What are you reading, August 2009?

I am so close to the end of Heart of Darkness. I'm also just starting the second volume of Don Quixote. Then I got Some Danger Involved and False Colours from the bookstore. I was planning on reading Some Danger Involved next year, but I may find a way to work it into this challenge instead.

I'm reading Testament of Friendship with Testament of Experience to follow. Both by Vera Brittain.

I'm still reading Dangerous Liaisons, How to Read Novels Like a Professor and ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life.

I have to read Madame Bovary for my book group, I Am a Cat for an online group, and I'm trying to get folks in this group to do a group read for Possession.

I have over 45 books checked out from the library, so I'm buried under an avalanche of Mount TBR. The ones I hope to read this month are: Iron Kissed, Touch the Dark, Some Girls Bite, Jacob, Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Need, Dancing With the Devil, and Hearts in Darkness.

Wish me luck!

I'm reading Huckleberry Finn and after that plan to start Madame Bovary. I'm also going to have Dark Alchemy: magical tales from masters of modern fantasy on the go.

I'm currently finishing Forbidden Bread.

My August TBR pile includes: Runaway, Girl with a Pearl Earring, A Wedding in December, The Age of Innocence, The Red Pony, and The Pearl.

I'm hoping to finish my first 999 Challenge this month with the last 12 books:

Murder on Astor Place
The Edge of Desire
Deja Dead
Capitve Heart
The Lucky One - Nicholas Sparks
Thyme of Death
The Silver Needle Murder
Guilty Pleasures
Mr. Cavendish, I Presume
Black Beauty with TOM
Death Qualified: A Mystery of Chaos

not necessarily in that order. I'm also in a group read of The Serpent's Tale and working on JQA for the presidents. I'd be thrilled if I could finish all of those this month.

Besides some nonfiction I'm still reading in fits and starts, I've started Haunted by Kelly Armstrong.

I've been crawling through Brethren, a novel about the Knights Templar. I'm not sure it was a great choice, since I feel a little too distracted for a big epic medieval adventure. I might switch to Tales of the Knights Templar, which is an anthology of short stories.

I'm finally going to get around to reading the Empire trilogy by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts by starting on Daughter of the Empire.

I am currently reading Frost in May by Antonia White, then it is on to other Viragos:
Enchanted April
The Rising Tide
Taking Chances
Jonah's Gourd Vine
Travel Light and
The Life and Death of Harriet Frean.
If I manage to finish those I will move on to other Viragos as I have dedicated the month of August to: "All Virago/All August".
Really looking forward to it.

And of course, still the group reads of Anna Karinina and Pillars of the Earth.
Happy reading all.
belva

I'm about to start Dhalgren and I'm a little worried. It's supposed to be one of those out there sci-fi books. I'm hoping I can do it justice.

Read Virginia Woolf: A Biography 1882-1912 v.1. Very good. Will start vol 2. tonight.

On my Kindle, I am reading 1959: The Year Everything Changed by Fred Kaplan.

For my regular book, I am just starting Murder Begins at Home by Delano Ames, which is a Rue Morgue re-release of a vintage murder from the late 1940s featuring Jane and Dagobert Brown.

Challenge related : East of Eden is taking forever and Montgomery Clift

And OMG non challenge because I couldn't keep my hands off it :Cover Her Face is soooo good!

PD James is excellent, jonesli. Enjoy your off the challenge reading!

I'm reading Dark Places, which is really good. Shutting down the computer now so that I can go and read it!

I'm reading The Twitter Book by Tim O'Reilly. I'm new to tweeting so I'm finding this book great fun and very informative.

Just finished a re-read of The Time Traveler's Wife. I meant to hit the highlights as a refresher for the movie but got a bit carried away and stayed awake until 3AM this morning to finish it.

Right now I'm reading The Hour I First Believed, by Wally Lamb. Next up is My Custom Van, by Michael Ian Black.

--> 17

The Time Traveler's Wife was wonderful. I'm a person who usually hates time travel books, but I'll make an exception for this novel as well as for The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer.

I am just starting King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett. It is an aging TBR and I dragged my feet because it is supposed to be about the real MacBeth but I am both enjoying it as a fun read and finding it fascinating as history. That's Dunnett for you. But it is more than 700 pages long. Ooof.

I finished Diary of a Young Girl, now I have 2 left for my challenge. Instead of hunting a copy of either of those books, I went to the bookstore and came home with Kingdom Keepers and The Hunger Games. Oops.

I am about a third of the way into The Audacity of Hope and also reading Lady Chatterly's Lover which has one of those covers that I don't want anyone to see me with. I feel like I'm twelve again lol!

I've started Holy Fools by Joanne Harris.

Just got Industrial Magic from the library but it will probably be a few days before I can start it. Since my fiction categories are all full except for one mystery that will be an off-challenge read. Still continuing my nonfiction books a few pages each at a time! It turns out that they are related enough that they are reinforcing one another.

I was rearranging my categories and seeing what I still had to read and saw that although Life of Pi was one of the very first books to entered into my 999 Challenge, I still hadn't read it. So I started it last night and am enjoying it enormously. I can't believe I put it off for so long.

And, yay! I'm reading a book in my challenge instead of reading something and finding a place for it afterward.

On my Kindle, I am reading Carolyn Hart's mystery, Dare to Die and my regular book is an autobiography of Hall of Famer Ferguson Jenkins, called Fergie: My Life from the Cubs to Cooperstown.

I'm currently reading the classic Madame Bovary and also The Line of Beauty which won the Booker Prize in 2004. As well I'm slowly getting through the nonfiction Tel Aviv.

I only had one book left, but couldn't get a copy from the library, so I chose another book, The Dragon's Village.

So naturally, today I got an email that my other book is in!

I'm reading Portobello by Ruth Rendell, which doesn't fit my challenge (although I'll try to shove it in), but I couldn't wait. Only, well, Ruth Rendell is getting old. Her cultural references seemed forced (Paris Hilton, Banksy). Still, I'm eagerly turning pages to find out what happens.

I'm presently reading Enchantment by Orson Scott Card from my "classic adaptations" catagory and Bio of an Ogre by Piers Anthony from my non-fiction catagory.

#29, RidgewayGirl I am very envious of your Portobello it doesn't appear as though my library will ever get it. I will keep checking though, it has to turn up sooner or later. I am reading back and forth When The Women Come Out to Dance and Lady Chatterly's Lover.

I've just started in on Moab Is My Washpot which is an autobiography from Stephen Fry detailing his first twenty years.

I'm down to my final three for the challenge, Tulia: Race, Cocaine, and Corruption in a Small Texas Town by Nate Blakeslee, Bellwether by Connie Willis, and Takeover by Lisa Black. I'm about 2/3 finished with the first, and just a few pages into the other two; I don't normally try to juggle three at once (plus I'm listening to yet another book for fun), but I was getting nervous that I won't be finished by 9/9/09. I think it'll happen, though. Look for me on the finished thread in the next few weeks!

I am still reading Carolyn Hart's Dare to Die.

She is one of my favorite mystery authors but this broken glasses/reading with sunglasses or no glasses business is really cutting into my reading enjoyment this week.

So close, librarianlost!

I've just begun Mistress in the Art of Death by Ariana Franklin, which I have run into several times this year in various places on LT.

I just finished it over the weekend, RidgewayGirl- I think you suggested it to me! I enjoyed it; a fun, if slightly anachronistic, forensic tale.

I am fascinated by Tulia, the cracks and faults of our legal system are glaring and embarrassingly so in this book. It's fantastically readable for a non-fic book, which are harder for me to really get into, but this one is extremely well-written and draws you in. I can't wait to get to the part where justice prevails! :o)

I am reading Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes. I'm really enjoying it.

I'm now reading a completely different historical novel--this one set during the 1970s in Southern California. It's called The Summer of the Naked Swimming Parties, and I'm not yet sure what I think about it.

I am reading Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. It's interesting to watch a flock of mystery writers at play in Chandler's sandbox.

I'm finding Tokyo Year Zero by David Peace hard going. It's probably all just a little too grim for my taste.

The Unbelievers by Alastair Sim - Victorian mystery set in Scotland with a lot of Scottish history background of the few decades before the actual story; it started really slow but then picked up some speed and the only reason for leaving it last night was that I am working today and needed some sleep :)

>#40:
RidgewayGirl;
Don't feel alone there. As I am a product of the 60's and 70's I thought this sounded right up my alley for a walk down memory lane. But alas and alack; The Summer of the Naked Swimming Parties turned out to be one of those books whereupon when you have finished, you simply shrug and tell self: "It is what it is. Lousy" I found it to be just a poor book all the way round. Don't know how I finished it. Thought it really sucked!~!
I hope your next one in a truly good book.
later dayz,
belva

I found it necessary to alter my reading list a bit due to being gone for 2 weeks.

I have read:
1: Frost in May by Antonia White
2: Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim

I only wanted to carry one book on board the plane as I like to "travel light" (pardon the pun) and I couldn't find a Virago large enough so I chose 3: Battle Cry of Freedom by James M. McPherson which is absolutely wonderful and probably my number ONE of the year!~! But I finished it while there and hit a Half-Price Books shop and found 4: The Land of Spices by Kate O'Brienso I substituted it out for the next Virago on my list.

Upon my return home I have continued on with my Virago category with:
5: The Rising Tide (incorrect touchstone) by M.J. Farrell (Molly Keane)
I am currently reading:
6: Travel Light by Naomi Mitchison; a bit different but very enjoyable.
Then on to:
7: The Life and Death of Harriett Frean by May Sinclair
and if I have time this month I will finish up with:
8: Jonah's Gourd Vine by Zora Neale Hurston

I also finished Anna Karinina and Pillars of the Earth, both of which I enjoyed immensely as group reads. Well, that catches me up to current. I hope all of you are having a great month of reading and filling your categories. Push is coming to Shove here on mine, but I am determined!~!
Happy reading all.
belva

I'm rereading Denise Mina's Exile, since I am in the mood for something I know will be good. She's just a great writer and it's the perfect book for the sweaty end of summer since the book features cold mornings and spiteful rain.

I went by the library this morning to reserve Evil at Heart and left with Brooklyn by Colm Toibin, so I guess that's next.

edited to correct grammatical errors

#46 RidgewayGirl: I have Exile and Resolution scheduled for my 1010 after you recommended the series. I wonder if I can wait to read them? I also have been stalking the library, I am next for Evil at Heart.

Oh, I almost forgot what I am reading;Agatha Christie: An Autobiography slightly rambling, but good.

Still working through Tel Aviv and have just started one of my next-in-series books Monster Blood Tattoo: Lamplighter, a YA fantasy.
Also reading Greville Texidor's short story collection In fifteen minutes you can say a lot.

I've started Nightmare Town by Dashiell Hammett. This will be the last entry in my Noir category.

I finished a really awful ER book, The Forgotten Man. Full of political ideas that make me sick. Then I cheered myself up by reading Igraine the Brave. That is a fun book, full of adventures and clever magic. I thought it was a picture book, but it's a chapter book. And I finished a memoir by Madeleine L'Engle called A Circle of Quiet. As I was reading it, I thought, 'This would be perfect for Rynell.' So I'm going to bring it to book club next time for her.

I haven't posted in ages!
I'm reading Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks and The Insomnia Workbook by Stephanie Silberman.
I've only managed 20 for the year so far. Going back to work outside the home has really cut into my free time.

I'm really enjoying the short stories in the collection McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales edited by Michael Chabon. They're all kind of bizarre. My kind of read.

I'm now in the middle of a story ("Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly" by Dave Eggers in which a young woman is climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro. I need to get back to my story to see what happens...

SqueakyChu, I liked that book too. Some were better than others (as is always the case with anthologies) but overall, it was an excellent book of short stories.

I'm about to begin the third in Denise Mina's Garnethill trilogy called Resolution.

I am reading one of Victoria Houston's Wisconsin Northwoods mysteries Dead Hot Shot. I love these.

I am starting my 81st book... Jesus the One and Only by Beth Moore.

After the disappointment of Tokyo Year Zero, I've picked up something I know I'm going to like with Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts.

I've just started All the Sad Young Literary Men for my New Fiction category--but can't say much about it, as I've literally just started. :) I've been distracted by assignments (The German Way of War) as well as planning my challenge for next year!

I just a few minutes ago finished Agatha Christie: An Autobiography and I think I will start Wuthering Heights next.

I just started Georgette Heyer's Infamous Army this morning. It seems like it will be a hybrid between her more rigorous historical novels and her wonderful historical romances. The time is the beginning of the second war against Napoleon, with Wellington an important but not lead character, at least not so far. What's quite fun is that her fictional characters include both those from The Masqueraders and the grandchildren of Devil's Cub. I expect to have fun with this one.

BTW - I just finished King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett. Amazing historical novel set in Scotland in the years just before William of Normancy invaded England. 5 stars.

Yay for Victoria! And I remember loving Infamous Army when I first read it. I will have to read it again. Did you get the new edition?

> 59

Wasn't it Regency Buck instead of The Masqueraders? This book has my all time favorite description of the Battle of Waterloo. Hope you have fun with it.

I'm still reading my nonfiction books and have nearly finished with Empires of the Word.

I'm reading two books right now. Plain Honest Men: The Making of the American Constitution by Richard Beeman.

Also reading a novel involving a Princeton admissions officer called Admission by Jean Hanff Korelitz.

Mean Streets - an anthology of 4 fantasy novellas which are part of different running series - "The Dresden Files", "Nightside", "Greywalker" and "Remy Chandler".