What You're Reading the Week of 30 August 2008

A brief diversion away from Harlan Coben to read Tess Gerritsen's The Mephisto Club which had a disappointing lack of plot but plenty of blood; and then Cold in Hand by John Harvey who continues to impress - note to self, find more of these. Finally, back to Coben's The Innocent, they get better and better.

And still dipping into the Rhino book - JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan.

Just finished Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle - very good novel; narrator is a ten year old Irish lad - and picked up Persepolis 2 by Marjane Satrapi.

Still reading The Girls, nearly finished and finding it a fascinating book.

I finished Nickled and Dimed, am slowly getting through The Second World War by John Keegan, and am about to start the Poisonwood Bible for the LT group read.

I was at the library a few days ago and Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon was sitting there. It's usually reserved. Anyway, I borrowed it, started yesterday and can't stop reading. This afternoon I stuck my kids in front of TV for a while so that I could read a bit more. Bad!!!! Somehow I think I won't get into the P.B. for a few days...

I'm still reading The Practical Surveyor by Samuel Wyld (pub. 1725) and The Seems: Glitch in Sleep.

Just finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy - wow! What a read.

I'm about 5 pages into The Fire by Katherine Neville.

Plus I'll get to pick another 4-5 books out (for backup, you understand) to take to the beach.

Still reading, and enjoying, Forrest Gump by Winston Groom.

Just started Chasing Elvis, which so far is about a bank robbery, where all evidence seems to point to Elvis, who had died 5 years earlier. I also have picked up from the library (thanks to everyone here) The Gargoyle.

edited to correct touchstone

I am reading The High Flyer by Susan Howatch
Set in the City of London, where I work, The High Flyer of the title, marries a man who has a secret past.
Susan Howatch explores the challenges and dangers of contemporary life in this thriller set in the 1990's, as the heroine tries to uncover the truth about the tormented man she has unwittingly married.

It is a very readable and gripping story.

-TT

Finished my RL bookclub book, The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham. There is a contentment, quiet but real, in putting oneself in the hands of a master/mistress of craft. I also finished Fast Forward by a man who purports to be a porn screenwriter. Clever, clever, little man and not one whose work I will seek out in future. Also finished Amuse Bouche and loved it. I have the second one and am looking for the third.

MusicMom from last week's thread: An Instance of the Fingerpost wasn't a favorite read of mine or my sister's when we read it about eight years ago now. We slogged through to the finish and then donated our copies to charity.

I havee guests all weekend so will see all and sundry on Tuesday.

I'm exactly halfway through Nelson Demille's 1990 novel, The Gold Coast. I love his narrators -- male, smart, cynical, tough-yet-tender, and laugh-out-loud hilarious -- and the Mafia-don antagonist here is fearsome and likeable. DeMille writes long, usually because his stories explore some aspect of history, a government bureaucracy or a geographic setting -- here it's the decline of the Gold Coast estates on Long Island. And yay, a follow-up novel, The Gate House, is coming out in October!

I just finished Samurai William, an illuminating history of English/Dutch/Portuguese trade in Japan.

Currently reading:
The Meaning of Everything and
From Doon with Death

I hope to finish Captain Alatriste on audio soon, and will be listening to The Iliad for a looooong time to come (only on part 2 of 14).

I've just finished The Amber Spyglass, and for a complete change of pace, am about to start on The Light Years by Elizabeth Jane Howard. I also have a couple of new New Zealand poetry books on the go: Moonshot by Harvey Molloy and My Iron Spine by Helen Rickerby - both very good.

I finished Of Mice and Men. Someone from the other thread mentioned they were reading it as well. I enjoyed it -- haunting, very well-crafted novella. In general I am more of a thick book kind of gal - I preferred The Grapes of Wrath. I am finding I like Steinbeck the best of the classic American writers -- I am thinking of Hemmingway and Faulkner here.

I have just barely started Affinity by Sarah Waters; my first novel by this author.

Chapter 5 of Mystic Isle by Joanna Wayne

I received an ARC of Operation Blue Light by Philip Chabot .
I really wanted this one!

That is next for me.. in about 5 minutes in fact.

It looks good, but fingers crossed!

Night by Elie Wiesel. It's a short book, but it's taking me a while because I can only take it in small doses. I figured if he can experience it and write about it, I should at least bring myself to read it and bear witness. Very difficult.

When I'm taking a break, I'm just reading magazines and flipping through catalogs. I feel like I need the mind candy as an antidote.

jhedlund- I completely understand the need to balance out the experience of reading Night.

17 & 18 > Yes, Night is one of the most powerful books I've ever read.

I just started Pravda by Edward Docx. I'm only about 5 pages in, but the writing style is immediately engaging. I'd never heard of this one, but somehow it called out to me from the shelves of a local SF bookstore last week. Anyone else know of this book or this writer?

17 18 19>

I share your feeling about Night. Easily one of the most powerful and disturbing books of our era. And yes we should ALL force ourselves to read it. It took me several months...

Anyway, I've started a fall project with Civil War: Fort Sumter to Perryville.. I'm also getting a head start on The Poisonwood Bible.

Finished Whiskey Rebels by Liss... look for my review, and am still working my way through The Best American Short Stories.

I just finished Son of the Morning by Linda Howard which I loved and am now resumingShadow of the Wind which I had stopped reading temporarily. Funny, how Son of the Morning had this Knights of the Templar Da Vinci Code theme to it as does Foucault's Pendulum and Shadow of the Wind reminds me a bit of Foucault's Pendulum, probably mostly because of the setting primarily, but also that eerie supernatural feel to it as well. Still, I'm enjoying Shadow of the Wind much more than Foucault's Pendulum which was a total slog for me, though I hear it's better the 2nd time around - if I can ever bring myself to read it again! Kind of a 6th degree of separation thing going on with my reading right now...

Finished Fault Lines by Nancy Huston yesterday. Can't stop thinking about it, so it will take me a bit to decide what to read next. (PS - I did not read it in French, but can't find the English touchstone)

#6 - I completely agree re The Road.

Finished Dear American Airlines. The best I can say for it is that it was 'okay.' Half through The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher, which is considerably better. Had a terrible time deciding which novel would replace Dear American Airlines, but finally decided on No Country for Old Men. I'm a huge McCarthy fan and haven't read that one yet.

I am still reading The Secret Scripture. It is not captivating me as I had hoped it would, making for slow progress. I have a stack of books in my TBR pile that beckon so I will give the book one last chance to captivate me or else it will be relegated to the 'unfinished' pile.

I am still reading The Hunchback of Notre dame one of those wonderful books in which the reader (me) doesn't want to miss one word because the use of language is so marvelous. I continue to listen to The Bone Garden by Tess Gerritsen.

I just finished Bleak House, about a month after I started it. It's wonderful - the last few hundred pages just fly. Next up will be Brideshead Revisited, which is a reread (revisit?) but I need to refresh my memory to write my ER review since it has been several years. Happily, I love the book and am looking forward to reading it again.

#1 Greayhead: Meant to tell you last week and got sidetracked... I love Harlan Coben, in fact HE is the reason I started reading contemporary fiction. Without Coben, I would never have joined LT. :-D

#6 karenmarie: I loved The Road, as well. It's not like anything I've every read.

#7 RedBowlingBallRuth: I hated Forest Gump, the book! It was sooo depressing. I loved the movie so much more!

#8 sydamy: The Gargoyle was an awesome book! I envy you reading it for the first time!

#14 jhowell: If you liked Of Mice and Men and you're a Stephen King fan, I recommend Blaze (my reveiw). It's kind of like "What if Stephen King had written Of Mice and Men instead of Steinbeck.

I just finished my review of Confessions of a Contractor by Richard Murphy; it's posted In the Shadow of Mt. TBR. I really enjoyed reading it. It was such a pleasure to read!

I really want to read Eclipse, my next Twilight Saga book, but I'm not allowing myself to read it until I finish up Caesar's The Conquest of Gaul, which I have about a week left to post the review (as per Penguin's "6 weeks" requirement). I'll be oh-so-glad to finish it!

**Sorry if this is a repeat post - I seem to have misplaced my first attempt.

Somehow Ghost Orchid Carol Goodman slipped in ahead of my other tbr's. Next I think I'll start Tipperary Frank Delaney or Twilight Stephenie Meyer.

I've just finished World War Z - I'm a big fan of zombies, and this book has a really cool outlook on the subject. I highly recommend it to horror fans.

I'm still working through:
The Complete Poems and Songs of Robert Burns
Just So Stories
Uncle Tom's Cabin

and I'll start Fluke later today, as part of my Christopher Moore bibliography reading list.

I finally finished Gravity's Rainbow. It was an enjoyable read but I have to admit I feel relieved to be through it.

This weekend, I'm hoping to finish up The New Weird and Nuevos Cuentos de Bustos Domecq, both of which I'm mostly done with.

Than for the coming week, I plan to read Cronica de una muerte anunciada, The Mysteries of Udolpho and finish The Unabridged Edgar Allen Poe.

How does one read in the middle of convention and hurricane season? Nevertheless, I just finished The Reserve by Russell Banks and am about to start All The Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen.

Just finishing A Monarchy Transformed and just starting The Fabric of the Cosmos. (This pair takes bookmash-avoidance to a whole new level.)

For # 29: scaifea- I also loved World War Z. I'm not sure where this writer came from but boy did he do a great job!
I just finished Skeletons at the Feast. It was a good book. Bohjalian is a fine storyteller. The premise was fresh and interesting but I don't think he's a strong writer. Some of his prose was pretty weak. Anyone else feel this way?
I'm just starting The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber and it looks to be a darn good read! Now, this guy can write!!

20: kcs_hiker & others,

Will finish the final volume, Red River to Appomattox, of Shelby Foote's The Civil War: A Narrative over the weekend. The three books have taken me all summer.

Outstanding reading experience by a gifted writer. I not only have a better understanding of the conflict but I have an admiration for the Confederacy that I did not have before I started.

Next up: Robert E. Lee by Roy Blount from the Penguin Lives series. At just over 200 pages it should be quick and then I leave the Civil War era.

I'm reading Midwife of the Blue Ridge, as well as continuing with The Three Musketeers. When I finish Midwife, I'm planning to move on to The 19th Wife.

33: I listened to Idyll Banter on CD, and I got the same feeling.

Just started school, so I'm getting a start on some school reading:
California by Kevin Starr
Theatre Histories by Phillip B. Zarilli et al.

My fun read now is The Character Factory by Michael Rosenthal, and I just finished Dr. Bowdler's Legacy by Noel Perrin

I'm just about to finish American Wife, and while I don't hate it (as I initially worried I would), I don't love it, either. Was hoping to get it reviewed today, but I'm out of town for a wedding, and things are busier than expected. Maybe tomorrow.

Then, I'll start on The Gone-Away World, which I'm very excited about.

I have now finished The Secret Scripture and my perseverance in getting through the book has paid off. The ending made up for lack of enthusiasm I had while reading through the earlier sections of the book.

Next up, The Dark Lantern by Gerri Brightwell.

I finished Shipwrecks: Australia's greatest maritime disasters this afternoon. It's a cold & wet last day of winter, perfect for reading about wild days on the oceans. This book is pretty much what the title suggests. It is a great read & covers a fair bit of ground in just over 300 pages, which makes it a fast paced & interesting book. My last few non-fiction books have been ocean-related, so I think I will take a break for a while. I've got a food-related book on order from library.

I'm still going with the Handmaid's Tale and I'm loving it. Margaret Atwood's writing is amazing.

Now reading The White Tiger.

finished Of MICE and MEN - GREAT BOOK I WAS SORRY IT WASN'T LONGER.
NOW READING LOVING WANDA BEAVER - ALISON BAKER. LESBIAN WRITER -SHORT STORIES. HAVENT READ A COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES FOR A VERY LONG TIME. I REALLY LIKE SHORTS IF THEY ARE WELL WRITTEN AND INTERESTING. I AM ENJOYING THESE STORIES.

Just finished Bill Bryson's Neither Here Nor There today.

About a week into Gödel, Escher and Bach by Hofstadter - very interesting book, and surprisingly not outdated, despite being written 20 years ago

I'm very close to being finished with Prophesy of the Flame: Love's Dawning by Lynn Hardy which I've been reading for a couple weeks. I also started Havemercy which looked very interesting. I love the cover. I pulled Outlander out of my tbr pile as well and have it on deck to start.

I'm trying to limit myself to reading only two books at a time.

I just finished The Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill. I would recommend it for the very good integration of real events and fiction. I found the descriptions of life in the various places in the book really interesting.
I am now reading Justinian's Flea by William Rosen.

I finished rereading The Catcher in the Rye last night; my review is up at Stella Matutina.

Now I'm focusing in on my reread of Thieves & Kings for a little while. I love this series! I think I may start Breaking Dawn today or tomorrow, too, as a friend just lent it to me last night and is already asking me for my reaction!

I recently finished The Somnambulist which I thought was okay but frustrating. Interesting story, but with contradictory descriptions, flat characters and events that didn't flow well into each other.

I started on the Earthsea books a few months ago and am now on Tales from Earthsea. I thought The Wizard of Earthsea was okay, enough to keep me going, but enjoyed the later books more, especially the ones with Tenar.

I'm also still working on Monster of God by David Quammen. I really enjoy Quammen's collections of natural history essays but this is a more concentrated work and somewhat drier and I've been dipping in and out of this for several months now.

I finished American Wife and have posted my review at The Book Lady's Blog .

Now it's on to After the Fire for an author-requested review.

I finished Genius Squad and am now halfway through 13 Steps Down by Ruth Rendell.

Next up: Mount Dragon by Preston/Child

Finished The Road last night. I'm with karenmarie (post #6). Powerful book.

Strange therapy, but to get over The Road I immediately started a parenting book, like five minutes later. So, I'm currently reading Siblings without Rivalry by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish. If anyone is interested, these authors wrote one the best parenting books I've come across: How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk.

#4 cmt “This afternoon I stuck my kids in front of TV for a while so that I could read a bit more. Bad!!!!” -- Oh very bad. I would never do such thing...or at least I do feel guilty afterwards…well, sometimes.

#8 sydamy – I have the Gargoyle waiting for me at the library. I should be able to pick it up Tuesday and plan to start it right away. Hope to hear your response.

# 27: thekoolaidmom - I kind of agree with you about Forest Gump, the book. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t like it either. It was a little strange.

#10 richardderus

Thanks for the heads up on Fingerpost. I guess I'll put that on the backburner--too many things to read that I'm sure I'll like!

#17 jhedlund

re Night by Wiesel--those were my sentiments exactly! We also own his Memoirs (no touchstone for that one) and I plan to read that one next year. I'd like to see how he processed those horrific experiences he had as a teenager.

#25 hemlokgang

Hunchback--I love this book! I read it a few years ago. I also loved Les Miserables--maybe even more. I read both in unabridged versions (I'm sort of compulsive about that) but my sons read Les Miserables in a good abridged version when they were teenagers and also loved it.

#26 jfetting

I love Dickens and Bleak House is probably my overall favorite (followed very closely by at lease 6 more "favorites!") I'm glad you liked it--so many don't appreciate it.

#33 msf59

Bohjalian: great story teller! strong writer?

The only Bohjalian I've read is Double Bind. I really enjoyed reading it--especially since The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite novels (it's why I read Double Bind)--it was a page turner for me. At the end I wasn't exactly dissatisfied but it seemed to me that there were a few holes in the plot that left unanswered questions. I might have missed something--I've asked a friend to read it to see what he thinks.

I'd love to hear any opinions by others on the thread about Bohjalian and/or Double Bind.

I am now reading A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie. The first in the Kincaid and James mystery series. It is the series we are reading in my RL mystery book group.

I always like to start with the first one, but that is a double-edged sword. You get the lowdown on all the characters and the set up, but the first book is often the weakest in terms of writing.

Its still early, but the books seems pretty pedestrian so far. Very cookie-cutter in terms of setting and characters.

The main character, Kincaid is a (New) Scotland Yard detective and on vacation at his cousin's time share in Yorkshire. We get a look a the time share: 'Gentility with all the mod cons', and then little intros of the groups of people staying there. The blurb says someone is found dead in the pool, so its just a question of who is the victim and who is the killer. Ho-hum.

Finished California and Dr. Bowdler's Legacy. Continuing with The Character Factory, and starting Lord Foul's Bane.

MusicMom, I also have a thing about reading unabridged editions of books. We read Les Miserables in book club several years ago and I absolutely loved it. So, yes, I am savoring Hunch :)

>53 hemlokgang:
How many months did you spread Les Miserables out over? ;)

We read it over two months. In fourteen years, that is the only book we ever split.

Only two? It took me six months -- of unemployment, mind you -- to finish that doorstop book.

I just want to say that I have read most of Susan Howatch's books and I loved High flyer I wonder what has happened to her I have not seen any of her recent works that she has written.

46 Sandragon: Keep going with the Earthsea books. The last one is incredibly moving.

I am currently rereading (for the first time in 30 years or so) Heart of Darkness. Amazing and prescient.

Finished Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist late last week - disturbing, but good. Early on in the book I kept wanting to abandon it because one of the characters was so creepy, but a larger part of me wanted to know what was going to happen, so I kept reading and ended up being glad I did.

Have just started The Poisonwood Bible as an LT group read (hello to the people above who are also involved). So far I like it a lot - wonderfully written, interesting story.

I'm not sure if I will want to read something else at the same time. I'll see how it goes. Goodness knows I have many books on my shelves to choose from!

I'm currently reading Alive in Necropolis by Doug Dorst and The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby.

I just finished Consolation by Michael Redhill; what a good story (or stories). Next up is Bel Canto by Anne Patchett.

Finally starting American Wife and reading I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings for school. Might be able to squeeze something else in too, but I am not sure yet.

I meant to be reading Sweetsmoke but made the mistake of peeking at Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters and am already hooked. I needed a little lighter read anyway; slavery was not it!

I just finished The Gargoyle. Wow. I didn't really know what to expect from this book - LT recommendations and a really cool cover. I was totally blown away by the Inferno tie-in. History, romance, religion, a little magical realism, this book has everything I look for in a book. It probably will be a few days before I can start something else.

Just discovered dead beat at the library - part of the dresden files series about a supernatural detective - is brilliant so far.
Thus On beauty gets put back on the shelf for now.

Not reading anything hugely exciting this week, next week I'm moving across the country, leaving most of my books here in storage, so I'm tring to get through a couple I want to read from my massive 'too read' pile, but that I don't really care about enough to carry across the country when I'm severely limited for space, so the main ones are the science of discworld and I am a cat (which is very good but not my regular reading style and I can live without it with me).

Recently finished The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante and Embers by Sandor Marai. I recommend the former and highly recommend the latter.

#50: MusicMom41 was I too ambivalent on my feelings about Skeletons at the Feast?. I didn't mean to be. I really enjoyed the story but some of his prose was a little flowery. I've heard from other readers as well and he seems to be a bit of a mixed-bag!

#60: bibliophool let me know how the Doug Dorst book is. It really sounds good. I loved the Nick Hornby too. I also enjoyed the couple he wrote about his love of books!

Last week I tore through the entire Books of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau, coincidentally in perfect timing to read The Diamond of Darkhold just as it was released! Next up is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss - I've finally reached the bursting point of all of my friends telling me how good it is, and I figured I have to see for myself.

I'm also still listening to Dreamsongs, Volume II by George R. R. Martin, although I haven't been able to spend a whole lot of quality time with my iPod lately.

I have nearly finished Ils ne mouraient pas tous mais tous étaient frappés, about mobbing and work-induced mental pathologies, by Marie Pezé, a psychologist and psychoanalyst (creepy book). I'm well into Rushdie's Haroun and the sea of stories (delightful) and Tolstoy's Enfance (Childhood). Every night I read one or two stories from the Récits de la Kolyma by Varlam Shalamov (the book is more than 1300 pages, I may finish it by next June. It can't be a quick and pleasant read anyway, but how powerful and haunting! and there's a real poetic quality about it I didn't expect, though the author once said that, in the twenty years he spent in Stalin's camps, he never managed to admire a landscape, however beautiful)

Hooray for long weekends!

I've read:
From Doon with Death, which was interesting but not outstanding (and also not my normal reading fare)
How to Read a Novel by John Sutherland, which was fabulous

Now I'm reading The Shadow of the Wind and loving it so far (about 130 pages in), and still reading (and enjoying) The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester.

Finished Forrest Gump and echo what others have mentioned; it wasn't great. While the movie was pure magic, and the book was simply.. not. Started reading Wuthering Heights, I'm only a few pages in though.

I'm about 50 pages into The Lace Reader and liking it.

I just finished reading the book The Road by Cormac McCarthy a minute ago. Wow...what a story !!!

I dont know yet what to read next, I am still waiting for the books I have purchased from the internet.

.

58 - Lawyerbob, I'm really enjoying the first story of Tales (Finder) so far. I appreciate more the Earthsea stories that have less about traveling in them and more about the characters themselves.

69 - firefly98, sounds like you enjoyed the Book of Ember series. I saw a preview for the movie last week and it looked good so now I've got it on audio. I'd like to listen to it before the movie comes out. The Name of the Wind also sounds familiar but I can't think of where I've heard it before. Please let us know how you like it.

#63 When you get around to it, let us know what you think of Sweetsmoke. I saw it at B&N today and almost bought it. Decided that with 425 unread books at home I could wait for it to be on sale/paperback.

I'm shutting down my computer and will start in The poisonwood bible for the group read.

Just finished up John Grogan's The Longest Trip Home.

>77 whymaggiemay: I'm not teelgee, and I hope she chimes in, but I really enjoyed Sweetsmoke. It was an excellent first novel.

I just finished Mallory's Oracle by Carol O'Connell - the first in the Kathy Mallory police mystery series. I enjoyed it, although more for the character development than the mystery itself.

I'm just starting Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, and already by page 22 I'm getting sucked in - I think this is going to be an excellent read.

#81 - I just finished her novel Affinity. It was quite good - very gothic. You'll have to let me know how you like Fingersmith.

#81 - ooh, yes, Fingersmith is excellent! I've sort of been craving a reread of it myself.

But instead, I'm sort of maybe possibly working my way through Breaking Dawn, which is neither grabbing me nor repulsing me.

Finished Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen this afternoon and loved it. As a native North Carolinian, I am always nervous reading Southern fiction, especially when it is set in NC. However, unlike several failed attempts the past few years to find a contemporary Southern writer who I can stand, Allen's writing was easily readable, her plot engaging, and her depiction of life in small town NC without the aggravating cliches and stereotypes that normally irritate me. Of course, as the novel incorporates a heavy dose of magical realism, the plot isn't completely realistic, which probably contributes to the freedom from otherwise stale, judgmental depictions of Southern small town life that grate on my nerves.

I'm still working through:
The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted by Elizabeth Berg
What is the What by Dave Eggers
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris
Strong Women, Soft Hearts by Paula Rinehart

Next up:
The Girl With No Shadow by Joanne Harris
???

Today I plowed through A Wolf at the Table, which I liked, despite not-so-good reviews. I also devoured Maus II: A Survivors Tale: And Here My Troubles Began in about two hours. Up next is Trespass, which I remember nothing about except it sounded good when you all were talking about it a few weeks ago, prompting me to get it from the library.

(Trying to fix touchstones - wish me luck!)

I finished The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry -- a choice inspired by enthusiastic LT readers. Not sure how I feel about the ending, though I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

Next up: Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini for my book club.

I just finished A Semester in the Life of a Garbage Bag by Gordon Korman

Just finished Atonement, which I liked a lot. Then for my on-line book, I'm reading Pamela.

I am reading FADE AWAY-HARLAN COBEN and will start THE POISONWOOD BIBLE today for the LT group read.

I finished Brideshead Revisited over the weekend, and it's still fantastic. Now I'm on to Ironweed by William Kennedy, which I'm enjoying much more than I thought I would. I love all the dead people reacting to the main character's presence - it's a really interesting way of introducing Francis's background. It's pretty short, so I'll be done soon (tonight, maybe) and then next is Neverwhere! I can't wait.

>76 sandragon: sandragon - I also started reading The City of Ember due to seeing the movie trailer! I didn't even realize that it was the first in a series when I started reading it, but the other books are pretty good as well (although the first is definitely my favorite).

The Name of the Wind has been mentioned sporadically on Talk for a while... Patrick Rothfuss is an LT author, and almost everything I've heard here and from my RL friends makes it sound like this book is the second coming of fantasy. I hope my expectations haven't been built up too high... will let you know.

Currently reading Last Orders by Graham Swift. I liked the film version but (as is usually the case) the book is better.

After that I'll probably read City of God by E L Doctorow.

I am about to start Felicia's Journey by William Trevor. I loved his The Story of Lucy Gault so I am looking forward to this.

Just finished Sleeping With Ward Cleaver - it was hilarious, and had a depth that I really didn't expect!

My review, if you're interested: http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/2008/09/sleeping-with-ward-cleaver-jenny.html

#84 grkmwk--I am about 75 pages into The Girl with No Shadow. Its good, but not grabbing me as much as I thought it would or like Chocolat did. But I will persevere and finish it.

I finished After the Fire and, much to my surprise, I thoroughly enjoyed it. My review and details about an ARC giveaway or at The Book Lady's Blog .

I'm now reading Bridge of Sighs, despite the fact that I have tons of ARCs for September...I can't resist an afternoon with Mr. Russo.

I am just finishing reading Summer blowout.

#33 & #50 - Bohjalian's writing can be weak, but he somehow always sucks me in so that I care a lot about the characters and I want to know what happens to them. That's why they pay him the big bucks, I guess.

#66 - Good luck with your move across the country.

#99 - Richard Russo is one of my favorite authors, and Straight Man is one my all-time favorite books. I have never laughed so much while reading. Let us know what you think of Bridge of Sighs.

I grabbed a book from the library shelves, and it has turned out to be a pretty gripping story, Not Me by Michael Lavigne. It's about a man whose father was in the concentration camps, and the father is now dying, and he gives his son his journals to read, and the son finds out some shocking things about his father. Definitely a page-turner.

Finally reading A Game of Thrones. I was reluctant because of the stereotypical "flesh of my flesh, blood of my blood" type of pedestal Martin's put on, but after a few chapters I didn't really care much. I've only a couple hundred more pages to go, been slacking the last couple days, because I don't want to finish it unless I have the next one right next to me. I almost don't like it for the realism of the characters. I read to get a break from reality, not to be thrown into it!

Maybe this week I'll get back into the music theory textbook I have as well.

Rereading Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad. It's on the nightstand for late-night reading. I used it in a game here on LT and realized that it's been 34 years since I read it and very little is fresh in my mind.

Reading Little Brother by Cory Doctorow.

Still listening to H.M.S. Surprise by Patrick O'Brian on the commute.

My wife started The Last Templar by Raymond Khoury in her car and I was riding with her, so now I guess I'll have to listen to find out the ending. :-)

>99 speedemon86: speedemon86 - A Game of Thrones really pulls you in, doesn't it? It only gets better as you move into the next books . . . . Have fun! (And they don't get "less real," either.)

I'm really enjoying Trading Dreams at Midnight. It is totally different than I thought it would be, but it is great. At some point this week I also need to finish King Henry VI, Part II, although I have trouble just picking it up here or there, I need about 45 minutes uninterrupted at a time to work on it.

>101 Talbin: And they don't get "less real," either. (re: A Game of Thrones)

Ooooh, no kidding! I had to put A Storm of Swords down for a day or two at one point, because it was so real and so upsetting.

Okay, back at last. The busy traffic seems to be getting busier.

I am now employed, and will start my new job on Monday 9/8. I will work 3p-11p, blech. But I am employed and that's something a lot of people I know of here cannot say. Woo-hoo!

I read *zip* this weekend because it was entertaining central. Dinner guests every night. My goodness, folks can eat. I take it as a compliment that I have so little left over.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby and thoroughly enjoying it. It is my favorite of his work so far. I'm hoping to be able to squeeze some reading time into the next couple days in order to finish it.

Confession time.........I am slogging through the descriptive passages in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The characters are so engaging but they hardly ever turn up! I now know more than I ever wanted to about the three sources of change to architecture, namely time, war and fashion.........someone tell me the story will improve........please?

>98 CatieN:: Richard Russo is also one of my favorite authors. Bridge of Sighs is the only thing of his I haven't read, and I'm loving it so far. Straight Man did make me laugh out loud several times, and I've had it on my re-read list for a couple years now.

105: let us know how you like A Long Way Down when you're finished...I also enjoyed the beginning of it but ended up being really, really ready for it to end.

I finished Blood-Dark Track by Joseph O'Neill, the author of Netherland, which I previously praised. This is a fascinating, beautifully written, and insightful investigation of the lives of his two grandfathers, both of whom were imprisoned by the British during World War II, one in Ireland for being an IRA member and one in the Middle East for being a Christian Turk probably innocently caught up in a complex web of spies and wartime paranoia.

I'm also about to finish my subway read, Libraries in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson and am starting The Cave Painters by Gregory Curtis.

Not sure what's up next; I need to pick a couple of absorbing reads for a trip out west, with plenty of time on airplanes and in the Dallas airport making connections.

#99: speedemon86- I haven't read much fantasy, Lord of the Rings & Golden Compass books is the majority of it but I was totally immersed in A Game of Thrones. I think it's realism is what draws me in. Incredible drama! I've read the 1st 3 books and love them all. As a matter of fact, I need to get to the 4th real soon!

I've got the whole Game of Thrones thing on hold. Not because they're not good...I enjoy them a lot...but because I'm worried about a Robert Jordan situation. I realized that Martin was only averaging a book every three years and that the two parts of the last one weren't released simultaneously, as promised.

Jordan strung us along for an eternity on his series and then died without completing it. So, I'm just putting the Martin books on a shelf and will read them through when the story is done. There's so much in them that a reread is important anyway with the long lags between volumes...

Edit for spelling

My Lady of Cleves by Margaret Campbell Barnes

Just finished a delightful read: Wit's End by Karen Joy Fowler. Not sure what I'm on to yet, I have some catching up with school work now that I'm back from holiday.

Halfway through The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood & really enjoying it. I am looking forward to reading her other works in the future.

I just finished All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy, and I felt compelled to reread the beginning of the novel almost immediately. I am also coming to the end of A Fable by William Faulkner, reading of which was interrupted by a trip on which I didn't want to take my pretty 1st edition. It has been interesting to read McCarthy with Faulkner in my mind, and it will be interesting now to read Faulkner with McCarthy in my mind. They are both fabulous writers, and they make similar demands on me.

Just finished The White Tiger and will go on to another Booker Prize longlist The Clothes on their Backs. Also I'm savouring The Three Incestuous Sisters and listening to Two Caravans which is very funny so far.

Finally finished A Monarchy Transformed. I'm still working on The Fabric of the Cosmos too. (See also, post 32.)

I also started listening to a LibriVox recording of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

I'm almost done with Jane Eyre (for...the fourtieth or so time. Does it still count?). I'm a chapter into Gut Symmetries, which I'm loving, and I'm about to start One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.

I got done with Animal Dreams by Babara Kingsolver and really loved the book. What amazing writing. I've got Pigs in Heaven on my TBR and I'd like to get my teeth into this, but I think I ought to put some time between her books just incase I OD on her too soon.

Am almost through with Fatal Remedies by Donna Leon and I'm so torn trying to decide what to read next. I'm leaning towards reading my ARC The Swap by Anthony Moore which I would do while reading The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekov ... but there's also A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby which I've been meaning to get to as well.
Decisions... decisions....

#98 CatieN

re Bohjalian: that about sums it up for me. Double Bind is the only one of his I've read and I was never tempted to put it aside--totally hooked while reading it. But I'm not highly motivated to get another one. I may sometime--but probably only if a friend asks me to read it --and lends me the book :-)

edited for missing word

#113 Framboise I'm about halfway through The Handmaid's Tale too, and loving it. Have you read any of her other books?

# 106 Hemlokgang I really struggled with the Huncback of Notre Dame as well. I found the story interesting, but like you, learnt way than I cared to about all sorts of things (like the the geography of Paris). The only thing that kept me going, was that I would be able to say that I had finished it & to find out what happened. I didn't really love the book, but felt a real sense of accomplishment when I finished.

I have also started the Poisonwood Bible for the LT group read & I'm loving it. I am looking forward to hearing what everyone else thinks of it.

#106 hemlokgang

re Hunchback of Notre Dame

That's the danger of reading unabridged versions but consider the "education" you're getting! :-) (architecture in Notre Dame beats the sewers of Les Miserables!)

IMO The story is definitely worth the effort! But I love Victor Hugo.

98: Maybe that's the problem I had with Idyll Banter. It's just a collection of columns about home, so he never had a chance to build a story.

Three times I have started Gravity's Rainbow and been defeated. I am inspired to have another go.

I'll finish Jane and His Lordship's Legacy by Stephanie Barron (A Jane Austen mystery) today, then I am off to Crime and Punishment.

Finishing The Riddle of the Sands by Erskine Childers and have begun Raymond Queneau's The Sunday of Life. Queneau was a brilliant French writer active in the mid 20th century and is often described as the father of French postmodernism...and great fun to read.

>118 cameling: cameling - I'm glad you liked Animal Dreams; Kingsolver is one of my favorite authors. Have you read The Bean Trees? It's her first novel, and it shows (not quite as polished as her later stuff), but it provides a lot of important background story for Pigs in Heaven.

framboise & bookgirl: I loved The Handmaid's Tale also...her newest book, a short story collection called Moral Disorder was simply fantastic as well.

I'm 200 pages into Bridge of Sighs and am so glad I took a break from ARC reading for a bit.

I have The Gargoyle sitting next me, on loan from the library. I haven't opened it up yet and probably won't be able to until tomorrow. It's a nice cover though.

I finished Night by Elie Wiesel (sigh of relief). Now I'm on to Your Money or Your Life as I'm trying to work out a way to quit my "day" job in order to focus on writing. It's a bit preachy, but I'll reserve judgment until I've done the steps to see how well (or if) they work. Then I'm going to read Naked by David Sedaris because I'll have earned the break.

I have waaaaaay too many books on deck *sigh*. Such anticipation and pleasure. And I thank everyone here for making the list longer and longer....my shelves are already groaning....

Since I needed something lighter (after surgery) I just finished Ingrid Noll's Der Hahn ist tot "Hell hath no fury" and I felt compelled to continue right along with her naughty stories of murder and mayhem and deliciously wicked black humour with Rabenbrüder, which means literally translated "raven brothers" but is a German term for bad brothers (the original term is "Rabenmutter" or raven mother, a bad mother to her children). Unfortunately, this title hasn't been translated into English yet.

On deck is likely Shadow of the wind and I stuck my nose into Simon Winchester's book about the OED The professor and the madman, which looked fascinating....for something completely different, although murder and insanity seem to be part of the bargain.

I just finished reading The Art of Racing in the Rain, I loved it. It is one of the most creative story lines I have read in a long time. If you love dogs and have ever imagined what they are thnking, you will enjoy this clever story.
I also just finished My Antonia, by Willa Cather, another excellent read. I hated for it to end!

#115 Judylou, How did you like The White Tiger? It's on my TBR pile.

Just finished City of Thieves by David Benioff. It was a great read.
The novel centres around two Russians during the Siege of Leningrad during WW2. One is a deserter from the Russian army, the other a looter, and both are captured and sentenced to death by firing squad. They meet up in the local prison and through circumstances, are given the opportunity for freedom if they can obtain a dozen eggs, so a Russian general can have a birthday cake for his young daughter.
They end up behind German lines, during a harsh winter, almost freezing to death, coming close to be being captured and suffering similar fates before the ending of the book. They become close friends, and this serves to give the book a human touch that does resonate with the reader.
Definitely recommended.

I am going to start Family Matters today. I loved A Fine Balance and I hope that this is just as good.

A Fine Balance is the only novel that I can recall reading where the ending tore me up so much I almost had a physical reaction (throwing the novel across the streetcar). :)

For all its slightly creepy means of getting into my home, I started Oryx and Crake and am getting a sense of deja vu all over again. I think I read this before. I can't remember, but that's not so unusual for me, since if I am not utterly enthralled by a book, I tend to let its details slip into the stew that I call a brain.

That's not to say that I don't like the first 40pp, because I do. I'm just getting a weird vibe, like this is territory I've trod before.

Whatever...it was free and I don't already have it in the catalog, so onward through the fog.

Peas, corn, beef stroganoff, salad...anyone have any veggie ideas for me? I am not a corn eater, and am making it for Auntie. But if I see another ear of the dratted silage I will scream blue murder and fling chairs through windows.

Cheers all

mmmmmmmcorn with butter and salt~ yummy!

Tomatoes for you?

I have to figure out what I am going to eat.

Hmmmmm Oryx and Crake ooks good. I have to other Atwoods, including Handmade... I should get busy and read them. I think However that I am going to read Extra Large Medium first. I need fluff.

richard: so, are you actually going to go back to B & N in two weeks and talk books with the slightly creepo guy that gave it to you? Maybe this makes me a bad person, but I think I'd take the free book and run.

Started reading The Double Blind at lunch time really got into the book. I end up bringing it home.I'll have to take another book to work for lunch time.

#135 richardderus: How about fresh green beans?

I'm in the middle of The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier and I am absolutely loving it.
I hope the end doesn't disappoint because right now it is the best book I've read in a long time!

I'm reading The Buck Stops Here by Mindy Starns Clark. It's a cozy type Christian suspense novel. It's the fifth in the series. It's so suspenseful I can't put it down.

126: fyrefly98, Good to know ... I should put Pigs in heaven further down my TBR pile until I get a copy of The Bean Trees then.

130: DerBuecherwurm, I know what you mean .... with all the great reviews and recommendations I've been getting from everyone here, my TBR piles are resembling paper versions of the Tower of Pisa in different dimensions. I think I'm going to have to stop stepping into a bookstore and put some book sites on NetNanny for a while until I get this under a semblance of control. Then again, I'm off to Singapore this weekend, so I'll at least be able to get through 5-7 books during my trip ...might make a small dent in my ever growing pile.

135 richardderus, beets, baby spinach and goat cheese - I had this salad while I was in San Francisco and loved it. That and a very creamy polenta with about a truck load of Reggiano in it.

Hey, guys - quit with the menu/recipe suggestions for crying out loud!
There are plenty of food sites if you are so inclined. I come to this group to read about what you are currently reading or recommending, I don't particularly care about your taste in foods, or your vacation plans.
And I don't cook!
"Cranky'

#95 - I a tad disappointed to hear that you aren't as engaged by The Girl With No Shadow as some of Joanne Harris's previous works, but hopefully it'll get better for you. I just started it over breakfast this morning, so I'm not far enough into it to make a good judgment. All I know is that I have way too many other books waiting for me to not enjoy it!

Having finished both of my previous books today, I'm now reading Blue Genes, which is thus far a very engaging memoir about family depression and Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium about, well, why we hate us.

Not very uplifting books, but both are great so far!

DoB: I'll be interested to hear more about your response to both books. I almost pulled Blue Genes off an ARC stack at work last week but left it since my current TBRs are quite high...and you know how I felt about Why We Hate Us, so I hope you love it, too.

I'm about halfway through Bridge of Sighs and am totally in love with it. I *heart* Richard Russo in a deep and profound way.

Well, so far so good. I'm at the point where I cannot decide which one to read simply because they're both so engaging I would like to read them at the exact same time, instead of going back and forth between them.

I had just started on an ARC The Swap by Anthony Moore, but then a Kerry Greenwood book Urn Burial came in the post, and I just love Phryne Fisher mysteries. Needless to say, I just HAD to sink my teeth into yet another book on the redoubtable Australian sleuth. It'll be a quick read, I know ...but it will be oh so enjoyable

At home I'm reading Jennifer Government, which is a dystopia about a company ruled world. Everyone takes his last name from the company they work for (hence Jennifer Government). There's also John Nike, Hayley McDonalds, etc. Fun premises, but I do get a sort of déjà lu so to speak. It reminds me a bit of Dayworld, which I tried to read but absolutely hated and didn't even finish *gasp*. Let's just see where it goes, so far it's still better.

My on-line reading of Pamela has come to a screeching halt as work has really picked up again.

Needing fluff, I started The Extra Large Medium. So far, not disappointed. It is certainly fluff, and entertaining. Not sure what will be next.

I just finished All the Sad Young Literary Men by Keith Gessen and The Senator's Wife by Sue Miller. I started The Terror Dream: Fear and Fantasy in Post-9/11 America by Susan Faludi.

Just finished Room for Love by Andrea Meyer and Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot. I have reviews for both on my blog:

http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/2008/09/room-for-love-andrea-meyer.html

and

http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/2008/09/queen-of-babble-gets-hitched-meg-cabot.htm...

#143 grkmwk The Girl WIthout a Shadow is getting better now. I am enjoying it. I hope you do as well.

>137 bnbooklady: booklady, well yeah I think I will go back and see if he shows up. I'm curious. I don't know if I would have the guts to see someone reading a book, go up and ask them if they had it already, then take it away and come back with such a proposal. I would, and have, gone up to complete strangers to talk about the book they're reading (shyness is such a burden, I really must do something to get out of my shell); but that was just flat strange, and I want to know what his intentions are.

It doesn't hurt that I'm 6ft3in and 250lbs. I don't think in terms of physical danger very often. And I think a woman SHOULD be leery of men doing oddball things like that, given the risks they run just by being in public and accostable.

>138 cindysprocket: cindys, excellent idea, and that is exactly what I did. Sauteed fresh green beans with garlic and olive oil. Auntie loved her silage. Nasty stuff, corn. (No mckait, I wasn't dropped on my head as a child, I just can't abide the cob-bound stuff...it has to be turned into corn meal for me to eat it.)

>142 morfam: morfam,then ignore that stuff.

I got busy at the bookstore yesterday and bought The Rector of Justin by Louis Auchincloss. It's supposed to be his best-ever novel. It's a very good read in the first 40pp. He's another of those masters-of-craft like Maugham (whose The Razor's Edge I read and reviewed for my RL book club), the kind of writer who can transport the reader who is on the same aetheric wavelength straight into the story and keep them comfortably cruising at the author's altitude.

I was pleased to find my old copy of The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson yesterday...I'd left it in the house last time I visited in 2002...with my bookmark still in it. It was even then a re-read, but I love Bryson's sense of humor and his facility with explanation so much that it's always a pleasure to re-read his stuff. I picked up in chapter 5, and was astonished anew that Shakepeare neologized over 1500 words! And we still, to this good day, use the majority of those words! A must for anyone who loves words and English.

Started A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth last week, which is probably going to crop up in these threads several more times...

Since it is too large to lug around with me, for reading on the move I have The Great Railway Bazaar by Paul Theroux.

When I'm out and about but have to keep my eyes on the road, I'm listening to an unabridged recording of Affinity by Sarah Waters, read by Juanita McMahon.

Finally, in the smallest room I'm continuing with True Tales of American Life edited by Paul Auster.

richardderus

I'm anxious to hear how you like Oryx and Crake. I had the opportunity last week to pick up a like new hard bound copy of it for 50 cents and passed it up because I have never read Atwood and had read a couple of negative comments about Oryx on LT. Tell me how much you love it so I can kick myself! (Now everybody can jump on me because I've never read Atwood--I'm sure I will someday, when she's passed the 25 year test. Or has she already?)

You've reminded me how much I enjoyed The Mother Tongue--I'm digging my copy out to dip into for relief as I'm reading The Poisonwood Bible for the LT group read. (This one is only ten years old--it's my first Kingsolver--so I'm getting better!)

I asked on another thread but I'd like some feedback from this group: I've also never read Salmon Rushdie and I'm ready to try him. Anyone got a suggestion which should be first.

>155 MusicMom41: Salman Rushdie...I'd say, for my own tastes, I'd start you on the most famous one: The Satanic Verses. I consider it a great intro to the man's fascination with an idea, which he follows to its logical end, and which the reader is asked to suspend their preconceived notions of where a book SHOULD go and trundle along with the author's obsessions and divagations.

I hope that doesn't make it sound like work to read, because I really don't think it is!

Oryx and Crake is giving me the heebies. I can't figure out if I have read this book before. AAAAARGH! It feels like I have but I can't get a handle on when or what it was I thought if I did.

If you would like a first Atwood, I'd suggest The Handmaid's Tale because it's nothing short of brilliant and it's gorgeously written. It's also eerily relevant. I can't help thinking of Ms. Palin's daughter Bristol as I think of Offred....

I'm reading Stalking Irish Madness- the authors search for the roots of mental illness in his family- I'm struggling with it though and I'm not sure why

#155 - I've only ever read Midnight's Children by Rushdie; but I liked it well enough and think it is thought to be his best work and quite accessible.

And I'll start the jumping on you for not reading Atwood. She's great! However, I have read almost all her major novels and the only one I did not enjoy was Oryx and Crake Too futuristic for my taste. My favorites are The Blind Assassin and Cat's Eye.

#154 - I recently read A Suitable Boy and loved it. It goes faster than its bulk would have you believe. Also just finished Affinity - very gothic, atmospheric. You'll want to roll your car windows down and get some fresh air during it, no matter what the temp!

Still reading Felicia's Journey; definately making my skin crawl a bit.

I just finished Pravda by Edward Docx. It is the story about a pair of adult non-identical twins who begin trying to untangle the truth about their family history, and sort out their own unravelling lives, after their mother dies. The book takes place in London, New York and, to a great extent, Petersberg.

I almost gave up on this book on page 19 when I came upon the following passage:

"But just the same, she dared not allow her mind to look up, for she sensed that the tattered images of her dreams were still hung high on the masts of her consciousness like the ragged remainders of sails flapping after a storm."

I thought, "Uh oh. 380 more pages of this? Doesn't (I had to take a look) Mariner Books have editors?"

But I decided to keep on with it for a while longer. It turns out the prose only gets that flabby intermittently. Otherwise, although Docx does seem to be in love with the sound of his own voice just a little, this novel turned out to be quite readable, if dense in spots.

It's the sort of book wherein the plot is advanced not in any real linear way, but in chunks of character description and observation. However, the reader's interest remains engaged as the two protagonists, and the several characters whose stories connect with theirs, get on with their search.

There is depression galore in this narrative, there's nothing light about the story or the storytelling. In fact, I think Docx could use a bit lighter touch in places. But I think the book was well worth reading.

Next I will spend some more time with my "between books" (collections, anthologies, etc. I read one selection at a time between the "full-length books" I read). For some reason, I keep adding to this stack. I recently added the short story collection Prize Stories 1994: The O. Henry Awards to the pile.

>155 MusicMom41: Atwood has definitely passed the 25 year test (if you mean that she's been writing for at least 25 years) - her first novel, The Edible Woman, was published in 1969. I personally really liked Oryx and Crake, and it has an average star rating on LT of 3.97. However, if you've never read any Atwood, I would also recommend starting with The Handmaid's Tale. I believe it's the only book I've ever read four times.

#154, Grammath, A Suitable Boy is one of my very favorite books; I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. (I loved it so much I started reading more slowly when I got near the end because I didn't want to leave the characters!)

I finished Salamander by Thomas Wharton and I've started Jester Leaps In by Alan Gordon.

I'm reading Fingersmith by Sarah Waters, and wow, what a great book so far.

Just fell into a funk. Couldn't get started with Roy Blount's Penguin Lives Robert E. Lee. Maybe it was finally finishing The Civil War: A Narrative. Anyway I am finally going back to reading. Starting The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin tonight.

I finished The Meaning of Everything and The Shadow of the Wind. The latter was one I picked up because several people here had mentioned it, and I'm so glad I did!

Now I'm reading:
The O. Henry Prize Stories 2007
The Poisonwood Bible for the group read and
Friday Night Lights

Finnished The Double Blind. It was good, the ending really got to me. I need something light to read after this one.

>156 richardderus:: richardderus, Interesting comparison you made of Bristol Palin and Offred in The Handmaid's Tale ... so where you do see the similarity?

>154 Grammath:: Grammath, I found A Suitable Boy excellent despite my initial trepidation. I had some friends who disliked the book and I had put off reading it because I thought I wouldn't like it either.....silly me. I hope you find it as enjoyable as I did.

Finished Urn Burial and enjoyed my Phryne Fisher fix for the month.... I'm unlikely to find another Greenwood book for a while I think. Am resuming my read of The Swap.

I finished reading A share in Death by Deborah Crombi. It was the first in the Kincaid and James series. It is about two cops from (New) Scotland Yard. Kincaid is the boss and James is his minion (can't spell the S word properly). In this book Kincaid goes on holiday at his cousin's timeshare in Yorkshire. James stays home and works. Of course there are murders at the time share.

The book was pretty weak until the killing started. Just very flat in terms of characters and setting. No real story other than wait around until the mayhem starts. Way too many bland people and their relatives and claim to fame to keep track of and none that you really care about, even when they are killed. James and Kincaid were also separated until the end.

It got better as it went along, and once the killing started the detecting was good. Very low key clues and a subtle solution. I am sure they get better as the series progresses, but I have one more and probably won't read another.

Although I have other books I am late reading, I was rebellious and started something completely new.

It is a non-fiction book, Party of the Century by Deborah Davis. It is about the 1966 Black and White Ball that Truman Capote threw for his celebrity friends and those in high society. I saw a really great movie about him called Infamous , and so I was intrigued to find out more about him.

I am about 65 pages in, and it is also a biography of him, and information about the relationships he had with is friends, his early family life, and his writing. So far it is very good.

Of course I also have new books that are due, but I am playing hooky. Mostly to avoid the hunt for one, that is lost in my house. I am going to have to excavate piles and move things and generally get hot and sweaty and sneeze a lot. Possibly have to drop/spill massive amounts of books and piss off my downstairs neighbor.

Finished LOVING WANDA BEAVER. REALLY ENJOYED AND APPRECIATED HER SHORT STORIES.
CURRENTLY READING 2 BOOKS - THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING BY Carson MuCullers. Haven't read any thing of hers except for THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER. She is amazing with describiing what I call the human condition.
Second book is - THE SEXUAL OUTLAW A DOCUMENTARY - by John Rechy.
this is a explosive "non-fiction" of three days and nights in the sexual underground of the sexual homosexual outlaw in the 1970's in the L.A. area. this is a very interesting book and since I came out in 1969 I am familiar with some gay mens actions and challenges with police, etc.

#169cherylscountry: I LOVED The Member of the Wedding.

>167 cameling: cameling, Offred's absence of independence, her complete belonging to another person (in this case, The Wife); Bristol Palin's pregnancy and the highly public way it was resolved make me suspect that she has a similar lack of ability to enforce her will over her own body. Since I am not acquainted with the Palins, this is strictly my own interpolation, and not based on any sort of personal knowledge.

>168 FicusFan: Ficus, Party of the Century oh my oh my. What a piece that was! I borrowed it from a friend and was breathlessly enrapt. Now I can't remember much except the uneasy feeling that this was a retelling of the Titanic story from the POV of the activities director.

I finished Suite Francaise last night and what a gorgeous book it is! The sensory reality of this novel, the perfect pitch of the characters' voices, the foreboding one feels as the story unfolds...knowing as Nemirovsky doesn't, couldn't know the real ending...all so very beautifully handled.

Tonight's treat is Flight of Aquavit by Anthony Bidulka. It's the second Russell Quant mystery and since the first was such a pleasure to read, I've been holding back a bit before reading the second.

I'm reading Scoop by Evelyn Waugh, an old and musty copy that my dad bought in Hay-on-Wye years ago. I think reading this old copy somehow makes it more evocative of the time in which it was set.

Anyway, my first by him and I'm enjoying it.

171, richardderus - the foreboding one feels as the story unfolds...knowing as Nemirovsky doesn't, couldn't know the real ending
I've been hemming and hawing about getting Suite Francaise, even though I've been hearing the raves on LT, but your description just cinched it for me. It sounds like a wonderful book.

>173 sandragon: sandragon, I expect you will not be sorry you made the journey. There is such a wonderful poignance to reading this last novel of Nemirovsky's. I am grieved to know that the world lost such a fine writer of descriptions when she died. I suspect that she would have been a huge success in the US during the 1950s had she lived.

So far, my ARC read The Swap is going quite well. It's got everything I like in a good mystery and it surrounds the first edition Superman comic book. Set in Cornwall, it starts off with a simple boyish act of sympathy and you're suddenly swooped into a very adult murder and some black comedy.

It seems to have a voice that I feel I've heard before, but I can't quite put my finger on who that voice belongs to.

I hope the rest of the book is as good as what I've read thus far

Still reading Bridge of Sighs and not really wanting it to end.

I've posted another edition of Adventures in Bookselling today at The Book Lady's Blog .

Richard, I just recently purchased Suite Francaise will have to move it up on the TBR pile. I also got the sequel to that (can't remember the title off the top of my head right now).

I have heard great things about both books.

I'm nearly finished with The Book of Air and Shadows. It's a terrific book. A snazzier version of The Da Vinci Code, with deeper characteristics and better prose.
I don't know if this is taboo but I did see a film with literary nuances, that I highly recommend. It's called "Starting Out in the Evening" with Frank Langella. He plays an aging writer who is approached by a college student that is trying to resurrect his fading legacy by writing her college thesis on him. It's a beautiful story! I hope I wasn't out of line by mentioning this!

Moving on from The Hunchback of Notre Dame to The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald. I'm still listening to The Bone Garden which is surprisingly good.

#178 msf59

Since it has to do with books I think it would be fine--it sounds like something I might like to see. And I don't watch too many movies! or TV!

#172 jbeast - I loved Waugh and read a lot of his books over 20 years ago, makes me think I should re-read some of them. I remember really liking Scoop and I also really loved A Handful of Dust and Vile Bodies - he's a master at dry wit and high society satire. I hope you enjoy Scoop and like it enough to read more of his books. Frankly, I think Brideshead Revisited which is probably his most widely known book is one of my least favorites of his!

#143 grkmwk
#152 mommom28
Well, I read 62 pages maybe just me. I just could not get into The Girl with No Shadow. I will keep it around I'll try again some day.

#181 hi ktleyed
Just finished Scoop this morning and really enjoyed it, and yes I'm really keen to read more. We have Decline and Fall and A Handful of Dust in the house so it will be them next.
Interesting that you say that about Brideshead Revisited, quite often the way isn't it, that the popular ones can be overrated and you have to dig deeper to find the gems - not sure why, maybe because they're more accessible and easy to read, don't know
Though Alexander Waugh (his grandson) has been on the radio this morning ahead of his talk at the Cheltenham festival, saying that everyone should read Brideshead Revisited because the English is perfect.
Haven't read it so can't comment.

158 I have both Handmaids Tale and The Blind Assassin, and have not read either. I just haven't gotten there. My next read...later today.. will be In This House of Brede then maybe Handmaids Tale?

#181, 183: Most readers don't realize that there are actually 2 versions of Brideshead Revisited. While recuperating from a training mishap and working in a relative frenzy, Waugh wrote the original manuscript between Feb.1 and June 10, 1944, and it was immensely successful in the original edition. Then in 1959 there was to be a new edition and Waugh edited out as many of the war-time references as he could, while restructuring the entire novel, and it's this revamped version that is mostly read today. Waugh's other masterpiece is A Handful of Dust and I always envy anyone reading it the first time.

#185 - thanks Louis didn't know that about Brideshead!

Just finished The Blue Flower and thought it was a real gem of a story! Just about to start Loving Frank by Nancy Horan which is my September book club read.

#132 rebeccanyc, I liked it, but I didn't love it! It was worth reading though.

#185,186 Me neither. Is it possible to choose which version to buy?

Finished A Handful of Dust last night, and thought it really, really good - liked the fact it was darker than Scoop but still entertaining. Twist(ed) ending definitely to my taste too. Thanks for recommendation, both of you.

Which other ones are good?

I just finished The Fire by Katherine Neville and am trying to get my thoughts together to write a review.

Just started Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin. I loved the title and am enjoying it so far. Not stunning, mind you, but good.

I just finished reading Farang, Thailand Through the Eyes of an Ex-Pat by Iain Corness and it was a truly interesting and humorous book. I've been to Thailand for holidays, but never having lived there, many of cultural practices were lost to me. This gave me a much deeper insight into one of the friendliest places I've been to.

Am now starting on Amuse Bouche by Anthony Bidulka.