What are you reading the week of August 01, 2009?

Author birthdays this week include:

August 1 -
Herman Melville 1819 - 1891
Anne Hébert 1916-2000
Amy Friedman 1952

August 2 -
James Baldwin (1924 - 1987)
Beverly Coyle (1946)
Bei Dao (1949), aka Zhao Zhengkai
Isabel Allende (1942)


August 3 -
Leon Uris (1924 - 2003)
Rupert Brooke (1887-1915);
P D James (1920)
Annette Sanford (1929; pen names include Mary Carroll, Meg Dominique, Lisa St. John, and others)
Marvin Bell (1937)
Diane Wakoski (1937
Walter Kirn (1962)

August 4 -
Percy Shelley (1792 - 1822)
Knut Hamsun (1859 - 1952)
William Henry Hudson (1841; d.1922),
Knut Hamsun (1859; d.1952),
Robert Hayden (1913; d.1980) born Asa Bundy Sheffey
Assia Djebar (1936) aka Fatima-Zohra Imalayen

August 5 -
Conrad Aiken (1889 - 1973)
Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893
Wendell Berry (1934)

August 6 -
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809 - 1892)
Paul Louis Charles Marie Claudel (1868-1955)
Scott Nearing (1883-1983)
Norma Farber (1909-1984)
Janet Asimov (1926)
Piers Anthony (1934)

Aug 7
Garrison Keillor (1942)
Ann Beattie (1947)

Which of these authors was once the Iowa Poet Laureate?

I'm reading Palafox by the French author Eric Chevillard, a humorous novel about a mysterious creature that defies classification by scientists, and The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds, which is on this year's Booker Prize longlist.

Half way through Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella. So far, seems predictable yet a fun read.

Started fearless fourteen by Janet Evanovich this morning. It's the first of hers that I've ever read, but I'd managed to get to pg 50 without realising that it's part of a series so it doesn't seem to matter overly much. Plus, its a library book so it's not like I've wasted any money of I don't finish.

Starting Life of Pi for early reviewers and also readalong on Bookcrossing.Com.

I'm still reading (and really enjoying) Robert Ludlum's The Hades Factor - a thriller about the race against time to stop a research scientist unleashing a pandemic of hemorrhagic fever for which only they have a cure - with a touch of The World According to Mimi Smartypants for light relief. Plus at the shop I'm steadily working my way through That Book by Mitchell Symons, full of trivia and quotes and absolutely perfect for between-customer moments of quiet!

Almost finished with my latest ER from LT - Last Known Address - it's ok, more later.

Still working on The Girl Who Played with Fire because I didn't have a lot of reading opportunity this week. I have high hopes to finish or put a big dent in it this weekend and will not start anything else until I finish it.

Part way through Anna Karenina and just started the non fiction A Peoples Tragedy, agood combination

Halfway through Illywhacker and just picked up Cowboys of the Sky for book club.

3/4 through A Passage to India. 'Even better than the movie, of course.

I finally finished Vicious Circle by Mike Carey. Yeah ! Urban fantasy following an exorcist with un-even control, in modern day London. This book was dealing with satanists who used Castor and were trying to sacrifice a young girl body and soul to release a major demon. Not bad, but again too long and wordy. Its over 500 pages and would have been better at 300. It picked up at the end.

I am now going to start Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. It is set in Nigeria and deals with colonialism.

Finished Last Known Address - still OK. I will put a review on the book page.

I think I'll read What in the Word? and Runaway Jury.

Just starting the novelty book Lost in Austen by Emma Campbell Webster. Looks like fun for Pride and Prejudice fans.

I'm still working on my group read: Dangerous Liaisons and The Pillars of the Earth. I need to find something to read in between. I'm thinking either American Rust or Loving Frank.

I'm still reading the ARC South of Broad, and just received my June early reviewer's book, If God Were Real, so I will be starting that one as well. It looks like a quick read.

No one has taken a crack at the trivia question in #1 yet....

I'm reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe. The jury is out so far. I love historical fiction; I'm not as crazy about historical fiction that has a parallel contemporary story. I'd rather stick to one era.

I'm continuing on with The Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling although I think I'll have it done today. Then I think I'll be moving on to Enchantment by Orson Scott Card.

Marvin Bell was Iowa's Poet Laureate, but I had to Google it. He preceded Robert Dana, who preceded Mary Swander.

Do I win a prize?

Wow, quite the week for author's birthdays!

I am still reading Looking Good Dead by Peter James as I had to put this down and finish library books. I will also be starting The True Story of Hansel and Gretel by Louise Murphy this week.

Currently reading The Laughter of Dark Gods, a collection of short stories set in the Warhammer universe. Never read a Warhammer novel, but I was in the mood for some simple fantasy so I picked this up at the library.

I'm still reading Cupid and Diana. School started on Monday so my days of waking up and reading in bed for a few hours are over. But I get to teach kids how to read so I guess it's a good trade off!

I should be wrapping up Christine Falls sometime this week and starting Confessions of an English Opium Eater.

Just finished Vanity Fair. I quite enjoyed it as I read it and as it sits in my head I'm realizing that it had more big themes and messages than it seemed as I read it. Glad I read it. I'm going to read a couple of non-fiction books next, Capitol Men and A Matter of Degrees. I'd like to read some fiction too but if I do, I'll not get these two library books back in time.

I finished The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen - a great historical fiction that examines the hypothetical question: How does a small, isolated mill town in Washington state deal with the influenza epidemic of 1918, while America is at war in Europe?

In quick order I picked up and finished Thought You Were Dead by Terry Griggs - touchstones don't appear to like the title - a humorous (highlight on the word humorous) murder mystery that involves a literary researcher/ slacker/ reluctant detective that finds himself unwittingly and unwillingly drawn into researching a mysterious tombstone, the disappearance of his employer - a fiction crime writer, and the death of a reviewer/ copy editor. A book I thoroughly enjoyed.

Next up is Incendiary by Chris Cleave.

# 26 I also enjoyed The Last Town on Earth I read it for my RL book group. At one point I had to put it down for a while, because the character seemed so vulnerable and bad things were going to happen to him. I really like the inclusion of the labor unrest, and anti-war sentiment. I think WWI in general is under-covered.

My review in my challenge thread

http://www.librarything.com/topic/61719#1357474

I'm currently reading the brilliant City of Thieves by David Benioff

#27 FicusFan - I agree. There is a lot going on in The Last Town on Earth - and Mullen does an excellent job portraying the polarized viewpoints on all topics broached in the story - you are correct, the war took a minor role compared to the issues you pointed out in your post. I look forward to another book by Mullen :)

Happy birthday Herman Melville! In his honor today, I'm reading Bartleby the Scrivener.

This morning I finished The Other by David Guterson, which started out slowly for me but I ended up liking it so much that I finished it while riding in the car, something I rarely do. I just started What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn. I needed something short to read between now and Tuesday since I plan on picking up the new Richard Russo novel That Old Cape Magic when it is realeased this week.

I started Brethren: AN Epic Adventure of the Knights Templar a few days ago. I have to admit I haven't gotten very far into it yet.

Farenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Oh my.

I've just finished reading Nicci French's Killing me softly and have now started reading Grief by John B Spencer

I am currently reading The Story of Lucy Gault by William Trevor. I am now halfway through and really enjoying it. The bit about a dog that's been hanging around and is from an abandoned house and then 9 year old Lucy realises how the house becomes 'abandoned' is so poignant.

I'm also reading Les Liasions Dangereuses, which is absolutely wonderful. In addition, I just started The Pursuit of Love, so both my fiction reads this week are incredibly witty and funny.

Non-fiction this week is Jane Austen: Her Life and Times, and I'm still reading a book of Rilke's poems.

Continuing "Bone By Bone" by Carol O'Connell.

#33 - heard an interview about that book with the author the other day on NPR - going to put it on my TBR list. Right now I'm in the middle of Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult - love her books!

Kiwiflowa 35
I read The Story of Lucy Gault a few years ago and you have struck on the exact word to describe it (poignant). The ending left me with a lump in my throat and that is exactly how I would describe it. William Trevor is one of my favorite authors.

Starting Maid Marian by Elsa Watson. Today is my birthday! Half a century! Woo! Had a fun day filled of shopping and dinner and cake. Mom took me to B&N and got me Time Traveller's Wife and My Sister's Keeper.

Happy birthday, leperdbunny! Enjoy your cake and stash!

I have just started listening to Brothers by Yu Hua and also started reading The Cellist of Sarajevo by Steven Galloway.

>41 Storeetllr: Thanks Storeetllr!

I have just finished The Story of Lucy Gault and I'll now start Animal's People by Indra Sinha

Started reading Runaway Jury and discovered I had already read. Now I don't mind reading books over - much - but I have too many others to read the first time, so I'll count it as read (before) and I'll read Street Lawyer instead. No particular reason, it was just next in line on the shelf.

I'm desperately trying to find reading time around the baby's schedule to finish American Lion before we leave for vacation suuuper early on Tuesday. I hate hauling a big fat book that is nearly finished along with me on vacation.

I'm reading So Long and thanks for all the fish. I'm trying to read the whole Hitchhikers series.

Still finishing up Mad Ship. I've about 150 pages to go and am going to try to push to finish this tonight or tomorrow. My "To Be Read" pile keeps telling me I'm taking too long!

just completed Pat Barker's Eye in the Door. subtle, complex(duality!!) and well written. look foward to the last volume,

#33 - sisaruus - Fahrenheit 451 is one of my favorite books of all time! My sister has to read/highlight for her AP English class this summer, and I begged her not to let the annotations ruin an amazing book for her. So far, she doesn't hate it, which I'll take as a success considering she hates reading.

As for me, I'm over 100 pages into Lisey's Story and I'm still not entirely sure where the plot is going, although I find this mystery story line a hell of a lot better than Insomnia, which practically drove me to tears of frustration. I also started on James Patterson's Along Came a Spider, the first in Patterson's Alex Cross series. I'm only a few pages into it, but I can tell I'll really enjoy it - the writing is simple, yet entertaining, and I think I'm in for a really good thriller.

I've just started The Maintenance of Headway by Magnus Mills. So far, it seems to be a slightly absurd take on public transport, in a similar vein to his Scheme for Full Employment.

Working on To Hold the Crown which is holding my interest after others have not. Also tackling Emma for the 3rd or 4th time. I may have made it past the usual abandonment point! I have to think it is the book, as I enjoy the others.

Seventy pages into Arthur Schopenhauer's "Essays and Aphorisms". My second time reading through Schopenhauer's work, but I think he is crucial for understanding the work of the early existentialists and the corpus of Nietzsche.

I also just finished Paul Auster's "The New York Trilogy" which was one of the best novels I have ever read. I would highly, highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in philosophy or detective novels.

Reading steadily along in Pillars of the Earth and enjoying it, primarily for the parts on building cathedrals and learning how mathematics/geometry supports so many other Arts & Sciences. I love some of the characters for their curiosity and desire to learn new information (Jack) and revile others for their political double dealing and outright violence against women, men (including clergy) and children. (William & Waleran)

Still also getting a good start on The Lost City of Z. Where do the days go? Can't believe how busy I have been, which is a good thing, I guess, but I would enjoy more time to read books.

For anyone interested in Dave Cullen's book, Columbine, he has posted a link to an interview on the old thread for when he so graciously was the LT Author Chat for two weeks in June '09.

You can find it here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/65902

Please see message #104 from Dave for his link to interview.

Enjoy your day/evening.

WH aka Ruth

Teelgee:

For once State poet of Iowa, I usually wouldnʻt guess, but Iʻm willing to guess because there are about 15 gthat I can rule out:

1st choice Marvin Bell

backup Scott Nearing (though Iʻve neve seen anything but prose from him,

I finished Cupid and Diana and started The God of Animals. I love horse stories!

I just finished The Black Fawn and have begun Frost in May. I am hoping it is as good as everyone says it is.
belva

Well last night i read Stargazer by Claudia Gray for some light-hearted teen reading but i don't think i will get anything read tonight as I'm not only shattered but also vaguely tipsy from the two vodka and cokes that i drank in rather quick succession. My head is probably too swimmy to manage to concentrate on the words (i'm having enough trouble typing - i have a pathetically low tolerance for alcohol)

We went down to San Francisco for the weekend so I haven't had much reading time over the past few days. I'm still reading my mid-summer spy thriller, The Sisters by Robert Littell. Up to about page 45, and after a sort of questionable start, it's a nice fun book.

Along with Pillars, I'm enjoying Homer's Odyssey, an ER book about a blind cat. So far, it ranks right up there with Dewey.

#53 - I love Auster and have had The New York Trilogy in my tbr pile for ages. I started and stopped it twice now. I just can't seem to catch it at the right time!

I've just finished Wild Swans by Jung Chang and I've started Olive Kitteridge for a book club. Also dipping into Mother Reader: Essential Writings on Motherhood. Considering Empire Falls for my book club read--anyone aye or nay?

I'm in the middle of The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. I like a good historical fiction story- this one has possibilities but it is very long!

Finished When you are engulfed in flames by David Sedaris (now I understand where the title comes from!) and have started Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood.

I'm reading A River Runs Through It and Other Stories by Norman Maclean. The introduction to this edition is by another favorite author, Annie Proulx. My bedside books -- I'm trying to read a chapter each night -- are Dava Sobel's Planets and Witold Rybczynski's My Two Polish Grandfathers.

Haven't got a lot of reading, or anything else, done this weekend. Sometimes it's just like that, I guess.

Lady violet, vodka and Coke sounds positively vile! Why on earth did you drink one of 'em, let alone two?

Finished Fred Hollows autobiography. He was an ophthalmologist who worked with Aborigines, and other people in third world countries to improve eye-sight through simple operations. He discovered that many poorer people were still suffering from treatable eye problems that were not seen in affluent societies. He set about fixing the problem himself, as well as training surgeons in Nepal, Eritrea and Vietnam.

This is a great book about a great and yet humble man. Instead of being caught up in earning lots of money, he donated lots of his time, money and expertise to helping others. His generosity is truly inspiring. A great read recommended.

My next non-fiction is Bumbreath, botox and bubbles.

Message 66: Wow. It's people like that who restore one's faith in h umanity.

I just read it, I wasn't sure at first either - but really liked it afterall!

I am reading Edith Wharton: Five Novels (Library of Essential Writers) now.

19 and 55: Yes, Marvin Bell is the answer. jbliel beat you to it roland, but google-cheated! ;o)

Finished What Was Lost yesterday after starting it on Sat. morning. (It rained all day--what else to do but read?) so I started The Outlander by Gil Adamson. Library Thing says I will love it. :-)

Just finished Jeff Abbott's Panic and moved on to Expedition of Cyrus (Oxford's classics series).

I just finished The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson and gave it 4 1/2 stars. It was fantastic. Now I have to wait until fall for the 3rd book in the trilogy.

So I should either continue my re-read of Pride and Prejudice or continue my read of John Adams by David McCullough.

I might have to say to heck with "should" and find another thriller/mystery. Lots of stress last week and anticipated stress for the next two weeks until Band Booster taxes are done. Escape time.

I finished The Hades Factor last night and reviewed it this morning in a loooooong customer lull in the shop. I'm still reading The World According to Mimi Smartypants, which I'm finding is funnier and sweeter when I read a good chunk at once rather than just 'dipping in' to her vibrant sense of humour. It was originally a blog but it definitely works better reading a few entries at a time. After a quick sweep of my shelves I've decided on Daphne Du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek to run alongside it as my fiction read... looking forward to that one after loving Rebecca so very much!

Two books, one for the handbag, one for the bedside :

The famous The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, which I merely found flat at the beginning, and now am actively disliking : I just can't stand the characters anymore. If I read one more thing about Elizabeth, the book will likely have a very unpleasant fate.

The bedside one is non-fiction : Comprendre les tendances ("Understanding the trends"). Interesting premise about the various trendmakers through history, but the content is too scattered and lacks cohesion. It's as if it tries to be a beautiful coffee-table book with pretty pictures as well as a document. As a result : the document is a bit poor and the pictures are mostly irrelevant and uninformative (colorful, shiny, but useless and, frankly, not that pretty).

By the way, it's my first post here, I'm freshly inscribed (and my bookself is still empty : too many websites, too little time :) ). So sorry in advance for any mistake I may make :)

Welcome, rosefromthule! Hope you enjoy hanging out here and seeing what everyone else is reading too :-)

I'm overly excited because I finished (and passed) my PhD. Woo! So now I have time to read books again! I am celebrating by finally being able to concentrate on and appreciate From the Holy Mountain by William Dalrymple which is his wonderful account of his travels through present-day Byzantium. I am loving it.

I'm also dipping into Borges' Labyrinths and enjoying it but finding that (shock, horror) I think I prefer Andrew Hurley's translations to those of Yates & Irby. I just semi-accidentally bought Borges: Collected Fictions, which is translated by Hurley, though, so I can do a full and complete comparison. Oh dear, more Borges reading. What a shame ;-)

I'm reading 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann while I finish The Mexican Dream by J.M.G. Le Clezio..all things pre-columbian!

Paul Auster! Paul Auster! I read Leviathan and The Book of Illusions and now I'm reading The Brooklyn Follies. All of the books seem similar to each other, but because they're about a city I know well and feature characters that I appreciate, they suck me in.

Just finished a YA title, Fade by Lisa McMann, which was a good follow-up to Wake, and started Gone Tomorrow, the new Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child that I got for my birthday.

#78 Speaking of New York, I've just finished The Assistant by Bernard Malamud which I thought was marvellous. Now starting A Most Immoral Woman by Linda Jaivan (Australia).

I'm misbehaving and reading three books at once -- far more than my usual number. Up this week are Amy Bloom's Away, Millie's Fling by Jill Mansell and Jane Green's Mr. Maybe. Away will probably be the first one done!

I am finishing World War Z - zombie fiction meets Studs Terkel and The Parent Test, as well as continuing to plow through Ulysses, though I've really slowed down there. . .

Catreona - vodka and coke doesn't really taste of anything but the coke, wierdly i actually prefer drinking that to coke on its own but then i have some pretty odd tastes ;)

Started reading Fragile Eternity last night and I want to get it finished tonight so i don't have it to carry about when i go to France tomorrow.

I started The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I don't think this is going to be a quick read for me, but I am enjoying it so far.

hmm touchtones do not seem to work even when I use the brackets and it shows to the right.

I just started the Carrie Vaughn "Kitty" series with the first one Kitty and the Midnight Hour. I like it so far.

I'm getting quite irritated with Deliverance Dane but will probably stick it out.

# 82 I finished World War Z a few weeks ago and loved it!
# 84 I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and its so great! It took me several days to read like 200 pages because the beginning is sort of difficult to slog through, but then I finished the remainder of the book-like 500 pages-in one sitting and it was thrilling! I am currently reading Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist because I am on a Swedish author kick and I have the second Stieg Larsson book on hold at the library.

LizT - congrats on your PhD! What an accomplishment!

I finished Incendiary by Chris Cleave - It was alright but not as good as Little Bee. I then quickly read Girl in Hyacinth Blue - I enjoyed the book once I made it past the second chapter/short story - that chapter really did seem out of sync with the rest of the book.

I am now reading some short stories - Rhyming Life and Death by Amos Oz, The Reason for Crows by Diane Glancy and then The English Stories by Cynthia Flood.

Rare experience for me.....I was so offended by the first 20 minutes of Brothers by Yu Hua that I could not continue. I won't count it on my list of reads for the year. The sexist vulgarity was really bad. So, I continue with The Cellist of Sarajevo and am starting to listen to First Family by David Baldacci.

A weekend camping in the rain left me with a cold and no desire to leave the couch. Thus I'm reading what I thought would be a bit of fluff but what is turning out to be a history lesson: The Spanish Bride by Georgette Heyer.

Also still reading Pillars with the group.

At home I'm reading Cutting for Stone (fabulous) and finishing up my carry book You Can Cope with Peripheral Neuropathy, which is my first Early Reviewers book, and has been quite helpful.

I'm back to work today, but looking forward to reading A Room with a View this evening! Bridget770 (message 15), you said that you were thinking of reading Loving Frank - I read it and thought it was excellent. My book club had a very provocative conversation about it!

I'm back from vacation and a book reading binge. I finished Appaloosa and Brimstone by Robert B. Parker. I couldn't find Resolution at the library before I left and so will have to go back to get that one. Also finished Trail of Crumbs for my book discussion group. I started reading Time Traveler's Wife and hope to get it done before the movie comes out this weekend. It is very good and I am enjoying that one. I was reading that book in between classes at the beef show (county fair time in Kansas) and my sister picked it up. She thought it looked good and asked me to send it her way when I finish. I was surprised because it isn't the type of book that she usually reads. I also started listening to Zorro by Isabel Allende.

#90 QuestingA

I read Spanish Bride years ago and loved it. I still remember it. Don't be deceived into thinking it is just a romance novel. It was a wonderful history lesson and in fact gave me a really good foundation of knowledge to use when I started reading the Richard Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell. Then I saw the BBC series of the Sharpe books starring Sean Bean and now I can't imagine Richard Sharpe looking like anything other than Sean Bean. Wow does that guy look good in that Rifles Green uniform! I can understand why Geraldine Granger has a such a crush on him.

I was thrilled to see at the ALA conference that it has been re-released. An Infamous Army has also been re-released and if you haven't read that one I would encourage you to pick it up. I was so happy to see it that I purchased a copy for my mother, who has never read the book. As we say in Kansas - Happy Trails to you in reading these books. They are great fun.

#80 Amandameale

I thought that the Assistant was beautifully written and very much deserved the Pulitzer Prize it received. Even though it is an old classic I had never read it until a year ago when my book discussion group read it. The author creates the setting and the mood so that you can just see those city streets. I can't remember the grocer's name but I thought he was a wonderful forgiving man. Not to mention long-suffering. As much as I disagreed with their choices I still liked the characters.

I am halfway through The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson and I will say that i can't put it down. Riveting.

Hey Jane1104, I read Room with a View and loved it! I'm rereading one of the books from my favorite book list right now: Play it as it lays. Here's my complete list: http://www.ranker.com/list/books-that-changed-my-life-_aka-you-should-read-these...

Party prep, entertaining and then clean-up kept me from reading a word all weekeend. Today I'm too hung over to focus. I'll finish The Serpent's Tale soon, and get back to the wrist-spraining Pillars of the Earth just after.

I finally got fed up with the Sookie Stackhouse books (barely started the third before waking up and realising I didn't care anymore) so I'm starting Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake.

I enjoyed Rhyming Life and Death by Amos Oz and abandoned The Reason For Crows by Diane Glancy... decided it definitely was not for me. Onwards to Cynthia Flood and The English Stories.

Managed to finish American Lion before our vacation so now I've started The Last Beach Bungalow because I may be meeting Jennie Nash next Sunday.

I finished Beasts of No Nation by Uzodinma Iweala. I've started The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark.

LizT, congratulations on finishing. What was your PhD about? I have several friends who have PhDs and the amount of work it took is astounding. Enjoy reading for leisure.

I finished Peyton Place last night and now have a soft place in my heart for it. It may not be necessary, but it is good enough to read. The life of the town and the characters in it were real enough to care about. I was born toward the end of the scene depicted, and I think it captured some social realities of the time as well as of the place.

I think I'll go see whether it needs another review.

Robert

I finished The Devil's Eye by Jack McDevitt and The Suspect by John Lescroart this weekend. I've been re-charging my brain with lighter reading these days until the semester begins. Cramming in mysteries and such.

abealy, there are no reviews of The Mexican Dream posted yet. Could you consider posting one?

Robert

I'm reading Fahrenheit 451 and loving it.

I read Last Night at the Lobster by Stewart O'Nan.

I am now reading Here's the Story by Maureen McCormick. I am only a little way into this, but I think anyone who grew up in the 70's and watched The Brady Bunch would enjoy this book.

I just started reading First Love by Joyce Carol Oates. I'm not sure what to make of it yet.
I am also listening to American Gospel by Jon Meacham, which is quite good so far.
I hope to get to The Pale of Settlement by Margot Singer by the end of the week. Two weeks before the next semester starts! I am so happy to have time for leisure reading I hardly know where to start.

I've got a few pages left of Nest in the Wind and plan to start The Dress Lodger tonight.

I finished The Age of Homespun today at work. Since I only had a chapter or two left and my computer at work made the jump to refried Friday morning, I brought along my new current reading, Abigail Adams: A Biography.

I abandoned Tears of Autumn by Charles McCarry, and continue to read Pillars of the Earth. I'm also reading The Arboghast Case.

Just finished The Girl Who Played with Fire. Wow!
Starting on Dead Until Dark.

I finished The Murder of My Aunt. Such a fun story about fat, evil Edward and his domineering aunt. Both of them deserved to die but the ending was very satisfying.
I've started Excellent Women by Barbara Pym.

>#98:
St. Richard;
Would you please take better care of yourself. I worry about your health. **tsk tsk** Partying, cleaning, entertaining, "hanging over"?", when will it all end? What will be the eventual outcome of all this "ribaldry"? Stay tuned ladies and gents. I am sure there is more to come.
hugs,
belva

I am currently reading Anna Karinina and Pillars of the Earth as part of the group reads and last night started Frost in May which I am loving, loving, loving!~!
Hey Richard, I'm still working on the Phryne Fisher Treasury as my tweener and it is a treasure; kind of like you. hee hee hee

I finished The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. Now on to pick up A Woman of Independent Means again.

I read Sarah Vowell's Assassination Vacation yesterday, and today I've started Richard Holmes's The Age of Wonder, which is excellent so far! I'm also listening to the audiobook version of Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates, though I'm not entirely sure that counts as "reading". Hmm.

I hope to finish Framing the Early Middle Ages this week and to move on to any of these five choices: http://www.librarything.com/catalog/divinenanny/readingnextmax5

>94 benitastrnad: Sean Bean - what's not to love? My hopes of The Spanish Bride being a light-hearted romance didn't last long. I'm enjoying the book though and the background of the Napoleonic wars continues a theme from Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, the last book I read.

>94 benitastrnad: Oh yes, that made me giggle! Good old Geraldine, first she fell for Sean Bean, then Richard Armitage, PLUS she eats almost as much chocolate as me. Clearly the woman has taste.

#98 richarddear - wrist-spraining indeed. I acquired a gorgeous oversized trade paperback of The Pillars of the Earth at the thrift store and found that I could only read it sitting in a chair with a pillow propped on my lap or at a table. I was not getting far fast.

So I found a ratty old mass market size paperback at the same thrift store. The pages are slightly yellowed and the cover had a chunk out of it, but by God! it was easily readable in bed. Finished it and loved it.

I sent this same ratty copy with my daughter to camp and she devoured it in 2 weeks. She has taken it as her own to remind her of camp. Now, if I ever want to re-read it again I'll have to find another regular size paperback copy.

I'm beginning to think that gorgeous oversize trade paperbacks are overrated.

I just started reading Paul Auster's The New York Trilogy, very impressive so far.

I am still reading Pride and Prejudice page 68 almost done with chapter 18, and The Day The Falls Stood Still page 150, but also accompanied by How Do I Love Thee? page 116, which is "A Novel of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Poetic Romance".

Just finished Anna Karenina and penned the review.

After a number of hefty Russian Classics this month I'd promised myself something lighter but come my visit to the bookcase my hand was again drawn to Russia and Dostoevsky and Crime and Punishment

I've only read the first 5 chapters, but so far this is great :-)

Reading A People's Tragedy alongside these Russian Classics has been an eye opener especially as the author mentions so many of them in his text and the explanations.

In fact I can see a little of Russia's first prime minister (Tolstoy's neighbour) and his experiences attempting to make his estate profitable in Tolstoy's character Levin.

I was on vacation last week but didn't get much reading done having the kids along. Nonetheless, I finished a couple of books that I'd been working on. Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog was an easy read, quite charming, and only a little pretentious (what do you expect from a book on sentence diagramming?). For three days afterward, I found myself still diagramming sentences in my head. Thank goodness that's gone away; it's like getting a bad song stuck in your head.

Then I finished The Virgin Blue by Tracy Chevalier. I had sworn off Chevalier after none of her three other books that I read lived up to Girl With a Pearl Earring. I wouldn't have read Virgin Blue except for a book club. I'm glad I did. It was very different from GWAPE, but equally as good. If she write's another book, I guess now I'm on the hook to give it a chance.

Given that I was at a ranch in Colorado, I started Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas. I'm halfway through, and so far it's pretty darn boring. I will finish it though, because it was a gift and it's a pretty fast read.

> 112 Karenmarie I'm beginning to think that gorgeous oversize trade paperbacks are overrated

I actually hate them because they have the vices of both paper and hardcover, with the only virtue being they are cheaper than a hardcover.

Like hardcovers they are larger and unwieldy, and more difficult to physically read (I never sit in a chair). Like mmpb they are soft and easily mangled. Because they are so big, they are almost guaranteed to get mangled.

#110 & #126 - I just got a copy of the Dress Lodger. I had read Mammoth Cheese and liked it so want to read this one as well. But I am down on early industrial England. I just finished reading Burning Bright by Chevalier and found it boring and unfocused. Who was that story about? If it was about William Blake I wouldn't have guessed so by reading the book. I did stick with it until I had finished it but it wasn't easy.

benitastrnad - I have no idea what Burning Bright was about. The whole juxtoposition of the circus in London with the life of William Blake was just baffling to me. That was her worst book for sure.

Loved The Girl with the Pearl Earring (movie is very good also) and also enjoyed The Dress Lodger. I have a couple of Chevalier's books, but have not read them yet.

I prefer Sarah Vowell on audio. But I will not rant about how she is my new I must read everything by her author because I've done that in recent weeks past, but I will say I HIGHLY recommend her (and she's doing a tour soon and will be in Austin doing a reading in February!!)

#131 ShannonMDE - I loved The Wordy Shipmates and have bookmooch wishlisted all her other books, so far with no success.

I'll get them eventuallly...

I started in print Eat Pray Love it was recommended by two coworkers at the library. So far it's okay.. but I'm going to keep reading it since I will be leaving for a vacation in Italy in three weeks!!
I'm not sure what I'll be listening to this week in audio, but I've downloaded There's a Slight Chance I Might Be Going to Hell A Novel of Sewer Pipes, Pageant Queens and Big Trouble.

karenmarie and Ficus...I don't like paperbound books because they're harder for my weirdly shaped hands to keep open than hardcovers. I really don't like mass market paperbacks because they're so tightly bound that they mousetrap shut in a flash and, since I can't bring myself to break the spine even on these cheap PoS's, I never remember exactly where I was so have to spend too much reading time finding the spot where it snapped shut on me.

Finished The Serpent's Tale so a review is forthcoming. Have moaningly mounted the slopes of Mount Follett. It's lucky I enjoy this book, otherwise I'd send Mr. F some hate-mail about how bloody LONG it is!

I'm almost stalled on Aracoeli by Elsa Morante. It's a beautifully written book, or I think it is. I find myself reading for awhile, admiring how nicely it's written, feeling bad for the narrator, and then wondering when I can put it down and do something else. Maybe just a readers block. I still plan to push through.

#113 Baileysandbooks

I just purchased both of the Stieg Larson books and can't wait to get started on them. There was a long waiting line at the library so I gave in and dug out the checkbook. I have heard good things from others - inside and outside of LT.

#119 QuestingA

I liked Jonathan Strange but haven't gotten around to reading Ladies of Grace Adieu. That one is on my list. Even though many people think the Richard Sharpe books are for men I enjoyed them and learned even more about the Napoleonic Wars, so if you seem to be living in that time period give them a read. I found Sharpe's exploits to be fun and the historical parts well researched and not boring. There is also a series of books that fall into the Fantasy genre in the same vein as Jonathan Strange that you might like. In these books dragons are used to fight in the wars. His Majesty's Dragon is the first one in the series. These are also on my list. But my list is long and my time is short ...

My son prefers paperbacks because they fit so nicely in one's pocket and he always has a book in his pocket.

I just finished The Street Lawyer. I am beginning to se a formula to Grisham's lawyer books and have found that I actually like his non-lawyer books better, but this was OK.

I'll finish up the Star Trek Destiny trilogy now with Star Trek Lost Souls and am a couple of chapters away from finishing What in the Word?.

I can't read MM Paperbacks anymore. The print is smudgy and hard to read and I don't like the size. Much prefer trade paper to hard cover, as hard cover is hard for me to hold and has sharp edges!

The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane has picked up a bit and I'm finding it more interesting but still not enamored with it.

Just finished Brion McClanahan's Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers this afternoon on a break at work. Now I'm trying to decide what to start when I get home. I'm thinking it's time to re-read Mervyn Peake's Ghormengast trilogy. It's just fun!

I lied.. apparently I downloaded my book incorrectly and then changed my mind about what I wanted to read. I've downloaded Sloppy Firsts because of the recent talk about people stumbling upon it then needing to urgently read the rest of the series.

#139 - teelgee, I found Deliverance Dane tough going too, but I liked it in the end.

I'm currently reading In the Woods. Last night I was at that awkward stage where the end is coming, but I couldn't stay awake that long.

I'm about to take another stab at a comic book. This'll be my 3rd try, The Incredible Hulk: Return of the Monster by Bruce Jones. I'm not sure I can get into the 'super hero saving the city in tight pants' but stuff like the Predator books seem enjoyable enough. We'll see how it goes.

Reviewed The Serpent's Tale on the book's page, for anyone interested. Short version: Recommended.

#140 drbottlecapper

I thought I was fairly well read but I had never heard of the Ghormengast novels until this spring when a friend mentioned that the administration building at Queens University in Belfast looked like what she imagined Titus' castle to look like. That got my attention and I got the first book from the library earlier this summer but didn't have time to read it. Maybe I should go back and get it? But then I still need to finish the third book in Robert B. Parker's Appaloosa trilogy. Guess I am back to that old saw about so little time and so many books!

Pynchon's Inherent Vice hit the shelves today (at my local Border's, at least.) I'm a third of the way through. And I'm loving it. For someone who has not read Pynchon or who has been frustrated by his longer novels, which can be a challenge to read, his newest novel could serve as an intro into all that is uniquely Pynchon but at a less daunting level than, say, Against the Day.

I read Frenchmen's Creek many years ago and, though I remember loving it, I remember nothing about the story itself.

Congratulations to our newly minted Ph.D.!!!

If listening doesn't count as reading, then I haven't read a book or magazine in thirty-nine years.

Lady Violet, LOL. If you aren't crazy about Coke, switch to Pepsi.

Finished Maid Marian. Wondering what I should read next. . Hmm I'll sleep on it I guess!

I started Not Untrue and Not Unkind by Ed O'Loughlin yesterday, which was selected for this year's Booker Prize longlist. I'm also reading Harare North by Brian Chikwava.

>137 benitastrnad: benitastrnad
I think the Sharpe books are for both genders. Most of my female friends love them. I'm embarrassed to admit I've been meaning to read them for decades. I'd also like to read the Flashman novels. Hmmm, maybe I need to re-jiggle my to be read list. And I'll keep an eye out for His Majesty's Dragon.
Thanks.

I finished Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe. A story that starts in Nigeria before colonization, and then the colonizers with their trade, religion, and government arrive.

I am now reading Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, a YA fantasy for a RL book group.

The Bone Doll's Twin left off in such a way I felt compelled to run out buy and read Hidden Warrior. Also, partly due to our author birthday list above, I have picked out Bio of an Ogre, Piers Anthony's first biography, out from my tbr pile. I plan to do a chapter a day since I'm not much for reading non-fiction.

#136 benitastrnad
I hope you enjoy both of Larsson's books as much as I did. While I really liked The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, I loved The Girl Who Played with Fire and can not think of a book I have been waiting now with as much anticipation as I am waiting for the third and final in the Millennium series.
Looking forward to your thoughts on those books. Enjoy!

#136 benistrnad - ditto what BaileysAndBooks said! They were both stunning.

I'm really sorry that we'll never have any new books from Larsson after the third Millenium book.

I am complete agreement with the praise on Larsson's books. I'm very anxious for the last one to come out.

I think I wasn't paying enough attention. What does everyone (or a lot of people) like about Larsson's books?

I didnt lie--I just changed my mind. I remembered a few weeks back I read Tolkien's Hobbit and Fellowship of the Ring, then got distracted with something else, so I decided to finish up the series, so I'm in The Two Towers.

#137
I just finished listening to the audio of His Majesty's Dragon and it was surprisingly good! I didn't know it was a series, I will have to dig up more of them.
#156
I liked The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo because it wasn't entirely predictable and he writes really well rounded characters that are believable and interesting.

Just finished The Brooklyn Follies. It was a fast read, not quite as good as The Book of Illusions, but very sweet for somebody who loves Brooklyn.

Starting Tangerine by Edward Bloor later today. I can't believe I skipped over this YA classic when I was a teen.

The Glory and the Dream by William Manchester. At 1300+ pages, I'm going to be here for a while! I'd never heard of it until I came across a copy at my library's book sale. Picked it up for a dollar!

Went to the library today, got more books. Shame on me! Interested in skimming over the whole library handbook current data, professional advice, and curiosa about libraries and library services. Also got Outlander, being that I'm probably the only female on the planet who wasn't read this series! :)

Edit: Forgot to mention, I'm listening to Harry Potter series while I walk in the evening. I've only read the first one, and that was years ago when the first book came out. I've seen all the movies, its a nice relaxing thing to listen too.

>161 leperdbunny: I love Jim Dale reading the Harry Potter books, he does such a fantastic job!

I just went out to Borders because both kids wanted books. Neither found what they wanted but my husband and I came home with 3 (1 for him to donate to our historical society's catalog dept and 2 for me - Wallflower Christmas and Julie and Julia, which I'll read when I am finished with Star Trek Lost Souls).

Finished A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey today. Reading The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit aloud. Not sure what to read next.

I am reading Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris. This series is so much better than Twilight!

I already finished The Incredible Hulk: Return of the Monster. It wasn't bad. The art was really good and I really liked the first series of comics (#34-#39). The 2nd set (Boiling Points, #40-43) weren't bad, and the last set was just a bit silly (the art made all the people look like little kids.)

Anyways, my verdict so far on comic books: Meh.

Next up I'm going to try another genre I don't delve into often: Hard Science Fiction. I don't normally enjoy it too much, but this next book has some VERY short chapters (1-2 pages each...not exaggerating) so hopefully that'll help it flow better if t gets excruciatingly detailed. Anyways, tomorrow I'll start Mars Crossing by Geoffrey A. Landis.

I finished Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free by Charles P. Pierce. This is a smart, disturbing and wickedly funny look at America today. A real eye-opener!
Still chugging cheerily along on the group read of The Pillars of the Earth and will soon be starting Worst Nightmares by Shane Briant. My wife, along with a couple of her friends loved this one.

I'm well over halfway through The Virgin's Daughters and thinking that I did not bring nearly enough books with me on vacation. Thankfully there are some books here at my parents' house and another book blogger has promised to bring me a book when we meet up on Sunday.

Finished up Mad Ship finally. Whew! Good book, but it got bogged down in the middle and I kept drifting off to other books.

Picked up Pyramids today, which I plan to start tonight. The humor will be most welcome.

A separate peace by John Knowles, and Fragile Things by Neal Gaiman.

Hmm, stupid me, I didn't realize that the whole library handbook current data, professional advice, and curiosa about libraries and library services was not the most up to date version. 4th edition was published in 2006. Went to my library catalog, not available. Went to worldcat, it says my library has it. I called information at my library, and they only have 1 copy and its a "staff collection" only book. So how the heck am I supposed to get the most up to date version now? According to the librarian I spoke to tonight, she said I would have to come during the day to talk to someone that would have some pull in the collection management. Anyone know what I can do? Can they tell me I'm not allowed to check it out and can't use ILL either? Sounds kinda mean and fishy/not right. Trying not to get upset about this, but I am. :(

>171 leperdbunny: leperdbunny...do I understand you aright when I glean that your library (aka "the place you go to check out books, or read the ones they want to keep forever") won't let you even read this secret, sacred tome?!? While you're there, under their beady little eyes?!?

Fishy like a whale shark on a Japanese trawler, dear one. Go raise some hell.

This week I've finished Palafox (actually I stopped reading it halfway through), The Quickening Maze (loved it!), Not Untrue and Not Unkind (mixed feelings about it), and Literary Paris: A Guide (too much journalism, not enough literature). Right now I'm reading Journey into the Past, a novella by Stefan Zweig, Harare North by Brian Chikwava, and Blood and Guts: A Short History of Medicine by Roy Porter.

I have been on a bit of a reading hiatus. Not too many books in the last month. None for a week. Travel is not conducive to reading for me, as it is so far from relaxing.

Yesterday, I read Waiting for Columbus, an arc from vine.. since I had to get it reviewed. Today I will try again with The Lost City of Z. I tried 3 weeks ago, but then 4 vine books showed up and I had to get busy with them. I am really looking forward to this one, due to reports here on LT about it.

August 1: Them: adventures with extremists. Interesting and funny.
August 2: The Princess Bride. Hilarious. (Then saw the movie, the book is better)
August 3: Look to Windward. Now my favorite Culture novel.
August 4: Azincourt. Very good historical fiction.
August 5: Bad Science. Excellent. Learnt more from this than I thought I would.
August 6: Avoid Boring People. Surprisingly boring.

Now reading: Flesh and Spirit

175 - and I thought I read fast - haven't gotten to a book a day, but I'm close!

Dutch Uncle by Marilyn Dunham turned up while I was slimming down the number of books on my shelf (=donating them to the book table at the mall). It was published in 1973 when Harcourt was Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc and they made a good decision when they decided to publish. Good imagery, strong character descriptions, good story, good read. I'm surprised it was never made into a movie.

Just finished this and am starting on Linda Olsson's Sonata for Miriam which I expect to be as moving as her first: Let Me Sing You Gentle Songs

I'm reading and enjoying The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I love a good, subtle ghost story. I stopped reading last night at a particularly spooky bit because I was too scared to get up and go to the toilet ha ha!

I'm reading Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. It's been on the shelf for awhile. Good so far.

Finished Deliverance Dane last night, found it mostly irritating. My review is here.

Now reading In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld which looks really good.

Still plugging through Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind and I am absolutely loving it! The edition I'm reading does have a few typos in it ("what" instead of "that", for example), which can be distracting at times. Besides that, it's an excellent read!

#161 Lepardbunny and #162 Jenson_AKA_DL - I'm listening, once again, to Jim Dale read book 7 on my commute. He has seriously spoiled me - I don't like too many other readers any more.

#156 jbleil - I agree with #158 Oryan685. I'd add that the plots are layered, complex, and wrap up nicely. The unpredictability was especially satisfying. Larsson leads you all over the place, then brings you to exactly where he wants you while having given you a great trip.

#164 and #179 AMQS - I've read A Woman of Independent Means several times. I have two copies on my shelves - insecurity that I might lose one, I guess. I also just finished Case Histories and will be interested in hearing what you think of it.

#167 msf59 - hi! Hope you're doing well. I will visit your thread soon, promise!

Edited to fix AMQS, not AQMS

>182 karenmarie:, karenmarie, I'm curious to know what it is about A Woman of Independent Means that you find so compelling. I really enjoyed the book, but I don't know that I'll read it again.

#183 AMQS - hmm. I think it was one of the first epistolary books I ever read. That appealed to me immensely and to this day I love reading that type of book. Plus I just loved all things NOT said because they were from Bess's viewpoint. One of the big ones, to me anyway, is that I think she loved her husband more than he loved her. Plus it took her from childhood through old age, and that's always appealing if it's handled well.

I haven't read it in a long time, but every time I see it on my shelves, I feel good.

Finished Lisey's Story yesterday, and it was everything that I've come to expect from Stephen King. The plot was slower than I had expected, but the story was incredibly satisfying. Well worth the time I put into it.

I'm also over 100 pages into Along Came A Spider, which is quickly turning into a very exciting crime thriller. I can't wait to read more of the Alex Cross series. I'm trying to get as much reading in as I can over the next week, since I have an out-of-town friend coming in next Thursday - won't be much time for reading once he gets in!

I'm half way through What The Dead Know by Laura Lippmann. The story is a page turner so far and I hope the ending lives up to the story. Getting ready to read The Unlikely Disciple by Kevin Roose.

I'm reading Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden. I also started on two very long histories of Russia by Orlando Figes- Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia and A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924

I'm finally getting around to The Children's Blizzard. I've been wanting to read it for a long time. It appeared on a B&N buy two, get the third free table. I actually found three books I wanted!

I finished reading Shibumi which was great, not my favorite but very nice book. I finished The Field Guide which is the first book in the Spiderwick Chronicles series, really nice and short. And now I am reading The Sea Of Monsters which is the second book in the Percy Jackson & The Olympians series and I am quite enjoying it so far.

#188 jennieg - I read The Children's Blizzard years ago and really enjoyed it, with the exception of one area where he describes the weather patterns ad naseum. Of course, I used to live in southeastern MT and frequently traveled/stayed in ND and SD, so for me it was a familiar area and I could certainly relate to the weather.

#189 I loved the entire Percy Jackson series. Are you reading it in English or Spanish?

>184 karenmarie:, karenmarie, thank you! I do love the epistolary style also, but I thought it was a drawback to only have letters written by Bess. I wondered about her relationship with her husband, too. I also enjoyed that the letters spanned her long life -- it was interesting to see how she changed and matured -- or not, in some aspects. Thanks for your feedback. Did you ever see the miniseries?

I started The Manuscript found in Saragossa a couple of days ago and have been really enjoying it, but I'm kind of a sucker for fake manuscripts, Gothic settings and majorly twisty narratives. I'm surprised it was written in the early 1800s; it seems so modern.

well on tuesday I finished Fragile Eternity before i left for southhampton and I finished fingersmith early yesterday morning. Now I'm in france i probably won't have much time to read but no doubt i'll come home with more books ;)
(ag it is insanely hard to type in english with a french keyboard!!)

I don't want to seem dumb but... What is "epistolary style"?

A novel written in letters. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is an example currently popular on LT.

#191 AMQS - no I didn't even know there was a miniseries. I don't watch much TV. Or rather, we select series (usually after they've gone off the air) and watch them via DVD. We're watching the end of Battlestar Galactica right now (we did actually watch the last season of the series as it was being aired). We're going to try the first season of Heroes as soon as my husband gets his new toy - a Blueray DVD player. Since we don't have much disposable income right now it's been fun watching him cash things in and find credits or rebates that he can use to offset the purchase price by providing things for the family for free.

Back to A Woman of Independent Means, I think I was trying to say that I loved the irony of only seeing Bess's letters - you could figure out things by her responses to other people's letters and by her explanation of events. She was so joyous and assertive and filled with her love for people that she sometimes didn't really see them for who they were or what they wanted.

I have about a hundred pages or so of East of Eden it's been taking a while and I am also reading a very nice biography of Montgomery Clift.

>172 richardderus:, the first librarian I talked to today hastily told me there was nothing she could do. . .then before I had the chance to raise hell the second librarian interrupted her and said we could order it through worldcat. I tried to do it from home, but there was a problem with it because it kept wanting to automatically use my zip code and have me order it from yet again. . my local library. I finally had to call the library again, and request they do it for me. So they did. There's actually a copy at my college library, but parking on campus is a nightmare.

Enjoying Outlander. With it being a longer book than normal for me, I'm trying to set a goal of 100 pages a day. There is a book club meeting at my library a week from this Saturday. They are going to discuss Shanghai Girls, so I picked up a copy as well. Anyone like/read this book?

OK, my What in the Word? walked off into my daughter's room - I may have to wait until she goes back to Georgia to finish it.

I am close to finishing Star Trek Lost Souls and since the book previously mentioned is in my daughter's room, I will finish that sooner that I thought.

I also ended up at Barnes & Noble looking for the book my daughter wanted that she felt would help her in working on her dissertation. We had looked in Borders yesterday but they didn't have it - B&N did.

However, I couldn't just buy that book, so I found something on the bargain table for me - Thirteen Moons. I liked Cold Mountain so I thought I'd try this - and it was on the bargain table.

I never go into bookstores and here two in as many days!!!

>196 karenmarie:, karenmarie, I only know about the miniseries because it's mentioned on the cover of my book. It looks like Sally Field played Bess.

I am reading the sixth book of The Mahabharata. I am not yet up to where the Bhagavad Gita starts. We are going over some cosmic history and the names of rivers and things like that.

Robert

Finished Deliverance Dane last night. Lots wrong with that book, only earned 2.5 from me.

Now I'm reading In Hovering Flight by Joyce Hinnefeld and I'm much happier.

#158 Oryan685

The series that started with His Majesty's Dragon is titled Temeraire. When the first book was published it was intended to be a trilogy and was only published in mass market paperback. However, they were such a success that the author has expanded the series to five books and counting. Starting with book three they have been published in hardback first. (That's what success does for an author. Puts that first printing into hardback! You go girl!) The reviews of all of the books are good, so if you like fantasy series these should fit the bill. Here they are in order

His Majesty's Dragon Temeraire Book 1
Throne of Jade Temeraire Book 2
Black Powder War Temeraire Book 3
Empire of Ivory Temeraire Book 4
Victory of Eagles Temeraire Book 5

All of them are written by Naomi Novik.

Good luck in reading them and let us know what you think.

There are so many good readers in this group who are reading so many good books that I have to confess that I suffer from reading envy. I am trying desperately to beat the clock with my reading of Time Traveler's Wife. I want to get it read before the movie comes out this weekend and people start talking about it. I want to know what the book is like before I hear them talk the story up. Or down. I don't know why it is that when a book is turned into a movie I feel compelled to have read the book before I see the movie. Or else I don't see the movie.

The only exceptions have been the Harry Potter books. So far I haven't felt the slightest compulsion to have read the books before seeing the movies. (Is that some sort of blasphemy?)

Just beginning book no. 8, Eighth Shepherd in the A. D. Chronicles by Bodie and Brock Thoene

>204 benitastrnad: benita: I wouldn't worry if you don't finish the book before the weekend. Chances are they'll change it a LOT. And, as far as I'm concerned, reading HP is not mandatory before seeing the movies! But I'm not an HP purist.

I finished Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. It is a YA fantasy that I was reading for a RL book group. It was OK, but not my cup of tea.

I am now starting the mystery Raven Black by Ann Cleeves, book 1 of the Shetland Island Quartet . It is for another RL book group. I am looking forward to reading this one.

I'm reading The Mouse that Roared. I'm surprised at how much I am enjoying it - though it is incredibly long-winded in parts. It really makes me understand the paranoid culture of the fifties and all the fears of the 'bomb', 'martians' and war.

#207 - I really enjoyed Raven Black and the second one as well, White Nights. I think it had a lot to do with the location.

I've got three books going right now and consequently am not getting very far in any although I love them all. Pillars for the group read, Homer's Odyssey, my ER book, and Heroic Measures. Heroic Measures is the one I seem to want to read though. Very nice writing and I love the characters.

# 209, Yes the location is what intrigues me too. I don't think I have read anything else set there. I hope to enjoy it and I hope my group does too. :0) They are reading the series at my suggestion. For this group we pick an author and a series and the members can read any or all of the books in it.

#204 - benita: The Harry Potter movies can definitely be seen without reading the books, but I admit that I'm a bit of a HP purist, and I think that the books are always better than the movies - the plot is nearly perfect and the stories are so much more complex than the movies. I'm one of those people who thinks that everyone should read the Harry Potter series before they die, but maybe that's just me!

>212 ivekilledpeople: I know how you feel - I felt that way about 1984 under the Bush administration.

Name calling and finger pointing is inappropriate here. Please take your rants elsewhere.

176> Normally don't get near a book a day (more like one a week) but had poor access to computers this week, which makes me read a lot. Wonderfully relaxing.

212,214,216> Maybe if you actually had books in your account, you'd look like an active member instead of someone trying to redefine 'socialism' using forum posts. Still counter-flagged, as I don't think doublethink breaks rules, even if it is a bit off-topic.

Last night i finished The Day The Falls Stood Still. All I can say is for the very last section go grab your Kleenex box because the ending could be considered a bit shocking and depressing. Life goes on, but it takes personal tragedy to bring our heroine face-to-face with the fact that God exists. However, this technique works because the story is firmly cemented in my head.

I've got The Day the Falls Stood Still on the way as an ER book. So it was a good story as a whole?

I flagged him/her because he is not a member and calling someone a Nazi is name calling! Not mentioning the nick...
Every week this spam is so annoying... Anyhooo...
Still reading Pillars of the Earth I'm a bit behind on the schedule but loving it.

Oh, yes! Very readable. When the story begins it is hard to see where it is leading, but you do get drawn in to the heroine's life and the description of the times. I promise the story is unforgettable and it gradually picks up steam without the reader realizing it. There are some very poignant moments in the book. I'm not giving it away. Sort of share the agony and the ectasy.

#221 - Thanks! I'm looking forward to it.

Started reading Shop Class as Soulcraft. This is the perfect book for me.

>216 ivekilledpeople: Not to belabor the point but just to clarify my abuse flag: I would never flag someone for disagreeing with my politics or beliefs. you must be a Nazi and you are a kook certainly sound like name calling to me.

#223 aliay

I am interested in Shop Class as Soulcraft because while on vacation my father and I had a discussion about our high schools (in the usa) not valuing vocational education. He felt that it was simply because voc ed usually involves educating people who are on the lower end of the social/economic scale. Things are so bad at our local high school in the voc ed department that a manufacturing company has come in and paid for equipment and teachers to teach welding. (Oh dear! Does this qualify as a flagging?) Any to turn it back to books which was way I wrote this anyway - I knew that there had been a recent book published on the value of working with our hands but I couldn't remember the title. Thanks for mentioning it. Now I can send my Dad a letter - in the mail - with a stamp - written by hand - (Did anybody see that article in Time magazine about the demise of handwriting?) telling him about the book. Thanks.

I finished Excellent Women and Hello Junk Mail and now I've started Serge Gainsbourg: A Fistful of Gitanes, a bio of the French singer/songwriter/actor/professional boyfriend.

Done with Star Trek Lost Souls. Interesting way to change an old enemy. and now for something completely different, I will read Julie and Julia.

I just finished The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark. Strange, strange book. Very stark and bleak.

And just started in on Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie.

220,224> Maybe I'm just better at picking up on this, having just read Them: Adventures with extremists, but he is not actually calling anyone a Nazi or a kook. He is apparently imagining a giant conspiracy consisting of a monolithic "the media and the government" organization which would call or is calling everyone who disagrees with "Them" a Nazi, etc.

Anyway, on topic: About 250 pages into Flesh and Spirit now, and it's reaaaally slow so far.

#208> I've never read The Mouse that Roared but the movie with Peter Sellers is a hoot.

#226-mstrust,

What did you think of Excellent Women? I would be interested.

Still slowly working my way through the behemoth Landmark Herodotus edited by Robert B. Strassler. So far an excellent translation but I may not posted what I'm reading from week to week because it will be just swimming in the same pool.

I flagged because its SPAM. The product being sold is a political view, using the veneer of a book. This thread is about books being started and completed and the reading experience. There are places on LT where the poster or anyone can engage in political discussions, this isn't one of them.

Its just as offensive as someone pushing their own book, or some service they are trying to promote.

#199 Koalamom I read Thirteen Moons after reading Cold Mountain enjoyed both

Just finished Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay

starting The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional or disciplinary response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_(Internet)

So, anyway, what are you reading the week of August 01, 2009?

I am continuing on with The Lost city of Z nearly finished. It is hard to read in some spots, but quite good as a whole. I am not sure what I will pick up next. I am getting The Day the Falls Stood Still from LT for july ( yay) and now look forward to it even more :)

Teelgee, I agree with you, and dchaiken.

I just finished American Gods and started a book of short stories Unicorn Variations by Roger Zelazny. Then, influenced by the group read, I borrowed Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett from the library. So, unusually for me, I am reading two books

I'm reading The Cloisters in bed. The Children's Blizzard is too gripping and upsetting for bedtime reading. I could hardly bear the description of hypothermia.

> calm- Glad you picked up a copy of The Pillars of the Earth. We have just under 3 weeks left, so jump aboard. We are located in the 50 Book Challenge.
Kath- Glad you are enjoying The Lost city of Z!

>234 ivekilledpeople: and 236 -- I have to agree, the abuse flag is NOT appropriate here. And I do apologize for misreading your second message, but the wording was inflammatory and I think others misread it too. At any rate, this is not the forum for that kind of discussion.

I just finished The Time Traveller's Wife in about 7 hours, what a great read! Highly recommended if you don't mind emotional stories. Now getting into Your Inner Fish.

#199 & 233> I liked Cold Mountain a lot, but I actually enjoyed Thirteen Moons even more. I just think it tells a better, more interesting/entertaining story. My guess is that the second book didn't go over as well as the first because the country (or at least the reading community therein) was suffering from a case of "Frazier fatigue," which is to say that there had been so much ballyhoo over Cold Mountain, the book and the movie, that people had had enough of the guy, second good book or no second good book. Of course, other authors have followed up one hyped book/move success with one or more of the same soon after, so what do I know?

On top of The Mahabharata last night I started Plato's Timaeus and Encountering God. So far I am not very enthusiastic about either of the latter, but I suspect they will both be informative. I am actually waiting for a fuller edition of Timaeus.

I should probably dig out a novel to round out my reading.

Robert

I finished The Collectors by David Baldacci. Good action and interesting setting (the Library of Congress). I started reading Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang by Joyce Carol Oates with the most amazingly long sentences but I had to put it aside to read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: The Classic Regency Romance - Now with Ultraviolent Zombie Mayhem! by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. What a hoot!

I read Journey into the Past by Stefan Zweig yesterday, which was excellent, and I've just finished reading Harare North by Brian Chikwava, a story narrated by an illegal Zimbabwean immigrant trying to survive in modern London, which was very good.

I've just finished Grave Goods by Ariana Franklin and it was exciting, wonderful and should be on any mystery lover's list of books to read in 2009.

Read it and weep; read it OR weep.

I just began Persona Non Grata by Ruth Downie. It's off to a brisk start.

I finished Raven Black by Ann Cleeves, book 1 of the Shetland Island Quartet a mystery series set on the Shetland Islands, for my RL book group.

I enjoyed it very much. The setting was well done, and so were the characters. There was a red herring and I fell for it and never saw the real killer - though there were clues.

I am now reading book 2 White Nights by Ann Cleeves.

The first book was set in the winter and the second in summer when the sun almost never sets. I would have liked a map of the island group and of the island where the story takes place, and maybe a glossary.

Just finished The Given Day by Dennis Lehane and enjoyed it very much. A long story about Boston with Babe Ruth, police strike, immigrants and the beginnings of the NAACP.

Going to start The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson. I loved his The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Finished Pillars of the Earth and have begun reading The Song is You, which I am loving thus far.

WH aka Ruth

Reading Escape on the Pearl the Heroic Bid for Freedom on the Underground Railroad by Mary Kay Ricks. It is always nice to learn some new history.

Reading Through Wolf's Eyes by Jane Lindskold—it's making me realize that I haven't really enjoyed a lot of the fiction I've read recently up until now; it's a genuinely interesting story.

Today I read The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Alexie Sherman - a very quick YA novel. I would highly recommend to teens and adults alike.

After I get off LibraryThing I will start Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. I've read his other two memoirs and enjoyed them and his death has prompted me to read the last one.

Clean slate - new weekly post is here.

151: I read a book by Diana Wynne Jones a few years back. Think it was called The Golden Griffin. Cute and enjoyable though it struck me, perhaps unfairly, as a Harry Potter knock off.

160: I read The Glory and the Dream some thirty years ago, and it stuck with me. An excellent book.

161: Er, no. I've never even heard of it. There are *so* many books I've never read!

Yeah, Harry is a good relaxing listen.

164: I had The Enchanted Castle read aloud to me when I was about ten, and loved it. Then, when I discovered commercial audiobooks several years ago, I bought it and several other E Nesbits, a couple of which I'd read as a kid. They're still great reads, even now that I'm grown. I think that's the measure of a great book, that you can return to a childhood favorite and find it just as wonderful as you did when you were young.

173: Goodness! Do you have time to eat and sleep?

178: That happens to me sometimes with a really good/scary story. 8)

204: the Harry Potter books are much better than the movies IMO.

208: I remember The Mouse That Roared as roll-on-the-floor funny. There's a sequal, The Mouse on the Moon that I may remember to search out one of these days. I understand it's just as funny.

BTW thanks to this group, I was familiar with Julie and Julia and could recommend both it and My Life in France to my sister, who has downloaded them.

245, etc - thanks for the info on Thirteen Moons. I really look forward to reading it now.

#257 kiwiflowa: I loved The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and second your recommendation.