What You're Reading the Week of 17 Mar 2007

The Last Witchfinder James Morrow Apologies for starting this incredibly early but I'm off on the road again in a few hours and will be away in the UK and Turkey for a couple of weeks with very little internet access.

Please try not to post here until midnight (your time) on the 16th March ;-)

It's nearly midnight, so I think I can start to post ;)

Yesterday I bought a new book: "Per Anhalter durch die Galaxis" - "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams
Normally this isn't the stuff I read, but I friedn of mine said, that he laught so much while reading this book, like he never did while reading a book. ;)

The first pages were really great and I'm eager to continue to read ;)

I've been reading so many new books recently that I decided to go back to some old favorites for a while. I recently had the urge to reread Timothy Zahn's Star Wars trilogy, so I picked up Heir to the Empire.

I need to get the new books back from my dad soon so I can reread the whole series at once.

As of 0000H GMT of March 17, 2207 , I have so far completed 40% of the book Point of Impact by Stephen Hunter .

It's a story of sniper who was shot by another sniper in Vietnam, and was hired by the CIA to kill a very important target - the sniper who injured him in Vietnam. Lots of twists and turns along the way, exciting stuff. It's going to be a movie to be shown next week entitled "Shooter" starring Mark Wahlberg.

.

After reading rave reviews on LT, I'm finally reading a copy of The Alienist by Caleb Carr. I picked it up from a book giveaway about two years ago, eventhough it didn't seem to appeal to me.

I'm hope to finish Barak Obama's The Audacity of Hope sometime this week. I'm eager to start some new books that I just purchased.

Reading A Spot of Bother by Mark Haddon, which is wonderful! The story is completely different from The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, but it's equally unputdownable. Great characters, humor, writing. I need to go to sleep now ~ early morning tomorrow ~ but I don't want to stop reading it.

I'm finishing up The Protector by Gennita Low, and it's been pretty good so far. I like Gennita Low's sense of humour.

Anyway, this week I'm reading Barbara Pym's Excellent Women, Anne Fadiman's Ex Libris : Confessions of a Common Reader, Cindy Gerard's To The Edge (The Bodyguards) and my favourite parts of The Phantom Tollbooth, which I absolutely love.

I finished Matthew Sharpe's Jamestown the other day and have already posted it on my Profile page as one of my favorite books of the year. It's a bloody and blackly comic re-imagining of the story of the founding of Jamestown that all takes place in some fractured post-apocalyptic future, but which also includes the familiar characters of Pocahontas, John Rolfe, and John Smith, who each take turns as the central narrators of the story. In a brief note "To the Reader" at the end of the book, Sharpe describes his novel as "an ahistorical fantasia on a real event, namely, the founding of Jamestown in 1607", but whatever you might choose to call it, Jamestown's simply a brilliant book, if likely not one for every taste, but one that finally becomes an hilarious and wisely incisive reflection on the foibles of our own world today, and books as good as this really shouldn't be missed.

I'm just finishing up The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie. The movie "Smoke Signals", which I watched last week, was based on this book. Sherman Alexie also did the screenplay for the movie. I enjoyed the movie very much, but there's so much more in the book. Very nice read!

tygerlilli, I really enjoyed The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. I think it's Alexie's best work.

I just finished The Portrait by Iain Pears, which was diverting, but I didn't enjoy it as much as his The Instance of the Fingerpost. I found the narrative structure somewhat distracting.

Today I'll start Queen Margot, by Alexandre Dumas pere.

Naomi Novik's "Black Powder War", plus "Endymion Spring".

I'm going to spend this weekend reading Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics. I've been meaning to buy it for ages, and finally gave in.

Just finished The book thief- what a wonderful book! This week, I hope to finish White Oleander by Janet Fitch.

Enjoy your week!

I'm reading Sweetness in the Belly by Camilla Gibb, a Canadian author. This is the third novel in succession I've read by her because I'm interviewing her in a few days time. I probably wouldn't have discovered this author otherwise - and I'm really enjoying her books.

I really wasn't planning on reading Clive James's new 850-page behemoth Cultural Amnesia: Necessary Memories from History and the Arts straight through, but after about 150 pages I find I'm enjoying James's biographical essays so much that I'll probably just forge ahead with it for a while.

I just finished The Glass Castle and it was amazing! I now have a stack to pick from. I'm thinking of beginning The Warden by Anthony Trollope and Calculating God by Robert J. Sawyer.

After two false starts of Barack Obama's The Audacity of Hope, this afternoon I started Ella: A Biography of Governor Ella Grasso by Susan Bysiewicz and am thoroughly engrossed in herstory.

Maybe next week I'll re-start and finish Obama's book.

I am reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling I guess I am gearing up for the release of the seventh book. :)

I finished Family Matters, a wee bit dissapointing, but still good. Just started I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak.

I'm reading "Freedom Writers Diary" by Erin Gruwell and the Freedom Writers. It's the book that the movie "Freedom Writers" was based on.....the one about the teacher who was teaching in California and turned the kids' lives around by introducing them to literature that was relevant to their lives and made them change their ways...yadda yadda yadda

This is the book that the classes published. I'm just having a really hard time believing that these entries were written by 9th grade remedial students. The grammer and the language usage just seems to advanced for a remedial class.

Well, I finished The Lying Tongue by Andrew Wilson. I was drawn to it because it is set in Venice and I am reading anything and everything set in Italy in advance of our June trip there. But I was disappointed by this book---very, very dark.

And now I am beginning A Room with a View by E.M. Forster, set in Florence! "The true Italy is only to be found by patient observation." Okay!

I've just begun John Sedgwick's In My Blood: Six Generations of Madness and Desire in an American Family. At least one review I've seen suggested that Sedgwick's attempt to tie his family history to the history of the US doesn't quite come off; but if the first fifty pages are any indication, the story of the family itself is sufficiently fascinating.

I lived and worked in CT during the Grasso era. How does she come through in the bio? I kind of liked her, but I don't remember much.

I just joined a few minutes ago, and this is my first interactive web site, so forgive me for "using" you to warm up on. :-) I gather this is some kind of branching thread structure. I don't think I'm on the air live. If anyonereplies to this msg, I don't yet know how to find it.

I just started Julia Child's My Life in France. Enjoying it a lot so far.

Best wishes--g

I am reading The sot-weed factor by John Barth which is one romp of a bawdy, philosophical, historical, political, farce of novel.

Think Candide, by Voltaire,The history of Tom Jones, a foundling by Henry Fielding to sense its style. Just got to the section where the poet has become the servant, the servant the poet, the friend disguised as his political enemy, and they are all setting sail for Maryland to...

Given its nearly a 1000 pages that's me set for the week. And if you have read any of John Barth's works then you know none of this is straight forward at any level of plot, narrative, role of author, time lines, naturalism etc.

I finished Understanding Comics last night, and then spent this morning reading The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky. Now I'm once again stuck with Gene Wolfe's The Knight. I don't know what it is with this book and me - on the one hand I love it, but on the other hand I find it really confusing. My guess is it's supposed to be like that, or maybe it's just all going over my head, who knows. Either way I'm not giving up just yet.

I've just started Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam, hard to start but now quite enjoying it. Will have to put it down soon though as I'm going to have to start Sunset Song by Lewis Grassic Gibbon as its my book club book this month.

I am reading and enjoying Extreme Motherhood by Jackie Clune. It is an account of her experience of pregnancy and birth of triplets. The author is a broadcaster and comedienne in the UK. I heard her talking on the radio a while ago about her life and I made a mental note to read her book. Its a very good read for those who would be interested!

I just started Passing by Nella Larsen. It's a very small novel at just over 100 pages. It's about two mixed-race women in the 1920s who were childhood friends but have not seen each other for about twelve years. They have a chance meeting in Chicago. Both have African-American heritage, and both can pass for white. One of the women has stayed in the black community, while the other has married a white man and is "passing" for a white woman. Nobody in her new world has any idea that one of her parents is African-American.

The book is very beautifully written, and I'm interested to find out what happens -- if the woman who is "passing" gets ratted out by her friend.

I finished "Medieval Chinese Warfare" during the week, now I'm reading That Brave Body of Men.

I'm reading The Blind Assissan byMargaret Atwood.

I just finished Ex libris confessions of a common reader by anne fadiman and I love, love, loved it!!

Now reading Middlesex and very much enjoying it so far.

cafepithecus: I read Passing last year, after having come upon it while shelf-grazing at the bookstore and loved it -- it deserves to be much better known , I think, than it seems to be.

#24, Good luck with The Sot-Weed Factor -- I never could get through it or anything else by John Barth!

#31, I too love, love, love Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader. I've given many copies of it to others and reread parts of it frequently. Anne Fadiman is a terrific writer and I read anything she writes.

Well, despite a big work project that continued through the weekend, I managed to do some reading and finished J. G. Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur. Having loved his Troubles, I was initially disappointed in the Siege, but warmed up to it about half-way through. Still think it isn't up to Troubles, despite its Booker. Now on to The Singapore Grip.

I'm also reading John Lynch's biography of Simon Bolivar, which I can't get the right touchstone for, and The Wolves at the Door, a biography by Judith L. Pearson of Virginia Hall, touted as "America's greatest female spy" -- it's a quick and entertaining, but sobering (and definitely non-scholarly) read.

Message 22: Cayce - I had that book in my hand the other day, but wanted to check it out before buying. Instead I came away with his novel The Education of Mrs. Bemis which is excellent so far (about 130 pages in). I enjoyed his first novel quite a bit, so this seemed a good compromise. If you think of it - write a review when you're done, please.

Have been steadily marching with Mao: the unknown story and My name is Red but am overwhelmed by work constraints and related reading. Have to speed re-read Arthur and George and The Observations for Reading Groups but really want to start one of the eighteen books sitting by the side of the bed.
Due to (yet another) lengthy and abominable train journey, I managed to read the entire Hogarth catalogue, which accompanies the exhibition now on at Tate Britain, on the way home. The book and exhibition were excellent - it was the train journey which let the side down.

I am currently reading two books: Eleanor of Aquitaine by Alison Weir, which I am finding fascinating, and The Thief's Gamble by Juliet McKenna, which I am enjoying considerably less. I don't like books written in first person generally and I completely dislike her style. Not sure whether I will finish it or not.

#31, 33 - I am getting Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader as a late gift for my birthday and I can't wait to read it!

Bookmarque (#34), will do. I'd be interested, too, in your final verdict on The Education of Mrs Bemis. I haven't read any of Sedgwick's other books, but I made a note of that one since he mentions it in the introduction of In My Blood: Mrs Bemis was based on Sedgwick's own mother, Emily Lincoln Sedgwick.

I just finished reading My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk. I have liked all the other books by Pamuk -(my favourite is Snow) I had trouble getting through this one although I liked the structure.
next up Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood.

#33, rebeccanyc--that was my reaction to The Siege of Krishnapur as well. And while I liked The Singapore Grip, I don't think it's as good as either of the others.

Never really made a reading log before. and thought I'd give it a start.
I'm currently reading A Conversation with the Mann which is as solid as most of the works by John Ridley, although this is the first one that I've read that I think truly belongs in the "African-American" section in my library. I also have The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle going, which is a bit of a trip, but good so far.
Next up, I'm finally getting around to Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders by Neil Gaiman who has produced some marvelous work over the years, and I want to see what he can do with my favorite form (short works) of fiction.

Finished Angus, Thongs and Full, Frontal Snogging, started and finished Last Dance (Seer) by Linda Joy Singleton, The Witch of Blackbird Pond and Fables: Legends in Exile.

By the way, LOVED Witch of Blackbird Pond. Don't remember reading it as a child, but it's definitely going into the favorites pile.

Right now, more than halfway through The Looking Glass Wars. Unless it has a horrible ending or something, it will slip in right behind In Cold Blood in my top 5 of 2007. Reworkings of classics is a favorite genre of mine. Although I haven't read Wicked since it first came out, I'm finding this is even better.

For those of you that have read it or are interested by this review, check out www.thelookingglasswars.com. There are teasers and trailers (!!) for the book, as well as games, news, shop and clips of all the songs in the soundtrack..

Yes, soundtrack..the author has made a soundtrack to go along with the book. I find it fascinating how authors are using different medias to engage their books..Haven't gotten a chance to do it yet, but definitely want to use the soundtrack for this and/or buy Poe's "Haunted" for House of Leaves.

#23 Gosomo - As a lifelong resident of CT who is old enough to have voted for Ella, I discovered lots of new information about her (especially her early political career). And, of course, lots of references to other CT political operatives, many still operating. The book was written by our current Secretary of State while she was still in law school.

#41 Punkypower - does The Witch of Blackbird Pond take place in Wethersfield, CT? If it's the book I'm thinking of, I am planning on giving a copy to my sister (a CT witch). I'm glad to hear you liked it.

I just finished Just One Look by Harlan Coben, which was my first book by this author and certainly won't be my last.

And now I'm starting another mystery by Barbara Vine, Asta's Book.

I've just started reading Paper by Bahiyyih Nakhjavani, with its beautiful cover (in paperback). I'm also browsing through The Paris Apartment by Claudia Strasser which is about her shop in New York, actually! I'm also working through two old copies from my library for a project: Journey Through Pakistan, all those glorious photographs by Mohamed Amin, Duncan Willetts and text by Graham Hancock, and Our World in Colour - Lahore with commentary by Moni Mohsin.

Reading former prof's The oranging of America by Max Apple, a collection of short stories.

Recently I finished William Trevor’s book of essays, Excursions in the Real World.The essays are more or less in chronological order, though they are memoirs only, not a full-fledged autobiography. In all these re-creations Trevor depicts an exceptional power of forgiveness. Henry O'Reilly, the farmer who once taught him to snare a rabbit, was known as the laziest man in Ireland, but seemed to him the nicest. Marchant Smith was a ruinous bully, but at least he employed the otherwise unemployable. A co-woker named Sarzy soon became impossible, but she was an innocent, and innocence is a quality Trevor highly prizes. It’s a delightful book, which seemed so relaxed as to be almost casual.

On St. Patrick’s Day I started Louise Dean’s This Human Season, and so far it’s stunning. I'll report back.

lizzier (#35): Have you read the biography Hogarth: a life and a world by Jenny Uglow? ... it was very good ...

I'm now reading a horror story called Last Things by David Searcy ... this is the second of his books I've read and he's excellent at building up a feeling of fear around seemingly everyday things ... highly recommended.

I decided I needed to start a nice thick book, so like drsol (msg 30), I picked up Middlesex. It's going to take a while though (I'm about to made redundant, hence I'm about to be self-employed, and this stuff is time consuming!).

Finished The Transit of Venus by Shirley Hazzard. Pretty good - clever but quirky writing.
Now reading: 1) In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar and liking it very much. 2) Turning Skyward by Edward Myles Gordon - a new Australian novel with mediocre writing style but hopefully a good story.

I moved house at the weekend, and now have to catch the bus into work which has the plus-side of giving me time to read!
I'm reading Murder in Clichy by Cara Black, a bit corny in places, but I'm sticking w/ it as a preparation for my first trip to Paris in April !

After years of only hearing about books I wanted and several months of lurking around 'what are you reading' threads on here, I finally managed to walk into a bookshop with current titles and make some informed choices about what I bought.

I have therefore purchased The book thief, have my eye on several recommended reads, have a stack of Loeb books to plough through (in Greek), am taking Lanark back to the library 3/4 read (but I will buy it, I love it) and have had to clear out our spare room (a huge skip was needed) only to fill it up again with all my books. Phew.

Now to finish Helter Skelter, which is reminding my why I haven't read a true crime novel in many years (despite four years of Od'ing on CSI I have a gentle stomach). Gripping stuff though: I didn't know any of the details of The Family and now know why my impression of hippies (peaceful, veggie and lovely) contrasts so badly with many others' perceptions. :eek: As a total contrast, I am stuck deep into the first volume of Loeb's Greek Anthology and it is beautiful.

:D

#38 torontoc, I really enjoyed Moral Disorder by Margaret Atwood -- some of the stories more than others, of course.

>41 punkypower: What did you think of the Linda Joy Singleton books? She is on my Myspace friends list and sad to say, I haven't read any of her books yet. Also, I'm not sure which book is the first book of the series.

Presently I'm reading Under The Baseball Moon which has been really, really good so far. I'm about half-way through and should be done tonight.

The Monk Upstairs by Tim Farrington..good and fast. I have pulled out The Monk Downstairs ...it has been a while since I read it and forgot what had happened.

>42 sisaruus: sisaruus: Yup, Wethersfield is the place! I'm sure your sister will love the book. I know it's not CT, but she might also like Witch Child and The Secret Circle trilogy by L.J. Smith.

>53 Jenson_AKA_DL: demonlover: The Seer series reminds me of the YA books I used to read as a teen. They have the same plot devices that always drew me in (supernatural, moving in with a family member outside the immediate family). I find her books are an extremely quick read, and well written. (I have only read the first two).

Here's the complete order:

1. Don't Die Dragonfly
2. Last Dance
3. Witch Ball
4. Sword Play
5. Fatal Charm (August 1)

Hope you like them as well! Let me know what you think!

>28 cafepithecus:: I read Passing last year, really good book. I also read Quicksand which is more of an autobiographical story on Nella Larson. Both were good, I liked Passing better.

I am currently reading Financial Peace Revisited by Dave Ramsey. I am almost done with it and will soon start on The Attractor Factor by Joe Vitale while still finishing up Quantum Success: The Astounding Science of Wealth and Happiness by Sandra Anne Taylor.

# 2 opilio, I hope you love Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy it's one of my favorites and all of the four sequels are wonderful as well.
I'm just getting into The Jungle and am a good way through the memory keepers daughter at this point. I finished Land's End by Michael Cunningham which wasn't as good as I'd hoped it would be.
I'm starting All over but the shoutin as well.
It's an interesting variety.
And thanks for the North and South suggestion, I'll have to check that out.

I somehow managed to be in the middle of three books at once:
Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis
Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
Underworld, by Don DeLillo

Last fall I started The Girls who Went Away: The Hidden Story of Girls who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler and didn't get to finish. Darn library book and the wait list to check it out again. I look forward to finishing this book this time around.

In addition to that book for the week I will be reading my usual list of children's books to prepare for storytime at Head Start (where I volunteer). I am always open for suggestions for storytime books. Please contact me off list.

Just started Tawni O'Dell's new book Sister Mine and love it so far. Last night, I just sat down and read for a few hours.

I am reading The Innocent Man by John Grisham. As true crime goes, it is pretty good.

I changed what I had planned to read after taking a look at my to be read stack. I started As I Lay Dying by Faulkner today. I'm about half way through the book. I also started The Known World by Edward P. Jones.

I'm about half-way through Last Exit to Brooklyn by Hubert Selby and I just bought Travels in the Sciptorium by Paul Auster which is sitting there in front of me like a freshly baked brownie sitting in front of someone who has the munchies.

I've read Hubert Selby, Jr.'s uber-hardcore Last Exit to Brooklyn a couple of times and it's still one of my favorite novels of the last 50 years

I'm almost halfway through Clive James' Cultural Amnesia and have been enjoying it immensely so far. The book is comprised of over 100 autobiographical essays featuring "celebrities, intellectuals, tyrants, and writers", the famous, and even more interestingly, the not-so-famous, all whose work has fascinated James over the course of his life. All the essays are relatively short, but they're much more than mere highlighted thumbnails, as James is prone to regularly digress, using the bios as a jumping off point to illuminate many of the various paths of cultural humanism and liberal ideals over the last 200 years. And if all this sounds just a wee bit stuffy, it's really not at all. James is an agile, engaging writer, and a consumate book-lover as well, and Cultural Amnesia is always as lively as it is extremely wise.

(I'd not run across any reviews of James' book before, but in today's NYT, Kakutani gives it her grudging imprimatur, she liked it quite a lot, and for once in a long while, I couldn't agree with her more.)

#65- Louis, I love Clive James' writing. His Unreliable Memoirs is one of the funniest books in the world and I highly recommend it to you!

hi all i'm reading dreams from my father barack obama's autobiography- it's really interesting and im enjoying it

Letters from the Earth by Mark Twain
Consider the oyster by M. F. K. Fisher

I've finished The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie by Jaclyn Moriarty, which proved to be a very good end with lots of twists, and everything seemed to piece together. I really recommend it.

I just checked out The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom, and I've cried more than once so far, and I'm a little less than halfway through in one day!

Next, I plan to start reading some Sarah Dessen in preparation for my Spring Break in Daytona Beach, Florida! Taking lots of books there, too!

Have a good week everybody!

I've just started to re-read Rebecca by Daphe Du Maurier

I'm finding lots of enjoyment lately in re-reading old favorites.

#65 LouisBranning #66 Hera - mention of Clive James takes me back to the days when he used to write the TV reviews in The Observer. Some were published in Visions before Midnight and included some very sharp comments, especially one targetted towards Margaret Thatcher before she embarked on her Life's Mission. Worth a look, although the programmes are long, long gone...

lizzier, Thatcher is one of James' bio subjects in Cultural Amnesia, but since it's in alphabetical order, her's is very late in the book.

51- I have read Helter Skelter (while in high school-a long time ago) and found it disturbing on so many levels, but a gripping read.

I am currently reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. I am not quite far enough into either of them to suggest them, but am enjoying them both. Wizard of Oz is a classic so it I should really like the book.

#72 - LouisBranning.
Thanks for the info.
I am now going to have to reserve it from the Public Library just so I can torture myself by reading about Thatcher.
Why would one want to do this?
Beats me...

I just finished The Borgia Bride by Jeanne Kalogridis this morning on the bus- what an excellent read! Just the right mix of intrigue and murder and smut (!)...I enjoyed this more than Kalogridis' I, Mona Lisa...
Will start Trouble tonight...anyone have any reactions to this one?

I finished Fury by Salman Rushdie and enjoyed it immensely - it was a little hard to get into the book in the beginning but then it became easy to read - I'm sure a lot of the symbolism of the book escaped me though - the plot was a little bit complicated at times

I am now reading Atonement by Ian McEwan - this is my first McEwan novel and it is also taking me a little bit long to get into the book - Im on page 76 -the tension is definitely building though

Just started Wicked on the recommendation of a friend.

#70 tygerlilli - I borrowed Rebecca from the library when I was there yesterday. We have spring break next week and I hope to finish it (along with several others).

#68 - MDBenoit ~ I read Letters from the Earth decades ago and loved it. I recently found it amongst all my paperbacks when I was cataloguing my library and put it aside to reread "soon." :)

I'm reading Organic, Inc. - it was calling to me from the bookshelf. I find the subject matter interesting but the actual writing not so much.

#76 Keren -- I loved Atonement; clever and beautifully written; my vote for a modern classic. It moves slowly, but purposefully. I just started Saturday by Ian McEwan also. His writing, not just his storytelling, is flawless, IMHO.

Just finished I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak. At times I really enjoyed it and found it hilarious -- but overall -- WTF? was going thru his mind when he wrote some of those sappy outlandish scenes. Just didn't quite work for me . .

#73 bookwormteri - the Oz books are a lot of fun. If you take a scholarly approach to books, I think they're particularly interesting as examples of what turn-of-the-century authors hoped to impart to children via nonsense and fantastical settings. The books are cute and have lots of funny bits, but I find that Baum gives a very strong sense of how everyone should stay in their place and accept their lot in life, at least in the first few books.

I've just started Primavera by Francesca Lia Block. I don't expect it to take me long; her books are generally nice, quick reads that pack a good emotional punch.

Everybody seems to be reading great stuff. I've heard Glass Castles is a great read. I'm reading Malinche by Laura Esquivel, her newest book and it doesn't come out until May. I lucked out and got a free advanced copy. I loved Like Water for Chocolate, and this one doesn't dissappoint. I'm already halfway through.

For myself, I read The Woman Who Married a Bear this weekend followed by Death du Jour and part of The Knitting Circle which I finished yesterday. Then I read Meet the Austins which I missed as a child though I read L'Engle's Time Quartet many times. I haven't decided what to read this evening, perhaps I'll start The Birth of Venus though I might also go for something shorter.

I've also read countless picture books aloud, per usual. Favorites so far this week are Karma Wilson's Bear's New Friend and The Cow Who Clucked by Denise Fleming.

This week, I'm reading Mao Tse-tung, an ancient biography on Mao Zedong by Jules Archer written before he died. That's in addition to the ever-persistent The Canterbury Tales, which I've been plowing through for about three weeks now.

I'm one of those multi-readers. I'm currently somewhere in the middle of:
Devil in the White City
Band of Brothers
The Dante Club
...and wow, I guess that's all! It's usually more like 5. :-D

I have completed both The Egyptologist and The Education of Mrs. Bemis. I think somewhere along the line in the first one I missed something. THAT'S how it ends? What?? Did I fall asleep? I'm normally a very perceptive and sharp-eyed reader, but something has eluded me on this one.

Mrs. Bemis was completely predictable, but very enjoyable to read. No surprises, but very lovingly crafted characters that I cared about and worried over during the book. It's labeled a psychological thriller, but it isn't. It lacks tautness. But it more than makes up for it with excellent character studies of its two main characters. Very well done and a nice, gentle, nostalgic read. Warm humanity and frailty radiates from the book and I just felt better about life and circumstances by reading it.

Louise Dean’s This Human Season is by far one of the best books I’ve read in quite sometime. Dean sets her delicate, bleak tale of civil war in Belfast during the last months of 1979, but with a few adjustments it could take place in any city where ordinary people have violently turned on one another. Not only is it well written, but it’s an affecting and well-researched book, and that’s all a reader can ask from an author. In alternating chapters Dean follows Kathleen Moran, a restless Catholic housewife whose son is held prisoner for suspected IRA affiliations, and John Dunn, a British guard at the same prison. Dean takes no sides in the conflict, and uses some brilliant prose to paint an equally tender and sympathetic tale. I highly recommend this book with the caveat that it’s not for the squeamish.

Last Call by Tim Powers. Urban fantasy, involving Las Vegas, LA, poker, the Tarot, T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland, probability theory, fractals, platonic archetypes walking the earth, gangsters and hitmen and molls, oh my. And guns, lots of guns.

Great writing, great story, great characters. The first Powers I've read, I'm ashamed to say. I've ordered two more of his novels from Amazon.

I just finished I am Charlotte Simmons which I didn't like as much as I wanted to.

Am now working on Intensity by Dean Koontz on audio which a friend told me was super scary. Just started it, so we'll see. Koontz can be disappointing.

I am also reading You Suck which I'm liking, but not nearly as much as Lamb. Moore's secondary characters are more fun than the plot.

I haven't read any really great fiction in a while, I keep getting distracted by a toss-off novel or nonfiction. I will have to try Jamestown after the great recommendation by LouisBranning in #8. It sounds like the kind of book I'd like.

Hey, has anyone read, I am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak? I love that book

Yeah, so i just finished THE VALLEY OF THE WOLVES, And i loved it........any takers?

#90 - I've enjoyed a lot of Koontz's books but Intensity just wasn't my cup of tea. It was extremely boring and not in the least scary!

#93 - Well, I found it very scary! ;o)

I'm now reading The Thirteenth Tale, recommended by Virgulina.

#91 -- yes, as a matter of fact, I just read I am the Messenger -- see my post #81. I have mixed feelings -- flashes of brilliance and originality marred by silly melodrama and a jarring unsatisfying ending.

I finished In my Blood. Ultimately I found it enjoyable but uneven -- the opening sections, about the early Sedgwick family, were interesting, but the author "rushes" (his word) through several generations thereafter, until he reaches that of his grandfather. Once he slowed a bit my interest picked up again, but the pacing felt rather off. The book is more of a family memoir than anything else; in spite of the title, the family "madness," though often mentioned, is treated with only middling depth. All in all, I'm glad to have read it, but it won't be on my list of favorites for the year or anything.

87>I'm putting Mrs Bemis on my library list!

I finished off The Devil in the White City just a couple of hours ago, and am now moving on to Michael Connelly's The Closers.

91 irememberkisses - I read it a few months ago and really enjoyed it. It was exactly the sort of book I like; engaging characters, an interesting message, and an ending I didn't see coming.

Jonathan Lethem's You Don't Love Me...Chapter 3 was phone sex disguised as performance art.

the book is full of snappy dialogue that keeps the story moving along. So far it is a quick, light read. My first try with this author - looks like he is worth exploring. I do have Motherless Brooklyn on my shelf.

I've just started The Elvenbane by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey. It's a reread; I first read it more than ten years ago, and figured I'd give it another shot. I remember it being rather slow but interesting overall, so we'll see what I think of it a decade on.

Hey, berthirsch, I'm reading Lethem's book pretty soon too, and though most of the reviews of it have been lukewarm, I read everything he writes and think you'll really like Motherless Brooklyn if you give it a shot.

thanks LB

Message 84 (elfchild): I read to a group of 4 year olds once a week and am really looking forward to reading Little Bunny Foo Foo: Told and Sung by the Good Fairy. I think they will especially like the repetition.

I finally finished Revelation Space this evening, which has a good payoff, even if it is also suffused with what seem like a lot of empty plot twists and a lead character who is truly insufferable.

It's then back to That Body of Brave Men.

I have seen the "Mao" book in bookstores but instead bought "The Red Tsar" re Stalin and "No Ordinary Time" re Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. Both are very good but I had to put the Stalin book down for a bit when I arrived at the section relating his millions of murders.

Just finished The Warden by Anthony Trollope and about to start The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve.

I needed something cheerful to welcome the equinox, so I'm reading Perpetrators Victims Bystanders, the Jewish Catastrophe, 1933-1945. Ii'll read anything by Raul Hilberg.

I am immersed in Dhalgren by Samuel R. Delaney now, and it is a long, complex and puzzling read. I suppose it was a sort of 1970's Stranger in a Strange Land, a Bible of the young, but I missed it at the time. I shall be with it for a while, and will certainly not maintain my book-a-week+ record.

SlithyToves: Your clever comments on Last Call by Tim Powers make it sound very interesting, especially with the shout-out to The Matrix. I may have to send it to my son for his birthday.

I'm juggling three books right now:

- The Talisman, by Stephen King and Peter Straub - My bedtime/home time reading. I was daunted at first by the 700+ pages of the book, but I'm really quite into it right now!

- Year's Best Fantasy 5, edited by David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer - My takeout reading. Enjoying most of the stories so far -- anthologies tend to be a delight because it's like a bag of assorted goodies!

- Mirror Mirror, by Gregory Maguire - My office/lunch break reading. Liking this much more than I did Lost!

#79, storeetllr: I'm having a ball reading it. The sarcasm drips and pools, and you can roll in it. I find myself laughing aloud. The cat's looking at me funny, though.

jonesy: I have You Suck in my TBR pile. I was hoping it's not a rehash of Bloodsucking Fiends. Have you read that one?

Just finished The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom - a sobbing mess at the end. Beautiful book and DEFINITELY a re-read.

Now reading Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko for AP American Lit - sort of confusing so far. An entire page dedicated to the number 4 and the word, "Sunrise"? Preeeety deep...

I've also stocked up for Spring Break in Daytona Beach next week! I've got My Almost Epic Summer by Adele Griffin, The Boy Book by Emily Lockhart, Nine Days a Queen by Ann Rinaldi, and The Wand in the Word, interviews with a bunch of fantasy writers (with my favorites! Tamora Pierce, Jane Yolen...

#102: My little sister LOVES that book xD I'm a Girl Scout Camp Counselor, and girls love that song!

Started Hour Game by David Baldacci (touchstone taking forever) and Silent Prey as my lunch time read (am working my way through my Prey series in paperback...oh how I miss the old Davenport.

Mdbenoit: I did read Bloodsucking Fiends when I found out You Suck was coming out and that it was a sequel. I really enjoy Moore's attitude, but this book (You Suck) wasn't all that great. I just finished it on my lunch break. I thought it wrapped up too quickly and didn't really add that much; it kind of ends up where it started. You should read it because the Emperor of San Francisco shows up (a little, but he's so great) and Moore adds a perky goth girl to his cast of the ridiculous. Try not to expect too much, though.

#81
Jhowell - thats funny because I am also now reading Saturday - I enjoyed Atonement and finished it quickly - the stories of the war wounds was gripping - but I guess I was waiting for more to happen than did - and the ending put a small twist on the book which I liked

keren - a coincidence! So far Saturday is moving a little slower for me than Atonement, but I am only on pg 75. Not sure I like this protagonist.

I just loved everything about Atonement, ending included. But that scene with the French boy and his exposed brain head wound -- that was so damn sad -- it just crystallazed for me the real tradgedy of war -- I'll never forget it.

I just started reading A Million Little Pieces. The book is so sad, but a very engaging story.

I was amused by the tags for this book here at LT. According to the size of the tags in the tag cloud, it is categorized both as fiction and nonfiction by approximately the same number of people! :-)

--> 98

By all means, read Motherless Brooklyn next, but don't miss his book of short stories call Men and Cartoons. Some of those stories are just great!

Jonathan Lethem will be at Politics and Prose bookstore in Washington DC, on Thursday, March 29, 2007 at 7pm.

Here's the link to the bookstore calendar.

jhowell and keren
I read both Saturday and Atonement and I love Ian McEwan's style, but I definitely enjoyed Atonement more. He has such a way with words though.

I love reading about the books you guys are reading.

I'm on to Papillon because I loved the movie. He's not really a writer, but wow! what a story.

Last month I finished The Audacity of Hope and, for my book club, The Picture of Dorian Gray. I wasn't aware, the first time I read Dorian Gray, what a type Sir Henry is of the Devil. Veddy interrrresting.

>98 berthirsch: & >100 LouisBranning:, I think Lethem is the kind of author who doesn't want to write the same book twice. Each of his books are very different, don't you think?

Last night, I finished the Queen Margot/La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas. What a page turner! I was reminded of both Hamlet (by the stacks of dead bodies) and The Princess Bride ("Fencing. Fighting. Torture. True love. Hate. Revenge. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion." No giants, spiders, snakes, or strongest men, and miracles were in the eye of the beholder.)

Tonight, I'm starting Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean, which was recommended to me by several people on LibraryThing.

120- this being my 1st Lethem-his newest- i am enjoying it. there is a strong sexual drive to the content and the characters are refreshingly new and different. its been a fun read so far.

I'm currently reading "Permission Marketing " by Seth Godin. Eye opening reality of the marketing world.

> 123 : epm1013 : Hi, you might want to post this in the current thread, a new one opens up each Friday, I'm just about (a little early) to start the thread for the week of 25 August.