What are you reading the week of January 09, 2010?

Random author birthday of the week:

Haruki Murakami, born January 12, 1949 is a Japanese writer and translator. His works of fiction and non-fiction have garnered him critical acclaim, and he is the sixth recipient of the Franz Kafka Prize for his novel Kafka on the Shore. He is considered an important figure in postmodern literature, and The Guardian praised him as one of the "world's greatest living novelists.”

Visit his website – it is a work of art.

Back to work for me this week, so I will finally start reading again in the trains... My first book will be Nebra by Thomas Thiemeyer an easy read to get me back into it...

I am now reading Possession: A Romance by A. S. Byatt.

Murakami is one of my favorite authors! I've only read 4 of his books but also own several others. I think Wind-up Bird Chronicle might be the next one of his I choose!
I've been reading Child 44, gripping stuff, and listening to Thunderstruck by Erik Larson.

I'm about halfway through Mulengro and really enjoying it so far.

#5 Is that your first de Lint?

It's a good book! By one of my favourite authors.

I hope to finish The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver today. I haven't picked out the next book yet.

Just finished volume one of the Everyman edition of Gibbon's Decline and Fall and I'm now through the first three chapters of Wickham's The Inheritance of Rome. (Gibbon is a re-read for me, though I think what I read 30+ years ago was probably an abridged edition.)

In fiction, I'm about halfway through Antonia White's The Sugar House, and when I'm done that I think I'm going to read something by Colette on my Kindle, very likely La Chatte because it's one of the few Colette works available for Kindle en français and Kindle's annotation capability is convenient to make notes of vocabulary I'm not familiar with.

I'm still reading The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine which I'm finding quite revealing and interesting but hardly pleasant. I'm countering that with The Geography of Bliss. At first it seemed glib but I'm now finding that it's making me think.

I am almost finished American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld and I am still reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I hope to finish American Wife today and possibly Dorian Gray too.

Over halfway through my ER Back on Murder, then I get to finally read the novelization of the last Star Trek movie - not that I am dying to read it, just that I picked it up to read and then the ER came in the mail and I always read those first and I was still in the middle of East of Eden which I wanted finish before I got to the ER - whew!

Last night (although technically this morning) I finished two books which i'd borrowed from the library. Darke Academy: Secret Lives and The Hobbit - the former was actually quite good and the latter was fantastic and I regret not reading it much sooner.
Will continue with The Lies of Locke Lamora this evening I think although due to how late i've woken up i will have to be working until quite late tonight.

Partly reposted from tail end of last thread, sorry.

Angelica Garnett, The Unspoken Truth
and
Chinua Achebe, The Education of a British-Protected Child

The Unspoken Truth seems to be 4 autobiographical novellas - I like the second more than the first. The writing is beautiful but I found the first story unconvincing because it's meant to be about an 8 year old's thoughts and I didn't believe even the most precocious 8 year old would have those thoughts. In the second, the main character is 16 and it's more plausible, and there are more other characters. I've nearly finished the second novella now and it's quite good, reflections many years later on a young woman's friendship with a French family.

Chinua Achebe's book is billed as a collection of essays. The intriguing title is taken from a description of the author himself during his schooldays, and in this first essay he is talking about the tendency of imperialist countries to claim that they are protecting those they colonise - quite topical, really. I'm quite excited at getting a chance to read this. I've read all 3 of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's books and this man is probably one of Nigeria's best known writers, who Adichie has acknowledged as her inspiration.

I've also read the first few pages of Joan Aiken's The Wolves of Willoughby Chase. This was a childhood favourite and I wanted to reread the older books in the series before reading some of the more recent ones for the first time. There are 11 books in the series that started with this book, so I thought it would be a nice little reading project.

Just finished The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Other Stories by Leo Tolstoy, a new translation of some of his shorter works by the noted translators Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky. Some great, some interesting, some too religious for me.

I'm also a big Haruki Murakami fan, msf59, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is an amazing read. You're in for a treat.

I'm in the middle of On a Moonless Night, and also started a YA title in the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. This latest one is the The Siege of Macindaw.

6: It is, and it certainly doesn't look like it'll be my last! :)

jnwelch - I just bought The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. It's good to hear it will be a treat.

I'm reading Small Island by Andrea Levy for Orange January. I can see that it is fantastically written, but I'm not very engaged by it yet.

I've finally started The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie after hearing so much about it on LT. It's been on my TBR pile forever.

I finished The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and really enjoyed it. I thought Diaz's writing style was very absorbing, and the historical bits very interesting.

Now I'm going to start in on Swann's Way, but I'm feeling a little intimidated at the thought. Anyone want to hold my hand? ;)

>4 msf59:: Mark, I think the 1001 Books group is going to do a group read of The Wind Up Bird Chronicle. They are planning to take their time with this one. I'm glad because I haven't read any of Muakami's work yet, and I understand that his writing can be pretty dense. Got this one for Christmas. Yay! Which of his books has been your favorite so far?

>17 nancyewhite:: Nancy, since you have the book, you might as well check out the group read on the 1001 Books Before You Die thread. I think I'll need the support.

I'm still reading and enjoying Doyle's A Study in Scarlet.

OK, I've veered way off. I've read the first forty pages or so of Don Quixote, but I've had an interlibrary loan book requested on a whim sitting around and overdue by now.

High Tension (wrong touchstone) by William Wister Haines from 1938 and probably sitting in the shelf of Bangor (Maine) Public Library since then. First person narrative of a crew of linemen working out of a tiny New York town. Great in that it's all about the culture of these men from their perspective, and assuming the reader is either one of them of completely familiar with the work, tools, plrinciples, perspectives, etc.

I'll be getting back to the man of La Mancha soon, but this one is hard to put down.

I slowed way down from my usual reading speed this week and am still working on East of Eden, although I should finish today or tomorrow.

My latest review is of The Devil's Company by David Liss, located in my 75-Books Challenge thread's post #177.

As always, Liss uses the backdrop of business skulduggery to bring us his tale of wrongdoing and wrongdoers punished. It's a trope I like in an author!

I have been in a slump, but I think I am over it.

I was reading (actually a re-read) Triplanetary by E.E. 'Doc' Smith for a group read on LT. I love the Lensman series, but this is not my favorite book. I put it down for a while, but have picked it back up.

I am also reading The Histories by Herodotus, non-fiction, history for a 1010 challenge read on LT. I am still in the introductory stuff, but should be reading chapter 1. We are going to do a chapter a month. Its not a bad read, but I pick it up at bedtime, and then fall asleep and make little progress. :0

I also started and actually finished (yeah !) The City of Thieves by David Benioff for a RL book group. It talks about humor, but there was none, even black humor. It was good, but I would call it quietly gruesome.

I have now started Real Murders by Charlaine Harris. It is for a RL book group and the start of her Aurora Teagarden mystery series. It is a cozy and I am not enjoying so far. Don't care for the writing or the main character. But we will see.

This week I'm working through The History of God by Karen Armstrong, which is fascinating. My fiction read for the week is An Academic Question by Barbara Pym. I think it was edited for publication after her death, which may explain the something-off quality of it. Excellent Women it is not.

I'll be finishing The Mammoth Cheese this morning. Then I think I'll treat myself to Let the Great World Spin. I'm so anxious to read this one!

Finished Little Women last night. Will be making another book selection today. Thinking about On what grounds. Tee hee! I love punny-named mysteries :)!

I am still reading Eyes at the Window which is going a little bit slow but mostly because of the vast amount of characters in the book. It is definitely one of those books that could use a cheat sheet! It is good so far though and I am enjoying it.

This week I started reading Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts. I think I will read one essay every week. I am also reading The God of Small Things. So far I really like it.

This morning I read Matigari by the Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, which was very good, and I reviewed it this afternoon.

I hope to finish Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives by Brian Dillon, which discusses the history of hypochondria through nine famous individuals, including Charlotte Brontë, Charles Darwin, Florence Nightingale, and Glenn Gould. It was shortlisted for the inaugural Wellcome Trust Book Prize last year, which is a UK prize that "celebrates the best of medicine in literature." I plan to read all of the books on the 2009 shortlist this year, which included Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, which was one of my favorite novels that I read last year.

I'm also reading The Word Book, a collection of short stories by the Japanese writer Kanai Mieko, which I'm planning to review for issue 4 of Belletrista.

After these books, which I should finish this weekend, I'll read Small Island by Andrea Levy, for the Orange January read. Throughout the next couple of months I'll also read The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni, which is a comprehensive collection of her work from 1968 to 1998.

Just started The Birthing House by Christopher Ransom. Its not that scary or original, but entertaining nevertheless!

I am still reading Lights Out Liverpool by Maureen Lee and I am starting The Year Of Fog by Michelle Richmond.

I am reading Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie and Tea Time for the Traditionally Built by Alexander McCall Smith.

I'm about 30 pages into A Confederacy of Dunces and I'm not sure I like it at all.

Continuing "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White & will continue reading it in sections for a 6-session discussion/lecture class that begins Weds Jan 13.
Two additional book discussion groups/classes begin this week: "Literature of the Holocaust" and "Texas Books". Once I find the books for those classes ("The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak and "The Good Old Boys" by Elmer Kelton). I'll be reading them in tandem with "Once and Future King"...should be an interesting challenge.

Finished the ER Back on Murder and will now attempt to write a review. I actually liked it.

Later I will start Star Trek Foster, the book version of the last movie.

i also love murakami and have read most of his books.dance dance dance will be next i think

this weekend i read the book thief which left me teary eyed and then i picked up a TC Boylecollection of short stories which so far have left me fairly underwhelmed.

chrine stick with a confedaracy of dunces it gets going as you get into it!!

p

I'm reading Medieval People at the moment, but I might back-burner it when I can pick another book to drool my lunch focus on.

#37
Thanks for the words of support Pammie!

Reading The Three Musketeers. I read it many years ago, and I loved it, but it's been so long I thought another reading was in order.

I am now also reading Children with Tourette Syndrome: A Parent's Guide along with Eyes at the Window. The psychologist believes that our youngest most likely has this and I thought it would be helpful to get some more information on the syndrome.

Finished and reviewed (sort of) One Hundred Years of Solitude, which was amazing, and now reading Aurian, first book in a fantasy series by Maggie Furey.

I just finished The Lost Symbol and had started A Complicated Kindness last December so I suppose I will return to that, but I just don't know what to pick next. So many good books to choose from! I am trying to stick to my TBR shelves unless something else really strikes my fancy but even so, that doesn't narrow it down so much that my next read becomes obvious.

I have put aside (more like tossed across my room in a fit of boredom), The Birthing House. After looking at books online for 30 min and finding so many that I want to read, I figure I shouldn't waste time on a mediocre book.

I am now starting The Book Thief which I have only heard good things about.

It's been a slow month for me reading-wise so far, but my wife and I are going to start a joint-read of Heart of Darkness tonight or tomorrow. It's one of my very favorite works, but my wife hasn't read it since high school, when she got very little out of it, she says. So it will be fun reading it together to see how she likes it now. I've probably read the novella 15 times. Maybe more.

Finished Native Son. I really do not know what to say about this book. It is a book that I will keep for a reread some time in the future. Will have to read something on the light side now.

Finished and reviewed Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Excellent!

Tonight I will start Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh.

I'm almost finished with The Tenderness of Wolves and I hate for it to end. I absolutely love it. Next up, probably, will be Let the Great World Spin along with Wild Dogs and Coventry which were recommended and I found at the library yesterday.

This morning, along with a few hundred others, I went to a book signing/reading/Q&A with Craig Ferguson, so I have his memoir, American on Purpose waiting as well. He seems to be such a truly warm and generous man and I'm looking forward to his book.

Finished and reviewed Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim and The Salt Smugglers by Gerard de Nerval. The first was a delightful book and the latter is at present, at the top of my currently short list for best books in 2010.

I wanted to start Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, but White Nights by Ann Cleeves keeps staring at me from the table. I suspect I will succumb to the mesmerizing gleam of White Nights later tonight.

I loved White Nights. It is such an enjoyable series!

Reading For Whom the Bell Tolls. It's been on my TBR pile for years. Don't know why I've left it for so long.

I'm reading Cuentos Completos (the collected short stories) of Roberto Arlt, an Argentine author from the early part of the 20th Century. I'm also reading The Azathoth Cycle, one of those Chaosium Cthulhu Mythos collections.

Cindy- I wasn't sure how you were feeling about Native Son but then I saw your 5 star rating. Whew, that was close! It's a deep read and is worth much afterthought!

#50: coppers - I loved Raven Black which Richard pointed me to, and once I read it, I've been on the look out for the others in the Shetland Island series. I've also got Red Bones on my TBR.

Just began Still Life by Louise Penny and I'm looking forward to it. Lots of LTers seem to have enjoyed it.

>46 cindysprocket: I'm not at all a fan of Richard Wright. (My feelings about him are similar to James Baldwin's criticism, that Native Son was too pedantic.) One of his novels that I really think you should take a look at, though, is Lawd Today!, which has more of the "modernist" feel to it, reminding me of Ellison's Invisible Man in its style.

I finished reading Fruits Basket volume 5 today, and I'm almost done with Any Given Doomsday. I've been busy doing Bloggiesta work this weekend, so I've not been reading quite so much.

I just finished Real Murders by Charlaine Harris. It is a cozy and the first book in the Aurora Teagarden series. I read it for a RL book group. I didn't care for it at the start, but it grew on me by the end. Still rather light.

I am now starting Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman, for a RL book group.

I finished The Poisonwood Bible yesterday and have started L.P. Hartley's The Hireling.

I finished The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. I'm now reading Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barbery, author of The Elegance of the Hedgehog. Her description of a fresh tomato has me craving that first native tomato of the summer and the windchill factor right is below zero this morning. It's going to be a long unrequited craving.

#49, cameling I'm delighted to hear The Salt Smugglers is so good and may have to move it up on those toppling TBR piles.

I just finished the very short but fascinating In Search of a Lost Ladino by Marcel Cohen, highly recommended by wandering_star.

Still reading The Historian.

I finally finished The Canterbury Tales, which was kind of a laborious read, but very insightful and thoughtful about medieval times and circumstances. I could just recommend it, it's even worth the gothrough in middle english.

After all still into Soll und Haben and Mecklenburgs Volkssagen.
I'll probably begin this week with Weiberroman by Matthias Politycki and go further in The History of the English Language as preparation for the exam.

Reading simultaneously in hardcover A Separate Country of which my dog chewed the bottom corners to smithereens and was a Christmas present too! and The Wrecker also a Christmas present and thankfully non-chewed.

#59 aktakukac- I loved The Hireling and have Hartley's The Go-Between in my 1010 Challenge this year. If you can find it, there is a really good old movie version of The Hireling starring Robert Shaw and Sarah Miles.

I finished A Bend in the River this morning. This book has caused me to once again reflect on the drawbacks of reading beyond your understanding when you are young, are a great reader and aren't getting a tremendous amount of guidance. I started this book many years ago and just couldn't get into it. Many years and life experiences later this book was really good. I want to thank the 1000 Novels project for giving me the opportunity to discover and rediscover the many wonderful novels I read this year. Here's to a great 2010. This week I am reading Vathek.

>#66 libraryrobin - nice to see somebody reading V.S. Naipaul. If you enjoyed A Bend in the River then you'll love A House for Mr. Biswas, arguably Naipaul's best book. Patrick French's biography, The World Is What It Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul was one of my "best read books" of 2008. I became a big fan of Naipaul's books while in college.

>66 libraryrobin: Vathek?!? Lawsy me, you're brave.

cameling, somewhere above you said you're starting White Nights--enjoy!

Time Travelers Are Schizophrenic is currently exerting a strange fascination upon me. What an imagination this author has. I like this book so far, but can't review it yet...no second read done. Still...unless something completely falls apart...I'd say look into this one.

Another reminder for anyone interested in joining us for a Group Read of World Without End by Ken Follett, we kick-off this Friday, the 15th. Here is the General Thread: http://www.librarything.com/topic/81163

#60: I may be in the minority, but I enjoyed Muriel Barbery's Gourmet Rhapsody much more than I did Elegance of the Hedgehog. I liked that the overlapping of the two books was fairly subtle and that you don't have to read one to enjoy the other.

#59, aktakukac and #65 mstrust, I have but haven't read The Hireling but The Go-Between was one of my favorite reads a few years ago. There is also a movie of it, with Julie Christie and Alan Bates, but Netflix only tells me "coming soon" . . .

I finished Nebra before going to bed, and will start Microserfs in the train tomorrow morning...

Mark- I know what you mean. I am still thinking about it.

#71 rebeccanyc- Don't hold your breath. I've had it in my queue for about two years waiting for it to be released.

#74, Me too, but before that they had whatever they say when they've never heard of it! I think it's only going to be available to view on your computer, though, not as a DVD.

Deleted by Cindysprocket

I finished Persuasion on Friday... oh, how I loved it. I started Narrow Dog to Carcassone but I had to ditch it about twenty pages in. I know it's supposed to be funny and brilliant, and I've been on two very lovely narrowboating holidays, but honestly, half of every page was just random gibberish. Was he drunk through the entire writing process? So I started The Snow Tourist by Charlie English instead - appropriate given the weather - and I'm reading Ian Fleming's Thunderball for a bit of excitement on the side. I don't think I've seen the movie, so I'm looking forward to seeing how it unfolds!

I'm beginning Now Face to Face by Karleen Koen.

#77, Elliepotten: I have read your review and noted that you enjoyed the Sally Hawkins version of Persuasion (my favorite Austen on most days; P&P on others).
May I suggest watching the Amanda Root/Ciaran Hines version? I'd loved the book long before I saw the movie and was ready to be mighty critical but could find almost no fault with it. The two leads were marvelous and Sophie Thompson as Mary and Coran Redgrave as Sir Walter were simply wonderful.

I have started volume I of a trilogy called Charles le téméraire by Yves Beauchemin, an author whose previous works I have thoroughly enjoyed. So far, so good. Very engrossing and descriptive of characters, though quite sad already.

Finished Star Trek Foster, the movie novel and it was very true to the movie as is not usually the case. Having seen the movie first - and even though it was last summer - I could still visualize it as I read the book.

Finally finished Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I was underwhelmed by it and I think it will be my last Marquez. I didn't hate it but I also don't really understand the passion it provokes in a lot of people.

On to Love in Tennessee by John Bowers, which I received through the ER program. I'm really looking forward to it!

I am starting Madapple by Christina Meldrum. There seems to be a wide cross section of opinions about it, so I look forward to reading it.

Today I finished East of Eden and got nearly 3/4 of the way through Lauren Baratz-Logsted's Crazy Beautiful. Interestingly enough, both are retellings/reworkings/reimaginings of much earlier stories: East of Eden of Cain and Abel, and other parts of Genesis, and Crazy Beautiful of Beauty and the Beast.

I just finished Kiss of Midnight, the first book in the Midnight Breed series and now I'm starting Bad Faith by Gillian Philip. I'm picking up Kiss of Crimson, the next book in the Midnight Breed series at the library tomorrow.

> #66 libraryrobin Thats coincidence: My boyfriend also finished A Bend in the River yesterday (evening) and he was very impressed by it. So it's still on my TBR but maybe I will read it in the near future...

Have finished reading all 3 of the books I mentioned on Saturday, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase this morning. Am now reading a crime novel, Jim Kelly's The Moon Tunnel.

#87, Oh The Wolves of Willoughby Chase brings back memories!

#34 chrine - I read A Confederacy of Dunces and just absolutely didn't get it. My attitude now towards books is to abandon them if they don't hold my interest, but I slogged through that one.

I'm just starting Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell. I have a lovely old copy from my husband's grandmother, from the 1920s. It's my choice for my bookclub and we'll meet to discuss it in February.

>88 rebeccanyc:,89, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase was an absolute favorite when I was young. I can't wait to read it to my girls. elkiedee, was it as good as you remembered?

>24 FicusFan:, FicusFan, I also recently finished City of Thieves for a RL book club. I did find it funny... and gruesome. Hope you break out of your slump with a read you really love. Soon!

>66 libraryrobin:, 67, 86, I've had A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul on my pile for a long time. I look forward to it after reading your comments.

To all you Murakami fans, which would be the best book for the uninitiated?

>90 AMQS:

Try Norwegian Wood its a good read or the elelphant vanishes
i have throughly enjoyed all of his stuff that l have read - some of it can be a little surreal in parts but his knack for story telling is incredible.

p

>90 AMQS: Here's a (very) short story that I give people who aren't sure whether they want to try him :

http://graphics.cs.cmu.edu/people/efros/personal/murakami.txt

makes you want to go home and cook pasta for dinner!!

>93 pammie1320: gah don't remind me about food! I'm really hungry and I shall probably cook myself some pasta in a little while as it happens

Anyways last night I read The Marsh King's Daughter since I wanted to take it back to the library this morning I thought I'd better read it. Another great book from Chadwick
I just finished reading Dingo which was my first Charles de Lint read and I rather enjoyed it and I may have to look for more of his books to read.

Well.....finished up The Woodlanders by Thomas Hardy. His books are such a pleasure to read! I am now reading Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig for an LT Group read, and I am listening to The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III.

>91 pammie1320:, 92, thank you! Now I'm intrigued.

I have to say that I consider Confederacy of Dunces the single funniest book I've ever read, with Don Quixote a close second and Portnoy's Complaint an honorable mention. I was living in New Orleans when I read Confederacy, and I can tell you that Toole got the voice and sensibilities of the segment of New Orleans culture he was writing about dead on perfect, with, of course, a touch of caricature thrown in. It's a "to each his/her own" question, of course. Just one man's two cents plain.

My wife and I finally started our joint read of Heart of Darkness last night. For me it's a revisit to a beloved (if troubled) old friend. My wife, as I mentioned above, hadn't read the work since high school, and at the time she didn't appreciate it much. Happily, after reading the first 20 pages or so last night, she was enthralled by the language and imagery, so I won't have to grit my teeth through our conversations about it all.

In order to keep from leaping too far ahead of her in the Conrad reading, I've also begun reading Legend: the Story of Poco. This is a history of the 70s rock band, Poco, a favorite of my friends' and mine in high school days. The first chapter is rather shoddily written, I'm afraid, but I'm it seems that quite a bit of research went into the book, which was written by a passionate fan of the band, so I'm hoping at least to gain some new information about this old musical favorite.

I started Weiberroman today which seems to be an unexpected light read. It's sat in the 70's of parted Germany and is a coming-of-age story, as it now seems. For it is just a fragmentary writing, it reads quite well.

I finished American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. I am still reading The Picture of Dorian Gray and I hope to start You did it for Me: Friendship and Kindness by Robert Hug, that book is a kids book that I won through the member giveaway. After that I hope to read the 2nd book in Sookie Stackhouse books.

My mother went to the storage unit the other day, and came home with several huge bags containing some of our books (and not just mine). Among these was Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth, which has displaced Medieval People as my primary reading.

Just got Snakes and Ladders Glimpses of Modern India from the library. I've read a couple of books, White Tiger and Begums, Thugs, and White Mughals, and was interested in some more.

Finished the craptastic Any Given Doomsday. After the last 50 pages of the book, I feel like I need a long, hot shower to wash all the ick off.

I picked up Ranma 1/2 volume 1 and started reading it yesterday, and I think I'll read Islands Apart for my ARC challenge next.

I just read your review of Any Given Doomsday, koolaidmom, and your opinion of it was about the same as mine. Craptastic is as good a word as any to describe it.

I'm reading An Irish Country Girl. I love these Irish Country books. They're such a lovely escape.

I'm reading Europe's Physicianby Hugh Trevor-Roper, received from inter-library loan, so I have to set aside Shelby Foote's Civil War for a bit.

I have SO. Much. To. Read. I've just finished a very fun book Blue Diablo and a romance too stupid to even mention but now my stack of More Serious is begging to be read. Oh this year I've also finished Scepters by L.E. Modesitt that was a fun trilogy. How do you motivate yourself to read more serious stuff that you know you'll like if you just concentrate? {{grins}} I need more time!

I started the last of the Murder Most books - Murder Most Divine. I am going to the library tonight for a meeting and thought I might take a couple of books out. Starting a book of short stories seemed the thing so I wouldn't be in the middle of a story when I got the library books home.

I finished Murder with Peacocks, the first of Donna Andrews' Meg Langslow mysteries. Great fun and a nice break from our Pennsylvania winter. Although it was pretty easy to tell who the bad guys were, Andrews put some thought into character development so it was an all-round interesting story. I'll be looking for other Langslow mysteries.

Then I picked up East of the Sun by Julia Gregson. Looks promising, but I'm only 30 pages in. I've been teased thusly before.

>108 jbleil: Oh goody good! I love hearing others joining the Langslowian fans!

Isn't it about time someone made a TV series out of this wonderful menagerie of characters?

Reading The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton and finding it incredibly wonderful!

Anne- As far as Murakami goes, I'd start with Kafka on the Shore. It was my first and it sold me!
Kristenn- Thanks for the short story! Interesting stuff!

How about adding a Caerphilly trip after the Saskatoony one, richard?

I've finished reading White Nights by Ann Cleeves and just loved it.

Am on Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni now, which is starting out very promisingly. I've enjoyed some of her other books, such as Mistress of Spice (which was made into a movie), Arranged Marriages : Stories, and Sister of My Heart. Some touchstones not working ... oh well.

I echo Mark on Murakami. I actually got started with a stage production of stories from After the Quake, but Kafka on the Shore was the first I read, and I was immediately hooked.

Anne - what msf59 said, but The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is also completely wonderful.

Started Up Country and am speeding through it, chuckling all the way. Brenner is so amusing, but if he was in my life I would have to thump him on the head frequently.

>112 cameling: I'm game, except it's fictional...have you been consorting with Jasper Fforde?! Wait...OMG...cameling IS Thursday Next, it all makes sense now, see, she's always away, like on business trips, and you know how "cameling" always posts from Internet cafes is Uzbekistan and Vanuatu and stuff, that's actually when she's BEING THURSDAY NEXT!!

Wow. Wonder if her husband knows.

>115 richardderus: Thank God for Richard; mystery solved;-)

I am reading the blind assassin at the moment. Atwood's florid style is captivating,however at the moment I am finding the complexity of the plot quite difficult to decipher and understand adequately.

I loved Kafka on the Shore. I have a whole wonderful story about reading Murakami in coffee shops but no time to write a short version for all of you tonight.

I'm back from my Christmas break and have piles of work at work. Almost makes me think that perhaps vacations aren't a good thing.

I finished reading D-Day by Antony Beevor and think this book will be THE work on D-Day for a long time to come. It will also be one of the more controversial works on the Normandy Invasion.

I finished How to Read a French Fry and even cooked up a few of the recipes. My cousins were interested in this book when we had our annual baking day and we spent a great deal of time talking about the science of cooking and reading parts of this book.

I listened to the YA book Rebel Angels while driving home and loved it. This series is a must read for fantasy lovers. I also listened to Secret History of the Pink Carnation and it is a real hoot. I love these books because like the Thursday Next books they are just so much fun with all those references to other classic spy novels. I started listening to The Forgotten Garden in my nice warm cocoon of a car and so far am enjoying it. It only had lukewarm reception by my fellow LT'ers so I wondered if I had made a mistake with this one, but so far it is very good. It reminds me of A.S. Byatt's Possession which was one of my end-of-the-year favorites a couple of years ago.

I am reading the last of the Gemma Doyle Triliogy Sweet Far Thing and can't wait to get home tonight to some hot tea and that book.

#70 NarratorLady: I, too, enjoyed Gourmet Rhapsody more than The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

I'm now reading The Land of Little Rain by Mary Austin. I saw someone reference her as a forerunner to Gretel Ehrlich, one of my favorite authors, so I thought I'd give Austin a try.

Will be starting The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt.
Gave up on Murder on the Eiffel Tower by Claude Izner. I was even beyond the Pearl Rule. Will not even try the new one of theirs.

I am halfway through Stephen King's Under The Dome and don't know if I'm going to finish it. I want to read Alice Munro's Too Much Happiness next.

With a snow day on Friday so I did not have to work ( I work at a school ) I was able to read two books this weekend. I recommend both - Same kind of different as me and Traveling with Pomegranates. Both books made me what to read from start to finish without interruptions.

I finished Sorcery and Cecilia and am zooming through my Early Reviewers book One Amazing Thing. Probably finish it tonight or tomorrow. Then next up will be In the Company of Cheerful Ladies.

I started O, Juliet, Robin Maxwell's new one, today. I'm a little over 100 pages into it, and it is quite good so far.

I finished The Tenderness of Wolves which I just loved.

I was going to start Let the Great World Spin but got sidetracked by Helen Humphrey's Coventry. It's turning out to be a quick read, and wonderful!

I finished Microserfs which I found just meh... and started Blood Music for some SF :D

#89
Karen ~~ I shall slog on through it. The husband says to keep going and he liked the book and he usually doesn't read fiction so I'm interested to read something he liked.

Oddly, I was just thinking about Cranford, having watched The Return to Cranford on PBS Masterpiece Classic.

#97
Jerry ~~ I'm not getting what's funny about it so far. I keep asking the husband to explain why it's funny. He doesn't seem to be doing a very good job of it. It's interesting what you said about it because one of the things I don't like is that it doesn't seem at all realistic to me.

Still working on Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. Going on a road trip this weekend so I hope to have lots of time to read. This book as been my favorite of the 3 so far. Can't wait to see how all the stories meet back together.

Finished The Picture of Dorian Gray last night and started You Did it for Me: Friendship and Kindness by Robert Hug. I will finish that book soon. Then I will start reading Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris.

I have started the fascinating and dense Conversation in the Cathedral by Mario Vargas Llosa.

Went to the library last night and picked up Wind in the Willows, Cat Who Came in from the Cold and Breath Winton - all to aid in my 1010 challenge - and then there's Murder Most Divine Greenberg that I started before I went to the library.

Finished the first book in the "Orcs" omnibus, Bodyguard of Lightning by Stan Nicholls. Was well written but couldn't get into or feel for the characters. All they did was go from one battle to the next. There were hints of some sort of change or them making other choices but that never happened. Well I will see what happens in the next book (after all it is part of a trilogy). But for now I'm going with an old science fiction book It Was The Day of The Robot by Frank Bellknap Long that has been lurking on my shelf for a while.

#131 rebeccanyc I'll be interested to hear what you think of Conversation in the Cathedral. It's on my TBR list for this year.

I've been working on an old National Geographic book called The Age of Chivalry. Last night, I picked up The Mosaic Crimes by Giulio Leoni. It's a mystery with Dante as the detective and I'm reading the translation. So far, so good and it reminds me that I've never read The Inferno. I'm also listening to The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

I've really slacked off posting in these threads as of late, but I HAD to drop in and RAVE over The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing (Volume I) by M. T. Anderson. Not quite done with it, but it's been nothing short of brilliant.

Additionally, I'm fairly sure the marketing of this book is nothing short of criminal. :) It's promoted as YA, but there's NOTHING YA about it - the challenging prose alone disqualifies it, and there's nothing in the writing/story that wouldn't appeal to even the most discerning adult reader. It's just a huge disservice to Anderson, imho.

Easily one of the best things I've ever read. Can't wait to rip into Volume II.

Oh, and someone earily in the thread mentioned digging into Swann's Way. Do yourself a favor, and don't tackle Proust without a readers guide. I've had my eye on Patrick Alexander's recent book if I ever read Proust again (and maybe even if I don't). To me, Swann's Way is the one piece of the whole that doesn't really fit the whole, which is kind of nutty, considering that's the only portion most folks read. But then, maybe a reader's guide would have shed enough light on it that I would have approached it differently...

You seem to be a teacher. Are you using LibraryThing as a teaching tool at all? I'm looking for the creative things teachers are doing with LT.

#137 - Me? Not sure who you were replying to...

Nope, just a reader and (admittedly) a teacher wannabe. Back in the day when I considered a career change, the state of Indiana wanted to pretend I didn't already have a degree (B.S. Marketing) and get an entirely new one (basically). Now, a number of states have like teacher boot-camps if you're willing to teach in the inner city, but with kids, a mortgage, etc...that's no longer in the cards.

Plus, I probably would have eventually killed one of the little shits, so it's all for the best. :)

#136 I loved Octavian Nothing, too, and I agree with you about the marketing. As I read it, I was trying to figure out if it would have appealed to me at the age of eleven or twelve. I'm not sure.

I finished The Garden of Last Days, which was brilliant (caution: graphic sex). I am starting to listen to Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy and continue reading Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig.

#128> chrine, Confederacy of Dunces is certainly dark humor, and I suppose you have to have a taste for that. But, simply put, Reilly's dialogue, the things he says and thinks and the way he says them and thinks them, cracked me up. I could hear his voice, because I knew people in New Orleans who thought and talked like that. His mother, too. Neither your husband, nor I, nor anybody else will be able to tell you why the book is funny if it just doesn't tickle your funny bone. Such is life.

As to what makes it "realistic," as I said, the characters' voices rang true to me. As I mentioned above, I was living in New Orleans at the time I first read Confederacy. I knew people like that, or almost like that. The book is satire, the character's are drawn with broad strokes, no doubt. That is what satire frequently does. You present people as they are, but then you push their thoughts and behavior just over the line of reality, exaggerating their characteristics to the point that they're out-sized, just a bit larger (or more warped) than life. If done poorly, you get a worthless hash. If done with a deft, knowing and loving touch, you get something very funny that also shows you the world in a way you might not have considered it before. Confederacy of Dunces did that for me.

That's the best I can do, I'm afraid. I consistently laughed out loud while reading the book. And also I felt that I was seeing a particular aspect of New Orleans life with a fine, if purposefully warped, precision. But obviously, there's no right or wrong to it. Either you think it's funny or you don't. Not everybody thinks the Marx Brothers are funny, either. I've never understood that, but I've learned to accept living in a universe where such is the case.

Cheers!
Jerry

>128 chrine: Maybe it's just not your cup of tea, and there is nothing on earth to "fix" that. Some writers just don't "fit" with a particular person, and fiction not being one of your loves, perhaps it will take a completely different style to beguile you.

>136 mikeepatrick: WOW what a rave! I've added the book to my wishlist with immediate effect and am even considering a trip to the liberry just to get it.

>141 rocketjk: Puzzling, isn't it. Some don't laugh at, "FIVE DOLLARS?! I wouldn't pay that if I were you."

Cool, Richard! Octavian Nothing won the National Book Award in YA in 2006, so I'm not steering you wrong. And, again, there's nothing 'Y' about it...

#142>

Do you like Kipling?

I don't know. I've never kippled.

-
-
-

May I join you?

Why, am I coming apart?

*wipes laugh-tears from eyes*

And the Fifties version, during the Ulysses pornography trial:

Do you like pornography, Mr. Rosset?

I don't know, I don't have a pornograph.

Still makes me howl.

#67-SeanLong,

You might want to check out Paul Theroux's Sir Vidia's Shadow.

> 122 I sure would love a snow day, with time for extra reading. They're hard to come by in Chicago - too used to it.

Trouble is, we need enough snow to shut down the entire metro area, which doesn't happen often.

#141
Jerry ~~ Thanks for your additional input on the book. I have never been to New Orleans nor do I know much about it so I'm sure that affects my reading of ACOD. I also have an odd sense of humor, not finding fun the things that most people do. I am looking forward to reading the reviews for it here when I'm done and seeing different people's takes on the book. The other woman who was reading it with me gave up, calling it "a bad SNL skit".

#142
Richard ~~ I suspect you're right about it not being my cup of tea. But I am reading through the Pulitzers and it is the husband who doesn't read much fiction so I'm interested in experiencing some of the fiction he does like. I read mostly fiction to the point where I need to read more non-fiction. I am 1/4 of the way through it and it is not a hard read. I'll be starting a second book tonight or tomorrow as it is due back at the library soon.

I really enjoyed my reread of The Wolves of Willoughby Chase and had to climb to get down my copy of Black Hearts in Battersea this morning to start rereading soon.

I'm still reading The Moon Tunnel but was prompted by a TV programme called Dear Diary last night to also pick up The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 3/4. Am also reading Dream Babies which is about the history of parenting books - I started reading it last year and it was fascinating but I put it down after 40 pages and I've decided it's worth starting again from the beginning because I am so interested.

I also like Chitra Banerjeee Divakaruni's work so will be interested to hear about The Palace of Illusion.

Or even The Palace of Illusions - have also mistyped the author's name.

Just finished the fabulous Burning Secrets by Stefan Zweig! I am starting The Magnetist's Fifth Winter by Per Olov Enquist as part of an LT group read in the Reading Globally group. I continue listening to Far From the Madding Crowd.

Thanks for all of the Murakami recommendations! More for the wishlist...

Today I breathlessly, feverishly finished Fingersmith by Sarah Waters. Wow, what a book! Next read will be Loving Frank by Nancy Horan for a book club.

I finished Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith. It is an excellent crime thriller. I also wrapped up the audio of Thunderstruck by Erik Larson. It might not be on par with Devil in the White City but his historical prowess is still very sharp. I started listening to Eat Pray Love and I have to admit it's been very good!
Another reminder: Group Read on World Without End, starts Friday! Grab your socks and...oh never mind!

child 44 is excellent, as is the sequel, The Secret Speech. Both are very well researched and do a great job of capturing the lunacy of life in Stalin's Russia. I'm currently reading The Girl Who Played with Fire, the sequel to {The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. If anything, the sequel seems even better than the first book.

Tonight I read Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman.

I loved it, and I regret that it is a library copy because I'd like to keep it forever. I believe this book reinforces what I've always told my friends: I can't marry someone who doesn't love reading. They may think I'm crazy, but that proves my point. If they think I'm crazy, its because they don't understand. And if they don't understand, its because they don't love reading.. which proves, we are not meant to be.

I especially enjoyed the essay on plagiarism and the merging of their libraries. I don't know if I could ever cave to throwing out my copies of books because my husband has one, that must be true love.

Just finished Blood Music and on my way home I will start on Het ei van Salaì by Monaldi & Sorti.

I finished A. Manette Ansay's Good Things I Wish You -- a novel taking on that old question -- Can men and women just be friends? -- through the relationship of its fictional characters and the lives of historical characters Clara Schumann and Joannes Brahms. Ansay studied piano until forced by disability to give it up -- read her memoir Limbo -- and the Schumann/Brahms story is an old fascination of hers. The photographs are wonderful and I liked her selection of quotations from letters and diaries. The relationship between the two fictional characters is a bit too much at times, but also, I think, realistic in that hit-and-miss, quirky way of relationships between recently-returned-to-the-dating-scene middle-agers. Despite some reservations, I must say I enjoyed this latest addition to the Ansay shelf. As always, there is the gift of the author's graceful prose as she weaves her compelling tale of four complex and intriguing personalities.

Next up: Sue Grafton's U is for Undertow.

Yup, happy birthday to Murakami - another fan here!

Right now I've stepped back from my Books on the Shelf challenge to read a two-month old ER book The Wilding and I'm enjoying it very much. In fact, it probably belongs in the challenge but I'll let that slide. I love historical novels though the period setting for this one (just after the civil war) isn't one of my favourites. However, the period is less important by far than the characters and the story itself and I find myself caring quite a lot about these.

Barlow- Yes, I will be looking for The Secret Speech. I like the way the author wrapped up Child 44 and set it up for a sequel. Glad you are enjoying The Girl Who Played with Fire, I have that perched on the pile!

>158 dancingstarfish:: WEll, I married a virtual non-reader and love conquers all. Thirty-eight years and a gradual process later, my husband always has a book or a magazine at the ready. He reads before falling asleep and during commercials while watching television. He is still hooked on television, as he was when we wed, but now asks for book recommendations and loves history and mysteries and especially books on golf. I'm just sayin'.... (wait for it)..... don't judge a book by its cover!

Read Wind in the Willows. Is this a children's book to be read by children or to have it read to them?

#164 Depends on the age of the children. I remember reading and enjoying it at about 8-ish. The story is suitable for all ages but it is quite wordy so it's really down to the reading abilities of the child concerned.

Just finished (The Way I Found Her) by ((Rose Tremain)) - enjoyable book, quite haunting.

Oops, I posted this on an old thread. Finished Once on a Moonless Night today. Didn't like it as much as Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, but it is very well-written (and translated). Started an intriguing YA title, Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin.

>166 sarariches: Square brackets sarariches will get you the highlights.

This morning I started Dante's Inferno. I was supposed to read it during Christmas...but I got sidetracked a little.

Finished and reviewed the extraordinarily good Beasts of No Nation in my Homeless Reviews thread. Please, Adichie readers, please seek this book out!

oy.. I am so behind in my reading. Usually there is no reading schedule, just reading. But I'm volunteering at the public library with both a tween and teen book club, and a co-worker started a Jane Austen Book Club at the office. So over the next two weeks I have 3 book club meetings.
Currently reading: Howl's Moving Castle for book club number teen. read The Wednesday Wars for book club tween. Thought it was a book for kids that adults like and kids don't. I thought it was very ehh.. read Pride and Prejudice for book club at work. Plus taking a reader's advisory class for work with assignments to read The Viscount Who Loved Me and Ice Station.

#163-jbleil,

Good work.

Can I make two history recommendations?

1. The Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes
2. Son of the Morning Star by Evan S. Connell

They should both be available used.

For golf:

P.G. Wodehouse has some great, and funny, short stories that work well for commercial breaks.

Temple of the Winds by Terry Goodkind and I just scored a copy of Root and Branch as part of the early reviewers. I'm really looking forward to it.

#172 - My *only* reservation toward Atomic Bomb is that Rhodes goes waaaay into the physics and the personalities behind the physics. That's not a bad thing, mind you, but readers need to go into it knowing that 'Manhattan Project' is nowhere to be found for the first half of the book. I know that most history is written in a linear fashion, and this book is no exception, but I almost think it would have benefitted from a more creative structure, like the 40s mixed with flashbacks to the pre-40s...

...or maybe I've been reading too much fiction. :)

And Rhodes is perfectly free to ignore my advice. The book only won, what, the Pulitzer or something?

#174: The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of its Creators, Eyewitnesses and Historians, edited by Cynthia Kelly, does tell the story and history of the atomic bomb, using speeches, letters and oral histories It includes a forward by Rhodes as well as excerpts from his book. It's pretty engrossing stuff. I've reviewed it at http://www.librarything.com/topic/78888 (Message #3) if you're interested.

Started Hard Rain Falling by Don Carpenter on the way home this evening. Pretty damn riveting from the get-go so that's yet another in a seemingly never-ending list of winners from NYRB Classics. Would now love it if they'd reissue some of his other novels out of the bowels of obscurity.

#171: I completely agree with you about The Wednesday Wars - I am loving it, but I doubt that many kids would like it. I've found that a lot actually - especially with Newbery books. Could it be that the humor is over their head?

I also just finished The Help (which I LOVED) and am reading Frankly, My Dear: Gone with the Wind Revisited (which is pretty good so far).

>177 callen610: callen - Oh The Help - wasn't it wonderful!

I've finally started Let the Great World Spin. So far, so very good!

I've started Blindness by Jose Saramango, but decided that this is something I need time for and reading it in the train doesn't justify this great book, so I also started Dead until Dark by Charlaine Harris for my train rides.

I just finished Het Ei van Salaì and will start De grote wereld on my way home... I am on a Dutch reading streak this week ;)

Found a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the thrift store on Saturday and snatched it up. I started re-reading it again with my 10-yr-old tonight and this girl who hates reading had to be sent to bed, begging for more, after reading a third of the book. Signs of a great book :-)

Finished Already Dead

Started Murder Takes The Cake

Just finished The Azathoth Cycle--sort of junk food for Lovecraft geeks. Did not disappoint. Overall, a nice balance between slavish devotion to and original take on Lovecraftian tropes.

Still reading Arlt's Cuentos Completos.

Last night I made an early start on World without end for the group read and I read the first part and a bit of the second which I'll try to finish tonight.

> ty1997- What did you think of Already Dead? I thought it was excellent and I hope you continue to read the series because the next 2 are great as well!
I started A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore and continuing to listen to Eat, Pray, Love, which has been very good!

I finally finished Forever Peace by Joe Haldeman. It was awkwardly written, tedious and unfocused. Took me forever.

I am now starting A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini for a RL book group.

I've just started Flesh House by Stuart Macbride, having finished Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane yesterday. I usually read a book every 8 -16 days, but I got snowed in for a few days last week so got through Shutter Island in 2 days. Very good book, and being a lover of crosswords, I feel really frustrated that I didn't spot the most glaring clue as to what was going on!!

Just started Blood and Guts in High School - not sure yet whether I'm going to love it or hurl it across the room in furious loathing - what did others think of it?

Since I was going to the library for a meeting, I took back The wind in the Willows, though I still had two books to read from that clutch. Just before I left to go, I checked my email and discovered one from the library saying that a book I had had on hold was in so I still have three library books on my table. This one is a new one Catalyst McCaffrey.

#188 Actually, I just tried a bit more and decided life is too short.

#172-Smiley: Thanks for the recommendations. Not too sure about the atomic bomb book, but Son of the Morning Star seems right up my husband's alley.

Finished The Cat Who Came In From the Cold Masson, a fable about an Asian leopard cat who was the first cat to become domesticated - if they have ever really been domesticated.

Last night I started So Many Enemies, So Little Time, a book about the year the author spent in Krygyzstan, teaching Journalism on a Fullbright exchange. She arrives there just before 9/11. For an non nonfiction reader it's been an easy read and is stimulating me to read more, especially about Afghanistan.

Dilemma: I'm convalescing from minor surgery and am only returning to work February 8th... With 363 books to choose from, should I go for a few short books to lessen the pile or a couple of heftier volumes? Well, after some arm-twisting from my friend Genevieve I've decided to take the plunge with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke - I figure since I have the trade paper edition and it's way too unwieldy for my commute by bus and subway this is probably going to be my only chance to get to it... Really enjoying it so far (even with all the footnotes...)

#177.. but the Newbery Award is an award for children's books. I think it should be a book that kids should enjoy reading. I think they still make books that kids can enjoy and that will stand the test of time. The Newbery shouldn't be all about books for kids that adults like, and kids aren't excited about. I think that defeats the purpose.

>194 kmbooklover: km, I am very hopeful that you will end up a fan. Clarke's beautifully, richly imagined magical England has so much to offer; The Ladies of Grace Adieu, short stories set in the same milieu, is also worth reading at some point.

I hope your surgery is successful at making the issue surgerized go away. Convalesce well!

I am reading the wonderful Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier and have also started The Blue Star by Tony Earley which is the sequel to Jim The Boy, it's excellent. I'm feeling so lucky to have two such good books at the same time!

De grote wereld was a very short book (Book week gift here in Holland) so it is already finished. I think my next one will be Wicked Lovely as a weekend read.

#174-mikeepatrick,

I take your point about Rhodes' build up in the first half of Making of the Atomic Bomb but I think without that easily readable section on the physics before the Manhattan Project the general reader will fail to appreciate the magnitude of the scientific accomplishment. Going into the personalities in experimental physics before the bomb is a painless way to show that the bomb was a colaborative effort streching not only back through time but beyond those individuals working directly on the project. To me Rhodes makes all this as readable as fiction, and just as importantly, he doesn't dumb the science down doing it.

I'm reading A Storm in the Blood by Jon Stephen Fink right now. It is about Latvian radicals in London in 1910, but it isn't doing much for me right now. I'm hoping it will get better.

#44 dancingstarfish...I've just started "The Book Thief", also. (one of two novels for a discussion class "Holocaust Literature").
#89 I own an older copy of "Cranford" (1911...Pocket Library edition) a brief biography of Elizabeth Gaskell is included. I read it some time ago. I've also seen the PBS miniseries "Cranford" and am recording "Return to Cranford" as it airs.
#110 twogerbils Glad you are enjoying "The Age of Innocence". I enjoyed reading it last fall for a book discussion class.
I've finished the first part of "The Once and Future King" ('The Sword in the Stone'), will continue reading OFK after we discuss Sword in the Stone in class.

#115: richardderus - LOL..good one. Actually my in-laws asked my husband some years ago if I was perhaps a CIA spy because I traveled out of the country so often.

Still reading Palace of Illusions and really enjoying it. For anyone who's read or is interested in the Mahabharata, this is an interesting angle to that wonderful Indian saga.

> jbleil- I read Son of the Morning Star quite a few years ago but I remember it being excellent. It gave me a completely different look at Custer and I don't mean positively, either!

I finished The Moon Tunnel this morning and started Last Lullaby by Denise Hamilton. Eve Diamond is a newspaper reporter and this is the third in the series - I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed the first two books.

I started A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore. It's been interesting so far. Darkly humorous!
Once again, the Group Read of World Without End starts tomorrow. Come join us! http://www.librarything.com/topic/81163

I apologize to everyone who has read A Children's Book by A.S. Byatt. I am not going to say anything bad about it. I don't think it was my kind of book, so I didn't fiinish it.

Really enjoying Juliet, Naked by Nick Hornby

>191 jbleil: jbleil

I’m with Smiley and msf59 on this one. Son of the Morning Star is a brilliant. It’s well researched, balanced and compulsively readable. I read it years ago, shortly before visiting Little Bighorn Nat’l Monument and it added a great deal to the visit. It’s a rather mystical place and very moving; I’ve never felt such a spiritual awareness as I did there.

The news from Haiti has sent me back to Tracy Kidder's Mountains Beyond Mountains to read again about the work of Dr. Paul Farmer, who has dedicated so much of his life to trying to improve health care for the people of that nation.

I put aside A Confederacy of Dunces yesterday to start 31 Hours, which is due back at the library next Thursday. I wanted to make sure I finished it so I promised myself I'd start it by this Thursday. So far so good. I think it will be a fast read. I'm through chapter 4 in A Confederacy of Dunce and plan to pick it back up once 31 Hours is done.

Cindy- I truly loved Juliet, Naked! One of my favorite Nick Hornby books!

#209 A Confederacy of Dunces is one of my favourite books. I hope you enjoy it. I found it hilarious. Some people I recommended it to did not, however, get as much out of it as I did.

What's 31 Hours about/like? I haven't come across it.

>206 cindysprocket: cindysprocket

No, there is no one greatest book that everyone can agree was perfect! I thought A Children's Book was amazing and definitely one of my favorite reads from last year, but...

This week I have read Suzy, Led Zeppellin, and Me by Martin Miller and Blacklands by Belinda Bauer, and I have just started The Reader by Bernhard Schlink.

I finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and I am currently reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen.

196:
Thanks Richard for the kind words... So far really enjoying the style (even checked out fantasticfiction.com to see if besides The Ladies of Grace Adieu - which I will be picking up - if Ms Clarke has written anything else)...

:)

I started reading Oryx and Crake a little while ago and it's been rather good so far. I'm intrigued and will be continuing later as I need to do some work right now.

>215 kmbooklover: De rien, de rien

I've just posted my review of the first Inspector Gamache mystery, "Still Life" (what the HECK is with the blinkin' touchstones!?!), in my "Homeless Reviews" thread in Club Read 2010 ... post #5.

No short version, go read the review then the book.

I finished reading Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris. I will be starting Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold hopefully tonight.

I set aside Europe's Physician for assorted mysteries while waiting for my head to clear. Then I found The Hunger Games on my TBR shelves. Between that and the antibiotics I'm perking up.

I've started Gut gegen Nordwind today. It is a romantic story wher the two just communicate via e-mail. Right now it is a light and enjoyable read and I'm sure i will finish it soon.

Still reading Possession : A Romance but I needed a smaller book to take out with me so, partly inspired by that one, I am now also reading Myths of the Norsemen (AKA - The Saga of Asgard) by Roger Lancelyn Green.

I am also about to start Before the Dawn for my current non-fiction book.

When I've finished Possession I will be reading World Without End by Ken Follett for the group read.

(213) What did you think of Blacklands? I bought it this week and have noticed it's second on the new TV bookclub programme which starts on Sunday night.

Reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. A remarkable protagonist, can't put it down! Well..... almost can't.

Mark- Finished Juliet Naked this afternoon. I will have to dig out other Nick Hornby books that I have on my shelves. This was really good.

Started Ill Wind by Rachel Caine- almost 1/4 the way through. Hope to get in some good reading this weekend.

I'm reading Ford County: Stories and it's probably because - OK OK - the only reason I kept reading past the first story is because the first two books of the year that I picked up, I abandoned. So now it's two weeks in and I have only read one book which is sadly behind my average of 1-2 a week. So. Not sure how much longer I'll put myself through it, but I'm more than halfway there so it will probably get the distinction of the first negative review of the year. Oh well!

I started Crime and Punishment today too, because big books are meant to be read in winter. :-)

Edited to correct how many books I read a week - I overestimated.

#211
pgmcc ~ I think I am falling in with the people you recommended it to who did not get as much out of it. But I am reserving judgment until I finish it. 31 Hours is a fast-paced novel about a middle-class white 21 year old boy who decides to commit an act of terrorism. A now defunct book club I was in emailed with Masha Hamilton when we read The Camel Bookmobile so I wanted to read her next book. So far I'm not regretting my decision.

Am now nine hundred pages into The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer. It's a fascinating book, but I've only got up to Operation Sea Lion.

I'm still plugging away at The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy but it's hard work.

For light relief I've been reading the short stories of Saki, some of which have made me laugh out loud; and Quicker Than the Eye by Ray Bradbury. Master story tellers both.

Then there's Mysterious Lancashire by Phil Rickman and Graham Nown. I didn't realise there had been so much going on almost on my doorstep. My wife is a big fan of Rickman's Merrily Watkins novels, and I hope to read them myself, one day. Merrily is at the back of a very long list, however.

#222 - Blacklands was an extremely good thriller, but unlike any other thriller or crime novel I've read. The characters were completely believable and I was gripped from page 1. Would highly recommend it to anyone.

219 Jen - Hope you enjoy the Hunger Games. One of my favorite books of 09. Hope you've also got the sequel, Catching Fire on hand!!

i just finished tokyo year zero i have struggled all week with this book and am glad its done with. going to start child 44 next. i am hoping to enjoy this one more

p

I read Tokyo Year Zero for a RL book group. In fact, I suggested it. :0
It was quite a slog, but strangely interesting, though the format overwhelmed the story. Its the start of a trilogy, and I am considering reading the 2nd one (when it comes out in TP in the US), but I may not, who knows.

I just finished The House at Riverton by Kate Morton on audio, really enjoyed it and the narrator was wonderful. I'm now beginning on audio The Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig.

I agree with rocket that Confederacy of Dunces is by far the funniest book I've ever read. I can never understand why others don't think so too. (But I'm one of those weird people who still literally laughs out loud at Dr. Strangelove.) If it's not funny for you a third in, it's not going to be ever. Oh well.

I have loved everything I've read so far by Murakami. If you are just starting, you might try some of the simpler books, like Norwegian Wood or After Dark. The latter I really liked as it just seemed to give a great snapshot of modern Tokyo.

Just read a very bleak little book about a child in occupied Poland (Once and Then) by ((Morris Gleitzman)) very sad, very moving, and beautifully written.

I have two books to read now.

(Wolf Hall) by ((Hilary Mantel)) which won the Booker prize and which I am reading for my book group.

Then another holocaust novel
(The Kindly Ones)

I cannot get my computer to make touchstones - I have used brackets as instructed - what am I doint wrong? Please can someone help?

237: You need to use the square brackets, they're the buttons right on the left of you P button your keyboard.

I finished reading The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold and started reading The Surgeon By Tess Gerritsen. I love having a long weekend so that I can get some reading done.

236> I read the Morris Gleitzman books just before Christmas and was greatly impressed by them. Judging by the timescale of World War Two, the events in the narrative should take place in 1943, not 1942. A mere quibble, however.

My wife read Wolf Hall along with two or three others on the Booker shortlist and thought it just about the best.

>236 sarariches:, 242: Morris Gleitzman has a third book in the series coming out this year, called 'Now'. I agree they are very good - I read Once to a class of 11 & 12 year olds who also enjoyed it.