What Are You Reading the Week of 29 November 2008?

Doesn't look like anyone's started the new thread yet, so I will! I'm still reading The King's Daughter by Sandra Worth. I'm hoping to get it finished in the next day or so.

I'm still reading The Guernsey Literary and have also started on Recipes for Cherubs by Babs Horton.

Didn't get alot of time to read during the Thanksgiving holiday but now that I'm back home, I look forward to not speaking to another soul except my husband all day tomorrow, and getting my much needed reading time in. There's only so much people time I can take sometimes.... usually when it involves 18 children all under 6.

I'm listening to Where Are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark and reading Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point by Elizabeth D. Samet

I'm reading a horror book by Stephen King It.

today I read
The Housekeeper and the Professor to review...very short...nice read.

Then I went after some much needed fluff The Accidental Mother.

It is fluffy and causes no brain strain. I have read very little for pure pleasure recently, so this is perfect for today.

eta due to comma comma comma

I'm reading if the Buddah got stuck, a favorite I dig out once a year or so.

I'm reading The Selling of the President by Joe McGinniss. It's a fast read and fascinating background on Nixon's presidential campaign. Last week I finished The Name of the Rose then Frost in May, so I feel like something short!

it's my birthday! yay

Almost finished Reading Lolita in Tehran. Next up: Michael Strogoff.

Happy Birthday userbinry4n! Enjoy your day.

Reading Nicholas Nickelby. Long book but worth it. I am trying to read all through Twain and Dickens in order published.

Close to finishing Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan - a quick light read with some interesting characters.

And I think I'm also gonna read dream story by Arthur Schnitzler since I've been watching Eyes wide shut tonight, darn the movie is so good!

I am reading a couple of books. (I think I have ADHD. haha) The Prometheus Deception by Robert Ludlum, A Demon of Our Own Design by Richard Bookstaber, and An Empire of Wealth by John Steele Gordon.

Does anyone else have this habit of reading several books at once?

I'm down to the last (and longest story) of David Foster Wallace's Girl with Curious Hair. I'm also listening to Frankenstein on audiobook and really enjoying it. I was actually kind of worried it would be disappointing, but it's quite good.

I'm hoping to get through Death of a Salesman tomorrow, possibly in one sitting. After that, I might read The Vanished Hands or A Prayer for Owen Meany. Or perhaps even the Poe Graphic Classics I checked out from the library.

That darn clown from IT is SCARY! Happy Birthday to userbinry4n!

I just started The Zookeeper's Wife a few days ago. I'm still very near the beginning, where the zookeeper, his wife, and the fantastic zoo they run and lifestyle they lead are being described. I haven't really gotten into the story line yet--the true story of how this couple managed to save Jewish people in Poland during WWII by incorporating them into the zoo and having them "pose" as zoo animals.

I'm still reading Guernsey Literary also, and A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink.

I started Walking After Midnight by Karen Robards and am enjoying it so far.

I am reading The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga.

So far its OK, well written, occasionally funny and mildly interesting, but nothing earth shattering to see why it is prize-worthy.

Let's see...I'm reading:

Droll Stories by Honore de Balzac
Boswell's London Journal by James Boswell
More Weird and Wonderful Words by Erin McKean
ABC et cetera by the Humez brothers
The Trial by Franz Kafka
James Boswell: The Earlier Years by Frederick Pottle

And I just bought a nice volume of The Tales of ETA Hoffmann this morning, so I'll probably start that once the Balzac is finished.

Collected Fiction and still enjoying a slow, leisurely reread of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. I want to read my Hellboy 2 comic, but I can't find it, which is just sad.

I am reading The Red Leather Diary by Lily Koppel and The War Against Miss Winter . Not too far into either yet.

Possession by A S Byatt - I need to finish this as I put it aside after a few chapters a couple of weeks ago.

Datwood, how are you liking The War Against Miss Winter ? It's on one of my lists, I'm not much for detective fiction but it looked interesting.

Also, I'm waiting for The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to be published in paperback next... June (!). It's a wonder I can wait this long but I really can't afford new hardbacks and I have tons of books on my TBR pile and list to look forward to :)

I'm currently reading King Lear and loving it !

#4 - Ooh you lucky thing, I LOVE It, definately one of my favourite King novels.

Last night I started Little Boy Lost by Marghanita Laski. Not only is it an excellent story so far it's also a beautiful looking book (Persephone Classic).

Woops, I posted in the old thread....so here it is again.

I've just started One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson. Starting out a bit choppy-feeling, but that could be because I am in the middle of a night of insomnia and my brain is like sludge. I think once I get a few hours sleep, things will come together nicely. I enjoyed Case Histories, and have several good recommendations from LT'ers, so I am looking forward to another good read by this author. Good night, all! (.....er....day??)

edited for touchstones.....

Last night I finished Daphne, Picardie which I found to be very good, well researched, and definitely held my interest. I started the Black Echo this morning.

I finished The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death: A Novel by Charlie Huston last night. This was an Early Reviewer win and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

STILL reading American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis and Dave Barry is Not Making this Up.

Started The Story of Edgar Sawtelle: A Novel on audio on Friday - haven't gotten back to the car so am not too far in yet but it's starting out promising.

About to start The Earth Moved: on the remarkable achievements of earthworms by Amy Stewart - my most recent assignment from the Go Review That Book group.

Edited to toy with touchstones

Still reading Inkheart, and deciding whether or not to keep it past its due date (Tuesday), return it to the library unfinished, or force myself to read a couple of hundred pages in a day when I'm really not in the mood.

Also started A Spell for Chameleon. I loved the Xanth series as a teenager, but my reading of it was sporadic and incomplete so I decided to read through it in order until I don't want to anymore.

And I'm listening to Birds of a Feather and The Boyfriend List.

> 29: ireed110- I also snagged a copy of the Charlie Huston book, so it's great to hear that you enjoyed it. I probably won't start it for a couple more weeks. Does it look like it will be an ongoing series?
I just wrapped up Lush Life by Richard Price.(Read my review) I have to give it my highest recommendation. He's the master of dialogue! I'm starting Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund. Suggested by a good friend!

#29 ireed110 I just started reading the Story of Edgar Sawtelle yesterday for my book club. we don't meet til 2/1 but its so long and I'm a slow reader so figured I better start now. So far so good. It's gotten sort of mixed reviews.

#25 - Thanks for the info on the paperback release of "Guernsey Literary" ! I'm waiting on it too ! Also , I'm a fellow Shakespeare fan ! Just last night I purchased a copy of his Complete Works !

Boy are you correct about Lush Life. What an accomplishment!

I'm working on Arthurian Romances, but haven't had much of it since Wednesday and have stalled after finishing the first two (Erec and Enide and Cliges).

Still need to pick something for at-home reading.

Edited for punctuation.

#27 porchsitter55 - I'm reading the follow-up to One Good Turn which is When Will There Be Good News?. I love them so much - if I didn't have so many new books to read, I'd go back and read the first two again!

#31 and #34 I loved Lush Life too, one of the best books I read this year! I agree his vernacular and dialogue is great - I felt like I was right there!

I finished Anna Karenina this weekend -- fabulous; definately deserves its reputation. I am now close to fininhing A Pale View of Hills. It is my first by Ishiguro who I hear so much good about on LT -- not entirely sure what to think. good, but perhaps a bit dull.

#14 brentquinn

I almost always have at least 3 books going at a time--and I do have ADHD; it's no joke. If you learn to channel it, it can actually be an advantage in life.

#19 AMQS

I read A Whole New Mind while we were at our older son's in Chicago for Thanksgiving. I reviewed it here on LT if you are interested. I'll be interested to know what you think of it.

I finished The Final Solution by Michael Chabon and Messages from My Father by Calvin Trillin during our plane rides to get from Chicago back to California. Both of them were books I picked up as a "freebie" on "buy 2 get 1 free" deal at B&N this year when 2 books I really wanted were on the table and I needed a third one. Both of them were very enjoyable--a very unusual mystery and a loving tribute to a father who had great influence on his son's life. I recommend both of them.

Currently I'm reading A Pirate of Exquisite Mind which I hope to finish today; A Life of One's Own by Ilana Simmons--another freebie, this time buy one for 3.99 and get one free (can't resist those "bargains!") which examines Virginia Wolfe's life to provide a guide for us in the 21st century (we'll see!); 1 Dead in Attic by Chris Rose (excellent but intense, so I'm reading it a few pages at a time over a long period); and I have The Uncommon Reader and The Manila Rope by Viejo Meri, both recommended very highly on Lt, waiting for me to pick one to start tonight.

I finished The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga
It was OK, but as I said earlier, not anything major in terms of reading experience or prize-worthiness. It was well written, had humor, but was a pretty typical book about being poor in a third world country and dealing with the well-off and official corruption.

I actually found the blurb on the back to be more interesting than the book.

The book was written in the style of the POV writing a series of seven letters to the Premier of China, who is going to visit India (not that the POV knows or will ever meet the Premier). What follows is a rather ho-hum recitation of the life of the letter writer, who is poor. There are some insights and actions that are meant to be shocking and twisty, but other than the occasional bit of humor it really doesn't work.

I also finished a book that was a quick read True Confessions of Adrian Mole by Sue Townsend. It is the 3rd book in the Adrian Mole series, about a hapless teen in the UK in the 80s. He writes a series of letters and diaries that are often very funny. This book wasn't. The Adrian Mole part was very short, not book length at all, and really covered nothing new in Adrian's journey through life.

I just got it from a Book Mooch, because I wanted to complete the series.

The book also has diary entries from the author Sue Townsend, and from someone called Margaret Hilda Roberts, which appears to be the demented childhood of Margaret Thatcher, to actually make 117 pages.

I am now reading The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett for a RL book group. It is the first of his YA books set on Discworld.

I'm yet again indulging in fantasy instead of reading anything proper and enjoying The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay after a shaky start.

After taking an extended holiday break from reading, I will soon be starting Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters for my December book club read. I am also beginning Watch for the Light for my Advent/Christmas read. Slowly but surely still reading Best Food Writing 2001.

#25 Sibylle.Night - Guernsey Literary is a great read and I found how to do it without buying it. Everytime I went to Barnes and Noble I would sit and read it until I finished it!!! However, I do want to buy it for my own copy sometime because I liked it so well, I decided to buy it for my sister-in-law for Christmas who is an avid reader.

I am working on my Christmas List of books which my husband usually buys for me. Any suggestions would be apprecidated. It really helps that he is an avid reader as well. He understands why I value a stack of books as a Christmas gift!!!!

I've finished The Selling of the President: 1968 and picked up A short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. I'm pretty close to dumping it - I'm a few chapters in and really not finding it inspiring...

> 9: iwillrejoice, how did you like Reading Lolita in Tehran? It's on my TBR pile.

> 44: cmt, I had A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian mooched but it appears to have gotten lost in the mail..... perhaps I shouldn't be too disappointed?

I'm reading "The Kingmaker" by Brian Haig, I didn't think I'd like it but it's pretty good, better than I expected!

Im reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Almost 3/4 through in a day.

#39, MusicMom41,

Thank you for directing me to your review of A Whole New Mind. I really enjoyed reading it (the review), and I'm liking the book. I went to a PTA- sponsored technology meeting run by our school system's technology coordinator who suggested A Whole New Mind, along with a few other books, as good reads concerning education, the place of technology in education, and what kinds of skills students need now.

#45 cameling, at this rate I can remooch it to you next week, either finished or abandoned to the clunker pile!!

#45 cameling - Reading Lolita in Tehran is a great read. You have to concentrate with it but a very informative, interesting read.

#45 cameling - I learned a lot from Reading Lolita in Tehran. I am always impressed at the determination of people who want to think.

I'm reading Girls of Riyadh, which is about four young Saudi women. The story is told through weekly emails sent to a Yahoo mailing list, so that's an interesting technique. The women themselves are all young, marriageable, and struggling with their society in various ways. It's been billed as a bit like "Sex in the City," but I'm enjoying it and finding it insightful.

50 & 51: Azar Nafisi's next memoir Things I've Been Silent About is coming out on 12/30, I believe.

I started Skipping Christmas by John Grisham today. I'm in the middle of my yearly immersion in Christmas books.

I'm reading Travels with my aunt by Graham Greene.

54 - loved Skipping Christmas, it was my first John Grisham, but surely not my last - now! And I love reading Christmas titles. Have you read the Santa biographies by Jeff Guinn? There are three of them.

I finished Dewey the library cat today (less than 24 hours) and started Pern Dragonheart. I loved Dewey and i am enjoying Dragonheart as well.

I always find it interesting that by the time I find this new thread it is already getting full!!

I'm reading The hand that signed the paper and dipping into Tales from suburbia. I'm listening to The unknown terrorist which is really starting to kick in now, getting very interesting - (its my housework audio book, so I just might get some more housework done now!) and in my car I am listening to Landscape of farewell which had a difficult start because the reader sounds like he has either a mouth full of cotton balls, or is eating porridge while he reads! (but I am slowly getting used to him, and the writing is quite lovely)

I just bought a bunch of new books today, and I'm still not done reading Crazy '08 by Cait Murphy, The Symposium by Plato (can't think why it's taking me so long to finish such a short book), and The Mists of Avalon. I did finish King's Gambit by John Maddox Roberts, and bought the next book in the series even though it'll take awhile to get around to reading it. I like Lindsey Davis's mysteries set in Ancient Rome better, but Roberts's book was good.

#45 -- cameling,

I've just finished Reading Lolita in Tehran & I enjoyed it. I liked gaining the insight into what life was like in Iran over the last 30 years or so, from an insider's perspective. And I enjoy memoirs. I like books that deal with a person's thoughts & feelings.

Hope you like it, too. =)

#54 & 56 --

I also enjoyed Skipping Christmas! And I like to read Christmas-y books this time of year, too. =)

Getting in the Christmas spirit!

#53 --

Thanks for the info re: Azar Nafisi's next memoir. I'll be looking out for it.

.

I have just finished reading the novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne.

.

Hi! I'm back from NaNoWriMoLand. Did anyone miss me?

Hmm, didn't think so. Oh, well. I missed you all! And I sure missed reading.

I've started an LT Early Review novel ~ The Crysalids by John Wyndham, which is a New York Review Book from the classic era of science fiction that is being rereleased. Somehow I seem to have missed reading it back in the 70s, the heyday of my science fiction reading. I'm glad I have a chance to remedy that oversight, because it is really an amazingly good read.

I'm about 4/5 through On Beauty by Zadie Smith. Ages ago, I read Howard's End, since On Beauty is meant to be a retelling/updating/reworking of the story. Now it's so long ago, I'm struggling to remember what happened! Still, bits are coming back. I'm actually really enjoying it, despite hearing very mixed reviews. It's probably been on the TBR for two years because I've been reluctant to pick it up in case it was a clunker! It's not for me - I hope nothing goes changing in the next 80 pages...

I'm still also reading The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat. I gave up on Soul Mountain - I just couldn't work up the motivation to pick it up again. I'd gotten to page 60, so I've retrospectively invoked the Pearl Rule.

I finished Washington Square today..
Hmm..I wonder what I'll read tomorrow..

#40 FicusFan, thanks for Adrian Mole : I read his Secret Diary four years ago and thought it was hilarious but I didn't buy the others in the series, so none is as good as this one ? :/

#43 Investory, I think if I did that at my own bookshop they'd kick me out ! It's okay I can wait till June, it's just hard to resist the hype (just like for The Graveyard Book which I'm trying very hard not to buy, and this is worse because I don't even know when/if it's going to come out in paperback one day).

I finally finished Andersonville on Saturday. A wonderful book but it took me the entire month of November to read it! I also read Fearless Fourteen on Saturday (gotta love that brain candy fiction to clear your head!). I am currently reading Dear American Airlines which I grabbed at the library last week when I picked up The Tale of Despereaux which I am reading to my daughter in preparation for the release of the movie. I am enjoying both books very much.

I'm still on War and Peace, and will be for the foreseeable future! I'm finding it pretty tough, trying to keep up with all the characters and their name changes. There is a list of characters at the front of the book for referencing, but flicking back and forward every chapter is a bit tricky, whist trying to stay upright. Perhaps this tomb wasn't the best idea for busy tube journeys, i nearly knocked someone unconscious this morning with the damn thing!

Since it's that time a year again, I'm workin on my annual Harry Potter feast. I'm currently on book 4, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Coming to the end of Between the Woods and the Water by Patrick Leigh Fermor and intend to begin J.M.G. Le Clezio's Wandering Star tomorrow.

(edited to fix touchstones)

I finished Stalins Geist by Martin Cruz Smith and S is for silence by Sue Grafton. Now I read The mark of the Left Behind series Tim LaHaye.

Mists of Avalon... still. It's OK, it's just going so slowly for me. It's 876 pages, and, for whatever reason, my reading pace is maybe 18 pages an hour and won't pick up. And that is just a lot of hours. I have about 17 hours of reading left. :)

#70, abealy, I hope you loved Between the Woods and the Water as much as I did -- after I read A Time of Gifts, I was hooked on Patrick Leigh Fermor!

72, although I loved Mists of Avalon and got through it in record time (at least according to the person who lent me her copy), I have been in your place with other books - reading them in small increments helped, that is, until you started to get tired of it and really just wanted it over, but couldn't just stop reading that book!

I think that's why I sometimes read two or three books at a time - if I have trouble with one, I have something else to look at. But persevere, it is a wonderful book.

I finished A Pale View of Hills by Ishiguro -- odd, a bit confusing, but pretty good. And I've started Christine Falls by Benjamin Black - which is billed as a "literary" mystery, so far quite good.

I finished Frankenstein and Death of a Salesman yesterday, and decided to start A Prayer for Owen Meany. I'm about 5 pages into it so far.

#56 koalamom:

I have read all three of Guinn's books and like them all! I'm hoping to read them again this month, but I'm not sure if I'll get around to all of them. How Mrs. Claus Saved Christmas is my favorite, so I'm sure I'll at least read that one!

I am reading The Given Day by Dennis Lehane. I'm about 100 pages in and I like it, but don't love it. Not sure if I'll finish it or not. It feels a little more like a history lesson than I'd prefer.

One of the reasons that I'm tempted to give it up is that Lush Life by Richard Price is waiting in the wings. The reviews above make that even more tempting...

I've just begun Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne. I have to say, I thought the first character introduced, General Kissoff, has a pretty funny name. ;-)

#74 koalamoom - thanks for the motivation. Unfortunately I now realize I'll never get to the point where I can't stop reading this one. Although, every so ofter there is a section where "Morgaine Speaks" and there I do get carried off a bit.

I'm reading A New Earth for my book club that meets Wednesday. After I finish that, I'm going to start Twilight and see if it lives up to the hype.

Made a lot of headway with Neal Stephenshon's Anathem during the holiday, but still a couple of hundred pages to go ... regarding Richard Price, whose books I love, I believe he's on LT, too!

I've just finished Twilight and am about to move on to New Moon. I'm also reading Looking For Alaska here and there, but finding myself too distracted by the Twilight series to pick it up very often at the moment.

warning new moon gets boring for most i kinda liked cause even though i;m a TEAM EDWARD fan it was cool to have the book tell about jacob so i actually liked it but u might not but enjoy eny way cause it's a really great series

I came across The Richest Season which I mooched from wonderful LTer...when I tidied my bookshelves the other day. I picked that up for a fast cozy read.
So far it's fitting the bill nicely :)

I finished Blaugast: a novel of decline by Paul Leppin. The writing was forceful and captivating, but it wasn't enough to redeem the brutality of the story. In my opinion.

I'm currently reading a biography of Vanessa Bell and the book that the Book Nudgers group picked for me--Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardam.

#72 Dchaikin, I read The Mists of Avalon 7 years ago when I was 13 and loved it. I particularly enjoyed the fact that the author was telling everything through the eyes of a woman. I liked the druidistic aspects of the story and the religious "debate". I don't remember details except two particularly racy scenes, one involving a brother and his sister (it's certainly food for thought when you're 13) and another a threesome. Fun stuff indeed ! :p

I've just finished King Lear and no surprise here I loved it, it's so modern and it tackles so many different issues. I'll start Vanity Fair tomorrow and I don't expect to finish it before at least the middle of this month as it's pretty long and I have tons of things to do for my Masters.

Started and finished Chocolat today. I've been meaning to read it for a while, and finally did (instead of working on finals, but I feel that my time was well spent anyway.) Whenever I go back to reading Harris, it is like a treat. She is so descriptive and flavorful in her writing, it is so fun to read.

dancingstarfish, why not follow up Chocolat with The Lollipop Shoes - the sequel. I really enjoyed it.

Looks like The Lollipop Shoes is also known as The Girl with no Shadow.

I finished Shaun Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia. Another wonderful book from this very talented author/illustrator. And I'm still working through The hand that signed the paper.

I'm finishing up After Many a Summer Dies the Swan by Aldous Huxley. I'm mostly enjoying it, although it is filled with a lot of hokey philosophical discussions. My suspicion without doing any research is that Huxley is satirizing these concepts and the earnest discussions thereof rather than earnestly presenting the philosophy for his readers to consider. Mostly, the book is quite humorous, and worth reading.

I'm about to depart for a three-day working trip to NYC (a city I dearly love, although why can't my clients arrange these trips for May instead of December) and should get some good reading time on the flights.

After the Huxley, I'm going to read a book about baseball in England (yes, you read that correctly) called British Baseball And the West Ham Club: History of a 1930s Professional Team in East London.

After that, a short book called We Hold the Rock: the Indian Occupation of Alcatraz, 1969 to 1971.

Finished Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart while on a weeklong Thanksgiving camping trip. Am now back home and have started reading an Early Reviewer's Copy of The Fireman's Wife.

jfslone #77 - I even learned a bit of history with these books, not something you expect when you read about a fictional person.

> 78: nancyewhite- I hope you hang in there on The Given Day. I'm a big fan of Lehane and I've been looking forward to reading his latest! Good luck!

#87: Sibylle.Night - That's quite a book at 13, I don't think my hormones could have handled a book like this when I was that age...I do love Marion Zimmer Bradley's extra twists on some of these already twisted relationships, especially lancelet/lancelot's little secret.

Finished Soldier's Heart: Reading Literature Through Peace and War at West Point by Elizabeth D. Samet, and finished listening to Where Are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark.

Starting to read The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa, and starting to listen to The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy. Looking forward to both.

>49 cushlareads:: cmt, I think I'm going to wait until you finish with the Ukranian Tractors and if you consign it to the clunker pile, then I'm not going to sweat not receiving my copy from the person I was mooching it from ... might as well not waste a mooch credit, right? but thank you for offering ..... i may take you up on it if you find that it gets better halfway through the book. :-)

I finally finished Carpentaria, the novel I was reading for the Reading Globally November theme (Australian literature). I read the first 200+ pages very sporadically, and as a result it was very slow going, but still pleasurable. However, I read the last 220 or so pages in one sitting, and thoroughly enjoyed it. It won't be published in the US until next spring, unfortunately.

I'll start 2666 by Roberto Bolaño later today or tomorrow. I'll probably also read Memory of Departure or Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah this week, and continue reading Trusting Doctors: The Decline of Moral Authority in American Medicine by Jonathan B. Imber. I'd also like to start reading Reconciliation by Benazir Bhutto, as well.

>73 rebeccanyc:, rebeccanyc, thanks, I thought Between the Woods and the Water was wonderful (brave, spirited and encyclopedic) and I only wish I could rough it out along his trail — sad to think that so much of that country no longer exists...

#76 - A Prayer for Owen Meany is one of my all-time favorites. I hope you like it!

I'm about 1/3 into Peripheral Vision, which is my October ER book. Good so far, but nothing earth shattering.

I know this is from way earlier, but to whoever is reading It, that was definitely THE scariest book I ever read. Enjoy!

Reading The Professor and the Madman (a scandalous book about how the Oxford English Dictionary was compiled) by Simon Winchester.

#24 avatiakh: I loved Possession, it's one of my favourtie books. I gave it to my mum to read, and she hated it and thought it was slow. But I was grabbed instantly by the story. Each to their own, I guess.

#57 judylou: I read the Unknown Terrorist earlier this year and liked it. Have you read any other Richard Flanagan books?

Nearly finished both The life of Pi and the A Pirate of Exquisite Mind, and enjoying them both.

#89, Judylou

I will definitely look into that! I don't have that one yet, although I've read a couple of her others. I didn't know there was a sequel to Chocolat, now I am excited to procrastinate my work and go to the bookstore tomorrow :)

I'm reading One Foot in Heaven and They do it with mirrors.

Read Hour I first believed and loved it. Wally Lamb is such a good writer.
Followed up with The Appeal but decided I really wasn't into Grisham so gave up after 200 pages or so.
Now starting The Secret Scripture by Sebastien Barry and so far, so good.
I keep saying this but it's so true. I get so many of my books based on LTers recommendations, and if I didn't know about these various threads I would be missing out on so many fine reads.
Hemolokang, Richardr. musicmom, and many others, you enlighten my day. Thank you so much.

Finished On Beauty and I wasn't disappointed, though perhaps a little more could have been made of the ending. Now I've started Daylight by Elizabeth Knox. I bought it on a trip back home two years ago, and decided it was time it saw... daylight.

Just about finished with THE SECRET BETWEEN US by Barbara Delinsky. I appreciate how she decribes her characters relationships and how parents especially mothers tend to protect their children from everything they can even when they shouldn't. Secrets seem to never be sucessful as they either eat the person up with guilt or someone pays dearly.

Just finished "Foundation" which is the next Valdemar series book by Mercedes Lackey. Now going back to "New Moon" by Stephanie Meyers. The Twilight Series is my new obsession. I don't usually like romance novels, just vampires. But it works.

I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. I know it's gotten mixed reviews here on LT, but I loved it. It made me nostalgic for the prolific letter-writing days. A few years ago my stepmother returned to me every letter I ever wrote to her -- from camp, from college, from studies and living abroad, from vacations. She said I might enjoy looking back on snippets of my life. I know my mother has all my letters, too. Resolution for 2009 -- write some letters!

I'm nearing the halfway point of One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson....and, wow! At first, I didn't think I was going to be able to follow, because it seemed as if she was just randomly bringing in all these unrelated characters with no rhyme nor reason.....(at one point, I was even shaking my head, like, what the heck???) Finally, I figured out what was going on! What a refreshing and intriguing story! I'm loving this! I'm loving the way the story is unfolding, layer by delicious layer. I am so glad I picked this book up! I know there were several LT'ers who recommended this author ~ so thank you, all! I'm not even to the halfway point but already, I don't want this one to end. :o)

I'm currently reading

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 16, edited by Stephen Jones, for my bedtime reading, and

Swan Sister: Fairy Tales Retold, edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, for my takeout reading.

-->#31 msf59 - I suppose Huston could work a series out of Mystic Arts, but I don't think so. It hadn't occured to me - there are definitely some memorable characters that I wouldn't mind seeing again.

-->32 momom248: momom248 - I enjoyed Sawtelle both ways on my commute yesterday - who couldn't love a story with so much DOG in it? 8-)

#109 porchsitter - Have you read her other two Jackson Brodie books - Case Histories and the new one When Will There Be Good News?? I'm 3/4 of the way through the latter and could not be enjoying it more. So much so that even though I read Case and One Good Turn when they first came out (from the library), I bought them online yesterday to read again.

#111 ireed Glad you enjoyed Sawtelle. So far I am liking it very much. Only about 20 pages in. I love books with dogs in them too.

#112......yes, I've read Case Histories and it was great. I'm putting When Will There Be Good News on my TBR list!

Isn't it grand when you discover an author that you love??

Thanks everyone for the recommendations!

I am 3/4's of the way through Pern Dragonheart and today I bought Dashing Through The Snow which I will read next, thus pushing Murder Most Delectable and This Time Love back again!

I'm currently reading Michael Strogoff by Jules Verne. It's a bit of a bore so far, with gobs of listings of Russian names & places. I don't know if I'll stick with it...

I'm about halfway through Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children and loving every bit of his writing. Perhaps next will be Gunnar Kupperund's The Time of Light.

Just about finished a couple of freebies from The Divine Miss: Breaking Dawn in that hugely successful vampire series and The Last Lecture, the latest in the Tuesdays with Morrie genre. BTW, does anyone have a name for this genre?

Neither one would ever get my book-buying money, but their freebie-ness meant I got nothin' to lose readin' 'em. I am about to Pearl-Rule the vampire silliness and will finish The Last Lecture though without any notable sense of pleasure.

The Virgin Blue and Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

First, I need to know -- what is the Pearl Rule?

I am halfway through A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, continuing my reading about Ireland. I have started A Riddle in the Sands and am about to start Beloved.
--BJ

>120 billiejean: billiejean, the Pearl Rule is the reading dictum popularized by Uberlibrarian Nancy Pearl among others that states to determine if a given book is giving you enough pleasure to continue reading it, read 50pp until you reeach age 50, then subtract one page for every year you are older than 50.

In a nutshell, anyway. Pearl herself calls it the Rule of 50. That seems so bloodless to me. I think I speak for a lot of folks when I say I first heard of the Rule of 50 from Pearl, and so I call it the Pearl Rule.

Finished Skipping Christmas in less than two days (may or may not have read at my desk at work today... a lot) and started a two-in-one Christmas book by Debbie Macomber called Small Town Christmas.

I have jumped into non-fiction with 13 things that don't make sense: The most baffling scientific mysteries of our time. Over half way through and finding it an interesting read!

Its end-of-semester time, so have to read tons of books for projects, papers and presentations. Yes I should have been reading them over the last four months, but only regret not reading some of the books. Here is some:

Good City Form
The Essential McHarg
City of Bits
Social Life of Small Urban Spaces
The Cybercities Reader

On Television
The Ideological Octopus
Love with a Vengeance
Raymond Williams

Introduction to Information Retrieval
The Intellectual Foundation of Information Organization

>101 bookgirl271: bookgirl, I've read the sound of one hand clapping, which I loved and own Death of a river guide and Gould's book of fish and have just been loaned a copy of his newest one - Wanting.

>102 dancingstarfish: dancingstarfish, hope i didn't get you into trouble with your boss !!!

I have started The Haunting of Hill House - yet another LT recommendation.

120/121 - I had heard of the Rule of 50 and follow it. You usually know by then if you really want to finish the book and sometimes, you just can't. So you either add it to a donate pile or just put it aside. Sometimes you can pick it up again at a later date and discover that it is the best book you have ever read and you can't understand why you put it down the first time. I guess every book has its time.

Started Rocket Man by William Hazelgrove...and it's rough going...lacking in atmosphere but full of self...righteousness and pity...middle aged white man angst!!!!feh!

so i started Lush Life by Richard Price...now that is more like it

trouble is...ROCKET MAN is an ARC for which i owe a review...so i must soldier on to the whiny end..Jeesh!

I started The Story of Edgar Sawtelle and it's been fantastic so far

This is a week to concentrate on books by friends.

I just finished Sharp Objects which was good but disturbing. I've also started The Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett (also good, but not disturbing) and Speak, Memory by the great Vladimir Nabokov. It's wonderful so far, but then I think everything he wrote is wonderful.

#125 ~ judylou........enjoy The Haunting of Hill House.......expect the hairs on the back of your neck to stand on end!!! EEEEEEE! Scary book. I loved the movie too.

# 125 judylou: he is a great author. I had to keep putting down the sound of one hand clapping, as it was making me cry so much. I'm keen to read his new book, you'll have to let us know how it is.

#131 porchsitter, I'm just getting into the story now. It is just as you say!

#132 bookgirl, I will!

I'm currently reading There's a Porcupine in my Outhouse by Michael Tougias which has been amusing so far and AnotherHolic which is the novelization based on the xxxHolic manga series.

I'm deliberating starting a third book, The Note by Kay Bognar, which is my Early Reviewer book from October that I received today. It looks interesting.

Still reading Pern Dragonheart. I like the story and the series but I am to the point that I think Todd sneaks in at night and adds more to my book. It is dragging a bit now and I have about 150 pages left to go.

I just spent an entire night not sleeping!!! I couldn't put down The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, which I had started on the plane on my way to Tokyo. One and all ... seriously, this is one of the best books I've read in a long while ... it had to be, to have kept me engrossed and to give up sleep. I shall suffer for that later this afternoon when I'm actually expected to make some sense during a meeting.

This book was so well written and gripping. It made me smile, it made me laugh. It made me cry, it made me rage. I fell in love with the characters.

I love the last line of the book as told by the Grim Reaper.... but for those who have not yet read the book, I won't spoil it for you by telling you what it is. You'll just have to read it yourself.

After that, I think I'm going to need something a little less intense. So I'm going to read The Caliph's House by Tahir Shah when I get back to the hotel tonight. Nothing like a little travelogue about Casablanca to keep things light.

cameling........I'm so glad to hear someone say that they stayed up all night to read......I do that all the time! My internal "clock" is so messed up I don't know what time it is half the time, or even what day it is. I'm very thankful I am self-employed and don't have to be anywhere in the late morning/early afternoon hours!!! LOL It's truly a miracle I can keep my business stuff straight. Someday this habit of mine will catch up with me ~ god forbid.

Finished After Many a Summer Dies the Swan on the plane ride from SF to NYC and started British Baseball And the West Ham Club: History of a 1930s Professional Team in East London. So far it seems like a very interesting history of the several attempts over the last centery to get baseball going in England. They were actually making some progress, with a semi-healthy professional league, in the 30s before World War II put an end to the attempt.

I am reading Taking on the Trust: the Epic Battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller by Steve Weinberg. I don't know if I like it. Right now it is in a dark drawer in my office at work. I just finished reading The Girl from Foreign. I loved it! I love books about India.

>125 judylou: judylou

No actually I was quite disappointed! Only the hardback version is out in the US and really recently. So, I will have to wait around for the paperback version unless I can find one in the UK to mooch. I was so excited! I may go out and find another one of her books to read, since I'm in the mood for her writing.

I'm reading The Time Traveler's Wife, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Purpose Driven Life, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

I'm trying to finish up a challenge off site so I'm reading more books at once to try and accomplish this.

I'm reading Nixonland at the moment. Great book!

I'm reading The Slow Moon by Elizabeth Cox.

Reading The Feast of the Goat and listening to The King's General by Daphne du Maurier.

Finished Pern Dragonheart, will get into Dashing through the Snow, the new Clark Christmas novel. Shouldn't take too long with that.

i just finished reading the harry potter serise and is back to reading the twilight series again

Finishing (or already finished) this week:

House of M by Brian Michael Bendis
Runaways: Dead End Kids by Joss Whedon
Powers Vol 3: Little Deaths by Briand Michael Bendis

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
Life of Thomas More (finally!) by Peter Ackroyd

Finishing A Pirate of Exquiste Mind Preston Enjoying Soldier's Heart Reading Literature through Peace and war at West Point
Elizabeth D. Samet my Oct. ER book.

I finished Inkdeath on time (I mistakenly identified it as Inkheart in an earlier post), and ended up liking it after all though I hit a wall around page 400 where I started moaning about its length to myself even as I read. But it was worth it in the end. I also finished The Boyfriend List and A Spell for Chameleon.

I read Nothing But the Truth (and a few white lies) today, and enjoyed it as well.

I'll soon decide what to start reading next.

I've abandoned A short History of Tractors and am racing through All too Human by George Stephanopoulos. Just what I felt like!

I'm reading A Christmas Carol aloud. I find I have to do a lot of "translating", but my girls are loving the story.

#136 cameling - I felt the same way about The Book Thief. Oddly, while reading it, I always wanted to have it with me even if I knew I wouldn't have the chance to read it.

I'm finishing up When Will There Be Good News which was unfortunately interrupted by my Oct early review book. Or should I say my unfortunate early review book...

The Wordy Shipmates is on deck and I'm anxious to get it started.

Okay--so many people have been mentioning The Book Thief that that I'm putting it in my 999 challenge--I assume it will work in "books about books!" And I own it so I will get page credits on my goal to read 10,000 pages in my personal library.

#153, MusicMom41: The Book Thief is worth it! I found I would hold my breath for entire chapters.

I went to the library today, and rented Yellow Jackets: Poems by Patti White. I really enjoyed it.

I have a copy of The Book Thief but I don't know where as I was about to give it away. I bought it a while ago, started reading it and gave up after the mandatory 50 pages. I'm not sure I want to try again, perhaps later when I won't be so sick of hearing about it :p

I am reading Hanif Kureishi's "Buddha of Suburbia" which I bought from a 'Crossword' book store in Mumbai on the Sunday before the Terrorist attacks.

I just finished Dear American Airlines last night which was very good - moving, funny, sad, all the good stuff! I am about to start The Silver Linings Playbook and I also have The Lace Reader to read for my book club. Next in line are Water for Elephants and the new short story collection by Stephen King. Lots of good reading ahead if I can only get to it with all of this Christmas shopping, wrapping, etc.

I absolutely adored The Book Thief. It's definitely on the list of the best I've read this year.

Finished a second read of The Charlemagne Pursuit since the book is about to come out on 12/9. I've had the ARC forever. It's funny how the time just slips right past me when I am having fun. /irony

My review is up. It's favorable. I like thrillers, and I like this author's facility with character development. No one is starkly unchangingly anything, and that's a quality I like in any book.

#29 - ireed, I just got The Earth Moved from bookcloseouts. Please let us know how you like it :o)

>149 bell7:: bell7, did you read Inkheart and Inkspell before you read Inkdeath? I liked the first book alot, but I was very disenchanted by the sequel because I thought it was just a regurgitation of the first with very few new ideas and I thought the characters became a little flat. Because of that I haven't picked up Inkdeath but you're the first LTer who has mentioned having read and liked this book, so I'm curious if perhaps Ms Funke came around and wrote something exciting and new again.

Just finished reading The Caliph's House by Tahir Shah and it makes for a pretty amusing read with a household full of spirits, construction madness and a whole cast from a Greek tragedy.

Starting Scapegallows by Carol Birch

Just finished Dashing Through the Snow. I enjoyed it and it's a fast read. Mary and Carol Higgins Clark always come through with a neat Christmas story that involves some suspense but nothing "violent" and there's always a happy ending.

Guess I'll go back to my short stories Murder Most Delectable or This Time Love by Elizabeth Lowell., both of which I had planned to read earlier but they got pushed back by this Clark book and a both books that I got for my birthday last week. That makes three books since last Saturday! Haven't done that in a while.

# 44 & # 45 cmt & cameling I loved A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. It was so compact, and well written, but covered so much:

aging, family dynamics, immigrants trying to fit in, a family dealing with the fall of the Czar, WWII, Stalin, balancing letting an aged parent enjoy vs protecting them from a user. Then the author added a dash of wackiness which seemed almost Monty Python at times (the history of the tractor).

#65, Sibylle.Night

I read the first two books of Adrian Mole a long time ago, when I was much younger. They were published as one book in a book club edition. I loved them, and it was very funny.

Then almost 20 years later I read the 4th and 5th book, and out of order. So I was a bit confused about what was going on. They didn't seem as funny, but it could have been me being older while the stories were very 80s, and the fact that they were out of order. It was before LT and I had trouble figuring out the order because the names are different in the US & UK. I still have the last book to read.

Books 4 & 5 seemed OK as books if not great or as funny. But the book I just read is a waste of time. Not a novel more like a short story or novella and not really funny or interesting. The Townsend entry is odd, because it tries to be funny but isn't. The Roberts entry is written to explain how Thatcher became Thatcher and is like watching a train wreck.

I enjoyed The Caliph's House too.

>162 cameling: cameling, I have read Inkheart and Inkspell, but unless my eyes are tricking me looking through my reading log, I have not read them in the past few years, so my memory of them was a little hazy by the time I read Inkdeath. I remember really liking Inkheart, but I don't really remember one way or the other about Inkspell. Admittedly, I hit a wall with Inkdeath about page 400. I got a little tired of the repetitiveness of reminding me that I was in a story, which I liked in Inkheart just fine but came across as more pointed and obvious this time instead of subtle and letting me figure it out for myself. I was also just sick of long books in generally (I read Brisingr last month) and had to force myself to read it, but in the end I felt it was worthwhile (OK, I sat at the table long after I'd finished reading because I was engrossed). Not one of my all-time favorites, but a good ending and I'd probably willingly reread the series.

And as for what I'm reading...I started The Man Who Invented Christmas for my holiday nonfiction read.

I finished One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson last night, put it on BookMooch this morning, and it has already been spoken for! How's that for a quick turn around. The book was great, by the way.

Will likely be starting Idyll Banter by Chris Bohjalian today, unless something else reaches out from the cupboards as I walk by and jumps into my waiting, empty hands.

#164 FicusFan, ok, you're encouraging me not to lose it under the bed. But I have to keep reading George first!

cmt,

Arrgh ! Now I will feel responsible if you don't enjoy it. The Pressure !
But seriously, I liked it from the start, so don't force yourself if you hate it.

I finished The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett. It is a twisty take on the Pied Piper myth, set on Discworld. It is the start of Pratchett's YA Discworld series. A pack of rats, and a cat (Maurice) ingest something magical that has been discarded from Unseen University. It makes them aware, and little people in fur suits, but with a rat/cat outlook. They hook up with a non-entity who can play a pipe and they tour the provinces committing low crimes. The town they enter as the book starts is a bit different than the others, and they have to fight evil to survive.

It was OK. A quick, light, fun read. But it just seemed to be missing something in terms of being a memorable Discworld book.

Then I read The Shack by William P. Young for a RL book group.

I thought it was sappy at the start, but then something bad happens and the sappiness goes away.

It turned out to be very well done. It was written simply in a memoir style so that the bad things were incredibly searing. He also wrote well about the after-effects of losing a loved one, I went through it when my mother died unexpectedly of a heart attack, and he was spot on about the emotional and physical impact.

I thought the whole god thing was an interesting take on the central question of if there is an unlimited god, why are terrible things allowed to happen to good/innocent (6 year old) people. He also threw in enough unconventional stuff to shake up the standard view of religion, and he asked the question is it about the form (rules, power, social status) or function (love, compassion, helping).

It was also a book that brings up a lot of points for thought and discussion. It was still too sappy at the start, but it more than made up for it in the middle and the end.

What's happening to me?
I have had such a good run of books that I've really enjoyed - the last two were The Given Day and Hour I first Believed, and now the 'wow' in my reading just got up and left!
Suddenly, I just could not get into The Book Thief or Book of Lies by Brad Meltzer. I found Origin of Species by Nino Ricci utterly boring and am now going to switch genre and read Somebody a bio on Marlon Brando.
The only bright spark in my reading life is knowing that RichardR is feeling worse than me, although I do sense he's coming out of it and getting into the Christmas spirit (literally supping, of course).

#169 ~ morfam.....that always seems to happen to me too, after I've read a really good book, many times the next one I pick up falls flat.

I don't know if it's because the previous book took me on such a great "ride".....that nothing can seem to match that feeling....it's an interesting reader's phenomenon.

Hope you are able to find one that hits the spot!

-->#161 sandragon-- I'm a little more than halfway through The Earth Moved - and can't believe there's another half book worth of things to say. In that respect alone it's very interesting! I'll definitely be posting a full review before the week is over.

Finished Murder Most Delectable and will now get into This Time Love by Elizabeth Lowell and I know that there is a book coming for me at the library.

Finished "This Time Love" by Elizabeth Lowell. That makes five in less than two weeks.