What are you reading the week of June 27, 2009?

Reading The English Patient. It's quite different from what I expected. In a good way.

Have you seen the film, it was wonderful, I was wondering if the book is very different?

I'm still reading my first Patrick White novel The Solid Mandala.

ETA what I'm reading ;-)

I've not seen the movie -- probably will now after I finish the book.

I'm 1/3 of the way through Pilcrow by Adam Mars-Jones, a lovely story narrated by a boy with Still's disease (now known as systemic-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis) growing up in 1950s Britain. I'm also reading Metro Stop Paris: An Underground History of the City of Light by Gregor Dallas.

Find-it-later post.

I'm deep in the last 100 pages of Great Expectations and now thoroughly enjoying it. I've just started this morning Captain Corelli's Mandolin and last night as a long term read Team of Rivals

That's it, three is my limit :-)

I'm finally loving The Iliad after my third attempt to read it! I think I was too young in high school during my first attempt, and five years ago I didn't have enough background knowledge to truly get what was going on. I've read a lot more Greek mythology since then and have read other novels that connect to the story (such as The Penelopiad, which really helps. Also...after seeing Troy, I know how to pronounce some of the names and I have a visual for some of the characters - Eric Bana and Brad Pitt! (Yes, I know Troy isn't the real story.....)

I've just finished Book Two - the dullish part detailed how many boats came from which arts of Greece, etc... so I'm thinking if I can even enjoy THAT part, the rest should be excellent.

I have a few pages left of The Myrtles Plantation, and then will move on to
The Devil in the White City, because Jude made me want to :)

I'm reading a very light, ghost themed romance, Into Thin Air by Cindy Miles.

I haven't read it until now, but I just began Diet for a New America by John Robbins. It tells of many things I'd already learned from books by Michael Pollan.

I picked up Midnighters: The Secret Hour on my way home on my road trip a few days ago (only packed one book and finished it - emergency bookstore stop!), so I'm finishing that. Then I think I'll start A Song for Arbonne, the group read for The Green Dragon. But I bought a lot of good books recently, so something else might tempt me first!

I'm almost half way through The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and am loving it. I love its rambunctious lively writing even if I don't understand all of the Spanish. Yesterday I started The Hummingbird's Daughter, inspired by LT recommendations. It also promises to be a joy.

Still reading Jane Eyre and Christianity and Evolution, but I am liking both and we were away for a couple of days, so I didn't get a lot of reading done.

snash, I think you are in for a very good read, Daughter was one of my favorite reads for this year... and will be a keeper for me.

jdloue.... holy shite!!! I just read the cover flaps of White City~
torture and a crematorium? eep! onward though.. I loved Issac's Storm, and you and mark said it was good ( I think it was mark) so...

Yes, it was me ,thank you very much! And don't be spooked by a little torture, this is an incredible story!

Still working on American Gods and really enjoying it.

Just got home from a week relaxing in a beautiful Cotswolds cottage - cheesecake, books, cups of tea, and the most friendly cat I ever met. While I was away I finished The Big Over Easy, read Ella Enchanted and Angels and Demons, and now I'm over halfway through Breaking Dawn. I was waiting to read the last two until this holiday, so I could really let myself sink into them without worrying that I should be doing something more productive. Now I'll have to snatch the hours to finish up before we open the shop next week!

I'm a little over 1/2 way through Something Beyond Greatness by Judy Rodgers and Gayatri Naraine. It's too hot here, and I have no air conditioning, so my brain's just not taking in the info.

I'm also reading Fruits Basket vol 1 by Natsuki Takaya, and enjoying it :-) Maggie and I love watching the anime, and the manga is fun, too.

I just finished {Easter Parade} by Richard Yates. I liked his writing, but I think the story could have been developed a little more. I am currently reading {Wild Swans} by Jung Chang.

Just finished Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley; not a bad mystery, with a good central character in 11 year old Flavia de Luce, but I had hoped it would be better.

Just started The Cranford Chronicles by Elizabeth Gaskell, and am enjoying it so far. Also reading a Hercule Poirot mystery, Elephants Can Remember. I read this one and a lot of other Agatha Christies when I was younger, and am having fun re-reading them.

I recently read Ocsar Wao and did not really love it until the second part. It was a very good read.

I'm still working on The Stories of John Cheever and have also started Doomed Queens, about queens throughout history who have met bad ends. I'm also reading Spree: A Cultural History of Shopping.

Mckait - Devil in the White City is FANTASTIC!! Don't be thrown off by the chapters on Holmes - they're incredibly intriguing without being disgusting or gory. And the story of the Columbian Exposition was fascinating. I first read this book for one of my college courses, and not even the assigned essay could tarnish this book for me! It's absolutely one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

As far as my reading goes, I gave up on Orson Scott Card and I'm probably going to start one of the books that just came in on interlibrary loan in addition to Cujo. The only problem is going to be deciding between Can't Buy My Love, an interesting look at the psychological effects of advertisement from a feminist's perspective and Dead Poets Society, which happens to be one of my favorite movies. Hopefully the book will be just as good!

After two months, I've finally finished The Cider House Rules by John Irving. It was an okay book, but I just never seemed to be able to get into it. I think it was mostly because Irving made the main theme of the book (a woman's right to choose) so obvious. I think he's a better story teller when his themes have multiple layers and perspectives, such as in A Prayer for Owen Meany. Still, it was a decent book and I would probably recommend it to a select group of people.

I definitely need a break from fiction after that, so I'm delving into Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott.

I am still reading They Were Counted and this week The Book Thief

no worries colorado girl.... I just read a few pages ( then fell asleep) but I am already into it. this is some writer, eh?

I finished The Dogs of Riga by Henning Mankell and now I'm looking for all Mankell's books. I have a 3 hour plane trip today and another on Wednesday, so unless I find Faceless Killers I'm going to take The Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett and Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain.

I'm still fighting my way through Bonfire of the Vanities, and so far, I'm not enjoying it.

Fortunately, I'm about halfway through Let the Great World Spin which is an incredible book. The characters are linked together somehow by a man who is tightrope-walking between the World Trade Center (in 1974). But the characters' stories are gorgeous. So far, it's a 5-star book.

I have a few pages to go on Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Next up is The Sea by John Banville and then probably The Lost Memoirs of Jane Austen by Syrie James

I'm still reading Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. It's long but an easy read.

I finished The Terror by Dan Simmons -- loved it!

I have now started Little Women so that I can read Geraldine Brooks' March. I have never read Little Women and clearly I am doing so in the wrong time of my life. I am finding it discustingly syrupy.

#28 Bridget, I think Bonfire of the Vanities is one of those books that just hasn't held up; it was such a funny satire when it came out, at least for those of us who lived in New York and knew what Wolfe was satirizing. And Philippe Petit really did walk between the twin towers.

I'm dividing my day between three wonderful books. Finishing up Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend by Larry Tye.

Have begun Richard Flanagan's Wanting and, as expected, it's masterful. His Gould's Book of Fish is one of my favorite novels and unconditionally recommended.

Also, late night reading, The Snoring Bird by Bernd Heinrich, a naturalist and biologist's family memoir.

It's going to be a good week!

#31 -- Louisa Mae Alcott would agree with you. She never understood the popularity of the book because she thought all the characters were too goodie-goodie. When I read it again a few years ago I agreed, but loved it again as a reminder of my childhood.

Currently reading Prayers for Sale which, though pretty well written, reminds me of Elizabeth Berg -- intended to wring the emotions every few pages. I object to being manipulated. Remains to be seen whether I'll finish it.

Also reading John Adams which I'm thoroughly enjoying.

- whymaggiemay
I had the same thoughts when I re read Little Women a few months ago. Little Women will always have a special place in my heart, because it was the first "real" book I ever read. It was my mother's copy and I intend to pass it on to my daughters someday.

So, I'm the only person who didn't find Little Women syrupy? I read it the first time when I was comfortably into my sixties; that may be the difference. I read it because I had read March and because I am fascinated by the society of the transcendentalists. It led me in turn to read Pilgrim's Progress which I did twice; it is something that should be common in our culture so that we can make references to it and smile in remembering.

Robert

Little Women was a book that I started many times when I was a little kid, although I never actually finished it until I was in high school. I thought the book was overly preachy at times, but part of the appeal was the fact that both my mother and my grandmother had read the book, so I felt like I was part of a long standing tradition. It's definitely a book I'll pass down to my children if I have a daughter.

A really good book for the womans soul. The Elegant Gathering Of White Snow by kris Radish.
It brings a lot of hope,and wisdom. Very well written as well with lots of story lines. loved it.

#1 teelgee, I enjoyed The English Patient, I read it before I saw the film which is something else completley. I highly recommend Ondaatje's memior Running in the family it's beautiful book about his early family life in Sri Lanka.

I have liked Little Women every time I have read it.. through the decades...

:)

I'm reading the darkly enchanting short stories of Robert Aickman as can be found in Cold Hand in Mine, as well as the not so dark, but still enchanting short stories of Steven Millhauser in In the Penny Arcade.

I'm also struggling a bit with Dostoevsky's The Double--perhaps because I have a hard time keeping track of Russian names. I think I was a bit surprised with how obviously nutty the protagonist is.

cmt; I also just finished The Dogs of Riga. I hope you can find Faceless Killers. I enjoyed it more. Just two different types of mysteries.

Still working on American Psycho and Mad Ship. I'm thinking I'll be on Mad Ship for a while, though I'm not quite half way through American Psycho so far.

I've decided to keep going on The 19th Wife for now. It's mildly better than I thought at first.

Little Women is one of those books that is definitely shared over the generations. My copy came from an elderly aunt who bought it in Concord, Massachusetts, while visiting (I believe) Alcott landmarks. I've given it to my daughter, who found another copy at a used book sale inscribed from an aunt to a niece, so we are starting a little collection.

I have been enjoying Cara Black's mystery books this summer that are set in Paris. Just finishing The City of Fallen Angels.

Reading an ARC of The Cavalier of the Apocalypse, a new historical mystery by Susanne Alleyn, and am simply blown away by it!

Okay, I have to add my 2cents worth to the Little Women discussion:

I have loved the book everytime I've encountered it, either in book form or movie. I love the first half more than the second, though... after they grow up, I find it less enchanting, and maybe that's because I wanted to be Jo and stay there in that childhood forever... nasty mean "life" made me grow up... BOO!

Just finished Brazzaville beach by William Boyd, which I kind of liked (still thinking about what I should think of it).

Later today I will start Lijmen / Het been by Willem Elsschot. This is a re-read of a book I liked some 8 years ago. I've bought some other books by this author which have the same character in it, so I decided to re-read this one first. I can remember I liked it, so it will be fun.

To add to Little Women,

I enjoyed it as a kiddo also, but never got all the way through it. Now I'm trying to get through it. Slowly, but I am finishing it. It is very syrupy sweet in my opinion but yes still a good book. I liked the movie version too with Winona Rider. I think little girls like 9-12 maybe? would still enjoy it. There are modern stories and movies that are just as syrupy :D. Maybe it is a process of being a little older. I think my favorite thing was the civil war backdrop. Loved it.

I loved Little Women and when I finally discovered the sequels I read them too, though the first was always the best. I have gone on to read a lot of her other books as well - we even share a birthday.

I just finished 'With No One As Witness' By Elizabeth George, a gift from my daughter Sue-anne. I loved it, like all the books by Elizabeth George.

I just finished the fourth book in Steven King's Dark Tower series, Wizard and Glass. This week I'm going to take a break from series to get through three classics that I've had on my shelf for a while: Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

I finished the book i picked up last night a little while ago - Evernight by Claudia Gray. For a vampire romance novel it what somewhat less irritating to read than twilight although i swear some facts were just sprung on me when i least expected it to hastily explain things that seemed implausible. On the whole i did rather like it and I am looking forward to reading the sequel.
Not sure whether i should crack into the two library books that have got to go back on Tuesday or whether i should read the book i was challenged to review in "Go review that book!" hmm decisions....

>>>53 JenniferThurman:

I'll be intrigued by what you think of the three classics you mentioned as they also sit on my bookcase waiting to be read.

Joining the Little Woman posts, this is another classic that I've just started reading today. I know, I'm the wrong age and gender, but its on my classics list to read......so I am :-)

I am reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke and listening to The Bodies Left Behind by Jeffrey Deaver.

I finished Pilcrow last night, and submitted a review on the book's main page. It was excellent for the first 2/3, but it lost its hold on me toward the end.

I'm 50+ pages into The Blackwater Lightship by Colm Tóibín, a story about the coming together of an estranged Irish family around a young man who is dying of AIDS, which is wonderful so far.

I think I'll put aside Metro Stop Paris for now, and start reading Seven Ages of Paris by Alistair Horne.

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells for the 'fantasy/horror/sci-fi" category of the 999 challenge...

edited for typo...

#53 - JenniferThurman - How is the Dark Tower series so far? I tried reading the first book a couple years ago, but I never got into it. And I have never read the Hunchback of Notre Dame, but Frankenstein is pretty good, and Dracula was great! You picked a good set of classics to read!

I stopped reading The Last Light of the Sun because I was reading too many other long books and couldn't keep track of the characters. Incidentally, does anyone have a recommendation for a good book to be the "first" I read by Guy Gavriel Kay? From what I've heard, I think I would like his writing but don't know where to start.

I'm also still reading A Short History of Nearly Everything and David Copperfield. For a lighter read, I started Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which is hilarious so far.

Sorry - posted on the wrong thread. Here it is:

I've just finished Love's Labour's Lost, which was a very difficult play, I'm sure it'll need a rereading next year.
I'm starting A Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. I have yet to find a book by him that doesn't bore me to death (I read Bleak House and thought the 2005 adaptation was infinitely superior, Little Dorrit, Our Mutual Friend and David Copperfield) but I keep trying nonetheless, just in case.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and this would be the part where I shamefacedly admit that I've never read the original, or any other Austen. Although I'm sure I have a never read copy of Mansfield Park lying around somewhere that I may have to crack open.

I started The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It's been spellbinding!

#60 Each of kay's work has its (many) virtues and (some) flaws. I liked LLotS the least of all of them. For a first read I would recommend Tigana if you like a strong fantasy flavor, and The Lions of al-Rassan if the fantasy element isn't important. All of his novels have strong characters who interact in interesting ways. I think Lions is the best written.

ETA: I'm still working on World's End, which I've been reading for a while. It's not so good for reading a half hour at a time, which is what I generally end up doing. The writing is intermittently wonderful, which keeps me going through my confusion.

Finally finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Very interesting premise to the book. It would be neat if this were a series.

Starting Lake of Sorrows by Erin Hart.

Got some more library books I need to read too.

>55 BookMarkMe:: the wrong age and gender?? Nah. I think anyone and everyone gets to read Little Women or anything else they choose. (I know, you were being facetious.) I would probably cringe at LW if I read it now; I tend to look at all literature with my 21st century feminist eye and forget that in it's own time and place, this was the norm. I'm getting better at it though, more forgiving, able to see past the contemporary lens.

I wonder if Little Women would have been considered YA lit if that category had been around then.

As for what I'm reading now: I finished The English Patient late last night and am picking up the pieces of a few other books I've been dipping into (The Frozen Thames; One Nation Under Dog) to clear my plate for July. I will probably start The Invention of Everything Else later today.

#60 & 64 I definitely agree with Jim53. The Lions of al-Rassan is utterly brilliant, with Tigana a close second. I've read a couple more of Kaye's works but didn't find them nearly as compelling (Ysabel and Sailing to Sarantium), yet I'll continue to read more by him because al-Rassan and Tigana were so very good.

Just finished The Cavalier of the Apocalypse by Susanne Alleyn, an historical mystery set in the time leading up to the French Revolution. It's brilliant for its historical details and excellent mystery & I absolutely loved it.

Started Dead Beat by Jim Butcher, another in the Dresden Files series.

I finished Subwayland last week, and will choose another at-home book as soon as I fix my bedside lamp. It was entertaining, though being a collection of newspaper columns, it read like, well, a bunch of newspaper columns.

I'm almost done with The Ascent of George Washington. The introduction makes a point of saying it isn't strictly a biography of George Washington. I'd contend it isn't a biography of Washington in the same way Team of Rivals isn't a biography of Abraham Lincoln.

>55 BookMarkMe:,66 At least 55 could read Little Men and Jo's Boys. :D

> storeetllr, What is the historical setting and premise of The Cavalier of the Apocalypse ?

> mkait, I too loved The Devil in the White City, also enjoyed Isaac's Storm.

I enjoy Kay too, but thought Tigana was very poor. The main characters are terrorists and I couldn't deal with that. Loved Lions of al-Rassan, and thought the second book after Sailing to Sarantium , Lord of Emperors was much better. The first book was blah, but the second has a different POV and is much less limp.

I forget what I posted about. I have been having a bit of a reading slump. I finished Quiet Teacher by Arthur Rosendfeld, it was very good and had a shocking ending. It was the second book in the Dr. Xenon Pearl martial arts thriller. I also finished The Empire of the Wolves by Jean-Christophe Grange. It is a mystery set in modern Paris and involves Turkish immigrants. It was pretty blah.

Now resuming The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen, about a fictional town in the Pacific Northwest set during WWI and the Flu Pandemic.

I agree with Teelgee, reading a book is not determined by age or gender.

As an 'old fart' of some renown, so I'm told by those closest to me, I will absolutely read anything my gristled heart desires. Right now I'm really enjoying Little friend by Donna Tartt, an LT recommendation.

The novel is about a 12 year old girl and her younger friend trying to solve a mystery of why her brother died under mysterious circumstances, when she was but a babe.

Perhaps, in my un-enlightened younger days I would have blanched at reading such a book, I even (shame) used to avoid anything written by a female author. Then I found that many great books were by authors using psuedonyms, and - who knew?

Such a pity that my revelations are occurring so late in life, hope they have a great library wherever I'm bound for in the hereafter, whether up or down, probably down as my wife is always telling me to go to h...!

I'm currently reading The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell. Excellent so far...

72 that is one of my all time favorite books.... I look forward to seeing what you think of it.. you know there is a sequel right?

Yes, (Children of God) I actually just found that out here on LibraryThing! Thanks!

:) Have fun with that bok.. I find myself missing the doctor, and others at times. silly huh?

I have been reading the Devlin Diary. This book is so much better than I thought it would be. I can't wait to get it reviewed, but then it will be over! To think it sat on my bookshelf for two weeks while I was making up my mind. I guess the cover and title had me going meh, but it is the fabulous LT group that got me to beg the publisher so I could get an ARC. Just so neat to get whisked here and there as if you are in a time machine. Read 281 out of 427 pp. so far.

Finished "Dust" by Martha Grimes in addition to the mystery, there are numerous references to Henry James and his writing/books (part of the story takes place at Lamb House in Rye, James' house in England.

Started "Justice Denied" by J.A.Jance ('J.P. Beaumont' series.

I am another fan of "Little Women" and Louisa M. Alcott. My edition of "Little Women" was originally part of my mother's childhood library. I also own, & have read/reread her editions of "Little Men' and "Jo's Boys" (sequels to Little Women) plus "An Old Fashioned Girl" & "Eight Cousins".
More recently, I bought newer editions of "A Long Fatal Love Chase", a novel/thriller for adult readers, and "The Lost Stories of Louisa May Alcott", a collection of recently discovered short stories originally published in magazines of the day.

Just finished Wisdom's Daughter by India Edghill. It's basically a story about Solomon and Sheba told from many different view points, I really enjoyed it. Still reading An Irish Country Doctor which I am loving as a cosy, warm and humorous read. I am starting Across the Mersey by Annie Groves about a British family during WWII.

As for Little Women this was probably my favorite book when a young girl. I think of it as one of the books that gave me my life-long love of reading, I have read it many times including aloud to my daughter, and I can't wait for my grandaughter to be old enough for it!

Happy to report that I finished Crime and Punishment.

I have two that I think I will be reading this week: Shanghai Girls and Olive Kitteridge.

#72 - The Sparrow is also one of my favorite books. How far are you in it?

I just finished Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie. I have to admit that I didn't understand the ending. But then I've never read anything by Balzac and it had to do with that. Hmmm..... Has anyone read it that can explain it to me? I read only the first few reviews of it here on LT and it sounds like many others didn't "get" the ending either.
I will be starting The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver for Orange July - a month to read books that were nominated (short- or long-listed) for the Orange Prize or books that actually won.

I feel like I'm finally getting to some of the books that many have raved about - The Kite Runner and, now, The Poisonwood Bible.

Finished Something Beyond Greatness (review here) and it's one of those books that get into your brain and then point things out to you when you're walking or reading or watching TV. It didn't seem like much when I read it, but it's sticking to me. I'm giving away a copy on my blog, btw.

I suppose I'll be starting The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor next, as well as Liz Rosenberg's Home Repair. Still reading Fruits Basket, too. :-)

Bleak House is one of my favorite books of all time. To be fair, though, I did have a very hard time getting into it.

I loved Little Women as a kid, around ten. Trying to reread it at an older age was a mistake though. The magic was gone, and the memory of a beloved book, spoilt. Never could get into any of her other books.

Still slogging through Man and His Symbols. I've gotten behind on my magazines, the June and July Asimov's are waiting, so it may be some days before I get to another book. By that time, maybe I'll have finished the Jung. I like to have a couple of things going at once, like many here.

I finished Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen, about a town in the Pacific Northwest that quarantines itself against the pandemic Flu at the end of WWI. It was very good. The writing was smooth, and I really ended up caring about the characters. It also included information about the labor movement and the loss of civil liberties due to the war.

I am now starting Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich the latest in the Stephanie Plum series. Light fluffy, fun.

Finished Great Expectations, the first Dickens I've enjoyed. I'm now looking with interest at all the others on my bookcase.

In amongst my other reading I read Of Mice and Men yesterday, wow, what a powerful book. I'm still thinking about it today. One of my favourites.

My daughter read at school and couldn't believe that I never had.

I picked up Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen today. I needed a fun, light, riveting read, and this definitely fits the bill. I'm going to try hard not to stay up too late reading tonight...

I'm now beginning Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde.

For Orange month I would highly recommend We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.

Re: Little Women I love that book and have read it at least 4 times over the years. I think of it like the TV programme 7th Heaven. While there is no way I did or could ever have grown up in a family like that I felt compelled to watch it and agreed with most of it even though I'm agnostic.

Had to throw Emerson's Collected Essays against the wall. He has a point but he keeps making the same point over and over. Couldn't take it.

Almost finished with Sketches by Boz. You can see the germ of later novels and Dickens' talent for character and setting are evident, with a minimum of sentimentality. Sketches doesn't allow his sometimes verbosity.

I just finished The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer. Very well done story of a Jewish family struggling to survive in Iran after the revolution in the late 70s.

I thought it was time for a classic so I've started Steinbeck's Cannery Row. It may or may not be a reread for me but it doesn't much matter, either way I'll enjoy it.

Still reading Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell and have started Samurai Executioner vol.3 (because it fits into my bag better than Jonathan Strange).

I'm reading the novelization of the recent Star Trek movie by Alan Dean Foster. After this and the last Harry Dresden book I'm putting the kibosh on library books so I can work on my TBR pile.

I finished Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich. Very, very funny. Loved it. Stephanie is like comfort food.

I am starting Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie. It is my ER book.

#94: I also finished Fearless Fourteen by Janet Evanovich this weekend. I agree--comfort food is definitely a great description! I thought this one was one of the better one in the series.

I also finished Honolulu by Alan Brennert this weekend. It's one of those books that follows a single person through a colorful place and time in history. I like it, but there are some jarring moments when the writer loses his narrator's voice and slips into history-speak. Still, it gives a wonderful portrait of a Korean woman making her way in this country in the first part of this century.

I hope to begin A Fortunate Age by Joanna Smith Rakoff tonight.

I finished Jane Eyre last night and really liked it. It's a nice addition to my 999 and one I didn't struggle with.

And this addition to my library makes 1700!

Still going on with I did a Bad Thing.

I'm reading from John Updike's The Early Stories, specifically the Olinger stories. It's obvious, IMOHO, that at this point (1964) Updike was determined to survive simply as a writer, struggling to have a career in fiction and not to martyr himself in poverty or take up a supporting career as professor or editor. I get the feeling that they were written to first establish his presence and then to help him earn his keep. The consequence was that some of the stories are written as work, stories written to pay the bills or keep his presence up. The stories are interesting enough to read in charting the development of Updike's career, but don't seem to stand the test of time as great short stories.

I'm now on to read Updike's Rabbit quartet of novels, and am really looking forward to it.

#59 - coloradogirl14 - I am loving the Dark Tower series so far. I found the first book a bit boring myself, but the three after it which I've read were great. I posted some mini-reviews of all them on my weblog here: http://jenniferthurman.typepad.com/weblog/2009/06/the-dark-tower-series-books-1-...

I am halfway through Book One of the National Book Award winner Shadow Country by Peter Matthiessen. At 900 very dense pages I will be on this awhile but so far I am loving it.

>89 kiwiflowa: Couldn't have said it better myself. I love 7th Heaven. My parents thought I was weird, since I grew up in a family that didn't go to church.

I'm reading Tom Jones which is a giant doorstopper of a book. Happily it is also very, very funny.

Last night I gave up again on The 19th Wife. The historical parts just seem too contrived and the main character in the modern-day parts, Jordan, annoys me. I know there are many who loved the book, but I just didn't get it. So I decided to re-read Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in anticipation of the movie coming out in July. After that, I don't know. I'll have to study the tbr pile and see what suits my mood.

Finished The Time Machine by H.G. Wells and am nearly halfway through Copy Cat by Erica Spindler

Just started Through a Glass Darkly by Donna Leon one of a police series set in Venice. I'm really hoping I'll like it as there are many of them and it's always fun finding a new series to read. Has anyone read them?

#103 jbeil: While I enjoyed The 19th Wife, I can understand where you're coming from. There towards the end of the book I was skimming the historical parts to get to the "whodunit" end. Put it aside and pick it up later :-) Or, if you have no intention on picking it up again and want to know who, where and how the murder happened, I could PM it to ya ;-)

I had just the opposite reaction to The 19th Wife -- I loved the historical fiction and got weary of the contemporary story. But then I'm a sucker for historical fiction!

#100, brenzi, I've had Shadow Country on my shelf for a while, finding its length daunting, so I'm glad to have your recommendation.

Should be finishing up Maisie Dobbs and Valeria's Last Stand in the next few days.

To all who enjoyed The 19th Wife I heartily recommend Red Water. It is a great book about 3 of John D. Lee's 19 wives, told from alternating viewpoints. I really enjoyed this one.

Finishing up Sarah Dessen's Along For The Ride tonight or tomorrow, then wrapping up Nick Trout's Tell Me Where It Hurts and immersing myself in Georgette Heyer's The Grand Sophy! That's the plan, anyway. :)

>> 24 greeneyed ivies: I tried reading A Prayer for Owen Meany and other Irving Novels... they never were my thing. Is anybody with me on the dislike for Irving? Most of my friends enjoy his work.

>> 28. Bridget770: I think that Bonfire of the Vanities is a love-it-or-hate-it kind of work. I was definitely on the love side, and I ripped through pretty much everything else Wolfe wrote. It's in its own literary universe, and I agree that its social satire is not as appealing as it might have been earlier.

As for me, I'm working my way through Independence Day, which is a beautiful read (there's a reason it won a Pulitzer, after all) but it's a deceivingly casual read. One could argue that that's part of the fun, which it of course is, but I have other books coming in at the library that I think I'm going to speed through before I finish this one.

I'll probably spend some time this week flipping through:
Leaving Campus and Going to Work
The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child
The Teen Whisperer
Becoming Gentlemen: Women, Law School, and Institutional Change

>111 aliay: aliay: I loved the earlier John Irving - Owen Meany, The World According to Garp, Cider House Rules and some others I'm not remembering. His more recent stuff has left me cold.

#111 aliay - I've only read A Prayer for Owen Meany, but I absolutely adored it. I've been meaning to read some of Irving's other novels, such as The World According to Garp, but Owen Meany was such a dense, intricate read for me that I've wanted to make sure that I have the appropriate amount of energy to expend on his other novels.

I'm reading A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. The entire Song of Ice and Fire series is excellent!

#100-brenzi: Shadow Country made my best of for 2008, and that first section/book, Killing Mr. Watson, is a flatout masterpiece. I've been down to the 10,000 Islands twice, once sitting at the base of the cistern at the Watson place reading from KMW. I felt like ole E.J. Watson himself was going to sneak up on me and place the barrell of a shotgun in the back of my neck.

I tend to read more than one book at a time. Right now I have a non-fiction book called Color is Everything on the go, along with The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. As well as those two I am reading Notes from the Tilt-A-Whirl by N.D. Wilson (also non-fiction) and Man Overboard: A Johnny Donohue Adventure.

I review them on my blog: http://www.thereadingjourney.blogspot.com

Finished Christianity and Evolution, now onto Confederates in the Attic.

#111 I've never been able to read John Irving. I even hate the movies based on his books.

I'm reading State of the Onion by Julie Hyzy and enjoying it very much.

I've just started A Mad Desire to Dance, the most recent novel by Elie Wiesel, who is one of my absolute heroes in life.

After all the good things said about The Elegence of the Hedgehog. I picked it up and for whatever reason I just could not make it through. I am not going to say anything bad about the book. It may not been the right one for me. Trying The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke.

105: I've read Through a Glass Darkly, the only Donna Leon so far. Hoping to get organized to read more.

#70 Hi, Ficus ~ Cavalier is set in Paris and its environs starting in around January 1786. Ravel is a struggling author who makes his living writing inflammatory and highly illegal anti-government pamphlets. He comes into contact with a police inspector who first suspects him of a particularly gruesome murder involving the Freemasons but then, when he is cleared, enlists him in helping solve the murder.

120: I enjoyed The Thief Lord. be warned, though, the end is kind'a weird.

Just finished Iain Pears' Stone's Fall, one of my better reads this year. It has an ending you don't see coming. So I just started his earlier The Dream of Scipio and can't seem to get into it. But I'm going to give it a chance; Pears is an excellent writer.

Just finished The Search for God at Harvard, and now on to Mayflower and Brave Companions.

I have three non-fiction books going that I'm reading a chapter at a time, so they don't quite fit here.

But I finished A Tree Grows in Brooklyn last night. I have to thank all the people who talked well of it. I had been meaning to read it for decades. The favorable acceptance of it here got me close enough to it to read it, and then I got my church book group to read it. It is very good. I wonder if I should reread Last Exit to Brooklyn for a palate cleanser.

Betty Smith's writing has the grace of transparency. The first favorable thing I noticed about the narrative was the tone; I liked the tone, not self pitying, self glorifying, or falsely optimistic, but spot on. Then the capture of childhood personalities and the deliberateness of growing up that some children undertake seemed real enough to make these tenement denizens real, and I don't even care much about children. I believe that in the few days before we discuss it I will find more to appreciate about this novel.

Robert

Just started House of Leaves today. Starting to get a bit creepy..

Rdurick

The only way Last Exit To Brooklyn is going to clean your palate is maybe if the book forces you to throw up.

Mr Selby has written a gritty, realistic story of New York's seamiest district with venon, at at times hatred. And, dare I mention, graphic sex? It is no book, I would venture to say, for a church-going group, or individual to read.

You have been warned...

>102 jfetting: jfetting
AAh Tom Jones. I read it when I was a Junior in high school right before the movie came out (1964). I absolutely loved both of them. A raucous, love of life, fun good time. Fielding was a master of the tongue in cheek.

Hey, morfam, I've got a signed 1st ed of Selby's Last Exit to Brooklyn and it's a highly prized item around here, have read it 3 times, but you're absolutely correct to say that it'll probably offend a lot of readers.

I finished Garden Spells today. Perfect book for lazy summer reading! Now I'm going to take another crack at my May ER book - Perfect Life by Jessica Shattuck. I'm hoping I'll take better to it this time around.

I just finished Change of Heart which was the choice for my book club this time. I had read it before but wanted it to be fresh in my mind. I still enjoyed it the second time. I like Jodi Picoult's books even though they don't require too much hard thinking.

I am now reading Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood and am loving it!!!! To think that I had never even heard of Margaret Atwood before coming to LibraryThing last year and have now become quite a fan of hers.

Last Exit to Brooklyn did not offend me when I read it as a starry eyed college student. I don't know whether it would offend me now, but I would be disappointed if it did. It was just the acid take on human behavior that, like citrus sherbet, I though might refresh me, and I thought that the likes of the book as a palate freshener was sufficiently ironic that it might merit a laugh.

It is a Unitarian Universalist church, and most of the members of the book group are not members. None of them, regardless of affiliation, would likely be offended by the book. They are not, however, heavy readers and might decline to read the book because of its constant unpleasantness.

If it pops up in the next two days I may have a look at it before the discussion although there's no time to read it.

Robert

I'm reading Break, Blow, Burn by Camille Paglia she writes commentaries on some well known and not so well known poems. I've found her insights very helpful.

I'm also making my way through The Paris Review Interviews, lots of good stuff in there.

Reading The Coast of Utopia and absolutely love it! I was concerned I wouldn't - my interests don't steer me to Russian literature other than Chekhov and Bulgakov and my Russian History course was in the way back time . . . but I love Tom Stoppard so picked it up at the library. Hoping a film (in the Angels in America vein) has or will be done. I'll finish it tonight, then who knows. Stephanie Plum or Turgenev.

111: I've read and loved A Prayer for Owen Meany and The World According to Garp, which is why I was so disappointed that I didn't love The Cider House Rules. I believe Irving has flashes of brilliance, but isn't a very consistent writer. It's why I understand when people say they have a dislike for Irving's novels. His collection of work as a whole usually draws a wide variety of opinions, not all of them flattering. Still, Owen Meany is probably my favorite novel so I definitely fall into the category of a fan.

I'm reading Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris. My husband read it already and enjoyed it, and I want to catch up so we can get Season 1 of True Blood and watch it.

I just finished The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. I so liked the idea...and he just didn't quite pull it off somehow. Not bad, though, and I'll look for Davidson's next book to see if his writing gels a bit more.

Now I'm on to Deeper the follow-up to Tunnels by Roderick Gordon/Brian Williams.

I am halfway through mother of the believers, as well as a god against the gods and just started World of Warcraft's War of the ancients cause my boyfriend plays the computer game and wants me involved in it too but I refuse to play the games so reading all the books. It is rather frustrating though there is no timeline with those books at all so I bounce around a lot between the books. My last book I don't have but I am buying it tomorrow; it is Naamah's kiss and I will probably finish it by the end of wednesday as I am a huge fan of Jacqueline Carey.

Almost finished Perfume.

Just started Confederates in the Attic and that'll finish up the Civil War category. Decided to then read The Pearl to finish up my classics category and Heir of Fire and Sea as my penultimate selection for my fantasy category - the last book in this trilogy will be the final for that category. That just leaves religious which still requires three more books!

I'm thinking of doing a different version of the 999 challenge to finish up the year. I'll do the same categories but with no limits on how many in each (except that I'll want at least one in each), but maybe I'll change the ninth category to something other than religious (maybe, Biography) and do the two simultaneously until the first one is done, but I won't start it until I have the other eight categories completely finished.

I'm nearing the end of Harvesting The Heart by Jodi Picoult. It's been a very smooth read.

Looking forward to picking something out when I finish this one. Not to be redundant, but there are so many calling out to me, I guess I'll just have to close my eyes and grab one out of one of the three cupboards full that we have.

Finished Stiff: the Curious Lives Of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach. Found it to be very educational and graphic (not for everyone) :)

Started The Secret History by Donna Tartt and liking it much much better then her The Little Friend.

#64 Jim 53, #67 Storeetllr, #70 FicusFan - Thanks for your recommendations! Since you all loved Lions of al-Rassan, I think I'll try it after finishing up a few more library books.

I've finally finished a book - A Short History of Nearly Everything, which was a really fun introduction to lots of science.

I finished Redemption by Leon Uris last week and am still thinking about the Battle of Gallipoli. What a waste that battle was! But what a powerful piece of writing by Uris. It is easy to see from that how Ataturk became such a hero to his country. I read Trinity and Redemption by Uris and years ago I had read Exodus. I remember Exodus as such a good book and I loved the two I just read. Since I had just been to Belfast I found myself thinking "I've seen that, and I know just what he is talking about" when reading certain passages of the books, but the style does seem a little dated. Sort of like reading a Michner book. They have fallen out of style lately even though they are great books. It seems to me that some books, even though they are wonderful reads, are products of their time, and will never transcend that time. So all this is a round about way of taking on the Little Women discussion from earlier. Little Women has endured for one reason or another for 150 years, but will it be around for another 150? Perhaps not. What we think is a classic today or the voice of that time Bonfire of the Vanities may just be a literary flash in the pan with no endurance or long term impact. Did Homer think that thousands of years later we would still be reading and enjoying the Iliad? I doubt it. I think he was just trying to write a good story the same as any author. It is up to us readers to give a story a long life.

I started reading Rick Steves book Travel as a Political Act. So far he has lots of interesting things to say about traveling. I like his philosophy that travel shouldn't be about putting notches on a belt - the been there, seen it, done that, attitude - but rather should be about trying to become a temporary local. That's a tall order for a traveler.

I just finished "Fanning the Spark" by Mary Ward Brown. She is 90 something years old and this is her memoir about writing and living. I read it in two days. It was wonderful. I will buy it and I look forward to her reading at Lemuria Books next month. She has two collections of short stories, "Tongues of Flames" and "It's not all dancing", I believe. I haven't read these yet, but I plan on stopping by the library today and getting Tongues of Flames.

I'm getting a big kick out of The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde. What a mind that man has!

Just finished The Last Colony, which was pretty good. Now reading Thunderer. Also still reading Doubt: a history.

Reading Dissolution by C. J. Sansom.

I've abandoned ship on The Kindly Ones (touchstone uncooperative) at p364. I wrote a review on my "75-Books Challenge" thread and on the book's page.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/66381

Reading Killer Storm by Jen Wright on Kindle. Good beach read, despite the fact that the story takes place during a Duluth winter. ;o)

I just finished Missing Pieces by Joy Fielding which I enjoyed.
I am almost halfway through The Wet Nurse's Tale by Erica Eisdorfer. I usually don't read this type of book. I am not a big fan of the Victorian period, but the subject matter intrigued me. It is told from the point of view of a wet nurse. It is a fairly easy read and all other reviews I have seen were positive. I am taking it slow and enjoying it.
I just started T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton. I think I am really going to like it. I believe Miss Grafton has gotten to be a better writer as she has gone on. The last few P, R, S have been excellent and I think this will prove the same. We can only hope U is for Undertow will be the same.

I finished Little Women and I see my snarky comment about its syrupiness generated some discussion. Overall, I did enjoy it despite rolling my eyes alot.

But I got to thinking about how so many people said they were reading passed down copies from moms and grandmoms and I thought -- hmmm. . if I had a daughter would I want her to really take the book to heart. All this about 'pity the spinsters, who have missed the bloom of life' and 'the love of a good man is a woman's best accomplishment.' I just don't feel like dear Jane and George Eliot were ever that obsequious despite similar cultural norms.

Oh well - perhaps Little Women is still better than teenage vampires, or vampire slayers or whatever they are. What do I know?

Now I am reading March by Geraldine Brooks which I am really enjoying so far.

Give me teen aged vampires over the March girls any day. LOL

I never understood why Jo was so stupid as to turn away from Lory(sp?) An adult I asked about it at the time said he was too young for her and she was far better off with the professor. I didn't buy it. Maybe if I reread the book now, I'd see that point... On the whole, though, I don't think I'll bother. It's a lovely book for a little girl, but there are so maNy books to read, and some to reread, that I think I'll leave Little Women be.

I picked up From the Earth to the Moon last night, speaking of all the books I have yet to read. Only got a few chapters in before falling asleep, but am enjoying it so far.

Don't know why I can't seem to get through Atlas Shrugged, I'm enjoying it but I think after a 10 hour day at work my brain just needs a little lighter fare. So I've started Interred With Their Bones by Jennifer Lee Carrell and Rococo by Adriani Trigiani. So far both have been very enjoyable.

P.S. I loved Little Women - I know it's sweet and syrupy and not very modern but I just love the story - can't wait to read March byGeraldine Brooks

Perhaps it's my "Y" chromosome, but I thought Little Women had cooties.

I'm re-reading Silas Marner again, for the second time in a few weeks...something struck me as I was consigning the Phryne Fisher mystery series to Eternal Perdition for the author's overuse of male pedophilia as a plot point. If Silas was operating in today's climate, Child Protective Services would be all up in his business, his religious group would be in the news 24/7, and Nancy Grace would be bleating non-stop about a little white girl in jeopardy.

With better dentistry and medicine, I think I would go live in the 19thC instead of this one.

Modern dentistry is one strong argument for not going back in time, as far as I'm concerned. :)

#156 - Catreona - That was something I asked myself too...I always thought Jo should have ended up with Laurie, but that might have been because as a younger girl, I found myself tied up in a number of unrequited love interests with my best guy friends...I came from a biased point of view! Although I managed to change my opinion after seeing the movie. Maybe I should reread the book again to see if I arrive at the same point of view after a couple years.

Finished Cujo and I can't believe I had forgotten how horrifying it was, not only because the chain of events stemmed from such seemingly innocuous freak occurrences, but also because Stephen King forces the reader to feel sympathy towards the dog at the very end of the novel. What an incredible book!

Up next: Can't Buy My Love, which I'm still working my way through, and probably Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince in honor of the upcoming movie.

156,162 -- Oh no, you won't change your mind -- Jo should have ended up with Laurie. I think Alcott made it otherwise because she was annoyed at all her reader's expectations of the union expressed before she wrote the second half.

Re Laurie -- I always thought that if Jo had married him he'd never have gone to Europe and helped Amy mature (selfish twit that she was). Also, I agreed that if they married she'd have killed him. She was a much stronger personality than he was. She was driven to succeed and he wasn't and that would have caused untold arguments of the "you're not living up to your potential" kind (Maggie channeling her mother).

> 142: koalamom- I hope you enjoy Confederates in the Attic, as much as I did. It's funny and thought-provoking!
Porchy- Nice to see you! Have you read The Pillars of the Earth? We are doing a group read in a couple of weeks.
Richard- Nice job on the review. I think that settles it for me,no The Kindly Ones for me! I do like the German language, the German people and of course the German beer!

reading a crazy little thing called death by nancy martin. About 1/4 of the way thru it.

Last week, I read two Murakamis: After Dark and Kafka on the Shore, followed by two Ruiz Zafons: Shadow of the Wind and, of course, The Angel's Game. This week I am going to try to do more two-fers, but split it up. I am currently on Never Let Me Go and Out. I am going to pick up next books by those same authors. My summer reading patterns are a bit unpredictable, might as well go with it.

Working on finishing the Coyote Road anthology, and guiltily sneaking ahead into Breathers. Humorous zombies were just too tempting to wait for!

Work has been interrupting my reading so it's been slow going for me with The Big Bad City by Ed McBain. Usually I cruise through his books, but it's been stop and go with this one for the last few days ... very annoying since I'm losing the thread of the story. I may have to just start over after the nuttiness of this month is over.

coloradogirl14, let's both read Little Women again, and we'll find out. LOL I can order it from the library tonight and have it by the beginning of next week at latest. It would be fun to read it "with" somebody else.

#171 - Catreona - Let's do it! I have a copy at home with me.

>170 mmrbrrown: NO soliciting on LT please!

War and Peace has taken a back seat this week to The Kite Runner. The Kite Runner is for book club, so I have to read it quite quickly so I can pass it on to the next person. I'm not sure if enjoying is the right word for it, it's a good book, but heavy. It's reduced me to tears several times, and I've just had to put it down and watch rubbish TV so I don't go to pieces completely.

Please refrain from anymore discussion of Confederates in the Attic. I am trying to go through the whole month of July without buying any books. I do have some on the way, but they don't count. as they were purchased in june. That one sounds too good. Thank you
kath

167: emaestra- You are on a killer roll! I loved both Murakami's and I'm currently reading The Shadow of the Wind and it's wonderful. How was his next book? Also I just mooched Out and have wanted to read it forever.
mckait- Ok,no more talk about Con.... well you know! Are there any others we also shouldn't discuss?

I really liked The Angel's Game. There were times in Shadow of the Wind where I got confused in the details, but I didn't have that issue with this one. It was called a prequel, but, for the most part, it was completely different characters. Definitely try to get your hands on it.

Late week I tried to dip into poetry, I picked up Evidence by Mary Oliver from the library only to find it was bound wrong. Instead of pages 61-75, I had pages 45-60 twice.

I did read Home Game : an Accidental Guide to Fatherhood by Michael Lewis, which was light, short, and entertaining. Now I'm reading what is so far a brilliant book - Man Gone Down by Michael Thomas - about a young father breaking down in Brooklyn, with a strong theme of dealing with racism. Man Gone Down was this years IMPAC Dublin award - which is why I finally picked it up.

I finished The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes and have just started When I Lived in Modern Times by Linda Grant.

I finally started reading Kira-Kira seeing at it's been sat by my bed all month and its due back at the library tomorrow hopefully i can get it finished by tonight and i'll just have to try and get my other library book renewed so i can actually read it.

I started The Dark Tower by Stephen King and The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I am currently reading Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. So far so good - I really like her style.

cdyankeefan

The Thirteenth Tale was probably my favorite 2008 book. Hope you enjoy it too! Its really a book about people like us, book lovers!

Finished No. One Ladies Detective Agency last night. Adorable, and the whole first book covers the first season of the show. Aprox. one chapter per episode. So that means at least 5 more seasons?

Also, less than an hour left in listening to Wicked. I read it a few years ago and it didn't do much for me. The audio book didn't do much for me either. I'm hoping I like the stage show better since I will be seeing the musical in August.

Next up, Handle with Care because I need some sap in my life right now and I do like the idea of telling the story from several different character's point of view. And audio The Wordy Shipmates.

Also, I will be seeking to make some book purchases in the next month. I am not a book buyer but a librarian (and library user), but am not sure I want to take library books out of the country with me (hubby and I will be travelling to Italy in August). Any suggestions for how many books to pack for a two week travel?

Any suggestions for how many books to pack for a two week travel?

How high is up?

Seriously...if you're going on a package-tour type trip, take as many books as you'd read in a week. That's about how much travel-time there is where there's not too much exciting to look at.

If it's independent travel, take one big book. There is so much more to do, and one gets so much tireder doing everything for one's self, than is the case with tours.

The plane. Italy is ~8hrs from the USA. Buy a mass-market paperback of something you can just leave on the plane with no regrets, and finish in 5-6hrs (some sleep is a good idea). Airport time, flight-before-meal, sleep, then flight-until-landing is what you should expect for reading time. Seriously...that plane sleep is a life-saver!

Have a lovely holiday! Where in Italy are you going?

I tend to revert to big, fat 19th century novels for traveling--Bleak House, Can You Forgive Her?, stuff like that. No matter how badly the airlines screw up, you're unlikely to run out of reading matter.

I started A Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down by Nicey and Wifey last night. Love tea and biscuits and I had been waiting a couple of weeks for this to arrive.

#183-thanks- I started the first chapter and am eagerly looking forward to going home and continuing

I've been reading When We Were Romans. Well written, interesting young male protagonist. Tugs at my heart but not in a schmaltzy way at all. A few pages to go, then I will post to my 75/2009 Challenge thread. Link added below:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/55208

WH

#181 - cdyankeefan - Are you starting at the beginning of the Dark Tower series, or are you on the final book titled The Dark Tower?

#168 - AmyLynn -
Humorous zombies?! Say no more! I'm adding Breathers to my wishlist...

#190- I'm on the last book of the series which has been enjoyable over all

Well, I've finished all the books I started the week with, apart from Team of Rivals. So in a fit of enthusiasm I thought I'd attack War and Peace for the first time.

This may be a problem however as, would you believe it, I may have prolapsed a disc in my neck a couple of days ago.

Not from completing some heroic feat I add, but by sneezing............you may laugh, everyone else has........

anyway I sit here, enclosed in a neck brace with enough codeine and diazepam inside me to send me to sleep almost every time I attempt to read a page and when I'm not asleep I feel in the early stages of inebriation.

So in a lucid moment I ruminate, persevere or put it back on the shelf and pick up something light and easy........... oh bollocks I don't know.

Time sat on my behind is on my side, chemical sobriety is not ...........:-(

#167--I really liked Out, but was unimpressed with her next book. Interested to know what you think when you've finished.

>193 BookMarkMe: BookMarkMe -- I'd reconsider W and P while you have a neck injury! It takes a lot of muscle to hold that book up!

And -- so not laughing at your injury. Smirking maybe, but not laughing!

BookMarkMe.. I understand. I've hurt my back sneezing during a particularly bad allergy season.

I was thinking something long-ish or something I could leave behind while travelling. Since we'll be hitting a beach, I want something fun and I don't have too much patience for many of the "classics". For the life of me I can't remember what I brought to read when we were in England / Ireland / Scotland a five years ago, but I do know I needed to buy at least one more book while there. I also plan on loading up the IPod with audiobooks. We'll hitting Florence, Venice, Sicily, Tuscany region. The whole country in a big circle is the plan so far, just me and the hubby.

I've finally started my most recent pick from the Go Review That Book! group, a dark urban fantasy called Wolf Moon by John Holt that has been sitting in my tbr pile for around 2 years.

Really enjoyed the The Thief Lord. The Angel's Game is next.

>>> 196,

My girlfriend, now my wife, and I did a similar trip a number of years ago by motorbike, our only regret was missing out on Venice. A highlight for us was dinner at the revolving restaurant with views of the Eiger at the top of the Schilthorn Mountain in Switzerland.

My book of choice was LOTR, but then it always is on a long holiday, hope you enjoy your trip

:-)

>>> 195, no problem if you do laugh, you'll be joining everyone I know, I'm in the process of concocting a suitable heroic tale for those who don't know me, lol

And sod it I'm going to stick with War and Peace for a week and see how I fare

Well, I managed to finish my May ER book Perfect Life by Jessica Shattuck, although I'm sorry to say it didn't get much better after the first couple of chapters. Here is my review. I'm relieved to be done, and now I think I'm going to pick up Guernica by Dave Boling.

BookMarkMe - I can sympathize. I cracked my rib coughing earlier this year and it hurt to breathe too deeply or sneeze. So not even a glimmer of a smirk from me. Hope you feel better soon.

>196 ShannonMDE: : I'd bring the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy compendium. It's long enough for the downtime while you're on holiday since you're also going to load your iPod up with audiobooks.

My hubby and I are going to Florence too, in August to attend a friend's wedding and I'm really looking forward to it.

For those who have read The Angel's Game and The Shadow of the Wind, would you recommend reading The Angel's Game first before reading The Shadow of the Wind?

#201 cameling - I would suggest to read them in the order they were written - Shadow first, Angel's Game second. But, I don't really have a good reason for that, and I'm not sure the order will make a difference.

>201 cameling:, 202
I would agree with dchaikin. I would also space them out, I think The Angel's Game suffered for me by being read too soon after The Shadow of the Wind which I liked better.

Right now it's-

Zeroville by Steve Erickson- very unusual, and a feast for movie nerds such as myself. :)

The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark- almost done,the book is as slender as the girls. I'm untterly in love with Spark and so happy I found a huge collection of her books at a library sale for almost nothing.

THe Secret Scripture by Sebastian Barry- Beautifully written and fascinating, but it's such delicate & precise writing that I have to read it slowly to get the full impact.

As usual, I'm reading bits and pieces out of various non-fiction books.

Finished I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming. A good one. Best since Bleak Midwinter.

Started Ship Fever by Andrea Barrett. Haven't picked up short stories in a while. These are very satisfying.

Also pecking a way at a couple of others that will get done when they get done.

I finished The Kite Runner last night and it is a great book.

-------SPOILER----------
I liked the ending. I was worried that it would be either incredibly sad or a schmaltzy ending that didn't fit with the rest of the book. I found the ending hopeful, and it made me smile and feel that things would eventually turn out OK for Sohrab.

-------END OF SPOILER---------

So now I have lots more time to devote to W&P, hopefully I can crack the 100 page mark, which would only leave 1277 to go.

165/175 - re: Confederates in the Attic - have only gotten through a couple of chapters and I am loving it. Although I think, if I had the time, I could just sit and read it through, it is also a good one to read in snippets.

I just finished Pride and Prejudice on my second attempt and LOVED it! I think I've got to give myself a couple days of reflection before I start Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for my school's book club.

#184: Wicked the musical has the same characters as the book and parts of the same plot, but otherwise they are very different. The show is spectacular, have fun!

Apparently my dog nurses an ambition to read one day. While clearing out her corner for a good sweep, I found a library book I'd forgotten I checked out: A Question of Death, which is a collection of short fiction about Kerry Greenwood's flapper sleuth Phryne Fisher. The dog had fanged it over to her corner and hidden Milk Bones behind it.

Well, one can't ignore fate. I read the stories, in all it took about three hours. I can now return the book, and I am still not a fan of the series, though I have a much more nuanced picture of Phryne's minor characters.

Since a big part of what I complain of in these books is that very lack of nuance, I wonder...if Ma Greenwood had used these character sketches in the books where she used the characters, would I have overlooked her male pedophilia fetish? Her overuse of that trope bugs me enough that I doubt it, but I am not at all sure.

I wish, now that I know she CAN write the backstories of her minors, that she WOULD and incorporate them into entire books! Consarn the sheila!

Colorado Girl, I'll message you, if I can figure out how, when the book arrives and I start it, so we can compare notes.
BookMarkMe, Hope you feel better soon. I frequently inflict minor, and sometimes not so minor, injuries on myself in, er, novel and embarrassing ways. So, I totally understand.
For myself I always take, or make, any oppertunity to read Bleak House, TLOTR and/or HHGG (series), all of which are on my top five desert island books list.

I just finished reading Volume Two of "The Irish Origins of Civilization" by Michael Tsarion. I'm sure no one hear has every heard of this book or Michael Tsarion, but his writings present theories that would shock any readers of "Whats popular and on the best selling list mentality". He follows up on Sigmund Freud's theories that Moses was an Egyptian and most likely of the Pharaoh blood line and lays out evidence that Moses was possibly Akhenaton (of the Hyksos clan) who abolished the worship of all other gods in Egypt except Aton.He was chased out of Egypt after 18 years of reign, but not before he defaced and destroyed (as much as possible) the hieroglyph for Amen Ra.

Just finished Shanghai Girls now moving on to The 19th Wife and The Time Travelers Wife.

Last night/early this morning i finished the two library books that i have to return today. I'm pretty chuffed with myself for actually managing to read them after they've loitered around my room all month. They were Kira-Kira and The Scandal of the Season neither were fantastic reads but interesting nevertheless. I probably need to carry on with my GRTB pick since i was challenged it several weeks ago.

I finished reading The Ascent of George Washington the other day and am making mental notes for my review thereof.

I started reading Letters to Father -- the father in question being Galileo -- on Tuesday as at-home reading. The letters are generally short, so I'm not going to nod off mid-chapter or anything.

Today I'll be starting The Pirate Queen at lunch. I'm looking forward to getting back to Elizabethan England after reading a lot more American history lately than I usually do. (At least I made a dent in my TBR list though.)

I'm reading Crime Beat, a collection of newspaper crime articles by Michael Connelly. I've been really busy at work, and the short articles are perfect reading to fit in whenever I can.

I'm also reading Saturday and enjoying it very much.

I'm still reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in preparation for the release of the movie in a couple of weeks. I always inhaled the new books as they were released, so it behooves me to reread them prior to seeing the movies to fine-tune my recollection of the details. Harry doesn't disappoint the second time around.

202, 203: Thanks for the recommendation to space out the reading between The Angel's Game and The Shadow of the Wind. I guess it's like reading Angels and Demons and The Da Vinci Code. I read The Da Vinci Code first and then followed it immediately with Angels and Demons and the latter really suffered for me. I would have enjoyed it more, I feel if I had waited a few months before reading it.

I've just finished The Big Bad City by Ed McBain -- another gritty set of murders investigated by the 87th precinct's team of diverse police detectives.

I think I'll start on The Last Pope by David Osborn

Oh, that's a lovely book and she spoke at the Louisiana Book Festival and is a lovely author.

I had planned on reading a couple of books for my 999, but the library called with a book I had had on hold, so I came home with that and one other - Warriors Sunrise and The Chocolate Mouse Trap. My son mentioned that he wants get the next Star Wars book from the library rather than buy it, which means I'll probably do the same (and maybe right after he reads it, too). The problem is that I haven't read the last one yet (I have one or two books on my shelves that also demand my attention), but I decided to take Star Wars: Outcast off my shelf and put it with Heir of Sea and Fire and a Steinbeck novel, whose names escapes me right now - and then there is Confederates in the Attic and I was informed today that I am getting an ER book from LT as well!

I will never run out of books to read - if I do here at the house, there is still that big building up the street that has a lot more than I do!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

jbleil, I haven't yet decided about the new Harry movie, though the friend I usually see them with wants to go. If we're going to, I'd probably better reread The Half Blood Prince as well.

Did you, like me, sign up with amazon.com to get each book on the day of publication? LOL Seems a little silly now, but it made perfect sense at the time.

koalamom, LOL There are *always* more books to read. It's a mystery to me how anybody can ever be bored.

>222 Catreona: Catreona, no, I didn't sign up to get the books on the day of publication, but I did just happen to be near Walmart or Sam's Club each time. I didn't catch the fever until sometime during Book 2 when I got curious as to why these two children's books were hogging the top of the best seller lists. After that I was hooked and roped in the rest of my family. I'll see the movie with my husband and hopefully one or more of my grown children.

Last night I finished Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I'm glad to have read the series but it wasn't my favorite.
This morning I started Liner Notes after creating a playlist on my ipod that coincides with the mix-tapes the character of the story made.

Received Little Women in today's mail. I'm going to have a snack, and then settle down to read.

#226 - Catreona - I'll join you! Are you doing a specific number of pages per day or just getting through the book at your own pace?

I'm reading Becoming Queen by Kate Williams.

I have started The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer, this was her first published book, written when she was fifteen. I am also reading Sweet Dreams, Irene by Jan Burke, a mystery series featuring Irene Kelly a reporter.

I'm listening to Barchester towers by Anthony Trollope in an ongoing fashion. this is the book i turn to when the world is too much with me. I've been at it for about 4 months.

also audio reading long-term a tale of two cities by Charles Dickens. ah, Dickens.

reading more consistently, that is, parts on a daily basis, several other books.

the enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie is a book i'd really prefer to stop listening to but I'm determined to read at least one Rushdie in my life. he's too florid for me, too many flourishes and audio books do take a very long time. he's even more wordy than i and that's going some.

in the woods by Tana French has sucked me so far in I'm dreaming about it. the audio narrator speaks with a cadence that's almost hypnotic. some of the protagonist's experiences remind me of h. p. lovecraft. boundaries between reality and delusion keep shifting. there are passages i find luminous and spellbinding and some i, and the characters, seem to slog through like a nightmarish bog. the contrast makes for a great read. I'll be looking for more of ms. french's books!

I'm sleepwalking through the big sleep by Raymond Chandler. i enjoy period books, especially 50's L.A., and enjoy Chandler's rather desultory style but there's a quality to the narration that makes it difficult to listen to without nodding off. I'd love to be able to read it visually!

made it halfway through unaccustomed earth by jhumpa lahiri and threw in the towel this week. i know she's a Pulitzer prize winner and she gets rave reviews but after 3 tapes, i was ready to move on. her stories filled me with a sense of desolation; everything seemed to come to naught. it was too tiring; too much like accidie.

watership down came into the library and i plopped a cassette in to see if it's a book that does well in audio and i love it so that's in there as well. arrrrgggghhh.

a perfect spy by Le Carre also arrived and i was feeling sleuthy so I'm dabbling my feet in that as well.

as and when my vision allows, I'm visiting Anne Porter's volume an altogether different language and Sam Hamill's almost paradise.

i had no idea i had so much going. egad!

coloradogirl14, Pretty much just going at my own pace. I'm already a couple chapters in, but may not get too much done tonight and tomorrow. Probably, I'll get serious tomorrow evening.

BTW this is the Viking Penguin edition, 1986, using the original 1868-9 text. It has an interesting introduction that isn't obtrusively feminist but just pretty much says what any thinking woman might conclude if she studied Alcot's life and work. I don't generally hold much truck with *literary critisim*, much less with Feminist criticism. In this case, though, the intro seems helpful rather than preachy or dictatorial.

mirrordrum, wow! That's a lot of books. How do you ckeep track of them all? Do you have more than one tape deck? Even with two NLS format tapedecks and a standard CD player, I have trouble maintaining multiple books.

I am reading Guns, Germs, and Steel because Orson Scott Card recommended it in one of his introductions to a novel, for those who want to understand basic world history.

#232 hey catreona--my mom was a librarian and i got in the habit as a very small child of reading multiple books and always have a mix going. this is a bit above my usual, though, as i'm a librarything newbie and got all excited and went overboard ordering titles from NLS and the local library. ;)

i have an NLS tape player and a boombox by the bed, and a tape deck/cd player in the living room. i keep about 10 tapes next to my pillow and stacks of NLS and library audio books by my pillow and on the floor next the bed. i just rotate among them as the spirit moves me.

i can't multi-task at all but i seem to be able to juggle any number of books without losing the threads.

i confess that once i've finished a book, the details don't stay with me as they used to with print books.

NLS is a *great* blessing as i can keep books for over a year if nobody wants them and i don't think i've ever had a book recalled.

Catreona (223) Bored I'll never be and like you I can't see how anyone can be - there's always a book for everyone - of some genre or form

and I finished Warriors Sunrise already, so there are now only 5 books on that table

MirrorDrum, I also always have a stack of NLS books by my pillow, and often commercial audiotapes and/or CD's too. Can be a bit of a problem when it comes time to change the sheets. *grin*

I've been using Talking Books (NLS) most of my life and am eternally grateful for it.

I just finished Through a Glass, Darkly by Donna Leon and because she referenced Dante's Inferno so much I got down my copy illustrated by Gustave Dore and have been have a fine time leafing through it. I read all three when I was in school but it's been a long time.

I liked the Donna Leon too (it was the first of hers I've read) and I look forward to reading more of them this summer.

I just finished reading Before I Wake by Robert J. Wiersema.
I just started reading Home Safe by Elizabeth Berg.

I am at one third of New Spring by Robert Jordan. I know it's a never ending story, but I will give it a try. If I ever get the last of Jordan's books Brandon Sanderson might have already finished writting it.

Just finished The Big Picture. Filmmaking Lessons from a Life on the set, by Tom Reilly. I Love movies but don't usually read filmmaking books - too boring and technical- but I picked this up in Borders and couldn't put it down! It has chapters called, Lunch and Working between the sheets. Great read!

I finished Q's Legacy late last night, finishing off the set of memoirs that began with 84, Charing Cross Road. The first is still the best, but all three books were really charming.

I didn't realize The Angel's Game was related to Shadow of the Wind. I was going to read The Angel's Game first.... will I still get everything or shoudl I start with the other one??

Finished 2 out of 3 of The Cranford Chronicles by Elizabeth Gaskell and am going to take a break. I'm finding the village minutiae a bit of a slow go. Moving to City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare, the second in a YA fantasy series recommended by my daughter, and Coraline The Graphic Novel by Neil Gaiman and P. Craig Russell, which so far is a fun remake of the story I liked.

>242 takemeaway9:,
It is really only related in that it takes place slightly earlier in the same local. Some of the same characters appear in both at different ages, but there is no knowledge about them that you could gain from Shadow of the Wind that you need for The Angel's Game.

Just finished Dissolution, which was a great historical mystery, and am still listening to Lost in a Good Book, but I'm not allowing myself to start anything new until I finish the reviews I owe and post them on my blog.

Really! I mean it! No new books, not even the ones that are crying out to be read (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Have Mercy on Us All, and Evermore being the loudest of the bunch).

I couldn't contain myself one more instant...I finally bust forth with a review of Mistress of the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin. It's on the book's review page, but feel free to drop by my "75-Books Challenge" thread and look at post #174:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/66381

And, for other members of The Highly Rated Book Group, I started a reviews thread so we can all share final thoughts:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/68153

Good review, Richard! It's one of my top 10 from last year, and I wouldn't mind reading it again sometime, as well as the next two in the series.

>247 Storeetllr: thanks, Storeetllr! I really enjoyed it, and I hope to enjoy The Serpent's Tale just as much. Omnibus rumblings in others' takes on the book suggest that might be a widge on the hopeful side.

Yes, The Serpent's Tale is good too. I think I still love the first best, though only by a squidge. :)

Oh good...that's always hopeful, someone who has a horse-race between the first and second books in a series for "favorite" honors.

Reading Angel's Game. I read The Shadow of the Wind a couple of years ago. I am not treating it like a sequel which it isn't and I wouldn't even consider it a prequel. Just both pretty good books. Forgot to mention will have to head for the library for The Serpents Tale.

Well I finally finished O Fado da Sombra, I'll be posting a review in Portuguese, because this book isn't translated and I'm hoping reading good Portuguese will inspire the author (as well as my severe critic) to improve his convoluted writing which clearly gets in the way of an otherwise clever and well drawn story.

Next I'll read Invisible Ring by one of my favorite authors Anne Bishop.
I've been putting this book of, because the portuguese edition, tough beautiful its big and heavy, but as I've been taking my car to work it no longer applies.

Finishing Chapter Eight of Little Women. This is an excellent book! I think when I tried to reread it as a teenager, I was too old to accept it innocently and uncritically, as I did as a child, but not yet mature enough to appreciate it fully. Very glad I got the bug to read it again.

So far, I've seen nothing to change my opinion that Jo should have married Lorie. *grin* I'll keep reading...

Lots of good reading going on here. I am still with Yes My Darling Daughter, as I have been distracted by life and the phone.... and the explosions my neighbors are enjoying ( bah humbug )

can I just remind y'all that
http://www.bookcloseouts.com/default.asp?N=0&merch=promotions

is having a sale .. $1.99 books.. lots of them. I barely made it to the 3rd without breaking my vow to not buy any books this month. How to pass up a sale like that???

I finished Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie. I enjoyed it very much. I then read The Angry Clam by Erik Quisling. Very amusing.

I am now reading Precious Dragon by Liz Williams. It is 3rd in the Detective Inspector Chen series. It is set in a future where cities are franchised, this one is Singapore Three, and the POV, Chen is the liaison between the police in Singapore Three and Hell (Chinese version). Heaven also often intervenes in events.

I have been waiting about 2 years for this book to be published. It had a date and kept getting pushed back. It was finally released at the end of June.

New thread for the week here:

http://www.librarything.com/topic/68184#top

I really enjoyed The Sparrow. It was brutal and sad but I find myself missing it and missing the characters. So, no you're not silly!
:)

tell me how how that goes when your done. k