What Are You Reading the week of August 14, 2010?

Sorry guys, it's a no frills posting! I have still not learned how to add pictures. Sad, I know! Have a great reading week!

Thanks, Mark! :)

I have finished and posted a review for Eifelheim by Michael Flynn. It was intriguing!

Next up, later today, I'll be starting The Mind Tree by Tito Mukhapadhyay.

I will be starting Nights in Rodanth today.

Marking it. Her Fearful Symmetry is going very well indeed. Maybe for once, the rest of us should do the thinking about those anniversaries. Shall I kick it off with H P Lovecraft - born on August 20th in 1890? Any more?

Last week, I finished and reviewed Comedy in a Minor Key by Hans Keilson and Purge by Sofi Oksanen. I am about to start The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson and am also reading Powering the Future: A Scientist's Guide to Energy Independence by Daniel Botkin.

I will finish Conversation in the Cathedral this weekend and start my LT early review, Mood Matters. I'm also making slow progress in In Europe.

>5 Booksloth: You asked on the last thread how I was liking Pride and Prejudice. I'm enjoying it very much. I find I have to read it very slowly, though, to keep making the connections between all the characters and to savor the prose. Not a bad thing at all.

I am starting Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. I am also reading Lion's Honey by David Grossman and Poison by Sara Poole. Finished Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern. Very good and very funny. It was just what I needed.

I'm reading my current book very slowly, too. There is much to savor in Isabel Allende's The House of the Spirits.

After that, I'm going to try to squeeze in Native Speaker by Chang-Rae Lee before going on a quick trip to Colorado. I've lined up lots of good listening in the form of audio books for the 24 hours of round-trip driving in five days.

I've read some of the observations of Justin Halpern's Dad online and they are very funny. I'm sure I'll pick this one up when it comes out in paperback.

Sizzling Sixteen diverted me from other reading, and also got me laughing. Like others who read her books, I'd like it if Evanovich departed more from her formula, but it's hard to argue with success.

Having finished being diverted, I'm now back to The Imperfectionists, which so far is a thought-provoking novel involving various people in the end-of-an-era newspaper industry.

Chuckling my way through John Mortimer's Where There's a Will and enjoying it very much.
>11 jnwelch: jnwelch: I loved The Imperfectionists. One of my best reads of the year so far.

I finished Chef by Jaspreet Singh yesterday, an LT Early Reviewer novel set in modern day Kashmir, which was a major disappointment. I'm currently reading Touch by Adania Shibli, a novella about a girl growing up in Palestine that akeela reviewed for Belletrista earlier this year; Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman, which is based on several lectures that the author gave at Yale on the cultural significance of translation; and The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson, a novel about friendship, love and loss among three older men in London that is on this year's Booker Prize longlist.

This morning I finished High Tide in Tuscon by Barbara Kingsolver and started Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote. Also still working on (a letter or two at a sitting) An Alphabet for Gourmets by M.F.K. Fisher.

I'm reading The Tower, The Tortoise, and the Zoo by Julia Stuart which is charming, but not mind-blowing. In audio I'm listening to The City and the City by China Mieville which is fabulous.

#8 Don't think that was actually me (wanders off . . . checks thread . . . ) no, in fact it was Porua, but I'm glad you're enjoying it all the same. And I sometimes think those books that slow us down are among the best ones - they really teach us the proper appreciation they deserve.

Started the week reading The Iron Heel by Jack London. It's a dystopian novel set in the early part of the 20th century. London imagines a future where the labor movement (and the American government) are crushed by wealthy capitalists resulting in a totalitarian state. An interesting, if aggravating, book.

Next up was The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Another dystopian novel. (That's three in a row now.) Not great literature, but a fun read. I started it after work on Thursday and read until 2am. I hated to stop, but knew that I wouldn't get any sleep before work if I didn't. Got home from work on Friday and went straight for the book. I'm feeling withdrawl symptoms. I may have to pick up the second book, Catching Fire, and read it this weekend.

17, fredbacon, the hunger games series is completely addictive, fun & light writing. No, not great literature, but arresting nevertheless. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two and personally can't wait for the next one to come out in a week!

I was recently given a $100 to my local bookstore for my birthday (which was yesterday) and I, who ALWAYS have a million books I want to buy, am suddenly unsure as to what I should spend it on. Sometimes so many possibilities is too much!

#18 Happy birthday for yesterday! (That's a stupid thing to say - how could you not have a happy birthday with £100 for your favourite bookshop?) Come back and tell us what you bought.

I have just started Lush Life by Richard Price for a RL book group.

Just finished Georgia's Kitchen by Jenny Nelson, which I really enjoyed, and am starting The Joy Luck Club today. Not sure why I keep putting off Water for Elephants but for some reason it just doesn't seem to be the one for this week.

I read and reviewed a delightful summertime memoir called The Bucolic Plague in my thread...post #42.

I picked The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno for this week's read.

>18 dancingstarfish: Happy birthday indeed! Nice birthday gift ~ enjoy spending it.

I'm still working on Siddhartha with a little Harry Dresden thrown in for light relief (Blood Rites by Jim Butcher).

This week I'm on family reunion-type vacation in Colorado. I usually go through lots of books while on vacation but, oddly, I'm finding it difficult to find time to read. Last night we didn't get home from the baseball game (Denver v. Milwaukee) until late. After I downloaded some pics from the day's activities, I was just too tired to read! This morning, I'm checking my emails and LT before rushing out again for more fun activities (Mile-High Music Festival) and probably won't have time to read today either.

I'm getting twitchy from lack of reading.

Edited to correct name of Dresden Files novel.

>5 Booksloth: Booksloth -- other birthdays this week:
Sir Walter Scott, Edna Ferber, T.E. Lawrence.

Oh, and I like this photo of Lovecraft:



Once again, I was engrossed in a book last night and neglected to start the new thread for the week. Fortunately, there are other very capable hands jumping in!

I finished The Beekeeper's Apprentice last night and enjoyed it immensely. Now I'm starting Burmese Lessons by Karen Connelly.

Damn, damn, damn this place! I've stumbled across a book called The Battle of Blair Mountain which I now have to read. I have little choice in the matter. I'll hate myself if I don't read it.

Last night I finished The Story Sisters which is a sad and picturesque dysfunctional family story. I was supposed to read it with a group on here, but they are only reading to chapter 3 for now. Oopsy.

Now I'm reading The Eyes of the Dragon for another group read on LT.

I'm reading Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld. It's an accomplished debut but I'd recommend people go straight to American Wife.

#13, I thought Chef by Jaspreet Singh was a dud too, but I REALLY REALLY wanted to like it.

I just finished The Long Ships by Frans g. Bengtsson which I absolutely loved! I haven't the first clue if it's for everyone, but it was so different, exciting, funny and well written (and well translated), I had a hard time putting it down!

Now on to Fifth Born by Zelda Lockhart because it comes highly recommended from a friend who is very picky/fussy on what she'll read. So I thought, why not give it a go.

Having just finished Tomb with a View by Casey Daniels, I will be starting Real Vampires Hate Their Thighs by Gerry Bartlett

Boy, the intellectual stimulation just never ends at my house!

Apparently I had less trouble than I thought spending it (it goes so quickly...)

Bought Harry Potter box set.. which I've read many times but don't actually own, thought this was a good opportunity to get it.

Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly (pirates, adventure!)

Up the down staircase by Bel Kaufman (suggestion after me telling them I loved Guerseny)

And so far thats it. Trying to hold onto the rest for future splurges.

Will go back to Oliver Twist now.. I am almost done and hoping it all turns out alright in the end, cuz this poor boy seems to go through a lot.

I finished and reviewed The September Society on my thread...post #60.

ETA link

Fred- Glad you enjoyed The Hunger Games! Catching Fire is equally as good! I have my copy of Mockinjay pre-ordered!

Ficus- I loved Lush Life, along with most of Richard Price's work. I hope you enjoy it!

Well, I unfortunately have an ER copy of Chef too! Oh joy! Do I have to read it? Can I take a pass this time? Like a mulligan or something?

I am reading Guardian of the Gate. I really enjoyed Prophecy of the Sisters, the issues I did have with it have already been answered with the next.

I started in Snow by Orhan Pamuk this morning and I like it. Although the story is harsh, it's gripping.

I read Death and the Penguin by Andrey Kurkov this morning and I think I'm going to start The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley this evening.

I'm working on my ER copy of The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai. Had some difficulties with the writing style at the beginning, but either it's sorted itself out or I've gotten used to it.

Dread Empire's Fall: Praxis by Walter Jon Williams; been wanting to pick up a science fiction series... also finishing The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet and late last night I grabbed an oldie but a goodie Shelters, Shacks and Shanties and How to Build Them by D.C. Beard

#10 donna828 - I absolutely loved The House of Spirits by Isabel Allende as well. I read it earlier this year during my late-spring mini-vacation. Just lying on a swing on my patio for a couple days with cool glasses of juice and a book that could not be put down. It had been a long time since I'd done that.....

#32 dancingstarfish - I just bought the Harry Potter box set myself - with a $100 gift certificate from some coworkers. I debated between the paperback boxed set and the hard-cover. The latter won (link below).

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Boxset-Books-1-7/dp/0545044251/ref=sr_1_1?ie=...

As for what I'm reading this week.... dipping into an old favorite because it's been a few years since I read them... Complete Letters of Vincent Van Gogh. A hefty 3 volume, hard-cover boxed set. Beautiful letters. Beautiful, troubled mind.

I trudge happily along in Writing, Society and Culture in Early Rus, c.950-1300 by Simon Franklin. If ever I get hold of a good general history of early Rus I'll have some serious background to it.

Robert

I so agree with anything flattering to this novel. It has been so disparaged by male critics through the years, yet it is still so alive and so popular. Criticised as a "novel of manners," it never receives credit as a forerunner of realistic novels. I still find it remarkable and pleasurable to read. As a teen, it caught my own desperation at the thought of living a life without love or husband, especially because of my family and background. As an adult, the book still brings forth to me the situation of a young woman, the thrill of romance, the sense of an intelligent woman. Those people still live.

I have just finished reading "Sacrifice" by S. J. Bolton and can heartily recommend it to any but cozy-only mystery readers. Had I read any kind of description of the book before I read it, I probably wouldn't have read it, so I'm glad I didn't, and I won't say much about the plot myself. It is sometimes grisly, sometimes fairly violent; there is horrifying cruelty and sometimes cloudy resolution. Those are probably the top things that would usually put my off about a novel, yet I was so caught by this one that I missed a lot of sleep last week trying to finish it. It is griping. I didn't like the main character but respected and believed her and felt great apprehension regarding her safety. IT is definitely gripping; it offers information of interest; there is a perplexing puzzle; it is great psychological mystery; the descriptive writing is wonderful. With all of the pain and the terror, I truly enjoyed it. I fine reading experience.

I'm reading Wallace Stegner's Crossing to Safety, which I am loving.

#34, I have my Mockingjay pre-ordered as well! I am actually spending the weekend prior to its release lounging by a pool for my friend's birthday, I wish it could be released a few days early so I could enjoy it on my vacation!! But I will be happy to come home to it.

#37, Ygraine .. Hope you enjoy The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie! I found it great fun.

#40, JEN! I am very excited for mine, but I bought a used box set of the first five in hardback (I own the last two somewhere) for $30. I thought it was a good deal :)

#34 msf59, I read Chef a while back. I would agree it's not great but it wasn't painful in anyway. It just felt like it never lived up to its potential, a bit hollow.

#44 AMQS Crossing to Safety was one of my favorite reads of last year. Enjoy

I just finished Conversation in the Cathedral, a book about corruption on both the public and private level throughout society. The ambience of that depravity is created by presenting an entwined story from many points of view jumping frequently from one point of view to another and from one time to another. It sometimes makes following the story difficult but it's part of what envelops and swallows the reader up in malaise

Now reading:

Elizabeth Jolley, The Georges' Wife - 3rd book in The Vera Wright Trilogy

Azir Nafisi, Reading Lolita in Tehran

David Roberts, Sweet Sorrow
historical mystery set just before the start of WWII, final one in a lovely series which plays with Golden Age cliches

Elizabeth Cambridge, Hostages to Fortune
A Persephone reprint - A woman marries a doctor and brings up her kids from about 1916 on

ed Neal Pollack, Chicago Noir
short story anthology

Andrew Taylor, The Anatomy of Ghosts
historical mystery set in 18th century Cambridge

#28 Kirsty - I agree. I read American Wife first then as I liked it so much Prep. Prep really played on my emotions. I was so frustrated, sad, annoyed for the main character, Lee. American Wife on the other hand was utterly engrossing and appeals to a much wider audience.

Last week I didn't read *at all* = readers block!

So on Saturday I finished up The Night Watch by Sarah Waters which I thought was very good. And today I'm going to make inroads on Moo by Jane Smiley which is now overdue - oops.

I forgot to add another read I've finally reviewed: Home, Away by LT author Jeff Gillenkirk. It's in my thread...post #64.

I have rounded third and I'm heading toward home plate with Diz: the Story of Dizzy Dean and Baseball During the Great Depression. It's a well-written biography about a fascinating time in baseball history.

I'm reading Crossroads of Twilight, book 10 in the Wheel of Time. This one really drags, but I'm powering through it because I want to see how all this ends up. I've invested a lot into this story and these characters, and I hear Knife of Dreams and The Gathering Storm are good, so I'm working to get to those.

I have just finished Death in Venice for 1000 Novels and earlier this week The Thirteenth Tale for bookclub.

GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO finally picking up a bit. I could care less about business dealings and crowded family trees. The other day I saw a woman walking along while heedlessly reading a book. It was so inspiring--great to see people loving a book like that instead of texting or playing a video game.

This week I read, loved, and reviewed Kings of the Earth by Jon Clinch. It's a heartfelt fictionalization of the story of the Ward brothers-- the elderly, reclusive farmers documented in the excellent film "Brother's Keeper".

I also finished Little Bee by Chris Cleave -- such a frustrating read-- so strong in parts, and yet I question many decisions the author made. Still, I do think I'd recommend it.

I'm about 1/2 way through Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead. OMG!-- so far it's just brilliant --(so funny)-- about being a teenager in the summer of '85.

:o) And finally, today I found a new website for book lovers --expert authors recommend books in their field-- http://fivebooks.com/

>53 sholofsky: that makes me happy too! I wish I saw that more often. I don't see anything wrong with technology but I wish more people were apt to reading. .

Still reading The Day the Falls Stood Still.

I'm enjoying a quick, fun summer read - Gail Carriger's Changeless. I wasn't sure if the sequel would be as good as Soulless, but it's just the right thing for me now. I just finished Jane Eyre and I'm about to read The Book Thief, so I was in need of an interlude of light fluff.

>18 dancingstarfish: I canceled my Amazon pre-order of Mockingjay because I'll be away on vacation on the 24th, and figure I can pick it up from a brick-and-mortar bookstore that day. If I can find one. I don't wan to wait until I get back.

Just finished The Girls of Murder City. Loved it! And it has re-ignited my fascination with women newspaper reporters in the first half of the 20th century.

As a result, a trip to the library today found Kilgallen, To Tell the Truth Freely and The Story of The New York Times 1851 1951. That's what I brought home. I also have a long list of others to check out eventually.

That being said (or typed) I still believe I'll be reading The Prestige periodically which was my original next read.

I am still reading Kafka on the Shore. Been at a conference this week and didn't get to do as much reading as I thought.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard.... and the back of the cereal box..

#53/55 I'm so jealous of her! I have a huge urge to do that every time I leave the house but I'm still recovering from the last time I fell over my own feet and I daren't try it. Maybe I should practise first around the garden?

#61/55 The thing that really inspired me was that this woman was no spring chicken--she was in her late seventies at least.

Finished Fifth Born by Zelda Lockhart late last night. I didn't care for it. That said, it was a quick read. Just very, very oppressive with severe family violence, rape, generations of incest (and children from father/daughter relationships). The writing was simple, but beautiful in some places. But the ending is just beyond goofy (neat, VERY far fetched coming together of two characters). So this never felt real, but maybe I just got numb to all of the violence, and subject matter(s) maybe I've just read too much about.

But the news of the day is strolled into the library and A Visit From The Goon Squad was actually there! Hooray. So starting that one now.

While I did like Little Bee a lot, for certain creativities/originality and talk about a book that sticks with you (in good ways and bad), I think the marketing is really deceptive on it. It's NOT a "beach read" and all the glowing snippets make you think it's some amazing/beautiful coming together of fates/stories. Also, there is no clue about the violence contained therein. That one should come with a warning!

#63 Carolyn: I completely agree with you about Little Bee. It did stick with me for a number of reasons, as you say, but the overriding feeling for me while reading the book was a creeping sense of dread over what was going to happen in the end. Hardly a beach read, although the story begins and ends on a beach.

Starting Mattimeo by Brian Jacques today! Hopefully, a good diversion from yet another boring sunday at work

I am currently reading Blind Man's Alley. So far it is a slow starter for me, an overload of information about law that is probably interesting to a Lawyer but I am having to wade through it to the story. I shall have to see.....

I also just completed and reviewed Future Imperfect Book One: Crucifying Angel by P.I Barrington. If you get a chance this is a good futuristic thriller.

#53, #55 - I used to try walking while reading and it never worked, I'd get engrossed in something and find myself sitting on the sidewalk or on a bench before I knew it.

I DO read while on the treadmill though! And I can't sit down or stop because I'd shoot off the back of the treadmill like dead weight in the opposite direction from my book. Its a good incentive to keep walking.

On audio, I'm listening to the very entertaining new Carl Hiaasen book, Star Island. And I'm reading The Passage which is also very entertaining, just in a different way.

I picked up 1001 Children's Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up from the library a few days ago and I'm spending a lot of my reading time going through it.

36: One thing I think Snow does incredibly well is build up that frigid setting and isolated atmosphere. I'm glad you like it.

I'm almost halfway through Children of God, am starting The Omnivore's Dilemma and will likely start (and finish) a new Sookie Stackhouse novel or two this week once I pick them up from the library (I have Dead to the World and Dead as a Doornail on hold). I am also listening to Persuasion on audiobook.

I figure I might as well get as much pleasure reading in as I can before school starts next week.

I'm just starting my vacation and trying a new book Not Above Suspicion, I'm looking forward to no electronic interruptions, just reading and listening to children splash in the pool.

I read and reviewed three books yesterday: Touch by Adania Shibli, a novella about a young Palestinian girl (4 stars); Why Translation Matters by Edith Grossman (4-1/2 stars); and A Sense of Where You Are: Bill Bradley at Princeton by John McPhee (4 stars).

Today I'll resume reading The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson, a newly published novel about three male friends, two of them Jewish, in London that is on this year's Booker Prize longlist and received glowing reviews in the UK press this weekend.

I finished and reviewed Diz: the Story of Dizzy Dean and Baseball During the Great Depression. It's a well-written, thought flawed, biography about a fascinating time in baseball history.

Joining the reading while walking discussion to comment that this is something I tend to do if I have to get off the bus and I haven't reached a logical break in my reading. It is pretty safe so long as you walk slower than usual, watch out for obstacles in your path and stop reading when crossing the street! ;-0

I finished the short story collection kilter: 55 fictions last night, which I found to be fantastic (review posted on the book page here: http://www.librarything.com/work/333215/reviews/63223263 ) and I am still reading, and really enjoying the Victorian murder mystery The Companion by Ann Granger - fingers crossed touchstones finds the author as it doesn't seem able to locate the book.

#54 Thanks for the tip on the great book website! Just bought a bio from B&N on Eisenstein recommended by that website.

I finished Breakfast at Tiffany's (and will need to see the movie again). I started 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein.

>46 snash:, snash, I loved Crossing to Safety! It will probably end up as one of my top reads this year. Sadly, it also marks the last of my leisurely reading for awhile, as school starts tomorrow.

I'm finishing up Can You Forgive Her? by Anthony Trollope - very exciting, for a Trollope novel. I'm also reading London: the Biography by Peter Ackroyd and The White Queen by Philippa Gregory. It looks like a very Brit-centric week for me.

Finishing "Body Surfing" by Anita Shreve...enjoyable light summer reading.

I am finishing up The French Gardenerand then I will start Eat Pray Love..

I finished Lush Life by Richard Price. It was tough to get into at the start with the street slang, but then it took off.

Mark, it was very good, and engrossing. My first Price.

I am now reading The Likeness by Tana French. I own it and its the series my RL Mystery group is reading this month, but I am not thrilled. Hopefully it will be better than book 1 (its not shorter).

#81, FiscusFan, it is better than In the Woods in plot and the actual writing. Its got some good moments... but if you didn't like the first one at all, I don't know how much you'll enjoy The Likeness even though the ending is much more satisfying. The ending of In the Woods just drove me nuts.

Starting Up in the Air by Walter Kirn. Saw the movie earlier this year after it got rave reviews for Clooney and Kendrick. Liked it a lot. So, now, the book. Don't usually do things in reverse order, but, recently, I seem to have been finding a lot of books because of the movies. And, the books still outshine the movies, of course.

I started Hearts at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey. It is the first in The Drake Chronicles. A young adult vampire series. Gee what a shock!

84: Does it appear to be any good? I need a vampire book to wash out the bad taste the last won I read left in my mouth.

I finished the Victorian murder mystery A Rare Interest in Corpses, a.k.a The Companion, book one in the Lizzie Martin series by Ann Granger (finally figured out the touchstone problem - it didn't like the title I know the book by here in Canada!) and can recommend it as a good Victorian murder mystery to curl up in an armchair with!

Next up, is Coraline as my introduction to the works of Neil Gaiman. Yup, he is a 'new-to-me' author....

I finally finished Cloud Atlas, having visitors really eats into my reading time. For nonfiction I am slowly reading Christianity & Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Century by Ramsay Mcmullen. I have also started An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro and Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice by A. S. Byatt.

I finished Chronicle of a Death Foretold. I am reading If I Loved You I Would Tell You This and I am listening to American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Finished Her Fearful Symmetry which I thought was delightful. I'm now reading Adrian Mole; the Prostrate Years.

89: How are you finding the Adrian Mole book?

I just finished and posted a review for The Mind Tree. It's an astounding memoir written by a severe/low-functionary non-verbal autistic boy. I honestly don't think I'll ever look at autism the same...it's a stunning book. See my review for details.

I'll take a breather, and then start Blue Pills later today.

I finished 4 books over the weekend and started 3 more.

Still reading

Andrew Taylor, The Anatomy of Ghosts
18th century Cambridge University, historica mystery

Elizabeth Cambridge, Hostages to Fortune

Added:

Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved

Vita Sackville-West, All Passion Spent

Georgina Harding, The Spy Game

I am re-reading Quintin Jardine's series featuring Bob Skinner of the Edinburgh Police Department. I just started Skinner's Ghosts, sixth in the 20 title series. I like the way Jardine gives his characters, both primary and secondary, an added dimension by giving them a life beyond being just policemen. He shows them warts and all. He also has characters from previous titles reappear in later titles.

Still reading Moorish Spain and The Gone-Away World.

#90 I'm a fan of Adrian Mole through the ages and the books always count as light relief for me. Although my favourites are the first two I do think it's remarkable how well Townsend has kept up the standard of the series throughout, given how long it has now been going. I do feel that in any other writer's hands the joke would have worn very thin by now. I suspect the secret is that she leaves long gaps between the books and that she is finely tuned into UK politics and uses her knowledge of that subject to create real irony in the true literary sense. I do wonder how well these books are received in other countries because I feel it takes a reasonable knowledge of politics to pick up on all the jokes so I'd love to hear what you think of them too. I'm less than 100 pages in right now but it's going well.

I'm in the UK too and I'm always surprised to hear that people read them and understand any of the jokes in other countries. I actually think that the most recent couple of books have got better again, I enjoyed rereading or reading all 8 but thought those in the middle were less great than the first ones or this and AM & the WMD.

#87 - How did you like Cloud Atlas? I'm trying to pick a couple books for a Paris trip and that is on the list. I've just heard so many awesome things about it.

I'm about a quarter way into A Visit From The Goon Squad and wow, I am loving it. The funny thing is I rarely enjoy that "genre" (i.e., whining rich people who squander all the things they have yet try to be "wise" - from either NYC or LA - double eyes rolled for any that are in the entertaintment industry), but this has a level of honesty or something (not sure I can put my finger on it) that makes it almost impossible to put down. I just like her writing too, I think. It reminds me slightly of The Emporer's Children by Claire Messud ... similar in some ways. That too was another one I was very surprised I liked.

Reading for reviews Golden Gate by Kevin Starr, Room by Emma Donoghue and Roma by Steven Saylor. All these reviews I will be posting. Waiting from B&N for Eisenstein A Biography by Oskana Bulgakowa. So far Golden Gate is full of fascinating material but suffers from jumping around too much chronologically.

I'm reading and enjoying The City and The City by China Mieville. I like it very much. I've also read and enjoyed Perdido Street Station and find this to be much more accessible.

#97 - I loved Cloud Atlas:- amazing, very different and definitely worth reading.

Forgot to add an e-book I have on the burner, Permanent Obscurity

#83> I hope you enjoy reading Up in the Air. I read it a couple of years ago and liked it a lot. And despite the changes wrought in the movie (like the addition of a love interest), I thought the filmmakers did and excellent job overall. George Clooney was a very good choice for the lead role, I thought. It's always a nice surprise when a movie does justice to a book you care for.

I have started Duane's Depressed, the third installment in Larry McMurtry's 5-part Thalia, Texas, series (which starts with The Last Picture Show).

I'm currently reading:
March
1001 Arabian Nights
Rousseau's Confessions
I Promessi Sposi
Le Morte d'Arthur
Grimm's Complete Fairy Tales
James Madison

I started The Help by Kathryn Stockett last night and have about 100 pages left in The Tudors

RE "What Are You Reading Now?" ---

On the 6th of August, Bob Herbert, of the New York Times, wrote in his column, Putting Our Brains on Hold

"The world leadership qualities of the United States, once so prevalent, are fading faster than the polar ice caps. ... What is the matter with us? Have we been drinking? Whatever happened to that vaunted American dream? In Hawaii, the public schools were closed on 17 Fridays during the past school year for budget reasons."

(Op-Ed Columnist)
Putting Our Brains on Hold By BOB HERBERT
Published: August 6, 2010
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/07/opinion/07herbert.html?ref=bobherbert

And, on the 8th of August, Paul Krugman, also a New York Times columnist, asked in his column, America Goes Dark,

"The lights are going out all over America — literally. ... How did we get to this point? It’s the logical consequence of three decades of antigovernment rhetoric, rhetoric that has convinced many voters that a dollar collected in taxes is always a dollar wasted, that the public sector can’t do anything right."

Op-Ed Columnist America Goes Dark By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 8, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09krugman.html?ref=paulkrugman

Thus, both of these respected columnists have recently asked, in effect, "What is happening to us?"

The question which neither Herbert nor Krugman took on to probe is how it could have happened that the received opinions themselves, the prevalent beliefs offered to explain what's behind the social ills (as Krugman sees it, this is to be summmed up in a short-hand as " the logical consequence of three decades of antigovernment rhetoric, rhetoric that has convinced many voters that a dollar collected in taxes is always a dollar wasted, that the public sector can’t do anything right") were so effective. While I agree that this is a very important factor, at the same time, Krugman hasn't so far suggested how that in itself could have come about over those thirty years. We need to have some understanding not just of the fact that the anti-government rhetoric took its toll but how and why it was able to do so.

Though the answers to the question are sure to be other than simple or singular in character, I think that they involve to an important degree at least two factors which concern the character of contemporary society as it is exemplified in what David Riesman described as 'other-directedness' in his landmark work, The Lonely Crowd, and, with that very large and influential set of phenomena, the now very pronounced specialization which has come to dominate every aspect of the culture's most influential sectors--the sciences, the arts, and education. That highly developed specialization, together with the other-directed types which now prevail everywhere, combine to produce in the culture a kind of ethos which pervades and informs the content, context and meanings of much which is diffused in entertainment and consumer advertising by mass-communication media; that these messages,notably, along with whatever else they accomplish, also drive much of what is behind problems of which the indicators pointed out in the columns of Herbert and Krugman are only symptoms.

And, in some very important part, I suggest that much is to be learned on that matter from this, from my recent reading---not, of course, to be taken as any kind of definitive answer but rather as a very good place to start the enquiry:

from

The Atlantic Monthly | July/August 2001

Books & Critics Books

A Reader's Manifesto: An attack on the growing pretentiousness of American literary prose

by B. R. Myers


http://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/2001/07/myers.htm

see also: Wikipedia's page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Reader's_Manifesto

>106 proximity1:

was there a point to this?

the reason that the lights are going out, the schools are closing, and that mistrust of the government seems to be at all time high... is because we don't or can't recognize good fiction?

> 107:

Your restatment as,

"the reason that the lights are going out, the schools are closing, and that mistrust of the government seems to be at all time high... is because we don't or can't recognize good fiction?"

doesn't acurately restate the point I wish to make. For one thing, "mistrust" of "government" went hand in hand with the public's too-easy acceptance of that same "government's" tendencies to vastly expand (on the national level particularly) its own powers and prerogatives (mainly in reducing real, effective citizen participation in actual decision-making processes to a meaningless charade), even as it took an axe to programs which were long the mainstays of much in public-goods and publics services. ETA: For another, the related aspects don't merely run in one direction--- a desastrous decline in literary interests and the capacity to distinguish and appreciate the better/best from the mediocre or worse, but are instead very much circular and self-reinforcing; thus, the trends developed in a positive feedback sort of loop over the course of the decades rather than one having done its work and taken its toll before the effects were registered and their harms inflicted.

That said, as odd as it sounds when you put it that way, yes, to oversimplify it, the elements-- that is, the fact that these could go on over the course of some thirty (or, rather, forty to fifty) years--- yes, I believe these essential elements are related and related in ways which are important and revelatory. Of course, it seems easily dismissed as an absurdity as soon as its posed in such a " A ----> B" fashion.

PS : The point, however, in this thread is not about debating the merits themselves here, but, rather, to post comments regarding "What are you reading now?" right?

If you don't see the relevance, you aren't (and I don't think you possibly could have in the time between reading my post and replying to it) going to read the articles linked; but generating an interest in those, not debating them point for point, is the object here.

PPS: Given your profile: " high school science teacher and have been for ~20 years," as well as your reading interests (at least as they're suggested in your member page here), you're the very archetype of the person I'd have hoped and expected to make a point with. You have lots--even more than others, though they, too, have plenty-- of reasons to take an interest in the relationships I'm pointing to. Try reading the background texts and see if it doesn't make some sense to you.

finished The Darkest Evening of the Year blah...
started and half-way through A Certain Slant of Light much better and enjoying it

I finished Writing, Society and Culture in Early Rus, c.950-1300 by Simon Franklin last night. Now if anybody starts a conversation on the subject I can ask questions.

Then I picked up The Lacuna by Barbara Kinsolver and read the first, tedious, 26 pages.

Robert

@107 kcs..you made my afternoon :)

I going to use skittles' template for the readathing and make a book cover that says was there a point to this?

This week, I am mostly reading...

Ghostwritten by David Mitchell. To the folks raving about Cloud Atlas above this, his debut, knocks spots off that.

In the car, listening to A Piano in the Pyrenees by Tony Hawks (the English comedian, not the skateboarder).

Also dipping into Alistair Cooke's Letter from America and Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Just started Heart's Blood by Juliet Marillier. I'm only about 14 pages in but I love it already. I adore fairy-tale retellings.

Read and loved Middlesex. It was quite a while ago that I read it but I remember that I enjoyed it very much. Quite thought provoking.

I tried reading The Lacuna too and couldn't get past the beginning. I don't know if I made it more or less than 26 pages. I was disappointed because I really loved most of Kingsolver's books.

Reading I'm Down by Mishna Wolff, very funny and makes you think. I am also reading Scarpetta Patricia Cornwell...it's ok, kind of dragging.

Barbara Tuchman'sBible and Sword, Charles Fort's Book of the Damned,and Arthur Koestler's The Thirteenth Tribe, depending on what room of the house I happen to be in.

#107 & #111> I liked the post. I thought the point was, "Here's something interesting to consider," which works for me.

Started reading Second Honeymoon by Joanna Trollope. It's going to be a slow read. I just can't get into it. Disappointing so far. Has anyone else read this book?

#110 (Mr.Durick) & #115 (laluna179): Do give The Lacuna another chance. - it was one of the best books I've read in years, but it does take some time to get going. Also - I recommend listening to it rather than reading it if you can.

I fully intend to read all of The Lacuna despite the drudgery. I am not up to listening to long narrative; I will be reading this book.

Robert

The Lacuna is another one on my library queue, I think I'm 4th or 5th in line so I should be able to read it in about a month or so. I do hope it's worth the wait.

@118--my comment was nothing against proximity's post...I didn't read enough of it. It was just a moment of where I could visualize those words and apply it to my own circumstance.

I finished The Life You've Imagined which was fabulous, and am now reading Dracula in Love by Karen Essex, not to be confused with Dracula My Love by Syrie James, which I also have and which came out at roughly the same time.

#117 Hope you're enjoying BOOK OF THE DAMNED. The depth of Charles Fort's thinking really surprised me. Not simply a Ripley type, he had his own philosophical basis for viewing reality vis-a-vis the myopia of general science.

#96 I think I'd agree with every word of that. And I do apologise for assuming you were in the US - I just get so used to almost everyone else here being American that I forget those of us who aren't!

>108 proximity1:

I did not read the original articles.. I did however read the wiki article on A_Readers_Manifesto and I am more than passingly familiar with the "decline of modern education".

It seems to me merely yet another generational lament on how the current generation is unable or unwilling to appreciate the 'good' things and contributions of earlier generations, and how that's leading to the decline and fall of the western empire, so to speak.

And as a teacher I have a choice... I can choose to belittle and bemoan the current trends and fashions and become one of those burned out bitter old teachers who can't wait until retirement.

Or I can choose to recognize and celebrate the creativity and energy of todays youth, even though I don't always like or understand it.

I finished The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie which was alright but nothing spectacular.

I've just begun The Stone Book Quartet by Alan Garner, which seems very different to the books of his that I read when I was younger, so I'm intrigued to see where it will go.

finished A Certain Slant of Light by Laura Whitcomb really enjoyed this YA book.
now reading Pretty Little Dirty by Amanda Boyden a coming-of-age story

Finished a short story collection called Tales of Men and Ghosts by Edith Wharton for my Monthly Author Reads group. This turned out to be a far more complex read than I had anticipated. But it totally lived up to my expectations!

My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/59825648

Or my 50 book challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/94041

I'm reading The gendarme by Mark Mustian and hoping to finish it tomorrow. The book's about the Turkish deportation of Armenians and due out early next month.

I finished and posted a review for Blue Pills. Another good graphic memoir!

> 127:

"... I am more than passingly familiar with the "decline of modern education".

I don't doubt it.

And so, you're the expert, aren't you? You're so right. Mine is just another generational lamment here.

As a teacher, you have a choice: you can choose to belittle and bemoan the current trends and fashions and become one of those burned out bitter old teachers who can't wait until retirement. Or you can choose to recognize and celebrate the creativity and energy of todays youth, even though you don't always like or understand it.

What a shame there aren't more and better choices than those two, huh? What would something else, something better, look like? Well, let's not think about that.

I'm not a teacher--at least I'm not one by any standards of being a paid professional, and so I have no such choice. I'm condemned to face the facts as I see them without resort to efforts designed and intended to save me from professional burn-out.

A Parable of the Glass

First the glass was half empty, but everyone said it was really half full instead, so I didn't say anything.

Then the glass was 6/10ths empty but everyone said it was really 4/10ths full instead, and explained that anyone who said different was just indulging in yet another generational lament on how the current generation is unable or unwilling to appreciate the 'good' things, so I didn't say anything.

Then the glass was 3/10ths full, but when someone objected that it was also 7/10ths empty the others called him a no good pessimist who ought to keep his mouth shut, so I didn't say anything.

Then the glass was 2/10ths full. There was some indistinct mumbling but it had already been made clear that negative-thinking people should keep their mouths shut and focus on the positive, to recognize and celebrate what's in the glass rather than what's not in it, so I didn't say anything.

Then the glass was 1/10th full. The optimists celebrated this, recognizing that 1/10th is ten times more than 1/100th, so I didn't say anything.

Then the glass was flat out empty. And the others said, "Hey, I think we've got to celebrate this glass, just to have it at all is really something!, otherwise, Hell!, we've got nothing to do but bemoan and belittle the current situation and that could lead to burn-out! So someone said, "Hip hip, hooor-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay! We have a glass!!! Though it's empty, it's still a glass! Imagine if we didn't even have a glass! But we do, we've got a glass!" So, when the others took up the refrain, I joined them saying, "Hip hip, hooor-a-a-a-a-a-a-ay! We have a glass!!! Though it's empty, it's still a glass!" Hooray for us! Hooray for our glass!"

I read and loved both Coventry and Jim the Boy, and recommend them both. I'm now reading Eat, Pray, Love and really not enjoying it.

>133 proximity1:

sorry prox, you're failing to make much sense

I didn't get far past your initial implied insult, as the rest of your post did very much appear to be little but a generational lament

we've taken up enough space in this thread... carry on without me won't you?

> 135:

"we've taken up enough space in this thread... carry on without me won't you?"

Sure. No problem.

Finished The Imperfectionists, which was poignant and well done, and started China Mieville's new one Kraken. Entertaining so far.

I'm reading Die For You

Read The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street today and it was just as delightful as 84, Charing Cross Road .. I think I must go out and buy all of Ms. Hanff's books now.

Fiction: Today I finished The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson, which was selected for the Booker Prize longlist; it's one of my favorite books of the year so far. I've just now started Reflections in a Golden Eye, the second novel written by Carson McCullers.

Nonfiction: Yesterday I read Chronicles of My Life: An American in the Heart of Japan by Donald Keene, who is probably the leading American expert of Japanese literature and culture. My review is on the book's LT home page. Later tonight I'll start Quacks: Fakers & Charlatans in English Medicine by Roy Porter.

Poetry: I'm slowly reading (and enjoying) The Flood: Poems by Korean-American author Chiwan Choi; I should finish this in the next day or two.

Started an unproofed galley of The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey, another Tale of the Five Hundred Kingdoms. Still working on Julius Caesar by Philip Freeman and almost finished with the audiobook Good Omens.

I've finished Prep and am now onto The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner. I haven't read any of the Twilight series but thought I would dip my toes in the water by trying this novella.

This morning I started the wonderful Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson. So far it looks as though it's going to become a favourite.

Finished Elizabeth Cambridge, Hostages to Fortune
Persephone reprint - a reflective novel in which a doctor's wife reflects on marriage and bringing up children in the early 20th century (1915-1933)

Still reading

Andrew Taylor, The Anatomy of Ghosts
18th century Cambridge University, historical mystery - to review for the Bookbag website

Katherine Paterson, Jacob Have I Loved
YA book

Vita Sackville-West, All Passion Spent
An 88 year old woman who has just been widowed remembers how her artistic ambitions were sublimated in marriage and motherhood - early 20th century, so an interesting one to read in conjunction with Hostages to Fortune.

Georgina Harding, The Spy Game
Two children whose German mother died suddenly think she might have been a spy and take up research, secret codes, domestic espionage etc to find out.

Added

Bernadette Strachan, Handbags and Halos - chicklit

Daniel Pennac, School Blues - Now a successful French novelist who has also worked as a teacher, Pennac was considered to be a dunce and a failure as a child. This is a non-fiction book about dunces. I'm going to review it for the Bookbag.

142: How did you find Prep? I was thinking of buying it.

143: I also have Miss Pettigrew in my library pile.

The Prostrate Years was fun and I'm now on to After by Francine Prose - looks interesting .

Finished and reviewed the delightful The Long Ships by Frans Bengtsson.

The Bloomsbury Group: A Collection of Memoirs and Commentary by S.P. Rosenbaum

Individual writings about who,what and when on the Bloomsbury Group by the members of the Bloomsbury Group" . Good insight into what each member thought Bloomsbury was .

also

One Whaling Family by Harold Williams

c1850s , The Captains wife keeps a daily diary of the activites she experiences as the whaling ship her husband runs sails around the world . I like this .

Abandoned my nonfiction read of Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Century - boring and not what I was hoping for.

Finished everything else I mentioned above and have started Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger. So far so good;)

Thinking about what nonfiction book is next.

edit - attempting touchstone!

I finished Reflections in a Golden Eye, Carson McCullers's second novel, this morning, which was good but nowhere near as good as her debut novel, The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.

Today I'll start The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961 by Leïla Sebbar, a novel about the violent response by the Parisian police to a peaceful demonstration against the Algerian War, which resulted in the deaths of between 50 and 200 Algerians.

Rebeccanyc - I loved The Long Ships too! Just huge fun for a voracious reader, something to really sink the teeth into.

I'm crossing half way through A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan - wondering how/if it will all tie together, but I gather that is half of its beauty. I do like it, but some of the characters are pretty repugnant. But I expected that.

I've been going through a jag of starting and discarding books, but I also just finished Her Fearful Symmetry (catchy writing; hated the characters) and am a good third of the way through The Flying Troutmans.

>143 Ygraine:, 145 I thought Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day was terrific. The movie was a disappointment.

I have posted my reviews of The Finkler Question and Reflections in a Golden Eye on their respective LT home pages, and I'll review The Seine Was Red later today.

In addition to Dracula in Love by Karen Essex in print, I've been listening to the audio of China Mieville's Kraken, which is so good I've listened to half of it (8 of 16 hours) in the last day and 1/2.

I finished reading Children of God by Mary Doria Russell and loved it. I thought the author did an excellent job of letting the reader know what happened in on Rakhat after Sandoz left. The story made me cry and made me angry and managed to make the reader realize that living things are precious and needs to be protected and preserved. All this while never glossing over the moral dilemmas that the characters faced. Another four star read by Russell. Now I have to move Thread of Grace up closer to the top of the giant TBR pile.

I'll be starting Vaccinated later tonight/tomorrow morning. Busy busy busy.

#150 kidzdoc, agree with you totally: THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER is a tough summit to climb more than once. Though she produced interesting books, I don't think McCullers came close, even with MEMBER OF THE WEDDING, which I think is her second best. Great review of HUNTER, BTW.

#9 I read Middlesex earlier in the year, hope you like it as much as I did. Very interesting in deed. A new twist on an age old question.

Finished and reviewed my ER copy of The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai. Now I've started The Last Picture Show. Never read any McMurtry - so far (about 20 pages in), I'm enjoying it.

I finished and reviewed the classic Pride and Prejudice.

Next up is The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan.

#160> ursula, hope you continue to enjoy The Last Picture Show. I read it last year and loved it.

Right now, I'm about 80 pages into Duane's Depressed, the third installment of what turned out to be the 5-part "Thalia, Texas," series, of which Last Picture Show is the first. The second installment, Texasville, which I read a few months back, is good but not great, I thought. I'm like Duane's Depressed more than Texasville, but when all is said and done (and I intend to read all five books of the series over the next few months), I wouldn't be surprised if The Last Picture Show was the best of the bunch.

I haven't done any reading on the subject, but I think this series sort of developed organically for McMurtry. For example, my copy of Duane's Depressed calls that book "The final volume in the acclaimed, bestselling trilogy . . . " I guess McMurtry just kept getting the Thalia bug and so kept going back to those characters.

Finished Shades of Murder by Ann Granger.

156: I'm currently reading Children of God (and am about 2/3's of the way through). It took me some time to get used to the jumping between all the different fallout threads, but once I did I fell in love with the book the way I fell in love with The Sparrow.

I finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and now I'm reading Gloria Emerson's Loving Graham Greene.

#165: Fan of Greene myself (with qualifications). Read descriptions of LOVING etc. Sounds fascinating--please let me know what you think. BTW, 2/3 done with GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. Interested in what you thought of that, too.

153, I also really enjoyed Miss Pettigrew. It's one of those books which just makes you smile.

Now moving on to Birds, Beasts and Relatives by Gerald Durrell for more light entertainment.

Finished Sea of Glory. Great book. I just started Silverthorn, the Riftwar Saga, Volume 3 by Raymond E. Feist.

I finished After in the early hours of the morning and I hope to get round to reviewing it when I have time because it was a brilliant read. I've now moved on to Prep, which I'm also enjoying immensely so far.

#156 Please tell us more about Dracula in Love. I thoroughly enjoyed Stealing Athena by the same author and was surprised to see her attempting to join the vampire bandwagon (and I truly loath the very thought of all those cutesy vampire books that are so popular now) but I went on Amazon and read the first page and it looks to be quite a decent and literary read. It sounds like the kind of book that, if it works, it would be great but maybe not many people could pull it off (witness Dracula the Undead by Dacre Stoker). I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

#155: See above. I think Booksloth means you.

>170 Booksloth: It is really not a cutesy vampire book, more a re-imagining of the Dracula story from Mina's point of view. The premise is basically that Stoker took something that actually happened to her and sensationalized it. I actually reviewed it on my blog today:
Dracula in Love review
edited to fix link

#171 Thanks, sholofsky!

#172 And thank you too, Devourer. I'm off to read your review.

#172 Your link just keeps taking me back to the top of this page. Would you mind checking it? Many thanks.

#173, my pleasure.

Next up for me is The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard.

I'm currently reading Ted Hughes: The Life of a Poet. It's excellent--I highly recommend it.

>174 Booksloth:
It was too long and LT truncated it, it is now correct in the original post, and here it is again: Dracula in Love review

I just finished If I Loved You I Would Tell You This by Robin Black, an interesting collection of short stories. I am listening to American Gods by Neil Gaiman and I am about to start reading The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk.

Currently reading Eat,Pray,Love and enjoying it immensely. I would like to pick up some fiction but haven't settled on anything.

Just finished Breakfast at Tiffany's which was such a disappointment, unfortunately. I just couldn't feel any warmth for the characters. It may be the first time that I enjoyed the movie more than the story itself.

Now moving on to Cold Sassy Tree. I don't read much YA but I've heard good things so I'm looking forward to it.

>181 greeneyed_ives: I don't think I'd categorize Cold Sassy Tree as YA, although it's been awhile since I read and loved it.

Well, finished A Visit From the Goon Squad and just didn't like it like most people did. Oh well. It started kind of promising, but I just didn't care for any person in that entire book.

On to The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ... think I need some non fiction for a while, then find a novel to knock my socks off.

Reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See.

#181: Lucky you! I have such wonderful memories of reading Cold Sassy Tree....may be time for a re-read.

Still listening to Kraken by China Mieville and alternating between American Music by Jane Mendelsohn and The Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva in print.

I've been reading up a storm these last few weeks...making up for lost time. LOL I finished reading The Girl Who Played With Fire earlier this week and alternated listening to and reading Vanish by Tess Gerritsen. I finished that earlier today. I've already started on The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and am planning on starting Sapphique by Catherine Fisher too. Hmmm...maybe I'll reread Incarceron before I do though....

Finished listening to Picture of Dorian Gray and found it very interesting. Seems like I have been doing lots of unintended delving into the psychology, or is that philosophy?, of good and evil these days. Will start listening to One Thousand White Women.

Tonight will see me starting on Bones by Jonathan Kellerman.

#178 Thank you for reposting that. An interesting review of what looks like an interesting book. I'll be waiting for the p/b but I'm looking forward to it.

Finished Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks last night and started reading King Lear by William Shakespeare and Their Eyes were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston. Will be posting my review later for Nights in Rodanthe and Act Like a Lady, Think like a Man by Steve Harvey.

Starting The Hundred-Foot Journey today as I was sent it in a birthday package yesterday. Sounds like it'll be making me hungry the whole story!

#188 Let me know what you think of ONE THOUSAND WHITE WOMEN. I read the description--never heard of that hidden corner of American history. Did it really happen? It sounds insane.

Well my raffle drawing turned up Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, the good thing is I have already read the first part earlier this year.

#193 The reviews of One Thousand White Women were good and it won the Mountain Plains Fiction award. The premise intrigued me and so when the recorded version was available I snapped it up. Because of your question I did a little research and found out that one of the main characters "Little Wolf" was a real person and his other name is "Little Coyote." I couldn't find out anything about this particular part of Western History so would guess that it might be based in some obscure proposal but may not actually be true. But hey! It's fiction so anything can be real.

#195: Thanks for checking it out. From what the reviews indicate, it was a real proposal that was never enacted...then the author took it a step further.

>182 brenzi:. I've always heard of it referred to as YA, but that may be because it seems to appear on a lot of school reading lists? This is my first time reading it though, so I don't know if that's accurate.

I am still making my way through Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides also started Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. And in non-fiction, I am reading American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America by Chris Hedges and also, The Christian Delusion: Why Faith Fails by John Loftus.

166 sholofsky -- I went through a Greene phase many years ago -- didn't read them all, but quite a few -- liked them very much, most of them anyway -- and the man's life interests me. Loving Graham Greene is quite wonderful -- I haven't finished yet, so I could change my mind, I guess, but probably not. It makes me laugh (out loud) and think and want to read more of Greene, so I imagine it will get a good recommendation from me.

I enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, though I still think it's a shame he didn't have a great editor to help him out. But it's hard to fault someone who creates a character as compelling as Salander.

#198 How are you liking Middlesex?

#199: Thanks for the comment. I read a description of the book--the protagonist sounds ironically like a character Greene would have mocked (a la The Quiet American), the naive American as do-gooder. It also sounds interesting.

Agree with you 100% about the wonders a good editor could have worked on THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO. My pet theory is that since Larsson died suddenly with all three books in manuscript form, it's possible they're first drafts, and that he intended to work with an editor to polish them. Did you find the other books had the same drawbacks?

I finished The Lacuna last night. I stayed up a little too late to finish it, so I didn't get a start on Ex Libris; time will tell whether I do tonight or pick something else.

Robert

200...I just started reading it but so far so good. I am a slow reader but I am hoping to really get into it this weekend.

Now reading

Bernadette Strachan, Handbags and Halos chicklit
Nell leaves her boyfriend and goes to stay with her wealthy grandmother. Her boss at a PR firm blackmails her into posing as a girlfriend for one of his out gay clients, but she's trying to juggle this with volunteer work for an organisation helping homeless people and others in need of assistance. It took me a while to get into this but I'm finding the cast of quirky characters quite charming now.

Daniel Pennac, School Blues
Now a successful French novelist who has also worked as a teacher, Pennac was considered to be a dunce and a failure as a child. This is a non-fiction book about dunces. I'm going to review it for the Bookbag.

Angelica Garnett, Deceived with Kindness
Memoir by Vanessa Bell's daughter - I wanted to read this since I read her short stories a few months ago, which are autobiographical. The memoir is much better.

Catriona McCloud, Growing Up Again
Time travel chicklit. A woman of nearly 40 leaves her husband and then finds herself at 15 again, living with her family in 1981, but with the knowledge of what's going to happen in future. Quite good fun.

Said Sayrafiezadeh, When Skateboards Will be Free
Memoir about growing up as the child of left wing political activists in the US.

Suzannah Dunn, Tenterhooks
Short stories by someone who has since taken a completely different direction writing historical novels about monarchs.

#201 -- The main character is indeed a naive American do-gooder, but she turns out to be so much more -- and you come to understand her and admire her and to see America itself in her and through her. At the beginning of the book I feared the author would do nothing more than mock, but then she closes in and gives you a better look, and the book deepens. I keep re-reading passages -- some funny, some heartbreaking -- sometimes both at once.

Emerson is a wonderful writer. Long ago I read her nonfiction book about the Vietnam War -- Winners and Losers -- and I've been thinking it might be time to read it again. I keep getting pulled back to that period for some reason or other.

I've heard that Larsson asked his Swedish publisher for help with editing -- but if he got any help, it wasn't enough. I keep wishing that Nan Talese had got hold of that manuscript. The other two books suffer from similar problems. I don't want to say much about #2 and #3 since you haven't read them, but by the third book I was having trouble with the large number of characters that are introduced in #2 -- and more to come in #3. At some point I wondered if there was a website devoted to keeping track of all those people.

#201 -- I went to Amazon to see what Gloria Emerson books are available and discovered all sorts of things:

Loving Graham Greene is at least partly autobiographical.
Not only mocking, but self-mocking, you see.

She interviewed Graham Greene for "Rolling Stone" magazine in 1978.

She wrote the introduction to the Penguin Classics edition of Travels with my Aunt

Emerson killed herself after being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2004.

#205/206: Molly, with you around, who needs Wikipedia! Thanks for all the info--makes me definitely want to push LOVING higher on my TBR list. What a shame Emerson's life came to such a tragic end.

Thanks also for filling me in about Larsson. The guy has enough talent to get me through the first book...I'll have to see what happens at #2 and #3. Maybe by then they'll have that website!

Started reading my ER book. Bad Boy by Peter Robinson.

#193: I read One Thousand White Women The Journals of May Dodd a while back. Good story. I did some research and found out that it is pure fiction.

#209: Thanks. It is tough to believe...even for the Wild West.

I read two books today. First, The Ballad of the Sad Café, a superb novella by Carson McCullers which is easily the most improbable and bizarre love story I've ever read (4-1/2 stars).

I also read The Seine Was Red: Paris, October 1961, a novel based on a real event during the Algerian War, when hundreds of unarmed Algerians peacefully protesting a curfew imposed by the Paris chief of police were murdered by the police. Many of the bodies were dumped into the Seine River, which explains the title of the book. I'll review this book for an upcoming issue of Belletrista, but it was a powerful and very good read, which makes me want to learn more about Algeria during the war and what has happened in the country since the end of the war in 1962.

I'll start The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas tonight.

I started off the week finishing up an Early Reviewer book, The Marriage Bureau for Rich People by Farahad Zama, which I really liked. It was light and sweet, which is what I needed.

Then I moved on to Synaptic Self: How Our Brain Becomes Who We Are by Joseph LeDoux. It was published in 2002 as a cutting-edge neuroscience book, so the contents were old hat to me by now. Otherwise, a good popular science book.

Now I'm in the middle of Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. Oh, how beautiful this book is! I'll finish it today, most likely -- I would have yesterday, if there hadn't been five hundred appointments to go to.

New week's thread is up.

jfcameron - Ray Bradbury's birthday is tomorrow.

I'm very pleased with my ER book this month, though I've yet to start reading, but I still feel envious to see US readers being offered new books by Peter Robinson and Laura Lippman. Never mind, I can borrow in hardback from the library while I'm waiting for the paperback.