What are you reading the Week of 20 September 2008

I read Louis de Bernieres' Birds without Wings, he is a remarkable story teller. I knew a little of the history and visited some of the places he talks about, but this made it all so much richer - and blacker. Then my first Ian Rankin, by chance also his first Rebus book Knots and Crosses, excellent, I shall read more (and continue to look out for the TV series). Now into John Macken's Dirty Little Lies, not in Rankin's league but OK.

I'm just about to crack into Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri which seems to have had lots of positive LT feedback.

Just finished the "Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" by Kate DiCamillo which is a marvelous book for those 12 and up.

Now going to start Alive in Africa by William F. Wheeler. This has got to be one of the "prettiest" books I have seen in a long time. Beautiful glossy, heavy pages. Well bound... you name it. Must have cost a fortune to print.

I just started Everyman (Roth) and The Joke (Kundera). Still working on Kristin Lavransdatter, The Discovery of France, Ad Infinitum, The Mysterious Flame, and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Abandoned The Sea Kingdoms -- too much anecdote and speculation, not enough history.

GreyHead: In case you didn't know -- don't look for more than a superficial correspondence between the Rebus books and what you get in the TV series. At best, the TV series episodes are extremely simple versions of the books; at worst, they are near-complete rewrites. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't.

The books, however, are always good and sometimes excellent. I've been working my way through them in order for the past year or so (just finished Resurrection Men and am more than a little sad that I've only four left in the Rebus series.

I've just this morning completed The Poisonwood Bible for the group read and am anxious to at least begin The Baron in the Trees by Italo Calvino before jumping into Kristin Lavransdatter and another group read.

#1 GreyHead and #5 cornerhouse> I'm really enjoying Ian Rankin's Rebus series. I've read the first four. So glad that the entire series stretches before me.

Finished The Keepsake on Friday. I think it's Tess Gerritsen's best novel to date. She worried me briefly when she made a reference to The Mephisto Club in the middle of the novel, but otherwise it was a wonderful diversion from real life. It's a nicely plotted book which moves along at a brisk pace. However, the author continues her tradition of annoying me with her characters' "I've got a big secret" asides. Don't tell me, show me!

I've started Vasily Grossman's A Writer at War. I'm only a few chapters into it, but it's quite good. Antony Beevor has done an excellent job of editing the notes, giving explanatory footnotes and writing framing text to provide context for Grossman's terser notes and character sketches. Beevor provides footnotes documenting some colorful Russian idioms when he has replaced them with more recognizable western equivalents. The complete excision of the idiomatic phrases would have been a terrible loss. Putting them into the footnotes allows a western reader to at least get some feel for the original language.

Speaking of Russian idiomatic phrases, I stumbled across one that I like and think should be incorporated into the English language. I was searching on line for an ushanka (one of those fur hats with ear flaps) with a red star, and I kept running across items described as "fish fur ushanka." The phrase puzzled me until I looked it up. In Russia, they refer to artificial fur as "fish" fur. Apparently, it comes from an old proverb that "a poor man's coat is made of fish fur." I think it's a great phrase, and from now on I shall always refer to artificial fur as "fish" fur.

I have just finished A Good Life and The Extraordinary Garden (touchstone not working correctly for these books), both by the French Canadian writer Francois Gravel. He has become my favorite author of the moment and I am on the hunt for everything he has written.

Since the weather is dreary where I am today, I am going to curl up in my favorite chair and start Ann Benson's Thief of Souls.

I'm about half way through Kristin Lavransdatter for the group read and thoroughly enjoying it. A wonderful saga! I continue listening to Duma Key by Stephen King. Very good so far. Last week was a good reading week for me andter a bit of a slump for a week or so.

I started Stork Naked last night as a respite from Faulkner. The Faulkner I find is good in small bites. Unforutnately he writes in long chapters, but I promise to get through it and maybe go back and try another some time. I am reading The Hamlet and have been told it is part one of a trilogy and I have added the other two parts to my "Want to Read" post.

I am also still slowly reading High Tide at Gettysburg which I am enjoying as well, but chapter by chapter.

Finally starting in Saturday by Ian McEwan today, as a break of The poisonwood bible.

I'm still reading Les Liaisons Dangereuses. It's going so slowly. Maybe because I already know the story.

A friend lent me The Time Traveler's Wife, so I guess I should finish that before I see her next. And all of a sudden, I really want to read A Wedding in December. Don't know why. I have never read anything by the author. It just kind of struck me as I was walking past the bookcase.

I'm reading Embers by Marai Sandor - my first venture into Hungarian lit. Good read so far.

I just finished The Letters of Noel Coward, which was absolutely brilliant, and started reading Finnegans Wake. More like "looking at the words and wondering what the hell is going on" than "reading", actually. Happily, the introduction tells me that I'm not expected to understand much of the book, so I don't feel too badly.

ETA: also still in the middle of Enemy Women!

Started Mr. White's Confession by Robert Clark last night. It is an August ER book that arrived just yesterday, so I felt compelled to start it right away so I can get my review up soon. So far (around page 90), I am very much enjoying it.

I'm still working my way through The Old Curiosity Shop. My goal is to read a chapter a day - any more than that and I get bored, any less and I put it away. I figure since it was published as a serial novel, a chapter a day is a good way to read it.

I'm also reading "I" by Vladamir Mayakovsky for class, which is an interesting play. And I'll start Three Men in a Boat tomorrow.

I just finished My Bonny Light Horseman by L. A. Meyer, the newest book in the Bloody Jack Adventure series, which was good solid fun. I'll be starting The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson this afternoon - after all the good things I've heard about it, I feel like I'm the last person on Earth to read it, even though it was only released a month or so ago.

I'm also listening to Moonheart by Charles de Lint - I'm not very far into it, but I'm enjoying it so far.

>fyrefly You will love The Gargoyle

I just finished The 19th Wife and am ready to start The Lace Reader, which I am very looking forward to reading. I'm listening to The Host by Stephenie Meyer, on audio in my car. Very different so far than the Twilight books.

Just finished The People Speak by Howard Zinn and am considering starting How to Hepburn by Karen Karbo.

Just back from vacation - read alot of books, mostly mysteries - just now finished In the Woods by Tana French. Wow - why didn't anyone here tell me it was so good?

I am about to start Kristin Lavransdatter for the group read. Dang #9 - halfway through! I feel like a slacker.

Still working on The Fabric of the Cosmos.

Later on this evening I am going to make a start on Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke. I've been waiting so long for this that I can't wait to get started.

I'm moving right along with The Poisonwood Bible. I was a latecomer to the group read, but I think I'll get close to catching up. I'm really enjoying it too. After that, I'll probably read an ARC, maybe The Grift, but based on jhowell's post #20, I'm thinking of In the Woods instead.

I'm starting a book that I'll probably pick up and put down a million times and that will probably take a couple of years (at least) to finish. It's Under the Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader. So far it is really good and seems like a sci-fi novel rather than a non-fiction look at the lives of a nation of people.

# 13 teelgee,

I am interested to know how you enjoy Embers when you finish it. I picked it up in a used bookshop (one of those "I should have known better than to go in there, but ballet wasn't quite finished yet so I still had 15 minutes left" moments). Clearly, I could not leave without it. It came home, and my husband, who loves to read but rarely has time, picked it up to read the cover. A few hours later, after not moving an inch and not hearing offers of dinner, he finished reading the whole thing and pronounced it excellent.

Based on that recommendation, my book club chose it this year -- we'll read it a couple months from now. I'd love to know what you think.

Finally started Blue Heaven by Joe Keenan. The first few pages are extremely promising indeed that this book will be as funny and fun as hoped.

Finally finished My Cousin Rachel last night, I've been so busy it's taken much longer than it should have. I'm now reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, only a few pages in though.

I'm working on getting through The Whiskey Rebels by David Lissbefore the release date on the 30th. I was a bit worried because the beginning of the book, while very well written and researched, just wanted calling to me or compelling me to come back, I had a hard time staying focused. That seemed like a bad deal in a 500 page book. Around page 80 or so, though, the story really took off for me and I've been reading hundreds of pages at a time as if they were nothing. I would anticipate being on a new book by tomorrow at this point.

>27 DevourerOfBooks: Devourer, I haven't had a good time reading The Whiskey Rebels and I don't know if it's a aetheric fit issue or simply that the book isn't succeeding as a book. Am still pondering and planning a partial re-read before I say too much review-wise.

I picked up another book today, Decline and Fall by Otto Friedrich about the end of The Saturday Evening Post and its era of taste-making greatness. Written in 1970, it's still fascinating and the 83pp I've managed during a day of running around and waiting for The Divine Miss and Our Auntie is pretty darn solid progress.

>28 richardderus:, I found that in order to get into Whiskey Rebels I had to go somewhere with nothing else to do or read for about an hour. During my lunch hour yesterday I took nothing but that book with me to go and eat outside of the office and away from the computer. By the time lunch was over, I was finally intrigued.

I'm kind of stalled on The Gypsy by Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm. It's not a bad book, but it's not really drawing me in. I'm considering abandoning it in favour of something else, but it's such a short book that I'd feel silly chucking it over this far in.

I just finished Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler, am at page 500 and the letter M in Cultural Amnesia by Clive James and I had to start reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society.

Just finished The Boyfriend List which I thought was pretty good and funny. Will be starting Hamlet on Monday and I am still suffering through American Wife, which I have to finish. I am listening to Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging in the car and I am almost done and then hope to start listening to Mister Monday or The Golden Compass. And I want to read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, but I have not been able to get a hold of it yet.

Just started Joyce Carol Oates' latest collection of short stories last night - The Museum of Dr. Moses: Tales of and Suspense.

Finished this week: In Her Absence by Antonio Munoz Molina (tr. by Esther Allen)

Am mid-way through but not find the time for it since early this month: Douglass and Lincoln: How a Revolutionary Black Leader and a Reluctant Liberator Struggled to End Slavery and Save the Union by Paul Kendrick and Stephen Kendric

Remainder of the month: Hope to read at least some stories from My mistress's sparrow is dead : great love stories from Chekhov to Munro edited by Jeffrey Eugenidis

teelgee & AMQS, I read Embers for book club a few years ago and it got mixed reviews. Personally, I thought it was marvelous! I'll be interested to know what you think after you've read it.

Still working on The 19th Wife. I haven't had much of a chance to make any progress on it this week, but I'm hoping that will change tonight (hello, empty house!)

#34

You have got to tell us how much you love My Mistress...it is on my tbr list and moving up quickly.

Just started C.S. Lewis' The Horse and His Boy, the third book of The Chronicles of Narnia. Enjoyed the first two but still not much of a fantasy fan.

>34 desipoet: the latest latest Oates short fiction collection is Wild Nights!:Stories about the Last Days of Poe, Dickinson, Twain, James and Hemingway. It's difficult to keep up with Ms. Oates. If you take your eyes off her for just a minute . . . I read the collection you have started and this one, I liked them both, some stories more than others, of course. Enjoy!

I'm reading (and enjoying) an unpublished collection of short fiction from an LT author who shall, at the moment, remain nameless. I'm also reading a novel about family and inheritance by Lionel Shriver but I forget the title at the moment. . .

#34 I just finished listening to The Museum of Dr Moses and thought it was wonderful, hope you are equally entertained!

I have Embers on loan from the library - and all the talk about it here is making it shuffle up to the top of the pile. I have heard lots of good things about it.

I am about to start Troll: A Love Story - another LT recommendation - I'm still reading Slaughterhouse-Five (my handbag book) and am listening to The Child in Time in the car and The Shifting Fog on MP3.

So sad. I've been working a second job, second shift, for a month and a half. Reading's slowed way down.

But I digress. Just finished Choke by Chuck Palaniuk. Not much to it. I wanted to like it, and did at first, but after just so much whining by an oddball sex addict, I kind of got the picture.

Just started Legs by William Kennedy. I remember loving the covers of his Albany books when I was a kid. Saw it in a used book store and decided it was time.

Poking my way through Rainbow on the Road by Esther Forbes. If all you know of her is Johnny Tremaine from when you were in jr high, go blow the dust off some other titles. Check the library. Not sure how many are currently in print, but this one isn't. Plot may be familiar, but the writing is beautiful. Worth reading slowly.

Have Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown next to the bed. It's been there for a couple of months. It's one of those things I know I should read, but it's just plain sad.

Yesterday, I started reading Marked by P.C. Cast and her daughter, Kristin Cast.

#20 jhowell - Wasn't In The Woods (Touchstones not happy) a great read? I blame it for a recent book funk. Nothing could follow for a few days.

I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and just loved it - very sweet and moving in spite of a silly title. Next up is Good-Bye and Amen by Beth Gutcheon. It's a follow-up to Leeway Cottage.

I'm going to finish The Lost World and The Approaching Storm. I have a bad habit of starting a book, getting about halfway through and getting distracted by another, so I'm trying to break that.

Currently reading Suzy, Led Zeppelin and Me by Martin Millar and The Crow Road by Iain Banks

Started A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif. A promising read, quirky, witty, a book with personality.

I recently finished The Summer Book by Tove Jansson (Finland) - charming. Also By The Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah (Zanzibar) - culturally and historically fascinating.
Currently reading Pelagia and the Black Monk by Boris Akunin - hmmm...I'm not really a mystery fan. And Buxton Spice by Oonya Kempadoo, a talented young writer.

20: jhowell- I had read In the Woods, a few weeks ago and I mentioned it here, a couple of times, quite favorably. Terrific debut and I'm looking forward to her follow-up, The Likeness.

20: jhowell- Also, if you haven't read Case Histories by Kate Atkinson, I highly recommend it.

I finished Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson which was beautifully written, complex (not sure I got it all), and haunting. Some parts of it were a little overly and graphically violent for me, but that's hard to avoid in a book about war.

Now reading The Breezes, an early novel by Joseph O'Neill, the author of Netherland and Blood-Dark Track. It is well written, although not up to his later works, but it's not holding my attention well because I don't find the main character very appealing.

#43,48 - I just loved In the Woods; and while of course I wanted all the answers, I respected her ending. I immediately ordered the sequel - and I do feel a little bit in a book funk as well - can't really get into my current read . . .

Found The Shiniest Jewel a graphic memoir about the author adopting a boy from Russia - read it in one sitting.

Also reading Swimming with Strangers, as I liked her last collection of short stories.

Both books were arcs and are due to be published in US soon.

I finally picked up a book and opened it.

Turns out it was fairly painless... so the funk is receding.

Downside? It is one I have to read and review ...
Upside? It is not as bad as I thought it would be.

mckait, I seem to be in a small funk, also. This is the first time in a long time that a whole week has gone by without my reading an entire book.

But I just got home from church where I had my first chance to talk "live" with people since 5 AM Friday when I put my husband on a plane to China. And a hummingbird just came by for a brief visit to my flowers which cheered me--first one I've seen for quite awhile. So I'm pulling myself together and making a PLAN for this week's reading.

First priority--I must finish Poisonwood Bible this week! This one shouldn't have taken me this long, but I keep needing to take a break because it gets oppressive and with all the stress we had last week I wasn't coping well with the book. No excuses now--I'd like to be done before Thursday because Thursday afternoon and Friday are great reading days for me and I will be ready to move on!

I'm almost finished with What I Talk About by Haruki Murakami and will finish it today. I have enjoyed this one--a different kind of memoir. I'm anxious to review it.

When I finish the Murakami book I will go back to How to Read Novels Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster for my nonfiction book. This is a delightful "book about books" as well as being informative and sharpening one's interpretive skills. It will be fun to "take a break" with this book.

I finally picked a new poetry book last night: Sun Under Wood by Robert Haas. Part of my problem may have been that I haven't had a poetry book since I finished Red Bird last Sunday.

I will start Kristin Lavransdatter this week. Tomorrow I have to go into Fresno and I will look for the Nunneley (sp?) translation because that seems to be the most being used. But I do own an older translation that I can read--I read so much 19th century literature that archaic language usually doesn't bother me.

And that should be enough to keep me busy until next week--especially since I have two mysteries from the library in reserve!

Still listening to Jinx by Meg Cabot on audio book in the car. The other day I started Simply Sensual by Carly Phillips and today I started Marly's Ghost by David Levithan.

Took my grandsons to the park. I started Kristin Lavransdatter.

Finished Beside a Burning Sea...

Will start Goldengrove.. one more that I have to review.. then???

I am thinking of either a re-read of Tipping the Velvet, or more of the
Tales of the City series

I finally got into The Whiskey Rebels and stayed up too late last night finishing it. Now I'm reading The River By Moonlight and having a much more difficult time getting into it. If I didn't have a blog tour I had to post a review for in a week I'd probably ditch it.

>18 sydamy:: sydamy, Are you going to post your review of the 19th Wife when you finish it? I saw it at the store, and am considering adding it to my TBR pile .... although I need to add more books to my TBR pile like a flood needs more rain.

Finishing up Amuse Bouche and I've really enjoyed this book. It's such a fun read, and I would love to meet Russell Quant if he exsits in real life. I'm just so sad that he doesn't have someone to cosy up to at home ...besides Barbra.

I think I'll read Juno & Juliet by Julian Gough next

I finished Red poppies: A Novel of Tibet by Alai. It had its moments, was at times interesting, but was strangely unsatisfying.

It was set in the part of Tibet that was heavily influenced by China, even before the invasion. The time period is from just before the last emperor is deposed, to the victory of the Reds, and their penetration into Eastern Tibet.

The narrator is the second son of a chieftain. Because of the circumstances of his birth he was considered an idiot. That status allowed him to get away with saying and doing the unusual in his highly structured society. It also presented the question was he an idiot because of his birth, or because others told him he was and treated him as one ?

The story is what I call 'fly on the wall'. There isn't really a point, it is just following a group of characters as they live their lives. The setting and cultural information was interesting, as were the characters occasionally, but their life events weren't that gripping (though I enjoyed the idiot triumphing over the smart people) .

The story telling style wasn't enough to keep my attention for over 400 pages. One of those books that once you put down its hard to pick back up. It also kept going in a long straight line, it was hard to put different parts together to see if there was some special significance in the stories, or the symbolism used.

It was a good look at how technology and change impacts a traditional, low tech society. How people change or try to bend the new to their old world-view,

The writing is translated from the original language and was OK, with some rough spots. I don't know if it was poor ability of the translating writers, or an attempt to present the rustic language of the time and place, and preserve the intent of the original author.

It wasn't terrible, but if the second and third book are ever published, I will probably give them as pass.

I also finished The Painted Veil by W. Somerset Maugham.
I saw the movie first, so I can only see the book through the prism of the movie.

The movie had more story/setting depth, the book had more psychological character depth. The settings (London, Hong Kong, Mainland China) and the Cholera epidemic were not really part of the story in the book, just incidentals.

It seemed to me to be about the relationships of the characters, their expectations based on their social class and how they were constrained to act in certain ways. I also found the ending to be very old fashioned, like the Hollywood movies of the same age, where good triumphs (Kitty's redemption) and evil is punished (Walter's fate).

It was mostly well written if a bit spare, but there were some seriously horrendous sentence construction problems.

I am now reading Just Desserts by Mary Daheim the first book in the Bed and Breakfast mystery series.

All 3 books were/are for one of my RL book groups.

#57 mckait - I read Tipping the Velvet a few weeks ago. It was not what I expected, but it was very interesting. I enjoyed it.

Hi all, I've procrastinated in reading for fun lately, so I'm going to make a second start in Angels and Demons in a couple of minutes. Which is a book by Dan Brown, and I believe also is the prequel to The Da Vinci Code. I really like Brown's writing style and he has me often in suspense while reading his books. Still a couple of similiar plots evolve throughout some of his books, like The Da Vinci Code and Deception Point.

Actually I was already about 1/3 through Dune, but I've procrastinated so long I will make a fresh start in another book and finish Dune later. I already had to say I enjoyed the start of my new book Angels and Demons.

I finished voyager by Diana Gabaldon, decided I needed a break from the Outlander books, and somehow find myself 120 pages into Drums of Autumn! Am enjoying reading about North Carolina before the war of independence.

I'm nearly halfway through the Poisonwood Bible. I had a nightmare about it last night so might be finding a happier bedtime novel...

And I'm about to start Kristin Lavransdatter and am off to read the thread where kjellika teaches us how to prounounce Norwegian!

#27 and #28 DevourerofBooks and richardderus, interesting that you have both found the Whiskey Rebels hard to get into. I liked the Coffee Trader, but didn't love it - there was something about the characters that didn't grab me to start with. I like it enough to buy a Conspiracy of Paper a while back, but it hasn't leapt off the shelf at me yet.

I finished Breath, Eyes, Memory byEdwidge Danticat It was a quick read and very enjoyable. I don't believe I have read a book about Haiti before.

I just started Made in the U.S.A. by Billie Letts She is one of favorite authors, so it should be good.

Finished The Weather Makers on global warming. It has me thinking. See my review here: http://www.librarything.com/work/393262/book/4033609

I've been entering children's books, and I've picked up Alice in Wonderland which I've never read before. After that I probably should read the Early Reviewer book I just received: Any Given Doomsday.

I'm now reading Time and Chance by Sharon Kay Penman in anticipation of her new book coming out in less than a month, Devil's Brood.

Oh lawsy law. It's been a busy day, lots of shopping/erranding/picture hanging/cooking. It seems I've become even more a housewife in the "Fabulous" Fifties mode than I was in Texas. What the hell, I actually like the work.

I have read not one syllable not printed on a label, box, or carton, and it's making me grumpy. Off to bed now with Kristin Lavransdatter. Mr. Man, with whom I had a long chat today, has gotten hold of the book as well. He reports that he loves the character of Kristin and hates the writing. I reminded him it was a translation. He was unforgiving and said the translators (Archer and What's-it) should be horsewhipped (actual language cleaned up for tender ears like dchaikin and msf59); when informed they were dead, his remarks failed the eulogy-suitability test.

I kinda agree.

Just finished In the Land of No Right Angles, which is about an American girl who goes to Nepal and ends up strangely tied to this Nepali girl, Maya. I really enjoyed it!

My review: http://www.skrishnasbooks.com/2008/09/in-land-of-no-right-angles-daphne-beal.htm...

Well, I just finished Any Given Doomsday by Lori Handeland, the August bonus ER book. I didn't like it very much but it was quick and painless. I won't read any more her books. Posted my review, rock and roll!

I've just started an ARC called Midwife of the Blue Ridge by Christine Blevins. I'm enjoying it very much so far. I should be reading a different ARC called The Watercooler Effect but I'm putting it off. I have gotten lots better about not asking for too many ARCs. Unfortunately I've still got 3 to go that sounded good at the time but seem less intriguing now that I've got whole lots of OTHER interesting books on my shelves that I'd rather read.

#7 fredbacon - I like "fish fur". I shall start using it too and confounding everybody with it.

62- Angels and Demons is a prequel and I hear they are making it into a movie - with Tom Hanks, of course.

I read DaVinci Code mostly because of all the hype around that movie - not understanding why all the hype, but I got to read a book I really liked as well as a new author and one my daughter reads as well - in fact she had some of the books already so I just borrowed them from hr room (she's in Georgia, so her room is fair game - with her approval). I have now finished all of his works and I have his new one on hold at the library, though I think I am already back in the line for it a bit.

>7 fredbacon: fredbacon: "Fish fur" has made a huge hit in our house!

The DaVinci Code wasn't my favorite read of the past 10 years, but I won't say the subject matter wasn't interesting. I liked that whole "women's role in history altered to please men" trope; it makes clear a societal attitude that many would like to gloss right on over. And even though I wasn't interested in the book particularly, I thought the movie version was disappointing.

Angels and Demons, on the other hand, was awful and I can't imagine why they are making it into a movie. Oh well, no one said I have to go see it.

I sympathasize with Mr. Man--that is the translation I have. Mine has 3 beautiful covers (probably why I bought it about 20 years ago) and great notes in the back. I'm making an 80 mile round trip to a book store today--my one free morning! hoping to find the newer version. After Poisonwood I don't want to have a struggle with Kristin!

>72 MusicMom41: MusicMom, I wonder if the translators are not simply being true to the spirit of the original in their archaisms and the sonority of the phrasing. One of the great advantages of reading literature in translation is that each generation can retranslate books to reflect current vernacular usage, something that the original can't do. I read Go by John Clellon Holmes some time back, and it was obvious to me that the mid-century vernacular would be off-putting to an imaptient young audience.

A translator would be able to render the spirit of the writing without being tied to the usages of 1949-1950 in the translator's own language. Can there be a justification for same-language translation in that fact somewhere...?

>72 MusicMom41:/73 re: Translation of Kristin Lavransdatter. From what I understand, the first English translation was pretty far off from the original Norwegian. The most recent translation (Tina Nunnally) is far closer to the original in terms of word choice and tone. Translation is an interesting beast. In times past there was more leeway given to a translator to make changes to reflect what he/she thought was the "spirit" of the text. Nowadays the expectation is that the translation adhere as closely to the text as possible. A good example of this is the most recent translation of War and Peace - it is closer to Tolstoy's original than most of the more Victorian sounding translations that preceded it, and ironically this more-accurate translation also seems more readable and "modern" than previous translations. (I've only read the most recent translation, so I'm saying this based on other people's reviews and comments.) Anyway, FWIW.

Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link. A short story collection of modern fairy tales. Very good and weird.

>26 RedBowlingBallRuth: Good luck with Mansfield Park, be interested to know how you get on.

Ok I have to go get out of the library Kristin Lavransdatter. So many are reading and enjoying it that I need to check it out--literally.

Been reading City of Thieves and enjoying it. Next up I think is The Story of Edgar Sawtelle the newest Oprah pick. I hear its great.

#59 cameling I wasn't going to post a review of The 19th Wife as there are a bunch but since you were looking for one http://www.librarything.com/work/5289726/book/35799475, her you go. Overall I liked the book.

To keep on topic, I'm well into The Lace Reader and love it.

>60 FicusFan:: FicusFan, I'm grateful for your review of Red Poppies because I almost added to my list of books to read for a book group. I have others that I'd like to make the list, and I'm trying to whittle my list down to a manageable number so I don't lose what few members we have.

Angels and Demons I did not enjoy. But I wondered if perhaps my dissatisfaction with it was because I had read it almost immediately after I read The Da Vinci Code which I did enjoy, and which has spawned my interest in the historical religious mystery genre. Having come from a very strict Catholic upbringing.. and not faring very well in my religious classes when I was in Catholic school, I found it so refreshing to read a book that raises questions on other possible interpretations of the tenants of Catholicism. My mother, who goes to church on a daily basis, and on whose apron strings I'm relying to get me through the pearly gates, read it and has consigned poor Dan Brown to an untimely virtual death in her mind.

>77 sydamy:: sydamy, thank you for pointing me to your review of The 19th Wife. It sounds like something I'd really enjoy reading. A few years ago I went to an open house at a Mormon temple and found it pretty interesting, not enough to be converted, but enough to be interested in understanding the history behind it's formation ...ssshh..this is not to reach the ears of my very Catholic mother.

I was hungry last night and Shark's Fin and Sichuan Peppers beckoned more alluringly so, having put Amuse Bouche to bed (and how I did enjoy that frolicksome mystery and the delightly Russell Quant) I am now deep in this rather interesting memoir of a woman's foray into Chinese cuisine and her take on Chinese corruption and non-awareness of environmental concerns

Stayed home so very, very sick today and between coughing and sleeping boughts I finished Simply Sensual by Carly Phillips and got through the first few pages of Just a Geek by Wil Wheaton. Also read my new Loveless Volume 8 that my hubby brought in for me from the mail when he got home.

#70
Hey koalamom!!!

Which new Dan Brown are you referring to? Since he's usually good for a fast read I've been checking his website regularly along with fantasticfiction.co.uk and so far nothing... :(

Kathy

>79 Jenson_AKA_DL:: Jenson_AKA_DL, I'm sorry to hear you are poorly. I wish you a speedy recovery .. although being sick in bed gives you the wonderful opportunity to be pampered by hubby, and lay back and read.

Have some chicken soup, keep warm, and I hope you feel better soon.

I am starting Matrimony by Joshua Henkin

#63 I too enjoyed the series and definitely enjoyed Drums of Autumn however I really got stuck and could barely finish The Fiery Cross. I am taking a break for now and will start again maybe in winter with Snowflakes.

I am currently on 1776 by David McCullough and find it interesting but maybe only a hair above a textbook read. Just more in depth.

Also reading Blood Done Sign My Name which reads very easy much like the author's accent which comes out through the book. Introspective of personalities and a small corner of the world during the civil rights movements and just after.

I'm just over half-way through The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson, which I am enjoying, although I keep looking at how many more pages I have to go and wonder when something is going to happen to carry the story through to the end. I'm just kind of wondering where it's heading, but I guess that's a good thing!

I have 6 of David Foster Wallace's books winging their way to me from the UK at the moment, and when they arrive I think I'll start on The Broom of the System.

I am happily putting The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York aside. I'm about 150 pages short of the end of this 1200 page tome (after a 400 page reading marathon on Saturday). Compelling reading--especially for one who rides his roads daily. Book group discussion was yesterday so I'm free to enjoy something new and finish with RM at leisure. Something new is The Dumas Club and I expect to follow it up with Jar City.

#84: Yes! Read The Broom of the System. Brainy, zany, hilarious. We lost a good one.

I've started reading Proust's In Search of Lost Time. The newer Penguin translations. I just finished Swann's Way and will start In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower soon. I imagine that my contributions to these threads will be quite predictable for the next few months. :)

>83 maryqueenofscotts: maryscott - I'm exactly the same as you with the Outlander series... The Fiery Cross just sort of wandered around for so long without having anything that I could point to as a plot. I'm motivated to start A Breath of Snow and Ashes fairly soon, though, since I have a friend who is reading them, who is also an incorrigible loudmouth and will almost certainly spoil something for me if I don't read it first.

>84 Elee: You just put into words exactly what I was trying to pin down about The Gargoyle - I'm about 100 pages from the end, and while I've been enjoying it, it does sort of feel like it's in stasis - not dragging, but not giving many clues as to how it's moving forwards, either.

Beyond my 'pleasure' reading, I've read Everyday Life in Early America by David Freeman Hawke today. It's a terrific (very digestible and short) book about life in 17th century America.

I finished The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus. It was a dark, well-paced observation of a group of people struggling with their demons, in the days before 9/11. Readers seem to love or hate this book but I enjoyed it. Anyone else read this yet?
For musicmom- I also finished El Libris. This little book about books was a pleasure. Fadiman exudes intelligence and wit. I found myself smiling at the end of nearly every page.
I'm starting One Good Turn byKate Atkinson. I was a big fan of Case Histories and I'm looking forward to it.
For Richard: what makes you think I have tender ears,huh?

Yesterday, I started A Summer Affair-Elin Hilderbrand. I borrowed this one from the library so I will try to finish it within the next 2 days.

Currently reading Embers. There has been a lot of good things said about this one on LT, so I thought I would have a look for myself.

A Dark Dividing is what I just opened and I am off to read.
g'nite!

>89 msf59: msf, just a hunch...you seem like such a delicate, tender little flower...

*snort*

>92 mckait: mckait, really? You're getting adventurous in this decade, huh?

Started Any Given Doomsday at work between calls. Perfect reading for that milieu. Will finish before tomorrow, and post a review. I know you've all been waiting with baited breath for that.

*snort*

>86 Medellia:, I read Infinite Jest earlier this year and loved it. I've heard good things about The Broom of the System and your recommendation was so enthusiastic that I'll definitely be reading it next.

>87 fyrefly98:, glad it's not just me that feels that way. Perhaps my main problem is that I'm reading it after finishing The Poisonwood Bible which had an overwhelming sense of tension building for about 3/4 of the book.

>89 msf59:, hope you like One Good Turn - Kate Atkinson is one of my favourite authors. Her newest book When Will There Be Good News? is very good too. I'm a little bit in love with Jackson Brodie :-)

I just finished reading "The Taking" by Dean Koontz (which reminds me that I need to do my book review!). Recommended to me by a fellow coworker, I found it quite intriguing. The plot line had me hooked, and I felt compelled to figure out what was happening to them.

I had started reading it just a couple pages at a time when I could grab a moment, usually before bed. But then I got sick, and while I felt miserable, it gave me the perfect opportunity to just sit and read the entire day away. So I did!

I found the ending rather thought-provoking. I'm not going to ruin it for anyone who hasn't already read it, but it was a twist I didn't really see coming.

Now I am on to "To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee. It is part of our library's "One Book, One Community" program. I figured that since I had never read it, I probably should since we will probably have patrons wanting to talk about it.

Kathy,

I have Solomon Key by Dan Brown on hold at my library. It's supposed to be out next month. I am not sure how to keep the Touchstones pointed at the Brown book, so you may not be able to click on this title and get to it here directly.

Shar

#95 - Our library system has what it calls "Scranton Reads" and this year the area is reading The Maltese Falcon. Last year it was the Grapes of Wrath. I understand that this is the fourth year but I was living out of town for the first two. I think it's a great idea and it has gotten me to read two books I had never thought I'd read.

To Kill A Mockingbird is a great book and they did a fantastic job with the movie as well.

Two in a row for me today!

I finished The Hamlet by Faulkner last night. I got through it. I am proud that I am reading classics - three since I started being an LTer. Still not sure about them, but I will probably try again.

I am also reading High Tide at Gettysburg and Stork Naked. Both very different from each other and Faulkner, but then I said I was an eclectic reader in my profile!

Yesterday I finished The Uncertain Art: Thoughts on a Life in Medicine by Sherwin B. Nuland, a surgeon and professor of medicine at Yale. This week I'm planning to read The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, God's Own Country by Ross Raisin, which made the longlist for the 2008 Guardian First Book Award, and How Fiction Works by James Wood.

#73 richard

"I wonder if the translators are not simply being true to the spirit of the original in their archaisms and the sonority of the phrasing."

I hope you're right because i will be using the edition I own. That was the only edition either B&N or Borders near me has--probably nobody in this area has actually read the books since 1923! I read a lot of classic literature so I should be able to handle this. In fact, after reading what you said--if it sounded too modern I would probably be annoyed and not enjoy it!

BTW Now that I've succumbed to reading Poisonwood Bible after avoiding it for so many years it has one salutary outcome--I'm reminded why I don't usually read Oprah books. This book is not totally awful--its disappointing because it could be so much better in the hands of a better writer. I find that really more frustrating than a book I can just trash.

Please don't attack me all you Kingsolver lovers--this is just my humble opinion and you are allowed to love it. And I'm not going to throw it away, just across the room, maybe? :-)

(I am assuming, richard, that this one wouldn't be on your top ten favorites. Am I wrong?)

#85 CEP

Would love to hear how you Dumas Club. It in my TBR mystery pile--should I move it up?

>99 MusicMom41: MusicMom, true that as my daughter says. I did not greatly enjoy Poisonwood Bible because I wanted to slap the hell out of all the stupid missionaries. How tedious the mother was. The father? A slow death by bongo (bad, old joke, untellable here). The kids? Who cares?

But hey, that's just my curmudgeonly $0.02.

#89 msf59

I'm so glad you loved Ex Libris--I feel the same way! :-) smiling just thinking about it!

#95 Thaydra

I almost envy you being able to discover To Kill a Mockingbird for the 1st time. I've read it many times and it never loses its appeal.

All this talk of Ex Libris has piqued my interest so I just put it on hold at the library. It sounds pretty interesting-thanks!

I'm still reading the Da Vinci Code and should have it finished in a few days. It was my holiday read, but I was sick last week so started it early, so I have had to re-arrange my holiday reading. 3 weeks holiday starting on Friday, and I'm taking Watership Down, the Potato Factory and A man in full. looking forward to it (the holiday & the books).

101> I feel the same way about The Poisonwood Bible. I couldn't work up empathy for any of them! I was on a terrible work assignment when I read it too - it didn't add to my happiness levels. Not one little bit.

MusicMom, Is your TBR pile really sorted by genre? I am in awe if so and relieved if not :)

richardear~

consider yourself triple raspberried~~~

I'm just finishing up The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is turning out to be an eye-opening book. It's inspiring me to completely rethink my eating and buying habits.

I read The Poisonwood Bible for bookclub a while back and remember enjoying it at the time. I guess it's all my passive-aggressiveness coming out against most things flauntingly Christian. I'm not sure I would enjoy reading it now, however.

I remember reading the Poisonwood Bible and liking it, but that's about all.

Not everybody likes everything, some less so than others!

#101 richard: I felt the same way. (Slapping)

#102 et al: If you like Ex Libris then I recommend another by Anne Fadiman called At Large and At Small.

Currently reading The Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry. Enjoying his writing style very much.

After a busy weekend and a mini-hiatus from LT, I've started Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki and am really enjoying it so far.

#99 > MusicMom41

Whew! I thought it was just me. I zipped ahead and finished Poisonwood Bible and found it to be a big OK--not awful, some parts were lovely, but overall, for me, sadly lacking and about 150 pages too long. I read Prodigal Summer several years ago and enjoyed it. I remember it to be a more tightly written novel. Of course, it came after PB.

I am reading Matrimony by Joshua Henkin..so far so good.

#86 & 94 - The Broom of the System reads very much like Infinite Jest-lite. It's good, but it's a 5k as opposed to IJ's marathon. Interesting note that I didn't know until this past week: Wallace wrote two undergrad thesises - one on philosophy and the other was Broom.

The Wallace mailing list is starting a group read of IJ starting next week, which I'll gladly (sadly) be in on.

I'm reading Dracula and My Sister's Keeper. Both very good books so far.

>105 Killeymoon: killeymoon and 111 amandameale: right on soul sisters!

>109 karenmarie: karenmarie: Where you're passive-aggressive, I am aggressive-aggressive when it comes to spiritual imperialism.

>107 mckait: mckait, oh dear Gussie a triple razzberry! I shall have to amend my ways, shan't I?

I'll be looking into that. Get back to ya later. Like maybe an incarnation or two hence.

>112 bnbooklady: booklady, thank GOODNESS. I was about to send a search party out for you. It's not the same around here without you. Hope all is going swimmingly chez booklady.

I got sidetracked this week.
I was in the middle of Bully for Brontosaurus by Stephen Jay Gould when out of nowhere, a bookstore attacked.
So I just finished Migration by Julie E. Czerneda and am partway through The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold. Once this is finished, I will quickly run through Regeneration also by Julie E. Czerneda in order to finish out the Species Imperative trilogy.
And then I'll be right back on track.
Unless I am ambushed by a library.

>118 heliophobe: heliophobe, gotta watch out for those tricksy libraries...they got sneaky in they veins, as my Southern-country grandmother (as opposed, and I use the term advisedly, to the Jewish grandmother) used to say.

>119 richardderus:: richardderus
What's worse is that I work in one! I can mostly avoid too much temptation, since most of my work involves the video collection. Except that I sometimes also work on processing new incoming books as well. Which means I see all the new stuff coming in...

>108 vastard: vastard, I had the exact same reaction after reading The Omnivore's Dilemma. Not only eye-opening, but very well written, as well.

richard: thanks for the welcome back! I got blogged out during BBAW and took a break from the computer over the weekend. Glad to be back!

I'm about halfway through Choke by Chuck Palahniuk and very near the end of If Chins Could Kill by Bruce Campbell. I want to get Choke finished before the movie comes out. I'm not a huge fan of Palahniuk's writing, but so far I think this is one of his better works.

I'm about halfway through Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper and I'm really liking this book. I wasn't all that sure about it when I first started, but once I got past the first chapter and I can see where she's going with this, her memoir about her culinary experiences in China, as well as the people she's gotten to meet has been really interesting. I also love that she's peppered (sad pun) her book with little illustrations because being a foodie myself, and having spent some time in China on business, I can immediately visualize what she means when she describes different cuts in vegetables. There are also some nice little language lessons sprinkled in the book.

Some of the descriptions on how the food is prepared is a little gruesome, but I like her explanation for why those outside China perceive cruelty in the way animals are killed for food, and why the Chinese don't see the cruelty in their actions.

So far, a very satisfying and informative read. Certainly alot more detail than what I was expecting.

>108 vastard:: vastard, Perhaps if you enjoyed The Omnivore's Dilemma you would also enjoy Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver.

For those Dan Brown fans:

You might want to consider Gospel: A Novel by Wilton Barnhardt.

I finished two books last night: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis (a read-aloud with the girls) and The Blue Star by Tony Earley. The Blue Star is the sequel to Jim the Boy which I really loved, and while I enjoyed this one, I didn't love it.

The next book I'll be reading for my book club is The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh, which I've read about here on LT. It's not quite ready for me to pick up from the library, so I think I'll read O Pioneers by Willa Cather in the meantime. Another classic I feel I should have read, but somehow missed.

O Pioneers is on my TBR pile, too, AMQS. Let me know what you think!

127 & 128: I read O Pioneers in college and adored it. Cather is one of our more underappreciated authors.

Finished The 19th Wife last night, and am currently working on my review of it. My next book will either be Any Given Doomsday or Goldengrove by Francine Prose.

Read the Lace Reader---very good! Surprised me! Takes place nearby and was an interesting
new way for a thriller to begin!

#101 richard

Poisonwood -- you hit the nail on the head. I can conjure up absolute no connection with any of the characters. It's almost like watching a play with inept actors--no nuances and no genuine emotion in the book. It never seems "real"--rather like propaganda to make a point--with a blunt instrument! However, I did like some of the Congolese natives in their village.

45 more pages to go and then on to KL! Something to look forward to.

# 106 hemlokgang

My TBR pile--actually yes, so I can find what I want.

If it helps, the rest of my library is an absolute mess because we were supposed to get new shelves so i had taken everything out and when we decided we had to wait I just threw the stuff back. And I don't have enough shelves for it all so a lot of it is piled higgledy piggledy (Grammy's old saying!). I need some books that I can locat--hence my organized TBR pile.

I finished The Breezes by Joseph O'Neill, disappointing compared to his later work and The Cave Painters: Probing the Mysteries of the World's First Artists by Gregory Curtis, a beautifully written, moving, and informative introduction to the world of the cave painters and the people who've studied their art.

I'm reading A.J. Jacobs The Year of Living Biblically. I am catholic and learn a lot about unknown traditions, and it's fun to read.
Furthermore on my table: The Road to Middle Earth by Tom Shippey, a new (very good) German translation of Don Quijote de la Mancha, and The charterhouse of Parma by Stendahl. Non-Fiction: The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright, and the new book The Iliad and the Odyssey by Alberto Manguel. His Dictionary of Imaginary Places is an alltime favourite of mine.

Smiley - I'll add it to my TBR list. Thanks.

>100 MusicMom41: musicmom,

I'm enjoying The Dumas Club and am just a chapter from the end--and waiting for the final surprise that will wrap up the story. Penultimate chapter had a good kick, and I'm getting ready to enjoy the final one!

The book is full of literary references, many with which I only have passing familiarity. Still, twists and turns and action-packed story once you get past the first few chapters. The Three Musketeers has a big role in the book and I'm sorry I didn't read it first. It didn't really hinder my reading but I feel I did lose something.

Enjoy!

#137 CEP

Thanks for the info about Dumas Club. It's been on my TBR pile for a while and earlier this year I started Three Musketeers in preparation. I put it aside as i got into so many new books on LT. As soon as I finish the group reads I'm doing I will pick it up and finish it before I read Dumas Club. That was the information i needed! Sounds like it will be fun.

#111 amandameale

I received At Large and At Small for Christmas from my Chicago son and his wife.. I loved that one, too. Two of my favorites from that book are the essay about ice cream and the essay about coffee--which are two of my favorite things outside of books!

113 theaelizabet

re Poisonwood: you said, "some parts were lovely, but overall, for me, sadly lacking and about 150 pages too long."--

I think you hit it exactly--I felt let down because I could see more potential than was achieved.

I'll add my name on the list of LTer with O Pioneers on the TBR pile.

I also agree that Willa Cather is under appreciated. Maybe because in this century we seem to be spending much more time reading authors from Asia and Africa than we did when some of us were in school. I know at least that I am spending more time on that than I used to. I'm trying to keep a balance and reading American authors--especially classics--along with the many great ones from nearly every region of the world.

Last night I finished What I Talk About When I Talk About Running: A Memoir by Haruki Murakami. I really enjoyed it. In addition to his talking about his running in marathons and triathlons he muses about writing novels and other interest of his. Along the way the reader discerns "life lessons" and a small feeling of knowing a bit more about Murakami. It can be a very fast read, but I enjoyed it a chapter at a time over the course of about a week and found it soothing and relaxing.

Tonight I have 45 pages to read and i will be finished with Poisonwood. Then I will decide what to pick up next. I want to start Kristin Lavransdatter and can't decide if I should start with my 1923 translation or wait until the new one arrives from Amazon--which probably won't be untill next week.

So many books--so many decisions!

Just finished Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. It is a funny and moving story of a young American who goes to Ukraine to find the woman who saved his Jewish grandfather from the Nazis. Now starting A Heart So White by Javier Mariás, winner of the 1997 Dublin IMPAC Award for best novel. It is an intense, multi-layered novel which delves into the deeper questions of life, love, marriage among others -- this is not going to be an easy read, but i'm very sure it will be a satisfying one.

Reading A Partisan's Daughter. I haven't read Louis De Bernieres before. So far so good!

Just finished The Lace Reader. I liked it, what an ending! I started God in a Cup this morning. The subtitle says it all - An Obsessive Quest for the Perfect Coffee - It's a look into the specialty coffee market. Mmmmm coffee...

Started Any Given Doomsday last night...flew through the first 40 pages...but think Ms Handeland tries too hard to be both Stephen King & Laurell Hamilton, in terms of the Paranormal....and what i call "pyrotechnics".....blood/monster/splatter/gratuitous sex/yikes!!!...oh well...i'll probably finish it today will write my review..and get on to something...better.

--> 9

I'm also enjoying Duma Key on CD. It looks as if King finally got himself another really good story! I find it very intriguing so far!!

--> 108

I, too, am reading The Omnivore's Dilemma and am frankly horrified by much of what I've read so far. :(

148 - SqueakyChu - Loved The Omnivore's Dilemma. My family is trying to eat more locally because of it. I figure every little bit helps so we do our best.

I finished The Poisonwood Bible. I did like it and care about the characters until it turned into a lecture for the last 150 pages or so. A shame really.

Started Purple Hibiscus by Chiamanda Adichie last night. I like the characters. The writing style is very simple though and may get tiresome. I find it hard to read for long periods of time about abuse so we'll see if I can make it through...

Only 100 pages left in Bitter Sweets, and it's pretty good. Can't wait to get started on Letter to my Daughter and my Banned Book Week selections.

Started (Not that You Asked): Rants, Exploits, and Obsessions by Steve Almond yesterday. So far, I am finding the essays uniformly pretty damn amusing!

I just finished reading the book Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks.

.

I've started Goldengrove by Francine Prose -- heartbreaking but beautiful, so far.

I just finished Michelle Moran's Nefertiti - great book!

My review, in case you're interested

I finished Midwife of the Blue Ridge and must say that I had fun reading it. The only thing I didn't like about it was its title. It just didn't fit the book. I can't remember thinking that about a book in a very long time - that the title didn't match the book.

I wil probably continue The Power Makers, an ARC (if I canand start The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off to go to the Pittsboro Friends of the Library Fall Book Sale!!! I can't wait to bring home yet more books I don't have time for.

From my mountain of TBR, I found The Glass Palace by Amitav Ghosh. This is an account of the British takeover of Burma in 1885. I have several Burmese friends that slip in and out of the country. This country has had a hard road and still does.

After seeing the movie, I am re-reading The Handmaid's Tale. I also bought Surfacing for the Atwoodians group read.

I am also reading Frankenstein, Little Women and some other assorted text books for school.

#153 I thought Godengrove was pretty good. It was certainly much better than I thought it would be.. did you get it from here or Amazon Vine or?

I read The Mystery of The Olmecs.. finished it today while I was WATING FOR AN HOUR AND A HALF!!! at the dental office. More of a mess followed but that is for nother thread.

Now.. I am going to read....? not sure.

back later when I figure it out.

"I just finished with Any Given Doomsday, an Early Reviewer "urban fantasy" selection. I've concluded, over the years, that any paperback cover which prominently features a woman's legs usually has literary merit in inverse proportion to the amount of leg shown and height of high heeled shoes. Simply put, if the cover has legs, the book won't. Apparently "amount of navel bared" and "lowness of belt line" may be substituted in the aforementioned induction without any significant loss of veracity." (Sorry if I seem a snoot, but some days Sheldon from Big Bang Theory walks in my head and locks the door)

>154 skrishna:: skrishna, I'd been eyeing Nefertiti and wondering if I should read it. I know it's supposed to be mainly fictitious, but is there any historical researched material in the book at all? I like some history with my fiction if I'm going to read about important historical figures.

Grrrr..... work is getting in the way of my getting my regular dose of reading these few evenings. It's really annoying .. but when I think of the alternative given the economy today, I should not complain.

Still trying to find time to finish Wuthering Heights but am finding difficulty because I have to read The Canterbury Tales...Good book, funny stories so far and such, but I would really, REALLY like to finish reading Wuthering Heights...damn professors out to ruin my damn life...bitches. >_

>159 Ganeshaka:,
*giggles* I'm only just starting chapter 3, and so far, I would have to agree.

oops! forgot that I had started Ghostwalk somewhere in the last few days, so I am going to finish that, then start Handmaids Tale for banned book week. . I will probably need a read in between, but expect my Vine reads The Longest Trip Home: A Memoir By: John Grogan and ABC3D to show up tomorrow, so I will go with those between now and saturday, too.

eta a touchstone

#163: Hope you like Ghostwalk! I saw a bunch of bad reviews for it after I read it, but I actually thought it was pretty good. It certainly scared the pants off me--maybe I shouldn't have been reading it in the middle of the night, all alone. :) Hope you enjoy The Handmaids Tale--another good one.

>159 Ganeshaka:, Ganeshaka, that is a very elegant theory. I shall try to avoid all covers showing large amounts of female legs in future :-) That book does not sound very promising.

I just finished The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson this morning. Basically, I liked it, then got a little bored in the middle and towards the end, but then the end was quite good so I liked it again. Overall, I liked it for more pages than I was "eh" about, so it was a good read.

I'm going to start The Broom of the System by David Foster Wallace this afternoon. Hooray!

karenmarie--I'm jealous--enjoy the book sale and your day off. Hope you come away with lots of new books.

I finished Single White Vampire Seeks Same, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Brittiany A. Koren, and Mirror, Mirror: Forty Folktales for Mothers and Daughters to Share, edited by Jane Yollen and Heidi E.Y. Stemple, last weekend. =)

I finished Bitter Sweets and found it very enjoyable, but the ending was quite a disappointment. My review is up at The Book Lady's Blog, if you're interested.

I'm now settling into Letter to my Daughter by Maya Angelou and wish I could stay home on this rainy day to read it in one sitting.

I've had a nasty cold most of this week, and in no condition to work on The Fabric of the Cosmos. So instead I re-read Lost in a Good Book and The Well of Lost Plots.

#158, mckait, I bought Goldengrove in a bookstore because I like Francine Prose and because I've always liked the Gerard Manley Hopkins poem. I had high hopes for it, but I'm afraid, now that I'm about halfway through, that I'm a little disappointed.

Just received in the mail
Brisingr
Crucible: McCoy
Crucible: Spock
Crucible: Kirk

I admit I got the last three mostly because Ii wanted free shipping for hte first one, thoug I do read Star Trek novels, so it's not a total waste.

I am also reading Stork Naked and High Tide at Gettysburg both slowly for some reason - too much else going on.

I want to at least finish Stork Naked before I start Brisingr and I want to finish that before my supplier from Buffalo comes down so he can "exchange" it for all the books he says he is bringing me!

Finished and reviewed Any Given Doomsday.

Here it is:

Getting an Advance Reader’s Copy of a book is, sad to say, still a thrill to me. “Sad” because I should, at my age and having been in the publishing industry a time back, be over the idea that I am SPECIAL when I get one of these.

Lori Handeland’s Any Given Doomsday won’t change my feelings about getting ARCs, but it will change my ideas about why publishers send them out. I thought the purpose of the exercise for the publisher was to garner praise and reviews from established critics and people with big marketing megaphones. I guess, like so much else in the interweb age, that’s a dead idea. Goody!

Part of a hot publishing genre called “paranormal romance,” this is an old-fashioned horror story at its heart. It’s also an old-fashioned kind of storytelling, where beginning begets middle leads to end, which is carefully crafted to close this story and prepare us for the next. Since this is the first of a series to be called “The Phoenix Chronicles,” that makes sense. The series features Elizabeth Phoenix, a former homicide cop with a dead partner and a job bartending in a cop bar for her partner’s widow. She’s gifted, we’re told in her voice, with gifts she doesn’t want, and her life is bereft of people she loves and cares for because she’s got these gifts.

It’s very well executed on several levels. Ms. Handeland is a dab hand at characterizations. Her economical, almost laconic, descriptions are both atmospheric and character specific. Elizabeth Phoenix, the psychometric foster child wounded and abandoned early in life, responds to what she understands as a sexual dream about Sawyer, a “skinwalker” (male witch with the power to change into animal form) and man of incredible magical power: “His eyes glittered…making me glad for the clothes I’d been wishing away only moments before. This man wasn’t a pet; he wasn’t a friend. He was dangerous.”

She feels what we would feel; she views the world through these eyes for reasons we’re brought up to speed on with fullness and depth earlier in the book; and yet this small passage brings a slightly darker tinge to the character, letting us in on her borning awareness that everyone and everything in her world is dangerous and no matter how familiar to her, carries depths she only slightly and dimly senses.

The author gives us a chance throughout the book to grow in awareness with Elizabeth Phoenix. We are part of her unfolding identity as a leader in an underworld-for-good that battles an underworld-for-evil that we, the overworld I suppose you’d call us, are possessed of bad and mangled information about. This gives the story its forward momentum and its hook into one’s feeling levels.

While the novel is possessed of these good qualities, there are moments that ring false to a reader’s ears: Elizabeth uses locutions like “Black widow much?” that sound like the author aiming at cute and hitting stupid. A former cop and a woman without a lot of social anxiety to fit in such as Elizabeth wouldn’t use such self-conscious wording. The character of Jimmy, Elizabeth’s long-ago first love and, like her a foster child, wounded soul, comes directly from Character Central and could be called “Dirk” or “Will” or some other four-lettered romance hero’s name.

Why did St. Mutant's send a copy to me? I'm nobody from nowhere, I have no blog, and my reviews MIGHT be read by a few people here if I'm lucky. But in the interweb age, where else can publishers find even a few readers gathered together in one easy-to-access place? Hence we few, we happy few who score books get a chance to convert at least one or two proven readers to our opinions...and that's becoming enough. Should I be scared? I think I am....

But for fans of paranormal romances, this is a treat; for fans of Lori Handeland’s it’s bound to be an event since it starts a whole new series. It’s a nice piece of fiction, it’s a fun way to pass a few hours, and it’s only as much to buy as a fast-food combo meal and much better for you.

OK here goes...

I stopped listening to The Iliad because after a month or so and only on Part 4 of 14, I had completely lost track of what was happening.

I stopped reading Why You Say It because it just wasn't working for me.

I finished The Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson, continuing my English language theme in nonfiction (what a fun read!).

I read Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox in two days. A fast read, fun but underwhelming. I really liked the first three (possibly four) Artemis Fowl books, but the last two have been disappointing. The villains in this one were a bit over the top for me and the time travel issue in books is tricky at best. Not that I won't read books with time travel, it just depends on how it's done. In this case it was...um...convoluted. For lack of a better word.

I am currently listening to Anne of the Island. Otherwise I am "between books," but going to go start Dragonhaven now.

The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
What is the What by Dave Eggers
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith by Kathleen Norris

#173 Oh, Bell7, I'm so sorry to read that the newest Artemis Fowl isn't all that good, because I liked the first Artemis Fowls as much if not more than most of the Harry Potters. Oh, well, maybe Colfer's just having an off day (week, month, year) and the next will be better.

There will be a next? I mean, the ending of The Time Paradox wasn't, like, THE END, was it?

Just finished up The Dive From Clausen's Pier and enjoyed it. Will try to write a review shortly.

Now time for something in a different vein....End of Story by Peter Abrahams. This is one of my favorite authors.

I just finished The Dark Room by Rachel Seiffert and am just starting The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway.

I started The Gifted Gabaldon Sisters by Lorraine Lopez last night (Hatchette sent me the book within 24 hours, I figured I should return the favor) and so far it is fantastic. The writing's really good and Lopez's descriptions are awesome.

#172 Richard - I finished Any Given Doomsday yesterday. You review is much more polite and intelligent than what will probably write. I was just going to call it pornographic trash - even though that is a slight exaggeration.

This morning I picked Siblings Without Rivalry again. I had originally set it aside so I could read The Gargoyle before it was due back at my library.

I'm reading The Gargoyle. I sometime have to avoid reading fiction while I'm working on a draft of my own, but this one sounded too good to resist.

Finished Stork Naked, not sure why it took so long!

Will continue to read High Tide ... and will start Brisingr later today. I have a week before my supplier from the north comes and will also want to read it - he'll probably do that while he's here and not bother to take it back to Buffalo!

I read Maya Angelou's new book Letter to My Daughter in one sitting last night, and I highly recommend it to just about everyone. My review is up at The Book Lady's Blog.

I've just started my Banned Books Week re-read of The Giver by Lois Lowry.

I've finished The Gargoyle and Crispin: The Cross of Lead, and have started Immortal by Traci Slatton. I didn't do it on purpose, but apparently I'm on a 14th-century kick - although each has been a different country.

>175 Storeetllr: Storeetllr, try it anyways. You may have a totally different reaction from me. It was still a fun read even if it didn't live up to my expectations. I doubt it'll be the last...after all, The Eternity Code seemed to make it clear that the story was over, and I would consider this more of an open ending than that was.

I started Dragonhaven but haven't read far yet. The narrative voice irks me a bit, so I'll be deciding in the next 20 or 30 pages if I want to continue...I'm waiting a little longer to see if something in the story grabs me. Might be one of those books that I return to in a different reading mood.

I finished The House on the Strand, a Daphne du Maurier that I hadn't read before. Like some others on this thread, I am also reading Kristin Lavransdatter for the Group Reads - Literature group and am almost finished with the first of three parts.

Still reading City of Thieves which is good. Next up will be maybe a Philippa Gregory book. I went to her book signing on Wed. Her 1st stop on her US tour to promote The Other Queen. She was delightful to listen to--that British accent, her knowledge of Tudors, and she was funny.

Hoping to finish Rose Tremain's wonderful Music and Silence this weekend; then will either move on to Kristin Lavransdatter or pick something for Banned Book Week.

I finished Leonard Woolf by Victoria Glendinning and found I would have really enjoyed his company by the end of it. His letters will shuffle up the pile soon.

Also finished These Old Shades bought due to an article in Slightly Foxed (a quarterly literary magazine in the UK) and the recommendation of friends. Wonderful babyfood, a delicious sensation of being 14 again curled up with a romantic novel.

Really enjoying The Intellectual Life of the British Working Classes and acquiring another list of 'to be read's' and 'to be acquired's'. And just started Simon Sebag Montifiore's Russian novel Sashenka - not far enough in to know how good yet.

>>> 111 - I have packed At large and at small in my holiday bag (as a confirmed Ex Libris fan.

>>>174 grkmwk: - Farenheit 451 is one of my all time favourites.

Finished and really enjoyed Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Adichie once I figured out that it really works better when thought of as a young adult novel.

I began Why We Hate Us by Dick Meyer last night and think it is spot-on so far.

I finished Goldengrove by Francine Prose. I had high hopes for it but, although there were parts I really liked, I was disappointed by it and found the ending stretched my credulity.

I'm sorry to hear that about Goldengrove. I so loved Blue Angel and had added her new book to my wishlist.

I'm currently reading Stalin's Children, an ARC (the book was just published about 10 days ago). So far very interesting family memoir set against the background of turbulent history. I've also started Maurice by E. M. Forster as my Banned Book Week selection. Although I haven't actually seen it on any of the lists of banned or challenged books, I assume it must have been challenged somewhere, sometime due to its subject matter. At the very least, it was self-censored by the author, who did not even try to publish it during his lifetime. It's got me by the heart already.

I've been reading Kristin Lavransdatter for the group read, and I'm about at the half-way point. However, Kristin has been bugging me for the past few days (the character, not the book), so I've started The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible by AJ Jacobs. This looks like it should be quite good.

>160 cameling: With regards to Nefertiti, the book does seem really well researched. On her website, she says all the main story details are accurate, but of course she took liberties with personalities and such.

And I just finished The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie! And enjoyed it!
My review

wrote my review for Any Given Doomsday but still have a few pages to go..it was hard going for such a lightweight read

now to go upstairs/downstairs/all through the house to find something to redeem that last stinky-winky ..

oh sorry

;-(

It's been awhile since I've posted here. Hi to the familiar names and greetings to the new ones!

I am half-way into The Road Home by Rose Tremain. This is my second Tremain book. It's good, but I think I will like The Colour better than my current read. We shall see!

I had a long and somewhat stressful week, so I took the morning off (when you are self-employed and no students are coming you can do that!) and finished the mystery I started last night to serve as a "buffer" between Poisonwood Bible and Kristin Lavransdatter. It is the 3rd in Julia Spencer-Fleming's Clare Fergusson/ Russ Van Alstyne series, Out of the Deep I Cry. I'm enjoying this series mainly because it is effortless reading and entertaining--it's the kind of thing I like to read when most readers might decide to watch TV or pop in a DVD. Since I must save TV or movie watching for when my family is around (I can only abide so much of it and they like me to do it with them) I have "fluff" books for de-stressing.

Now it's off to Kristin Lavransdatter--although I will do a little bit of work today-- at least some planning for next week--
before I settle into a book again this afternoon. I love Fridays!

#191, JaynePupek, It isn't all bad at all, and of course your opinion might be different from mine, so I'd hate to stop you from reading it if you think you might enjoy it. I like Francine Prose too.

Rereadings edited by Anne Fadiman. "Seventeen writers revisit books they love". Another Ann Fadiman to read and enjoy.
Reading this when I'm not reading Krstin Lavransdatter.

Still reading City of Thieves--should finish this weekend. Then I must start The Space Between Before and After cause I won an author chat w/ my book club. Then either Story of Edgar Sawtelle or The Other Queen

#200 momom248 - I hope you're enjoying City of Thieves. I thought it was great!

I'm reading The Last Colony by John Scalzi.

I just finished Between the Bridge and the River, probably my new favorite book. Next I'm taking a break from fiction and reading The Twenties: Fords Flappers, Fanatics.

I just finished Slaughterhouse-Five and Embers and have started The Household Guide to Dying which I think I will enjoy.

I'm reading Homer's The Iliad as translated by Robert Fagles, with the assistance of Alberto Manguel - Homer's The Iliad and the Odyssey. Mucho macho.

#201 coppers I will let you know about City of Thieves--I should finish it this weekend. It really is a very enjoyable read.

# 78 Cameling
We did read Red Poppies: A Novel of Tibet for my book group, and I am the one that suggested it. Ouch. Of course now I feel guilty about putting you off it. The Joys of an Ambivalent Book.

It wasn't a terrible book, but it just didn't grab me. The others seemed to be about the same if less disappointed than I was, though one of the members really liked it. If you can find a copy in the store, you might try a test read to see how it works for you.

I finished Just Desserts by Mary Daheim, for another RL book group. It is the first in the Bed-n-Breakfast mystery series. No ambivalence here, its just awful.

A middle-aged widow runs a B&B in the Pacific Northwest. She has a local family of wealthy kooks check in. They hire a fortune teller to come for dessert and do the fortune-telling thing. She dies mid-telling, and emergency services are called.

The paramedic, with no physical evidence or symptoms, decides on the spot that she didn't have a heart attack, but was poisoned. ???

The police come, and take up the same idea, but in a house with food, drink and many people, never ask about the food or drink. Never ask who prepared the food, never tell the others not to eat or drink anything. In fact 2 cops are there so long they join guests and staff in eating. ??

Finally, the main character and her side-kick cousin are not detectives, but nosy busybodies. Long before any murder, they are sneaking around their guests, listening behind doors, listening on the stairs and to phone calls. Prying into their personal business just to gossip. Ick.

Then I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night=Time by Mark Haddon. I loved it. It was a short quick read, but was still able to suck you into the book's world.

A 15 year old Autistic boy from a working class family in modern day England is the POV. He finds the neighbor's dog murdered with a pitchfork, and decides to investigate the murder.

He has all kinds of quirks and issues, but he is also very smart, and has found ways to fit in (when given time and space). He loves the perfection of math and science and has a lot of trouble with the imperfection of humanity. He also doesn't understand humans or their emotions. As a result of his investigation, he finds out some bad information about his family, and throws everyone into turmoil. I was sorry the book ended, and found it quite emotionally wrenching.

I also finally finished Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn. A cool SF book I enjoyed, even though it was a bit bloated and repetitive. I kept putting this down to read other books that were due, not because it wasn't a fun read.

Its a space opera type book set in a vast alien/human civilization. The main characters, Jordan McKell - Human, and Ixil -Alien, are gypsy traders - they have their own ship, but not state of the art. They are approached to fly a mystery ship the Icarus Hunt to Earth with a crew that is also hired one at a time. The ship has a sealed cargo and no one knows what is in it.

They take up the job, and of course there are murders and accidents on board. They spend the time trying to find out who their secret on-board enemy is. When they land to refuel, it seems the ports are also after the ship, with bogus tips being called in about smuggling. There are also thugs who are stalking and attacking the crew when they are out of the ship.

The main characters also have ties to the criminal underworld, so very few are who they seem. Eventually the mystery is solved, with another twist by the main characters and all ends well.

The bloated and repetitive part is they keep going to different ports and the same thing (attacking) keeps happening. It could have been tightened up. The writing was good, and the characters and worlds were interesting.

I picked up two E. L. Doctorow books at a book shop in Ithaca NY today,
The March and Waterworks.

Almost finished with Obsidian Butterfly, which may be the best Anita Blake I've read so far. (I'm reading them in order.) Also started a first novel called "Broad Street" by Christine Weiser, which came to me as an early review book sent by the publisher. I'm both excited and slightly anxious ~ it's the first book whose review was solicited from me by the publisher, and it's chicklit, which is not my favorite genre. But, I've finished the first chapter and loved it, so I'm feeling a bit more hopeful now.

Also listening to Crime Beat by Michael Connelly, which I am enjoying but not as much as his mysteries. Um, also in the middle of Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist and The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes, both of which I put down to read Mr. White's Confession for LTER.

Whew! That's more books than I thought I had going. I better get reading!

Wow, The Three Musketeers is an amazing book! I just finished reading it and I advise everyone to read it!

#209 Storeetllr
Almost finished with Obsidian Butterfly, which may be the best Anita Blake I've read so far. (I'm reading them in order.)

Danger Will Robinson - Plotless badly written sexfests ahead !
OB is the last of the even remotely normal books. Once she started the other series, Anita disappeared and became Merry with a gun.

Ya know, I've heard that a lot, but, being one of them hard-headed women who've got to learn for themselves (usually the hard way), I started the next one in the series ~ Narcissus in Chains.

What can I say, Ficus? You are so right! I got about halfway through it and phhht. I closed the book and returned it to the library without even finishing it. It was just too, um, stupidly plotlessly weird. (Weird I like, tweaked I like, but stupidly weird or tweaked ~ uh uh.)

I am very very disappointed.

Anita crosses a room, and accidentally has sex with 5 different men (sequentially), and when they aren't doing the tight/wet/thrusting thing they are angsting about it and endlessly discussing it.

The later books often don't cover more than a day or two and they are 400-500 plus pages. Thats a lot of whining and badly written sex, with absolutely no plot.

Sad, really sad.

LOL Exactly! (Are you sure you aren't LKH just pretending to be FF?)

The first books were so good too. It's a darn shame.

I resisted reading the Anita Blake series and, when I finally tried the first one, was surprised how good it was, because earlier I'd tried one of the Merry Gentry ones and hadn't liked it.

I did hear someone say that the latest of the Anita Blake's was more like the earlier ones, so maybe I'll pick it up and see.

No its me. LKH doesn't think there is anything wrong with her stuff. Its too edgy and past our comfort zones to quote her on those unhappy with the direction of the series now.

No the later books are the pretty much the same, though there is more plot introduced, but it is never dealt with or the story completed.

I, alas still read them, but only in PB. I keep hoping they will get better, and I am a sucker for JC. I still have The Harlequin to read, and then Blood Noir which is still in HC.

I am off to read The Most Haunted House in England: Ten Years' Investigation of Borley Rectory ... by Harry Price