What are you reading for the Challenge this month - February 2010 ?

I'm reading Addition.

The House of Borgia by Christopher Hibbert for my Non-fiction category.

I've just begun Cold Granite, a dark police procedural set in Aberdeen, Scotland.

Started Wayward Girls and Wicked Women edited by Angela Carter yesterday.

My first book of February will be Lauren Willig's The Betrayal of the Blood Lily.

I am going to start with Ladysmith by Giles Foden for my War and the Homefront Category and also add to my Agatha Christie Category with A Murder Is Announced.

Still reading Les Miserables and then going to pick up Equador in preparation for next semester's lit class. (trying to be more organised this semester!)

I'm working on my first February book, A Mercy by Toni Morrison.

Back and forth between: Ivory Grin, Various Haunts of Men and Suicide Blonde.

For my challenges in February I am yet working on:
Les Miserables, World Without End, The Return of the Native, Moby Dick, Anna Karinina, In a Lonely Place, Clarel, Paradise Lost, and getting ready to begin: A Tale of Two Cities, 2666, My Name is Red, and The Three Musketeers.
January was a really heavy G/R month for me so I will probably be a while catching up. (But they have all been so good.)
belva

I have one group read going (Herodotus) and one which I'm reading as I make my way through the related DVD course (Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History by David Christian).

In addition:
Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times
Facing Unpleasant Facts by George Orwell - a collection of narrative essays
Plan for Chaos, a recent first publication of a 1950s or so novel by John Wyndham, the author of Day of the Triffids.

And a couple out from the library I'm interested to take a look at:
The Fate of Katherine Carr, a mystery by Thomas H. Cook
Old City Hall by Robert Rotenberg
Tea with Hezbollah by Ted Dekker
After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split in Islam by Lesley Hazleton, although I doubt I'll read more than bits and pieces.

I'm a hundred pages into Watership Down, which is wonderful and which I haven't delved into since my father read it to me when I was five.

>12 Tafadhali:

I LOL whenever I think of Watership Down. I read it one summer while staying on an isolated island. One day I heard a terrible racket at the cabin and tore up the steps from the dock to find my cat holding a baby rabbit in her mouth. The rabbit wasn't hurt, just terrified, but I almost killed the cat.

I've started The Betrayal of the Blood Lily by Lauren Willig.

I finished two yesterday - Beastly, a teen Beauty and the Best from the Beast's perspective, set in modern NYC, and Black Ships, a historical novel based on the story of Aeneas.

I have started a book on the Templars in prep for the Foucault's Pendulum group read in June. I also have Middlemarch lined up for February, and that could well take the rest of the month.

After a bit of a break I'm going back to Wolf Hall.

I'm casting about for a book to read. I'm reading a book of interlaced short stories called Life in the Air Ocean, which I am trying to read slowly. I have a copy of A Fair Maiden from the library, but I don't like Joyce Carol Oates and am somewhat bewildered as to why I checked it out.

I finished two yesterday, Beastly by Alex Flinn and Black Ships by Jo Graham. The first is a modern Beauty and the Beast set in NYC and from the Beast's perspective and the second is set in ancient Greece and revolves around Aeneas and the founding of Rome. Liked the first, completely loved the second.

I've started The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

The finish line is in sight for Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto.

Finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. (off-challenge)
Reading Book 2 of Herodotus's Histories. (off-challenge
4 chapters to go for Fathers and Sons by Turgenev (off-challenge)
Starting The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon. (Category 2)

Before I decide on what novel to read next I thought I'd make a start on one of the short story collections that I have lined up for this years challenge: The Complete Short Stories by Saki.

"I hate posterity - it's so fond of having the last word."

Zapping through U is for Undertow - another good one from Sue Grafton.

I'm reading A Swell-Looking Babe for my noir category and Patience and Fortitude a few pages at a time, which will take me forever.

I finally found a book that suited my mood; The Secret of Lost Things, which is a Thirteenth Tale-like story centered on an unknown manuscript by Herman Melville.

I'm also listening to To Kill a Mockingbird as read by Sissy Spacek. Her voice is perfect for this book.

For once I am not reading a mystery: Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, which I am enjoying.

Started Footnotes in Gaza. Graphic history.

I'm reading Susannah Morrow and The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane both of which deal with the Salem witch trials.

Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant is good! Oh, now I want to reread Anne Tyler's early stuff.

I'm now reading The Accidental, which has been on my shelf, unread, far longer than it should have.

I started The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind and I'm really enjoying it so far.

Reading That Summer, but have put it down briefly because I don't want any of the characters to die. I know they're going to; the book's about the Battle of Britain.

I've started Jenna Starborn. It's a retelling of Jane Eyre and if the rest of it is as good as the first three chapters than I am in for a treat!

Intriguing idea for a book. Let us know how it turns out, Victoria.

I'm reading The Desert Wolf. It is made up of four novellas about people, animals and nature on the edge of the Horqin Desert in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. I'm really enjoying it.

I'm finally going to break into my first category of new, new novels -- newish books by authors whose works I haven't previously read. That includes Day After Night by Anita Diamant and The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry. I'm also eying, with some nervousness, The American by Henry James. Other than some of his shorter fiction, like Washington Square, I've had real trouble reading his books, and have more DNF with him than any other author! So I'm easing my way toward that by reading Colm Toibin's The Master, for my 75-book challenge.

Just starting Oliver Twist for my Dickens Category.

I am starting Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter and The Thirteen Treasures.

>38 Belladonna1975: Belladonna, I am so jealous. Please let me know what you think of the Queen Victoria read. It's also on my list.

I'm still working on several nonfiction books started in January but keep getting distracted by fiction of various sorts. The most recent was The Harper's Quine by Pat McIntosh which kept me up past midnight last night.

Got side-tracked, have now finished Book 4 of Les Miserables and Mother's Beloved and have started The Midwich Cuckoos. I am a bit behind on my 1001 quota for the month, so thought I'd better start one, good so far.

I have begun O'Connor: Collected Works. I'm bedazzled.

I have a couple of chapers of The White Raven by Robert Low left and then I am going to read Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I also have my eye on Mountain Man by Vardis Fisher.

I've just begun The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh and Women of the Silk by Gail Tsukiyama.

I read The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie last night and loved it. Now I'm reading A Needle in the Hand of God and listening to The Wreck of the Mary Deare.

I finished Homer and Langley this morning.

Still have to finish West With The Night. Got sidetracked when Anathem came in the mail via a Bookmooch. I'm going to slightly change my SF category so that I can include it; it was wonderful!

#45 cmbohn-I finished Sweetness last week I loved it can't wait to read more Flavia!

I just finished Cleopatra's Daughter by, Michelle Moran 5 Stars Great Book

Now Reading A Reliable Wife by, Robert Goolrick and Listening to The Hunger Games by, Suzanne Collins

My sweet DH ordered Xinran's new book from Amazon UK for my Valentine's Day gift, and it arrived today. So, I'm going to put the The Desert Wolf aside for awhile until I finish Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother.

I am in the midst of the chaotic The River of Gods by Ian McDonald, its hugely fun science fiction.

I finished West With the Night. Highly recommended! Here is my review:

http://www.librarything.com/review/55562253

Now I'm reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield which is just great. I'm going to look for other books by Setterfield; hard to believe this is a first novel.

Still feeling hungry after that dish of miso soup so grabbed some Popcorn for a quick snack.

Read Mr Darcy, Vampyre last night and began a re-read of The Seduction of the Crimson Rose.

I've just borrowed Tom Cho's Look Who's Morphing from the library for my Australia and th ePacific category. Wanted something light, and it's a great choice. very funny.

I just started Mrs. Mike and I am already in love!

I just started Mrs. Mike too. We're supposed to get snow later today. It seems fitting!

I just put it on my wishlist - I'm pretty sure it's the same book I loved when I was younger (much younger) :)

I can't decide what I want to read to end this month, I'm halfway through Slow Man by J M Coetzee and should be finished in a day or two. I'm trying to decide between

New York Trilogy - Paul Auster
The Maltese Falcon - Dashiell Hammett
and As I Lay Dying - William Faulkner

Plus, I just got an email from my library saying that Darkly Dreaming Dexter has arrived for me.

Oh what to do. So many books, so little time!

I still remember the Reader's Digest version of Mrs. Mike that I read over 50 years ago as being great. Enough so, that if I stumbled across the uncondensed version in a second-hand shop I would probably buy it.

The current fiction read is a rereading of Dead Cert in honor of Dick Francis. It's very good for a first novel, containing everything that people loved in his books.

I'm in the Amazon rain forest with The Trade Mission by Andrew Pyper.

Tea with Hezbollah: Sitting at the Enemies' Table by Ted Dekker
With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change by Fred Pearce

I finished The Haunting of Hill House and now I've started Good Omens.

I am reading Confederacy of Dunces which is making me laugh, and Darkly Dreaming Dexter which needs to go back to the library very soon.

Just finished Still Alice what an amazing heartbreaking book!
Now I'm reading The Jewel of Medina by, Sherry Jones

I'm starting The Three Musketeers and The Killer Inside Me.

I'm looking forward to your reviews of both, Victoria.

I just started The Trouble With Physics.

I'm working on Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations. Also, I'm reading Don Quijote as a textbook for a Spanish class. Some hefty reads this month!

I need to start The Three Musketeers for the group read. I've just finished A pigeon and a boy and am now reading The Anubis Gates for a steampunk group read over on the 75 book challenge thread, which also fits my scifi category here.

I am enjoying the merging of myth and history in the highly stylistic The Secret Lives of Buildings: From the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in Thirteen stories by Edward Hollis

From my fantasy/sci-fi catagory I'm reading Changing Fate by Elisabeth Waters. This is a book I picked up because I saw her on the "LT Authors" part of my home page one day.

I've started The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson.

Just started Roots, which will probably take me to the end of the month!

Just started What Happened to Janie by Caroline Cooney. This is a sequal to the YA The Face On the Milk Carton. I just had to see what happened next.

I am reading The Talented Mr. Ripley and The Three Musketeers.

#72, Roots is such a good book!

#71, Hi Victoria! I will be interested in your take on The Girl Who Played With Fire as I have not yet read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

Victoria, I'm reading Fire too. Really enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and am liking this one.

finished The Girl Who Played With Fire (loved it!) and will start Queenpin by Megan Abbott tonight.

Nearing the end of Brideshead Revisited, enjoying it, but am wondering if it will taper off now. Up next, an Asian read, I feel the need for something different.

Rounding off my February challenge reads with Hermione Lee's biography of Virginia Woolf. Should be finished it by the 28th. Enjoying it immensely and would recommend it to anyone interested in VW's life and works.

I'm halfway through Middlemarch, which I'm thoroughly enjoying. And I'm also reading Culture Shock Germany and just starting Stones into Schools.

I just started Queenpin by Megan Abbott, which starts in a very promising way. I continue to work my way through The Children's Book by A. S. Byatt.

Finished Wayward Girls and Wicked Women and started The Ascent of George Washington. Long plane flight tomorrow (10.5 hours from Heathrow to Dallas), so hopefully make some more progress!

Currently reading:
Le Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours
Hamlet
The Out-of-Print Short Stories by J.D. Salinger (the touchstone comes up as Spam by Spam)
DC Universe: The Stories of Alan Moore

I just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-Time by Mark Haddon, and have now started The Singapore Grip by J.G. Farrell. It's a thick book so will probably be reading this into March.

I'm reading Team of Rivals, Demigods and Monsters, Doctrines of Salvation, and listening to Down the Rabbit Hole.

I have On the Other Hand, Death checked out of the library, but haven't begun it, and I also just bought Cranford and want to start in on that. I finished The Swing in the Summerhouse and Mansfield Park yesterday.

I'm trying to finish Well Schooled in Murder, it seems to be dragging just a bit for me.

Working on The First Rule by Robert Crais. This one features Joe Pike not Elvis Cole, and I'm ok with that!

For my continuations category I've picked up The Eye of the Moon and I'm hoping it will be as enjoyable as The Book With No Name which I read at the beginning of the year.

I continue on with The Children's Book, which will take me another month or so, and have started both The Angel of Grozny by Asne Seierstad and Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris.

>87 luv2read97: luv2read,
Pike is a great character. Always mysterious, makes you want to read more. Can't wait to hear what you thought of it!

Victoria, I enjoyed the book, as I always do his work! I really liked how it showed a little human side of Pike. I'm so glad I found this author!