What You're Reading the Week of 24 Feb 2007

The Mask of Cthulhu August Derleth I completed and enjoyed Annie Proulx' -Close Range: Brokeback Mountain; then moved on to The Innocent Man : murder and injustice in a small town by John Grisham - another cruel, harsh Wyoming story though a little less poetic in style than Annie's. Frightening and enlightening that this can so easily happen. Then back to yet another tale of arrogance and cruelty, this time in the early 20th century Raj with The Impressionist by Hari Kunzru, half-way through and enjoying it enormously - though I may have to find something gentler for my next book.

Still a big problem with touchstones - it's taken me twenty-two minutes to get these to load and I'm still one short - what's worse, LibraryThing has found it but isn't displaying it :-(

Sounds exciting!

(This referred to a previous number 1, before GreyHead successfully edited it -- all he had was xxx.)

Halfway through listening to Hillinger's California: stories from all 58 counties by Charles Hillinger. Good mix of the historical and scientific, beyond the big cities.

As of 0000H GMT of Feb. 24, 2007, I have just so far completed 5% of the book Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden since this book just arrived from Amazon. I have to finish this book before the movie run ends on Feb 27.

Am almost done with Christine Feehan's "Scarletti Curse" and ready to read "Dark Celebrations". Only have "Dark Hunger" left to read in her Carpathian series and am already having withdrawal pains as I only have a few more hours left to read this amazing series of books.I do so hate to start a new series.

Has anyone read any of the paranormal books by Lori Handeland? I have seen her name listed while looking for a new series to read.

Began A Student of Weather by Elizabeth Hay yesterday. Enchanted by atmosphere, seduced by language, intrigued by character.

The idea of North.

Just getting a good start on Dostoevsky's The Idiot.

Im currently Reading The Dice Man as part of my bookgroup.
I want to read Scar Tissue by Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and its stilling on my shelf.

For UK people: Have you seen the Independent today? They're starting a 'banned books' collection, which looks rather interesting. A Clockwork Orange is free today. Im tempted...

Currently reading The House of Doctor Dee by Peter Ackroyd
Hey hey JakyBF I'm off out to the newsagents to get myself an Independent. Thank you very much!

Back already, clutching my copy of Clockwork Orange and having had a nice conversation with the lady at Spar about Robert Louis Stevenson! He died in Samoa suddenly after making vinaigrette, you know.

I just finished "Stalin's Ocean-going Fleet" and will probably return to Revelation Space.

Last night I started reading a book by a friend. She's in her 80s now but it's about when she was 23 and came to the United States in 1947 as a DP (displaced person) from Austria. She is Jewish. I love her tales of New York, new food, and her appreciation of the freedom to go anywhere and not feel you were in danger. The book is Ten Dollars in my Pocket by Elizabeth Welt Trahan.

I am about halfway through Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen, and am still debating what to read next.

Last week I read The Mislaid Magician by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer, and Peeps by Scott Westerfeld. I also listened to Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs and The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud.

I'm currently listening to Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman, which so far is engaging and funny.

I'm currently reading In Search of the Golden Frog by Marty Crump, which is essentially excerpts from 30 years of field notes of a tropical biologist - mostly natural history of the amphibians she's studying, but also tidbits about other animals, plants, and people she encountered all over Central and South America. It's been slow going - not because of the book or the writing, which is great, but because I have just not been in the mood to curl up with non-fiction - but it's making me want to go back to the tropics something fierce.

I am still reading and enjoying both Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra and Troubles by J. G. Farrell.

#16 fyrefly98 - I loved the audiobook of Anansi Boys! I think Lenny Henry did a great job; I can hear his voice in my head now when I glance through my own copy of the book.

JakyBF: A Clockwork Orange is my fave book. Have you ever read it? Go for it!

Right now I am in the middle of the first Harry Potter. I've read it before but I'm determined to get through the whole set this year in time for the last book being published this summer. They've been sitting on my shelf for years neglected.

I just finished Flyboys by James Bradley. And I am starting Power Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present by Michael Oren. I'm about 100 pages in and am finding it very fascinating! I am an admittedly weak student of history and I believe that this history in particular is important to understand.

framboise: (message 19) I, too, hope to complete a re-read of the first six Harry Potter books before the last one comes out. I finished The Sorcerer's Stone the other day, and have The Chamber of Secrets on hand. The only one I own so far is The Half-Blood Prince.

Currently reading Kate Vaiden by Reynolds Price- - one of my reading goals this year being to become acquainted with his work, as his name keeps coming up in "conversations" with other southern writers particularly Walker Percy and Eudora Welty. I am also about 200 pages into Justice for All:Earl Warren and the Nation He Made, which I will be reading for some time. It's good, but so detailed and densely packed with information that I can only manage about 50 pages a week. Still dipping in and out of Conversations With Eudora Welty, and will probably finish it next week. I'm doing the 50 book challenge, and entering my thoughts on each book on my own thread in that group, in case anyone has a penny they don't know how else to spend.

I picked up 2 library books yesterday on a whim ... All Mortal Flesh, which I finished last night ... and The Uses of Enchantment.

Once those are done it's back to my seemingly enless pile of books that I own and need to read. First up is Rising Tide, which people here have told me is very good.

#14 Ephem ~ Ten Dollars in my Pocket sounds good! Please post your thoughts after you've finished it.

Am presently in the middle of Caesar, a novel by Allan Massie; glad to report that it's getting better as it goes along.

Next up: Let the Emperor Speak, a novel of Augustus Caesar, also by Massie. Then another mystery set in ancient Rome by David Wishart, followed by the biography of Augustus by Anthony Everitt, Tiberius by Massie, and the new novel by Steven Saylor, Roma, all of which I've reserved from the library. After that, I'm sure I'll have had enough of ancient Rome for awhile but have no idea what book my interest will lead me to read then. Perhaps the one mentioned by Ephem in #14 above.

(Edited to correct touchstone/title of Everitt's book.)

just finished dreams from my father by barack obama , it was ok. I did enjoy it, but was expecting more i guess.

Just started Bridget Jones's diary last night. I love, love, love it so far. i left work a little early today so that I can read more...the sign of a great book

>18 xicanti: - Lenny Henry is definitely doing an excellent job on the book - has all of the voices and accents down pat. I'd never heard of him before I started listening - although his wikipedia page says he also did the voice of the shrunken head on the Knight Bus in the third Harry Potter film. Heh.

I have to admit, I'm getting more and more enamored with having someone read books to me... especially stuff with accents. When I'm reading, my brain automatically fills in the voices as unaccented American english - or sometimes with a British accent. For characters that're clearly meant to have another accent, (as in Anansi Boys and The Historian, to pick two from recent memory), it's so much nicer to have a talented voice actor pick up the slack.

Just finished Madame Bovary and am now already half way through Disgrace by Coetzee. It is the first book I have ever read by him and it is great so far -- no B.S. cleverness and philosophical angst like so many modern critically acclaimed writers -- just gripping narrative and good old fashioned straightforward diction and dialogue (with punctuation!)

#21 Oh layton -- beware, beware of Reynolds Price. IMO he is quite possibly the most boring writer on Earth. I thought my eyes were bleeding with pain when I read The Source of Light and The Surface of Earth. Maybe Kate Vaiden will be better; but Lord knows I will never touch another of his books. Drivel.

I finished a wonderful book that I selected through recommendation on LibraryThing - The Conjurer's Bird by Martin Davies.

I am reading now At first sight by Nicholas Sparks, which is not as good (so far) as other books I have read by him. Nonetheless, it's still a quick read, and I hope to start The Banished Children of Eve by Peter Quinn later this week.

Touchstones are not working well - my apologies!

Have a great week!

Just started Shadow Prey by John Sandford now back to the book...

Just started Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman, as well as reading two issues of Mental Floss Magazine. Also finishing Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road since I'm going on a couple of road trips this year. This doesn't technically count as reading, but I'm also thumbing through Billboard's Hottest Hot 100 Hits.

I'm reading Javier Marias Your Face Tomorrow. He has some interesting insights about the nature and patterns of relationships. Just getting started.

I was also pleased to see a rave review in the Wall Street Journal of a new collection of Chekov Short Stories. Having just read The Lady with the Pet Dog I can attest that his stories remain modern and contemporary- amazing!

I wonder if I can leave off with my new laptop long enough to get back into Dead Watch by John Sandford?

I am reading A Salty Piece of Land by Jimmy Buffet. So far, it's pretty good. Very entertaining and fun.

I am now reading Life's Golden Ticket, and ARC (advanced readers copy) due out in May. It's really good so far, and i am about half way through it.

Very comparable to Mitch Albom's book The Five People You Meet in Heaven, good life lessons, is tied in with an amusement park. However, this one has more of a story line to it. i am absolutely LOVING this one.

This has been the history of Florida week for me

Read:
Florida : A Short History by Michael Gannan. It's covers the whole history in 160 picture-filled pages. Having grown up near Miami, I appreciated this line: "If Greater Miami could be described as a collection of municipalities in search of a city, Florida was a collection of cities in search of a state"

Reading:
The Swamp : The Everglades, Florida, and the Politics of Paradise by Michael Grunwald. One of those investigative journalism books with "1,000" interviews, it's a huge undertaking, and (after 120 pages anyway) wonderfully done; a good read even if you aren't all that interested in Florida.

I read The Giver by Lois Lowry today. I'm glad it's over with. Now I'm off to find a story that's upbeat and fluffy.

I just started The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and I'm giving Layover by Lisa Zeidner another go. I catalogued it here the other day and found a bookmark stuck in it about a third of the way in. I can't remember why I stopped reading it...

Just finished In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Here's the review I did in my 50 challenge group.

(WARNING: spoilers are included toward the end)

MAN!! I was a little reluctant to start this book, as it usually takes me awhile to get into non-fiction. Not so here...if I hadn't been working overnight all week and needed to get some sleep, I would have devoured this in one sitting. It's really odd, but as angry as the--crime seems too soft a word--made me, I still felt some pity for Perry while I felt nothing but contempt for Dick. Funny, since he was the one that actually committed the murders. This book was fanf'ingtastic, and I recommend it to everyone. Definitely can't wait to see Capote now, as I heard what his part in this was.

Next up, as of now, is James and the Giant Peach

I have two books on the go, alternating between a Michael Connelly crime thriller The Poet and the non-fiction London in the Nineteenth Century by Jerry White. Both very readable.

I just started Neuromancer by William Gibson a few days ago, which is a loaner from my girlfriend. I'm about halfway through already, and it's predictably interesting and addictive.

That interrupted reading Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon, which will take a long time to read, but which is surprisingly readable. I'm afraid that putting it down for a couple of days will cause me to forget at least a couple of story lines, but that may be unavoidable. The first hundred pages have enough characters and plot lines for five lesser novels. *sigh* I expect I'll be back reading it before the end of the weekend.

I just started Love by Toni Morrison -- I haven't read anything by her in years. So far, so good.

I am still reading The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell, but I took a little break while visiting my sister to read The Three-Martini Playdate by Christie Mellor, which she had sitting on her coffee table. It's a little guide to not letting your children run your life. Fun but forgettable.

Other than Bernard MacLaverty's excellent, Cal, I haven't read much literature that pertains to The Troubles. However, last night I stumbled upon Louise Dean's, This Human Season, and so far it's fantastic.

I am about halfway through Suite Francaise. What a fantastic book! For those unfamiliar, this book was originally intended to be in 5 parts, but only 2 were completed when the author, a jewish woman, died in a concentration camp. Her daughters were able to keep the manuscript and publish it over 60 years later.

The writing is wonderful. The first part takes place in 1940 when the Germans marched on Paris. It tells the stories of several different people who evacuated Paris and what happened to them over the next several months. The characters range from the wealthy & famous to the ordinary. The author, Irene Nemirovsky, is superb at making their personal tragedies feel so realistic.

I'm about to start the next part which takes place in 1942.

Highly recommended ...

Finished reading The tenderness of wolves, which proved engaging. I have some reservations but nevertheless, the book has stayed with me and I may re-visit it. For someone who is agrophobic (I believe), it has a good sense of place. I gained some insight into the Hudson Bay Trading Company, which my education was previously lacking....

Now on to two quick re-reads before a couple of Reading Group meetings. One - The Nightwatch by Sarah Waters and the other a YA title, Crack in the line. The latter is a the first in a trilogy and is a multi-universe book. It builds to an attention demanding crescendo in the third part. After that back to Hellfire and Herring.

There's too much work going on and it's getting in the way of good reading time...

I'm reading In Search of Kings by Tony de Bolfo which is a book about the migrant experience of Italian Australians, specifically all the people who came here on a particular ship in the 1920s. My own grandfather came out here on a ship like this at about the same time, and my sister and dad recommended I read this in order to understand my Italian heritage and what it was like for my Great-Grandparents and grandfather when they first arrived in this country.

Meantime I recently read Maus by Art Spiegelman, just the first installment, and also made a start on The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins at my mum's house over the weekend but she was in the middle of it so I couldn't exactly steal it.

Finished James and the Giant Peach a little while ago, and started The Tooth Fairy.

I'm liking it very much. So far, reminds me a bit of The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, but I could be wrong. :P

Almost finished reading Go by John Clellon Holmes. It's like reading a precursor/companion to On the road - same characters (Kerouac, Cassady, Ginsberg), just different character names.

I continue to poke along with Revelation Space, but have finished To the Ends of Japan. The next non-fiction book will be Sledgehammers.

Reading Baudolino by Umberto Eco and Experience and Nature by John Dewey.

I finished Black and Blue by Anna Quindlen over the weekend, and am about 20pgs into Abundance by Sena Jeter Naslund

I finished Love by Toni Morrison over the weekend. An excellent little novel that does require some careful reading.

I just started A Student of Living Things by Susan Richards Shreve last night. Hasn't quite gripped me yet.

I just finished reading The Great Fire by Shirley Hazzard. Last night I started reading The Secret Life of Bees, and when I finish with that I plan to read The Namesake.

Finished Stillwater by Andrew Rosenheim, a family drama set in Small Town USA enlivened by a murder. Was a good read, but not a keeper.

Now reading The everlasting story of Nory by William Nicholson. This is written from a nine yr old American girl's perspective while at an English school for a term. It's sweet and clever, but has no real story arc.

Next I'm reading Old Filth by Jane Gardam.

I'm reading the YA Sorcery and Cecelia. It's delightful.

Just finished Old Man's War by John Scalzi.

Now reading The Armageddon Rag by George R.R. Martin.

56 beniowa - What did you think of Old Man's War?

I am 105 pages into Special Topics in Calamity Physics and still unsure if I like the continual literary references of if I find them cloying. I think I will stick with it, but I'm worried it might turn into one of those books that you have to throw across the room in frustration when you come to the final pages.

#58, I too was annoyed by a lot in Special Topics in Calamity Physics, but there are differences of opinion about the book here -- let us know what you think when you finish it.

I wasn't irritated at all by the various references in Calamity Physics, one of my favorites from last year of course, but I notice that the more I read of it, the more I was increasingly annoyed by the copious long-winded annotations in Tennessee Williams' Notebooks, and have had to take a break from it after about 200 pages.

I finished Jim Harrison's new novel Returning to Earth the other day and thought it was every bit as good as anything he's ever written, a quietly stunning piece of work deserving of every bit of the praise it's received so far.

Last night I finished Hampton Sides' Ghost Soldiers, a wonderfully written narrative history of the Bataan Death March and the rescue of the march's survivors from a Japanese interment camp, just the very best kind of thrilling real-life story and I could hardly put it down.

Right now I'm about 50 pages into Jane Smiley's new Hollywood sex novel Ten Days in the Hills and don't know how I'm gonna last through 450-pages with this crew, but I'm trying anyway.

I read the first story in the Man of my Dreams anthology, but then started re-reading The Named by Marianne Curley. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed this book and I think I'm actually retaining more about it this time around. I'll have to get back to my anthology when I'm done.

Ooop, I put this on the wrong thread before. I finished Terry Pratchett's The Last Continent. Loved it. Laughed more than any other of his that I've read yet.
How nice, the touchstones weren't working on the other thread, but they loaded right up here.

Reading Earth by David Brin. So far so good.

I finished Elizabeth Costello and this was probably my favourite Coetzee book by far. It was a very thought provoking read, especially the last chapter which dealth with how much a writer should let his beliefs influence his stories and characters

I also loved the part where he poses questions about how a writer should treat a character percieved as good vs a character percieved as a villain - which character should get more attention and more time

I am now reading Wuthering Heights and am really enjoying. This is one of those books I always said I would read but never got around to reading.

I'm still plodding on through The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge; I can't quite manage to become really involved in it. I've contemplated abandoning it, (I'm around 300 pages in), but I haven't read much about the Romans in Britain and I kind of want to see how it all turns out. Plus I have this nagging suspicion that I'll start to miss everyone if I move on to someone else...

I'm also reading an e-book of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, since it's sufficiently discreet for downtimes at work.

Finished my last book and started Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony for some lighter fun reading.

I have finally finished Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson and never managed to be enthralled by it in my three weeks of reading. Too confusing for my taste; I do love deep, complex storylines, but this was too much. The fact that it took me three weeks makes that very clear; I read the last of Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders trilogy, Ship of Destiny, in two days, and it was longer.

With that finished, I can now move back to historical fiction before diving into some of the fantasies recently loaned to me by a friend. I will be reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco next, and I am greatly looking forward to it. For my literature class, I am reading The Odd Women by George Gissing. Hoping it's as good as the other books this class has forced me to read!

Strangely enough, none of my touchstones are working, whereas everyone else's seem to be fine. =(

Still Reading Karen Armstrong analysis The Great Transformation. This looks at the development of the key Chinese, Indian, Greek and Jewish religious/ethical ideas of over a key 400 years some nearly 3000 years ago! Actually interesting to see how these key societies tackled similar problems of social dislocation, loss of beliefs in the old ways, rapid technological change but with different direction of travel even if sharing the same insights. They are important in that they are the bedrock of all subsequent development and reaction. And if they could it then so can we!

But made the mistake of buying Holes by Louis Sachar and putting it up for mooching with a pile of others and then realising it was worth reading as a Mooch came in :-(. Now reading and must finish tonight

I am reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It has been on my TBR list for quite a while now. I haven't read but the first couple of chapters, so far. I have read some discussion about this book in several different groups. It seems that people either loved it or hated it. We'll see.

#44 lindsad: another of Nemirovsky's books has just been re-released: it's called David Golder.

Finished The Swallows of Kabul - disappointing. Nearly finished Echo Park by Michael Connelly -will they find the real killer?? Started Mother's Milk by Edward St. Aubyn - child narrator but intelligently written for adults.

Currently reading Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon and getting mercilessly killed by it. Desperately in need of a literature professor.

#68 ablueidol: Have you read anything else by Karen Armstrong? I have her The History of God and was hoping to talk to someone else who had read it - every time I try to get into it, I seem to be really engrossed in another book! I love the fact that she has a rather academic writing style, but I think it's the kind of thing I would like to be able to discuss with someone when I finish it...which involves coercing someone else to read it!

Got a few going :-

Permanence by Karl Schroeder

Deathstalker Rebellion by Simon R. Green

The Emperor of Dreams by Clark Ashton Smith

Wonder Years by Peter McNamara

amanda, I absolutely loved St. Aubyn's Mother's Milk, an extremely funny little book and one of my favorites from last year too.

I am reading The Master by Colm Toibin for my book club that meets next week. Although I find it interesting, I am having trouble staying interested and I don't know why. I am looking forward to the discussion, though.

I don't think I will finish it this week but if I do I am going to read The Known World by Edward P. Jones unless March by Geraldine Brooks comes in at the library (I've had it reserved for some time, but there are many ahead of me, apparently).

#76 Concetta: the trouble is, the book has no plot, HOWEVER, if you accept that and love beautiful writing the effort will be worth it. The Master was one of my favourites of 2006.

I am currently reading Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. A strange but interesting story of 2 sisters trying to accept who they are. Fun book.

jmleslie1112 (#58): I too am currently reading Special Topics in Calamity Physics (about 175 pages into it), and am still ambiguous in my judgment. I've become immune to the literary references, as I'm intrigued by the story, but I frequently find myself wishing Pessl would trim her style and simply move the story forward at a faster pace. I am trying to persevere, though, as I feel that there is great promise for an enjoyable read. Also, when I read Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections a couple of years ago, I also felt a similar ambiguity, and wound up loving his book in the end.

This week I am continuing with Empires of the Word by Nicholas Ostler. When I can't have a book in my hands, I am listening to a TTC (tag link) lecture by Kenneth W. Harl entitled Rome and the barbarians.

So far this week I have finished looking for spinoza and read Parable of the Sower which I have owned quite a long time but hadn't read yet. I'm still plodding along through Development as Freedom and have started re-reading City of Golden Shadow

I have just finished If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor and am still in a state of shock. What an incredible book. I cannot believe that it's taken me so long to pick up this wonderful book and I cannot recommend it highly enough!

The sturm und drang surrounding Connie Willis's To Say Nothing of the Dog convinced me to check it out of the library for a re-read. ~meh~ BUT...I ran across Inside Job, a novella of Willis's that I'd never heard of before, and ended up thinking was very very good.

Why do obscure touchstones like Inside Job load right up and To Say Nothing of the Dog just hangs fire until the end of time?complaint>

Inside Job is the slight but delightful tale of a channeler whose seminars have recently begun including a spirit entity that's definitely not an invited guest...H.L. Mencken! That coiner of the phrase, "Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public" and the memorable and deeply descriptive "booboisie" and "Boobus Americanus" was also, as one might imagine, immune to the appeal of spiritualism and its many cousins. His acerbic ranting in the midst of this channeler's more usual mild-mannered mouthings cause much consternation.

Except...there is a pair of professional debunkers in the audience, a mild-mannered Average Joe and a movie star-gorgeous woman whose own deep skepticism is fueled by her Hollywood childhood. They own and work for (repsectively) a magazine called The Skeptic and have been tipped off about this seemingly genuine phoney's seemingly real comeuppance.

Hijinks ensue, and the pair follow several trails until, at last discretion comes over me and forbids me to reveal the ending. It's a fun read, it's about 90pp long, and it's something I think anyone who likes stories about skpetics will enjoy.

While I'm having a little trouble moving on from Half of a Yellow Sun, and I've started and set aside at least six different books since, it seems that I'm going to stick with The Gravedigger's Daughter, a forthcoming novel by Joyce Carol Oates and Literary Theory a guide for the Perplexed by Mary Klages. The latter is a well-written, digestible overview of Literary Theory and, while I don't consider myself exactly "perplexed", I do have a lot of gaps which need filling. The Oates novel is being hailed as her masterpiece and most autobiographical, but this is from the marketing people so one has to be more than a bit skeptical (not all touchstones loading, as usual, but three out of five isn't bad).

I tried to read How the Hula Girl Sings by Joe Meno but only got about 30 pages into it when I realized I would not be enjoying it. I started The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini last night and can already tell it is going to be much better. Life is too short to read books you don't like!

Got three really excellent books from the library last night that I've been wanting to read. Though there were a number of almost equally excellent books already waiting for me in the TBR pile, I just couldn't resist starting on the new ones. I am so easily seduced by a new book!

Anyway, I'm almost finished with Grave Surprise by Charlaine Harris, which was good but somewhat predictable (unless the last 3 pages includes a really wild twist). Still, I enjoy her paranormals. Next up: Born in Death by J.D. Robb. More Roarke. Yum. Then A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon. (Touchstones a bit tetchy tonight.)

Began The Earth Shook, the Sky Burned by William Bronson. About the 1906 earthquake in SF. Lots of pictures and good text, but it's an old scrappy paperback.

I finished Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte and am now reading In the heart of the country by J.M. Coetzee. Wuthering Heights was interesting reading - an interesting story if not a little sad - we shall see how this Coetzee book pans out

I'm about halfway through Book Book by Fiona Farrell. Sort of memoir-fiction about a girl growing up in small town New Zealand and how books played a part in her life.

Finished reading Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman last night and started reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

I'm almost 50 pages into Beloved by Toni Morrison and unless it gets better soon, I'll not finish it. I don't care for the style of writing at all. I keep having to reread paragraphs because they aren't making sense.

Reading Mucho Mojo by Joe R. Lansdale and Boy's Life by Robert McCammon. Just finished Gil's All Fright Diner by A. Lee Martinez and completed re-reading the Harry Potter series in prep for final book release.

# 91 morphidae - I read Beloved just a week or so ago, and while I found it very slow-going I really felt that it was worth the time in the end. It's got a lot to say about a very difficult and heartbreaking subject.

I've just started The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

I am now reading Hybrids by Robert J. Sawyer, the third in the series. I have to choose a second book to be reading from my ever growing "to be read" stack.

I hope you stay with Beloved, Morphidae. Morrison's style is rather cryptic; alot of forshadowing. So you feel like you don't understand or you missed something -- but then the pieces fall into place eventually. You just have to go with the flow.

I am over half way thru with A Student of Living Things -- kind of gimmicky like Special Topics in Calamity Physics except it is just not really working for me. Feels forced.

I think I will read From Here to Eternity next by James Jones

GeorgiaDawn (message 94): have you read Calculating God by Sawyer? I've got that on my TBR shelf and was curious ...

If you are looking for Wyoming and injuustice, try {{Fall}} by {Ron Franscell}. It is a true story of the abduction, rape and death of two young Casper, Wyoming sisters. I grew up in Casper and remember when this happened. Reading about it enlightened me on many aspects of the tragedy and the facts behind the players.

Finished Green Darkness by Anya Seton at the beginning of the week and am now almost through But Enough About Me by Jancee Dunn. I've found myself chuckling at many of her amazing stories about celebrity interviews and her day to day life as a journalist in NYC. Very quick and enjoyable read.

Next up is The Secret History...I don't really know what to expect there!

I'm half-way through Richard E Grant's The Wah Wah Diaries, charting the filming of his family's story in the late 1960s, the painful ending of his parents' marriage and his relationship with his father. REG is hilarious and his energy is so beautifully expressed it has been so easy to read.

#71 the clicheherself,
There is currently a book discussion of Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon in the New York Times book discussion section, February, 2007.

Don't know if you'll learn anything from it, but at least you'll know you aren't the only one "mercilessly killed" by it.

Just finished "Best friends" by Martha Moody, which I found really endearing. Two college friends stay close over twenty years, friendship bridging very different lives, trough the 80ies and 90ies.

I'm currently reading The Feast of Love which is interesting, kind of a meandering into other people's lives. Songbook, which is great because I love music and I think Nick Hornby has a great way of voicing simple thoughts in an eloquent way.
Also This Side of Paradise which keeps things balanced with a F. Scott Fitzgerald classic and Land's End, by Michael Cunningham the author of The Hours to put my love of travel in there. So far all of them are good, but very different.

kfl, I just started The Secret History a few days ago! I'm not far enough along to decide what I think of it, though.

I'm reading the Alice Series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor So far I've read 3-5 (all in a week), and I think I've read 1 and 2 in the past, but am planning on re-reading them then continuing with the series..

#96 Kromes, I've read Calculating God and found it interesting and entertaining. Sawyer's writing is accessible, entertaining and usually centered around a specific "big idea." The store's SF group generally liked the book and there was continual discussion about some of the issues it brought up.

After reading Hominids, I didn't bother with Humans and have not kept current. His latest are Mindscan which my husband read and enjoyed (if I remember correctly), and the new one in April is Rollback.

I just finished Between a Rock and a Hard Place by Aron Ralston. It was good. I am about half way through Cross by James Patterson.

#96 - KromesTomes - I posted a message earlier, but it never showed up. I have not read Calculating God. I have enjoyed the Sawyer books I've read and will read more or his books.

#94: How do you like Hybrids? I have never been able to finish a Sawyer book.

Which Sawyer books have you tried, mdbenoit? I've only read the Neanderthal Parallax trilogy, but I thought it was a pretty easy and absorbing read.

Thanks for the input on Calculating God ... I think that'll be next on my list after I finish Roderick Hudson by Henry James ... sloooow touchstones this morning.

I tried Iterations, Mindscan, Frameshift and The Terminal Experiment, and I have Hominids that I haven't started. I just can't get into his style of writing. I'm not saying he's a bad writer, far from it; it's just that when I start reading him, my mind immediately starts to wander.

He's a man I admire very much, he's very approachable. I was once on a panel with him, and it was a lot of fun. I'm proud to say he's a Canadian and that he's successful, with tons of awards to his name.

I am reading Cross Creek by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings for my book club. It is a book that I probably would not have picked up on my own. However, I have read the first few chapters and really like it. Her descriptions of the "Creek" in Florida are really beautiful.

knittingfreak, I've read several of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings books, and Cross Creek's probably my favorite. (The preeminent Maxwell Perkins was Rawlings' editor as well as her literary mentor during her career, and the book Max & Marjorie is a wonderful record of their correspondence during those years too.)

Finished re-reading The Night Watch by Sarah Waters and also Crack in the line. The first re-read very well and who knows, I may yet return to it.

Have now started, during the insomniac hours, My name is red by Orhan Pamuk and am already speculating and feeling I should have a crash course in miniatures.

Looks Good.

>114 lizzier:, lizzier, I really enjoyed My Name is Red for the pace and detail. I hope you love it too!

#108 and #109 - I agree with Zoe; I enjoyed the books very much. It was very easy reading, and I wanted to follow the characters to see what happened to each one. Sometimes I need a fun, easy read.

I'm reading a YA book called Owl In Love by Patrice Kindl. A little slow so far, but interesting anyways.

#103, _Zoe_, keep me posted, I'll probably get to The Secret History tomorrow...I'm a bit intimidated...

Don't be intimidated by The Secret History - it is a very worthy read.

Finished The Wayward Bus, and moved on to Acorna's Rebels

Started The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon last night, and so far it's proving much more accessible (and funny) than I thought possible.

I finished The Singapore Grip, which was good but not as strong as the first two books of J.G. Farrell's Empire trilogy. I felt he relied too much in this last volume on dialogue to explicitly make his points, rather than showing.

I'm home sick today and reading Fire in the Grove about the Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in 1942. My sister lent it to me after I raved to her about Stewart O'Nan's The Circus Fire. I can already say that this book is not nearly as well written. I'm not sure if I'll finish it.

cabegley (message 122): If you want to stick on the "fire" theme, you should check out Young men and fire (touchstone not working) by Norman MacLean ... an excellent book.

Just finished East of Eden by John Steinbeck ... great book!
Now I intend to read Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

I finally finished The Eagle and the Raven by Pauline Gedge; it was really good, but I'm glad I can move along to something else now! That "something else" was a fun YA graphic novel about a little girl who discovers she's got pirate blood, which I finished last night, and The Outstretched Shadow by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory.

I finished "The Historian" by Elizabeth Kostova, yet another book about Dracula, but this one is by a historian. Wordy, over 600 pages, but a good read I thought. And I just finished "Holy Innocents" by Fr. writer Gilbert Adair, the Bertolucci's film "The Dreamers" was based on his book. Another fine read, I thought. And now I have "Baseball's Top Ten, which categorizes the top 10 in so many different categories, this one I'm just perusing. On tap is the NY Times Best 1,000 films.

#123, I second the recommendation of Young Men & Fire (thought touchstone might work with & instead of and) by Norman MacLean.

And #122, I am very much enjoying (and almost finished with) the first book in the J.G. Farrell trilogy, Troubles.

#123, 127, Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through it is one of my absolute favorite books. But, I've shied away from Young Men & Fire because I was told it was boring. Hmmm... two good marks here... OK, another on the TBR...

Thanks, KromesTomes (#123) and rebeccanyc (#127)--I'll check out Young Men & Fire. And I'm glad you're enjoying Troubles, rebecca--I really liked the whole trilogy, even though The Singapore Grip didn't impress me as much as the other two.

I finished Fire in the Grove. This could have been an interesting book in the right hands, but as it turns out it was not terribly well organized or written. I think I learned about as much as I could have in an article about the Cocoanut Grove fire.

Now I'm reading A Month in the Country, by J.L. Carr. So far, a HUGE improvement over Fire in the Grove.

Just finished The Great Transformation by Karen Armstrong. This is an history of religious ideas and practices from the Axial Age (800 BCE to 200 BCE) in Greece, Israel, India and China. I have now decided that had enough brain food so reading Fireworks by Angela Carter and A Jealous Ghost by A. N. Wilson

I have just finished (Small Island) by ((Andrea Levy)). It was much better than I expected. I loved the flavour of colourful Jamaican life compared with the drab greyness of life in post war England. A story full of humour and tenderness as well as the horror of prejudice, racism and war. I am also reading (Exile) by ((Richard North Patterson)). I am a great fan of his novels but am finding this heavy going. However, it is enlightening about the complex and dense situation in the Middle East so I want to get to the end.

Here's another recommendation for the superlative Young Men and Fire, which I only just read last year and really couldn't have enjoyed more.

Thanks, Louis--I mooched Young Men & Fire today based on these strong recommendations.

I am always reading two books at once. I keep one at home and one at work to read during my breaks.

At home: On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony. This is book 1 in his Incarnations of Immortality series which I initially read in high school 12+ years ago, and just recently thought I'd reread to see if they were as good as I remembered.

At work: Druid's Sword by Sara Douglass. This is book 4 in her Troy Game series. Completism compelled me to finish the series, although I haven't enjoyed it as well as some of her other work.

How funny ryner - I am rereading the Incarnations series as well to see how it holds up. First read was in my early 20s. Am up to Tangled Skein and finding them slow going and may give up on them...too preachy and the repetitive test/quest of each main character is wearing me down. But I do like the overall story arc - each Incarnation's term(s) fitting together like a puzzle to complete the defeat of Satan storyline. That part is interesting and I seem to recall the books about Satan and Nature were pretty interesting. Maybe I will read them, but skip the parts about their idiotic tests.

Edited to correct bad, early-morning spelling.

I did finish Beloved after all. After the first few chapters, it got much better though it will only get a 6 out of 10 for me and that only because of the handling of the subject matter.

Finished Born in Death last night, which was a 3 out of 5 for the mystery and a 5 out of 5 for the romance and humor and relationships between the characters, and immediately started Food for the Fishes by David Wishart, another Corvinus mystery set in ancient Rome which has started out really well.