained his sad realizations about the current state of the world. Do read it, if you haven't already.

Let's see, in AP World Lit we just finished reading Hedda Gabler a play by Henrik Ibsen about a egotistic woman who is fenced in by society and wants to create excitement. I must say, the ending quite surprised me, though I saw it coming in Act IV. I'm sort of in the middle of New Moon by Stephenie Meyer, and I don't find it quite as passionate as the first book, Twilight, but I really want to get through it for Eclipse, which I've heard is really good.

After I'm done with that, I'll probably start wading through my small stack of library books that I've neglected in favor of my new Christmas books, A Brief Chapter In My Impossible Life and Big Fish.

In non-book news, I saw Juno last night and I thought it was EXCELLENT. Highly recommended for girl teenage/young adult. My brother went to see it with us instead of National Treasure - worst decision he made! xD

I'm still reading Tristram Shandy and am finding it hilarious and good in parts, and difficult to get through in others, but I rather think that was the point.
I started reading Violin but it was awful so I had to leave it (although I hate doing that, for this book I had to make an acception.)

I also started The blind assassin and so far so good, yet confusing to have a story within a story. Has anyone else read this? Any comments?

I finally finished Saraminda, my December Early Reviewers book. I was surprised by how much I didn't like it, so it took longer to read than it would have otherwise. Other reviewers liked it more than I did, so if you're planning to read it, don't be discouraged by my opinion.

Next up - either The Golden Compass or The World Without Us. We'll see what I'm in the mood for tonight after dinner.

>78 SqueakyChu: SqueakyChu

I agree, I am beside myself with disbelief and anger at what I'm reading. I want to sue these "doctors" myself just for having put these experiences out in the world. Thanks for the link, I will be seeking it out soon.

I finished Hotel du Lac last night (was quite disappointed in it) and immediately started Chocolat by Joanne Harris. I loved the movie; I'm already seeing that the book is much more complex. I love Harris' writing.

#81 mrsradcliffe - I read The Blind Assassin several months ago and had to be very patient through the "sci-fi" parts. It all comes together in the end, but it was a major distraction for me. Stick with it though!

I finished The Reluctant Fundamentalist yesterday, and now I will be reading On Agate Hill by Lee Smith, which was a gift from my LT Secret Santa and a recommendation from avaland! Looking forward to it!

>78 SqueakyChu:, 83

I want to sue these "doctors" myself just for having put these experiences out in the world.

This really resonated - I haven't read As Nature Made Him, but your reaction sounds very similar to my response to The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman, which is about a little girl with epilepsy, and the culture clash between her parents and her doctors, and even though everyone wants what they think is best for the girl, somehow she still manages to get lost in the mix. I read it in a college anthropology class and it had a huge impact on me.

Just something to keep in mind if you're ever looking for something along similar lines.

I just started Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Might take me a while to finish this book its 572 pages and the print is small.. but I am looking forward to reading it.

I'm halfway through Midnight Tides by Steven Erikson. He writes wonderful as usual; very complex and big. My favorite character to read about is Tehol, and I'm always looking forward to his chapters. However, there are a lot of words I don't understand in Steven's language, with me being Norwegian and all...

Argh, sometimes I wish I grew up in an english-speaking country :S

Added to my list:

An Alphabet for Gourmets by M.F.K. Fisher - a "classic" of culinary literature.

Celebration of Discipline by Richard J. Foster - a "classic" tome of Christian/Quaker spiritual musings.

Both are blandly enjoyable thusfar. Still working my way through no fewer than four other books (Wind in the Willows, Things Fall Apart, Complete Short Stories of Graham Greene, and Bee Thousand), not to mention catching up on back issues of Sun, NY Times Book Review, Film Comment, and Mojo. Reading is turning me into an absentee father/husband.

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fyrefly98, I'm definitely going to look for The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down as it was also recently recommended to me by dental hygienist with whom I always discuss good books. You can get this book for me next Christmas! ;-)

(To others not understanding the above comment: firefly98 had been my Secret Santa!)

As a health care professional, I strongly urge each person to be his own health care advocate and to listen carefully to a child when supervising that child's health care.

>87 Ambros: I absolutely loved that series, KSR is a personal favorite of mine. The reading is not only long and in small type, but also pretty dense with the science sometimes. I hope you'll stick with it, though, it's worth it :D

I've just finished A pocketful of Rye by Agatha Christie, and have just started the Penguin Book of English Comic Stories, edited by Patricia Craig

I'm struggling my way through The Devil of Nanking by Mo Hayder for my book club this weekend. I'd have stopped by now if it wasn't "required reading," so to speak - it's too creepy and weird for me.

I'm also reading my first 888 Challenge book, Blue Bloods by Melissa de la Cruz, and quite enjoying it. Rather Gossip Girl with vampires, but entertaining. Bad YA librarian, I should have read it when it first came out, but at least I'm finally getting to it.

Just finished You Suck by Christopher Moore, very funny read! Now starting Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. I needed something sweet and light after Devil in the White City! Phew!

I'm almost done with Captain's Fury by Jim Butcher, and I'll be moving on to Latro in the Mist by Gene Wolfe shortly.

Finished Fraud of the Century last night. It's hard to believe how very little of the election of 1876 was taught in the schools I & my kids went to. Yes, Fremont OH, the home & Wow! "Presidential Library" of local hero Rutherfor B. Hayes is just 20 miles away, but has that cover-up helped to make future elections less-than-honest? The tone of the book is more of sorrow than outrage which helps the reader explore all the what-ifs & might-have-beens. The character of James Tilden was discussed in some detail -- again facts never taught in school.

After that heavy reading, I am now relaxing with a Tony Hillerman mystery Hunting Badger.

I'm currently reading:

The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams
The Naked Sun by Isaac Asimov
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

#80 AlaskaYoung, Hedda Gabler is one of my favorite Ibsen works. I've never thought that Hedda is egotistical--rather that she is a strong woman (and has been raised like a man in a time when women had very, very few choices or opportunities) and that she is suddenly victimized by both this man and society. I think she takes the only way out which will work for her so that she can remain true to herself.

I just finished All Families Are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland and have moved on to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

I started Atonement by Ian McEwan on Saturday - it's not grabbing me as much as I thought it would, am about 1/3 through. I am hoping it gets better as I hear the movie is excellent and want to see it. I am reading Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali which I find interesting as many of my students are Muslim and some are Somali.

#86 fyrefly98 and #90, SqueakyChu, I thought The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down was brilliant, and brilliantly written. It is a fascinating and compelling book on its own, and also set me on the path of reading anything Anne Fadiman writes.

#48 Oklahomabooklady and #55 scaifea....I loved The Stand too, but one of my favorites is Bag of Bones....you've got to read it if you haven't already...very scary!!

#102 Allie actually I do have Bag of Bones but have never read it. I will add it to my TBR pile. =) Thanks.
#55 scaifea I am enjoying The Stand. It will creep me out now everytime someone sneezes around me.

Finished listening to The Last Siege this afternoon - it wasn't that interesting; certainly didn't grab me the way the Bartimaeus Trilogy did.

Moved on to Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen - it's got middle-of-the-road reviews so far, but it's been on my to-be-listened list for about eight months now, so we'll see how it goes.

I'm in the midst of a Kristin Hannah binge, not my usual at all. I just finished The Magic Hour and have just started Mystic Lake, all in anticipation of receiving ER copy of Firefly Lane. In addition, I'm reading Good Harbor by Anita Diamant.

Last week, I finished The vicar of wakefield and The year of magical thinking. I really enjoyed The year of magical thinking, and found it to be a scary read, especially because my husband and I are so very close. Well written and very touching.

I am now stuck in a nightmare of a book, Dining on stones. I am 200 pages in to this 450+ monstrosity and as of yet, there is barely a plot. I can't figure out what is going on. Its now written to be wierd either, its just pages and pages of prose of nothing. I am really strongly contemplating walking away from this book as I am so frustrated by the complete lack of anything happening!!! But then, I have a 100 degree fever and didnt go to work today - so perhaps this book is just a hallucination - I hope for the books sake it is.

I'm on Chapter 16 of Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson. I'm almost finished; maybe by the end of the week.

Ugh. Back in school. Reading about 4 books simultaneously. Existentialism: Basic Writings, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Notes from the Underground & Lakota Woman. In for another busy semester.

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I had the same reaction to Dining on Stones, and I really like Iain Sinclair's other books. I re-read it a couple of months ago, and enjoyed it more second time around, but it is hard-going.

#102 Allie64: I haven't read Bag of Bones yet (I'm trying to work my way through them chronologically and just haven't got there yet), but I've enjoyed all his stuff so far, although sometimes I get a bad case of the heebie-jeebies, especially (and this is a warning for you, Oklahomabooklady) the NY tunnel scene in The Stand {shivers just thinking about it}...

In addition to Geraldine Brook's People of the Book, I just started Sarah Vowell's The Partly Cloudy Patriot. A great thing to read during a very busy week.

My bookshop hosted Michael Pollan last night for his book In Defense of Food. He is my new hero. Not only is he smart and right on - he is also very entertaining. Read the book! It will change the way you eat (and therefore feel).

#81 mrsradcliffe: I agree with #81. I found that I got used to the dual storyline in The Blind Assassin and that the effort was worth it.

#111 alphaorder- I am in the middle of Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation. It is really interesting. I am putting her other books on my wish list.

Reading Loose Girl, a memoir of promiscuity by Kerry Cohen...almost halfway through this fast read...along the lines of Smashed. Young girl looking for a way to fill in the hole inside...parents are selfish....

Still reading:
The Age of Reason by Thomas Paine
A collection of Essays by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind
The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

And this week I've started:
Mr. Parker Pyne, Detective by Agatha Christie
To Infinity and Beyond by Eli Maor (for a math class all about infinity that I'm sitting in on this semester - it's so fun to be back in the classroom on the other side of the desk!)

>86 fyrefly98:, 101 I'm adding The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down to my wishlist, too. Thank you for the recommendation.

Finished Rebecca last night and started Healing Invisible Wounds: Paths to Hope and Recovery in a Violent World by Richard F. Mollica over breakfast.

I finished Dining with stones and am honestly still muddled, and it takes a lot for a book to muddle me.

On to better and brighter reading, I am now going to read Unless and am looking forward to it.

I loved Unless. Of course since it is by Carol Shields it is easy to love, as she is one of my favorites. Enjoy!

Am currently reading The Historian and a french non-fiction book titled Manger, a non-diet diet book: the authors explain that the only way to lose weight and keep it off is by only eating when you're hungry and stopping as soon as you're full (no kidding!!). They give you tips on recognizing hunger pangs and claim that as long as you stop when you're full, you can pretty much eat anything and not gain weight...

On the agenda for this week (subject to change without notice and for a variety of reasons): Critical Space, Iced, Open Season, Evans to Betsy, Grievous Sin, Literary Murder, Saturday, The Master, and Run. In the nonfiction vein, I am continuing on with The Intellectual Devotional, Cultural Amnesia, and The Conservative Intellectual Movement in America. Whew!

I'm currently only reading one book, which is kind of odd for me. I'm reading
The Dowery Bride but hope to start a couple other books this week.

I shall be starting Diary by Chuck Palahniuk

And quite unacceptably, Chuck Palahniuk doesn't work on touchstones.

I gave up on The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. The story-telling of that book is too sugary sweet, reminiscent of the writing in The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd which I also did not like.

I'm quite content, however, now that I've started Bachelor Brothers' Bed & Breakfast, a thin novel about twin brothers who run a bed and breakfast. These two guys love books and cats. Sounds delightful. I'm only sorry it's fiction.

>118 keren7: Unless is a wonderful book.You'll probably enjoy it. I'm currently reading Accelerando by Charles Stross and Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. Both are great so far.

Last night I started and got half-way through The Golden Compass, which I'm enjoying quite a bit.

#119 and #125
Thanks for the Unless encouragement. I am 1/3 through the book and really enjoying it. Its sad to think that this is the last book she published before she died. It kinds of makes it more poignant.

Finished up two excellent books, J.G. Farrell’s Troubles, and Peter Quinn’s Looking for Jimmy - A Search for Irish America.

Now I’m picking up from where I left off from the first book I would grab from my shelves in the event I were to have to perform an immediate evacuation from my home, William Trevor’s 1,265 page behemoth, The Collected Stories of William Trevor, one of the NYT’s Editor’s Choice's for best books of 1993. Trevor’s leisurely, no-nonsense writing style is a throwback to many years ago, maybe to Thomas Hardy or E.M. Forster. In addition to portraying (and from a distance), a fascinating, vast array of Irish and British characters, Trevor is also a brilliant plotter. His stories turn on ordinary characters involved in extraordinary situations. Once you are lulled by his gentle prose, the narratives can twist to catch you by surprise.

Mary by Janis Cooke Newman. I am really loving it so far.

I finished Cry, the Beloved Country and am now reading Things Fall Apart. I had high hopes for this book but am having trouble getting into it. It's worth finishing, just not bowling me over as I expected.

#128 - Seanlong - I just finished the Story of Lucy Gault recently and fell in love with William Trevor's writing. I agree with what you said -- his style is so unadorned, but still so powerful. I am definately going to read more of his work.

Still rather slogging away at Irving Stone's The Agony and the Ecstasy - a biography of Michelangelo. I agree it is a must read prior to my Italy trip -- but the story itself is rather repetititive -- Now I am very involved with chiseling this sculpture. Now I am chiseling another sculpture. Now a painting. Another sculpture. . . .

Watership Down by Richard Adams. Really enjoying it so far.

I started Dune by Frank Herbert this morning. I first read it ten years ago, and remember absolutely loving it until right near the end, where I felt it fell apart. I'm only about fifty pages into it, so it's still too early to say what I think of it this time through.

>111 alphaorder: and 113: Sarah Vowell is remarkable. I read Partly Cloudy Patriot recently and LOVED it, and listened to her read Assassination Vacation a year or so ago, hearing it read with her quirky voice was a treat. Enjoy!!!

I finished Chocolat by Joanne Harris last night, a feast of a book! and then started The Road by Cormac McCarthy, which looks more like a famine.

Glad to hear raves about The Blind Assassin as it's fairly high on Mount TBR.

#105 karogers.... I loved Mystic Lake, you should enjoy it!! I am waiting for my ER copy of Firefly Lane too!!

I finished The House at Riverton which I got as a ARC from Barnes and Noble. It was a really good historical, mystery, and romance all rolled up in one! Almost half way done with The Golden Compass which I am really enjoying (would love to see the film after I do!) Then, I will have to decide what my next book to read (I only had a hundred or so to chose from!)

>134 teelgee:
Am in the middle of Sarah Vowell's essay The Nerd Voice where she talks about how she became obsessed with an internet community of other obsessed people during the 2000 election.

Sound familiar?

Am reading To Love and Be Wise by Josephine Tey which makes me a little sorry because there is only one Tey book left that I haven't read. Generally, I don't like mysteries, but hers I like.

FINISHED:
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley

ABANDONED:
The House in the Forest by Michele Desbordes

CURRENTLY READING:
The Island of Dr Moreau by H G Wells
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney

This is a GREAT reading week!

I remember The Water Babies as one of my very first, very favorite books. I sense I would find much fault with it today! What did you think of it Kell?

I have posted the National Book Critics Circle Award nominations on the Prize Group if anyone is interested in commenting.
http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=552

Loved Blind Assassin but, then again, Atwood could scribble on a lunch napkin over coffee and I'd love it:-)

amandameale, how does that Sacks title differ from his previous works? I understand you have liked some of his previous books. . .

dihibi, you might enjoy this article from the January 6th NY Times Sunday book review section: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/books/review/Adams-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

#125, krisa, I loved Reading Like a Writer. Alas, I have not followed its advice and slowed down my reading!

#131 Hi, jhowell ~ Last year, I heard about a new book about Michelangelo & the painting of the Sistine Chapel that sounded excellent, and I put it on my TBR list. It may be more readable than The Agony and the Ecstacy (although I personally loved that book when I read it an aeon ago). Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King was the name of the book. This is the same guy who wrote Brunelleschi's Dome. I haven't read either yet, but the one about Michelangelo got a 4 star average rating on LT. Just a suggestion.

ETA # of post to which I'm responding

81-- I started blind assassin but thought it trash and returned it to the library. Still working on snow.

Starting Yakuza's Moon by Shoko Tendo. The cover art is intriguing.

I had never heard of The Spirit Catches You and You fall Down and now it has been brought up twice in one week. We are going to be reading it for my April book club meeting. A lot of the members have already read it but they said it is worth rereading to have a good discussion.

Started Beware of God by Shalom Auslander today. A super-fast, funny read so far.

While lying in bed last night, I just realised that all my 'currently reading' books fall into separate categories, which I like! I should always read this way!

1. Heavy, literary, brainwork book: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
2. Light and easy re-read: Anne of Windy Willows by LM Montgomery
3. Book everyone else but me has already read (there seem to be a lot of those): Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
4. 'Buzz' book much recommended in LT and elsewhere: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
5. Classic: The Warden by Anthony Trollope - I'm slowly reading that one online in between working and LTing. :-/

Now if I just add a non-fiction to that list, I should always read all those categories at once!

# 131: jhowell

About Italy, if Florence is in you itinerary, consider The City of Florence : Historical Vistas and Personal Sightings by R. W. B. Lewis. I read this just before my (absolutely wonderful) visit there years ago and it made the city so much richer for me. He does a terrific job of mixing the history, the architecture, and the art with the city geography and current feel of the city.

#143 storeetllr - I've read Brunelleschi's Dome also years ago (after visiting Florence). I think Ross King writes similar to Erik Larson or Simon Winchester - fun, accessible, lots of cool trivia, novel-like structure, but (IMO) limited in dimension.

I'm still slogging through Baudolino by Umberto Eco. It's quite a departure from the others of his I've read (The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum). It's a much simpler read, though I'm not sure if that's the way the book was written, or just the translation. Unfortunately it's not as gripping as the others of his I've read, and I'm finding my attention is wandering. I'm about halfway now, and it's just starting to wind up a bit.

Just finished The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, a very clever little book. Still trying to finish The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst as part of my plan to read all the Booker Prize winners. It is extremely tedious! Next up is The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman.

I gave up on The blind assassin and am now concentrating all my efforts on tristram shandy and finding that I am quite getting into it.
On my tbr pile are Melmouth the wanderer, the monk, love in the time of cholera, montesquieu, and evolution of the grand tour
Hmm where can I get some more free time from??

>152 mrsradcliffe:. It's possible you could get more free time if you broke both legs and were in traction for a period of time; or you committed a crime and were imprisoned but I wouldn't recommend either of these to extend your reading time:-)

Have finished Our American King and found it weirdly entertaining. Note: It's satire. If you don't understand how satire works, don't read the book as you are bound to be offended in one way or another:-)

Moving on to My Place by Australian aborginal author and artist Sally Morgan

I just finished reading Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher which was the second book of a series and was even better than the first. I was going to move straight on to the third book in the series but then thought that a short break between would be good and so started Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro this morning. So far I am really enjoying the style in which its written. Very lyrical.

#141 avaland: Regarding Sacks previous books, I think I enjoyed The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat because it was only about neurology cases, a subject on which I am entirely ignorant. As for Awakenings, that was an interesting story which became a movie.
Perhaps if I weren't a musician I would have enjoyed some of Musicophilia but certainly not all of it.

I just finished The Golden Compass. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it was much better than I thought it would be. I think I bought it just to find out what all the hype was about, but I found I could barely put it down.

I finished Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges a couple of days ago (fantastic! thought-provoking! go read!) and then seemed to "accidentally" re-read Lords and Ladies - the Discworld novels will always have a special place in my heart and I think the Lancre ones are all favourites...

I appear to have had another accident today and bought some books (argh! no self control! Although it could have been worse, I found an old, beautiful, beautiful edition of The Thousand Nights and One Night (Richard Burton translation) but it was £400 for the four volumes so I refrained. And put it back on the shelf quite quickly for fear I would hurt it...) but it does mean I've started the Simon Armitage translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight which is all rather lovely.

132> Watership Down is a wonderful book - though I haven't re-read it for years I thought it was brilliant when I was younger!

133> I read Dune recently. In the end I enjoyed it, but I did have a fairly major hiatus as I got to the end of the first part and threw it across the room... It was definitely worth persisting with though :-)

I finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy last night, which was compelling and disturbing and beautifully written. I can't say I enjoyed it, but I loved the experience of it. I think I need to take a day off of reading to let it sink in.

>159 teelgee: That's exactly how I felt after I finished The Road. I plant to re-read it soon.

#140 teelgee - Unfortunately, I was rather disappointed by The Water Babies. I found it very preachy and laboured. Just not for me, i'm afraid. Ah well, it'd be a dull world if we all liked the same things, eh?

I'm enjoying both The Island of Dr Moreau and The Tenderness of Wolves though.

>161 Kell_Smurthwaite: Well since I haven't seen it for about 54 years, I'm sure I would have a different opinion of it today! I remember nothing of the story, just the pictures, and I think I made up my own story about water babies.

I just began Hotel World by Ali Smith.

I'm half way through The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty by Anne Rice.

I thought all the insane BDSM might make it somewhat hard to get through. However, It's very readable and entertaining with an interesting plot.

#136 Allie64 - I DID like Mystic Lake. She's a new author to me and quite surprisingly good.

#138 Fourpawz2 - Which Josephine Tey book do you have to look forward to? I just keep re-reading them all.

Right now I'm reading Back on Blossom Street; for some reason anything that has to do with knitting needles is calling my name.

I read Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Dearly devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay and am currently reading The Chameleon's Shadow by Minette Walters. Am also working my way through The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan and am part way through The Fires of Heaven.

I am half-way through Cloudstreet by Tim Winton and also have a couple of volumes of poetry on the go: More of Me Disappears by John Amen, which is very good, and Selected Poems by Jorge Luis Borges, which is wonderful.

I am reading Wilkie Collins' No Name. Pretty good so far, and rather an interesting study of the ambiguous position of illegitimate children in Victorian England.

Every Man For Himself by Beryl Bainbridge. A fictional account of the sinking of the Titanic. Really enjoying it but still mourning A Thousand Splendid Suns a bit.

Just finished a most tedious book Victoria Victorious by Jean Plaidy. I'm just starting Pushing Up Daisies by Rosemary Harris for Early Reviewers here at LT.

I just finished Right Behind you by Gail Giles... Fantastic so I picked up another one of her books, Playing in Traffic... Not quite done but just as good... Highly recommend for YA audience..

I started a new audiobook this afternoon: The Twentieth Wife by Indu Sundaresan.