September Reads 2009

I'd say "I'm on a roll!" but reading a picture book doesn't really take a whole lot of effort. ^-~

Kitten's First Full Moon marks my first finished book for September. Too cute! (And definitely recommended to any parents with picture-book aged young'uns interested in cats!)

I'm taking a quick break from the ILIAD to read EDITIONS & IMPRESSIONS: My Twenty Years on the Book Beat by Nicholas A. Basbanes.

I have four books on the go:
The Progress of Love by Alice Munro
Don't Look Now by Daphne Du Maurier
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire by Morris Berman

And I have been dipping in and out of Dickens by Peter Ackroyd and Mary Queen of Scotland and the Isles by Margaret George for a few months now.

Yesterday I finished my lunchtime book, The Wages of Zen, a moderately interesting mystery set in Japan. I'm still working my way through my main book, Handling Sin, which is lots of fun, but quite long.

Just finished up The Name of the Wind and starting The Girl Who Played With Fire.

I've just started the black company which I'd heard about through LT recommendations, and found in Forbidden Planet on the GD london meetup.

Working on Halfbreed Warrior by Bobbi Smith, and thanks to E-bay, I am just starting the Warrior Heir by Cindi Williams Chima.

I'm currently reading The Jesuit and the Skull . Its really interesting .

MDLady - I *loved* The Warrior Heir. Chima is really original with her fantasy world.

I have been sick with a miserable cold the last couple of days, so I'm comfort reading my favorite mysteries. I did finishe The Dragonfly Pool, which I loved, then I read The Stately Home Murder and today I'm reading Passing Strange.

Yesterday I started The Curse of Chalion, which reminds me a lot of Robin Hobb.

I'm working on Specials (my Kindle/commute book), Haunting Bombay (my work book), and The Charlemagne Pursuit (my home book). I'm keeping everything straight so far (I haven't read more than one book at a time in a while), but did find that I had to change my commute book. I started reading The Sari Shop Widow but decided it would be too easy to mix characters with Haunting Bombay, so switched to Specials.

I started The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins yesterday morning. It's all right so far, but I'm finding it slow going. Victorian syntax and I do not always mesh.

littlegeek - I've read the sequel Paladin of Souls, and liked it a lot. I hope The Curse of Chalion treats you as well.

I'm still in the beginnings of Green Mars and trying to get past my impatience with introducing the setting via new characters.

Last evening I started (and finished) Befriaren (not available in translation), an YA book about an indian boy in Mexico. Didactic and ideas-driven, but still an enjoyable read. The horrible thing is that it doesn't feel dated, despite being first published in 1965.

I finished Death at the Medical Board, and now will begin Mastering the Art of French Cooking and The Sandman: Fables and Reflections by Neil Gaiman

I'm still working through Devices and Desires. It's really quite good, but ever so dense. I keep taking breaks to read comics (New X-Men, Cover Girl, Skim, ...).

Alternating between Walden and Death by Water with an occasional dip into the two annotated editions of Wind in the Willows. Also, on some bizarre impulse, I purchased an encyclopedia of Arthurian legend. Waiting for it to arrive and hoping I won't regret it.

OOOO Walden! That is on my wishlist. What do you think of it.

I'm wading through The Stand and Different Seasons for a group read and George Washington for the US Presidental challenge. I really must buckle down and get them done. I have so many books on my next up pile and I keep putting them off.

Just finished Bordersnakes by James Crumley and Lux the Poet by Martin Millar. Now I'm alternating between Kingdom Beyond the Waves by Stephen Hunt and The Sword of the Lady by S.M. Stirling.

I'm working my way through The Two Towers again. I'm dragging aroundLady Friday and listening to Ptolemy' Gate.

I've just finished Twilight of Avalon by Anna Elliott. It was awesome and I'm glad I pounced on it, but sad as well since the other two books in the trilogy aren't published yet.

Next up is either Monique and the Mango Rains, which I'm itching to read, or The Romance of the Rose. Depending on whether my good student attitude wins from my 'must read right now' one. Possibly I might even read them both at the same time.

I finished Twilight last night. Okay, I'm not a teenager, so it was just okay. But I'm still very glad it got my daughter reading! Now I've started The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers, which Janny Wurts recommended for me last year and I'm finally getting around to reading.

I finished The Help yesterday and I just loved it. I started Guns, Germs and Steel and so far it is very interesting.

Reading Catch 22 at the moment, this might take a while to grab me, but for the brief moments I have time to read it, it's very transporting. I have been told this book is very important from a number of sources, but I have never read it before.

Taking a break from the ILIAD again.

Saw this, picked it up and finding it very interesting. It's a history and biography of the life and times of two opposites in Los Angeles from the 20s to the 60s. The crime boss Micky Cohen and LAPD Chief William H. Parker.

L.A. NOIR: The Struggle for the Soul of America's Most Seductive City by John Buntin

Clam - Guns, Germs, and Steel is on my TBR list. Let us know what you think when you're done.

I'm reading In Reckless Hands, which is about the American experiment with eugenics. It's got me pretty steamed up. Shocking reading, but I'm glad I found this book.

I figure I'll follow OldSarge's example and start The Iliad next. I've been meaning to read it for ages now, and The Woman in White put me in the mood for more classic literature. (Not that the two books are even remotely similar...)

If the following seems familiar, it's because I posted something very similar yesterday on the 50-some-thingers group...

I just finished a re-read (after 38 years) of Jonathan Schwartz's first book, a collection of short stories titled Almost Home. It's amazing how age broadens one's perspective. I'm still working on my review.

Meanwhile, I've just started on a tome called The Middle Way: Finding Happiness in a World of Extremes by Lou Marinoff. I'm a pathetically slow reader, so I think this will keep me going until the end of the year. What I've read so far -- the dust jacket, the Acknowledgement, the Introduction and the first 20 pages, I very pleased so far. This guy's done his research, and had a decent sense of humor, too. I don't normally delve into Philosophy anymore, but this seems like it's going to be a very good read.

Yesterday I finished reading The Picture of Dorian Gray, ready for the group read. (Is it this week? I thought so anyway)

I then read Greenwitch, half last night and the rest this morning. My favourite book in the Dark is Rising series so far (2 more to go!)

I have now started reading Strands of Starlight by Gael Baudino, only 20 or so pages in but looking good.

My waiting room book (short story collection) is Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen. So far I have read The Tinderbox and Little Claus and Big Claus. What strikes me so far is that bad behaviour (murder and trickery for example) is being rewarded. Not what I was expecting! So I might put this to one side and pick up something else.

Where is the group read? Last time I checked they were doing Little Prince (which is really *not* one of my favorites. Too sacharine.). Dorian Grey is at the other end of the spectrum. But I have a copy w/in arms reach and I actually blogged that title!

I miss my blog. Maybe its time to rev it up again.

Making progress through Walden slowly. Got distracted by the annotated editions of The Wind in the Willows.

#30 This is where the discussion was about the group read, http://www.librarything.com/topic/69292#top. I couldn't get a copy of The Little Prince but found a copy of Dorian Gray so went ahead but I can't find a definite date or who will be starting the group read thread:(

So just a gentle reminder here:)

#29 *can't help but squee* I remember loving the whole series, calm. I plan to reread The Dark Is Rising around midwinter sometime. ^-^

Andersen's fairytales are incredibly dark. And often depressing. (I remember reading a comment that said much the same and I wanted to go "Nuuu! There's often hope at the end!" at it, but then I reread some of the fairytales and, yes, they're dark and depressing.) If you can, try and find some essays on them. My brain is utter mush, but the relationship between Andersen's life and his works is utterly fascinating.

I'm still in the early stages (read two and a bit pages into) of reading The Romance of the Rose, but so far so good. ^-^

Actively reading Smoke and Shadows by Tanya Huff and inactively reading Bio of an Ogre by Piers Anthony.

#26 - So far so good, cmbohn. I'm only about 1/3rd of the way in.

Stayed up until the very wee hours this morning reading Tatiana and Alexander and was very happy i did so.
Now nearly finished Wake by Lisa McMann (takes me 10 mins every time to find the damned touchstone) and I rather fancy starting another books afterwards even though i am pretty shattered.
Calm - incidentally I bought a dirt cheap copy of The Picture of Dorian Gray while i was in Aber the other week so I may have to boost that up the TBR pile and nosy at the Group read thread.

I finished The Sandman: Fables & Reflections, enjoyed it very much.

touchstones don't seem to be loading, but that's O.K., it's touched above.

>29 calm: My older daughter insisted that I should buy The Annotated Hans Christian Andersen and I'm glad I did. The comments are useful and it has numerous illustrations by many artists. You might want to take a look.

I finished Strands of Starlight for me a good mix of medieval history and fantasy. Continuing the fantasy/sci-fi theme I have started Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin.

Thanks for all the positive comments on Hans Christian Andersen. I have read a lot of his stories in the past but I think the first two in this collection just hit me at a bad time. I need something with a more positive moral/ethical message. Or just some good old fashioned sci-fi to distract me from real life. So not giving up just putting to one side for now.The good thing about books is that I can always take them off the shelf when I am in the right mood!

In the middle of Barbara Hambly's most recent novel, Homeland, which consists of the correspondence between two women, one in Maine, bereft of spouse at a time of crisis in her life, and the other in Tennessee with no money and caught in the chaos that was the American Civil War. This is far better than I was expecting.

calm, I agree that there were times when Anderson's tales were depressing. After all, the Little Match Girl dies cold and hungry, but as others have said, he still knew how to seduce one into the tale. I had blogged something regarding one of his stories about 18 months ago (see link here: http://individualtake.blogspot.com/2008/01/my-husband-gave-me-annotated-hans.htm...

A fun find for me, in the middle of my book about Vera Atkins, the female WWII spy handler, I find a reference to the bookstore on 84 Charing Cross Road! A rendezvous! Love it. Oh, and one of the owner's sons became a cryptographer during the war because he had experience breaking the codes his father used in the books for employees to know the rock bottom price for the book. :) That may be a simplified explanation, but I like it.

MrsLee, you might keep an eye out for Leo Marks' book Between Silk and Cyanide. I found it more dense than I could cope with at the time, but it discusses his experiences during WWII working on cryptography as you mention!

#40 Lee, don't you just love it when books you read match up, something in the characters, or subject matter or topic? Last year I read Krakatoa and the author discussed the Wallace Line, so I learned a whole new thing which was very interesting. Then later on in another, totally unrelated book, the Wallace Line came up again, just in a passing comment made by one of the characters. Just an example of one of the many joys of reading. :-)

By the way, thanks to you, I stayed up way past my bedtime last night, listening to The Graveyard Book. What a delight. Now I know I'm going to have to buy the book too as well as having the audio book. Thank you for being so enthusiastic in your recommendation, it is wonderful.

I loved The Graveyard Book.

I finally started David Copperfield, since we're reading it for book club. It's better than I expected, but it sure is long.

Hurray! I've still got the touch when it comes to pushing books! ;) So glad you enjoyed it. I'm thinking I want to buy the audio version with Gaiman reading it, along with anything else he has done an audio version of. His storytelling/reading skills are supreme.

He did a wonderful job with Coraline, I loved that.

The new Laws of Magic book - Time of Trial - is out, so I'm reading that already. Very exciting. I love this series.

I started (reading) World War Z yesterday, and I love it... It is such a novel concept, an oral history of a fictitious event... and executed so well...

I decided to (temporarily) put The Iliad aside in favour of Jane Eyre, as I felt more like nineteenth century prose than epic poetry. Unfortunately, I've been so busy with work that I'm having trouble concentrating on the novel. It's taking me forever to read.

Just learned I have to read three books in the next week to ten days; one for the library reading group and two for work-related retreat/summit. I am never going to get done. Trying to ascertain which of the two work-related titles I can fake my way through on....

The Tattoo Murder Case
The Late Age of Print
Free: The Future of a Radical Price

Recently finished Monique and the Mango Rains and A Wolf at the Door. Still nearing the end of The Romance of the Rose, but I put it aside for the time being.

Finally finished THE JOY OF READING: A Passionate Guide to 189 of the World's Best Authors and Their Works.

A dangerous book. It will lead you to many authors of literature and poetry you may not have read yet. The author's enthusiasm is infectious.

I'm reading Dark Tort by Diane Mott Davidson. The only reason I continue to read these is that they take no brainpower and my husband bought them for me because of the cooking theme. I really don't like the main character, she seems very unrealistic to me.

#47 - divinenanny, I really enjoyed World War Z for just that reason. I'm almost tempted to read it again.

Just finished The Story Teller. It incorporated what would have been background material in another mystery, moving beyond the puzzle of the moment.

#52 MrsLee, I definitely agree with you on Goldie.

I just finished (finally!) Handling Sin, and wrote a review. I have begun The Thirteenth Tale, and after about 50 pages I'm quite intrigued.

I finally finished Jane Eyre! Horray! There was a rather muddled stretch in the middle where I lost interest, but for the most part I really enjoyed it. I loved the back and forth between Jane and Mr Rochester.

I think I'll read Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn next. I feel like something I can read quickly. I've only read two books so far this month, what with how long it took me to get through The Woman in White and Jane Eyre. I need to catch up.

My brother got given a reading list at school with 22 books and 2 short stories, I never had a reading list at school but he's in top set so... he has to read most or all of them. Teacher told him to get them from the library. However a search of our library, (mine and my mothers) turned up 14 of the books (4 of which were in my collection and 3 from my childhood books already passed on to him and and 2 of my mothers favourites), one of the shorts and the other short is free on the internet. So there are 8 left and I've no doubt we will get them from a charity shop or elsewhere eventually.

Anyway Matthew is usually reluctant to do homework, so I promised as encouragement that I would read them all as well. Though I'm not looking forward to Schindler's List I think we might skip that one. After I finish Kushiel's Mercy mayhap I might spend the rest of the month reading them.

The Importance of being Earnest, the Color Purple, Lord of the Flies, The Catcher in the Rye, Going Solo, Dracula, 1984, The Jungle Book, Catch-22, Slaughterhouse 5, Jane Eyre, The Scarlet Letter, To Kill a Mockingbird, and A Christmas Carol are the ones we have. The Story of Henry Sugar and the Yellow Wallpaper are the short stories. One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest, Wuthering Heights, The Great Gatsby, Animal Farm, All Quiet on the Western Front, The Go between, Schindler's List and Birdsong are the 8 we need to get.

#56 - With only a couple of exceptions, that list seems so dark and angst ridden! It seems like a lot to swallow in one year. Maybe teens can handle that sort of reading better than old(er) women? Hope so.

#56 I'm sure those remaining books will be in the Manchester library system somewhere. It might just be a case of transferring them to the local branch. You should be able to do all this from online. If you aren't already try joing Manchester library in St. Peter's square - besides it's a wonderful building.

I've just started dragonhaven which is a bit direct 14yrs (and 11 months) in style, but certainly seems an interesting premise so far. Besides it has caves!

Just finished Course of Honor by Lindsey Davis. Next up would be Treason's Shore by Sherwood Smith and All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear.

I've just finished So Good for Little Bunnies and am slowly inching my way towards finishing The Romance of the Rose. After that I should really dive into The Wings of the Dove and Two Lives of Charlemagne.

Just finished The Curse of Chalion and loved it. Lots of fascinating ideas about religion. Next up, The Night Watch, where I'm hoping the vampires actually bite people.

I'm reading The Bridge of Lost Desire. Delany has his moments. He also completely misses sometimes. This one's mixed. When you ignore the bits that look like he's just trailed off, tried to start again and left them in as some sort of artistic statement, it's quite good prose. Not for the faint of heart, though. He's kinda kinky.

I just finished Sarah Water's The Night Watch (which must be a different Night Watch from the above post since there were no vampires!) and am starting Louise Penny's A Fatal Grace, the second in the Three Pines series.

coppers, I read the Waters and liked it (did you?). This is a different book.

>64 littlegeek:, Yes I loved it! My first Sarah Waters book and I'm looking forward to reading more. I always think it's funny when to very different books happen to have the same name.

#65 I've read all her books and they're all good. Tipping the Velvet and Fingersmith are both excellent!

I'm looking forward to reading Fingersmith for my 101010 challenge next year thanks to all of the great reviews it has gotten on here!

I've set aside Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews to read Smoke and Mirrors by Tanya Huff which I picked up from the library yesterday.

Started The Daughter of Time yesterday and almost finished it. Now I know why it stayed in the back of my head all these years, great writing, humor, the characters are wonderful and the fun critiques of history books.

I finished my books for my 2 book clubs - The Hunger Games for last night and David Copperfield for tonight. Nothing like a looming deadline to make you start reading! Now I can relax for a bit. Next month we're doing I Capture the Castle and Falling Leaves.

I started The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King this morning, and I really like it so far. It's one of those genre-defying things.

I've just picked up Three Men in a Boat to read. I sat on the bus on the way to work, giggling to myself.

Amen to the remarks about Sarah Waters. Affinity is one of the most moving books I have ever read. I almost cried at the end.

Right now I am reading Away by Amy Bloom. I highly recommend it.

I just finished The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa. It was absolutely wonderful and charming, the kind of book I like to recommend to everybody!

China Mieville's The City & The City - such an intriguing concept that two cultures can live in the same place and not "see" each other. Kindof like when you walk past the homeless person/street worker and you pretend they're not there, but on a much bigger scale.

Finished up Two Lives of Charlemagne which I suppose could count as two books if they hadn't been in the same volume and all. ^-~ Quite interesting.

I'm nearly done with The Romance of the Rose (I'd say I was slow, but it's actually not due for several weeks, so other coursebooks tend to get some priority.) and Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. It's my current 'reward' read.

>73 Copperskye: Coppers - Just looked up The Housekeeper and the Professor and I reckon you've got me convinced. On to the TBR it goes!

I haven't actually read anything properly for a day or so :O how shocking... I'll pick something up tonight... possibly a Sookie Stackhouse book for some guilty vamp fun

It took me two weeks to read Guns, Germs and Steel. I must be getting old...
:o/

I've started Guernica by Dave Boling, my newest ER book. Not light reading, by the look of it.

>76 RLMCartwright: LadyViolet - Excellent! I hope you like it! :)

A fellow LTer suggested several weeks ago that I bump up The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle in my tbr pile. I just started it and am glad that I did!

I picked up a cute little story about an orphan in the beginnings of the Russian Revolution called Prisoner's Apprentice. It's not a literary masterpiece, but nicely readable.

I've sorta-kinda started Ines of My Soul by Isabel Allende. I love her work, but I'm not sure how much I'll get read this weekend. Strange as it sounds, I have trouble focusing on fiction when I'm not working.

I've been through a bit of a children's/teen fiction kick recently.

Because I can never read something to a deadline I have only now read Alice in Wonderland, about 3 months (or more) after the group read I intended to join in on. Oh well. I went on and read Through The Looking Glass as well while I was at it. I enjoyed them, but I think I would have had more connection to them if I'd read them when I was a child.

I read Paper Towns by John Green this week as well, whch I really really enjoyed. I actually discovered this author through his YouTube videos - he and his brother are two very funny men. Go look up Brotherhood 2.0 on YouTube to see what I'm talking about and join the nerdfighter revolution (DFTBA!).

I read How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff this week as well. I was underwhelmed by it I must say. Interesting story/plot but the characters just didn't hold up as fully rounded people, and the "voice" of the narrator/main character was completely wrong.

I read The Wise Woman by Philippa Gregory which was so bad I was inspired to write a review slamming the book, the author and everything in their vicinity.

Last week I finally dipped into a James Bond novel, Casino Royale to be exact. I don't know that I'll be going down that path again. I'm willing to allow for the fact that it was written in the 50s, thus giving us sexist and racist attitudes. I'm not really willing to continue reading about a James Bond who exults in (and I quote directly from the book) "the sweet tang of rape". Ugh! Words cannot express!

#77 - I've been reading The Talking Ape for the better part of a month (or more?), despite it being interesting and well written, so...
In that case I think part of the trouble is I have no background in linguistics which means I have had to do some background reading. But some books ARE more difficult than others, especially if they make you use your brain... Which, in my mind, IS preferable :D

Because I've had so much trouble with above (not yet finished) I realised I'd better take a break reading some light stuff. So I just picked up and finished Once A Hero, by Elizabeth Moon. Darker than the other books in the Familias Regnant series so far but that don't mean much on a larger scale because it still reads as a light space opera.

Just what I needed.

I'm really loving Catching Fire! No spoilers though.

Next up: The Handmaid's Tale. I'm not really sure that I'm in the right frame of mind to be reading it, so if I have a few weird moments in the next week, you'll know why.

I was going to read the final Harry Potter, but I've decided to finish off The Borrower's Afield. I was reading it to my 8yo, but it's been several weeks since we've picked it up last and he finally admitted to me he didn't want to finish it. So I'm on my own with it, which I find is more enjoyable than reading it out loud. Now I can savour it which I couldn't reading it out loud.

Edited to remove inappropriate smiley. I caught Will's meaning wrong in #85

#85 - The Handmaid's Tale is very interesting. I read it many years ago and reread it in the last year or so. I enjoyed it more the second time.

I'm reading Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins and Shakespeare's Landlord by Charlaine Harris. I became a big fan of Harris through the Southern Vampire Series; I'm trying out another series by her.

#85 and #87 - The Handmaid's Tale is one of my favorite books. I've found that I enjoy it more each time I read it. I've read it three times.

It's not the first time I've read it. I just know that there are parts of it that will make me angry and frustrated (as they're meant to). It's a very recommendable book, but it deals with some strong issues, even aside from the obvious ones.

#89 - Oh, I absolutely agree with you! And you do need to be in the right place to start reading it.

Yesterday I visited some old friends and read Winnie-the-Pooh. Just have to love it!
Now I am doing another re-read (after maybe 30 years!) and have started Don Quixote.