What Are You Reading the Week of 13 December 2008?

Reading Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber and listening to Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.

Still reading The Loveliest Woman in America. Early on I questioned the writing but it seems better now. The book is the story of Rosamond Pinchot (an actress of the late 20's and 30's), her son, and her granddaughter. The granddaughter is the author and its really the history of a whole extended family,
a rich, prominent, and tragic family. Quite fascinating.

I just finished Deaf Sentence and The Boat, but am working on:

Little Dorrit* by Charles Dickens
Boswell in Holland by James Boswell
ABC et cetera by the Humez Brothers
Droll Stories by Honore de Balzac
The Coin of Carthage by Bryher

I'm also trying to catch up on my unread back issues of Poetry magazine, before the end of the year.

* We're reading Little Dorrit in the same intervals in which it was originally published (four chapters a month except the last, no reading ahead). For the time being, I'm reading it aloud while my wife knits.

Still slugging through Against Nature though I have come to appreciate the beautiful writing. I haven't come to appreciate that ghastly little Des Esseintes. I still think he's wet.

As a tonic, I began re-reading Life (which has no touchstone, shame!) by Gwyneth Jones...it's as big a novel as its title suggests. It's also wonderfully written and cagily observed.

From the 6 December thread, post 181: CurrerBell, you have nailed the lid of the coffin for me on The COurt of the Air! That has to be the most unappealing-sounding piece of work I've encountered in quite a while.

If you're up for alternate history books that have a fantastical element, I can wholeheartedly recommenfd the first 2/3 of Swiftly by Adam Roberts. I haven't finished the book yet, which is why I can only recommend the first 2/3. I read as many as five books at a time regularly, but since I am a judge in the 2009 PEN Prison Writing poetry contest, I have a lot less time to read for the joy of it. Although, to be fair, there have been three peoples' submissions that are very, very good and a pleasure to read.

Swiftly takes as its what-if the factual accuracy of Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels. The Lilliputians are everywhere enslaved (they aren't HUMAN, after all, so what does it matter?), and largely responsible for the success of the Industrial Revolution; Napoleonic France is deploying Brobdingnagians against England in a war; the book is told from the vantage point of an abolitionist Englishman who must face the logical and inevitable consequences of his moral stance.

Fine stuff! Heartily recommended.

Reading Stormy Weather by Paulette Jiles and must admit it's hooked me. Up next, Toni Morrison's A Mercy.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Hungry Ghosts by Susan Johnson.

Next up: Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow.

I'm still reading The Old Wives Tale - I'm at Sophia's section now, which I like much better than I liked Constance's section (it was a little bit Sons and Loversish, which, from me, isn't a compliment). I think that the people who run away to Paris are always more interesting than the ones who stay home and behave themselves.

edited to correct the name of one of the characters. oops!

I'm still reading The Last Temptation of Christ, and I just started Felisberto Hernandez El cocodrilo y otros cuentos. (No touchstone) Once I'm done with Temptation, I'll be starting The Magus.

I just finished Beloved and am starting Life and Death of Harriett Frean.

I finished All too Human by George Stephanopoulos and have just started The Best Year of their Lives: Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon in 1948: Learning the Secrets of Power by Lance Morrow. If nothing else it'll win a prize for most colonnated title of my 2008 reading list.

edited to say that colonnated isn't a word, but you know what I mean...

Still reading The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb. I am a little over half way through.

I am currently reading Daphne by Justine Picardie. It is dubbed as being a literary mystery around Daphne du Maurier and her writing of her biography of Bramwell Bronte. I am only 70 pages in so far and wish I could sit down and finish the book in one go as opposed to reading snatches when I find the time!

I am about to start Casual Rex by Eric Garcia
It is a prequel apparently to Anonymous Rex.

The premise is that dinosaurs live among us. They wear latex people-suits and pass as human. No, Really.

The stories are set in LA, use PIs and very noir-ish mood. They are quite funny, as well as satirical.

I just started Revolutionary Road, and I think I'm going to try to finish reading Alias Grace this weekend.

Soul Music
Lolita
The Tales of Beedle the Bard

I'm also going to spend the rest of the weekend with elderly relatives, so I'm bringing a BUNCH of books to help me survive.

#16 Sounds fascinating. Gonna look for them to start out the New Year with.

Finished Gods Behaving Badly and Chasing Darkness ~ enjoyed both, esp. the latter. In the middle of Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, a book of short stories about werewolves, including a Sookie Stackhouse, and am pondering whether to start The Dracula Dossier or A Treasury of Regrets next. Decisions, decisions!

Theaelizabet
I read Life and Death of Harriett Frean a short time back. I'll be interested in what you think. I enjoyed it but was a bit disappointed in it as well.

I'm about halfway through Unbowed, Wangari Maathai's memoir. I'm just getting to her work founding the Green Belt Movement in Kenya ... she later won the Nobel Peace Prize.

I'm still reading Daylight by Elizabeth Knox. I *am* enjoying it, I just can't get a good stretch to read it as we're preparing to move. It'll just have to wait until the Christmas break. Can't wait to have the space to put out all my books in the new house though!

Snash--I'll let you know as soon as I finish it. Should be a quick read, but what with the holidays...who knows?

I also just finished Beloved. Wow, what an amazing book! I am now returning to The Riddle of the Sands which I put down because I could not stop reading Beloved. I am also about to start 84, Charing Cross Road. Does anyone know, is this a nonfiction book?
--BJ

Finishing Le Clezio's Wandering Star and Neither Here Nor There by Bill Bryson (the later perhaps an antidote to the overwhelming sadness of the former). Will then be dipping into a collection of Georges Perec's work, Species of Spaces and Other Pieces.

I am reading THE POWER OF PLACE by Harm De Blij. Interestingly, it declares itself to be published in the year 2009. It addresses the principle that one's happiness, financial security and even fate depends on not just who you are or what you are but Where you are on cruiseship Earth. The Place you live in influences everything about your life and produces severe limitations on every aspect of your life. If you were to live anywhere other than you do, you might be a very different person in many ways. This book discusses the many major factors influencing the everyday lives of people worldwide in this six billion person era.

I'm almost finished with Arthurian Romances, and finished my at-home book (Measure for Measure) last night. Not sure what I'll read next.

billiejean-
Yes, it is non-fiction. And if you like it, follow with The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, which chronicles Hanff's book tour of England due to the popularity of 84 Charing Cross Road.

Just started The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage and WOW....I'm very pleasantly surprised by the excellent efficiency of the writing and how it has hooked me before I've even gone in 25 pages! This looks like it's going to be awesome. I didn't want to put it down while reading in bed last night but my eyes kept closing from exhaustion, despite an oh-so-hearty struggle to keep them open so I could keep reading! Can't wait to read more later tonight!

I just finished off Captain's Fury and I've started Princeps' Fury, both by Jim Butcher.

I've finished off Mansfield Park which I appreciated more than enjoyed. I like Austen's writing, her rhythm and way with words, but Fanny Price is not my favorite character.

I've also read A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, and The Thanksgiving Visitor by Truman Capote which was wonderful. I'll have to look for more by him. I've been interested in reading him anyways ever since I heard he was friends with Harper Lee, was the inspiration for Dill in To Kill a Mockingbird, and there's even a rumour that Capote actually wrote Mockingbird. I don't know how much stock to put into that last as I haven't read anything about Capote and Lee yet. But he does have a way of pulling at my heartstrings like Lee did in TKAM.

I also tried The Christmas Mystery by Jostein Gaarder but didn't get past Day 5. Not what I was looking for when I'd heard it was an advent mystery book.

Just started The Last Enchantment by Mary Stewart and am reading The Wind in the Willows with my son.

I'll be starting Saints of Augustine tonight.

#16: FicusFan,

Thanks to your hilarious description, my TBR stacks will be growing even higher. The Rex's sound like just my cuppa tea. =)

Nothing at the minute. I have had almost no reading time and it took me a week to read one book. Not like me. I may start something tomorrow.. something short and fluffy.. as my time is looking very limited again.

Finnished 84 Charring Cross Road last evening. Will start my ER book Honeymoon in Tehran Azadeh Moaveni.
Would have liked to have read Lipstick Jihad but with Christmas around the corner I don't feel I could get two books
read and give a good review. So after CHristmas for Lipstick Jihad.

>17 shootingstarr7:: shootingstarr7- I just acquired a copy of Revolutionary Road and plan to start it soon. Let me know what you think!

I finished Great Expectations (a reread) this morning. It is such a wonderful book! I have several books in my TBR pile. The Centurion's Wife from LT's ER program is up next. Probably The Graveyard Book after that.

# 19 Storeetlr and #33 iwillrejoice

FYI there is also a 3rd book in the series Hot and Sweaty Rex. I plan to read it after I finish the current book.

Finished The Flowers of Evil this afternoon and decided to pick up where I left off in Hesse's Demian.

I'm hoping to get more reading done now that I've finished school for the semester, so here's this week's list:

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, which I bought from Strand. It seems promising, but I haven't really been able to get into it that much - I already eat really healthily (I'm vegan, and I try to eat local/organic) so it's a bit like preaching to the choir.

The Thinking Body by Mabel Todd, along with An Acrobat of the Heart by Stephen Wangh, The Way of Acting by Tadashi Suzuki, and The Theatre and It's Double by Antonin Artaud. I'm a theatre major, so I feel like I need to read some theatre-related books while I'm on break :)

The Science of Discworld I by Terry Pratchett, just for fun!

Currently reading Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow.

Next up: The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbs by Bill Watterson.

I've finally been sucked in to The Athenian Murders by José Carlos Somoza - it started out rather intellectual and took a while for the plot to really get going, but is now all addictive as any good mystery should be (even one that's been compared to Umberto Eco). I'm hoping to finish that today and then move on to my assigment for GRTB!: Whisky Galore. A slight change of tone, perhaps!

Currently, I'm reading 2001 by Arthur C. Clarke.

I like the book thusfar.

At the beginning of Sharkman Six by Owen West

I didn't read anything all week, so I'm still working on 2666 by Roberto Bolaño and The Aftermath of War by Jean-Paul Sartre.

#28 Thanks for the info on 84, Charing Cross Road and the sequel. I hope to start the book tonight. :) I have heard wonderful things about it.
--BJ

I've finished all the Christmas books I have that I hadn't read before, and have immersed myself in the Christmas Chronicles by Jeff Guinn. Finished almost all of The Autobiography of Santa Claus yesterday. I just love those books. They are always so entertaining, and never get old.

#17, shootingstarr7 and #36 msf59, Revolutionary Road is a brilliant novel; be sure to read it before you see the sure-to-be-disappointing movie with Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslett.

Finally got a copy of New Moon from the Twilight series after weeks on the waiting list at the library. I'm about 1/3 through it. So far not as good as the first book.

Just finished In The Image by Dara Horn. I think that she learned how to edit more in her second novel World to Come which was one of my favourites in 2007. This first novel In the Image is interesting but is too cluttered with competing storylines.
Have now started my ER book Love's Civil War: Elizabeth Bowen and Charles Ritchie, Letters and Diaries edited by Victoria Glendinning.

Read The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim last night. Then started The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri. Still enjoying Wolfsbane and Mistletoe: Hair-Raising Holiday Tales, which is my Christmas book this year.

Just finished the Folio Society editon of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Will start Endurance by Alfred Lansing. Our first snowfall and it is currently 32 degrees.

I've decided to make my next at-home book (see message 27) Seabiscuit.

I read Measure of a Man and enjoyed it very much. I just love Sydney Poitier :)

Next up will be The Reincarnationist.

That one looks good, too.

Its hard to read, with painting going on around me...Dan is doing the living room.
Too much light and activity. And it still looks like something exploded in my house :P

Disorder is trying .. lol

Just finishing up Lonely Planets by David Grinspoon. It's a wonderful look at all of the complex issues that go into the existence of and search for life elsewhere in the galaxy/universe. Grinspoon was a disciple of Carl Sagan, and he does his mentor proud. If you've ever seen The Universe on The History Channel, Grinspoon was one of the experts when they talked about Mars and Venus...

I also started Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich. Historical adventure novel with Freemasons, Napoleon 'invading' Egypt, and an American narrator in possession of a 'cursed' medallion once owned by Cleopatra. Good so far. I dig Da Vinci Code stuff written by writers that can actually write. Unlike Dan Brown.

I should finish reading A Christmas Carol aloud tonight. Last night I started Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard, a Christmas crime thriller set in Victorian London which features Tiny Tim, now 23, living in a brothel and reluctantly depending upon his "Uncle Ebenezer" for funds.

Have just started latest Wally Lamb am enjoying just getting into the angst of it all plus have just finished The Road by cormac mccarthy.. loved it , gripping and terribly sad...

I have been reading a lot of the Susanna Gregory novels recently set in medieval Cambridge and have been loving them!
Recently started Blue shoes and happiness which is, like the others in this series, a sheer pleasure and joy to read.
I got Tolstoy's Anna Karenina from the library but not sure when I'll get the chance to start it, and as I'm going for a job in a languages library, I am thinking about boning up on Goethe and the German Romantics.

56.. I would love to know how you like Mr Timothy. It is waiting on my shelf

:)

I finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society last night. Too nice for me. I think I must resign myself to not liking nice books.

I began Disquiet by Julia Leigh on the trolley today. Not nice at all, thank heavens.

I've just begun The Common Bond, an Early Reviewer book by Donigan Merritt. I want to call it an intensely literary book in the sense that words are very carefully chosen. It reminds me of the short stories I've came across in smaller literary journals - of which I've only read maybe a handful. So far it's given a vivid picture of the reflective effects of fishing and alcohol in Hawaii...This is all intended to be a compliment.

>60 nancyewhite: nancy, I snort triumphantly at an accurate prediction re: Guernsey not converting you, but "nice" and "romance fiction published as normal fiction" aren't synonymous! Would you be game to try Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn? It's nice, in the sense that good triumphs over evil, and yet has a vile, nasty antagonist attempting to enforce socio-religious conformism on an entire population, resisted by few, with hilarious results. (Unlike the un-hilarious results we've seen in the real world!)

I have no idea what-all I'm reading. The last thing I picked up was The Honorary Consul which is very swiftly moving the pages. Bad thing is I can't remember what I read. --?--

I finished Hercule Poirot's Christmas last night and have just started a group read of Mansfield Park.

I've just finished Provincial Daughter by R.M. Dashwood. It was hilarious as expected and just as good as The Diary of a Provincial Lady. However, I can't help but think it felt a bit forced now and then : the whole process of writing a book imitating another one so closely doesn't really scream originality and where E.M. Delafield's writing sounded fresh and honest, her daughter lacked a voice of her own I must say.
I can't resist typing a passage for you (oh come on, you know it's at least worth your time when you can pick a random passage and laugh till your stomach hurts) :

On return from school James and Toby have again much to say about forthcoming school concert, James by his own account is uncertain whether, in the Nativity play, he is to take part of Joseph, Mary, the Babe, or one of the Animals. Or he might be a Shepherd. He could, he says, do any of them, he is rather good at Acting. Am reminded of Play Scene in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and say he is a proper little Bottom, isn't he? To my horror both children take this entirely in the wrong sense (hardly surprising really, they have never even heard of Shakespeare) and go off into transports of shocked but delighted laughter. Have probably acquired reputation of bawdry now with my children which will last a lifetime. Only hope they will never see fit to write autobiographies.

There's something about free indirect speech, it's so excellent for humorous passages. Also, the disappearance of pronouns. Interesting to study.

Off to read Good Behaviour by Molly Keane (another Virago!)

I've just finished Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News and I'm about to start Francine Prose's Goldengrove: on a distinctly non=cheery reading path this week.

Today I started some mind candy with Hot Property by Carly Phillips. I'm not usually big on contemporary romance/chick litty type books but this one sounded okay. We'll have to see.

I'm finally starting my November ER book, Honeymoon in Tehran after finally finishing the prequel, Lipstick Jihad. So far, so good, although I'm only about 5 pages in.

#62 - Richard - I thought of you as I read The Guernsey Literary... I have to tell you that I'm a little shivery right now because I put Ella Minnow Pea into my Holds at the library this morning!

As I read The Guernsey blah blah blah, I found myself repeatedly thinking of Excellent Women which I also read this year and which felt so much more accurate in its depiction of post-WWII people and experiences. Funny how some writers get it so right and others don't and how which do and which don't varies so much from reader to reader.

I just started reading The Returning, a November ER book.

>68 nancyewhite: nancy, great minds and all that...I predict that Mark Dunn will make you appreciate the "nice" books that aren't cloying.

OOOps, did I type that out loud?

Reading Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl makes me laugh out loud and my stomach growl.

I'd accidentally left The Painted Kiss which I was reading halfway at Panera Bread having stopped in for lunch, and when I went back a mere half an hour later, the book was gone. Someone clearly thinks Santa came early to them this year. *grumble, grumble* ... so since I don't want to have to buy another copy, I'm going to keep my fingers' crossed that I can mooch this from someone.

Finished Lolita, which was much more disturbing than I imagined, and now reading Soul Music, because Terry Pratchett pretty much owns me.

Also rereading A Confederacy of Dunces because we all need a little Ignatius J. Reilly in our lives.

I just finished British Baseball and the West Ham Club: History of a 1930s Professional Team in East London by Josh Chetwynd. It is the history of the various attempts to popularize baseball in England. The most successful were the two professional leagues that played in the mid-to late 1930s. World War Two put an end to all that, but baseball, evidently, still has its proponents there. Anyway, the book was very interesting, if not absolutely well-written. For baseball junkies only, I would think, but a good read.

After spending some time with my "between books," I'll next be reading a short work called We Hold the Rock, a history of the Native American occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 through 1971.

After going through a nearly two month book funk, I'm finally starting to dig back into my reading. I should finish up Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter of 1860-1861 by Harold Holzer. It's been a long slog, but it starts to pick up with the train trip east for the inauguration. The book would have been a great deal better at half the length. Holzer throws every trivial incident into the book, and yet he never manages to give the text a sense of immediacy.

The book is also rife with minor typographical errors that tend to be jarring. My favourite was the statement that Quincy Massachusetts was "a hot bed of ant-slavery sentiment."

#74- The ants still haven't given up their slaver ways lo these many years later.

So much for The Reincarnationist

Yesterday some books came in for me to review, so I will read those next.
They are all rather short, so it won't take long, also they look quite good.

This week i am reading the glass books of the dream eaters, and thoroughly enjoying it's fast pace and sudden revelations.

I *inherited* a massive pile of books last week, and have decided to dip into them, whilst still ploughing through war and peace.

# 72, A Confederacy of Dunces is one of my all time favourite books, Ignatius is so repugnant and hilarious. I think i'll read it again as well next year.

Just finished Life and Death of Harriett Frean and have again picked up The Peabody Sisters: Three Women who Ignited American Romanticism.

I finished another one! Murder in LaMut and have decided to look at Three Hearts ... which I think I read so many years ago that I don't remember the story. The book I have is one my husband bought back when it first came out. It has tape on it and I'll probably be able to read page by page - literally!

I am a big Truman Capote fan. I have read most of his stuff. I also read his biography. I really doubt Capote wrote Mockingbird. After reading his biography, I can't imagine him giving someone else credit for his work. Mockingbird doesn't really have his style. But he was friends with Lee. I loved Mockingbird and have read it twice though long ago. And, of course, Truman Capote's masterpiece, In Cold Blood, is fascinating.

I reading Rose from the Dead by Kate Collins and listening to A Christmas Carol to get me ready for the holiday. I thought it would be a good one to try out LibriVox.

I'm just about to start reading Astrid and Veronika by Linda Olsson. I continue listening to Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens.

I want to read the Hogfather again just before Christmas. V festive.

#77
I read War and Peace earlier this year : in my humble opinion, the book's reputation is solely based on the number of pages it contains, not on its difficulty. I had mixed feelings in the end but it certainly wasn't due to its crystal clear writing style. I don't know if you agree, I know I was pleasantly surprised, it's an easy story to follow.

I just read and reviewed In the Convent of Little Flowers: Stories by Indu Sundaresan....BEAUTIFULLY written. I absolutely loved it. Here's my review if you are interested.

>86 skrishna: I tried to read your review but the link didn't work.

Gave up Hot Property and have re-started Amber in the Over World which I started a couple months ago and for some reason put back up on the shelf. I suspect I might have had an influx of library books interrupt me before.

Am re-reading The Prince of Tides, but I don't remember much so it might as well be the first time. A wonderful book, with drama, humor and suspense- I highly recommend it!

I am focusing on fun stuff right now: An Annotated Christmas Carol, Murder of Roger Ackroyd, and Christmas is Murder. Because it is, you know.

I just found Debbie Macomber's latest Christmas story at the library, so I will read that before I finish Three Hearts and Three Lions as it is a seven-day loan and the other I'll have forever!

I started Why We Eat What We Eat on Sunday, but my ER book, The Pluto Files just arrived, so the food book moves to the back burner.

I'm currently reading The Conquest which was a difficult decision cos there are sooooooooooo many books I want to read!!!

Finished Affinity by Sarah Waters - another great book by her! Now I'm reading Matrimony by Joshua Henkin. Also hosting a giveaway of this book on my blog - come sign up!

Am still going with The time machine, No logo and a suitable boy, and will be for some time. the books are good, I just can't find much reading time at the moment. Hopefully Christmas/New Year break will provide much needed time.

I finished Lani Diane Rich's A Little Ray of Sunshine late last night, and started Elizabeth Berg's Joy School in the wee hours of the morning! I really liked the former and am already enjoying the latter.

I just finished Equal Rites. Might be starting War of the Ancients by Richard A. Knaak.

# 59 mckait, Mr. Timothy is slow going... only because I have no time to read at present, not because the book is slow. I'll let you know what I think when I'm further along.

great! I look forward to hearing your thoughts...I have a book I need to read tonight Five Quarters of the Orange..so I can give it back tomorrow..I had best get at it.

Looks like at about 2:30 this afternoon I noted that I had picked up A Cedar Cove Christmas at the library on a seven day loan. I started it at about 3:30 and by the time the 6 o'clock news was half over (with 15 minutes for dinner) I was finished with it.

I knew it would be a quick and easy read. It was also quite enjoyable and I'll post a review on the book's page.

So I guess it's back to Three Hearts and Three Lions for me unless those two books I actually have on hold that should be in soon are in fact in.

#85, War and Peace is one of my favorite books of all time. I've read it three times: first, as a teenager, where I skipped over the war; second, in my 40s, when I found the war sections fascinating; and third, in my 50s, when the new English translation by Volkhonsky and Pevear came out. I will probably read again someday.

Continuing with my Ruth Rendell phase, and am reading One Across Two Down and I will be getting Knit Two, Kate Jacobs tomorrow that is on hold at the library.

>3 cornerhouse: We're reading Little Dorrit in the same intervals in which it was originally published (four chapters a month except the last, no reading ahead).

I think that is a nice approach, cornerhouse. I would like to do that next time I read Little Dorrit as it would allow for greater reflection and a more relaxed pace in serialised form. And reading aloud always brings any Dickens work to life! :)

Five Quarters of the Orange is finished. Rose gave it to me this morning. I started it in the doctors office this afternoon, finished it in the evening..not a long book. I am considering whether I liked it or not. It didn't draw me in at all, but I didn't hate it either...

hmmm

I just started Lucky Girl which promises to be intriguing~

(It is going to be published in April 2009... )

Tearing through Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn, and slowly savoring The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Silent in the Grave isn't brilliantly written, but flows nicely and the story quickly grabbed me. I'm finding it to be a good fit for the busy holiday season.

I am rerereading Anne of the Island

mckait: I read Three Quarters of the Orange a few years ago, and at the time felt a bit like you seem to, a bit unsure how I felt. Bits of it keep coming back to me though.

mckait......girl, how can you read an entire book in one day??? You blow my mind. LOL

I'm nearing the end of The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage and I must say it's one of the best books I've read this year. The writing has been excellent, the plot ~ really, really good, and I will hate to see it end. Now, what will I choose next?? Whatever it is, it will have a hard time living up to this one. Highly recommend!

#78 I forgot how funny the book was. I sit there laughing wildly, while my family eyes me nervously.

Also reading my ARC Three Minutes On Love which, despite its awful title, isn't half-bad.

porchy, how can one NOT read a candy-book in a day? I got From Dead to Worse the latest Sookie Stackhouse "mystery" (the point really isn't the mysteries in these books) and whipped on through it. That's what these books are written for! Pleasure reads! Not any sort of serious, po-faced lit'r'ry hoo-hah.

It was, if y'all're wonderin', a much much more satisfying read than the last one, and a very fun book.

I finished Daphne by Justine Picardie and found it to be rather good.

I have now dived into some Christmas reading. I have finished The Christmas Pearl and A Christmas Secret and I am currently reading A Covington Christmas. All are quick, easy reads which are great at this high paced time of year.

Had to stop reading The Shape of Water in order to read The Dracula Dossier which needs to go back to the library tomorrow.

hehe ((((Porchie)))) it wasn't a very long book... I had a good hour in the doctors office.. and read while I ate dinner . It was as richardear said, candyish. no hoo hah. Kind of, it was a book.. so I read it, because my friend asked me to. I didn't hate it... and so? I only got about 40 pages into the next book, because I didn't watch any tv, and Dan actually did the dishes.

bookgirl, that is good to know. My feelings haven't changed. It is not one I will review, as I don't really know what I would say.

richaardearie, smoochies and hugs and mushy stuff... I have been missing you here... whatcha doin??

Finished Amber in the Over World (which has already been Mooched, it went FAST!) and will be starting The Frog Prince A Fairy Tale for Consenting Adults by Stephen Mitchell

Finished and loved Disquiet by Julia Leigh. It was disquieting and yet offered some possibility of redemption. It is weird though so if you don't like weird don't pick this one up.

Started How To Read Literature Like a Professor at the dentist's office and so far it is both fun and informative.

Next up is After Dark by Haruki Murakami, I think. Unless Ella Minnow Pea comes in at the library and offers me another shot at liking 'nice'.

Hi guys.....I guess, for me, it's because I work here at home on my online antique business (and my brick & mortar shop too)...."stuff" is always calling me away from my reads....stuff, and chores, phone calls, and.... chores....and high maintenance cats, and one husband. LOL I wish I could have 3 or 4 hours of undistracted TIME to just sit back and lose myself.....ahhhhh.....

I guess I just need to carve out that time for a book, and nothing but a book. It's hard for me because I am very easily distracted here.

#102: digifish

This is the first time that we've taken Dickens in this way -- serialized, as it were. I'm curious whether it will heighten the experience or not, especially since I find that most of his books (excepting Bleak House and David Copperfield) grow tedious if I try to read too much of them at once.

And perhaps my dramatic reading will improve over time.

With the weather what it is this time of year, I've been curling up (literally) with a book a little more. As a result I'm making good progress on my at-home book, Seabiscuit (see also, message 53).

I finished my walking-around book, Arthurian Romances at lunch yesterday (see also message 27). I'm starting The Summer of 1787 today.

Started The Yacoubian Building last night - that is likely to be my last read of 2008.... hoping it's a good one

>112 mckait: mckait, it's been a snow/rain mix of hells...gutter issues, electrical nonsense, handymen who don't speak English too well and so need a lot of point-and-gesture instructions (my Spanish isn't up to explaining wiring)...then relaxing with my delicious books! Last night I picked up Time Traveler a non-fiction work by museum director and paleontologist Michael Novacek. So far so fascinating...he grew up in LA and that turns out to have been lucky! For once! About 80+/-pp in; rarin' to read more.

>114 nancyewhite: nancy, I have AfterDark on my wishlist. I am very interested to hear your impressions...helps determine how hard I push for that item to be next.

>115 porchsitter55: porchy, either the cats or the husband have to go, then. I suggest it be the cats since husbands can, on certain rare occasions, be useful and also the authorities tend to be scrupulous in looking for the bodies of the missing.

>117 AnnaClaire: AnnaClaire, The Summer of 1787 sounds like the PERFECT book for this snow/rain/gloom we're having! And drat you annyway, another entry on the wish list. *grumble*

richard......heeeeheeeeeheeee!

>119 richardderus:
Yesterday, I discovered it was snowing out, right after I finieshed Arthurian Romances. Medieval literature is kinda apt for the weather here, don't you think?

Anyway, my main way of countering nasty weather is to KNIT -- so you might consider asking Santa for some sticks and wool!

Finishing:
The Ticket that Exploded by William S. Burroughs

Starting:
Black Boy by Richard Wright

>121 AnnaClaire: AnnaClaire, medieval subjects do sound good in this weather. I'll go hunt something up!

I'm currently reading We Hold the Rock, a short history of the Indian occupation of Alcatraz from 1969 to 1971. A short book, but a very good introduction to a fascinating story.

Finished Interface earlier this week.
Now I'm starting A Scanner Darkly. I've read some of Philip K. Dick's other works recently, so it should be fun.

Currently reading The Indispensable Calvin and Hobbs by Bill Watterson. A comic strip compilation - some of them are really funny! Guess I was in the mood for a laugh. =)

Next up: Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss.

>98 mckait: mckait -- I really like Five Quarters of the Orange - I like Harris's writing in general. That was an unusual book and I'd also have a hard time reviewing it. And -- I don't recall it being so short and light! You are Ms. Speedy.

Finished Silent in the Grave a little while ago, and will soon begin The Lace Reader, which I dashed to the library to grab last night before I lost my hold and went to the bottom of the waiting list. I quite enjoyed Silent in the Grave: somethings I could see coming, some not, so it kept my interest and was an enjoyably engaging read. I will likely continue with the series.

Still working on Mansfield Park but I've also picked up Dizzy and Jimmy for a light read.

teelgee,

I found the main character intriguing, not likable. Her family was much the same.
This is the only Harris book I have read, so far. I had some incentive for reading quickly...it had to go back to the library , and I have another book to read and review before friday ..

Now, maybe tonight I can put some trim on the tree and finish Lucky Girl tomorrow.

This morning on the subway I started Death with Interruptions by José Saramago. Granted, I am only about 25 or so pages in but I have to say that it hasn't grabbed hold of my attention or senses in the very immediate and visceral way that I recall his other novels did. Eh, maybe it's just end of year/holiday/bad weather mental fatigue affecting me and once I am able to read properly at home this evening my perceptions will be altered.

Just began Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, but can't bring myself to finish the end of Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri because I feel like I'm home when I finally have my head buried in her book and I know it will be a while till her next.

The Library emailed me and said Santa Clawed is in for me. I'll go over tomorrow and get it. Before I read that I need to finish Three Hearts and Three Lions as I don't want to put this off again.

I'm reading Jim Butcher's Fool Moon in between Chretien de Troyes' Arthurian Romances, which I should have finished a month ago for my Medieval Lit class but never did. Good thing I didn't have a mid-year exam, eh?

Just finished The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage and WOW what a great book. Un-put-downable ~ excellent writing ~ excellent plot ~ excellent characters. It hooked me from the first page all the way to the end. Absolutely one of the best books I've read this year!

took a break from Seriousville to read R is for Richochet by the inimitable Sue Grafton...she looks pretty good too!

Richard- I give After Dark a strong positive endorsement! Have you read Murakami? He's one of my current favorites! Incredible writer!
I just finished my Civil War book for the month, Mr. Lincoln's Army by Bruce Catton. It's a very good read, well-researched and chock-full of terrific anecdotes. I'll try to post a short review very soon!
I'm starting my first Early Reviewer ARC, The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death by another of my favorite current authors, Charlie Huston.

I'm starting on Seventy-Seven Clocks by Christopher Fowler this evening and given my day at the office, I'm hoping it will be a good read.

On to The Great Santa Search, starting tonight. I didn't like this one as much as the first two in the Christmas Chronicles back when I first read them all... but as of right now I'm liking it the most. I'm such a fickle creature!

Only a re-read of A Christmas Carol left on my list of Christmasy books after this one. They've all got me in such a good mood!

>137 msf59: msf, good to know...I liked The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle well enough although I am not one of the Murakami Cultists. Honestly I felt much more negatively about Murakami during the heyday of his passionate cultists, since I have some serious reservations about his technical structuring issues. Also I am just a contrary old bastard.

jude, best for our long-distance luuuuv if you don't agree with me like I know you're doing as you read this....

Time Traveler is just wonderful!! Books with dinosaurs are just cool, and I don't care that I sound 9 years old, when it comes to dinosaurs I AM 9 years old they are just the coolest things ever.

Finished
A Confederacy Of Dunces (even funnier the third time!)
Soul Music

Reading
American Pastoral
Reading Lolita In Tehran
A Long Way Gone
Three Minutes On Love

(Also still reading a few pages of either Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets or The Tales of Beedle The Bard before going to sleep, but those are comfort books, so to speak.)

under the volcano by Malcolm Lowry and pursued by furies: a life of Malcolm Lowry by Gordon Bowker.

#134 I only recently discovered Jim Butchers' books but aren't they wonderful?!
I have just ordered The Dracula dossier from amazon and am looking forward to reading it!

I found a gift card from my birthday left unused in my jewelry box yesterday. I used it because I had a good mail order coupon .. and the two books that I wanted came to only $1 sh over the card amount. Free shipping.
more new reads in my future.

Just finished Granta's The Anthology of New Writing No. 15, and starting Tereza Batista: Home From the Wars by Jorge Amado.

Currently reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves by Lynne Truss and Miracle by Deborah Smith.

Daniel C. Dennett's book Darwin's dangerous idea. Unfortunately in the imperfect Dutch translation, but that is because the translation costed only 15 Euro.

Currently reading The Policy by Bentley Little and Our Vietnam by A.J. Langguth. Have read 46 books this year so may not make it to 50 with time running out.

In addition to 2666, which I'm 300 pages into, I've also started The Trolley by Claude Simon, which I received as an early Christmas present from my friends that I'm visiting now in Wisconsin (brr).

I'm currently reading Doppler by Erlend Loe; an asigned reading for school.

Just finished New Moon as a guilty pleasure read but was disappointed to find I didn't like it nearly as much as Twilight. Now I'm going to finish Your Money or Your Life, which I've been reading off and on for a few months. I'm thinking it's going to be "my life" at this point, since my money has disintegrated along with everyone else's in the midst of the financial meltdown. Not sure what I'm going to pick up after that...

Today, I started reading Mistress of Mellyn. It is an October ER book which arrived last week.

Picked up Santa Clawed at the library. I think this is my third Christmas book this month.

And I finished Three Hearts ....

The Santa one shouldn't take long to read.

Today I'm reading some short works, including the story "Their Name is Macaroni" from Thirty Stories by Kay Boyle and "Ich Bin from Head to Feet" by Ilf and Petrov (Ilya Arnoldovich Ilf and Eugene Petrovich Kataev) from the collection An Anthology of Russian Literature in the Soviet Period.

Omg im reading The tail of emily windsnao by liz kessler!!!!! beast book peeps

I'm in the middle of The Virgin's Lover by Philipa Gergory and about to start Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. Not sure what will be next...hopefully I'll get some good books for Christmas!

I'm still reading The Magus and have really gotten into it. I've also started Perdido Street Station. I was initially going to concentrate on The Magus, then start Perdido Street Station once Magus was finished, but I changed my mind. I find I prefer to luxuriate in long books instead of trying to get through them as quickly as possible, so switching off between those two seemed ideal. If I find one holding my interest more than the other, that might change.

My reading of Felisberto Hernandez' El cocodrilo y otros cuentos has slowed down a bit--I've only read one of the stories so far--but I hope to get some more of the stories in once the weekend rolls around. And yesterday, I received the Early Reviewer book The Book of the Unknown: Tales of the Thirty-six by Jonathan Keats. I'm going to try to squeeze that in somewhere as well--luckily it's short.

kidszdoc I just bought 2666 the other day. Saw so many interesting and great reviews on it, I had to get it. Will be interested in what your thoughts are after you finish it.

Disclosure, by Michael Crichton, just finished Decision at Delphi, by Helen MacInnes, which was a good read, nice mystery with great location descriptions.

Began The Used World by Haven Kimmel last night. It looks good so far, but I'm only in about 20 pages.

I finished Casual Rex by Eric Garcia
The book is a mystery with the premise that dinosaurs never died out, and that they live among us incognito, in latex people suits. The setting in modern day, LA and there is an attempt to be hardboiled. The mystery was about a cult, and the death toll among ex-members.

Very clearly a satire on Scientology, and the manufacturing of heritage among certain groups.

Although it was written well, and the setting and characters were good, it just didn't grab me as the first one did*. I also thought the story was a little slow and disconnected.

* This book is actually a prequel to the first one Anonymous Rex, but was published second.

I am now starting Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
SF book about a jump pilot (ability tied to a specific gene) in a corporate future, trying to break free.

Reading Bravo for the Bride by Elizabeth Eyre. I'm really enjoying it. It's the first Elizabeth Eyre I've read. I'll definitely be looking for more.

Just finished the sixth Masters of Rome novel, The October Horse by Colleen McCullough -- just OK; overall though the series has been gratifying.

Now, staying in historical fiction mode, I am reading Falls the Shadow by Sharon Kay Penman -- the second in her Welsh trilogy.

Is Mistress of Mellyn a re-release?
it sounds familiar.. old but familiar?

Mistress of Mellyn is old.

I just finished - in one night- Santa Clawed by Rita Mae Brown. I love her books and this took place at Christmas (2008, no less).

I just decided to hit my TBR pile (not the one listed here, but my own with the actual books) and I am going to read Bleachers. Haven't read a Grisham in a while.

I just finished Astrid & Veronika and thought it was a lovely story! I am about to start The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell.

Esme Lennox ..very good.

Thanks Kmom.. thought so.

Just finished The Painted Kiss by Elizabeth Hickey last night. Very ... hmm.....meh.... ok but not very gripping.

Has anyone read The Art Thief yet? I'm been contemplating getting that book, but want to know first if it's any good ... pennies need watching these days, so I'm trying to avoid buying books that aren't guaranteed good reads.

About half way through Seventy-Seven Clocks ... cute and funny mystery.. hmm.. touchstones not working for this. Odd.

I've set aside The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry for my next read later on today.

cameling, I read The Art Thief, and for what it's worth, I did not particularly enjoy it. Way too predictable. The only redeeming feature, in my opinion, was the information about the art world.

Last night I started Death in Venice. I read it many, many years ago, probably before I was capable of really appreciating it, although I do remember enjoying it. I'll be curious to see what new insights I might glean from it this time. My version is found within the Modern Library anthology Great German Short Novels and Stories.

I finished Nation yesterday, and read Treasure Hunters and Crown of Horns yesterday and today.

Appropriately enough for snowy weather, and to please my sister, I read When Santa Fell to Earth this morning. And now I'm reading Grace by Richard Paul Evans.

Already finished Bleachers. Took Air Apparent off the shelf; that'll be 25 in my second 50.

Maldoror by Comte De Lautremont

>170 rocketjk:: rocketjk, I read Death in Venice a few months ago for the 2nd time and appreciated it alot more than I did when I read it some years ago.

I've just zipped through Requiem for a Mezzo by Carola Dunn. Light, slightly entertaining but otherwise very forgetable whodunit.

I diverted into The Areas of My Expertise; I got two (short) nights out of it. I think John Hodgman could have had a lot of fun writing it, and I hope he did.

I post much of what I'm reading in the Non-Fiction group, but I didn't know whether they would take well to fictional non-fiction, so I am posting here.

Robert

I read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox today, and find myself ambivalent about it. The plot and characters were really good, but the writing itself was not much to write home about.

I am about to start The Final Solution: A Story of Detection by Michael Chabon, one of my favorite authors.

#158- Momom248, I'll definitely write a review after I finish 2666, which will probably be around New Year's Day.

I just finished I'm Looking Through You which is humorous as well as touching. It combined a few controversial issues such as ghosts, family relationships, transgender, and to top it all off...it's a memoir! I was leery about the number of issues that I thought the author would have to juggle, but I was blown away by her wit and sentimentality. She somehow created the perfect mix. A beautiful book.
Now I'm working on In Sunlight, in a beautiful garden. It seems good so far...

ALSO reading Interesting Times, since apparently I am determined to read all of Discworld before I turn 24.

I'm giving up on The Used World by Haven Kimmel. I find my mind continually wandering, thinking about everything and anything except the writing. This author's writing is all over the place, she moves from the present to the past and back to the present again without any warning, and I feel completely lost trying to follow it. I am not "grabbed" by this book at all, and although I hate to give up on a book this early into it....I simply must. Life is short. I don't want to have to work at it, I want a book to draw me in and captivate me completely....I don't want to have to read a paragraph over 4 times and still not get it. Maybe some would like it, I don't.

Moving right along.....will pick something else out tonight.

I finished Grimspace by Ann Aguirre
a SF book about a navigator (not the pilot as I thought when I started) who has a special gene that allows her to find her way through grimspace, where ships go when they jump for FTL travel. She is looking for beacons that have been left by an older race that was there first, but no longer seems to be around. The beacons are marking points to go into and out of jump, so you arrive where you expect.

There is a quasi military-corporate entity that controls the training of jumpers, and through that all legitimate space flight. The main character runs afoul of them, and rather than let them destroy her she joins the rebels who are trying to break the monopoly on jumping.

The writing was not bad, the characters were good, and the story was OK, if a little too haphazard in terms of setting things up to make one exciting scene after another. Definitely an adventure story with a very predictable stand-offish (I hate you, I want you, go away, come here) romance included.

I am now reading the second book in the series Wanderlust. The characters from the first book are off on a diplomatic mission to an insectoid world, to try to convince them to join the new political entity taking the place of the one brought down in book 1.

Our Spoons Came from Woolworths was a very fine book.

Sophia is 21 years old, carries a newt - Great Warty - around in her pocket and marries - in haste - a young artist called Charles. Swept into the bohemian London of the 30s, she is ill-equipped to cope. She takes up with an aging art critic and learns to repent - at leisure.

The style was reminiscent of the one used in Diary of a Provincial Lady (the narrator writes down very stoically and really does nothing more than describe, it is this constant distance from the hilarious and tragic that makes it so compelling) but the comparison stops here. Even in tragedy it was funny. It's an eccentric book and lives up to expectations : the blurb on the cover compared it to "a perpetual Mad Hatter's tea-party". It focuses on Sophia who at the beginning of the book is married to Charles and leads a Bohemian life in London. Charles is an artist who doesn't sell much and she poses for painters to earn some money. They earn just enough money to put bread on the table. The main character, Sophia, is a smart, deeply moving woman whom I really felt for throughout. The plot is unusual at times (infidelity, illegitimate children, the book was published in 1950) and yet really unoriginal. In the end, it is the voice and the eccentricity of it all which made it well worth my time.

Starting Cheerful Weather for the Wedding by Julia Strachey now.

After I finished Bleachers, I picked out a book, Air Apparent but took the night off from reading. I think I have been doing a book a day all week. Must be a coincidence with the easy books or something??

I have just finished reading Bernard Schlink ' Self's Punishment" it is one of first forray into detective fiction which I found I really enjoyed..short little chapters and you can't help but like the Self.
He is a private detective on a case that transforms into
a personal painful confrontation with his own guilt about the past.
I loved The Reader and although not as powerful this story exposes similiar themes.