WHAT ARE YOU READING? - Part 2

New month (~ish), thread is getting long. :)

Pull up a chair and tell us what you had been reading (and what you are reading) :)

Finished Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller last night which I enjoyed especially the way she brings the story to life with nuanced detail. It took me awhile to get used to the twin stories of Flora and Ingrid but ended up enjoying that. And I started The Idiot by Elif Batuman, 100 pages in I am quite engaged.

I think I’m reading Mad Country by Nepalese/American writer Samrat Upadhyay, a collection of short stories set mainly in Nepal. I mention the country lest members mistakenly assume the stories are about my second country.

I've started Bright Young Women, a novel based on a sorority murder that led to the arrest of a serial killer in the 1970s. I can tell it's going to be a page turner.

>4 japaul22: I’ll be interested to know what you think of it. I’ve been tempted to borrow it a few times but was put off by the serial killer aspect.

I'm exactly halfway through War and Peace, and also halfway through two companion books, Tolstoy Together : 85 Days of War and Peace with Yiyun Li, which I'm not getting much out of but it only takes about 3 minutes a day so I persevere just in case, and Give War and Peace a Chance: Tolstoyan Wisdom for Troubled Times by Andrew D. Kaufman. I'm lagging behind with Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia by Orlando Figes not because I don't like it (it's fascinating and I'm actually enjoying it far more than the other two I just mentioned) but because it's my bedtime reading so its window is very small.

>4 japaul22: Bright Young Women is a fantastic book! I look forward to finding out what you think of it.

I've finished the first book in Fortunes of War: The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning and I'm about to dive into the second book.

I just started Index, A History of the, which is really interesting history on how we sort reference information.

>6 rachbxl: cheers to halfway

I’m spending my time with Woolf and Wharton this week. An hour a day of To the Lighthouse and Wharton’s Buccaneers to keep pace with two group reads that i’m running - one on fb and one on Litsy.

I just started Anthony Veasna So's collection of short stories, Afterparties.

>6 rachbxl:
Congratulations on the halfway mark!

I read the first half of Edogawa Ranpo's Beast in the Shadows last night and will finish the second half today. I'm also now a third of the way through the Italian classic, The Betrothed and am continuing to love it. I'm thinking my next read after the Ranpo will be Kobo Abe's The Ruined Map as I'd like to read quite a bit of Japanese works this month and it has been a while since I've read Abe, my favorite author.

I missed the opportunity to start the new month with a new book, though it's probably a good thing because I was on a deadline to finish Feersum Endjinn before bookclub (which I did with 15 minutes to spare). So a few days into February I have started The Hood and am switching between it and The Geek Feminist Revolution on my commute.

I'm finding it hard to get into my next book. I've started Tunnel of Hope, but am bogged down in the 200 mini bios. I read the first chapter/story in The Hills Reply, but it was quite depressing, so perhaps not the best choice for the moment. Should I push through one of these, or start something else? A question for the ages...

>13 labfs39: Yes, I’m the same. I have 4 waiting till I’m up to it, and ended up going for a mystery. Can’t concentrate on the heavy stuff.

Finished First Love by Rio Shimamoto is a slow-burning psychological thriller that explores memory, trauma, and obsession through the case of a young woman accused of murder. While the character work and atmosphere are compelling, the pacing drags at times, with a resolution that feels unsatisfying.

>13 labfs39: I remember having a hard time with The Hills Reply, despite loving some of Tarjei Vesaas's other works. I'd set that one aside until you're in the mood for something poetic and a bit esoteric.

I picked a non-fiction book from the piles (using my goofy system) and came up with The Clerk’s Tale by Thomas Augst and realized quickly that it is a straight up textbook. I will try to continue with it, but it’s going to be a slow, slow read for me. That decided I went back and made a second non-fiction pick and came up with the much, much better choice of The Course of Empire by Bernard DeVoto.

Just finished a quick read (an afternoon), A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray by Dominique Barberis. Picked up in a bookshop on a whim a few days ago. a decent enough read, but didn't really live up to the blurb, quoted reviews on back cover or initial browse. Wryly funny? Really? 3 stars.

Getting stuck into this month's 'big' read, The Burgundians by Bart van Loo. A Christmas present from a couple of years ago that for some reason I've long intended/wanted to read but have always seemed to have been deflected from. Very promising start.

Just finished a quick read (an afternoon), A Sunday in Ville-d'Avray by Dominique Barberis. Picked up in a bookshop on a whim a few days ago. A reasonably decent read - beautifully written - but didn't really live up to the blurb, quoted reviews on back cover or initial browse. Wryly funny? Really? 3 stars.

Getting stuck into this month's 'big' read, The Burgundians by Bart van Loo. A Christmas present from a couple of years ago that I've long intended/wanted to read but for some reason have always seemed to have been deflected from. Very promising start.

I am enjoying The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky for the RTT theme os Color my world a fascinating look at the colors that are desert. from the California coast to Nevada, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico her verse takes the shape of a travel natural history memoir while she revisits the trips her family took when she was a child. This is where I grew up as well and I love her memories of the of the beauty of the desert.She hopes to make pictures as she walks in the desert;under a spell, an instintc of motion, a kind of knowing that is indirect and sideways as she paints you cant help but let the images appear then disappear. "she invites you to appreciat along with her the endless surprises of life and celebrates the seduction to be seen in our natural surrounding" really a brilliant author and seeing how she has several other books, Ill be enjoyinng her work some more

I finished the David McCullough book about the Panama Canal which was interesting and fun to read.

I'm reading Bright Young Women which is really good and quite a page turner. And I've started The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir. My husband and I are about to go on a 20th anniversary trip to Paris, and we are staying at a boutique hotel that was once the home of Simone de Beauvoir, so how could I not pick this novel up to read while we're there?!

I finally settled on a book, The Unseen. It's wonderful and just right for my mood.

>21 japaul22: Ooh, nice! I've been wanting to read my copy of The Mandarins for several years, so I look forward to your opinion of it, along a description of your vacation.

>22 labfs39:
Looks very interesting - straight on to my fiction list.

>21 japaul22:
I'm another that looks forward to your review - been on my shelves for some time but never got round to it. I'd be interested in a review of the hotel as well!

>22 labfs39: It is indeed wonderful - I read it last year (And really need to get back to the rest of them...)

>21 japaul22: How wonderful. I’m envious. Bon voyage!

I finished reading The Names of Things by John Colman Wood and have been trying to work out an approach to reviewing it. The copy I read was an ILL, due in a couple of days, so I’ve ordered a copy for myself and meanwhile am finishing The Measure by Nikki Erlick for an in-person book club.

I've recently read Night Boat to Tangier, the setup reminded me of Godot (the banter of two Irish men waiting for the uncertain appearance of another person). An interesting portrayal of friendship maintained under longstanding bleak circumstance. The Idiot was enjoyable enough to finish well-ahead of schedule.

I tested a handful of books, starting The thinking Reed but put it aside for Anderby Wold and am now back to the former as well as La Bastarda.

>28 ELiz_M: I loved Night Boat to Tangier. It’s so evocative of the place. I’ve been on that boat. It bought it all back to me. The blue sky, the smell of the sea … I wil have to re-read this one.

I didn’t really take to The Idiot though I love Dostoevsky’wriring.

>19 Willoyd: I listened to The Burgundians audiobook. It's a really fascinating history, though it does become very detailed and in depth in the middle section.

Hi, how are you all doing? Me personally I am re-reading the Harry Potter series.

I finished The Worshipful Lucia (a.k.a. Lucia's Progress), the fifth book in E.F. Benson's humorous Mapp & Lucia series about the foibles of the small-town, upper class set in England between the World Wars.

Next up for me will be Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt. The book was recommended to me by a friend who is, in fact, a history professor. We were talking about Europe right after World War Two while watching our dogs goof around in our local dog park. He told me about this book and said I'd really enjoy it. So the next day I ordered it on the NY Public Library website. It's 800 pages, but I will soldier on.

Finished a Swedish crime novel last night: The Night Singer - a bit rough but not bad for a first novel and earlier in the week, while unable to concentrate had some fun with Revenge of the Librarians.

Now off to Japan with Robert Goddard's The Fine Art of Uncanny Prediction.

I enjoyed Revenge of the Librarians a couple of years ago, but I think I like his cartoons as one offs, rather than a collection.

>34 labfs39: I don't disagree - but they were perfect for when my brain could only process a few minutes of material at a time :)

I’m reading Freud: An Introduction to his Life and Works. I’m less than 1/5 way into the book but it’s much more legible than the older books on Freud, that discuss his already difficult to grasp concepts.

reading the cemetery of untold stories Loved her time of the butterflies and saving the world this should be good

I'm reading The Mirror which I thought might be a bit of light relief. It is light but unusually for me I'm finding it a bit banal. I mean I'm not expecting deep literature but usually I quite enjoy Ms Roberts' contemporary romance so I'm not sure what's going on.

>37 cindydavid4: The cemetery of untold stories sounds really good. I think I'll look for it. :)

Isn't time of the butterflies not too cruel? I haven't dare to read it yet.

>30 b.ray:
Thanks. I can do detail and depth! It's quite a 'chatty' start.

I'm listening to Heartburn by Norah Ephron on my commute (wonderfully narrated by Meryl Streep). I'm still pacing myself through the George Saunders analysis of Russian short stories, and have just started a memoir by Edmund de Waal called Letters to Camondo.

>39 BuecherDrache: it is sad, and haunting. but it speaks of real events that I think need us to be witness too. that being said, Ive passed over similar books for the same reason. some times its all too much

>41 AlisonY: That’s an interesting collection. Streep perfect for Heartburn! Loved that book.

>41 AlisonY: George Saunders book is at my TBR and looks daily at me, asking when does his turn come...

>44 BuecherDrache: It is well written, but it needs close reading and concentration to get the most out of it so I'm only picking it up when I'm in the right frame of mind.

>45 AlisonY: Yes, this book gives me the impression that reading it will accompany me throughout the year...

Another kind of book that I read little by little is A history of the world in 100 objects by Neil MacGregor. I'm stuck in the Stone Age, but at least I know the difference between a chopping tool and a hand axe 😁

>46 BuecherDrache: The 100 objects book has a set of audio recordings (available as a podcast and probably still from the BBC radio site - yep, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00nrtd2/episodes/downloads ) which adds more details. I found them very good (I actually found them first - then I found the book).

>47 AnnieMod: Dear Annie, that is a great tip! 😘

Now that I am done with Cockroaches I've picked up A Fistful of Collars - one of the Chet and Bernie mysteries. (I do love a good animal narrator and Chet is one of the best of that ilk.) Such a relief after all the really terrible things and people in Cockroaches.

>49 Fourpawz2: I've read one of the Chet and Bernie books at the urging of my neighbor, and I was surprised to find it very enjoyable.

I added Sir Walter Scott’s Rob Roy to my current reading, after finishing The Measure, reviewed here if you’re curious: https://www.librarything.com/topic/367816#8758224

Geez, it's taken me from the beginning of the year to finally pop into and catch up on this thread. Well, I'm currently reading Moominpappa at Sea and mildly regretting not getting back to the Moomins sooner, after reading a few of the other books in the series years ago.

I'm still reading The Spoilt City, the second book in Olivia Manning's Balkan Trilogy and enjoying it immensely. I'm reading The River We Remember by William Kent Kruger for my book club, and The Book of Love by Kelly Link for the Tournament of Books.

>52 bragan: After reading The Summer Book and True Deceiver by Jansson, I now pick up any of her books that I see, including four of the Moomin books. I haven't read them yet though.

I finished The Unseen, a lovely novel, and am now reading Between Shades of Gray.

On audio book, I'm listening to The Man on the Third Floor by Anne Bernays.

still reading cemetery of untold stories and started wee free men which I should have started last month but needed to replace my book. This is for the disc world challenge the Tiffany Aching books. Been a while since I read this first one and remember enjoying it, and I still do

Argentinian Antonio Di Benedetto’s Zama.
The story of a colonial administrator stationed in a remote backwater of Spain’s South American empire at the close of the 18th century. Separated from his wife and children, Don Diego de Zama yearns for a favorable posting back to Buenos Aires, which never comes.

I finished The Omni-Americans by Albert Murray this afternoon, and next up is New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement by Juan Williams, a newly published follow up to his 1987 book Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, which was adapted into an award winning PBS documentary of the same name.

I completed the illuminating The Wars for Asia, 1911–1949 by S. C. M. Paine, a deeply researched and insightful study of East Asia’s conflicts during the early 20th century, but its uneven structure, repetitive essay-like organization made it feel more disjointed than cohesive, even if the argument was sound.

I'm a small bit into Illuminae, the first book in a space opera trilogy. It's all epistolary, so it's told through hacked documents, chatlogs, and space military reports. It's actually really creative and fascinating, especially for a YA novel.

so we were at a thrift store and I saw severance heard about it didnt know it was a book first. so I started reading it bought it and am now well into it.this is good. wonder if the series as good;

>54 labfs39: The Summer Book has been on my wishlist for ages. I've heard good things about it, and I do like her writing in the Moomin books.

>61 cindydavid4: I really liked Severance the book. If you're talking about the TV series, though, I don't think they're related? I haven't seen it, but from what I've heard about it, I don't think it has zombies.

>61 cindydavid4: & >62 bragan: They are entirely unrelated. But that's a lovely way to discover a good book!

>32 rocketjk: i remember wanting to read the Judt history when it came out. I borrowed a library copy. It was gigantic and I chickened out. 🙂

I finished To the Lighthouse today, my Woolf. Puzzling over it. Kind of amazed on the rhythms in the prose throughout.

Also, i’ve been listening to Age of Wonder. I’m a little thrown that the first several hours are a biography of 17th-century botanist Joseph Banks. I mean, he’s fascinating, but … i think i was expecting a different structure.

>64 dchaikin: Non sequitur: I grew up reading Snugglepot and Cuddlepie and in fear of the Banksia Men - imaginary beings related to the Australian plant named by Joseph Banks after himself. .

I started The Kill by Zola and was instantly sucked into the story. It was published second, but it's third in the recommended reading order, and I'm glad I'm reading it that way, as it's helpful to know who Eugene is when reading Aristide's story. This one is about the speculation that happened behind the scenes during Baron Haussmann's reinvention of Paris.

>64 dchaikin: Re: the Judt history . . . Yes, it is a chunkster all right. 816 pages of relatively small print. The writing flows very well, so that makes the reading easier of course, but it is a time commitment, for sure. My library book is due back on Feb 21, so I'm going to march along at least until then. I'll see if I can renew it, but if not, I'll break down and buy a copy. I already know which bookstore near me has one. At that point the temptation will be to start reading it as a "between book," a chapter at a time. But I really think the narrative will be best experienced by just biting the bullet and reading the whole thing straight through. The problem at my age, though, is remembering what I've learned. I should be taking notes.

>62 bragan: it does have zombies but not the brain eating kind. In the book there is a new virus that causes people to repeat the same action over and over again like setting the table multple times a day. they are called fevered, and there is no cure

I really liked the book too. very well written despite lots of time switiching but I was able to follow it. amazing that this was written years before covid, but her descriptions of NYC could have been written at the time. I was a bit confused at the end. it implies that she is fevered, and that she dies with her child is that how you read it??

Reading Tim Marshallss Die Macht der Geographie and finally understanding the long historical backgrounds of the war in Ukraine, Afghanistan and the handling reasons of Russia and the USA. Impressive.

It's been murder mystery weekend for me. Bonded In Death which is the 60th (!) in the series, and The Thursday Murder Club which was a lot of fun and I can see why it's so popular.

I finished Letters to Camondo which ended up being much more moving than I expected. I wish it'd not been so piecemeal with my reading of the first half of it, as it really deserves proper time and attention.

As I've still another non-fiction on the go, I'm going with some fiction next - The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman.

>71 AlisonY: I really liked The Italian Teacher. Enjoy!

>72 RidgewayGirl: There's every chance it was your thread that I got the BB from! :)

>71 AlisonY: I read and enjoyed Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists and enjoyed it so much I bought The Italian Teacher which was I though not up the standard of his earlier book, but it was worth reading. It’s a while ago since I read either so I can’t remember why I was disappointed with the second.

just about done with cemetery of untold stories but im sorta stuck in too many stories! Ill finish, but a big bogged down with it.

started all the beauty in the world about the MET . Love that place and so far enjoying the narration by one of the former guards. Im eager to read about his interaction with exhibits or individual works as he does his job.

>68 cindydavid4: You know, it's been long enough since I read it that I don't actually remember what the ending was, or how I interpreted it.

>75 cindydavid4: - All the Beauty in the World sounds really good. Another one for the totally out of control wish list.

Finished A Fistful of Collars yesterday. Am currently reading Elena Knows (which I had to go pretty far afield for), The Course of Empire, Ruth, and The Decline and Fall. Hoping The History of Sound, which I need for Book Club, shows up soon at the library. Don't want to have to buy it on Kindle.

I finished Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and if it hadn't been for Elijah Wood's excellent narration, it might have been a DNF. It's snowing heavily at the moment, so I'm hoping to make some headway in The Kill, which continues to be very good.

Expecting a change of pace in The Place Of Tides.

>79 rhian_of_oz: Oh good. Another island book. I’ll be adding it to my list.

>77 Fourpawz2: Yeah! I also think it's the right book for me and perhaps the perfect inspiration to swapp my current profession for the proximity to art.

And my wish list is getting also out of control. Is it contagious?

>81 BuecherDrache: Oops, did we forget to mention that this will happen when we said our welcomes when you joined the club? Sorry (not really…). :)

>81 BuecherDrache:, >82 AnnieMod: - Gosh, I never thought of it being contagious. I wonder who Patient Zero was….

I sort of finished The Buccaneers by Edith Wharton. It's unfinished and my edition has a 1995 completion that I gave up after 8 terrible pages. I'm now reading Go Down Moses by William Faulkner (1942). The 1st 20 pages are great.

>82 AnnieMod: 😂😂😂 Don't worry, the matter started long before I entered LT 😁.

Patient Zero? I think everything started wiith Gutenberg's great and revolutionary invention. ❤

>85 BuecherDrache: it’s highly contagious

I seem to have spent a lot of time this year waiting for books to come in, either from the library or from an order. So having finished The Measure, I looked for my next book on my own shelves and also looked for something short. Maybe those orders, holds will come in….
I lighted on Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, and loved it. My review is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/367816#8765834

After finishing The Geek Feminist Revolution yesterday I started How Long 'Til Black Future Month today.

>86 dchaikin: 😂👍

>88 rhian_of_oz: I hope you love that collection as much as I did. If you have read her other books youll notice the seedlings that start off many of them,, which was fun. Loved the take on the Omlaas.

I'm on the third book of The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning. I'm kicking myself for having owned this book for more than ten years before reading it, but I'm also glad to be reading it now. Many thanks to the good friend who suggested that this time was best met with a long historical novel.

I've just started Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro, for my book club. It's excellent so far. And I'm continuing to read Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino and The Book of Love by Kelly Link for the Tournament of Books beginning next month.

>90 cindydavid4: So far so great. The recognised the second story as the start of The City We Became.

Clean by Chilean Alia Trabucco Zerán

I seam to be reviewing in batches - books read in the last 10 days or so (now reviewed in my thread): a crime novel set in Japan (mostly): The Fine Art of Uncanny Prediction, a fantasy novella The Truth of the Aleke, a contemporary novel about immigration Travelers by Helon Habila, a historical horror novella set between the wars in Appalachia The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo, two graphic novels (the Korean The Naked Tree by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim and the Japanese Talk to My Back by Murasaki Yamada) and a chilling look at parts of Chilean society masquerading as a crime(ish) novel: Clean by Alia Trabucco Zerán

Now reading a speculative short story collection (Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions by Nalo Hopkinson) and a historical horror novel (The Reformatory by Tananarive Due)

>93 kjuliff: Ha! Just finished that one yesterday :)

>95 AnnieMod: Oh! Did you like it?

>96 kjuliff: Yep. Not perfect but I ended up liking it.

>94 AnnieMod: pretty nice mixture!

ok stop the presses. I just discovered a book that Ill be taking some time with An African History of Africa this would have been a great partner read with Pauls African Author challenge Read the intro which got me excited to read this and in a personal pick, the font is large readable and gentle to the eyes. So all the books I was going to read, they'll just have to wait

I’m now reading Adam Bede for a George Eliot prompt for Monthly Author reads scheduled for sometime last year. I first read this so long ago that it’s unfamiliar and I’m really enjoying it.

Finished my Commonwealth Catalog book (Elena Knows) and returned it to the library where I picked up The History of Sound for Book Club. I am very much not a short story person, but I am not going to judge this one prematurely. Absolutely everyone seems to love THoS and the author is a local boy, so I am going to just shut up, read it and try to keep an open mind.

Am also still reading The Decline & Fall, The Course of Empire, Ruth and just picked Uniform Justice by Donna Leon out of the Series basket yesterday. They are all going well or, in the case of Ruth, as well as can be expected.

>102 that_one_guy: lol

I just finished Clean by Chilean writer Alia Trabucco Zerán - a troubling story about a any working for a wealth family in Santiago.

I’m reading Raised by a Serial Killer: Discovering the Truth About My Father by April Balascio.

In addition to the couple of paperbacks I'm still working through, I've started listening to The Plague by Albert Camus on audio.

I finished New Prize for These Eyes: The Rise of America's Second Civil Rights Movement by Juan Williams this morning, and I've just started my third and probably last book for Black History Month, A Black Women's History of the United States by Daina Ramey Berry and Kali Nicole Gross.

>106 AlisonY: The Plague is one of my 10 favorite novels. Several years ago I and several other LTers saw a superb play based on the book at the Arcola Theatre in London, which I would highly recommend if anyone has the opportunity to see it.

Missing Australia I’m reading Tim Winton’s In the Winter Dark. It’s an unsettling novel bu one of Australia’s finest writers.

>108 kidzdoc: I've a feeling already that I'm going to love it, Darryl. I really like the audio reader's voice too which is a welcome surprise.

I finished Cinder by Marissa Meyer (review here) and have begun Dark Matter by Blake Crouch (also began The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin on my Kindle).

I'm currently reading East West Street by Philippe Sands.

Tim Winton’s in the Winter Dark.

I finally finished The Thinking Reed. This was about the worst time to be reading the story of a young widowed heiress and her accidental, but perfect marriage except for all those gauche rich people that they can't avoid, but never fear! she is more socially astute than everyone else and handles everything perfectly. In another lifetime it might have been interesting to read a romantic novel that begins with the marriage, but not this and not now.

I also finished The Price of Salt and am reading The Odyssey (always a few days behind!) and Wild Geese by Soula Emmanuel.

>114 ELiz_M: Patricia Highsmith is one of my favorite writers. She has such an ability to build up a disturbing atmosphere and people it with unsettling characters. I bought The Price of Salt thinking I hadn’t yet read it, only to discover it was also known as Carol - which I had already read. I enjoyed it and it gave more of a glimpse into Highsmith’s early life than her Ripley and her suspenseful books.

I also enjoyed Carol / The Price of Salt. I definitely need to read more by Highsmith.

I started Until The Last Of Me late last week as one of my commute books. I went to the library on Saturday and borrowed The Ghost Orchid (amongst other things) which I finished the same day.

I’ve finished George Eliot’s Adam Bede and working on a review. And I’m reading more of Virginia Woolf’s essays in The Common Reader as I wait for Tuesday’s announcement of the longlist for this year’s International Booker award.

>118 dianelouise100: I read Adam Bede quite a long while ago but remember enjoying it a lot. I'll be interested to see you review.

I finished the really excellent but challenging to read The Mandarins by Simone de Beauvoir.

Next up is something lighter and shorter - Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor and I'm reading Triangle - nonfiction about the fire at the Triangle shirtwaist factory in early 1900s NYC.

Finished The Amanda Peters and now reading The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray -- both great reads.

I finished a re-read of the mysterious Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein. It's still mysterious. I also started a misfit for me, A Calendar of Wisdom by Leo Tolstoy, which is an anthology of quotes, a short selection for each day. It's heavily about faith, which is not me. But, I'm paging through.

Not sure what I'm going to read next because the Internation Booker Longlist is announced Tuesday and I kind want to be free to pick up something then. Maybe I'll dig deeper in the Norton Edition source section on Piers Plowman.

I started The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft. If the author sounds familiar, it's because she has translated most of Olga Tokarczuk's books into English. It is an odd little book: a famous Polish author gathers all her translators to sit and translate her works together, every time she finishes a book. There are all sorts of odd rules: they live in her house, they are addressed not by their names but by the language they translate into (German, French, and so on) and they are forbidden from discussing the weather. At the beginning of the book, the author presents her latest work, instructs the translators not to read it, and then disappears. It is very interesting so far and a bit tongue-in-cheek.

>115 kjuliff: read it and enjoyed the movie adaptation with Cate Blanchet and Ronney Mara

>123 rasdhar: That definitely sounds like fun.

So where did I leave things in >94 AnnieMod::

Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions by Nalo Hopkinson is a very good collection of speculative stories - while I did not like (or understand) a few, most of the 15 stories were very good.

The Reformatory by Tananarive Due is harrowing and absolutely brilliant. It is also very speculative-forward in its ending (not in a bad way but still) which is what kept it under the radar for the mainstream readers last year I think.

And a few comics and graphic novels in between because I really really needed something brighter and lighter:
Mercy Thompson: Hopcross Jilly by Patricia Briggs which is exactly what the tin says (and if you are reading the series, you may want to check it even if you do not read comics; if you do not read the series but you read comics, the story is self-contained).
Blue by Pat Grant - an Australian cartoonist's first GN. Not my cup of tea entirely but it is interesting for what it is and it has an interesting essay about comics in Australia.
Grandville Force Majeure by Bryan Talbot - the end of a series (very unhappy Annie!) which closes the story that started in the first installment satisfactorily.

All reviews in my thread - I still need to catch up on my stories reviews (because my at-least-a-story-a-day is going surprisingly well).

Now reading The Girl by the Bridge by Arnaldur Indridason - the second Konráð novel. I had some issues with the first one in this series but I still think it is worth checking the next so we shall see. It is off to a slow start but that is expected with a retired policeman at the helm of the book so we shall see.

Mini-reading slough of sorts. Not a slump exactly. But I started The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald tonight, on 1913 Russia. It’s wonderful so far.

I’m reading The Mission House by Welsh writer Carys Davies. It’s supposed to show that the new realities of India will increasingly have their revenge on those tired old romances. Romances that have been put forward by the British who have glorified their colonization as it it were some mutual love affair.

>128 kjuliff:
Oddly enough, I've just finished her novella, West, my first of her books. Love her writing, enough to want to read more, although there I had one or two issues with other aspects of the book. Clear is due out in paperback at the end of this week here in the UK, and am attracted to that.
Otherwise, continuing with The Burgundians as my non-fiction read, and am just starting Anne Schlee's Rhine Journey. Somebody, somewhere recommended it, and it sounded really promising, but can't remember where. Hope it loves up to the rec!

Not being immediately intrigued by any of the choices on the International Booker Longlist announced today, I’ll be continuing my pursuit of George Eliot novels, turning to Scenes of Clerical Life which I’ve never read and Gordon Haight’s old, but still well thought of George Eliot: A Biography.
(Link to review of Adam Bede: https://www.librarything.com/topic/367816#8773154

>129 Willoyd: Clear is good. I love those sorts of island books.

I read Three Days in June by Anne Tyler. It was short but very good.

I finished The Betrothed yesterday, but otherwise I'm in a bit of a noncommital relationship with a few books at once in the background.

I finished The Kill, listened to both Sense & Sensibility and Pride & Prejudice, and am slow getting started on something else. I am listening to Mansfield Park, but half-heartedly. I have Gilgamesh, Unknown Soldier, and Money on my read next pile, but haven't started any.

>125 SassyLassy: Turns out, it wasn't!

I started Kaliane Bradley's The Ministry of Time.

>134 labfs39: After the first two of your Austen audios, I can understand your being half-hearted about Mansfield Park…

I've started Olivia Manning's The Balkan Trilogy, which seems to be having a bit of a moment on LT.

>137 japaul22: It's certainly having a moment with me. If you enjoy it half as much as I am, you're in for a good time.

I'm currently working my way through the last books for the Tournament of Books, so I'm almost finished both The Book of Love by Kelly Link and Great Expectations by Vinson Cunningham. I'm also in the final book of The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning, but since I now have a copy of The Levant Trilogy, I can keep reading without feeling unhappy about finishing this excellent book.

>137 japaul22: I found a used copy last weekend, now here at home. (and, of course, it's your - >138 RidgewayGirl: - fault 🙂)

I haven't finished anything. Actually struggling to concentrate on reading. But the library gave me some International Booker Longlist books today, I cracked open On the Calculation of Volume 1 by Solve Balle... so far I like it better than any 2024 IB books. But I'm on page 12.

I’m reading one of the International long list books. On the Calculation of Volume, Book I I picked it because it was available on audio. I haven’t finished but mi have the feeling it’d be better in print.

>135 rasdhar:
Turns out, it wasn't!
That's a pity - on my TBR shelf as I look.

I started Kaliane Bradley's The Ministry of Time.
Will be interested to read what you make of it - I had mixed views when read last month.

>136 dianelouise100:
After the first two of your Austen audios, I can understand your being half-hearted about Mansfield Park
S&S is a favourite of mine, but Mansfield Park does grow on me each time I read it. It's often treated as the 'least' of her books, but I find Northanger Abbey more so - it feels less mature to me.

>140 kjuliff:
Not available yet here in the UK unfortunately, the same as a fair number on the long list. I'm going to start one of the others that actually are soon - tossing up between Perfection and Eurotrash.

I'm reading The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein. I'm not quite sure what I make of it so far. I have some criticisms, but I'll hold my tongue and see how things pan out with it.

>141 Willoyd: Yes I think a fair few aren’t available in the US either. I was just checking the audio ones, always even less available for translations.

I’m reading my second book from this year’s International Booker, Eurotrash.

I’m in a bit of a reading limbo right now. My husband went in for a routine in one day, out the same day surgery last Tuesday, and has been in the ICU ever since. He is moving into a non-ICU ward today, but still not feeling like reading the books I had started last week. I’m thinking I may just pick up an old Dick Francis for a re-read — quick, easy and satisfying endings. I am still listening to The River We Remember on audio while commuting to the hospital and home. BTW, my husband is doing well, no real worries, just a lot of time in the hospital.

>145 janoorani24: I'm sorry to hear this. I hope his recovery continues apace and that you stay well.

>145 janoorani24: oh that is scary! hope he continues to do well.

so a friend of mine recommended that i read love and other consolation prizes which sounds excellent, but I didnt care for the authors previous book* so......has anyone here read and and can give me some idea if I might like it?

*and I cant remember why

>145 janoorani24: sounds crazy stressful. I’m glad your husband is doing well.

I love a public holiday. Started and finished The Story Of Arthur Truluv which is a sweet story along the lines of A Man Called Ove and Britt-Marie Was Here.

>146 labfs39: >147 cindydavid4: >149 dchaikin: Thanks for your kind words!

>145 janoorani24: I hope you and your husband are doing well and are back home soon!

Reading The Western Wind by Samantha Harvey. It's my first Harvey book and I love it. Once finished, I want to read her new book Orbital.

I'm currently reading The Back Road, Son, The Search for Delicious, and Harry Potter: The Goblet of Fire. I've started reading The Passion of Dolssa, but I thought I'd finished one of the other books before I got too far on this book. The first two books are re-reads, but I try to keep it interesting by reading multiple books because it helps me not to limit myself as a writer to one genre.

The Girl by the Bridge by Arnaldur Indridason ended up slow and overwritten (looking at my review of the first novel in the series, that seems to be the case for the series as a whole).

After I finished it, I had some fun with P. Djèlí Clark's The Dead Cat Tail Assassins (very dark humorous fantasy), a fantasy novella The Bloodless Princes (second in a series, some nice elements), a horror novella (Cold Snap) which played on the cold and the claustrophobic a bit and a graphic novel that really annoyed me (Wiper) by throwing away a great premise and ending up a cliched version of too many stories we had all read.

All reviews on my thread (plus the remaining February stories I read). Next: Berlin Atomized by Julia Kornberg.

Took a break from my list and read Springsteen's biography, Born to Run which was a work of art in itself. It shouldn't surprise me that the guy who wrote Jungleland and The River would write a poetic piece of nonfiction. Definitely worth your time, maybe even if you're not a fan.

Finishing a collection by Padraig O'Tuama, Kitchen Hymns, strong collection of Theopoetry.

Getting reading to start Lolita. Took years to have the desire to read it. But I'm gearing up for Reading Lolita in Tehran and thought having a clue about the book the authors were risking so much to have might add to the experience.

>156 DAGray08: I loved Born to Run. Lolita is an experience. And Nafisi’s memoir is quite good. (And reading Lolita is hardly necessarily for the memoir, but the memoir is certainly a good excuse to read it.) Enjoy!

>156 DAGray08: Reading Lolita in Teheran is a great book. I enjoyed it a lot and read afterwords most of the books discussed by the group around Nafisi.

I'm another one admitting to a bit of a book slump in the latter half of February. Ended my streak by finally finishing a book - Gods and Kings. This is the first of a series retelling Biblical events from Kings and Chronicles about King Ahaz, Hezekiah, and the prophet Isaiah. It's also the first of my "Babylon/Bible" theme to be read. This theme started out last year mainly as an interest in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, which as near as I can tell is around the time of Nebuchadnezzar. Anyway, I had mixed feelings about this one since it is told from a decidedly "Christian" point of view. Unfortunately so many Bible retellings are written as inspirational fiction. Not that I'm against that - but I get a bit "twitchy" with the deep patriarchal POV and what strikes me as magical thinking (i.e. just believe and God will magically save you and you will win wars...even if that is the nature of religion in that time period.) Next up is Isaiah's Daughter which may be more of the same and/or a romance. Don't know yet. I may counter that with The Assyrian. Probably I should be reading non-fiction rather than fiction....

Currently continuing with The Burgundians (about two-thirds through now), running alongside recently started Andrew O'Hagan's Caledonian Road - a road in London I know well!

Yesterday, I started Spring by Ali Smith after finishing Autumn and Winter. Her writing is lyrical but often fragmented. If the reader doesn’t welcome this, they may become frustrated. I happen to find it an engaging challenge.

I recently finished and enjoyed Good People by Israeli author Nir Baram, which takes place from 1938 through 1941 in both Germany and Russia. You can find my review on the book's work page or on my 2025 Club Read thread. The novel has two protagonists, both trying to keep their heads above water by compromising "just a little" within the authoritarian regimes of Hitler and Stalin.

Now I'm back to Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt, which I'm reading in quarters. I've now started "Part 2- Prosperity and Its Discontents: 1953-1971."

>145 janoorani24: Sounds scary, I hope he feels better soon. I found a little while back that a lot of Dick Francis' work holds up surprisingly well. The Edge is a good one - his take on the murder on a train story.

>160 Willoyd: I was thinking of reading Caledonian Road but it’s rather long. Are you enjoying it so far?

>145 janoorani24:, >163 rasdhar: Surprisingly, I've also found the books by Felix Frances, Dick's son, to be good. Usually when someone else (even (especially?) a child of the original author) takes over a series, the results range from barely adequate to awful. Part of it may be that Dick wasn't really writing a series - though there are a few with recurring protagonists. The books of Felix's I've read are right up there with the middle of Dick's books - not wonderful (at least none of the ones I've read yet) but worth reading and enjoying (and better than some of Dick's).

I'm reading Charlotte McConaghy's new book, Wild Dark Shore. I'm liking it a lot.

For nonfiction I'm reading Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things by Paul Byrne. I've read so much about Austen that I'm not learning a ton new, but I'm still enjoying revisiting Austen's life.

Like a few others here, I have been in a reading slump for the last couple of weeks, after a great start to the year. I am enjoying my revisit of Jane Austen's works through audio, and am on my fourth, Emma, which I am enjoying very much. After starting and setting aside a couple of books, today I started The Painted Bird, and I think this one will take. It has a very folktale air which I wasn't expecting, but I am already invested in the protagonist and want to know what happens to him.

I finished On the Calculation of Volume (Book 1) by Solvej Balle, a Danish author, yesterday. And I've started Eurotrash by Swiss author Christian Kracht. Both are on the 2025 Internation Booker longlist.

duplicate post

I read The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley and was more disturbed than entertained by it (not in a good way), and am now reading Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

I also waitlisted a bunch of the International Book Prize longlist books from the library, but it looks like many people are also interested in reading them. The joys of living in a highly literate society! I'm glad about it.

Finished The History of Sound earlier in the week and started Olivia Manning's Friends and Heroes this morning. Still reading The Course of Empire and am about 350 pages into it. Riveting. Ruth is so very Victorian (not surprisingly) that I am not making great progress, but not ready to give it up yet. And of course I'm still reading The Decline and Fall. I want to start something else, but am unsure of what it should be. Maybe something from my Library wish list...

I’m about to start Let it Destroy You by Harriet Alida Lye. It won the 2024 Canadian Jewish Literary Award for Fiction, and I was put onto it by @torontoc

I’ve also acquired A Swimming Pond in the Rain: in Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life by George Saunders and others, which I intend to take slowly.

>173 dchaikin: i loved that Saunders. I think he reads it. It’s terrific on audio

Oops. Duplicate

Yikes. Triplet

I finished Eurotrash just now. My second from the International Booker longlist. Starts out a little much, but settles into a very nice entertaining book.

>176 dchaikin: I've given in and reserved this book from the library. The peer pressure around here is intense!

I've got one last book to go for the Tournament of Books, The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft. I'm really enjoying the weirdness. I'm also continuing to read both the final book in The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning, Identity Unknown: Rediscovering Seven American Women Artists by Donna Seaman, and I Want to Show You More by Jamie Quatro. I've also started Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter, for this month's book club. I suggested this one, so I'm hoping it's good!

Hello! I’m new here to ClubRead and to all things LibraryThing. I just started, or should I say restarted, Is It Nothing To You?:The Unchanging Significance of the Cross by Frederick S. Leahy. I have had this book for awhile. I’ve picked it up and put it down a few times and have never finished it. I’m striving to finish it and work my way through other books in my library.

What I hope to get out of reading this book is greater love for Jesus, seeing Him more rightly, being stirred to seek Him more and becoming more devoted to follow Him. I’m just in the first chapter so far and it’s great!

I’m reading Let it Destroy You by Harriet Alida Lye a fictional story based on the real-life experiences of Leó Szilárd and his wife, Gertrud Weiss. Szilárd is known for his discovery of nuclear chain reaction in 1933. Told in alternate chapters by the scientist and his wife the story examines moral dilemmas and marriage.

I’m reading a science fiction book - Prophet

After 2-3 weeks of not reading much of anything I've now started South to a Very Old Place by Albert Murray, which was published in 1971 and is his account of returning to the Deep South as a middle aged man after the Civil Rights Movement; I'm reading it with Mary (bell7) from the 75 Books group.

Hey, look, I've finally caught up to this thread again!

My current reading is 12 Doctor, 12 Stories, a collection of Doctor Who stories by a variety of authors, which apparently were originally published separately as ebooks. I'm now seven Doctors in, and so far most of them have been quite forgettable, but there are a couple I've really liked.

I started The Housekeepers on the weekend which is unexpectedly slow for a heist novel.

I previously mentioned reading How Long 'Til Black Future Month? which I finished this week. This was so good and I would highly recommend it.

>178 tsadler96: Welcome! Sounds like a perfect Lent read.

I'm catching up a little, and started two more books: Color: A Natural History of the Palette for last months RTT theme. And Ciao, Carpaccio for the quarterly theme (Renaissance) - and two more C titles to knock off my list.

I’m reading Shy Creatures by Claire Chambers.

Hello all - I just finished Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World and it was even more interesting than I thought it would be. I just started I will Show You How it Was but it's too early to form any impressions just yet. However, after THAT I think I'm going to need to read something more peaceful, maybe with fluffy animals and whatnot...

>185 WelshBookworm: Color sounds interesting. Have you read Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern? If how color influences culture and history interests you I recommend.

>187 amorpheum: i would love to hear more about that Ghengis Khan book

Flipping audiobooks this morning. I finished Age of Wonder, and then picked up Why Fish Don’t Exist by Lulu Miller, who reads it. Age of Wonder sort of ends on Darwin, and Why Fish Don’t exist kind of begins on Darwin. I nice handoff.

So, I haven't given an update on my reading for a long time.
1 East West Street was a very interesting read and I can highly recommend it.
2 Wikmans Zöglinge was also very interesting. Unfortunately I don't know in which languages it is available.
3 The Vegetarian was a disturbing read for me.

Next I'm going to read Joël Dicker's Ein ungezähmtes Tier (Un Animal Sauvage)

finally reading polish boxer; didnt realize the author was Latin American, the title confused me!

Im having trouble staying with an african history of africa It does read like a history book, and there are so much detail in each paragraph that I am losing track of who is who. its never dull she is a very good writer, and the stories she tells of each kingdom is really interesting,and am learning quite a bit but its so slow going. Its certainly not a book that you read in one sitting; so Ill procede slowly between other books i think so I dont miss anything in this excellent history.

>191 cindydavid4: you’re going to love The Polish Boxer. Absurd but terrific, and Jewish in its own way.

>188 amorpheum: Thank you. I may add that.

I'm reading Iris Murdoch's 1963 novel The Unicorn, and at about the 2/3 point, I'm getting bogged down. Just as one of the characters is getting lost in the bog.

Did people actually talk and act like this 60 years ago?

Today I’m reading Gliff by Ali Smith.

Thanks AnnieMod

just receive peony for the Monthly Author challenge March theme this month on Pearl Buck.

I will be reading this as its right up my alley andshould be interesting and oh joy, it even has a map showing the movements of the Jewish communities between 1000-1932 ce, I knew about shangai but I didnt know the earlier mentions.

>192 dchaikin: cool,should fit in with another challenge book peony

>196 cindydavid4:

https://www.librarything.com/topic/366718

I've been working through Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hiromi Kawakami, a sort of science fiction/dystopian novel on the International Booker Award longlist.

I started Camp Damascus which is already disturbing and unsettling. Horror is not normally my thing so we'll see how I go.

I popped into my favourite bookshop to buy the next bookclub book and also bought The Benevolent Society of Ill-Mannered Ladies which looked fun and a bit more light-hearted than Camp Damascus so I started reading it on the way home.

I finished Jane Austen: A Life in Small Things which was a very good biography of Austen. Now for nonfiction I'm reading Like, Literally Dude by Valerie Fridland. She is a linguist and I hard a fascinating interview with her on NPR when this book was released. It's basically about language trends, where they originate and what they are used to convey, and how spoken language has never been and shouldn't be rigid. I'm looking forward to it.

For fiction, I'm reading Money by Zola which is not really grabbing me yet.

>189 dchaikin: Oh I could go on about it for too long, if you let me. Suffice to say I did leave it a review (and tried to be brief) if that helps.

Today I am reading Slow Man by J.M. Coetzee. Surprisingly Elizabeth Costello is in it.

>202 amorpheum: I enjoyed your review

Finished Lolita which didn't really hold any surprises. I'm always intrigued by a monster story narrated by the monster, especially one whose actions are so mundane who has learned how to manipulate sympathy. Nabokov's critique of American culture is perhaps even more spot on.

Finished Matt Ruff's Lovecraft Country sequel, The Destroyer of Worlds which is entertaining and sheds some light on the first book but doesn't pack the same Jim Crow - era horror. Still, worth the read for fans of the first.

Beginning Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi and Dream Count by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Almost always have a nonfiction and a fiction going at the same time. Both authors have tremendous voices that draw the reader in, Nafisi's a completely new world and Adichie's a way of seeing my familiar world through different eyes.

think I need to stop with the news, last few nights Ive been dreaming about clearing my ears out and finding all sorts of dirt grime and bugs.My DH tells me thats all the news thats stopped up in my head. Im gonna try but it wont be easy

I’m reading The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating and really liking it. And I’m closing in on the end of The Course of Empire. The Real Life Book Club is meeting soon so there will be something else to start for that in a few days or so.

Now reading The Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison. And I have quite a few non fiction books that I’m not sure I’m actually reading. I bought biographies of François Ier and Henri IV (the French one), and I started a book about Diogenes the Cynic.

I'm reading too many things and not finishing any of them. Except The Odyssey, I did just finish that one. I've gotten The Story of Art Without Men back from the library, I'm slowly reading either The House in Paris or Apartment in Athens on the subway, and I'm dipping into Whereas, but so far it's beyond my comprehension. I'll keep reading, hoping that something will resonate.

I'm on Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement from Cubits to Quantum Constants, after finishing a fairly meh middle grade/YA fantasy book for my book club, A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking (fine if you're actually in that middle grade age group I think, but very unsubtle and for teenagers used to adult fiction it's far too simplistic, granting many teenagers are no longer reading many adult works).

Having "Part 2 - Prosperity and Its Discontents: 1953-1971" of Tony Judt's 800-page Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, which I'm reading a quarter at a time, I've now begun a book from my pulp fiction/"they can't all be classics" shelves, The Story of the Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks by Lee Falk. In 1972, Falk began a series of novelizations based on the comic strip, The Phantom, which first appeared in newspapers in 1939, and that he was still writing at the time this book was published. This is the first book in what turned out to be a 15-book series. I'm eventually going to read at least the first three, and then see if I feel like reading any more of them.

Ooh, you folks are reading a lot of interesting things lately!

Me, I just read The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil by George Suanders, which is a fantastic satire but, for all its absurdity, it almost feels a little too painfully true to laugh at. I've now started Is Math Real? by Eugenia Cheng, which is already fascinating.

It didn't take me long to read through The Story of the Phantom: The Ghost Who Walks by Lee Falk. In 1939, Lee Falk's comic strip, The Phantom - The Ghost Who Walks, began running in newspapers and became extremely popular. In the early 1970s, Avon Books began publishing Falk's novelizations of the Phantom and his exploits. This book is the first of what eventually became a 15-book series. The concept of the character takes some very serious suspension of disbelief. My somewhat longer description is available on my Club Read thread.

Next I'll be diving back into Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 by Tony Judt to read the third of the book's four sections, "Recessional: 1971-1989." However, the book club my wife and I have joined will be discussing James towards the end of April. Right now my wife is reading Huck Finn, which I also want to reread prior to reading James. So when she's done with the Twain, I will set aside Postwar until I've revisited Huck.

>207 Fourpawz2: I very much enjoyed Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, when I read it. A very soothing read.

>209 ELiz_M: I found it interesting, Liz, that you are reading The House in Paris or Apartment in Athens. Happenstance or are you thinking about moving, lol.

While on vacation, I finished The Painted Bird, brutal; books 2 (great!) and 3 (good) of the Barroy trilogy; Don't Forget to Write, a humorous book I chortled through; How to Read a Book, a novel set in Maine that I wanted to like more than I did; and the very funny short story, The Fall Risk.

I am now trying to finish listening to Emma and have started Do Not Say We Have Nothing.

>214 labfs39: wishful thinking.

I'm enjoying Song of Redemption quite a bit better than the first book of the series. Decided I need a little more space before reading Isaiah's Daughter since it deals with the same characters. So I returned it and put myself back on the waiting list. May get it back in a month or so. For lighter bedtime reading I have just started Her Majesty's Mischief. This is the 4th and last book in the Simon and Elizabeth series. I'm going to be so sad to have it end. I'm also still slow reading a couple of non-fiction books on color for last month's RTT theme, and a little book on Carpaccio for the Renaissance quarterly read. Simon and Elizabeth fits too, and then I'll be lining up some things for the 17th century quarter.

>199 dchaikin: I'm reading Under the Eye of the Big Bird too! My library acquired a bunch of 'skip the line' copies. Looking forward to your thoughts.

>214 labfs39: - I am loving it like crazy. Put it on my Thrift Book wish list this afternoon.

Am now reading Cheyenne Autumn by Mari Sandoz. I started it once before - probably about three years ago, but it wasn't the right time, which I found kind of disturbing, because I really love Sandoz. But I am happy to report that now is the right time for this book. Only a little way in but I can tell already that I'm going to make it through to the end.

And now that I have finished The Course of Empire I am going to be able to pay more attention to Friends and Heroes which I had to put to one side so that I could concentrate most all of my time on TCoE.

>217 rasdhar: :) Enjoy. It's a curious book. I finished Sunday. And I've started The Book of Disappearance by Ibtisam Azem, originally published in 2014 (in Arabic), on Jaffa. It's my 4th on the International Booker Award longlist.

Also I finished Horace Odes, specifically Horace, The Odes: New Translations by Contemporary Poets edited by J. D. McClatchy (2002).

Finished The Tomb of Dragons and started on my next Liaden book, Dragon in Exile. No progress on non fiction, I need escape right now.

Although my wife is still reading our copy of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (see >213 rocketjk:), I passed by a fellow selling books from a table on the street yesterday who had a copy for sale for a couple of bucks, so now we're both reading it, as our apartment building's book group will be discussing James at the end of April. Steph has already read James while I have not, but we both wanted to give Huck Finn another visit before the book group meeting. This is my third reading of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I promised myself I'd read Huck again before reading James. I read Huckleberry Finn once in high school and then again in grad school. If I read it in an undergrad class, I don't remember that. Even the grad school reading would have been 40 years ago, however, so I'm looking forward to another reading now. Then I'll get back to Postwar, reading Part Three, and then probably immediately on to James. Got all that?

Got it! Very organized, Jerry 🙂

>221 rocketjk: I reread Huck before reading James when it was on the Booker short list, and I thought that doing that enriched my reading of James, although I also think that it could stand quite well on its own. It was my time to reread Huck, too.

And I’ve just finished a reread of The Trees for a book group. I found it a much better book on the second read because I followed better what was going on. Finding a satisfactory “take” on the ending made the book all the more powerful.

Now I’ve gone back to the biography of George Eliot, which I had to lay aside because other readings were more pressing, and I’ve picked up Dickens’s Barnaby Rudge which I’ve really enjoyed the first few chapters of. I seem to be in the mood for long books of the 19th century!

Wow, I haven't been here all year! Because I'm a completist and always feel like I should catch up on reading threads before I post to them, that's why. Anyway, some notables from the beginning of January:

Happier Far: Essays by Diane Mehta. Author is a friend of mine, a poet and a fine writer. I enjoyed these.
Vantage Point by Sarah Sligar. Techno-thriller, rich people, entertaining but a bit fluffy, with a weird no-twist handling of the reveal at the end.
Split Tooth by Tanya Tagaq. Book club selection, really good and strange and transportive, magical realism but also very viscerally disturbing. Everyone said the audiobook was fabulous, but I didn't have a chance to listen.
Recognizing the Stranger: On Palestine and Narrative by Isabella Hamad. More of a book-length essay, complex and well done.
Health and Safety: A Breakdown by Emily Witt. Memoir of the author's time in the Brooklyn techno scene and a relationship gone very bad. Despite lots of reasons not to relate to her story, it kept my interest and she maintained a high level of self-awareness all the way through... I think she had to, or else this would have come off as truly self-indulgent. Which it was, in a way, but still engaging.

Two books I started and put down:
The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World by David Abram—I'll be picking it back up at some point, but a combo of work craziness and current events left me without the processing capacity for this kind of abstract thinking. My fault, definitely, and not the book's, which I've heard such good things about.
The Well-Connected Animal: Social Networks and the Wondrous Complexity of Animal Societies by Lee Alan Dugatkin. Gave this a try to see if it would be a good gift for a friend who's similarly interested in animal behavior, but it was a bit on the dry side and after deciding to get her something else, I let it be.

Currently reading three books:
The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy for a discussion at George Saunders's Story Club, even though I'm behind (library holds coming in, work and Bloom reading) and the conversation is over—still, lots of good things to glean from the comments even if I'm not taking part.
Ditto of my reading of Emily Wilson's translation of The Odyssey for a discussion at A Public Space, on which I'm also way behind and also enjoying the comments anyway. This is a fantastic translation, and I'm enjoying it so much.
The Boat Not Taken: A North Korean Mother and Her Daughter by Joanna Choi Kalbus. I'm interviewing the author for Bloom next month.

>216 WelshBookworm: I recommend (based on Her Majesty's Mischief) the Sir Robert Carey mystery series starting with A Famine of Horses. They're based on fact, the actual Sir Robert's reports of his time as Warden of the West (Scottish) March, and they're _fantastic_ books (as far as I've read - she stopped writing them for a while, and I haven't gotten back into it to read the new(er) books. Last one I read was A Murder of Crows). P.F. Chisholm is Patricia Finney - she writes other historical novels too, haven't read any (yet).

>225 jjmcgaffey: Thanks Jennifer. It's already on my TBR but I'll give it a nudge. I could swear I've read Patricia Finney before, but nothing is sounding familiar. I shall have to remedy that.

I’m reading Nesting by Roisin O’Donnell

I had been catching up on my reviews the last 2 days and remembered I kept forgetting to post here.

So from the last almost 3 weeks of reading:
Berlin Atomized by Julia Kornberg - a tale about rich Argentinian family today and in the future. I am not sure what I expected and I did not hate it but I think I expected more.
Made in Korea, Vol. 1 was a comics collection that sounded like something I will like and ended up really disappointing (the wonderful premise was lost under an angst tale of teenagers shooting up a school...)

Two crime/noir novels which I enjoyed even if they had flaws: Dogs and Wolves by Hervé Le Corre (my introduction to the author who I plan to read more of) and Strange Loyalties by William McIlvanney (the third Laidlaw novel).

Two Science fiction tales (one novel, one novella) with great promise but somewhat botched execution (in different ways): Mechanize My Hands to War by Erin K. Wagner and Time's Agent by Brenda Peynado

3 short stories collections which were all very good and which I recommend (although I suspect different readers may not enjoy all of them so look at the reviews:)):
Highway Thirteen: Stories by Fiona McFarlane
Miss Kim Knows and Other Stories by Cho Nam-Joo
There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven: Stories by Ruben Reyes Jr.

(and a boatload of other stories in my thread I read in early March from online magazines).

Now that I am caught up on what I had read, I am reading a novel (Good Girl by Aria Aber (which had been on my e-waiting list in the library since January and had months still to go and then I saw that the paper copies had an availability so requested it that way) and another collection (Ghost Pains by Jessi Jezewska Stevens) which one story in is a lot less entertaining that the 3 above but we shall see.

I started a new poetry book. I'm replacing Horace with Harping On: Poems, 1985-1995 by Carolyn Kizer.

And I finished my audiobook. I finished Why Fish Don't Exist by Lulu Miller, and have started The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV by Helen Castor. Both are on the 2025 Women's Prize for Nonfiction longlist (and both are read by their authors)

Today I am reading Scattered All Over the Earth by Yoko Tawada.

I've gone from being a one book woman to a total book harlot - I've a few things on the go right now. While I continue to limp through the Gertrude Stein book, I've just finished The Untethered Soul on audio and have started The Colony by Audrey Magee as my new commute audio. In the mornings I'm reading God is Closer Than You Think by John Ortberg as part of my Lenten reading commitment, and I've also started dipping into Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall, which was supposed to be a reading alternative to when I reach my Gertrude Stein tolerance levels, but in hindsight is probably not the best easy reading alternative I could have chosen.

>231 AlisonY: 😂 😂 And, I can totally relate!

I love The Colony.

>231 AlisonY: I 've gone from being a one book woman to a total book harlot -

Ha welcome to the club!

I’ve started listening to The Mighty Red by Louise Erdrich.

Traveling. But i finished The Book of Disappearance last night (which left me uncomfortable). And started Solenoid. Both are on the International Booker Award longlist.

Finished Dragon in Exile and started on the biography of François Ier.

I finished The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning today and would be bereft, but I have The Levant Trilogy ready to read soon.

I also finished The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft which was just on the edge of too zany without crossing the line for me. And I read the delightful Hot Air by the always excellent Marcy Dermansky. Now to get to reviewing them.

I'm still reading Identity Unknown by Donna Seaman and I'm halfway through a book of short stories called I Want to Show You More by Jamie Quatro.

>237 RidgewayGirl: - Congrats on finishing TBT! I am only about 1/3 of the way through Friends and Heroes - probably because, as usual, I am reading way too many things. Can't wait to set about collecting The Levant books.

Just finished Love,Queenie Merle Oberon,Hollywoods first South Asian Star a biography of the Calcutta born actress who was able to make a name for herself in Hollywood. But in order to do so she had to hide her background and pass as white. Merle Oberon - or Estelle Merle 'Queenie' Thompson, to give her birth name - lived more drama than she acted. Born to a teenage mother who was raped by her stepfather, Queenie was unofficially adopted by her grandmother, and never knew the truth about her birth. Born in India, she did know that she was half South Asian (Sri Lankan, in fact), and battled her whole life to hide the truth, even when the racist immigration laws and puritanical film codes of America were lifted in later years.She had roles in several movies with Lawremce Olivier, Marlon Brando, Leslie Howard and many other stars. She was the first Southeast Asian woman to be nominated for an academy award. The author of this book, South Asian himself writes a factual story with skill and sympathy for the star. Mayukh Sen pulls no punches in listing Merle's attractions and failings, her hits and flops, and I was left feeling slightly depressed at the downward spiral her life seemed to take. Critically, though, she never gave up She lived a double life, terrified that she would be judged for her background of poverty and illegitimacy in India - and she probably would have been - until she barely knew herself who she was anymore.

My interest in the story was that my middle name is Merle, a name I hated growing up as I was often teased about it (Merle Haggard anyone) . My sister later told me I was named after this actress, who my mom grew up watching and loving. never was interested in finding out more; but this book got my curiosity up. and found out what a struggle she had making it, and how much she had to face down racism and misogny while keeping her secret. I finished the book feeling proud to share her name. Rating a 4.5 I could have done with more than one photo a page. there is an extensive biography and a filmolgy as well. I plan to make good use of those

double post

Just finished Love,Queenie Merle Oberon ,Hollywoods first South Asian Star a biography of the Calcutta born actress who was able to make a name for herself in Hollywood. But in order to do so she had to hide her background and pass as white. Merle Oberon - or Estelle Merle 'Queenie' Thompson, to give her birth name - lived more drama than she acted. Born to a teenage mother who was raped by her stepfather, Queenie was unofficially adopted by her grandmother, and never knew the truth about her birth. Born in India, she did know that she was half South Asian (Sri Lankan, in fact), and battled her whole life to hide the truth, even when the racist immigration laws and puritanical film codes of America were lifted in later years.She had roles in several movies with Lawremce Olivier, Marlon Brando, Leslie Howard and many other stars. She was the first Southeast Asian woman to be nominated for an academy award. The author of this book, South Asian himself writes a factual story with skill and sympathy for the star.

My interest in the story was that my middle name is Merle, a name I hated growing up as I was often teased about it (Merle Haggard anyone) . My sister later told me I was named after this actress, who my mom grew up watching and loving. never was interested in finding out more; but this book got my curiosity up. and found out what a struggle she had making it, and how much she had to face down racism and misogny while keeping her secret. I finished the book feeling proud to share her name. Rating a 4.5 I could have done with more than one photo a page. there is an extensive biography and a filmolgy as well. I plan to make good use of those

Reading Bear by Julia Phillips.

Today I’’m reading Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami. This is my 9th book this month.

I'm so impressed by everyone's reading. I've been in a reading doldrums for about a month now. I'm still reading Finding Fibonacci: The Quest to Rediscover the Forgotten Mathematical Genius Who Changed the World by Keith Devlin, a Jasper Fforde novel The Last Dragonslayer, and am almost finished with Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis on audio.

I'm reading Dream Count, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's new novel.

For nonfiction, I'm still reading Like, Literally Dude, a book about language and how it changes over time. It's good but I'm not reaching for it as often as I thought I would. I think the interview I heard with the author (which made me pick up the book) worked better than the full length book does. I'm close to finishing it, though.

Setting everything else aside since my copy of The Antidote by Karen Russell is due back at the library in a few days. It's fantastic so far, mixing the harsh reality of life in dust bowl Nebraska with some very interesting unreal elements.

I'm currently reading Upton Sinclair's Oil! which I'm absolutely loving. A terrific real depiction of the US that I find confounding that there are so many 1 star reviews for it.

I'm also reading the famous nonfiction Bury at Heart at Wounded Knee and now that I figured out what it is doing, I'm really reading right through it.

finished polish boxer which is quite good. really liked the first story and was hoping there was anothr for that characture.I didnt care for the last story, not sure why. surprised that this is the only book by this author which has been transnlated into English, Id like to read others

also finish peony for the Monthly Author Challenge, this month being Pearl Buck. The first book I read of hers, way back in Jr Hi was the good earth which I reread frequently; was a while till I got the background history but when I did I understood it so much more. I read several of her other books but picked this one because I had no idea that Jews had entered the country through Persia via the silk road. The book has a map showing how early this took place and where they went. In the back the author has given a history of this migration through WWII I knew that shanghai were taking them in, but didnt realize this was already a part of the culture.

This book was about a Jewish family in China and a young Chinese who is in love with the young master, and their interaction with the native community. Alot in here about the push for Jewish children to marry othe Jewish children; something thats as old as the religion to keep the community together and to keep Judiasm intact. I think its harder to do now.

I loved this book and the changes that happen in their lives and the choices that the characters made also loved the descriptions the author gives of the people and place . I liked what castlelass said in her review:

It is an evenly paced novel, mostly character-driven through inner dialogues, and includes a memorable journey to Peking. It succeeds where many contemporary historical fiction novels fail: the setting and era are integral to the storyline, and the characters act in accordance with the culture, customs, and ways of life of the era. The sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes provide an aura of authenticity. The reader feels immersed into the historical environment. Rated this a *5 highly recommended

>248 cindydavid4: I really like Eduardo Halfon's writing and have read three of his books so far (more have been translated to English). Canción is my favorite. I've also read The Polish Boxer and Monastery.

oh thanks! Ill start with Monastary

I’m trying to clear some space on my shelves before moving house so my current reading is based on size of book (preferably ones that can be read fairly quickly despite size). This method has thrown up two book that I’m really enjoying: Forgotten Voices of the Blitz and the Battle for Britain by Joshua Levine and The Fraud by Zadie Smith.

I recently finished A Girl is a Half-formed Thing, and wooboy, if I thought The Discomfort of Evening was a difficult read, this has many similar plot points but an older protagonist with unhealthy sexual behaviors, wrapped up in an unconventionally punctuated version of stream-of-consciousness. And yet, I never avoided it and found the relationship between the siblings compelling.

The Time of indifference, which I am now reading, is almost breath of fresh air in comparison.

I finished The Antidote by Karen Russell, which I was so eager to read. There were some good things about it, but the flaws were enormous and include one of my all time pet peeves. Thinking through how to review it.

So, released from a long novel, I am happily diving back into On a Woman's Madness by Astrid Roemer, which moves around in time and has a dreamy feel to it. This is the first novel I've encountered by an author from Suriname, so I did pause to read a quick outline of the country's history and politics.

I've just started The Harmattan Winds by Sylvain Trudel, which is the latest book from my Archipelago Books subscription. It feels fitting to read a book by a Canadian.

I’m reading Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel
by Yōko Tawada.

I just finished Dream Count, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's brand new novel. Very good, though not my favorite of hers.

I'm going back to the Balkan Trilogy, and I waited just long enough to be really excited to get back to it.

For nonfiction, I'm reading What an Owl Knows by Jennifer Ackerman. I find these nature/animal books very relaxing and interesting. Nice to not think about humans for a bit.

>164 kjuliff:
I was thinking of reading Caledonian Road but it’s rather long. Are you enjoying it so far?
Sorry for the long delay in replying - I missed this and was then away for a while. I've reviewed it on my thread, but have to say that I wasn't impressed, and didn't finish it.

After finishing (and enjoying) Zola's Money, and not finishing Matt Parkers Love Triangle, am now in the midst of Lucy Mangan's Bookish. I enjoyed her previous book on children's lit (Bookworm), and this is a similar, follow up effort on adult lit.

Just finished AHat Full of sky and find I missed a lot last time I read I wasnt wild about it, but now Im really liking his messages; it feels like he was writing this to his own child. You can see how his world is developing and his sense of humor sharpening .the story Includes Granny Weatherwax and the freegels i love how the chapter entitled The Witches Trial, which turned into something quite different. The writing is delightful and the story ends quite well. Now looking forward to read 'I shall wear midnight} for May. rating 4.5 probably my fav of his early work

so I find myself rather addicted to the world of Tiffany Aching right now, so I tossed the calendar aside and started reading wintersmith just what I need right now.