What You Are Reading the Week of 31 January 2009

I was drifting off to dreamland on a cloud of Debbie Macomber prose and suddenly it occurred to me that we did not yet have a new thread! Horrors!

So here it is.

Besides a sheaf of articles about metadata, I'm reading:

Boswell in Holland by James Boswell
The Black Book by Orhan Pamuk
Collected Stories of Rudyard Kipling

And I'll probably read something in the way of Updike this week and a couple of Cather short stories of the February author of the month group.

Fingersmith, War and Peace, and soon to start My Antonia.

Finished The Drowned World by J. G. Ballard and now reading Company of Liars by Karen Maitland. Very different books!!

I've just finished reading The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. It's been a while - since Deathly Hallows was released, actually - since I literally couldn't put a book down. I had to read it from 8 AM in bed till 2 PM and couldn't stop even when having lunch. I'm sure you all know the premise and are all aware of the raving reviews and all the hype surrounding it, but just in case :

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When her sister is chosen by lottery, Katniss steps up to go in her place.

It's difficult to talk about this book without giving anything away. I cried and laughed before reaching page 20. It's a fast-pace, a horrifying story with a strong heroine you can root for unreservingly. I was mesmerized, it's a great adventure novel with wonderful, well-fleshed characters. It's this great balance that makes everything work. It's a book that had me thinking about so many things in the world right now. I know I wanted to read the sequel (will be released in September) the minute I reached the end. Some twists were so original the whole time I was thinking "now if someone has something to say about that, this trick will silence him out". The few times I wasn't quite sure about a characterization or a plot development, Collins introduced something else just afterwards that would make me feel stupid for even doubting it in the first place. I can see the political aspect of the story developing in the sequels as it got hinted at in the first volume, that would be terrific, it's got so much potential for being a great dystopia that says something relevant about today's society, The Hunger Games already had some of that. It's really good storytelling and it deserves all the praise it got (and it got quite a lot).

Still reading 'The Complete Polysyllabic Spree' (no touchstone) by Nick Hornby and Never Hit a Jellyfish with a Spade by Guy Browning. Hoping to have a good run at them this weekend while the freezer's defrosting and the washing's in, yawn...

I just started The Risen Empire by Scott Westerfeld last night, plus I've been reading a poem a day out of Beyond this Dark House by Guy Gavriel Kay, and listening to Shadowbridge by Gregory Frost.

Just started Chocolat by Joanne Harris - timely for St. Valentine's Day/Lent. So far I'm really enjoying it. It's a nice respite from the two post-apocalyptic novels I read recently. I'm also listening to Angela's Ashes in the car, and um...I'm having an interesting experience with it. The author is reading it, and some parts are hitting me as more funny than maybe I would find them if I were reading it on my own.

I expect to finish The final solution by Michael Chabon today and hope to read some chapters in The land of invisible women by Qanta A. Ahmed as well.
After that it's time for some real Dutch literature: De verborgen bron by Hella Haasse.

I am about 250 pages into The Hour I First Believed. This is another excellent book by Lamb!

I am still slogging along with The Perfect Scent by Chandler Burr. It is non-fiction, about the perfume industry. It is an ER book or I would probably bag it. Its not really bad, just horribly muddled in terms of focus. He tries to put in every single thing he comes across. It came with a scented book mark {shudder} and it should have come with a machete.

>11 FicusFan: - beautifully put! I'll have to remember that one...

>lunacat.. how did you like Company of Liars? Is it worth it? I almost picked it up the other day but wasn't sure. :)

Currently reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote

In light of Updike's passing, I'm reading In the Beauty of the Lillies, which I'm liking quite a bit. The only other Updike I ever tried was the first Rabbit book, which I threw aside in disgust many years ago. I may have to re-evaluate that position; I mean, the guy was famous for a reason, I presume.

Anyway, Lillies is quite captivating thus far...

I should finish my Early Reviewer copy of The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa tonight. Next will probably be A Mind at Peace by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar, the first Archipelago Books release of 2009. After that, I'll be visiting Russia, starting with War and Peace for a group theme read (~100 pp/month), and Poor Folk and The Double by Fyodor Dostoevsky for the Author Theme read.

>14 mikeepatrick: mike, Rabbit, Run irritated me beyond endurance too. It was a book circle read years ago and it prompted me to call Mr. U the nakedest emperor in the literary world.

I loved Gertrude and Claudius, though, and The Witches of Eastwick was hilarious (movie was good too, though in a different way...campily over-the-toply funny). Being that I am not a woman, I had none of the feminist irk at Mr. U's treatment of women. Frankly, neither did my then-wife, a pretty high-powered kind of a woman.

But I really did not like Rabbit Angstrom, in any of his incarnations. Whiny little pisher. Shut up already, I wanted to holler at him. Then again, I feel that way about most of Philip Roth's male characters...maybe it's a generational thing...?

I'm reading Inkspell and Jane Eyre at the moment. I'll probably finish them in the next couple of days and then I'll start Silent in the Sanctuary which arrived yesterday and I'm very excited about.

#18, Love your name. I love Moomintroll. I grew up with them.

Still reading Dining on Stones although I only started it the other day. I'm not reading as quickly or as much as I have done more recently.

I'm reading The Barfighter by Ivan G. Goldman for Early Reviewers. So far it's been touch and go.

I'm reading Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh, The Lost Traveller by Antonia White, and War and Peace very slowly...

(edited for not-enough-coffee-typos)

I'm a third of the way through Breaking Dawn already. Turns out it's a good choice for right now. I was up ALL night with my son, who had a stomach bug. On less than one hour of sleep, I think this is the only kind of book I could cope with today.

I am reading The Last Pope by Luis Miguel Rocha. It is a good suspense with the usual formula of girl receives package, other people want to kill her for the package so girl has to rely on a complete stranger to help her while trying to figure out what is so important about the package. It is quick read so I will probably finish it tonight.

I'm reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick. I'm not too far into it yet, but the illustrations are stunning and cinematic -- it's a book I'm going to slowly savor. After that I think I'll read Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner before I need to tackle my next book club read, The Gathering. After tepid (at best) reviews of The Gathering here on LT I'm not particularly looking forward to it.

>23 jhedlund: jhedlund - Awww, hope your son feels better soon. Why is that children vomit so very much? When I think back to being a little(r) girl all I can remember is ear infections and sickness and asthma and coughs, thank heavens that doesn't last forever. Good on you for still being able to read anything after such a long night! :-)

Finished The Almost Moon for my book club read. Despised the main character for the first half of the book, but then as her past was revealed, began to understand her actions and sympathize with her. So I did like the book, especially the second half.

Started When Will There Be Good News by Kate Atkinson and am having a hard time putting it down. Then after that is The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield for my book club at work.

I finished Clausewitz and Contemporary War earlier in the week. I was initially worried that it would be dry and boring. It turned out to be anything but boring. However, I have to admit that it probably isn't to everyone's taste. Still, it was well reasoned and informative. I disagreed with the author in a few parts, but found it mostly enlightening.

I'm now finishing Decoding Clausewitz. It's also an interesting read, but I have far more disagreements with this author on the interpretation of the text. I find that when people in the liberal arts try to use metaphors based on physics, they generally stretch the idea far beyond its elastic limit.

Next up is The Soviet General Staff at War. This is a memoir by a member of the General Staff during WWII. It was written back in 1970, so it will be rather uncritical and jingoistic. However, going into it with an understanding of its biases, I still consider it worthwhile. I'm sure that Stalin will come off as a cheery good fellow--which he probably was at times--but not everything in the book will be so completely disconnected from reality. A quick perusal of the table of contents indicates that the first year of the war is given limited coverage, which is a shame. An insider's coverage of the chaos of 1941 would be very useful, but painful memories are not part of the heroic myth of the Great Patriotic War.

Like many I've been having a difficult time at work and have been reading light. Recently finished The Witness At The Wedding by Simon Bret and An Irish Country Doctor, a novel based on the author's personal experience. I'll start something new tonight but I'm not sure what.

The small biotech that I work at is struggling for survival in today's economic climate, so many conversations have a doomsday quality to them. I'm finding the book I'm reading now, Wild Swans, a good reality check. Life in China from 1920 to 1957 (which is as far as I am right now) makes our anxieties seem like child's play. Despite the litany of horrors, the book focuses on the characters and so is an enjoyable read.

snash, just finished Wild Swans only a month or so ago, and couldn't agree more.

AMQS, the tepid reviews of The Gathering shouldn't put you off it at all, it's strictly an LT thing, but the book drew raves both here and in the UK, and for all the grim circumstances of its heroine, has an absolutely terrific ending. I loved it.

I just finished listening to A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger. I continue reading The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa and I am about to start listening to The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama.

#31 LouisBranning, thank you for your endorsement of The Gathering. You're right, of course -- I should actually read it before I make up my mind not to like it. I am encouraged!

"I, Elisabeth" by Rosalind Miles.

SPQR XII: Oracle of the Dead by John Maddox Roberts. Decius is middle aged and getting just the tiniest bit pompous, and Julia seems to have become more of a shrew, as her famous uncle (Julius Caesar) stands at the banks of the Rubicon and Rome is poised on the brink of civil war.

ETA durned touchstones! The title is showing up under Touchstones just fine, but it's not showing up on the post. Grrrr.

I breezed through a couple of hundred pages of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance last night; I have fewer than two hundred pages to go and should make headway tonight.

I know more now than when I first read it, so I know some of the context of his questioning. I don't know whether what he is doing is genius, which seems to be his take on it, but it is interesting. I suspect that I will come away from the book without an extreme opinion about it.

Robert

I am reading The Night Villa by Carol Goodman.

I loved her Lake of the Dead Languages and I think this one may be just as good.

I just finished Del amor y otros demonios, which I enjoyed but didn't find quite as good as some of his other works.

Now I'm reading Dan Simmons' Song of Kali, his breakthrough horror novel about an author caught up in an evil conspiracy in Calcutta.

OK . . still reading Bleak House -- but the end is in sight.

#16, 14 - about Rabbit - I felt the same way of course - but I think we are meant too, he is the quintessential anti-hero. And while much about the novels is repulsive (in particular to women) there can be no doubt they are well-written and an amazing unglamourized time capsule of American middle class surburbia from the 1950's to the 80's. Worth another try, possibly.

I finished Locked Doors which I really liked. I'm about to start Waterloo Station by Emily Grayson, but I don't think I'm going to like it (not something I would normally read...really.)

#26 - thanks for the well wishes. My son is feeling better now and we took a LONG nap together this afternoon. Still, I really need a good night's sleep tonight. I remember getting sick like that as a kid too, and now I appreciate my mother even more!! I did make quite a big dent in Breaking Dawn today, which was just my speed.

I have just started The Gargoyle. I'm liking the first person narrative and the sentance structure flows really well with some good snatches of rythm.

Okay, so I did not slowly savor The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I greedily tore through it like a rabid dog. I loved it. As I mentioned earlier, this work of children's literature has absolutely stunning illustrations. I loved the story, and I particularly love fiction books that have real people as characters -- in this case, early French filmmaker Georges Melies. This book is set in the Gare Montparnasse in 1930s Paris.

>39 jhowell: jhowell...mrrrmmmpf. Maybe, someday when I am approaching a long hospital stay for some agonizing surgical procedure that will require months of inactive healing time...MAYbe I would consider owning another copy of Rabbit, Run. Reading it? Not so sure.

I'm on a real reading jag this weekend. Finished SPQR XII: Oracle of the Dead and started Allende's The Stories of Eva Luna, which are fabulous and eerie and magical and heartrending, sometimes all at the same time. Also started Poltergeist by Kat Richardson, which is starting out a little slow.

I've just finished rereading a comfort read : La Gloire de mon Père by Marcel Pagnol. He's a really famous (at least, here in France) French writer who wrote lots of plays and his most famous works are books about his childhood memories in Provence at the beginning of the 20th century. I loved every single minute of it. Will probably continue rereading his books during the course of this year.

I'm now starting Inkheart by Cornelia Funke before seeing the movie next week.

Poor old John Updike hasn't been getting much love around here lately, and in particular, his 1960 novel Rabbit, Run has been dissed and back-handed to the point where I was beginning to wonder if we'd all read the same book. I confess I'd read it only once, shortly after it came out, and always had fond memories of it, but decided I'd read it again to see what the years had done to my original impressions. Don't forget, Updike's character's name sets the table for the whole book: Rabbit ANGSTrom, and it's Rabbit's angst, his boundless anxiety, plus his immutable unhappiness with his life that propels Updike's landmark novel from page one. Anyway, I'm only about 150 pages into it right now, love the remarkable cadence of Updike's prose, and enjoying it quite a bit, like hooking up with an old friend.

Started Freddy and Fredericka Mark Helprin.Haven't read enough to give an opinion.

Finished Wild Swans yesterday, and am a few pages into Brave New World.

For the upcoming book discussion at my local library, I just finished reading Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture.

Yesterday I read Skeletons at the Feast and thought it was an amazing read. I did love it.. and hate it. It really tore at my heart.

Today I may read The Secret River. Not sure because I am about to go B&N!!!
yay!

and i have a gift card!

As for Mr Updike... I read one of his books many years ago. Many years, and don't remember which so it doesn't count. It was my mom's. I worked at a dentists ( periodontist) in Massachusetts near Boston where he was a patient. He wasn't very sociable.... *shrug* . Very dour.

( Ted Kennedy however was a total doll, hoot friendly guy)

This weekend I'm finishing Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips. The book is truly wonderful, tough and tender and full of that 1950's small town warmth — dusty, gritty and wise. The characters are all sympathetically drawn, from the nastiest to the most fragile. Highly recommended. (No doubt there's already a film deal in the works!)

Having a hard time thinking beyond this book but expect to begin The Sailor from Gibraltar by Marguerite Duras.

Moving between Heartsick by ((chelsea Cain)) and Interview with a Vampire by ((Anne Rice))

I finally finished The Perfect Scent by Chandler Burr, Thank god.

The writing itself was good, and there was interesting information in it, but oh my, there was way too much stuff, and not enough focus. He tried to cover EVERYTHING in the launch of 2 perfumes, one in NYC and one in Paris.

Not sure what I am going to read next. I just had one of my RL book groups move and now I have 3 all in the same week. So I need to look at a calendar and plan.

Well now mckait, remembering that you knew Mr. U in a professional capacity as a DENTIST'S OFFICE worker, would you expect anyone at all except for the preternaturally sociable (eeg, politicians) to be other than dour?

Have fun at B&N. *mutters*wench

LouisBranning, the ANGST of the character wasn't lost on me, for one...I simply found it unappealing to spend time with this character. I read all three books, too, in search of whatever greatness was imputed to them, and never found it.

>10 MsGemini:: MsGemini- I just finished the new Wally Lamb a couple days ago and truly loved it! Glad you are enjoying it!
>mckait- I read Skeletons at the Feast last summer and also enjoyed it. Good story! I have The Secret River in my tbr pile. I have heard great things about it. Let us know!
>52 abealy:: abealy- More great buzz on Lark and Termite! I've GOT to get this book! I'm on reserve at the library!

Hi msf! Lark and Termite fever has indeed hit LT hard. Rightly so.

I just reviewed a novel that I recommend unreservedly, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, over here for any who are interested. While I am completely in tune with buying books by authors we already love, I can't stress enough the need, the urgency of buying first novels...even ones you don't know if you'll like!...at any and all venues that track book sales. Unless we do this, publishers (already reeling from the beatings the economy's masters are dealing out so liberally) will pull in their already short horns in this field. That means still more badly, or simply un-, edited PoD novels that will further turn folks off to fiction not treated to the fluffing and primping that all good stuff needs.

Oh dear. Soapbox again. Climbing down now.

I have decided to read Unfallen Dead by Mark Del Franco
Book 3 in the Connor Grey series

I want something quick and easy after my last slog.

Could not get into Rabbit, Run but I do like Dick Francis and I am currently reading Risk. I also have Ghosts of the Titanic on my table.

Tomorrow I am heading to the library for a couple of books for the Cabin Fever thing.

msf59 & richard - The author of Lark and Termite was on NPR this morning. It was a good interview and you can probably catch it as a podcast if you're interested. I have also added it to my library holds. (They only allow 50 holds and it's starting to be a problem :)...)

I have started Out Stealing Horses. Lovely, just lovely...

I think I'm going to tackle War and Peace this week. I'm in need of something involved so I can get completely lost in the book.

I've finished Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton and started The Mammoth Book of Sorcerers' Tales edited by Mike Ashley.

>60 Copperskye:: coppers- Thanks for the NPR suggestion! I just listened to it! Anyone interested, just go to NPR website, click on books and it should be right there!

hehehe richardear... he only came for cleanings.. nothing scary. Teddy was just .. funny. He wasn't stodgy nice. He was like a friendly bear... I quite liked him.

Anyway.. I did go to B&N and bought 4 books. One from the bargain table, and three from they buy 2 get one table...

Used a gift card, and all is well :)

#61 - an excellent choice for a long book to get lost in!

speaking of long books - I finished Bleak House last night. (A wild and crazy Saturday night). I will miss it, though I am still not a huge Dickens fan.

Started The Chatham School Affair by Thomas Cook, an Edgar award winner from the 90's -- I can't remember where the recommendation came from. It is pretty darn good though - if you are in to that Secret History kinda modern Gothic looking back on a heinous crime kinda thing. For sure more entertaining than the Superbowl is bound to be.

With regard to Updike, there's kinda this unofficial 'not-so-He-Man woman haters club' thing he's got going with guys like Roth, Richard Ford, etc. I haven't read enough Updike to know, but that certainly fits Roth and what I've read of Ford.

Anyway, I'm about halfway through In the Beauty of the Lillies and it's fantastic, so I'm more than likely going to be batting .500 with Updike when I'm done.

Of course, I've got an even better average with Roth, but you have to know going in that he's a self-loathing guy who treats women like trash. Wonderful, wonderful writer, but a fairly base human being.

>66 mikeepatrick: mike, the only Roth I did not end up hurling forcefully from my grasp was The Plot Against America and that only because I love alternate history. Actually I thought it was chillingly possible on all fronts. Glad your Updikery is paying off in positive terms.

>64 mckait: mckait, minx. Tempting me to buy books just to stay competitive with you.

>60 Copperskye: coppers, I second msf's thanks and enjoyment.

Have two books going at the moment, both quite engrossing. Lark & Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips is quite beautiful. Sashenka by Simon Montefiore is really fascinating.

Richard

Re your tirade in favor of buying new authors and thereby giving them a proverbial shot, I very much agree.

One problem I have encountered tho, is the number of 'popular' bookstores that will not stock new authors, or, quite frankly, have neither the time, nor can be bothered to distinguish between 'old & new'.

With fewer and fewer 'small' or independent book stores around, the search becomes all the more harder. I usually find new authors through library sites and newspaper reviews, and then am quick to order the book through the local library. If I enjoy the book, then I am only too happy and glad to recommend it to other reader friends and suchlike.

Author 'blogs' are another way to discover new writers, and it never fails to amaze me that since the advent of the so-called 'blog', how many fine writers there are, and were it not for the internet such fine readings would never cross my path.

I neglected to mention earlier today that I finished Judith Thurman's Isak Dinesen: The Life of a Storyteller and couldn't have enjoyed it more, a full-blown critical biography of Denmark's most famous writer, who finally became an international celebrity and cultural icon during the mid-20th century. Dinesen's most famous work was her 1938 memoir Out of Africa, but her several other books of stories were all highly acclaimed during her life, and Thurman's exhaustively researched and beautifully written bio more than did justice to the 'Baroness' and her tumultuous life. Dinesen died at age 77 in 1962 from the long-term effects of tertiary syphilis and, in the end, malnutrition, subsisting in her last years on a diet of champagne, oysters, and amphetamines.

I also finished Rob Kirkpatrick's 1969:The Year Everything Changed, an honest bit of fluff that chronicled that watershed year in every facet of culture and society, and though I found Kirkpatrick's book a tad short on analysis, it was still quite entertaining and about as much fun as pop-history gets.

Thanks to coppers & msf59 for the tip on the Jayne Anne Phillips' NPR spot too, quite enjoyable.

I finished The Last Pope and found it to be the quick suspense read I thought it would be. Next up is The Glass of Time by Michael Cox. 19th century England Is one of my favorite period/ places for historical fiction so I am looking forward to reading Cox's portrayal.

Just finished Rock Bottom: A Novel by Michael Shilling. I wrote a rather scathing review if you care to see my thoughts about it, but lets just say I can't recommend it to anyone.

Up next is Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I loved The Virgin Suicides and this comes highly recommended, so I have high hopes for it.

I'm new to this site and am really having a great time getting started. I read Middlesex last year and enjoyed it. Right now, in anticipation of a speaking event, I'm reading the new book by Azar Nafisi but am having a hard time getting into it. I hope it gets better!

>69 morfam: morfam, indeed...author and reviewer blogs, and our own dear LT, have made a huge difference in my reading, especially the discovery of otherwise obscured talents. I do not ask the "sales" force at any store for advice because 1) they're younger than my kid and 2) they tend towards piercings in public places, both factors that make my old curmudgeonly self curl my (inner) lip, plus 3) they are almost always harriedly stocking their sections which bodes ill for concentration on my questions.

I'm reading Cane River for my book club. It meets tomorrow night and I still have 100 pages left so I'd better get off the computer and start reading!

I'm still reading The Emperor's Bones and have added The Shack, The Appeal, and The Hour I First Believed to the list. The first is a little crude thus far, but I'm going to give it a sincere effort.
#8 I loved Chocolat and Angela's Ashes. Try 'Tis next :)

I finished Unfallen Dead by Mark Del Franco and really enjoyed it.
The series is set in modern day Boston, where faerie has leaked into the world, with no way back. Humans and the magical creatures have to figure out how to get along.

The POV is a damaged druid (his magic ability is blocked as a result of a magical battle with a terrorist). He was kicked out of the Guild (the quasi fey government group) and into the dregs of the city and the magical community, called The Weird. He works as a consultant with the Boston PD, eking out a living, and trying to stay alive without a lot of his magical protections.

This story is about the persistent results of the events in the last book where a huge evil spell was broken but not completely dissipated. Halloween/Samhain is approaching and it is the time when the veil between the worlds thins and the dead can came back and walk among the living. The veils never thinned after the Convergence, but now they seem to be doing so. Of course the bad guys may be planning to use the ability to bring the dead across to battle the humans and the Seelie court.

This is the 3rd book, and the author is really hitting his stride. The characters have been developed well, and there are lots of interesting connections between them. The setting is good, and the story is gripping. Can't wait for the next one.

I think I will read Nightrunners of Bengal by John Masters next. It is HF set in India during the Raj period, and is about the Indian Mutiny.

I started Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson. I'll be starting in on my February book club reads the next few days.

i'm in the middle of several: reading Don Quixote by Cervantes, Poor Folk by Dostoevsky, and One of Ours by Cather for some group reads. reading as well Palace Walk by Mahfouz, Seeing by Saramago, and The Search for Modern China by Jonathan D. Spence. enjoying all so far.

>73 Page352: Hello, Page352! Welcome to the end of your non-reading free time: the seductive LibraryThing forums...

Finished Nick Hornby's 'The Complete Polysyllabic Spree' last night - there's no touchstone but I've reviewed it on the book's page and over on my 50 Book thread. It's wonderful - all LibraryThingers would enjoy it I think, it's like an extended version of these threads, very funny too.

So now I'm reading Firmin by Sam Savage (about a melancholic literature-eating rat living in a bookstore), which looks like it will be quite profound and lyrical but possibly a bit confusing. That and still finishing up on Never Hit a Jellyfish with a Spade, which is proving handy for sleepy moments when the heater's on and the sky is dark with snow...

I am presently reading Michael Ondaatje's memoir Running in the Family and Say You're One of Them, a collection of stories, by the Nigerian writer Uwem Akpan. These are demanding stories revealed through the eyes of children as they struggle to survive unimaginable conditions.

Richard, I was pleased to read your review of The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears. I just got a copy a few weeks ago and have been looking forward to reading it. Also, I gladly echo your support of first novels.

Still working my way through The Omnivores Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals - Michael Pollan's thoughtful investigation into industrial food, organics and other food related things.

I also briefly picked up Returning to Earth* by Jim Harrison - so far about a man with Lou Gehrig's disease reflecting on his life and family history in the Michigan upper peninsula.

*no touchstone, link here: http://www.librarything.com/work/1809808/book/30595495

I echo the comments about The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears -- i really enjoyed this book.

I am reading The Flame Trees of Thika: Memories of an African Childhood by Elspeth Huxley and I am about to begin listening to Divine Justice by David Baldacci.

Has anyone read this book: Banana by Dan Koeppel? I found this review after a Powells.com Daily Dose email alerted me to the existence of the item:

"The world's most humble fruit has caused inordinate damage to nature and man, and Popular Science journalist Koeppel (To See Every Bird on Earth) embarks on an intelligent, chock-a-block sifting through the havoc. Seedless, sexless bananas evolved from a wild inedible fruit first cultivated in Southeast Asia, and was probably the apple that got Adam and Eve in trouble in the Garden of Eden."--PW review from Amazon's site.

Our own LT reviewers give it a thumbs-up. I would like to canvass opinion one more time, since I have limited buying power just now.

>81 nzurisana: nzurisana - Running in the Family was recommended in the Nick Hornby book I just finished - would be interested to see what you think of it...

Finished up NBCC finalist, M. Glenn Taylor’s The Ballad of Trenchmouth Taggart and was very disappointed. It started out well enough, kept me turning the page, but as the story went on it became too insipid and tried my patience.

Now reading Ruanaidh: The Story of Art Rooney and His Clan by Art Rooney, Jr. Received this for Christmas and since the Steelers won the Super Bowl last night it’s time to dive in.

Most of the way through Salem Witch Judge. Made good progress on it over the weekend, what with a non-working computer and not much on TV.

Still going at Team of Rivals while it's a good book.. It seems to be taking me forever and I tend to not read books that take me so long to finish. Perhaps I'm impatient? but I'm still chugging along. My dad's not much of a reader, but he did audio listen to this one and he recommended it.

I finished The Delectable Past and reviewed it here for all interested. Suffice it to say that I warn readers, which I hope will include many here on LT to keep a drool rag handy while reading.

I went to the library this morning and came home with Sword Song and Matilda. I am becoming a Dahl fan it seems as the first two books in my children's category on my 999 are books by him.

I actually went in for #9 in the Series of Unfortunate Events but the library didn't have it in. Years ago I got through 1-8 (I had worked for the publisher then) but got away from them for the last five. Now I want to see how they turned out.

koalamom, I love Matilda! I read it so many times when I was little and the movie was part of growing up too (I bought it on DVD recently and it's still great!). I wanted to be just like her, reading all the time and craving more knowledge about things and loving books and... oh.

I finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance last night and read the first two chapters of Lila. I thought that ZMM, as apparently many call it, holds up; those who are hyperbolic about it may be mistaken, but those who are dismissive of it are certainly mistaken.

Robert

I finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance last night and read the first two chapters of Lila. I thought that ZMM, as apparently many call it, holds up; those who are hyperbolic about it may be mistaken, but those who are dismissive of it are certainly mistaken.

Robert

I said that twice so that nobody would miss it.

Robert

Matilda took me only a couple of hours to read. It was wonderful. I am sorry I missed it earlier, but then my kids were already passed this by then, though they have both read his stuff. I shall look into more of his works as time goes on.

I finished Laurie Notaro's The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death last night and started Ann Brashare's Forever In Blue: The Fourth Summer Of the Sisterhood immediately after. I loved Notaro, as always, and Forever In Blue is living up to my expectations so far!

Robert, I've read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance at least 5 times over the last 40 years, and have found it to be an extremely comforting thing during tough times, worth its weight in gold.

Just started The Art of the Commonplace: the agrarian essays by Wendell Berry.

I had the flu last week (achy skin and all), so put down The Virtu by Sarah Monette and reread The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley. I love McKinley and it's been long enough since I last read this that I forgot about the ending I'm not very keen on. The rest of the book was just what I needed. I also borrowed A Mango-Shaped Space from my niece which was an easy but really great read about a girl with synesthesia.

This week I'm back on track with The Virtu. Definitely need my wits about me to keep track of what's happening.

I am reading Roddy Doyle's "Oh Play That Thing" and of all the Roddy Doyles this is the one I am least into. Perhaps ... oh never mind; I'm enjoying the story but I do believe Roddy is playing on the sounds of Jazz and I'm just not catching the notes.

I just finished Song of Kali which was pretty good, though it seemed a bit one-sided in its portrayal of India. I'm reading Memoria del fuego: Los Nacimientos in small bites; it's pretty interesting. And I'll be starting Isak Dinesen's Seven Gothic Tales tonight.

Still reading A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole and it's pretty amazing. Toole was a genius, and I wonder how no one saw that whilst he was alive.

Sergei Lukyanenko's The Night Watch. I am really enjoying it.

I've just finished Inkheart by Cornelia Funke. I have mixed feelings, but the positive aspects win in the end I think, enough so that I actually want to read Inkspell (and let's hope that the plot will have a little more meat to it and the villains won't be so one-dimensional, and the bookbinding and collecting part will be expanded).
I am now starting Affinity by Sarah Waters, the last book by her I haven't read. She's one of my favourite authors.

My son just read Inkheart because he wanted to go see the movie. I think he said it was OK, but didn't come out an recommend it to me.

I wasn't very bowled over by Inkheart but I think it is a story that will translate well to screen and I'm looking forward to seeing the movie.

In case I didn't mention it before I'm reading Finder by Emma Bull. A kind of odd paranormal/fairy story.

I'm almost finished Fingersmith and will soon begin My Antonia and, perhaps, The Elegance of a Hedgehog.

My two cents on Inkheart: I thought it was wildly overwritten and suffered from uneven pacing. I also wondered if the translation hindered the English version. Despite all of that I still want to see the movie so I can see what Helen Mirren does as Elinor.

Elinor was actually my favourite character so I'm also looking forward to Mirren's portrayal of her.

Just finished Brave New World last night, I am now reading The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.

I loved Inkheart! In stories like that I like my good to be good and my evil to be evil so the pantomime baddie-ness of the villains fitted for me. Dustfinger is one of my favourite characters ever I think.

The film wasn't bad, I still prefer the book and they do tweak it (it's a lot to fit into the length of a children's film) but they keep the spirit there and it's well cast. Helen Mirren rocks in anything but she is good as Elinor but the whole cast is very good, particularly Paul Bettany, Brendan Fraser and Andy Serkis.

I finished Inkspell today and loved that too, but don't start it unless you intend to read Inkdeath as well because the story is a long way from finished!

I'm now reading Silent in the Sanctuary and am loving it as much as Silent in the Grave.

>87 elliepotten: elliepotten - definitely read Running in the Family. It begs to be read slowly to savor the lyrical writing. This was my first Ondaatje, but I will certainly read more.

I picked up and devoured Pomp and Sustenance by Mary Taylor Simeti. Perhaps it's my fascination with Sicilian history, perhaps it's my addiction to food books (food too), but I believe this book'll bowl over any reader of history and make cooks slobber with the deliciousness of the recipes.

Currently, I am in the middle of "The Bad Seed" by William March. It's quite good so far. Creepy children are always fun to read about.

I finished Cane River and picked up Reading Lolita in Tehran again. For some reason it is just not holding my interest.

I'm nearly finished Micronations and am loving it. I'm about halfway through Beloved and am really struggling. It's for a bookclub, so I will finish it, but it's hard work.

I finished The Chatham School Affair -- Meh. nothing special.

Started the last of the Shaara Civil War trilogy The Last Full Measure and it is pretty good so far.

Finished Salem Witch Judge today (see also post 89). Not sure what I'll read next: I might get back to Don Quixote now that I've finished the knitting project that had issues with that brick doorstop book. Or I might read Team of Rivals (another big volume), which ShannonMDE was kind enough to remind me, back in post 90, was still on my TBR list.

Of course, I might end up reading something else entirely.

Edited for touchstones.

>106 Sibylle.Night: et al. In my opinion, Inkheart is the weakest book of the trilogy. After I listened to it, I wasn't particularly enthused about the next books either, but personally, I think Inkspell and Inkdeath are so good that they make it worth pushing through the slow parts of Inkheart. The story branches out into a much more interesting world, and just generally gets a little more complex and multi-dimensional than "get captured-escape-runaway-repeat".

let's hope that the plot will have a little more meat to it and the villains won't be so one-dimensional, and the bookbinding and collecting part will be expanded.

The first two are absolutely true, and the third one is mostly true.

Taking a break from the rapes and murders in Part 4 of 2666 to read a heartwarming tale about a man and his amazing dogs, Izzy and Lenore by Jon Katz.

I'm reading The Funny Thing Is... by Ellen DeGeneres, which is a great choice on my part. It keeps me sane with all the reading I'm doing for my holocaust lit class.

Finished Breaking Dawn last night. About to start Canvey Island, which was my November ER book.

I've got about 70 pages left to go in The Unknown Terrorist and I just want to throw it down and stomp on it! It started out pretty good but now I just want to get done with the thing and move on to something that I actually can enjoy. This book had potential with an interesting plot, and although the writing was eloquent....the actual story just sort of went around and around to Nowhere....sort of like water swirling, swirling... down a drain. *Yawn* I'll try to finish. It would be a drag to get so close to the end without actually getting there.

I'm reading Turning Angel by Greg Iles. It will take me awhile to get through this book...life is a little too busy for reading. At night when I sit down, under the living room lamplight, to read, I fall soundly asleep after two or three pages! I admire those of you who are tackling War and Peace. Could you imagine how long that would take me? I do have a copy sitting on my shelf....I'm thinking it will be my first retirement project.

porchsitter55, thanks for helping me pare down my tbr pile! I have The Unknown Terrorist in there, but it sounds like it might be worth letting that one go.

I just finished Mr. Timothy by Louis Bayard. I am now reading Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum (for a book club) and Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I am enjoying Strout's way with character and plot immensely.

I'm reading Anna Karenin - Tolstoy. It moves quickly and I'm really enjoying it! If you're a fan of Russian writers, please make some suggestions. What's a good follow up to my current read? Dostoevsky? Thanks.

>128 bookinmybag: bookinmybag, I'd suggest The Idiot by Dostoevsky. A nice change, but also a continuity of errrrmmmm aesthetic? attitude? Intangible whatever, is the point...I think they'll make a nice pairing.

#126.......just my opinion, but the last 2/3's of the book has seemed like a big waste of time. Only one interesting thing has happened in the past 150 pages! I hate it when that happens! (Because I still feel compelled to finish the darn thing!) **sigh** At least I'm nearing the end now. I can't wait to pick out something else!!!!

#120
Thank you so much for your comment! I'm actually looking forward to Inkspell and Inkdeath as I heard they were better than the first book, for the reasons you mention. I'll make sure to have a copy of Inkdeath nearby when I start the second book as I heard there was a huge cliffhanger at the end of Inkspell.

In other news, I've just finished Affinity by Sarah Waters. It was a haunting and complex read, and excellent from beginning to end. I think I'll start The Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall whenever I can.

Just gloating that my library already got a copy of Drood by Dan Simmons. It's about the last years of Dickens' life, with Simmons speculating that he basically flipped out. I guess if anyone can take on something near-sacred, it's Simmons, so we'll see. It was interesting to see how the book kinda lightly touches upon Simmons' last book, The Terror; you wouldn't think that fatal Arctic exploration and Dickens would go together, but there you go...

It's a doorstop, so I'll be on it a while.

#128 - thanks for the review of Anna Karenina. I've been thinking about reading it but Russian novels always seem so intimidating. Maybe I'll try it now. I am getting more eclectic in my reading.

Last night I finished Ghosts of the Titanic and later on I'll start Sword Song.

Anna Karenina is very daunting, but once you get into it, it's actually very smooth, quick, and enjoyable reading. I definitely think you should give it a shot!

Recently finished Wicked by Gregory Maguire, a very...weird...book that I'm still deciding whether or not I liked.

Also reading The Pleasure of Reading, because of the comments & review of an LTer (can't remember who now, sorry!). I'm enjoying the various authors' memories of books that they liked or couldn't stand as kids, the different approaches they have to listing ten "favorite" books. I'm reading it rather slowly and wishing that I owned the book so that I could underline paragraphs or "write back" my own comments, a feeling that's rather foreign to me...

#132/133 - I totally agree about Anna Karenina. I was nervous about it because I've actually struggled with other Russian lit -- but I loved it; probably my favorite book that I read last year.

mikepatrick, right now I'm a hundred pages or so into Dan Simmons' Drood, and yes, it's really a boulder of a book at 775 pages, but most entertaining so far, only hope he can sustain it all.

I was left shocked and speechless at the end of John Updike's Rabbit, Run, it having been so long since I'd first read it that I'd totally forgotten how raw and cruel Updike's story was, but it's truly a brilliant book, and now I can't wait to re-read the remainder of the Rabbit Quartet in the weeks ahead. My least favorite caveat is "This is not a book for everyone", but in the case of Updike's book, I think it's probably an appropriate caution, though it somehow seems a bit arch and pedantic to warn readers off from one of the landmark novels of the last 50 years.

Think I might try Anna Karenina as well after all these glowing reviews - how is the Russian name situation in it though? I struggled with Dr Zhivago simply because I couldn't keep track of all the names!

>124 porchsitter55: porchsitter55 - my copy of Firmin - about a rat who eats books and learns to read - is getting me a bit the same way. Hopefully it'll pick up but despite its eloquence it feels very self-conscious at the moment...

>135 bell7: bell7 - that was me :-)
I made notes and put it straight on my wish list! And it took me a long time to read too, it definitely wasn't one to be read all in a rush so I read it alongside other things in delicious morsels!

Recently finished Goodnight Beautiful by Dorothy Koomson and i'm now reading Twisted Tracks by Lesley Horton. I really love her books.

It seems like a lot of people are talking about their book clubs. I am fairly new to Austin, TX and seeking a wine / coffee drinking book club, but since I don't know many people am having trouble finding one. Attempts to find a book club on craigslist involved an application process then a rejection letter. Any suggestions feel free to post to me off list..

138,

The names aren't as bad as some I've encountered in Russian lit. There are a few characters who are called several different variations, but it's fairly well structured and not that frequent. You could probably get away with writing them on a bookmark and keeping track, if you really needed to.

#135 I thought that about Wicked too - I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. I think I was expecting the wrong thing though - I was expecting a bit more dark humour I think. I struggle to say what it is about it, but when I read that it was a retelling of The Wizard of Oz it didn't seem quite as complicated! It was well done though, and I have another of his books on the To Read pile so I'll see how that goes.

Wicked, although I kind of liked it, I agree was one of those weird books that I never could figure out my feelings on, even though I read it years ago.

I adore his other work, though. My favorite is Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister.

>142 Moomin2009: and 143, I tend to like books that retell a story from a different perspective, and I enjoyed that aspect of it as well as some of the thought-provoking discussions about the nature of evil. I'm still rather ambivalent about it, even giving myself a couple of days to think about it. I liked it enough that I'd be willing to try another book by the author, but wouldn't read this particular title again.

I'm finally getting around to reading Dennis Lehane's The Given Day. It's a doorstop weighing in at a hefty 700 pages, but if the next 600 move as first as the first 100 I've read I'll be moving through it at lighting speed. So far it's a great story (based on true events), has some compelling characters and, no big surprise since it's Lehane we're talking about here, some great storytelling.

I finished Waterloo Station and have started The Screaming Skull, a collection of short stories by various authors such as Mark Twain and Edgar Allen Poe.

#145......I agree....Dennis Lehane is one of my favorites. I can't wait to get The Given Day. It's in my shopping bag at bookcloseouts.com. I keep debating with myself whether to wait for paperback or just go ahead and get it. I want the Wally Lamb book too!

Finished The Good House by Tananarive Due and Le vieux qui lisait des romans d'amour by Luis Sepulveda and have started Animal Instincts by Gena Showalter...

Still reading and love them both:

Moby Dick - my at home book. Nothing like I expected after reading the first 100 pages 20 years ago. Strange that there is almost no plot. The characters of Ahab and Starbuck are part of the American mythology and lexicon, but after 700 pages they've made only a few appearances. Ahab earns his mythic status in those appearances. So far Starbuck has really not been distinguished from the second and third mates. Not complaining. The whole thing is so vivid. Did not expect entire chapters devoted to expanding on minute details, favorites being the whole Jonah sermon delivered by the New Bedford preacher and the 'Whiteness of the Whale' devoted to a meditation of the color white. Foe me, it's Queequeg who dominates my imagination.

Anne of Green Gables - my riding the bus book. I read it on my way to work every morning and can't stop laughing. 100 year anniversary... definitely old fashioned in it's plotting, portrayals and vocabulary, but it feels fresh. A girl's story, but not cloying or precious or instructional. It's not Pollyanna. Love the depiction of small town life and simple excitements and keeping up with friends and neighbors before telephones or email. Have I said too much about a book my mother read as a child? Don't think so.

I loved Anne of Green Gables when I was younger - it's definitely on my 'to be reread soon' list. I have a couple of the sequels too: I think I'll have to start filling in the gaps so I've got them all for the day I have someone of my own to pass them onto...

I have given up on Cain's Version as well as The Oxford Book of Japanese Short Stories. Giving up on a book is very unusual for me let alone giving up on two within one week. They were just unbearable for me though so I decided to ditch them. There are too many other books out there that I want to read.

Unfortunately, my next pick isn't going much better. I am reading The Alchemist for my RL book club and can honestly say that I am not liking it too much. I have heard wonderful things about it but apparently it just isn't for me. It isn't terrible though and is a pretty easy read so I don't think I will give up on this one.

I finished Forty Words For Sorrow by Giles Blunt. It was a good solid thriller, with a nice Canadian setting. I've started The Outlander by Gil Adamson. This was highly recommended by a LT friend and it looks promising!

Just reading a partisan's daughter and am loving it although am a bit disturbed by it in equal measure.

I've started on Land of Marvels by Barry Unsworth. I'm only a couple pages in.

I just started The Moor's Last Sigh after reading everyone's glowing reviews. It's going slowly, but that's probably because I spend waaay too much time puttering around on the internet instead of reading :)

I am finding that I am either reading too fast or too many light books. I started putting the date I finished a book on my challenges and I am noticing that there is usually not more than a day between books. Granted I am "retired" but that doesn't mean I have too much time on my hands. My reading is usually confined to the evening hours and I do watch that box in the living room with regularity.

I guess it's time for another "classic" and those take time to read - maybe next week I'll start Anna Karenina.

Unfortunately I have a book started and another ready to go after that and I just noticed that a new book I have on hold is on its way to my library from one of the others in the system - it's a neverending battle - and the Friends' book sale is in April. I know I could not go but any self-respecting LTer will understand that that is not a possibility!

156> Complete non-possibility. The local library had another of its sales this past weekend, still with the stupid law that they can only accept donations, and we came home with another 27.

I was barreling through books in the beginning of January, but I've been so busy lately that it's slowed down considerably. For awhile it was six days between books, and that's very unusual for me. I put dates at the end of books I read for my challenges, too. It's so interesting to look back.

I keep think to get rid of my two 50 challenge threads, but I can't get myself to do it. It shows me what I read and that i did it i seven months!

These also make me really know just how much I am reading when the bookshelves don't seem to be getting any less cluttered!

koalamom,

I agree. The various lists serve twofold purposes. First, as a record of how much I read and second to justify my replenishment of those gaps in the huge TBR compilation I have. Ah, the life of a bibliophile!

# 151

I felt the same way about The Alchemist. My co-worker was very enthusiastic about it and since I read a lot and am 'into that kinda stuff', he was convinced I would like it. It wasn't that I hated it, it just didn't do anything for me.

I didn't care much for The Alchemist either.

I use the date started and ended fields in the book page. I also have those columns in my library display and I sort by date started. That way I have a record of starting, and completion.

I have the date completed on my home DB, but only record month and year.

Same here on The Alchemist - nice message, shame about all the waffle. I don't know, it was just a bit... blah. Does that make sense, illiterate as it is?!

Updike did have remarkable cadence, a kind of remarkable that will be rare to accomplish as younger and younger writers fail to read his voice and miss his artful way with language. I'm glad you're re-reading it...we're celebrating him right now at flatmancrooked. www/flatmancrooked.com. We think he was very special and his writing will remain nothing to dis about.

Tray Saville

Updike did have remarkable cadence, a kind of remarkable that will be rare to accomplish as younger and younger writers fail to read his voice and miss his artful way with language. I'm glad you're re-reading it...we're celebrating him right now at flatmancrooked. www/flatmancrooked.com. We think he was very special and his writing will remain nothing to dis about.

Tray Saville

Updike did have remarkable cadence, a kind of remarkable that will be rare to accomplish as younger and younger writers fail to read his voice and miss his artful way with language. I'm glad you're re-reading it...we're celebrating him right now at flatmancrooked. www/flatmancrooked.com. We think he was very special and his writing will remain nothing to dis about.

Tray Saville

Updike did have remarkable cadence, a kind of remarkable that will be rare to accomplish as younger and younger writers fail to read his voice and miss his artful way with language. I'm glad you're re-reading it...we're celebrating him right now at flatmancrooked. www/flatmancrooked.com. We think he was very special and his writing will remain nothing to dis about.

Tray Saville

Updike did have remarkable cadence, a kind of remarkable that will be rare to accomplish as younger and younger writers fail to read his voice and miss his artful way with language. I'm glad you're re-reading it...we're celebrating him right now at flatmancrooked. www/flatmancrooked.com. We think he was very special and his writing will remain nothing to dis about.

Tray Saville

Er, maybe delete four out of the five?! Easy mistake to make... :-)

>168 elliepotten:....Ellie...sometimes LT trips over its own tongue, as it were...and multiple posts...multiple posts...are a characteristic of the Beast...

anywho...i like Your posts.

#5 Sybille.Night: Your post made me even more excited than I already am! I've just bought a copy of The Hunger Games because I've heard so many good things about it, but then again there were other books with as much (or more) hype than this (I'm looking at you, Water for Elephants) that I just hated. I'm about to start reading it. Here's hoping I won't be disappointed!

Finished A Confederacy of Dunces yesterday, and am now reading Truman Capote's Breakfast At Tiffany's

Tonight I'll be starting Bonk by Mary Roach.

>172 rocketjk: jk, it's hilarious! Enjoy! And was your show a success today? I missed it...interviewing a home health aid for my sainted aunt.

>169 jdthloue: jdthloue - I know, it's happened to me a couple of times too, if I don't notice it helps if someone points it out so I can delete the extra posts... Silly LibraryThing, getting its knickers in a twist :-)

I started and very nearly finished When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka. A lot being said in a very small book.

Well, I finished The Alchemist last night and can only say that I was completely underwhelmed. I don't know if it would have read better if it had been written originally in English instead of translated but it just didn't do anything for me. I also found a few of the ideas to be contradictory to each other and others to be just plain common sense. Oh well. They can't all be great, I guess even though we want them to be.

I have finally started a good book - Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. I saw on one of these threads that someone had read it so I got a copy from the library. So far, I am enjoying it very much which is a relief after the month of clunkers I have had.

I actually like the Alchemist. It's one of my daughter's favorites, but then she was able to read it in the original language. Maybe that does help - losing something in the translation and all.

I'm almost finished with Sword Song and I am waiting for the library to call/email me about the book that has come in for me. Just because my library account says it's there doesn't mean anything. I've gone in just because it was on my account to do so and they couldn't find it. The book was usually there but not in a usual place. Now I wait till I get the call! And it's not like I can't find anything else to do here!

I just finished my first Karin Fossum mystery The Indian Bride which I very much enjoyed. I will be heading to the library later today to check out some more of her books. I am also still working my way through Say You're One of Them by Uwem Akpan. These stories are quite brutal, and I need to get away from them for awhile.

I've just started a sci-fi novel called Archangel Protocol which I believe I got from BookMooch. Funny thing is I can't remember why I mooched it. Maybe I'll remember as I go along.

TracyKaye1 is just pushing a website--and joined LT yesterday with no library.

I finished Twelfth Night earlier this week and am now reading The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare as part of my 2009 project to read his complete works. So far almost through the comedies, and it's been very enlightening, both in re-visiting plays I've read or seen enacted before, and in reading others I had no familiarity with.

I also picked up this week Thames: the Biography to read when the iambic pentameter becomes too much, although Ackroyd's prose flows rather poetically, I notice. Apt.

Since finishing Salem Witch Judge I've sped through The Ghost Map (in about a day and a half, which for me is pretty damn quick). I started reading Team of Rivals today at lunch.

I finished The Interrogation by Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clézio last night, and started Admiring Silence by Abdulrazak Gurnah today. I'll start The Double by Dostoyevsky later today or tomorrow, and hopefully finish Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin this weekend.

# 173> Richard, yes, I'm very much looking forward to Bonk. The show went well, thanks. I'll be sure to post a reminder in two weeks.

>182 AnnaClaire: AnnaClaire, The Ghost Map was an excellent read, wasn't it? I was left a little unsatisfied by the lack of personal touches about the two men whose lives Johnson uses to frame his story. Felt there was so much more he could and should have done!

>185 richardderus:
Yes, I did feel like something got left out about Snow and Whitehead, especially since a number of secondary charecters had a good deal said about them. But yes, in general it was a very good read -- or else I wouldn't have roared through it at such speed. :)

Finished Sword Song and will return it and Matilda to the library tomorrow and will pick upCat Playing Cupid.

Bonk was okay.. Stiff was great!!

>180 CEP: I thought that might be it, but I didn't want to be blunt just in case! Thanks for the clarification.

Just finished reading Brothers by Bernice Rubens. Thought it a magnificent effort, chronicling six generations in a Jewish family, all the way from 19th century Russia through the Holocaust of WW2.

Once again, the book came to my notice c/o LTers, and I'm so glad that you guys recommended it otherwise I would likely have never read it, probably would never have known of its existence!

More and more I am finding myself forsaking the current best seller lists, where I usually resided, and borrowing old and trusted favorites of yours from the library because of your enthusiastic praise of a book or author I had never heard about.

I now find myself in bondage to you, almost doing a kind of penance for my earlier tardiness, fool that I was for daring to watch football, basketball, golf or baseball, or even (heavens forbid!) getting out into the fresh air and scenic beauty of the fair Vancouver Island, which is nestled up in the northwest corner of your American map, just across the border in a place called Canada. (I jest).

As a result of my short comings, and goings, and since I'm doing a lot of catching up, I was notified by my local library today that there are nine books reserved in my name, most of them for the minimum number of days, due to other readers' wants.

Thanks a lot! and I mean it.

>190 morfam: *evil snicker*

See guys? The plot worked again!

Damn you, sir! (191)

There you sit, sticking little cardboard cutouts of Updike onto a Maple Leaf and meanwhile I continue to suffer from the dreaded curse that has left me so little time and so much to read.

Gadzooks (eh?) I am now being forced to read Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney, yet another of your minions's recommendations.

Will it never cease?

*waves to morfam*

Hey there! I'm on the island as well. Actually going up island tomorrow to visit beautiful Long Beach.

I also suffer from LTitis, though you won't find me looking for a cure.

It really is a problem. I always knew I read rather slowly but it caused me no agony. Now with the stacks of TBR growing, clamoring for attention, and reading the posts from people reading a book a day, my frustration grows. My self image is suffering. I can't wallow in it, however, since I must read, I must read

morfam, how lucky you are, as Stef Penney's The Tenderness of Wolves is really a terrific novel, and have recommended it many times.

I'm planning to start Kafka on the shore by Haruki Murakami today, although also Persepolis is tempting...

I have The Tenderness of Wolves in my TBR pile so I'm happy to read good things about it. I may wait and make it a vacation read.

>196 boekenwijs: boekenwijs, go for Persepolis and you'll never be sorry.

Hemlokgang started a week of 7 February thread over here for all who wish to remain au courant.

> 198, Richard, thanks for your advice. I will start it during next week, looks like a good read for in the train and I have some work travels ahead :)

I finished Nightrunners of Bengal by John Masters
Historical Fiction about the Indian Mutiny as seen through the eyes of the Raj. The pace picked up and I ended up enjoying it, but it was slow at the start.

Masters spends most of the book laying the groundwork for the lives of the British in military enclave they live in . You get to see them before the violence and the killing. He also has this book's Savage (each book is about a different male member of the Savage family) talk about how stiff and restricted their lives are in the Victorian era. He blames Albert, and reflects on the easier life at the time of his father and grandfather. I think the writing tries to reflect the same period feeling. Perhaps Masters is too successful for this is probably the only Savage I don't really like all that much.

There is a good bit of reflection on the situation of the English forcing themselves on the Indians, and the good and the evil of the situation. The follies of the East India Company (who governed at this time) and their profit driven actions that caused problems and rifts between the British officers and the Sepoys are also explored. He brings out the different attitudes on both sides.

The actual mutiny doesn't start until 2/3 of the way in the book. The book ends when they know they will not be overcome or driven from India, but doesn't deal with the aftermath much at all.

I am now reading Murder is Binding by Lorna Barrett for a RL book group. Its fictional town of Stoneham, NH is based on the nearby town of Milford, NH. It is the start of the Booktown Mystery series.