What are You Reading Now? - April 2010

I'm still reading Serena by Ron Rash, but as usual I'm casting around for more reading...

I'm hoping to finish two nonfiction books by the end of the weekend:Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa by Dambisa Moyo and At Home with the Marquis de Sade by Francine Prose. We are going on a quick weekend trip and I'm trying to decide what other books to bring.

Touchstones definitely not working.

Early this morning I finished Re: Creation, the third set of poems published by Nikki Giovanni. Today I'll start The Plague by Albert Camus and An Elegy for Easterly by Petina Gappah. Later today or tomorrow I'll also start Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir by Ngugi wa Thiong'o.

Galore a historical novel set in Newfoundland - Michael Crummey. very weird mix of genres, but i'm liking it so far. I'm not sure if it's been published in the US, a friend gave me a Canadian copy.

To amuse myself yet again! Lonely werewolf girl reread.

Finished Emissaries from the dead - for the SF group read. A good SF/mystery that doesn't telegraph the story.

John Tyler by Gary May
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi - Backlash by Aaron Allston
With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change by Fred Pearce

and the year-long reads of Herodotus and Maps of Time: An Introduction to Big History

I'm still reading Child of God by Cormac McCarthy, but I'm almost done.

I'm reading A Week in December, Sebastian Faulks's departure from the historical and I've just picked up Changing My Mind by Zadie Smith to read in between things.

April already, arghhhh....

I'll be finishing Monique Proulx's Wildlives tonight. Don't know what I'll be reading next.

I just finished Child of God and started The Passage for ER.

I'm currently reading my ER book from the February batch: Cro-Magnon: How the Ice Age Gave Birth to the First Modern Humans by Brian Fagen. (For some reason the touchstone never works on that, so I've made it a regular old link instead.)

>4 bobmcconnaughey: Bob, it has NOT been published in the US yet. I bought my copy from Amazon.ca. My review - such that it is - is on the book's page here or on my Club Read thread. I liked it quite a lot. I think it is less a "mix of genres" than a blend of folktale and oral storytelling tradition. btw, You might like his poetry also.

There was no touchstone for the book when I read it, but I see there is one now, so I'm wondering what changed...

>8 lilisin: rumor has it that there is a book in Spanish enroute to you....

I finished "Selected Prose and Prose-Poems" by 1945 Nobel laureate Gabriela Mistral, which I'm reviewing for Belletrista - so I won't say anything further here - and also A Town Like Alice by Nevil Shute, which I read for my book group.

There was a lot to like about A Town Like Alice, notably the protagonist, Jean Paget. But the clumsy framing story and, especially, the appalling racism towards the Aboriginal characters in the last third of the book - racism which was very much of its time, but uncritically reflected in the novel - prevents me from giving it more than 3/5.

I have almost finished The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, which kept me up reading way too late last night. The story is gripping, even though the novel sometimes feel as if it was written as a relay between Thomas Harris, Agatha Christie and the early William Gibson.

Next on the list are two poetry collections, Cornelius & Co by NZ poet John O'Connor, and Alternate Means of Transport by Cynthia Macdonald. I expect I'll fit some prose around them, too.

All over the place as usual. I'll finish The Girl Who Played with Fire today or tomorrow. I'm loving the audiobook of Audition by Barbara Walters. I've been neglecting Moby-Dick. Still reading Slash by Slash (I love typing that.) and started Gifted Grownups by Marylou Kelly Streznewski about a week ago, and it's kind of blowing my mind, or freaking me out. Not sure which.

I think I'd better start La dame aux camelias by Alexandre Dumas fils if I'm going to make my categorical goals.

I've also got a few books on hiatus, which always makes me feel a bit guilty.

Ha, Lois, yes, I've actually received that already and it looks very excellent! But I might read a male author "quickly" in between if I can as a little breather. :)

>14 lilisin: Oh, you have plenty of time:-)

I started Brooklyn by Colm Toibin yesterday and finished it today - effortless to read.

Today I will start The House of Special Purpose by John Boyne. After all the talk about The Boy in the Striped Pajamas I wonder why this one isn't mentioned a lot? According to Librarything only 39 people have it in their libraries.

While continuing with Serena, I have started Enlightened Sexism by Susan J. Douglas.

It is a while since I posted here, but I recently finished At Home with the Marquis de Sade by Francine du Plessix Gray and Dead Aid by Dambisa Moyo and also read Weights and Measures by Joseph Roth, Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig, and The Last Brother by Nathacha Appanah.

I'm distracted with real life right now and so have begun When Will There Be Good News? by Kate Atkinson because I wanted something both enjoyable and sure to be good. I'm also dipping in and out of Zadie Smith's Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays.

I am playing catch up with my March Group Reads as R/L rather got in my way as well. I feel like I am doing so poorly with my year of planned reading and yet as I look at what I have read so far thus year (32 books in number), I go: Wow!~! Not at the number of books I have read as that is probably average but the quality of works I have read this year due to my participating in the group reads, is to my little pea brained mind, rather astounding. Without the support of the groups there is no way I would have read Miss Lonelyhearts, The Post Office Girl, The Return of the Native, The Tale of the 1002nd Night, Les Miserables, Twilight and Moonbeam Alley, 2666, My Name is Red, Job: The Story of a Simple Man, Journey into the Past nor Briar Rose, let alone The Chronicles of Pyrdain. Not that these are such difficult reads, but I just never would have picked up these types of reads and my life is so much the richer for having done so.
So I really thank the organizers of the Group Reads here on L.T. You really make us step out of the box & look at where or if we are growing literally. I thank you.

Along with attempting to catch up on my March reads; I am also reading: The Dwarf, Soldier's Pay, Sylvia Plath; Method and Madness, Taran Wanderer, Moby Dick, The Radetzky March, The Emperor's Tomb, (when I finish "The March"), a Zweig, an Atwood, Wives and Daughters, and A Woman in White.
Right now ( am working on The Radetzky March and I have to admit that, like Zweig, I hadn't heard of Joseph Roth until the "author theme reads", but I like him. I like Zweig better; in fact I love Zweig but I like Roth a lot.
I hope everyone has some good reads picked out for April.
hugs all round,
belva

I seem to be getting through a lot of books quickly at the moment so I'm going to list my next four or five books...

I finished The house of Special Purpose by John Boyne yesterday I have mixed feelings about this one...

I have now started the Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry (what an interesting name). I remember everyone reading this a few years back and I saw it it the library and grabbed it.

Next up will be:
The Road Home by Rose Tremain
The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks
A Fair Maiden by Joyce Carol Oates
The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow - finally!

I will be reading a non-fiction book concurrently. At the moment my choice is World Religions by John Bowker which is meant for teens I think but will give me a good overview. I know a lot about ancient religions, and Christianity, Judaism and Islam but not much about Eastern religions - Hinduism, Taoism, Jainism etc.

Still reading The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and The Rest is Noise. And studying, so things are going slowly.

I've started The Levant Trilogy, Olivia Manning's sequel to The Balkan Trilogy.

Well, I have temporarily set Serena aside while I continue to read - a chapter a day - Enlightened Sexism. Last night I learned more than I probably ever wanted to know about "Ally McBeal."

However, during yesterday's record heat (here in New England), I read the novella Touch by Palestinian author Adania Shibli. I left a few little comments about it on my thread but suffice it to say that it is a lovely collection of vignettes capturing a little girl's impressions on a variety of things and events around her. I look forward to the author's next work being available in English (same publisher, early 2011).

Infinite Jest still, and since I'm not halfway through yet, that will be the month again. I've also been reading A Fiery Peace in the Cold War, by Neil Sheehan, as a light read, but the library wants it back next week and I'm not anywhere near done.

I'm reading Ngugi wa Thiong'o's memoir of his childhood, Dreams in a Time of War.

Currently reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. This was one of the SantaThing books I got at Christmas, so I feel kind of guilty that I'm only just now getting to it, but that's just how backed up the ol' TBR Pile is.

Started Middlemarch, and still reading The Rest is Noise. That's going to be the case for a liong time I think. Also reading The lives of the great composers, which is something of an overlap, but interesting for all that.

ChocolateMuse, I was "still reading" The Rest Is Noise for so long that I finally gave up on it. But I may come back to it someday.

I'm in the middle of Lord of Light, a sci-fi story in which what seems to have originally been a group of human space explorers are now living on a planet as the Buddha and a range of Hindu gods.

In my little Millennium Trilogy binge, I have now read The Girl Who Played With Fire, the second book in the trilogy. Both books are gripping, but the second book is better overall - I think Stieg Larsson had more control of his material by the time he came to write this one.

My binge has suffered an intervention, however - Wellington Public Library has 8 copies of the third book, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest, and I am no. 78 in the reserves queue.

I have also finished Cornelius & Co, collected poems from Christchurch poet John O'Connor, which I'll be reviewing on my blog this week.

I just finished The Radetzky March which I found just okay -- was not very much impressed with the portrayal of the characters who remained two-dimensional to the end, and the translation (this one was by Michael Hoffman). Also, more than halfway through The Omnivore's Dilemma which is interesting though a bit repetitive at times.

Timjones--how does your library have The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest if the book is not coming out till May 25? Please tell me, I am desperate to get my hands on it.

>33 ravingraven:, ravingraven - not sure where you're based, but I'm in New Zealand, which may account for it! I've been reading the UK editions.

Finished, A Sand County Almanac by Aldo Leopold, and still reading The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris (mostly while traveling for work so it's slow going).

Also reading Nocturnes by John Connolly, a great collection of creepy shor stories. Love Connolly writing probably more than the stories themselves, which is a switch for me.

Finished Yann Martel's new novel, Beatrice and Virgil -- good not great, though other readers are liking it for exactly why I didn't.

Now I'm reading The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman -- linked stories involving employees of an international English newspaper in Rome. Very good stories, though not much feeling of Rome so far.

Now reading The Book Thief. I jumped from #100+ on the library wait list to having the book- no idea how that happened but I'm thankful! :)

Still reading Galileo's Daughter which is excellent and quite moving, but dense and not a book to skim. Draws extensively from the letters GG's older daughter wrote to her father throughout her life while living in a Poor Clare's convent. Tragically, Galileo's many replies have disappeared. And finally rereading Absences - picked up a replacement copy of my favorite set of James Tate's poems from Abebooks..

I'm reading too many books at the moment. I'm back to reading Enlightened Sexism after a short break, and Serena is still ongoing, but in between I did read the first Adamsberg novel by Fred Vargas, The Chalk Circle Man(first in order of initial publication) and I also picked up Deep Hollow Creek by Sheila Watson.

I picked up a copy of Icefields by Thomas Wharton a few days ago, with no memory of why it ended up on my wishlist. I'm enjoying it so far, I just wish I could remember where I heard about it.

>40 RidgewayGirl: I have that also, but have not read it. It was on the Commonwealth Prize shortlist after it was published and won some other awards (honestly, I was just looking at his website because I was trying to think of Canadian provincial awards and I was pretty sure Icefields won one. So I went there to check it out. Small world.

I absolutely loved his The Logogryph! I have his Salamander also.

>40 RidgewayGirl: Darn, here I was so close to just sticking to books I own already. Now I've added Icefields to the TBR pile.

I'm reading my ER book, Chef by Jaspreet Singh, and I'm listening to William Trevor's Love and Summer while commuting and working out.

I've finally begun Oryx and Crake, after having a very nice hardcover edition sitting on my shelf for well over a year.

Finished two Early Reviewers books - Texas Tough: The Rise of America's Prison Empire by Robert Perkinson (excellent and highly recommended) and An American Type by Henry Roth - and read 84, Charing Cross Road today in the park. Now I'm looking for something a little light and not depressing to pick up next.

I am working my way - work being the operative word at this stage - through my April poetry challenge book, Alternate Means of Transport by Cynthia MacDonald. It's one of those tricky books that is very well written but doesn't, as yet, grab me.

On the plus side, I have been enjoying a re-read, after many years, of C J Cherryh's The Chanur Saga, an epic of first contact where the humans are very much the aliens, taking their first tentative steps into a complex system of trade and barely-managed conflict between spacefaring species, and thereby tipping all sorts of delicate balances.

The only problem with this volume is that it contains the first three of the five Chanur books, and I don't have nos 4 and 5. Some assembly may yet be required.

The current eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland, combined with a Norwegian connection to my current employment, has got me reading about northern regions again - I've been interested in Svalbard for a while, but now I'm reading about Iceland, the Faroe Islands, and Greenland - each of them, in their different ways, fascinating.

I have a book of Norse exploration sagas out of the library, but have kicked this little party off with The Ice Museum : In Search of the Lost Land of Thule by Joannna Kavenna, an English writer whose travels take her to all the countries I've mentioned, plus the Shetland Islands (where my wife has ancestral connections), Estonia, and Svalbard itself. It's very interesting, without as yet quite reaching the height of the gold standard in such books, Ice and the English Imagination by Francis Spufford.

I'm still working my way through Enlightened Sexism having just finished the chapter on the rise of our celebrity obsession over the last 30 or so years (most intensely in the last decade). The previous chapter attempted to make a connection between our unrealistic obsession with thinness and Queen Bee meanness. I'm sure this is not original to this author, and it's a very interesting theory but I'm not quite convinced it's more than coincidental. I think I'm facing a long, final chapter. It's been a very interesting book which makes its arguments from analysis of the images given us by various media, including lots of popular television (most of it stuff I have never watched). Still, I can't help but have my mind wander over into popular books and think about how the same issues/images are presented (I think a lot of literature intends to challenge more popular cultural stereotypes...etc).

Anyway, I'm babbling....

Finished McTeague by Frank Norris -- was impressed by its realism considering that this was written in 1899. Found the story fast-paced, the characters well-developed, and the narrative tied nicely together. Enjoyed this a lot that I finished it in one go.

Now halfway through Carlo Levi's Christ Stopped at Eboli which I'm loving. The book will surely go onto my top reads this year.

Interestingly, these books have a similar setting (in the former, Death Valley in California, in the latter, the Lucania region in Italy) both of them happening in remote, desolate, hot, barren, if not, forgotten places.

I tried starting The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Really, I did. I just couldn't get into it, so I've set it aside for later. I am already skeptical of it, since generally anything that's as widely loved as it is tends to not be very good. I hope it doesn't disappoint.

So since I moved on from that, I started Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill, which seems to be more what my brain craves right now.

Since I last posted, I've read Tale of the 1002nd Night by Joseph Roth (not one of my favorites), The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State by Shane Harris (a disappointment), and Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips (a lot of fun), and am now reading Joseph Roth's Hotel Savoy and Once They Moved Like the Wind: Cochise, Geronimo, and the Apache Wars by David Roberts.

> 49, flyingmachine: I started The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo with no particular expectation that I would like it, and it took me a while to get into it. Essentially, the story really kicks into gear once Lisbeth Salander becomes involved in the main plot, and that takes a while.

The book has some considerable flaws, IMO - the second one is better - but I found the narrative gripping enough that I didn't really care.