What You're Reading the Week of 12 April 2008

A quick placeholder as I'm on the road this week.

Finished Simon Scarrow's Young Bloods great read, can't wait for book three; and The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb deep & provocative, I went out and bought his earlier book but I think I need to read the Black Swan again (I never re-read books). Started Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl and I'm half-way through Barack Obama's Dreams from My Father and enjoying both.

I don't think "quick" covers the "early" part too well. ;)

Oh dear, that's just a mental aberration. Got my days in a twist, I was sure it was Friday yesterday, just a bit bemused to find that it's still Friday this morning . . . Ah well.

Right now I am re-reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

>3 GreyHead: Hey, man - I'm all about Fridays all week long. Nothing wrong with a little wishful thinking ;)

I'm still reading Who Are You People? and am making slow but sure progress. I've also started Demon Moon by Meljean Brook.

I am finishing up I am Legend, which I was surprised that it's a collection of short stories and the novella, I am Legend. AND two of the stories in this book have inspired movies. "I Am Legend" with Will Smith is the better known of the two, but "Dance of the Dead" is also a movie with Robert Englund, aka Freddy Kruger, as the barker for the loopy (slang for L. U. P., Lifeless Undead Phenomenon... basically a zombie). One of the stories, "The Nearly Departed," reminds me of the kind of jokes my dad told. Two others are really fun to read, "Prey," a bewitched doll comes to life and tries to kill the owner, and "The Silk Dress," a creepy, supernatural story of a girl protective of her dead mother's memory... and what she does to the friend who slanders her mom.

I'm also about halfway through Stephen King's Skeleton Crew, which is famous for "The Mist, now a movie. Stephen King endorses I Am Legend as one of his inspirations, and it shows in Skeleton Crew. Both are a collection of short stories, and both begin with a fantastic novella then alternate stories that are 2 to 10 pages long with longer stories. However, I think I Am Legend is a better book. (Sorry SK fans!)

After Legend, I plan to read Bastard Out of Carolina and Duma Key... that'll probably fill my week. (Duma is like 7 or 8 hundred pages long!) I picked Duma because it's a highly wishlisted book on BM. Someone's gonna be a happy camper when I list it!

>6 Jenson_AKA_DL: Jenson: Who Are You People sounds really fascinating -- what do you think of it?

>8 teelgee: Teelgee - It really has been interesting so far. In chapters I've read she's been to a Barbie convention, ice fishing, pigeon racing and board gaming convention. The author has a pretty good sense of humor and is willing to poke fun at her own pre-conceived notions about people.

wicked by Gregory Maguire

dang its a long book lol reading it when i have the time at work and at home.

Memo to the President Elect and I guess I'll be forcing myself to read my March ER book The Arthurian Omen. I've been trying to wait until I was in the mood for it, but its been a month now and I haven't been anywhere close so I'm just going to buckle down and get it read.

#10 lisa211 Good luck with that... I just finished it... finally... day before yesterday. Definately not one of my fave books... even though I went over to BookMooch and wishlisted Son of a Witch... well I gotta know what happens next! /-:)

I loved Wicked - was one of those I couldn't put down. IMO, his best are that one and Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister. The others I didn't care for much.

@ aces: How is Good Omens? I've always enjoyed Gaiman's comic book work, but Good Omens will be my first prose work by him. It's been on Mount TBR for a few months now. If you're re-reading it, I guess you enjoyed it the first time around!

Just finished The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan and started Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men and A People's History of Science by Clifford D. Conner.

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll get much reading done this weekend as there is packing up for a move to do as well as dealing with my partner's obnoxious parents.

I just started reading The Best American Non-Required Reading 2007 but getting bored with it. It's a collection of short stories so I don't feel guilty about stopping and starting.

I'm going by the library today to pick up The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham because I'm on a HUGE Maugham kick!

Sigh . . . I'm still working on The Medici. It's very interesting, but quite detailed, and with one thing and another going on, I haven't had much reading time. But I am closing in on the halfway point!

I'll still be working on Howards End by E.M. Forster, and then starting A Passage to India.

Then (hooray!) I will be done with the books I've had to read for class forever, and I can start on my massive personal TBR pile!

#15, heliophobe

I loved Of Mice and Men I've read it at least three times, last time was about a year ago with my 15 year old. When I read it with her, I studied the history of the book, and the attitude of the times towards mentally handicapped and mentally ill. It really put things in perspective, and I understood the book better through the lens of history. I hope you enjoy it, too.

DeAnnaW, I've been reading a Maugham novel nearly every month lately, and just finished The Razor's Edge a few weeks ago, which was my favorite of them all so far.

I was on planes all Wednesday night, so I read Henning Mankell's Before the Frost, I love that Wallander series.

I started Pnin by Nabokov.

I left The Autobiography of Henry VIII and Living History at home (too bulky to travel with), so I'll find more stuff to read while I'm in Canada for two weeks.

My first post on here and I've got my reading for next week all planned as I'm actually going away tomorrow.

Paddy Clarke ha ha ha by Roddy Doyle
Desert of the Heart by Jane Rule
State of Happiness by Stella Duffy
The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther
My Summer of Love by Helen Cross
Mr Golightly's Holiday by Salley Vickers
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Two of these come from a reading challenge set my friends in a book group where we've all 'challenged' each other to read books out of our bookcases. Sounds odd I know!

Well I'm finally giving up and quit reading Snow by Orhan Pamuk. I got about 150 pages in and I couldn't stand it anymore. On to Venetian Mask by ER book.

I'm currently reading John Brunner's 'The Squares of the City', a strange book from the 60s set in a fictional latin-american town called Vados.
Although Brunner is known as a SF writer this one is quite unusual in that there's not a lot of SF in it, so far.

I just finished March by Geraldine Brooks, which I thought was a good read. Now, I am off to read Digging to America by Anne Tyler.

Made it through The Road by Cormac McCarthy without slitting my wrists, but it was a close-run thing. Now I'm dipping into A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit and loving it. I accidentally stumbled upon her book yesterday - I was in Borders with my youngest son and suddenly took an urge to spice up his Chomsky ( yikes, he makes me feel totally duhhh) with something I'd actually read and enjoyed, so I bought him Beloved because I think it's one of those books that everyone should read at least once. Next to Morrison was Solnit, and the Solnit cover was so gorgeous, and I as my whole family would attest, getting lost is something I do very well...

And the way I buy books, going bankrupt is a close second.

debigliori, #26 Rebecca Solnit's River of Shadows is one of my very favorite books. I thought she was such a wonderful writer that I've bought several of her other books but they're all still on my TBR pile.

Finished Angels Fall by Nora Roberts and started Whispers In the Sand by Barbara Erskine

Touchstones wonky...

Starting an 18 day road trip from Seattle to Raymond, MS. and back, early tomorrow morning. Along the way we will be in Jackson, MS., Vicksburg and New Orleans.

Taking along The Race Beat by Gene Roberts, Homer's Odyssey translated by Robert Fitzgerald for a Humanities class at the Seattle Language Academy. (I'm going to miss two classes) And finally, The World of Odysseus by M.I. Finley. I'll try to keep my book lust in check while I'm on vacation. A hard call. Probably won't post until I return.

Last week I had to do a lot of reading for homework but I did manage to read Royal Harlot: A Novel of the Countess Castlemaine and King Charles II by Susan Scott her books are always quick and fun to read.

This week I will read A Change of Heart by Picoult.

3rd Chapter of Speaks the Nightbird Volume 1: Judgment of the Witch. It's very good so far.

I think that I'm finally going to finish The Sleepwalkers by Hermann Broch this weekend. I've enjoyed the book, but it was a little heavier than I thought it would be. I've also been reading Florence: The Golden Age by Gene Brucker. That's for when I need light reading. After I finish with the former I'll start World without End by Ken Follett.

The Moral Animal by Robert Wright. Pretty good, a little kooky at times.

Trying hard to get into The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles but finding it hard going after almost 100 pages. I need some encouragement to keep going! Has anyone got some for me?

I'm going through the same books as I did the previous week...

I'm quite enjoying The Last Wish, probably because of how it's not just a collection of stories but there's one story cut in parts and put between full stories which it touches upon. I thought that's quite clever...

Oadenol's Codex is quite a good book, lots of things that'll be useful for my Exalted game...

The Penguin Guide to Literature in English: Britain in Ireland is quite an interesting read, but I'm getting the impression it was written for people with less proficiency in English than I have...

Picked up and started The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart yesterday. So far not so good though. Well, we'll see where it goes.

#12: thekoolaidmom

I'm halfway through wicked. The things I do just to get teenagers to read LOL

#13: teelgee
Yes Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister I love that one. made me turn the other way round on Cinderella.

On the agenda for this week: With the Old Breed, Valley of the Golden Mummies, The Greatest Battle, A Christmas Secret, Summer in Mossy Creek, and Last Flag Down.

I'm still reading Catch 22 at the moment, its good but hard to get into during my 20 minute bus ride every morning, so it's taking longer than I hoped.

Went to a book shop on my travels today and damn I picked up another book, grrr I have bought to many books this month (like 10 I think and counting) so have started The Rachel Papers by Martin Amis I was half hoping that it was on the 1001 Books to Read list but sadly its not.. But have read the first 2 chapters on my way home this afternoon and am like that so it could be a little lightness to get me through while I am finishing Catch.

So many on the TBR at the moment, need to stop thinking about it and just keep reading.. Oh and a little less time on Library thing :-)

Still reading Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. It is a great read and very inspiring. I'd already started making some basic changes in diet and food sources but am going to do more as a result of this book. This morning we're off to scout out a couple of farms who sell to the public ...

I've been tearing through The Spiderwick Chronicles like a madwoman (about one book every half-hour) - they're creepy and fun. After I finish those (probably in about an hour and a half) I've got Once Upon a Time in the North by Phillip Pullman, and then I'll probably start Voyager by Diana Gabaldon - go from six one-hundred-page books to one six-hundred-page book.

I've also been listening to Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen.

Finally finished The Sunne in Splendour - loved it! Thanks to all the LT historical fiction buffs who recommended it.

Just started on Vilette by Charlotte Bronte.

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall. Weird, but in a good way. Post-modern, but not in an annoying way. Halfway through.

The Last Full Measure by Jeff Shaara. Just got back from Gettysburg yesterday, and I want to 'finish' the Civil War and fill in my mental bio of Chamberlain. Just started.

This is my first post - just discovered LibraryThing - what a great place! I am currently reading John Adams by David McCullough. I love history and this is enjoyable but not a light read. For fun I'm reading Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella. Just fluff.

Should finish The House on Fortune Street today and then I am not sure what I am going to read. With my Mount TBR over 500 books, I am sure I will find something...

I started Enfance by Nathalie Sarraute last night.

I think I have decided on the new Rushdie for my next book. He will be visiting our bookshop in July!

#43 mikeepatrick: I have to say I'm wistfull about your Gettysburg trip! I visited the battlefield just about exactly 50 years ago--wish I could get back.

I've read the entire Shaara trilogy, father and son. And while The Last Full Measure is very good, IMO, it does not measure up to the first two books. But definitely a good read.

if you're really interested in Joshua Chamberlain, there are some very good books to read. One is by Chamberlain himself (he wrote others--The passing of the Armies is quite good); it's name is Through Blood and Fire at Gettysburg.

I love Killer Angels and I watch the movie Gettysburg about every 6 months--I don't think there is a finer battle scene in movies than the dramatization of Pickett's charge.

BUT--both the book and the movie have errors in them. chamberlain NEVER ordered that charge--he NEVER ordered the right wheel. And you read that in his own words--that he meant to order the charge but it just happened.

It's high drama but not true. But it doesn't matter because it does not take away from the fact that 200 men who were out of ammunition charged spontaneously down that hill at 500 Texans and Alabamans who still had plenty of ammunition left. The right wheel just sort of happened, but it was still an incredible act.

Another book is a biography of Chamberlain that is very good but unfortunately the writing style is pretty dull. Still, if you're really interested in Chamberlain's life...In the Hands of Providence:Joshua Chamberlain and the American Civil War by Trulock.

Still another book about the 20th Maine and the battle for Little Round Top is Stand Firm Ye Boys from Maine by Thomas Desjardin.

Started and finished Circle of Quilters by Jennifer Chiaverini. I love the Elm Creek Quilters series. The newest one is out and need to get it! Now it's time to start The Arthurian Omen by G. G. Vandagriff my ARC fromlast month from Librarything!!

I will will WILL get A Short History of Nearly Everything read.

I finished Siri Hustvedt's The Sorrows of an American and couldn't have enjoyed it more. It's the story of a brother and sister who begin delving into their family history in the wake of their father's death, and while it's very earnestly somber in tone, I never found any of it dry or off-putting, mainly because Hustvedt's characters were constantly engaging, and her artfully nuanced prose such a pleasure to read. Hustvedt's book reminded me in several ways of Richard Powers' The Echo Maker, one of my favorites of his, and I think that alone is as sterling a reference as I can give this exceptional novel.

Right now I'm halfway through Rudolph Wurlitzer's wild 'n woolly The Drop Edge of Yonder, which one reviewer has characterized as "Sam Beckett with a six-gun and a sack of rattlesnakes", a description I'd mostly have to agree with, but Wurlitzer's sly humor and vigorous storytelling have combined for some serious fun so far.

Am down with a nasty chest cold and staying in bed today reading The Water Thief by Ben Pastor. It's set in the time of Diocletian and features an army officer/historian/mystery solver who is sent by the emperor to Egypt to investigate the drowning of Hadrian's boy-toy as a cover for spying on, among other things, how the trials & executions of Christian soldiers in the province are being handled as well as how obedient the local merchants are to the imperial edict regarding price-gouging of necessities (wheat, sandals, notary services, for example). It gets a little dry at times, but that may have more to do with my not feeling well than with the story.

I'm almost halfway through The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, with the occasional Edmund Crispin thrown in for light reading.

I also started The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls on Thursday and am devouring it. It is so beautifully written.

When I finish it, probably tomorrow night, I'll start The Moving Toyshop, the next occasional Edmund Crispin mentioned above.

All 3 are on my 888 challenge, so am making good progress.

I finished I Am Legend, and loved it! I'm debating loaning it to my friend who has about 5 of my books... she reads slower... or listing it on BookMooch.

I was going to read Duma Key next, BUT! I borrowed The Invention of Hugo Cabret from the library today, and I want to read it first. Then I'll read Duma. That'll probably take me the rest of the week.

I am about half way through The Venetian Mask which I hope to finish tomorrow. Up next, Rebecca.

Started Richard Price's Lush Life today (listening to it actually...)

alphaorder:
There was a long interview with Rushdie in "the independent" on Friday; he made his new one sound really interesting. I’ve not read his work before but that interview has bumped him up on the auld TBR stack.

As for this week's reading I started Stoner by john williams; I must say I’m mesmerized by it: the prose is stark and precise but the book is layered with context. The edition I have had a wonderful introduction by John McGahern--an old favorite of mine. I’m taking my time reading this one: averaging about two chapters a day. thanks to everyone who raved about it on here last month or I might never have picked it up.

I just finished The Enchanter's Forest by Alys Clare and I've started The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

I haven't posted in awhile because I'm still reading the same two books: The Egoist by George Meredith and 1,000 Places to see before you die by Patricia Schultz (touchstones don't work for these authors...) I'm almost finished with Mr. Meredith's book (thank the gods), and I'm about 300 pages from finishing Ms. Schultz's travel book.

My husband just came back from a business trip in Canada and brought back for me My Life in France by Julia Child. A very interesting read. If you like culture you will like this book.

#42 JHowell I love Sharon Kay Penman too, over the last year or so I have read all of her books. I hope she writes more! Here be Dragons is my favourite I think.

#42, jhowell - so glad you enjoyed The Sunne in Splendour, it's my favorite of her books!

I've just finished The Pride of Lions by Marsha Canham and am now about to begin Enchantment by Orson Scott Card.

I'm reading Death was the Other Woman by Linda Richards right now. It's going fairly quickly & is a fun read. I have Niccolo Rising and Death of a Tart waiting for me next.

STOCeallaigh, John Williams' Stoner is just terrific, and hope you like it as much as I did. His novel Butcher's Crossing is outstanding as well, and he won the NBA for Augustus in 1973.

#43 Mike, you were in my territory. I live down the road (Rte. 30) in Chambersburg, PA. General G. K. Warren (Little Round Top) was my great-great grandfather.

I'm trying to read Mr. Skeffington by Elizabeth van Arnim for the Girlybooks theme read (Women and Beauty), but I'm having a hard time getting into it. A swap copy of Jean Plaidy's The Reluctant Queen arrived in the mail. I started it, but I'm finding her style rather cloying. My commuting audiobook is Ruth by Elizabeth Gaskell.

#65 - Cariola- what interesting lineage you have! =) My great-great grandfather fought in the Civil War too - NY 128th Infantry - but he was battling on the Mississippi while Gettysburg raged on.

I am almost done with Digging to America by Anne Tyler, and then I think I will read some Shel Silverstein. I checked out Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back from the library.

Thekoolaidmom # 54

What did you think of I Am Legend? It is one of my favorite books. If you want to understand the whole post-apocalyptic genre; Legend is a great place to start.

This week, I'm reading The Human Stain by the always great Phillip Roth. My non-fiction book is The Bolsheviks in Power by Alexander Rabinowitch. It makes me happy in my Menshevikism!

#48 - Thanks for the input! Actually, our tour guide mentioned the Trulock book because his great-great uncle is pictured in there with Chamberlain - they were life-long friends, and he won the Congressional Medal of Honor (as did Chamberlain, I think). Name of 'Patrick DeLoy', maybe (it's been a few days and my memory is already going!)

#65 - I'm VERY jealous. We're in Indiana, but my wife and I have both fallen in love with Pennsylvania. It's that whole rolling/wooded farmland thing...beautiful. As far as your family relations go, you've got a lot to be proud of right there, right?

We were there (Gettysburg) 10 years ago too - on vacation (we flew into Harrisburg). My wife was 7 months pregnant with our second. After a HOT day of touring the battlefields, my wife sits up in bed at 2 AM and announces that her water just broke. Long story short: our son was born a few days later in York, Pa. and after a week he was flown home on a medical transport, etc. 2 months early, but he was, and is, a strapping young lad, to be sure. And he has the middle name of (drumroll) Chamberlain, which my wife wanted no part of, but the nurses thought was so cool she finally relented. :)

I just started Being Committed by Anna Maxted .

#69 Mike, you really ARE a Gettysburg fan! You'll have to get back to Gettysburg some July for the reenactment. It's quite something, and your son is at the age to start enjoying it. Cool middle name! I'm glad everything turned out well for you all.

Chambersburg, where I live, has the distinction of being the northernmost town occupied by the Confederates. They held the town for ransom and burned it down when the townsfolk refused to pay. Although it's a much older town, parts of the jail are the only pre-1865 structures left.

My ancestors were in the Civil War (aka War of Northern Aggression) as well, though, obviously, on the Confederate side.

However, more importantly, I FINALLY FINISHED THE SLEEPWALKERS. Sorry for the yelling, but I can't be more thrilled.

That said, while it was tough going at times, I am pretty sure I will re-read parts of it again. I wrote a review that in no way does the book justice.

Just finished reading the novel, Now, Voyager by Olive Higgins Prouty this weekend. I have posted a brief review here on LT as well as a longer review on my weblog (link included in the LT review). Of course, you may have seen the movie with Bette Davis, but the book is worthwhile. Not nearly as "soapy" as perhaps one might have expected.

I've just started The Tenderness of wolves by Stef Penney. I think I'm going to like it!

I've just started Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children. I'm about 50 pages in and wondering what all the fuss is about. It's been a bit of a slog to get this far.

Am 37 pages into No Great Mischief by Alistair MacLeod and like it very well. Had not planned to read it right now, but I am getting a lot of pressure from my aunt to get it done so that it can go into the book sale where it belongs. If it continues to be as good as it is starting out, I think I might hijack it for my own library.

I am about 250 pages into The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky. This is my first foray into Dostoevsky, and I am finding it to be beautifully written.

I finished Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth this afternoon and it's quite simply the best thing I've read in quite some time, one of those few books that appear every once in awhile that bring up so many emotions and leave you saddened when you've finished, a true gem. Next up, Andrew O'Hagan's Be Near Me.

Vanishing Acts by Jodi Picoult
Brain Droppings by George Carlin
Quidditch Through the Ages by J.K. Rowling
The Cobra King of Kathmandu by Philip Kerr

Finished The Crimson Petal and The White, which I absolutely loved. The best book I've read this year by far. I'm now reading Daphne by Justine Picardie.

I plan to start reading Foucault's Pendulum tomorrow.

#69 mikeepatrick: Looking through the index of the Trulock book, the only thing that comes close is Patrick DeLacy of the 143 PA. I can't find any picture, though. Chamberlain did win the medal of Honor but decades later--something like 30 years?

What fun, naming your son for Chamberlain!

Finally finished The Unbearable Lightness of Being. Started Pygmalion and as soon as I finish that, it's short, it won't be long, I'll start Gone with the Wind for my book club. Why do I want to type Gone with the Wink?

#83 Have you seen the film version of Unbearable Lightness of Being? It takes a few liberties with the book, but nevertheless, I loved it.

I have started Middlemarch for the Group Reads-Literature group. I think I'll be reading this one for a while.

I am about 3/4 of the way through Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I had cracked the cover a year ago, but wasn't captivated enough to keep reading. However, my book club chose it as our April book, and so I picked it up again. Maybe the last time I tried it, it wasn't the right time in my life? Because I'm greatly enjoying it this time. Even though it's sunny and beautiful here in Northern CA, I've been curled up with tea by the window, reading Middlesex all day long :)

When I'm through, I plan on picking up Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, or maybe even War and Peace (the new translation) by Tolstoy if I'm feeling ambitious!

After finishing Galatea 2.2, I was trying to decide among a number of books I've been wanting to read: Iris Murdoch's The Bell, Paul Auster's New York Trilogy, Robertson Davies' Deptford Trilogy, and Nancy Mitford's The Pursuit of Love. I couldn't decide which one I wanted to read, though, so I picked a different one, Connie Willis' Bellwether.

I'll probably read one of the four mentioned as my next book--any thoughts from anyone?

I have not read any of the Harry Potter series - Does anyone here recommend getting started on the series? I know they are popular but are they well-written, thought provoking etc? I'm almost done with current reads and am looking for something lighter to off-set Middlemarch that I've picked up for the group reads-literature group.

> 88: The first Harry Potter is Sorcerer's Stone - you should really begin with that one and read them in order, since there is so much character development and even plot details that develop throughout the series. I know there is much debate about whether these are true literature or just pop fiction, but I think they are fun stories and worth the time spent reading.

#88 imanivrn I've read the first five of the series, and they are a lot of fun if you like fantasy. They're well written, easy to read, and sweep you forward. They are somewhat thought provoking, considering the ages they are written for. AND sjmccreary is right... read them in the order they are written, as there is character development and histories that are built on.

Still working on Kalimantaan, and I started Fever Pitch.

I am about 2/3 through Brothers Karamazov, by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It is wonderfully written and a wrenching story about possible manidestations of opposing moral philosophies. Highly recommend it!

A Theory of Communicative Action: Vol. 2: Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason by Jurgen Habermas ... although not a work I chose to read for pleasure--I am using it for a paper--I am actually enjoying it.

I am now reading Pride and Predjudice and have no comment yet - only read one page

> No I haven't. Adding it to my Netflix queue now. :)

#87 Medellia12: With apologies to the other books, because I haven't read them, I can at least put in a plug, as I've done before, for Robertson Davies and The Deptford Trilogy. I will say (again) that liked The cornish Trilogy even better, but the former IMO is excellent.

Started a book for my takeout reading: Clan Novel: Anthology edited by Stewart Wieck. Bought this about seven (!!!) years ago when I was into Vampire: the Masquerade, but I'm afraid I can't remember much of it anymore.

I am on a mythical island off the coast of South Carolina in Ella, Minnow, Pea.

I gave up on The Reluctant Queen by Jean Plaidy. Her style is just too cloying for me. I started The Underpainter by Jane Urquhart.

#57: I read Stoner last year and was just overwhelmed by it. The language is beautiful, the book terrific. I had never read anything by John Williams before, and Stoner was a great introduction to his writing.

I just finished The Good Fairies of New York on Saturday (fantastic) and am now about 140 pages into The Yiddish Policeman's Union.

I finished and reviewed Jodi Picoult's latest, Change of Heart. It is not her best work, in my opinion.
Now I'm reading my March ER book Venetian Mask. I'm not super far, but it seems like it will be a quick read, so long as I can carve some time out for it.

I was amazed and thrilled to see Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri jump right to the top of the NYT best seller list! Brava!!!

Joycepa - 'Patrick DeLacy': thank you. I knew I wasn't quite right on the name. A quick Google of him does show that he won the CMoH, so that much was accurate. :)

Yeah, having my son stand at the 20th Maine monument and get his picture taken was quite the moment, let me tell you. :) We've only been explaining his name to him for the last 10-ish years!

Anyway, finished The Raw Shark Texts. Wow. Not surprisingly, it's quite the puzzle, and it's being hotly debated online even as I type this. Nothing like Googling for interpretations of a book the second you flip the last page...

Thank you, fyrefly98 (message 41)! I had no idea Pullman was working on another companion book to the Dark Materials trilogy. Now I will have to hurry out and buy Once Upon a Time in the North!

Meanwhile, I am in the middle of a few (wildly) different books:
Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries by Marilyn Johnson
Dances With Werewolves (Memoirs of a Spanking Model) by Niki Flynn
Making the Alphabet Dance: Recreational Wordplay by Ross Eckler

I think I've read enough of Opera and the Morbidity of Music to give it a proper review. I'll read the remaining third? or so in bits and pieces over the next few weeks. I'm not a musician or a musicologist, so some of the denser bits were starting to annoy me a bit.

I read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this weekend; until I did so, I occasionally said that the movies had cought up with my reading.

Just started Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters who Ruled Europe. I'm only partway through chapter 1, so no comment yet.

Edited to add: Note to self -- check back later to see if the touchstones show up. The sidebar in the post/edit message box indicates that they are, in fact, working.
Seems to be working just fine now.

Slam by Nick Hornby - a quick easy read about teenage pregnancy

I am a retired librarian who was a "Harry Potter" holdout - - pure snobbery on my part. But after listening to a nagging nephew once too often, I borrowed Book I. Now I'm a Potter addict currently reading the last one. They seem to get better as they go along, although I would recommend starting with "Sorcerer's Stone".
Yes, it is well-written, deals with universal issues, as good as any fantasy literature (although Tolkien is in a class by himself IMHO).
Start the adventure.

I am about 100 pages into reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
I really hope something starts to happen soon.

About halfway through Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. I don't usually like historical fiction, and I sort of like this so I guess that's good.

Starting the highly anticipating, much LT-loved The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block. I bet I will enjoy it! =)

Finished Tell me where it hurts by Nick Trout and starting I was told there'd be cake by Sloane Crosley.

Eldest ~ Christopher Paolini
I read this for most of the week
Lightning Thief ~ Rick Riordan
The Golden Compass ~ Philip Pullman
The Saga of Darren Shan ~ Darren Shan

Just finished James Rollins' Excavation and Subterranean. I'm half-way through Ghosts of Columbia (I read the first story but am having a difficult time getting into the second), and Philbrick's Mayflower. The latter is especially interesting because we lived in Plymouth.

Bedtime reading this week is The Spiderwick Chronicles to be followed by The Good Fairies of New York, The Secret History of Moscow, and Fablehaven. I go on binges of fantasy.

Currently reading An Abundance of Katherines by John Green

It is absolutely fantastic. John (and his brother Hank, of course) are two of my Heroes and people I look up to in life, especially as they've made great and wonderful changes into my life through their vlog project and the nerdfighters websites. :D

#115 trinah: If you have not read John Green's Looking for Alaska, I recommend it. I read it before An Abundance of Katherines and enjoyed it more, I think.

This week's four:

Turkish book: Still reading Fourth Company, by Rifat Ilgaz. Bilingual Turkish-English. Still enjoying it.

Spanish book: Still reading Novelas Ejemplares by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra. At the moment I'm being reminded of one of the sillier plot devices that Shakespeare used.

English book at home: Finished Fred Harvey: Creator of Western Hospitality. The man struggled with stomach cancer for 15 years at the end of the 19th century. I don't envy him. Now I'm reading The Spread of Islam by Michael Rogers. The writing is obscure, but it's telling me about parts of the earth that I've never been acquainted with. I now have a pretty good idea of the location of Samarkand.

Book for lunch break at Work: I finished Masterpieces of Mystery and Detection. It ended with three Sherlock Holmes stories, none of which inspired me to read more of Sherlock Holmes. I then read Anne McCaffrey's Harper Hall trilogy. I cheated on that, and read it outside of lunch break. It wasn't so much because I enjoyed it – in fact, it annoyed me because it was so simplistic – but real life was getting to me last week, so simplistic wasn't so bad. And now I'm reading The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham. So far, so good.

I'm enjoying The Best of the Bellevue Literary Review, an anthology of ~90 short stories, flash fiction, essays, and poems that all, in some way (sometimes very peripherally), deal with illness. Combined, they threaten toward darkness, but in the midst there'll be a hilarious, satirical fantasy story or a poem that leaves me with "Wow." I'll post an excerpt over on the share-a-line thread.

I'm reading Fifth Business by Robertson Davies - my first encounter with this author. I am head-over-heels in love with his wonderful writing style and have ordered two more of Davies' books.

I finished Cleopatra by H. Rider Haggard and am now about halfway into Dusk by Tim Lebbon. Kind of a radical shift in tone . . .

>Message 110: nancyewhite- I was so disappointed that I couldn't get into Mistress of the Art of Death; I stopped reading less than 1/2 way through, it was just becoming a chore for me. I'd be interested to hear what you end up thinking about it.

I myself am finally up to the last 1/4 of Pillars of the Earth, which I am really enjoying- this will definitely be one of my favorites this year. Next is The Fortune Cookie Chronicles for a book club.

#119 amandameale: If you love what is the first in the Deptford Trilogy, I think you'll really enjoy the Cornish Trilogy (The Rebel Angels, What's Bred in the Bone, The Lyre of Orpheus).

I know I've plugged him before and I don't want to be TOO pushy, but I always feel as if this marvelous Canadian author is somehow overlooked--undeservedly.

amandameale and Joycepa, you have me convinced. :) My next book will be the Deptford Trilogy. And thanks, Joyce, for the Cornish Trilogy recommendation. I'll add that onto my ever-burgeoning wishlist.

I've finished Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (loved it!) and am now reading Edward Jones' The Known World.

#123 Medellia 12: I know, I KNOW--that's the problem with this place! BLT (Before LibraryThing), I led a normal, everyday sort of reading life. I had this Wish List with Amazon--just one--oh, about a page and a half. Looked like I had plenty of bookcase space for quite some time, and I laughed at people who couldn't manage their credit cards.

Now? I have SEVEN wish lists, all except one of which is at least a page and a half (two are two pages). Only reason why the one doesn't is that I've just added it--fantasy, which I haven't read in years--but thanks to the raves on this thread and others, I've added jim butcher and have already bought the Game of Thrones series. My bookcase situation is approaching meltdown (I'm having another, massive one built but will it get here in time?), I have 3 shelves--3--of books waiting for me to find the time to read them, and we won't discuss my credit card management.

I tell you, this site is downright dangerous!!

#124 lindsacl: The Known World is an excellent read, one of my favorites that I never hesitate to recommend.

David Sedaris Me Talk Pretty One Day I just started it and i'm really enjoying it.

#125: Tell me about it. Having moved to Manhattan in August, I now have random stacks of books that I can't do anything with, because I have no more room for bookshelves. I was considering putting one in the hallway, even though that meant my husband and I would have to walk sideways to get in and out of our living room. And yet I buy more books because, well, I want to read them!

(Perhaps I should pay a visit to the neuroses thread. :)

#124 - lindsacl - I know I always say this, but I am looking forward to your review of The Known World - one that's on my TBR list for 2008. =)

I'm a fan of Ed Jones' The Known World too, and his book of stories All Aunt Hagar's Children is very fine as well.

#128, Medellia12, I have lived in Manhattan essentially all of my life (except college) and I am obsessed with thinking of new places to put bookcases. Welcome!

I (finally) finished the third Dune book, Children of Dune, and now I'm taking a much needed Frank-Herbert-break to read an ARC of Jordan Dane's No One Heard Her Scream. I'm not sure why, but Children of Dune just really seemed to take everything out of me.

Just finished Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella and it was a fun read. I'm starting Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and Ladies of Liberty by Cokie Roberts Still working on John Adams by David McCullough I'm enjoying it but it is taking a bit of time.

#128 - Medellia12, one of my co-workers built a bookshelf in his stairwell. Maybe you don't have stairs but for people who do, it's wonderful. It goes on the tall flat wall in front of you as you descend the stairs. It has room for large, infrequently used books and a space behind the books in the center for a simple ladder which lifts up off a hook and drops down to rest on a step for access to the shelves. It's really ingenious; wish I knew how to upload photos.

On the agenda for this week: Winterkill by C.J. Box, The Stranger and the Statesman by Nina Burleigh, The Man in My Basement by Walter Mosley, Marco Polo by Laurence Bergreen, Bard, the Odyssey of the Irish by Morgan Llywelyn and In the Shadows of War by Thomas Childers.

I got several laughs out of Rudy Wurlitzer's rapid-fire storytelling in The Drop Edge of Yonder, which turned out to be a shaggy-dog mock-western that I found mostly entertaining, though it's not something I could immediately recommend to everyone. Wurlitzer's always been sort of a cult writer anyway, and Drop Edge of Yonder, now his 5th novel, will surely preserve that status.

I'm just past halfway in Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth and it is, indeed, as great as it's been touted to be, 8 long short stories, and every one so far has been absolutely perfect, not a word wasted or out of place, and I only wish this marvelous book was 500 pages longer.

And as bummed as I'll be when I finish the Lahiri, I am sort of excited about James Meek's We Are Now Beginning Our Descent. Meek should have won the Booker for The People's Act of Love, one of my very favorite novels of the last few years, and hope this new one's just half as good.

#134 burrowcentral: What an ingenious idea! Gives me ideas for our place.

I'm half-way through Andrew O'Hagan's Be Near Me and although the writing is excellent, the story is just not jumping out and grabbing me yet, and I'm finding the protagonist quite annoying. Hopefully something is going to happen soon to change my mind. Part of my problem might be that I'm suffering from "Lahiri" withdrawal. I knew that anything I read after finishing Unaccustomed Earth was going to have a hard time rising to the level of that wonderful book of stories.

Just finished Voyager by Diana Gabaldon yesterday and am starting on Drums of Autumn today. Greatest series I've ever read.

#139 MDLady - Isn't it? That's how I feel too! Wasn't their reunion great?

ktleyed...I find myself breathless after reading certain parts. I am obsessed. I want so bad to see this on screen ( not a movie ) but I am more afraid of them ruining it for me.

#138 Sean: I should wait until you've finished Be Near Me but I feel compelled to say that I had a problem with it as well.

#141, MDLady I know what you mean. Instead of on screen, I've made icons and banners of the main characters, here at my LJ Outlander website that I created where you can see all my depictions of everyone. I'm crymeariver_ and julielu there. It's what has kept me sane during this obsession!

# 138 - Amanda, no problem. Glad to see that it's just not me because that book garnered much praise. And I know LouisB had a problem with the ending. Also, I'd like to slap those two teenagers at this point!

Today I've brought my ongoing non-fic read Who Are You People? to take to the YMCA on my lunch. Last night I started Awaken Me Darkly by Gena Showalter which is a sci-fi/romance type story with an overly aggressive heroine.

You're right, Sean, it was the 2nd half of it where O'Hagan lost me, as I just couldn't understand the motivation of the narrator, and I wanted to strangle those two teens from the minute they appeared.

Finished and reviewed my ER book The Venetian Mask, I'm now reading Queen of Shadows while I await my book club book from Amazon, my April ER book, and the two books I'm reviewing for ReaderViews.

#143 I hate that my work computer blocks everything but you can best bet that I'll check those out when I get home this evening!

My reading seems to be going slowly this week, for some unknown reason.

I read the entire of The Calligrapher by Edward Docx in two sittings, made some progress on Leonard Woolf by Victoria Glendenning, very little progress on The Thirty Years War, and almost none in With my Trousers Rolled.

I started Christine Falls by Benjamin Black (John Banville) and Nature's Engraver, both of which are going quickly enough that they'll be finished by the end of the week.

It just occurred to me that I don't own any of these books -- they're all from the PL.

Still reading A New England Tale by Catharine Maria Sedgwick; I think I've read the intro three times already...

Also reading Sorry by Gail Jones who writes with such prose. It has the effect of making me slow down and savor the sentences and pay attention to what she is saying. Her novels are short. . .

I have committed myself to several future theme and group reads also:-)

Just started To Move the World by Brent Monahan a historical novel set in third century B.C. about Archimedes and the Punic wars on the island of Sicily

Am in the middle of a few: London: the Biography by Ackroyd; Cursor's Fury by Jim Butcher; and Special Topics in Calamity Physics on audio. A nice, well-rounded selection, wouldn't you say? :)

Just finished (at 4 am! Do as I say, not as I do!) Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon. It's a collection of essays, and suffers from the usual problem of collections -- some blew me away, and others felt like mostly filler. But the good parts were enough to keep me up late.

I just finished The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Shafak. It is one of the best books that I have in the past two years. I highly recommend it.
Have now started my ER book, The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie.
I seem to have a number of themes running through many of the books that I am reading lately and have on my TBR now pile. Mediterranean countries-900 AD to Renaissance- Middle East- historical fiction-

#133 imanivrn - I love your selection of books. I am reading Three Cups of Tea right now, and wanting to read the John Adams book and Ladies of Liberty. I read Mornings on Horseback by David McCullough and halfway through 1776. He is a great author. Let me know what you think of the books when you are done reading.

I just finished Peony in Love and am starting Bangkok Haunts by John Burdette. It's a BookCrossing bookring which I've had here at home too long and need to get moving. I've enjoyed the first two books in this series by John Burdette and am looking forward to getting into this third book.

I picked up Desert Sons by Mark Kendrick from the library last night and am looking forward to starting it tonight.

SeanLong (#138)--whenever I read particularly great fiction, I find it better to read nonfiction afterwards, which doesn't tend to suffer so much in comparison.

I finished The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell this week, and am now reading Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick--my daughter is going to Plimouth Plantation on a field trip next week, and I promised her I'd read this book now so we could be learning about it together.

Just started The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon. I'm really liking it, and stayed up too late reading it last night.

I loved The Curious Incident. It was wrote from such an interesting point of view.

I've been having a strange relationship with my public library lately -- I've been refusing to return anything I haven't finished reading yet. The fines are mounting. That means that I'm currently reading (quickly!) The Epicure's Lament by Kate Christensen (I very much loved The Great Man, and had it listed last year as my favorite of the year, being the only person in the world who didn't particularly care for The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao); The Death List by Paul Johnston, which is a pretty straightforward thriller, but fun; and How the Dead Dream by Lydia Millet, which is strange and wonderful so far.

I should be reading Greg Frost's Shadow Bridge and Ann and Jeff Vandermeer's The New Weird, but I've been reading so much SF lately that I need a break from it for just a little while.

I'm brand new to LibraryThing, and am having a blast here. I've entered 500 books just since Tuesday night. That's two bookcases down, 42 and three closets to go! Or thereabouts.

Can't you renew? Our library lets you renew on line as long as there isn't a hold on the book.

Some libraries (I think) have a maximum number of times.

Our library lets you renew twice; then you're on your own. Unfortunately, my eyes are always bigger than my stomach -- um, that metaphor doesn't work here, does it? It always worked when I put too much food on my plate! What I mean is, I always check out more than I actually have time to read.

It's not as if my home library isn't enough to take care of my reading needs for the rest of my life -- it's just that authors insist on forever writing *more*. You'd think by the age of 51 I'd have realized that I never will catch up.

Just finished Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin which I liked enough to finish but didn't like enough to immediately run out to buy the next one in the series.

Just started The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett. A lot of heavy things are going on in my life, and I can't tell quite yet if this will lighten them or if I'm just not going to enjoy it at this time. We'll see, I suppose.

I will be reading Hunger's Brides, and Into the Stor

I wound up pretty much in awe of Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth, and think it deserves every bit of the praise it's received so far. Lahiri's wise insights into the emotional geometry of her characters and their various relationships are continually compelling in story after story, but it's her ability to express it all on the page, in prose so simple and yet so subtle, that makes this wonderful book what it truly is, an art-piece, as well as a lavish gift to readers everywhere.

I've read several things by Wallace Stegner in the last year, all very memorable too, and plan on re-reading Angle of Repose and The Big Rock Candy Mountain over the summer. In the meantime I'm a hundred pages into Philip L. Fradkin's Wallace Stegner and the American West, a new biography of this brilliant writer and teacher, and really enjoying it so far.

Finished reading Daphne, which was quite good, and am now reading The Mill on the Floss.

#164 TerryWeyna, I do the same thing! Last summer, it got so bad (I had nearly 15 books due all within the same week) that I gave myself a personal limit of no more than 5 fun books at a time (school books don't count). I don't always follow that to the letter, but it helps...

I'm reading Song of the Sparrow and Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War. I'm listening to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell (also reading, because it's so long and the footnotes are kind of difficult to follow on audiobook), and Magic Kingdom for Sale -- Sold!.

I am working on Down Came the Rain by Brooke Shields right now. It's a quick read so far.

I just started The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney. Good so far and I look forward to seeing how the plot develops.

I just began A Year Without Made in China at the end of my lunch break. So far it seems to be amusingly written.

#s 158 and 169 - My daughter, a rabid history buff, put me on to Mayflower. She read it, her sister read it, and now it's in Indiana--a work in progress. In addition to being a well-written book, we like it because I worked at the Plimoth Plantation and we lived in Plymouth and know the locations of the places which are mentioned in the story.

thatbooksmell, The Tenderness of Wolves was one of my favorite novels of 2007, great stuff.

I got my first two books in the mail from ReaderViews this afternoon to review, and I was so excited that now I'm reading Historical Genesis: From Adam to Abraham as well as A Year Without Made in China. I can't wait to start The Last Queen: A Novel too!

>158 cabegley: cabegley, that's an interesting note. . .(eavesdropping on your note to SeanLong)

#169 bell7, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is a truly wonderful book -- one of the best I read last year. I can't imagine listening to it with all those footnotes, though! Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.