What are you reading the week of June 12, 2010?

Bare bones, kids, I'm on the fly...but at 9:15a on Saturday, we needed a new thread!

I'm reading Broken by Travis Thrasher, but I'm not sure I will be reading it much longer. I think I'll give it slightly longer than the Pearl Rule, but not much.

Continuing with A Winter Haunting by Dan Simmons. S'okay. Not sure why I chose to read it in June...

I recommend The Big Short by Michael Lewis if you want a somewhat easy read about the financial meltdown. Lewis conveys complicated financial concepts and issues in a way that is understandable to most readers. Likewise, the book focuses on individual people and their roles in the crisis which prevents the book from being dry and technical.

For fiction, I'm reading Black Water Rising which was on the short list for the Orange Prize. I'm enjoying it very much. The story moves very quickly while always bringing the reader into the lead character's personal issues. The book centers around a murder in Houston. The lead character is a lawyer who lives in the poor-part of town and can barely support his pregnant wife. However, they inadvertently became involved with this murder, which causes the lead character to recall his own experiences with the legal system. I know that is a vague description, but I’m still early in the book, and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.

I'm reading The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters. It is fascinating, and really easy reading, but I'll be happy when I get out of the 1930's. All of the letters between Diana and Unity about "poor dear Hitler" are starting to turn my stomach.

My other books this week are On Growth and Form, old school developmental biology by D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson (the abridged version, sadly, but that is all I have) and The Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett.

This week I'm reading Charles Todd's A Test of Wills. It's a mass market pp so I can't read it for long periods of time. So, for off the shelf reading, I have A Dozen on Denver, a dozen fiction stories written by local writers who each chose a time period in Denver history in which to set that story.

In the car, I'm listening to the heartbreaking Strength in What Remains.

Thanks Richard! I also agree The Big Short is a terrific read! Sadly, my reading is at a snails-crawl. I need to get back home and pick up the pace. I'm nearly 200 pages into The Girl Who Played With Fire.

Started Sumner Island...my April LT Early Reviewer book....it's a Paranormal (not my regular cuppa) but the guy's writing has a decent flow to it..and he has a healthy grasp of Grammar & Syntax....always a boon!

Just beginning Small Island by Andrea Levy. I'll watch the Masterpiece Theater version when I'm done.

oops I think I managed to miss last week's thread completely with my general lack of reading. I'm still plodding on with A Clash of Kings which I'm loving so far and last night I finished A Great and Terrible Beauty which was still rather good considering how long it's been since I read it last. I made a start on Rebel Angels which I want to get finished in the next few days.

#4 Bridget770

there has been some really good buzz on LT about Black Water Rising. So good in fact, that I have it on my wish list. I also have my own copy of Big Short and will get to it someday.

Right now I am seriously looking at The Ball is Round it is a 1,000 page monster, but the whole world, except for us, is so excited about the World Cup that I wonder what it is all about. Got this book from the library and thought maybe it might help explain some of this to me. Of course, I don't really understand the whole sports thing anyway. Or those giant concerts with 100,000 people in attendance either. Or mega-churches. I think it is all mob mentality and I just don't get it. I would rather stay home with a good book.

#10 ladyviolet

I read that whole series this winter and really liked it. They should keep you busy for a while. I do recommend the Jemma Doyle, Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and Sweet Far Thing, series to adults as well as YA's. Very good books.

About halfway through The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Better than the second and not as good as the first.

Seize the Night by Dean Koontz. Love his dry humor. A little slower than his others but I still love his books, especially the Odd Thomas series.

#4: I'm very curious to get your take on Black Water Rising. I'll probably read it for Orange January next year, as I already have several books to read for Orange July next month.

I've just finished The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, a historical novel set in Nagasaki, Japan at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, which deserves its frequent mention as an early favorite for this year's Booker Prize.

Sticking with the Booker Prize theme, I'll start Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle, the 1993 prize winner, and I'll continue to read The World Is What it Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul by Patrick French; Naipaul's novel In a Free State was the 1971 Booker Prize winner.

I'm on some pre-course prep. Combining The Handbook of Literary Research (which, for some reason best known to the powers that be, brings up a touchstone to something that has been flagged multiple times (now by me, too) as spam and which seems to advertise all kinds of nonsense) with Robinson Crusoe (which I hate), Foe (which I'm so far rather enjoying despite not being big on Coetze) and Don Juan, which I rather love but could wish about 400 pages shorter right now. I just finished The Angel's Game which was marvellous and I'm hovering around the TBR pile wondering what to pick next.

I finished The Girl Who Played With Fire, which I thought was good but not great.

Last night I started One Day of Life by Manlio Argueta, a book written in El Salvado during (and about) that country's political violence and civil war of the 1980s.

I finished Dead to the world and have started in Nederland van Prehistorie tot Beeldenstorm a Dutch history book describing places of memory (lieux de memoire) from prehistoric times to the reformation.

Thanks, Richard!

Am enthralled by Simmons' Black Hills on my iPod but just discovered a big problem. I finished disc 15 but had to stop there because it skipped to disc 17. Somehow I didn't download disc 16 ~ but I've loaned the CDs to a friend and so can't get it back from her until next week. AARGH!

So started listening to The Sparrow as a consolation and am loving it ~ again ~ but oh! I want to get back to Black Hills so badly. When disc 15 ended, Paha Sapa was hanging to a ledge while dynamite exploded all around him. Talk about a cliffhanger!

Also finishing up The Secret Magdalene and Dead Men's Boots which are due back to the library next week.

Edited to fix typo and then had to come back in to change touchstone which went back to Nora Roberts' Black Hills. *sigh* Curses on the touchstones.

I've finished Fantastic Mr. Fox and have moved on to Danny the Champion of the World. Otherwise, I'm still working on:

All the Pretty Horses
1001 Arabian Nights
Rousseau's Confessions
I Promessi Sposi
Le Morte d'Arthur
Thomas Jefferson

Emily Winslow, The Whole Wide World
Review book for the Bookbag - set in Cambridge, England

Charlotte Moore, Grandmother's Footsteps
Review book for the Bookbag

Jane Emery, Rose Macaulay
Biography of Told By An Idiot author. Fascinating reading, I feel far more of a sense of learning about the author from this than from the Sarah LeFanu bio published a few years after this one (I discovered that both were available from the library reserve stock when searching the online catalogue).

Andrew Taylor, Bleeding Heart Square
Historical crime novel set in the 1930s by one of my favourite authors.

Diana Wynne Jones, The Ogre Downstairs
Am planning to read/reread the work of another of my favourite children's authors, and several other people on one of my LT groups are reading this one this month - I particularly liked this one as a child because it was about a group of children finding it hard to get on with their stepdad and I identified.

Aeronwy Thomas, My Father's Places
Memoir by Dylan Thomas' daughter

Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
Story told from the viewpoint of a 10 year old (but not a children's book)

I am now halfway through A Thousand Acres. Daddy has just turned explicitly nasty. Finishing the book will be a matter of available time not of willing.

Robert

I'm enjoying Diamond Star Halo about a girl growing up on a farm/recording studio in Wales with a Heathcliffe type adopted brother.

Today I am going to start A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

#24: I loved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn! I started The Map of True Places.

Just finished Danny the Champion of the World, which was wonderful - a fantastic read for the upcoming Father's Day!

Now I'm on to a book I just picked up today at the library book sale, Lugalbanda.

tommyknockers bystephen king. I read it years ago and just saw the mini-series adaption and decided to pick it up again. also reading the host by stephanie meyer.

>24 kiwiflowa:/25 I absolutely adored A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, I just reviewed it on my blog yesterday.

Oooo, two people reading Paddy Clarke. I adored that book, got me reading lots of Roddy Doyle.

I'm reading One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson's sort of sequel to Case Histories. Not my usual fare, but enjoyable and nice for a warm summer day of reading under the apple tree.

I'm reading From Margin to Center: The Spaces of Installation Art which is an overview of Installation art, particularly in NYC. I'm finding it interesting reading, as history, art, and philosophy. Also well into The Woman Behind the New Deal which I'm also very much enjoying. An amazing woman.

I need to take a trip to Barnes and Noble soon because i've read everything in my personal collection. I'm rereading The Scarlet letter.

living the dream, being light, and book of blognots, not blogs. good times ahead!

I am halfway through Fall On Your Knees and am really enjoying it. I happen to actually be vacationing in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where the book takes place. It is certainly depressing in parts, but I am hookede and hope to finish it up in the next few days.

31> "i've read everything in my personal collection" omg - That is a state I dream of but will never reach.

Re: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn two chapters in and loving it.

>34 kiwiflowa: I will read everything in my personal collection - if I live to be 150. And stop buying books now.

I think that would terrify me. Not to worry though, it's not going to happen.

Teelgee--LOL I'm w/ you if I live to be very very old, I might be able to get through my personal collection.

I'm reading My Wife's Affair by Nancy Woodruff. Only fifty pages in, but liking it so far.

RE: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn--I loved this book!! Enjoy!

Still rereading Natural Acts: A Sidelong View of Science and Nature and have also picked up Three Men in a Boat. Natural Acts was supposed to be my dip in book and Three Men my focused read, but somehow they've changed places.

I finished The Girl Who Played With Fire and will wait a while before starting the 3rd one. I don't know if my heart can take more of this yet. From page one I couldn't stop worrying about what horrible things might happen to Salander. This is such a strange book for a man to have written. In many places I could visualize how the story would have been written differently by someone else. How did he get this way?

Tomorrow I start Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor which I got from the new books collection at the library and find is an Early Readers selection for next month. I'm still listening to Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood and am enthralled. Oh that Cordelia!

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

#41 Just finished that one yesterday, reneeseinfled. Terrific book!

Well, I picked up The Physik Book of Deliverance Dane, only to find it is the same book as The Lost Book of Salem - aren't these publishers sneaky?

So now I'm on to Red Dog, Red Dog, which is, so far, beautifully written and intriguing.

I've decided that I simply won't kick the bucket until I've read all the books in my house, and of course I haven't stopped buying them either, nor do I have any determination to stop ever, so I guess that means that I'll just have to stick around for a very long time...

One step closer to that bucket (I better go buy some more!):

Finished Lugalbanda last night - beautifully told and illustrated children's book version of, quite literally, the oldest known written-down story.

Will start today: Henry Huggins, from my NEH Children's Classics list.

I finished My Name is Memory by Ann Brashares last night. The beginning was a bit slow, but I loved the end and can't wait for the second book in the trilogy. I've started Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky and am loving it so far.

I finished reading Dead to the World by Charlaine Harris last night. I am still reading Blind Faith by Ben Elton. I enjoyed Dead to the World. I won't be picking up another book until I finish reading Blind Faith.

I finished Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha this morning; I loved it! Four of us will be reading it for the June TIOLI challenge, and boekenwijs (sp?) also read it this month. I'll review it and the almost equally excellent The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet this afternoon.

My next read will be Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote, a satirical novel about a fictional African dictator by Ahmadou Kourouma, for the Reading Globally monthly theme read (Dictators and Dictatorships).

I finished my LTER book The War Memoir of (HRH) Wallis Duchess of Windsor by Kate Auspitz, a fictionalized account of Simpson's thoughts and opinions of the people and events going on around her, starting with her divorce from Ernest Simpson through to the end of World War II and the lead up to the Nuremberg trials. Overall, interesting and full of dry, sarcastic wit. Review posted.

Yesterday I started and finished The Frozen Thames by Helen Humphreys (loved it!) and I am currently reading To Kingdom Come by Will Thomas as my bedside book and have Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa as my daily commute book.

Touchstones having difficulties finding the title for Auspitz's book.

I'm starting Prompted which is a collection of poems, essays, and fiction written by members and alumni of the Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio. I'm looking forward to it.

#48: I'll be interested to get your thoughts on Prompted.

I've written reviews for The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet and Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, and posted them on the books' home pages on LT.

I just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Good book but I must say Larsson's ideology is the total opposite of mine. Although Larsson was a talented writer, He was far to liberal for me. It seemed he did not appreciate Americans to much either. He also over did it with Blomkvist's sleeping around. I just started Magician Apprentice by Raymond E. Feist. Volume One of a Four Book series.

I finished The Big Short and The Devil's Casino, and I enjoyed both.

Still working on Black Water Rising and still enjoying it.

#27 mccin68 - What's your opinion of The Tommyknockers? I finished that one about a month and a half ago, and I really had to struggle to get through the entire book. The last quarter of the book felt like it dragged on at a snail's pace, and it just seemed like the story line was wandering around aimlessly instead of moving forward.

Just finished Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and I'm still working on If You Can Read This, which is entertaining to read, but not particularly enlightening. I'm still trying to decide which book to pick up next...I checked out The Associate (John Grisham), The Dark Half (Stephen King), and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (Ken Kesey) from the library, but I also have a collection of other books at home that I've never read, or want to reread, with American Psycho and A Prayer For Owen Meany at the top of the list. Too many to choose from!

Hi. I'm new here, and I hope I'm posting in the right place. Discovered Library Thing as a widget on a blog I visited. I am currently reading a Robert S. Wistrich book on Antisemitism, and Mitchell G. Bard's book, Myths & Facts: A Guide to the Arab-Israeli Conflict.
Just embedded a Library Thing widget on my blog, Tikkun Olam. This is great! I can keep track of the books I'm reading, and what I want to read in the future. I used to do this longhand, back in the day. . .

#53> Welcome, and yes, you are in the right place to let us know what books you're reading now.

Thanks for the prompt response! For a minute, it looked as if I was posting a reply to the previous comment, instead of a general one. Does anyone have an idea of what percentage of LibraryThing members are bloggers?

I finished Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson and I've started Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs.

I'm rereading A Scanner Darkly and I'm going to read a story/poem a night from Another City: Writing from Los Angeles starting tonight.

scaifea I like your thinking--I won't kick the bucket either until I finish all my books --so that means I should live to be about 125 or so...

Finishe "Baby Proof" by Emily Giffin, a nice easy read; a romance/family relationships novel.

Next up: a "stand-alone" mystery/thriller by Nevada Barr, "13 1/2", the 1st she's written that's not part of her Anna Pigeon/National Parks series.

I'm reading Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris. I do love all the people/supes in Bon Temps.

I'm listening to the audio book of Salvation in Death by J.D. Robb. The Eve Dallas series is formulaic, but I enjoy listening to them while doing housework.

I've finished A Winter Haunting and will be starting Ravel by Jean Echenoz later tonight/tomorrow morning.

I'm reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro and am totally repulsed while at the same time completely fascinated.

>62 brenzi:, I felt that way too. I liked it and didn't like it.. all at the same time. In the end I decided it was a good book, but one I wouldn't read again just for fun.

I stayed up all night to finish Tatjana Soli's The Lotus Eaters. When I woke up at noon I began reading The Girl Who Played with Fire.

31 and others -- I've always assumed I will die in the avalanche triggered by my attempt to place yet one more new book on the tbr pile.

>64 mollygrace:, ooohhh I looked up the lotus eaters and it is going to be added to my pile!

And maybe if we die that way... heaven will be a nice big library with comfy chairs, blankets and hot cocoa. :)

momom248: Oh we'll *never* kick that bucket, because it's not likely (at least for me) that as long as I'm breathing I'll ever stop buying books...

mollygrace: LOL!!

Just finished Henry Huggins - delightful, but that's not shocking (I love Cleary). Now on to Henry and Beezus!

Heartily enjoying The Count of Monte Cristo - though since I'm almost at the halfway point I might take a couple of days off to read something fluffy this week... Oh, and carrying on with The World According to Clarkson, for handy (and funny) bite-size reading when the shop's busy. All good!

>64 mollygrace: mollygrace: my cat almost died in a book avalanche last week. She smooched a book stalagmite that was too fragile and down it came.

#49 kidzdoc
I'm about a quarter of the way into Prompted and I must say that I'm impressed. I may be prejudiced since I've been writing with the Greater Philadelphia Wordshop Studio for 5 years myself. There are two different workshops and 9 years before my arrival so I actually know only a few of the writers. The writing is varied in style and genre but universally good.

I finished The Cluttered Corpse by Mary Jane Maffini, book2 in the Charlotte Adams series. Didn't like it as much as book1.

Also read book3 Death Loves a Messy Desk and liked it better.

Now finishing The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan.

Loved all 3 of the Larsson books. Thought they were all meaty rather than slow.

Finished Treasure Island, and I have begun listening to North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I continue reading Wolf Hall.

I'm reading the third in a Nora Roberts' trilogy: Key of Valor. I'm also reading The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes on my Kobo reader that my kids gave me for Mother's Day. It came with 100 classics, so I've decided to read some of those that I've always wanted to read but never got around to. War and Peace is on it too....Do I dare attempt it?

Just finished Major Pettigrew's Last Stand by Helen Simonson and am debating among American Salvage, Into Thin Air, The Scent of Rain and Light, and A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World, the latter by Tony Horwitz. I think I'm just in the mood for a little Horwitz.

Im kinda of new to this

Welcome, behindabook! If you have any questions, feel free to head over to the Welcome to LibraryThing group. People are generally happy to answer questions anywhere, but that group is specifically set up for new members to learn the ropes of the site, and you can see what other new members have wondered about recently as well.

I just finished Stephen King's Everything's Eventual and started The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women edited by Stephen Jones.

I finished Bad Marie yesterday, it was an interesting little book, definitely entertaining. I'm now reading The Icing on the Cupcake. Not the best book ever, the main character is an obnoxious bitch (at least at the beginning of the book, I'm sure she'll 'grow') and there is a lot of unnecessary repetition, that makes me think Jennifer Ross's editor didn't fully do his or her job.

I started The Story of Yiddish ny Neal Carlen and Little Bee by Chris Cleave over the weekend

Just finished reading The Gene Thieves--really good near-futuristic thriller set in Australia. I kept reading even when my eyes were wanting to close.

I managed to finish three this past weekend:
(1) The Broken Teaglass, a good mystery set in the offices of a dictionary publisher;
(2) Paper Towns by John Green, a YA title that started and ended well but, for me, dragged a bit in between; and
(3) Jane Austen for Dummies, which has been a periodic and good read for quite some time (yes, I fit the target market well!)

I just started an Alexandre Dumas I've never read, The Man in the Iron Mask.

I'm still working on Napoleon's Buttons. And once I get a hold of some new earphones* I might get a LibriVox book or two by podcast.

----
* I never really found ear buds comfortable. But, of course, that's exactly what came with my new iPod.

Yesterday, I finally finished The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Loved it, but it was a thick one. Now I'm starting A Ghost in the Machine by Caroline Graham - one of her Chief Inspector Barnaby mysteries, which are always a treat.

Still reading "A Problem From Hell": America and the Age of Genocide by Samatha Power. This one will take a while. I've also started The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway, which was lent to me by a friend.

Picked up Picture of Dorian Gray last night. About a third of the way through and think I will finish it in a few days. Been carrying Girl with Dragon Tattoo around but not started it yet--maybe at the pool this week. My son asked me to read Gulliver's Travels. He said it was his favorite book. I'm on chapter 2. I'm keeping Wolverine: Violent Tendencies on the nightstand, so far it's too little Wolverine, too much other-not-interesting characters.

#42 publishers do change the names of books from country to country. It can make life confusing for some of us. I purchased a book in Belfast and several months later my sister purchased the same book here in the U. S, but it had a different title. Don't know why they do that, but think it has something to do with what publishers think appeals to people in different places and cultures. I find it annoying.

I finished reading Foucault's Pendulum for the group read over the weekend and decided to jump on the Millennium Trilogy bandwagon with another book off of my huge TBR pile. On Sunday afternoon I started reading Girl With the Dragon Tatoo. I had supper with my boss on Saturday night, and she told me that she had stayed up until 5 a.m. that morning to finish reading this wonderful mystery. Then she showed me her copy of Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and asked if I had ever heard about these books! I decided that I had been telling others about them long enough. I need to get busy and get them read.

Just started Snow Crash, in addition to a bunch of non-fiction books I have been reading for a while. So far, very enjoyable.

>I need to take a trip to Barnes and Noble soon because i've read everything in my personal collection. I'm rereading The Scarlet letter.

I have about 200 books in my collection that I have not read. And yet, I keep getting ARCs, I keep requesting books and I keep buying them. I know I have a problem, but I will shoot the first person who tries an intervention.

I'm reading The Killing of Mindi Quintana and not loving it. Starting off very slow and I hope it picks up soon. I owe a review on it and at this point, I'm not very motivated to finish it.

>87 LisaLynne: I have about 200 books in my collection that I have not read. And yet, I keep getting ARCs, I keep requesting books and I keep buying them. I know I have a problem, but I will shoot the first person who tries an intervention.

LOL. So many of us are in the same boat. It is an illness. Seriously.

#87 - LisaLynne, here is my new favorite guilt relieving quotation -

"Even when reading is impossible, the presence of books acquired produces such an ecstasy that the buying of more books than one can read is nothing less than the soul reaching towards infinity... we cherish books even if unread, their mere presence exudes comfort, their ready access, reassurance."
--- A.E. Newton

I finished Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres last night. It recapitulated the novel making the connections with King Lear explicit. When I was done it was time to go to sleep.

Robert

Finished If You Can Read This: The Philosophy of Bumper Stickers, although I'm not quite sure what to think of it. It was fairly entertaining and written for someone without a background in philosophy (aka, me), but I disliked his presentation of religious topics - his logical approach to explaining religion simplified what is (obviously) a complicated matter. Needless to say, I don't feel enlightened after finishing this book, only a vague desire to move on to something a little more captivating.

And now I'm moving on to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and another book as yet to be determined, possibly The Associate - I'm interested to read more of John Grisham.

>88 brenzi: wrote LOL. So many of us are in the same boat. It is an illness. Seriously.

With 500+ books in TBR, this is an illness I do not wish a cure for.

I'm the the middle of a Maisie Dobbs mystery, Messenger of Truth by Jacqueline Winspear.

I especially like the author's insights into World War I and its effect on post-war society -- as seen through the character of Maisie Dobbs, an independent private investigator. Tricky little mysteries, too.

Thanks for introducing me to this series, LibraryThing! :)

I finished my Dutch history book Nederland van Prehistorie tot Beeldenstorm (History linked to specific places) and loved it so much that I bought the other three parts in the series (17th and 18th century, 19th century and 20th century).
I will start The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet later today. My boyfriend tried it but could not get into it. He is very busy so that may be the problem, but I am curious how I would like it (he said, one thing that he didn't enjoy was a 20 page description of drinking whiskey....). We'll see.

Finished Henry and Beezus, Henry and Ribsy and Henry and the Paper Route - now on to Henry and the Clubhouse.

I am currently finishing up Frankenstein and cannot believe that I have never read this before - it is wonderful! After that, I will be reading The Worst Hard Time and am looking forward to it.

96: That's how I felt when I finally read it last year. :)

I am reading the ARC of The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno by Ellen Bryson ... so far, so good. It's not blowing me away (I'm nearing the end, w 100 pages or so left), but it's a neat history of P. Barnum and his museum (which pre-dated his forray into the circus) in NYC right 'round the time of Lincoln's assasination. If you liked Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, I'd venture you'd enjoy this one.

I'm reading Miss Melville's Revenge by Evelyn E. Smith. It's nice to have a cozy mystery after all those biographies I've been plowing through.

Yesterday I finished Ravel, posted a quick review. Took a trip to the library today, came home with a giant stack of books as usual. I'm going to go start Into the Silent Land right now! :)

Angel's Flight, a 1999 offering by Michael Connelly. I've come to really enjoy the Harry Bosch novels.

I've finished and reviewed Lester Higata's 20th Century, an ARC from the University of Iowa Press through the Early Reviewers program, in my thread...post #75.

Very, very good collection of short stories!

Hating, hating, hating Robinson Crusoe but I have to read it; not really enjoying Red Dog, Red Dog as much as I'd expected (and I'm worried about that dog) so I'm taking time out to read The Sittaford Mystery which is turning out to be exactly what I need.

ETA - (re 104) Weird, weird, weird. Damn sure I didn't post the identical message almost half an hour later (?)

Just started listening to Neil Gaiman reading Neverwhere and loving, loving, loving it! (Sorry to seem to make fun of your pain, Booksloth. I only do so because I've been there, only not with Robinson Crusoe and I no longer allow myself to suffer through interminable books that I hate, because at my age there's just not enough time ~ one good thing about getting old, anyway.)

Just started Into The Forest by Jean Hegland - recommended on Yahoo's "Book Crazy"

#105 It's a uni set book, I'm afraid, storeetllr, or I wouldn't be bothering either. I did read it many, many years ago and didn't like it then either so goodness knows why I thought it'd be any better this time around. I do agree with you that not reading things you don't want to read is one of the benefits of age but that doesn't allow for being foolish enough to go back to school in one's . . . um . . . senior years. ;-)

#105 I loved Neverwhere. Fantastic book

#107 I feel your pain. But I once got caught having read the abridged children's edition of Moby Dick. There was no excuse it was third year uni American lit.

I'm reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union, enjoying it so far.

#108 Lol! D'you think I could get away with the Ladybird Crusoe? (I even hated that.)

I finished A Guide to the Birds of East Africa by Nicholas Drayson, and was completely charmed by this delightful little book. Next up will be Zeitoun by Dave Eggers for my book club's July meeting. After that I will try really hard to stop borrowing books from the library, and actually read my own. As with the posters above, one wrong move by the cat or anyone else, really, could result in a life-threatening bookslide.

Just finished Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane an cool urban fantasy with lots of action.

I started Hex Marks the Spot by Madelyn Alt. Too early to tell but I have enjoyed the other books in the series.

Finished and reviewed the delightful The Violins of Saint-Jacques by the wonderful Patrick Leigh Fermor.

#89: I am definitely going to use that one!

#98: I enjoyed The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno but it wasn't fabulous. I loved the inside peek at the world of geeks, though.

I've finished Miss Melville's Revenge, which I enjoyed, and have moved on to The Original Knickerbocker, a biography of Washington Irving. It's well written and interesting, but I'm feeling tired and unhappy, so may need to find something lighter, at least for a day or two.

I finished The Icing on the Cupcake, which was sort of annoying, and am starting The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst, for which I have high hopes.

Ultimately, I didn't care for The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno ... gave it only two stars, it just kept getting duller and odd (not in a good way), but that said, it was a quick, easy read. I try to really sloooowww down and take my time with Early Reviewer copies, to be fair and thorough.

I think I'll either read Water Music by T.C. Boyle or Little Bee by Chris Cleave ... both being in the TBR pile for some time.

I finished listening on audio to The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and am sad it's over, loved it. Now, I'm listening to The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane by Katherine Howe.

I finished and reviewed the creepily eerie Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro. I have mixed feelings about it.

Now it's on to The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett which I'm really looking forward to.

>DevourerOfBooks- While I was on vacation I managed to snag a copy of The Nobodies Album. I heard someone mention it on a podcast recently and said it was one of the best books of the year! Which is very high praise!
BTW- I landed my new copy of The Passage. Now, where to fit it in?

I just finished When the Mississippi Ran Backwards for the Missouri Readers group. I have several library books that are getting fairly ripe: The Beekeeper's Apprentice (which I am halfway through), Still Life, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

None can be renewed so I will have my nose happily glued to the inside of a book for the next week or so.

>119 msf59: msf59,
Was it on the Books on the Nightstand podcast? I just listened to that one too, made me bump it up the list a couple of spots.

Regarding the comments above about buying more books even though our TBR's are huge, I agree with all the comments above!! It is a wonderful illness to have.

Hemlokgang--love that quote!! It says everything we feel so well.

> Little Bee by Chris Cleave

Absolutely loved this one.

>Donna- Hope you are enjoying Henrietta Lacks! Excellent book! Careful with that book-glue, we don't want you too happy!

>DOB- I think it was BOTNS! Most of their recommendations are spot on! Were you a fan of The Dogs of Babel?

>124 msf59: msf59,
Yes, I really liked Dogs of Babel, very interesting storyline. I thought Lost and Found was only okay, though.

I am reading The passage by Justin Cronin

I finished reading The Whole World by Emily Winslow, Bleeding Heart Square by Andrew Taylor and The Ogre Downstairs by Diana Wynne Jones.

Still reading

Charlotte Moore, Grandmother's Footsteps
Aeronwy Thomas, My Father's Places
Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

New books started

Margaret Atwood, Moral Disorder
Asne Seierstadt, The Bookseller of Kabul

i just finished the absolutly true diary of a part time indian, it is so good. i am going to start the hunger games.

I finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and thought it was absolutely fascinating and lived up to the hype!

Currently reading my May LTER book, Blame. So far, it's engaging and keeping my interest at less than 100 pages in.

Just finished up The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Meh. It's good, but pales in comparison to the other two books in the series. Not enough Lisbeth. The bad guys are too inactive. The Berger subplot is extraneous. But Larsson keeps a lot of balls in the air at once with multiple investigations going in parallel. Not nearly as much action as the previous book.

Not sure what I'm going to start next.

I posted earlier that I was going to start reading Another City: Writing From Los Angeles but The Perks of Being a Wallflower finally became available at the library for me to read. I tore through that book and I just finished ten minutes ago. Very touching. Hard for me to get into the writing style at first but Charlie is a character I can definitely relate to.

Decided to finally open The Winner Stands Alone, 'cause it's been sitting on my desk for several months now.

Will re-read Tuesdays with Morrie after.

Did a quick in between read of Onmacht by Charles den Tex. Now back to The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet, which I am enjoying more and more.

#123 Isn't it a wonderful book! If you haven't already done you, you should also try Incendiary by the same author. Remarkably, it's equally good.

Adding touchstones for Little Bee

I finished Frankenstein last night and loved it! Such a sad and touching book. I began The Worst Hard Time and had a hard time putting it down and going to bed although I did manage. DH said he could tell I loved it because I kept reading passages out loud to him. He found it interesting as well which is good since I am sure I will be telling him all about it!

I'm really enjoying Cutting for Stone which is a very pleasant surprise. When I read the summary for book club, I thought, "this isn't my kind of book." I can't put it down.

For all the Larsson fans out there, front page article in the NYT today: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/books/16noir.html?hp

>>130 fredbacon:. I'm in the last 20% of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, and I think I'll end up agreeing with you completely. Especially about "Not enough Lisbeth". Also, lots of info-dumping. Good not great.

Saving my place here. . and also finished Souless. This was definitely a fun read. Next The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner and still working on My Booky Wook.

I finished The World Is What it Is: The Authorized Biography of V.S. Naipaul by Patrick French, and reviewed it here.

I should finish Waiting for the Wild Beasts to Vote later today or tomorrow.

I've got two so-sos going. The Original Knickerbocker is well written and well researched; there's nothing wrong with it except I find I don't really want to know that much about Washington Irving. Charters and Caldicott is just a bust. Got to find something on the TBR shelves to make me happy.

I've finished and reviewed the dreary, dull Paddy Clarke, Ha-Ha-Ha in my thread...post #247.

I just finished Prompted which is an excellent anthology of writing by present or former members of the Greater Philadelphia Workshop Studio. I may be prejudiced since I've been writing with the group for 5 years myself. There are two different workshops and were 9 years before my arrival so I actually know only a quarter of the writers. The writing is varied in style and genre but universally good. There are poems, fiction, travel writing, memoir, and drama. Some of the pieces were very moving, thought provoking, and not easily forgotten. I heartily recommend it. (available on Amazon)

I finished and reviewed the wonderfully written, essential yet horrific One Day of Life by Manlio Argueta. It's a poetically rendered account of the suffering, fear and hope of a peasant family during the worst of the "Death Squad" repression in 1980 El Salvador.

And since I seem to be on a run of "bad times" narratives (including the Argueta and When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, a novel about the Japanese invasion of the Philippines which I recently completed), I've now started Elie Wiesel's The Gates of the Forest.

Just finished The Associate and I hope that Grisham's working on a sequel because there wasn't much of a climax and there were way too many loose ends to make for a satisfying story. Still working on Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and then I'm probably going to start Blockade Billy, a new Stephen King novella that I just got from the library. It has a 2 week due date, so I need to get that back ASAP.

I've finished and reviewed the latest "Mistress of the Art of Death" medieval mystery, A Murderous Procession. The review is in my thread... post #121.

I'm about to start The Historian having given up on The Original Knickerbocker and Charters and Caldicott. I'm not having a good book week, that's for sure . . .

Just finished two quickies by William Boyed, "Ice Cream War" and "Gentle Soldier", nice little, satiric reads. Just starting in on "My Life in Action Painting", by J.B. Miller, to be followed by his "Satanic Nurses".

-52
I'm in the middle of tommyknockers and it is beginning to drag, I'm hoping the creep factor gets kicked up a notch soon :) I do love King and haven't read this before many, many years ago and don't remember most of it!

Finished Elegance of the Hedgehog this week.

Now on with Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest.
No way to put these books down.

This is from Garrison's Keillor's Writer's Almanac. Happy June 16:

It's the birthday of Joyce Carol Oates, (books by this author) born in Lockport, New York (1938). She grew up in rural New York, which she later used as the basis for the fictional Eden County, where many of her stories and novels are set. The book that had the most profound influence on her life and her writing was Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. She read it when she was about 10 years old, and she loved how Alice was calm and rational when facing nightmarish situations. She said that Alice's calmness made a strong impression, and ever since she has tried to write about nightmares and bizarre things in a coherent, calm way.

Today is Bloomsday, and James Joyce (books by this author) fans all over the world are celebrating. It commemorates the day on which the events of his novel Ulysses take place. Joyce chose June 16th, 1904, for the setting because it was the day of his first date with Nora Barnacle, his future wife. They'd met each other randomly on Nassau Street in Dublin on June 10th, chatted a bit, and agreed to meet up later. But she stood him up on their first would-be date of June 14th. On the 15th, the 22-year-old James Joyce sent a note to her that read:

"I may be blind. I looked for a long time at a head of reddish-brown hair and decided it was not yours. I went home quite dejected. I would like to make an appointment but it might not suit you. I hope you will be kind enough to make one with me — if you have not forgotten me!"

They successfully met up the following day, June 16th. They went for an evening stroll around the south bank of the Liffey River in Dublin. And Joyce later chose this day for the setting of Ulysses.

Even after the novel's success, Joyce himself did not call June 16th "Bloomsday." Nor did he really celebrate the day, though publisher Sylvia Beach organized a celebratory Parisian luncheon on June 16th, 1929 — years before the book was legal in the English-speaking world.

The first modern celebration of Bloomsday was in 1954, the 50th anniversary of the fictional events in Joyce's book, and about three decades after Joyce published his novel in 1922. Irish writers Flann O'Brien and Patrick Kavanagh got together with critic John Ryan and a dentist cousin of James Joyce, named Tom Joyce, to make a daylong pilgrimage around Dublin. They were to have stops at the Martello Tower (the opening scene of the novel), Davy Byrne's Pub (where Bloom eats a gorgonzola cheese sandwich) and 7 Eccles Street (where Bloom and his wife, Molly, lived). They role-played, acted out the dialogue, and rode in horse-drawn carriages like those described in the scene of Paddy Dignam's funeral. They were supposed to end up in the red-light section of Dublin, where the 15th chapter of Ulysses "Nighttown" is set, but the literary pilgrims got a bit drunk and distracted at a pub about halfway through the route and lost their ambition to finish it.

There are big Bloomsday celebrations today in Paris, Toronto, Seattle, Sydney, San Francisco, Buenos Aires, Oslo, Trieste, Minneapolis, Melbourne, Genoa, and Pittsburgh. In Philadelphia, there are readings — seven hours' worth — on the steps of the Rosenbach Library, where the original manuscript of James Joyce's Ulysses resides.

This past weekend in New York, there was the inaugural Bloomsday in Brooklyn event, a pub crawl with actors reading passages from Ulysses at six different pubs in Park Slope. Today in New York, there's Bloomsday on Broadway, staged readings of Ulysses at Symphony Space. The celebration in Dublin is, of course, the biggest in the world. This year, the festivities have been going on for four days already — since last Saturday. Dubliners sometimes call the whole thing "The Feast of Saint Jam Juice."

Finished Henry and the Clubhouse and read Ribsy today. Starting on The Trumpeter of Krakow this evening.

>145 richardderus: Richard - I read your review of Franklin's most recent book A Murderous Procession - that is disappointing as I loved the earlier books in the series. Have you read her stand alone thriller City of Shadows set in 1922 Berlin? It is quite good IMO if you like gritty thrillers with gangsters, corrupt government officials and a mysterious identity to uncover.

On the reading front, I have finished To Kingdom Come, book 2 in the Victorian mystery series by Will Thomas featuring enquiry agent Barker and his assistant Llewelyn which I found to be an interesting Victoria era espionage novel.

I also finished Hotel Iris by Yoko Ogawa, author of The Housekeeper and the Professor. I found Hotel Iris to be a well crafted, yet disturbing story. As there were only two reviews posted on the book page I have added my review: http://www.librarything.com/work/1117733/reviews/61075289

Forgot to add what I am now reading:

The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre for my at home reading and the short story collection Landscape with Dog for my commuting book.

I finished The Map of True Places last night and started Arcadia Falls.

>152 lkernagh: Hi Lori! I'll get over the fury, I feel sure. I've got a copy of City of Shadows but haven't cracked it yet. The TBR queue never seems to get shorter. Thank GOODness!

Just started A Sentimental Murder - interesting stuff so far.

I am really, really liking Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane.

I've finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and thought it a reasonable end to the series albeit flawed.

I began and nearly finished Gluttony by Francine Prose last night. It is a fantastic group of essays exploring historic and modern thought about overindulgence.

Have recently finished The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and have gotten about a quarter throught The Girl Who Played with Fire. I, so far, find that I just could not put down the the first book. However, the second book is not as compelling, though good.

On my iPod, listening to The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon. I have been enjoying it, but it is not what I hoped. Perhaps I just need to give it more time.

I've posted my review of Montana 1948 at long last, if anyone's interested, in my Homeless Reviews second thread...post #2.

It holds up so well to re-reading that I feel like I've come back to an old friend's hearth on a cold winter of the heart.

Just finished North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. I continue reading Wolf Hall and I will be beginning to listen to The Swiss Family Robinson.

4th of four children graduated last week and I haven't had much reading time. Should settle down now!

living the dream, airship eagle, and book of blognots, not blogs.

Finished The Historian and have started Dragon Haven.

Finished reading Predictably Irrational. It's not the usual kind of book for me but I liked this one better than Freakanomics. Freakanomics was too sensational. Predictably Irrational was more practical and useful, and was written with humor and in a folksy manner.

I started reading Roads to Santiago. This is a book that is translated from the Dutch and I have had on my shelf for about two years. It's time to get it read.

I read Zeitoun by Dave Eggers nearly in one sitting, and now I am reeling. Not sure what I'll read next.

I finished Shakespeare by Anthony Burgess this morning. It is an enjoyable book, and, if you can accept Burgess's imagination as providing information, an informative one. I have the feeling that I know Shakespeare and his milieu better for having read this book, but I can't be sure that I do. I don't know very much more at all about the plays or poems.

Later today I will probably pick up The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest but maybe Hamlet or some of my backlog of magazines.

Robert

I finished The Girl Who Played With Fire. I really enjoyed it and look forward to the next one, but I can't help wishing -- along with millions of other readers -- that the author had had more time.

Imagine a whole shelf of Larsson thrillers. Perhaps some of those flaws we find in these first three might have worked themselves out with time and experience. Or not. Either way -- I'd be in a long line down at the bookstore waiting to buy the next and the next . . .

Today I began reading William Boyd's Ordinary Thunderstorms.

A few days ago I mentioned that I'm reading The Gates of the Forest by Elie Wiesel. I'm closing in on the halfway mark and finding it very moving. I wanted to share this passage that really got to me for some reason . . .

"And what is a friend? More than a father, more than a brother: a traveling companion, with him you can conquer the impossible, even if you must lose it later. Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing. It is to a friend that you communicate the awakening of a desire, the birth of a vision or a terror, the anguish of seeing the sun disappear or of finding that order and justice are no more. That's what you can talk about with a friend. Is the soul immortal, and if so why are we afraid to die? If God exists, how can we lay claim to freedom, since He is its beginning and its end? What is death, when you come down to it? The closing of a parenthesis, and nothing more? And what about life? In the mouth of a philosopher, these questions may have a false ring, but asked during adolescence or friendship, the have the power to change being: a look burns and ordinary gestures tend to transcend themselves. What is a friend? Someone who for the first time makes you aware of your loneliness and his, and helps you to escape so you in turn can help him. Thanks to him you can hold your tongue without shame and talk freely without risk. That's it."

Jerry- Beautiful passage!

Molly- I also just finished The Girl Who Played With Fire. It was a good entertaining read but, like the 1st one, could have used some major editing. Interesting, I liked the 1st half of Dragon Tattoo the best and on this one, I liked the 2nd half best. So does that mean I'll love the middle of Hornet's Nest? We'll see!

I'm about half-way through The Passage by Justin Cronin and am enthralled.

#169 Mark - Hornet's Nest picks up right where Played with Fire left off. You may be back to loving the first half OR just loving the whole thing.

Karen- I have my copy of The Passage! I'm excited about that one and I'm glad you are "entralled"! My plan is to start it in August. Patience, patience!

I finished The Nobodies Album by Carolyn Parkhurst last night and it was absolutely FABULOUS.

Read it, read it, read it, read it.

If you liked Dogs of Babel, I think this one was even better.

Now I've started Backseat Saints by Joshilyn Jackson, which is quite good so far, starts with a bang.

Currently reading

Stella Duffy, Wavewalker
An excellent mystery so far, 2nd in Saz Martin series set in London.

Roddy Doyle, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha
A boy plays with his friends as his family fractures.

Asne Seierstad, The Bookseller of Kabul
A Norwegian journalist stays with an Afghani family for a few months in 2001

Margaret Atwood, Moral Disorder
Linked short stories about a girl growing up (so far)

Diana Wynne Jones, Dogsbody
Sirius the Dog Star has done something very bad and is sent on a mission which involves living and surviving as a human dog. Children's book by one of my favourite authors, but I've forgotten everything about this one.

Astrid Lindgren, Pippi Longstocking
Classic Swedish children's book

I'm still in the middle of The Voyage of the Narwhal and On Growth and Form, but I'm going to have to put those down for a little bit in order to read The Double in honor of Jose Saramago, who died today at 87.

I just finished Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs and I've already begun Off Armageddon Reef by David Weber.

I finished The Uncommom Reader by Alan Bennett. It's absolutely delightful and my review is here.

Now I'm on to Troubles by J.G. Farrell.

#160. Wonderful review, Richard. It prompted me to immediately add Montana 1948 to my BM wishlist, but yippee, it was available and I mooched it!

>177 KAzevedo: Good! I think it's such a good read that it will make you buy it as gifts before too long.

:-)

I've finished and reviewed the bitter, beautiful collection of stories American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell in my thread...post #167.

I'm off to find more books by this terrific, fearless author!

Last night I finished Autobiography of a Fat Bride on a plane, and now I'm back to reading Breaking the Tongue.

msf59 -- You're so right. The first Larsson book seemed to have the climax in the wrong place -- or perhaps my expectations were off (that happens sometimes, darn it) -- but there was a point where I was so into the book and having those end-of-the-book feelings and then I realized there were many, many pages left. Necessary pages, of course, but not at that fever pitch I'd felt earlier. With the second book I sort of plodded through the first half, but then -- at almost exactly the half-way point -- it became a can't-put-it-down book. And I loved how and where it ended. It will be some time before I get to the third book -- unless I break down and buy it in hardcover -- but I am eager to see what comes next, even though I know I'll have a hard time saying goodbye to Lisbeth.

You probably already heard but Portuguese author and Nobel Prize Laureate José Saramago died today. I was not a fan by any stretch of the imagination, but his contribution to contemporary literature and his impact on my country's culture and politics was monumental. So as a Portuguese and book lover I salute his work and life.

I am currently reading Clutch of Constables by Ngaio Marsh-I just graduated with my Masters, and the ceremony was pretty long, so I smuggled this nice, small book into my purse to read during off moments when neither my friends nor I were being handed our diplomas.

Jerry, I now sit here with tears in my eyes. That is why my SO has been my best friend for 22 years.
Thank you for posting.

I finished The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan. It was very sad, and It sucked me right in. Though only thing it seemed to lose purpose towards the end.

I read The Bellini Card by Jason Goodwin, book3 in the Inspector Yashim historical mystery series.

Seems that he is only great every other book. Very esoteric in terms of the motivation of the story, and a bit of choppiness with strange short mystery chapters.

Now reading The Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee. Not loving this as I did her Warchild series. Hope it gets better.

> DevourerOfBooks- I'm so glad you enjoyedThe Nobodies Album! Did you hear this week's BOTNS? Anne picked it as her "must read". Now, I need to squeeze it in somewhere! Oh boy!

Molly- You expressed it better than I did! Ha ha! Now, I need to see the Swedish film versions!

I am going through Fate of the Jedi: Outcast by Aaron Allston

#183 - Congratulations!!