What You're Reading the Week of 10 Feb 2007

Darwin and the Naked Lady Alex ComfortRokeby Thoroughly enjoyed Imperium by Robert Harris, almost had me want to go and read Cicero. I've all but finished Ben Elton's Heart Throb too - a sarcastic view of the 'Pop Idol' genre, wellwritten and enjoyable but he's still a little bit off-key for me - though I can't quite put my finger on why or how. Carl Hiaasen next I think.

I'm reading the Other Wind by Ursula K. Le Guin and Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson. Fifty Degrees Below is longer and denser, so I've put it aside for a bit to read the shorter and slightly lighter Earthsea book. They're both very good, though - this is my first time through all the Earthsea books.

Diamonds are Forever was a thoroughly enjoyable yarn, as is this week's read, English Passengers by Matthew Kneale. I'm only about 100 pages in, but I'm loving it so far - quite fast moving, very character driven, funny, thought-provoking: highly recommended!
Once I polish this off, I'll be embarking on The Guermantes Way, volume 3 of In Search Of Lost Time by Marcel Proust.

Tonight I'm starting A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. From friends comments it seems that this is a love it or hate it kind of book.

I just finished the March/April edition of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and have started Thomas F. Monteleone's Eyes of the Virgin. He's mostly known as a horror/ suspense writer (and very amusing columnist in the quarterly Cemetary Dance), and this seems to be one about "evil cabals" out to steal and use a "magical" piece of stained glass from a destroyed church that once showed the Virgin Mary's eyes and that now can tell the future. Or some such. He's a fast read, and an entertaining writer, but I don't usually have much patience for such bosh, so we'll see if I stick it out....

Hi DLSmithies, Diamonds are Forever works for me every time, and The Guermantes Way does as well, one of my favorites of in the In Search of Lost Time cycle.

Here is my reading list for the week:
currently reading
Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos
Red Dragon
Hannibal Rising

#3, I'm glad you're enjoying English Passengers - one of my recent favorites too!

Currently I'm reading The Portrait by Iain Pears (creepy, but quite fascinatingly written) and Islands by Dan Sleigh. And I'm about to start George Mason: Forgotten Founder by Jeff Broadwater

Some touchstones are twitchy, my apologies.

{Edited to close my parentheses}

>9 jbd1: jdb1

I bought and started to read The Portrait by Iain Pears some 10 months ago, but couldn't get into it at all, despite liking his lighter arts-detective mysteries and especially An Instance of the Fingerpost. I just could not stand the narrating character at the beginning of The Portrait and gave it up as a bad job (for me only, I'm not saying it's a bad book) after two dozen tortured pages or so...

Enjoying The Amateur Marriage by Anne Tyler

#10 - yes, it definitely is very different from his usual things (I loved Fingerpost, one of my all-time favorites). It's a bizarre read, and normally not the kind of thing I particularly like - but he's got me with this one somehow. I can't wait to see what the ending is now, it keeps getting creepier and creepier as it progresses!

My long term project is still the immense Martin Chuzzlewit. I am also at work on Joe Penhall's "Plays 1" (specifically "Pale Horse" at the moment) and Jane Urquhart's The Underpainter. Next up will be a book for my year of Australian literature self-challenge, Tirra Lirra by the River by Jessica Anderson.

Back to graphic novels again, I just spent the whole evening reading (and loving) La Perdida by Jessica Abel.

I just read La Perdida a couple of weeks ago, SqueakyChu! I found it to be a marvelous character study, and was only disappointed that the focus turned slightly from character to plot in the last quarter of the book.

I've finished reading Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller on Feb. 7, 2007.

Now I'm reading a new one. As of 0000H GMT of Feb. 10, 2007, I've finished only about 6% of the book Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson.

.

...only disappointed that the focus turned slightly from character to plot in the last quarter of the book.

I didn't mind that so much.

What interested me the most about La Perdida was how much Carla was interested in mingling with Mexicans and staying away from Americans. I could so much identify with her doing that as she tried to completely immerse herself in the Mexican culture. Too bad that the characters with which she associated turned out not to be the best ones for her.

Didn't you just love the glossary at the end? It was right on the money. So funny, interesting and helpful.

I know Spanish and loved that the book was written both in English and Spanish. I thought that the subtitles were great as well. I need them on film as I am hard of hearing. I never knew how helpful they could be in print (even though I know quite a bit of Spanish).

I continue to be amazed at how graphic novels have captured my attention over the past year or two...and what good ones are out there!

Now back to Geisha which I'm reading for a BookCrossing bookring.

15. The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

Holy. crap. I JUST finished reading this book. Still numb. So I read about it in the Thingamabrarians Go Bump in the Night horror group . Oh this was horror, all right. Not ghosts and ghoulies, but real horror. I had to close at night and have to be back in about 4 hours, but I read it all in one sitting. Now I'm an unflappable girl. I LOVE horror movies and books, but nothing ever freaks me out. Minus the clown in Poltergeist as a kid, no story has ever scared or affected me. This one did. There were times I had to shut the book for a few seconds to compose myself, get the anger and scowl off my face. There were times where I was shivering, and it had nothing to do with how cold it was outside. There were two times were I cried. The worst part is, this is based on a true story. I think it'll take awhile to get this story out of my head. As Forrest Gump says, "And that's all I have to say about that."

Man, I really wished I would have waited for The Witches. I could REALLY use a light read now. :(

233 pages
(since this touchstone is a wonky one, here's the link:
http://www.librarything.com/work/38491&book=11595295)

Hey Sean L, I thought Claire Tomalin's Thomas Hardy biography was just superb. I knew little of Hardy's origins and life, nor of the fact of his completely eschewing fiction for poetry after Jude the Obscure, so Tomalin's book was a revelation on several levels. I've read several of Hardy's novels over the years, but never Jude, so I ordered a copy of it today (the Easton Press ed.) and am really looking forward to it now.

(One of the reasons I'd wanted to read Tomalin's book was that Hardy had cropped up rather prominently in several thing's I'd just read in the last few months. In John Fowles' The Journals Volume II he made extensive remarks on Hardy as he was reading Jude, even saying, "I feel very close to Hardy. All through Jude I found myself seeing his technical mistakes; and understanding them almost as if I had written it myself. I feel I know exactly how his mind works...".

And one of the most charming episodes that Robert Graves recounts in his memoir Goodbye To All That was of a bicycle trip he and his wife made to visit Hardy in the summer of 1920. Even though Hardy barely knew who they were, he greeted them both very effusively and they became fast friends. Soon after this, Graves introduced TH to T.E. Lawrence, whom Hardy quickly came to admire, and Lawrence became a frequent guest of Hardy's at Max Gate.)

bettyjo: Hated the Amateur Marriage, although I love Anne Tyler. Let me know what you think of it.

Death in cold type by c. c. benison, and The List, and ARC by Tara Ison, The day of creation by J. G. Ballard for the LT SF group.

I've just stated reading One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus.

This past week I read Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore (good enough, but not his best or his funniest) and The Grand Tour or The Purloined Coronation Regalia by Patricia C. Wrede & Caroline Stevermer, which was cute but not nearly as good as Sorcery and Cecelia.
I also listened to The End by Lemony Snicket, which was disappointing but strangely not unsatisfying.

Currently reading Getting the Girl by Markus Zusak and listening to The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke.

I need to get Coming into the Country and The Book Thief read this weekend as they are both due back at the library on Monday. I'm reading Coming into the Country for my "State Challenge." It's a bit dated, however, it's a breezy read and I am learning a lot about Alaska and its history.

(touchstones not loading AGAIN... grrrrrr)

About 130 pages into A Girl Becomes A Comma Like That by Lisa Glatt. It's really good; I'll probably go through it pretty fast.

I'm reading Eragon by Christopher Paolioni I've just bought it and I'm on the 76 page within having it for about 4hours hehehehe I love this book!!

I've just started Hotel California:Singer-Songwriters and Cocaine Cowboys in the LA Canyons, 1967-1976 and am enjoying it. It's by Barney Hoskyns.

#19: Have reserved Claire Tomalin's Thomas Hardy as, like yourself, have been an admirer of Hardy for many years. Going to Dorset this year on hols so shall visit his place.

(touchstone trouble again)

#22 I read One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus quite a while ago but rememeber it was really good and I have recommended it to many.

Just finished The Tiger Claw by Shauna Singh Baldwin.

Just in time for Valentine's Day, I am finishing up Remind Me Again Why I Married You by Rita Ciresi. =)

Hope to start The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve this week too. It will be my first book by Shreve - curious to know if I'll like it!

Have a great week!

Started Firestorm by Rachel Caine today. I'll be sad after this because the next Weather Warden book isn't due out for months.

Just finished Banished Children of Eve by Peter Quinn, which I read because of a recommendation here on LT. I ended up enjoying it more than I did initially, because the author handled the intersecting plots so well. It's a novel about the Civil War draft riots in NYC, focusing mostly on Irish immigrants and, for me, there was a little too much history in the sense that I felt the author was trying to cram a lot of information in, even if it didn't help develop character or advance the plot.

Still reading Madison Smart Bell's biography of Toussaint Louverture and At Day's Close: Night in Times Past by A. Roger Ekirch (it's my subway/bus book, because it's easy to pick up and put down), and will start another novel soon.

24: I enjoyed Coming into the Country, despite its datedness.

I'm re-reading Wonder When You'll Miss Me by Amanda Davis.

Next on the list is a new one I just picked up today,
Pinkerton's Sister by Peter Rushforth.

One of the blurbs on the back say "Somthing of a cross between Harriet the Spy and Jane Eyre..." Now that's right up my alley!

No. 19, Louis, I'll echo your statement about Tomalin's Hardy biography, and I went out and bought a couple of Penguin editions consisting of Tess of the D'Urbervilles and The Return of the Native. And part of the attraction of Tomalin's biography for me was that it's readable, and not weighed down by an academic ball and chain.

Started re-reading Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell for one of my upcoming Reading Group meetings during the insomniac hours last night. I only wanted to skim read but it really is impossible to do justice to this book by skimping.

On a second reading, it simply becomes better and better and I found myself making connections I missed first time round. The only problem, it sparked off so many lines of thought I found myself wide awake, rummaging back and forwards through the pages and experiencing pure joie de livre at 4 in the morning.

Re-reading Jane Stevenson's The Shadow King.

Just starting The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri. My first Camilleri book, I am enjoying it.

I am almost finished reading The Book of Lost Things It really is an amazing book and I haven't been able to put it down.

In her fine new biography Thomas Hardy, Claire Tomalin points out that TH's most famous novel Jude the Obscure was found intensely shocking when it first appeared in Nov. 1895, and even today, she says "reading Jude is like being hit in the face over and over again". Well, so far I've been pummelled pretty good over the first 150 pages of Jude, but it's such a marvelous book that I'll gladly allow Hardy to just keep on hitting me.

Just started Cell. Just like the Stephen King novels of old, this is a gruesome book --which is keeping me highly entertained so far.

Just started The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Have heard it is well worth the long read. It is the story of King Arthur told by the many leading women in his world. Has anyone else read it lately - is it good?

Not recently - but I loved reading it. But then I'm a fan of re-telling of the Arthurian legends, and of Marion Zimmer Bradley.

>41 KC9333:

KC9333, The Mists of Avalon infuriated me when I read it (shortly after it came out in the 1980s) because as a sometime Celtic mythology scholar, I was incensed by the way Marion Zimmer Bradley deliberately messed with the Celtic spiritual calendar - placing rituals that occurred at Imbolc, say, as happening at Lughnasadh and the like. Worse, when called on it in an interview, she said she did so deliberately because anyone interested in Celtic rituals should research it themselves and not rely on a novel for accurate information. I figure it's one thing to leave out information, another to deliberately mislead people in that way. The book itself was not bad, if I remember, but I never got past the breathtaking hubris she displayed....

>41 KC9333:

KC9333 - I read it a few years ago, and really enjoyed it... I remember it moving faster than the length might suggest.

I just started a couple of books:
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, which I am enjoying so far.

Also, motivated by last week's discussion, I decided to start The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. I bought the entire series years ago, but had a very hard time getting into the first book, Over Sea, Under Stone. I did eventually finish that book, but never felt like continuing the series till now.

>41 KC9333: KC9333 - I read this book about 11 years ago. I was fascinated with the feminine perspective on the Arthurian legends. It really opened my mind to thinking about "herstory" and alternative points of view on any kind of historical account.

>43 thefirstalicat: thefirstalicat - although I enjoy the genre, it seems to me that being loose with the facts can often be an issue with historical fiction. Do you agree?

I just started The Inheritance of Loss this weekend. I usually like reading Booker Prize nominees and winners (this book won the prize in 2006), and I also enjoy reading books set in India. So not too far into it yet, but promising so far.

lizzier #35 I really liked Cloud Atlas and it is a book I would like to re-read soon because I think there are layers I might have missed the first time around when I gulped it down.

I just finished back-to-back two memoirs/reflections on a dead spouse--About Alice by Calvin Trillin and Love is a Mix Tape by Rob Sheffield. Both were loving, moving tributes written in very different ways. I enjoyed the pop culture references in the Sheffield, though he was not quite a contemporary, some of the music mentioned put me in a nostalgic mood and my list of songs to check out is a mile long.

Now back to The Painted Veil, which I am about 2/3 way through and loving so far, my first, but not last, Maugham.

I feel like it's taking me forever to get through Sons and Lovers. I hope my reading speed picks up a bit tomorrow, once I'm back on the bus. I find it difficult to read over the weekend unless I'm really involved in the book; there are just so many other things I could be doing! It's much easier during the week, when I've got a lengthy bus ride both ways.

angstrat, The Painted Veil absolutely blew me away, one of my favorite books so far this year.

I am reading The Fiery Cross, the 5th book in the Outlander series,this weekend -- 1000 pages of drivel it appears -- yet, I read on.

Just finished reading desperately seeking paradise by Ziauddin Sardar, which was a honest personal account of his 30 year search for a Islam that fights for justice and truth without being a sham western want to be or a medieval shell. He shows that different ways that Islam is or have tried to deal with this. The damage that western modernity and secularism does is discussed whilst facing the challenges that Islam has to revive its true roots. Its also funny and deeply human. Not sure what to read now as I alternate between fiction and non-fiction. It might be A month in the country by J.L.Carr or The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

I am reading Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult and I am already 100 pages into it, and it is wonderful!!

LouisBranning, I picked up The Painted Veil in part because it was raved about here by you and others and also a friend's enthusiastic review of the movie. I thought I knew where it was heading, but now, about 2/3 through, I have no idea what's in store for the last 70 or so pages. I love so far what Maugham has done with dialogue--the mood that is set and the shift in characters' perceptions that all take place in one conversation. Have you read any other Maugham that you would recommend? I just picked up Cakes and Ale tonight.

Ugh, I finished Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris last night, and could not have been happier to finish a book. I really did not enjoy it, and think that the movie will be even worse. It was hard to imagine that the rationale for his killing sprees in the book are the same rationales for his killing sprees in later life. It's just too much of a leap.

Up next was/is Scar Culture by Toni Davidson. I think I must be in a kick for strange novels as this one is ultra-weird. I should be finished it tonight, then off to my own personal library to pick anew.

>49 xicanti: xicanti: Have you read other D.H. Lawrence works? If so, you're not likely to get into Sons and Lovers, which I personally remember as one of the godawfullest reads of my life. I say abandon ship, person the lifeboats and row heartily away from that gormless, drippy Paul Morel and his shrew of a mama.

I'm re-reading Last Exit to Brooklyn, which I found on the dollar shelves at my local Half Price Books. My live-in was less than enthusiastic at the 12 mass-market paper editions I brought home that day, as I'm on restriction from buying more books. Seems the stacks of 'em are getting on his nerves.

The joys of living together....

>46 lauralkeet: lindsacl - yes, I enjoy Arthurian fiction and feminist takes thereof; Marion Zimmer Bradley isn't really "loose with the facts" given that the story isn't actually historical fiction, it's based on legend (and earlier, myth). But there is enough written material and archeological evidence to describe the religious rituals of Celtic pagan belief systems that her claiming and deliberately perverting of same is, to me, insupportable.

I would classify all Arthurian fiction as fantasy/legend, not "historical fiction" at all, which to my mind means fiction set during a well-documented historical period, with the author being scrupulously careful (one would hope!) not to introduce anamolies.

>48 angstrat: angstrat

My husband and I went to see the film version of The Painted Veil just this afternoon; I've read some Somerset Maugham I think in the distant past, but don't remember it, and certainly had not read the novel on which this film was based. I'd be interested, if you see the film, how you think it compares. I loved the language in the movie, but have to say that the visual impact was stronger - then again, interior China is a stunning part of the world (and the film was made there, not on some lot somewhere else)....

This week I am reading The Emancipator's Wife a novel of Mary Todd Lincoln by Barbra Hambly. I'm about 250 pages into it and am really enjoying it--a great piece of historical fiction.

#56 richardderus: this is my first Lawrence. Right now, it's really looking like I'll be abandoning the book after the 100 page grace period I give everything I read, but I'm going to hold out until tomorrow just in case it's the weekend lethargy that's destroying my interest in the story.

mdbenoit ..finished The Amateur Marriage and liked it...kinda...left me feeling sad. I have always been told that good books make you feel some emotion...I felt the same way after reading The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver...to say you liked it was wierd because the preacher was so awful! Anyway started When Madeline was Young by Jane Hamilton today.

I'm reading No Second Chance by Harlan Coben for my book group meeting on 2/21. I am enjoying it so far (at about page 100). It's an easy read.
I've also got U2 by U2 which I'm reading and looking at all the pictures. It's a wonderful book for any U2 fan.

#49 and #56: I felt exactly the same about Sons and Lovers - I found it so tedious, and the characters all so intensely annoying - especially the girls whose name I've forgotten - Marion or something? Self-indulgence abounded. I stuck it out till the end only because I can't stand leaving a book unfinished.

angstrat, yes, I've read several of Maugham's novels over the years, mostly very enjoyable stuff, but I think The Painted Veil is the most unique of all his books. Maugham stated once that the plots of his novels were built from his characters, and that in the instance of Veil, the story arrived full-blown in his mind and he had to create the characters to fit his narrative. Nevertheless, it's an unforgettable novel, and the character of Kitty Fain just as memorable. And I'm looking forward to Cakes and Ale later in the year too.

I hate to be the odd-man-out here, but I love Sons and Lovers best of all the Lawrence novels that I've read, but of course understand well that it's probably not to everyone's taste. Just saying...

This week, I'm still reading Gardens of the Moon, as my reading has slowed due to university work increasing. I haven't gotten very far, so I still don't even know if I like it, but I'm hoping to finish it and move on to a historical fiction, probably The Rose of York: Love & War by Sandra Worth soon!

You know, I thought I was a voracious reader, but I can't keep up with most of you :-)

Just finished Death in Cold Type by C. C. Benison. Started The secret sister by Elizabeth Lowell and The list by Tara Ison.

Thunderstruck by Erik Larson is underway...fascinating in his dry style. Not as compelling as I thought it would be so it's become my background book.

The Female of the Species by Joyce Carol Oates is a collection of short stories featuring murder and mayhem-minded females. Her chameleon-like writing is very engaging and each story is unique in voice and in plot.

Started The Tenth Justice by Brad Metzer and while the behind the scenes look at the US Supreme Court is interesting, the atrocious and childish dialogue may do it in.

Touchstones are having a sluggish Monday...

I finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, and I have to say that I was just a little disappointed. It was an engaging read, but I was expecting it to be much more "original" than I ultimately felt it was. I didn't hate it - but I didn't love it either. Fussy? Quite possibly.

I also finished Blue Shoes and Happiness by Alexander McCall Smith which was light and cheerful, as the series always is. I followed that up by reading A man without a country by Kurt Vonnegut. I'm a fan of his fiction, and while I would have liked it to be longer (some of the chapers are a little "bitsy"), some of his insights are spot on.

Now I'm into Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley, which is both interesting and a far cry from Brave New World.

Only about 50 pages to go in Dr. Faustus by Thomas Mann ... it's been a difficult, but very rewarding read.

Killeymoon, I had a similar experience with Book Thief - I enjoyed it but also found I had much to criticize in it. I think its possible that my reading experience fell victim to the hype, and I would have been more charitable to it if I had come to it fresh.

(Edited to fix a typo.)

#70(Sycoaxpine) & #68 killeymmon: I agree with you both about The Book Thief. Don't you think it's aimed at juveniles/young adults? I notice that the first IBSN no on the flyleaf states that. Definitely over-hyped.

I'm reading the Penguin Classics Edition of Ivan Turgenev's Sketches from a Hunter's Album, with the translation by Richard Freeborn.

It's been years since I've read anything by Turgenev, and am still amazed by his descriptive power, lyricism and irony. These sketches are just fabulous.

#71 - I haven't read The Book Thief, though I do intend to eventually. I just have to say that it is aimed at young adults, and is found in the YA section of the bookstore--but I don't see why that's a criticism. There are plenty of great YA books that adults enjoy too.

#48 angstrat - I have just found Cloud Atlas benefits immeasurably by being read a second time and I can see me re-visiting it yet again as it has proved such an exhilarating experience this weekend. At a certain point, I found myself breathless with admiration at the cohesive structure of the book and how it locks into David Mitchell's other writing. Not to mention the breadth of his reading.
The book expressed and confirmed the value of story, memory, being part of everything, reality and much, much more.

What a book.

What A book.

>71 hazelk: & 73

I remember reading somewhere (can't find it now; might even have been here!) that Markus Zusak's books (at least I am the Messenger and The Book Thief) are categorized differently by the publisher in Australia vs. the US... in Australia, they're marketed as adult fiction, whereas in the US they're marketed as YA like his other two books (which are, in my mind, unquestionably YA). So, they're clearly borderline; your mileage might vary.

If there are any Aussies reading that could confirm if I'm remembering this right, let us know.

This one weekly series of discussions is really bloating my oversized TBR list!! (Cloud Atlas, The Painted Veil or anything else by Somerset Maugham, the Thomas Hardy Biography... )

Anyway, I finished Riding the Bus With My Sister by Rachel Simon, a pleasure to read. Currently I'm in the middle of a book of poetry with Louisiana feel: At the Bonehouse by Jack Bedell. Good stuff, with an incredible first poem (... the fish snapping to the surface / to eat the drops like flies, / their mouths almond-shaped and yearning. ...). I think my next book will be The Devil in the White City by Eric Larson, well, at least it's the next one on my TBR list.

#5 lstrand: I'd like to hear your take on A Confederacy of Dunces. I have a copy I'm pondering picking up and actually reading sometime.

#73:if, like me, you've read quite a lot of modern history including WW11 and the Holocaust and then, unknowingly (that's the point, it was a present) read a book like this you are not exactly going to be enamoured at the level it's pitched at.

About to start Book Two of the Scepter of Mercy series, The Chernagor Pirates. The first one was great!

Just finished The Thirteenth Tale, and I must say, I wasn't as blown away as I thought I was going to be. I enjoyed the intertwined stories and the atmosphere, but I felt a little let down by the ending...like it didn't fit? I don't know, all the reviews are so positive, maybe it's just me.
But anyways, am reading Green Darkness by Anya Seton. I really enjoyed Seton's Katherine, and am hoping I'll find another favorite in this novel. From the back cover it seems as though there will be some time traveling/reincarnation business going on...interesting...

(touchstones screwy)

In the Company of Cheerful Ladies by Alexander McCall Smith. I'd pausedon the Precious Ramotswe series a couple of years ago, so playing catch-up with this one, as well as the ones before and (next) the one afterwards. I'm really glad Smith has given more attention to Mma Makutsi.

Picked up My World of Islands by Leslie Thomas a few days ago. Author profiles a few dozen of the world's well-known, as well as "lesser" islands. Glad I bought it, and would recommend it for anyone who thinks it might be interesting.

I finished A World Away by Stewart O'Nan last night. While I liked it, I wasn't as engaged by it as I was by his nonfiction The Circus Fire, which I read last week. I am also very confused about a major plot point, and would welcome talking with someone else who's read it. (Not here on this thread--it would be a big spoiler.) Tonight I'm starting Troubles by J.G. Farrell--I'm planning on reading his whole Empire trilogy in one go.

I also finished listening to The Hungry Tide by Amitav Ghosh this weekend. I really enjoyed 95% of this book, but the ending left me a bit cold. I was especially disappointed by the last line. Now I'm listening to The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss.

Well last night said I would read either A month in the country by J.L.Carr or The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Due to being woken by dog at 5.00am I have read them both. The first was a touching story of lives unlived yet healed, the other was a load of new age psycho-babble that failed both in the medium and the message. If you want fables then try anything by Italo Calvino, if you want spiritual literacy then try Lionel Blue, Richard Holloway or Karen Armstrong.

After all this sequence of worthy or pretentious readings decided to go for something different: A scientific romance by Ronald Wright. This is a dystopia time travel adventure/journey a la H.G.Wells

I am reading Daniel Deronda by George Eliot ... This book is awesome!!

cabegley #81 I read History of Love when it first came out and liked it a lot. I then listened to it again last month to refresh my memory before book club and loved it even more. The narrator for Leo's character is wonderful.

I started After This by Alice McDermott. I read the first three chapters when it first came out and could not get into it, but I think it will stick this time. I love McDermott's writing style. I also just started Downtown: My Manhattan by Pete Hamill.

wow, cabegley, I really envy you reading J.G. Farrell's Empire trilogy for the first time, and Troubles is terrific too.

>71 hazelk:, 73, 75
I bought The Book Thief with the assumption that it was a YA book. I've read plenty of great YA books, so I'm sure it wasn't that aspect I was disappointed with. Could it be the hype spoiled it? I try not to expect too much with hyped books (horses for courses and all that), but I don't tend to have much luck with them.
**edited to correct typo

#75fyrefly98: I Am the Messenger is on the Year 9 reading list at my son's school, so it's definitely YA. I was under the impression that The Book Thief was marketed successfully overseas as adult fiction and so they did the same here (Australia). I'm reading it at my son's insistence and I do think it's for younger people. That has been Marcus Zusak's audience to date.

Finished Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones. The reading of Great Expectations sets off an horrific series of events. Themes from the Dickens novel are picked up in the story. Not a difficult read, but leaves you with lots to think about. Recommended.
Also finished The Woman Who Walked into Doors by Roddy Doyle. The story of a victim of domestic violence. Wonderfully realistic and not at all maudlin. WOW!

I made it through Part I of Sons and Lovers, but decided to dump it after that. I think I would've been all over the book if it had been a short story, as it's written in an interesting manner, but as a book it was just too much. I didn't really care enough to work my way through another 250 pages.

I've just received word that Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, (and probably Sons and Lovers's opposite in most ways), has just come in for me at the library, so I'll pick that up on my lunch break today. I'm not sure if I'll have any better luck with it; I read and loved all the Dragonlance books about ten years ago, but I reread the first one a couple of weeks ago and wasn't too blown away. Maybe this second volume will rekindle my love for the series, though.

I am new to this group I just finished reading Emma's Gift by Leisha Kelly, I enjoy all genres except horror and sci fi,, any recommendations ????

I just tore through Thomas Hardy's Jude the Obscure, finished it yesterday, and could write a gusher of a love-note about this spectacular book, but it would only be redundant. All of the highest praise and the meanest criticisms of Hardy's 112-year-old masterpiece have long been vented, but it still works marvelously on the page and I could hardly put it down, loved it to its bitter end.

This week I started The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.

I'm only sixty pages into it and I'm already hooked!

I am reading War and Peace. I started it because of I had just finished The Hedgehog and the Fox. I have been completely entranced by the writing. Even in translation some passages read like excellent poetry. I am only one-third finished and am now invested in the characters and am committed to finish the book. On breaks have I read The Blue Hammer and Joe Turner's Come and Gone. Next up is Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 Reported by James Madison a book I think is important, particularly since I am an attorney.

wildbill, War and Peace has really proved to be sort of a 'comfort' book for me over the years. I've had the new Anthony Briggs translation of it sitting around for 6 months now, and plan to make time for it later this year.

I’m reading Ivan Turgenev’s Sketches from a Hunter’s Album, a.k.a., Sketches, A Sportsman’s Sketches, A Sportsman’s Notebook, etc., and now I wonder why it took me so long to read it. Sketches is not so much about hunting as about the rural world of Russia. Basically, it’s an album of pictures drawn from Russian country life in the period prior to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. And I can’t help but think that Turgenev used Irish author Maria Edgeworth’s work as a model for Sketches (Castle Rackrent and The Absentee immediately come to mind).

So far, many of the sketches portray various types of landowners or episodes drawn from his experience of the life of the serf-owning Russian gentry. But far more significant have been the sketches that tell of Turgenev's encounters with peasants during his hunting trips. Amid his beautiful descriptions of the Russian countryside, Turgenev's portraits suggest that, though the peasants may be “children of nature” who seek the freedom offered by the beauty of their surroundings, they are always circumscribed by the fact that they’re serfs, and will never break those chains.

Turgenev might be overshadowed by Dostoyevsky, Chekhov and Tolstoy, but his sense of the preciousness of the beauty in life endow Sketches with a brilliant luster that I find hard to be surpassed Many may consider Sketches a stepping stone to his greater works, but so far, I think they stand alone as an outstanding piece of Russian Literature.

I'm reading warrior Prophet by R. Scott Bakker.

Sean, I agree with all you say about Turgenev's Sketches from a Hunter's Album, truly exceptional stuff I thought too. I read a lot of Turgenev about 10 years ago, and must also highly recommend his fine novel Fathers and Sons as well.

Louis, after reading the Hardy biography and your comments on Jude the Obscure, and reading Sketches, I'm currently on a Hardy and Turgenev buying spree!

I can't wait to get to Jude.

Jude's gonna mow you down, Sean, I promise.

The Joke by Milan Kundera, I'm at the beggining of it, however the way Kundera creates his characters makes you feel like you know then since a long time ago. Really enjoying.

Wow, I have awful memories of being forced to read Jude the Obscure in school -- so awful, I've blocked out everything about it (including, maybe, whether it was The Mayor of Casterbridge instead!). This will inspire me to try it again.

I am with rebeccanyc - I also was forced to read Jude the Obscure in high school and everyone I know hated it. I personally can't even remember how I felt about it, the hatred of everyone else was so tremendous. After Louis's emphatic recommendation, I am also inspired to go back and try it again, when I'm in the same country as my copy!

I have started reading In Search of Ancient Gods by Erich von Daniken by recommendation of my boyfriend; it is apparently proof that aliens visited earth. I don't know how much I'll believe that, but it should be interesting.

Rebeccanyc and littlebookworm, I can understand not wanting to revisit a book that you hated in school. I had the same experience with William Faulkner’s Absalom! Absalom! It was not until I read it fifteen years later that I realized what a great work it was.

Why is that?

rebeccanyc & littlebookworm, I'm no expert by any stretch, but to be forced to read Jude in high school, a book that's certainly one of the more maturely tragic works of the late Victorian era, seems almost absurd, so I can very easily understand why any teenager probably wouldn't appreciate it as intended, and would likely run screaming from it as well.

And I'm just as surprised as anyone about my reaction to Jude. I'd read several of Hardy's book before, but never Jude, so the fact that this 112-year-old novel is a lead-pipe lock for my 'favorite novels of 2007' list (see my Profile), along with Maugham's 82-year-old masterwork The Painted Veil, is just as purely amazing to me as everyone else.

I'm about to finish Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I've been reading the series along with my son. Not great writing, to be sure, but entertaining enough. We've read the series straight through over the last couple months; we're a little behind the rest of the world, I guess. Kind of getting tired of it, though; ready to move on to something else.

Sadly re the discussion on Thomas Hardy, I have never managed to read any of his books. Either relentless misery or endless pages of mystical landscape mumbo-jumbo. Having read Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons can never take this genre seriously.

I Seem to be on a run this week having managed to read so far Desperately seeking paradise by Ziauddin Sardar, (thought provoking) A month in the country by J.L.Carr, (Lyrical) The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. (Twaddle), A scientific romance by Ronald Wright(well crafted) Now need to get into a couple of big books to slow down! So its Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke and then to get the little grey cells to work Collapse by Jared Diamond

I just finished reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy. So strange, I didn't want to keep reading but I couldn't stop. It is the first McCarthy I have read. I found the language beautiful and devastating.

Having read Mary Habeck's Storm of Steel and Silent Steel, the second being a really gripping piece of reportage that anyone who enjoyed Blind Man's Bluff should also like, I'm now starting Revelation Space.

I am reading (in addition to grad school reading) a series I found while shelf reading (ugh) called "(philosopher's name) in 90 Minutes." I started off with Augustine, now I'm on to Plato. Next is Aristotle. They really are just 90 minute reads. I'd only taken on philosophy course, though I did have to read from all sorts of philosophers during the undergrad days. I've been exposed to all these guys, but it's nice to have a comprehensive, succinct book to tie all loose ends together in my brain. The author of the books is Paul Strathern or Paul Strathen. You can see them in my library. It's been a nice way to get involved with something different form what I have to read but it's not so all consuming that I am completely torn away from my "real" work.

SeanLong: Thank you for that beautiful review of Turgenev. I will add the Sketches to my list.

LouisBranning: The Painted Veil is on my MBUL (Must Buy Urgently List).

Yesterday I finished Sorcery and Cecelia and started Sherrilyn Kenyon's The Dream Hunter.

Amanda, last night I read the story, Bezhin Lea from Turgenev’s Sketches. It’s one of those stories that rarely pops up that was so good that I could not proceed to the next story for fear that it would not hold up. It was that perfect. And his opening description of a July day is one of the most brilliant introductions I’ve ever read in a short story.

Reading Turgenev (pun intended, William Trevor) has been a pleasant surprise. You're in for some great reading.

Finally finished To Hate Like This is To Be Happy Forever by Will Blythe. Currently reading Surprise Me by Terry Esau, Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock, and will start Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl at lunch.

Touchstones are taking forever to load, and I really should get back to work, so I'm not waiting any longer...sorry!

Just coming to an end of Voltaire Almighty and getting a good start on Crusaders in the Courts. Also stumbled over the new BoyGeorge autobiography Destined for Destiny which I urge all blue staters with a funnybone to read ASAP.

I'm about 30 pages into The Meaning of Everything by Simon Winchester. So far, I absolutely love the book and am really hoping it continues in the same vein. Winchester is so obviously enthusiastic about his subject matter that the book is a delight to read. I love it when people really care about the stories they're telling.

I'm a hundred-fifty pages into the ARC of Kurt Andersen's huge new book Heyday: A Novel, a rather lively faux Victorian picaresque that's more than passably entertaining so far, and is shaping up as a keeper.

Currently I am reading When Illness Goes Public: Celebrity Patients and How we Look at Medicine I've only finished the intro and chapter one. The book discusses illness in relation to people who either became famous because of an illness or new treatment, or celebrities who gained a lot of attention for a particular cause (or illness with a diagnosis). Chapters cover Gehrig, Piccolo, McQueen, Hayworth to name a few.

I finished The Fiery Cross by Gabaldon today. Not her best. I think I am going to start The Red Tent by Anita Diamant later today.

#107 - that is a perfect description of the way I feel about all of the Cormac McCarthy that I have read.

#113 - I really liked Special Topics in Calamity Physics but it gets mixed reviews. Word of advice -- don't get too worried if you don't get half those literary references -- just go with the flow!

Today I finally started John Gardner's Mickelsson's Ghosts after staring at it on my shelf for about five years. Already I see biographical similarities to Gardner (which I am more likely to catch now since I read the excellent biography of him by Barry Silesky).
#107 - "Road" was the first book by McCarthy I had read and I agree also.
#113 - The reason you may not get half the literary references in "Calamity Physics" is because they're made up. Still was fun.

Now I am reading Brother Odd by Koontz So far its just alright. Nothing spectacular, and it is not compelling me to read it all in one night. It's definitely not a page turner.

To add to the Jude the Obscure discussion above. I believe wholeheartedly that Jude is Hardy's masterpiece but, that said, the story is a break-your-heart kind of read. Did you really have to read that in high school? I would think that certain story elements would be unforgettable... I think Hardy was a bit ahead of his time.

babygriljj,
I usually love Dean Koontz books but his latest novels haven't caught my eye (such as The Husband, Forever Odd, and Brother Odd). I liked the Watchers, the Phantoms, Twilight Eyes, and Seize the Night.

I am currently reading several books:

Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson
Downbelow Station by C.J. Cherryh
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

I switch from one to the other when I can't read any more pages from one. I need to finish one before starting another, oh well.=)

Began vol. 5 of James Fenimore Cooper's Works, three stories included, called The Crater, Miles Wallingford and Homeward Bound.

#121 We didn't read it in school. It was on our summer reading list one year. Maybe I didn't finish it -- it's lost in the mists of history -- but I will make a point to read it now.

Gobbled up Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf a few days ago, and am still scrutinizing the Introduction (don't worry, instructions were to read the book and THEN progress through to the intro; it containing spoilers and a detailed dissection of diary entires, quotes, blurbs, yumm yummm!)

Am now taking time with my new read: Don Quixote, this is the kind of book you want to savor, and certainly not rush. I love rereading paragraphs that I liked in the first read, and ofcourse, the constant perusal of the reference notes at the back is a must. hence, i'll prolly take quite a few weeks on it..

Ooh, and I stumbled upon Right Ho, Jeeves in my library! Am so pleased :)

DLSmithies #63: If Sons and Lovers can't make you abrogate your self-imposed requirement to finish the books you start, nothing ever written can...I feel so sad for that, so many, many unworthy books will make their way into your mental furniture... ;-P

wildbill (message 90): I noticed you read The blue hammer ... what did you think? Although some of his stuff can seem a bit dated, which makes sense of course, I'm a big Ross Macdonald fan.

I just started Lies & Ugliness, a book of horror short stories by Brian Hodge ... I've only read a story and a half, but this is pretty kinky stuff.

I'm reading Hominids by Robert Sawyer and it's great! I haven't had much time to read lately, but I hope to finish it tonight.

GeorgiaDawn, I loved Hominids! I don't think the others in the trilogy were quite as good, though.

#129 _Zoe_ - I'm headed to the library in few minutes to pick up the others. I hope I enjoy them.

Wouldn't you love to meet Ponter? (I'm only about half way into the book, so I'm not sure what happens with him later.)

I'm sure you will enjoy them; they're still good books. There was just one thing about the second one that really bothered me. I don't want to mention it now in case it's too much of a spoiler, but let me know when you're done the second one and what you think of it!

I'd definitely love to meet Ponter, and to see their entire world. I think it was the portrayal of the Neanderthal world that I liked most, and the issues that it raised.

I just read Party Time, by Harold Pinter.

After finishing The Road it took me a couple of days to start something else.
Now reading Under The Glacier by Laxness and St. Lucy's School for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell. Russell's stories are bizarre and lots of fun!

I just finished Mary, a Novel by Janis Cooke Newman. It was wonderful. I highly recommend it. It is very well written. Grest historical fiction, yet many of the events in the book really did happen.

I just started Deadhouse: Life in a Coroner's Office by John Temple. This is non-fiction about life in he coroners's office in Pittsburgh in the year 2000.