What are you reading the week of September 04, 2010?

Pulitzer Prize winning poet Mary Oliver turns 75 on September 10.

Whatcha reading this week?

(Sparse entry this week, I'm preparing for my 60th birthday gathering this weekend!)

Four pages into December - can I be bothered to carry on with this? Don't know. Anyone else have any opinions?

I'm a good ways into The Contract With God Trilogy and loving it.

I read it earlier this year, Sloth, and gave it 3.5 stars. --wrote in comments--well written family drama, 11 yr. old refuses to speak for almost a year, novel seems headed in one direction- author could have done more, but descriptive writing and authentic child's perspective is worthwhile

Im about 200 pages off the end of Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett and enjoying it a lot more than I though I would, as a result the other books that I was reading have been put on hold!

#4 Thanks GCPL - still not sure it's really grabbing me. Maybe it's just that I'm in the wrong mood.

Just finishing up with Confessions of Felix Krull by Thomas Mann. Last book I read by Mann was Dr. Faustus and I didn't really care for it so I was a little hesitant to start this but I'm actually really enjoying it. I've read a couple other Mann books, Buddenbrooks and Magic Mountain that I loved so I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised.

At the end of last week, I finished The Madonnas of Leningrad and now I'm reading The Gilded Chamber. I don't know a thing about Esther, so I'll be interested to read up on her a little after finishing this.

It's a very fast read - I'm already over 100 pages in and I only started it yesterday.

I finished and reviewed Death in the Andes by Mario Vargas Llosa.

I wasn't in much of a mood to read this week. I'm slowly working my way through Petersburg by Andrei Bely. It's written in a very idiosyncratic style, filled with repeated phrases and motifs which are reminiscent of Homer and other classical epic poetry. Bely tries to capture the roiling mass of St. Petersburg in 1905 using a stream of consciousness technique. Witness a government official riding to his office in a carriage and noting to himself the head gear of the throng as he passes, "cap, cap, cap, tricorn, feather, cap." It's an odd, but very musical, book. The story? In the days leading up to the 1905 revolution in Russia, a young man is asked to honor a rash promise by assassinating a government official--his father.

Still reading Eragon. The pace of the narrative is good although the plot is far from original. I'm spotting influences from various books and movies all the time.

>Porua, its basically a mix of lord or the rings and various other fantasy books. Its not original at all, but its a fun read. I was sad that he had some writing talent and didn't bother to think up anything on his own.

I'm reading the remarkable Shantaram and will be at it most of the week. Stunning book, stunning writing.

#12 Yeah, I’m seeing mostly influences from The Lord of the Rings books, the Harry Potter books and the Star Wars movies. It is entertaining and he does have talent. I hope the rest of the books are more original than Eragon though.

#1 - Well, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!, Terri!

I just finished the absolutely wonderful The Meadow by James Galvin. This afternoon I'll start my arc of Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny.

On audio, I'm enjoying Nathanial Philbrick's The Last Stand.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Finishing up on GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE. Writing has declined compared to DRAGON and this obssesion of Larsson's to write 600 page thrillers no matter what is beginning to test my patience. Happy B-day, Teel!

Half way through The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. I hope to finish it over the long weekend.

>15 Copperskye:, 16 Thanks! A momentous weekend: my granddaughter turns 21 and I turn 60. And a holiday to boot!

Next up, continuing my theme of reading books about books: Time Was Soft There:A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & co. by Jeremy Mercer. (Touchstone doesn't work for the subtitle for some reason.)

>1 teelgee:: Happy, happy birthday! My own 60th is coming up in a few months. Remember when we thought that was old?

Next up, continuing my theme of reading books about books: Time Was Soft There:A Paris Sojourn at Shakespeare & co. by Jeremy Mercer. (Touchstone doesn't work for the subtitle for some reason.)

I'm about to give up on Elizabeth George's Careless in Red.
Though I've read most of the Lynley/Havers books, I've never been a fan of Lynley's angst, and in this book he's wallowing in it. Havers can usually come to my rescue, but I see that she doesn't enter the picture until much later and I'm finding it hard to care about all the prospective suspects and their families, friends, and enemies. Maybe I'll set it aside and try again some other time. Or maybe it's time to put an end to Lynley -- I'll miss Havers, though.

I've been longing to reread an old favorite, Paul Horgan's Whitewater, so that's where I'll be heading next.

Just starting grad school at NYU... lots of Nazi Germany readings. I'm starting off with The Weimar Republic by Detlev J.K. Peukert. It's great so far.

#13 Oh teelgee, I do so agree - it's an extraordinary book and one that has stayed with me for a long time (and, I'm pretty sure, will continue to do so). So good to hear someone else is enjoying it as much as I did!

I'm 40 pages into The Grasmere Journal by Dorothy Wordsworth. I have to read it for a university module about the 18th Century Literature and I've loved and greatly enjoyed almost all the novels I've read so far but I really dislike this one. It's just a long catalog of literally what happened; lots of drinking tea and having headaches, and it being a "fine morning/day/night", going on lots of walks, being ill and a few sentences here and there about nature. It's taken me a week to get this far and I'm still putting it off.

#21 Molly, my wife, the mystery maven, who's read CARELESS, says "Naturally, there's angst--Lynley just lost his wife and son in the previous book. Don't give up. His grief does not dull his detecting skills." Good luck.

BTW, read WHITEWATER over 30 years ago--brings back memories!

I'm nearly halfway through What Alice Knew and it is fairly good.

Just finished Golden Gate. It was OK. Informative for sure, but not well structured. Still reading Roma and Sergei Eisenstein A Biography. Will post reviews.

>1 teelgee:, 18, Happy birthday! What a wonderful celebration weekend.

Not reading as much as I'd like to. I finished reading Rascal aloud to my daughters this week. I'm nearly finished listening to Persuasion, and I'm loving it so much I do not want it to end!

Still working on Unaccustomed Earth, short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. I'm not much for short stories, so this is not really grabbing me. Part one was all about generational differences brought on by the experience of emigrating to the U.S. Part two is totally different, being more of a long dialogue between two people whose lives loosely entwine over years. At least to this point in my reading it is loose. Maybe they get together, maybe not. I guess I don't care right now, but will finish as it's for my book group that meets on Thursday. My whole problem is the short story format. Yes, it is my problem, I know. (Hey, I liked Olive Kitteridge.)

I finished and reviewed the quietly beautiful Old School by Tobias Wolff.

Next up my ER copy of Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny. I'm not sure how she'll top The Brutal Telling but I'm anxious to find out :)

I'm somewhere around 80% through Of Human Bondage by Somerset Maugham, which I'm enjoying a lot. Such clear writing and a character who is flawed yet likeable in his humanity. When he does something stupid, instead of saying, "How could he be so stupid," you say, "Yeah, I've done that." And he is not relentlessly flawed, but at core good-hearted. And best of all, you see the character grow and learn.

#31 Ditto, rocketjk. Read BONDAGE over 40 years ago as a teen--I still recall it clearly, fondly. One of those books I'd like to have amnesia over, so I could read it again, fresh.

>19 NarratorLady: NarratorLady, I remember when I thought 40 was old! Thanks for the BD greetings.

I just finished Coal Black Horse which is a great Civil War story.

I think next I'll read Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe in my quest to complete my color challenge by the end of the year. I have 4 done and 5 to go!

> #29 jbleil: Hang in there with Unaccustomed Earth. The last story is more like a novella. I read it a couple of years ago and I still vividly remember it. Fabulous writing!

Happy birthday, teelgee! You're entering a wonderful decade (I know, I've been here for a couple of years now). Hope your birthday outing is lots of fun!

ETA >19 NarratorLady:, 33 I remember when "you can't trust anyone over 30." lol

#13 ~ Shantaram is easily one of my all-time books! LOVED it. There is a tiny drag near the end, but that said, for such a huge book, I flew through it. I read it like 5 years ago and it still resonates. Supposedly, the movie deal has been struck (couple years ago?) and I thought Johnny Depp was supposed to play the Roberts character. Enjoy ...

>37 CarolynSchroeder: I can't see how any movie would do this book justice - even Johnny Depp!

*fredbacon, I've read Petersburg and yes, it is very odd. It didn't fill me with the need to read more by the author but I'm glad I read it. It reminded me of an impressionist painting, the colors and light were very vibrant but the 'edges' were very hazy. One of my favorite lines from the whole book was this, "But Sofia Petrovna could not bear freedom: she had, after all such a tiny, tiny forehead", so random and bizarre you have to laugh.

teel - Happy Birthday!

I am still reading The Hunger Games and am really enjoying it. I should be finished before the end of the weekend. I took a nasty spill last night and feel as though I were run over by a bus so plan on spending lots of time in my recliner with my feet up, relaxing. Lucky for me, hubby is off all weekend and, since he feels guilty that he didn't catch me before I went down, is very happy to spoil me this weekend.

teelgee, I hope and trust that both you and your niece are having the celebration of your lives, and that next year will be even better.

MissLibrarianLord, I trust your Weimar reading is fascinating. I read When Money Dies and then with the end of the week ended my reading of Wolf Among Wolves by Hans Fallada. The latter was, I concluded on closing the book, a special experience, and, if you want your studies reified in a way, I recommend it to you (it is a big book, so I understand that your duties as a student may actually prevent your reading it).

Now I have taken up The Vanishing Face of Gaia by James Lovelock. I happen to think that the cultured tribe of humanity has grown beyond safe limits for itself. I want to see what Lovelock has to say about that, realizing that some folk believe him to be pleading a special case.

Robert

Happy Birthday teelgee!

I am currently reading the short story collection The Spot by David Means. Haven't been able to commit to how I feel about the stories. Case in point: the story I am currently reading is titled 'Facts Toward Understanding the Spontaneous Human Combustion of Errol McGee'. I will say this: Means writes some highly original stories, albeit with dark undertones!

Yes, Happy Birthday teelgee, hope you and your granddaughter enjoy your celebration.

I am reading Mistress of the Sun by Sandra Gulland, it's about Louise de la Valliere, one of the loves of Louis XIV. I am also about to start Tishomingo Blues by Elmore Leonard.

Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, The Foreign Field
Morland Dynasty #31 - at least the 5th book in this family saga, I think, to be set during WWI. I've read this from the beginning.

Penny Vincenzi, An Absolute Scandal
Another trashy blockbuster type novel, this one about people being caught up in the financial consequences of being a LLoyds Name, ie some very rich people learned they could lose money as well as making it by underwriting insurance.

Peter Spiegelman, Wall Street Noir
Another Akashic Noir anthology of crime short stories set in a particular place

A S Byatt, The Children's Book

Frances Towers, Tea with Mr Rochester
Short stories

Jan Struther, Mrs Miniver

Joan Aiken, A Harp of Fishbones

Happy Birthday Teelgee!

Finished The Help today, liked it a lot! I thought more would happen at the end but maybe its better that it didn't.

Bought The Tower, The Zoo and The Tortoise today, have heard mixed reviews but it was on sale so I thought I'd try it. If it sucks I'll re-sell it on amazon.

I just put a hold on the audio of The Help from my public library. Turns out I'm "number 138 in the hold queue.There are 35 holdable copies." *sigh* I think I'm just going to have to break down and get it from Audible.com if I want to listen to it this century. lol

WOW! Well, at least you know lots of people in your community read/listen to books? Lol I would have no patience for that. If the book I want is on hold at any # above 5, I go to the bookstore and read it there.

Ape, The Contract with God trilogy looks good, I've put it on my wish list.

Happy Birthday to you and your granddaughter, teelgee. Big ones for both of you.

I'm listening to Frankenstein and, after the first 15 minutes or so, finding I like it very much. I'm also reading, for a paranormal being TIOLI challenge, an anthology of stories about vacations Death's Excellent Vacation edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner. Very interesting stories, vampires, aging superheroes, a straight (honest) man who has a bed and breakfast in a weird coastal town, long lived researchers, people who foretell the future - and I'm only 1/2 way through.

I rarely have time to read anymore, nevermind contribute to LT like I used to having now to care for small needy creatures - but I just have to make a plug again for Barry Unger's Booker winner from the early 90's Sacred Hunger. It was just so, so good, I feel like it deserves more kudos.

It has to be amongst the best books I have ever read. So if anyone is looking for literary, yet suspenseful historical fiction that will bring you to your knees - but doesn't mind a long book with lots of characters -- this is the book for you!

Just started Bury Your Dead, the latest Gamache/Three Pines mystery. Exciting!

Still working on The Memory Keeper's Daughter but I've just received a copy of Distemper by James Nulick and I am estatic to start reading it! I'll keep y'all posted on the progress!

This weekend I've been reading The Immortal series by Cassandra Clare. I've read City of Bones and am now onto City of Ashes. I also have A Clockwork Angel by the same author to read.

Both personal and work life is going crazy at the moment so I am really enjoying these easy to read YA books.

im reading "my love lies bleeding" its a really good book its easy to read i would recemened it as a book to read while u dont have anything or ur waiting 4 the next book in a series to come out and u KNOW its coming out soon its not a book u would read that would take months, about 4-5 weeks depensing on how fast u read. its mainly a killing time kind of book.

I am about to start A Novel Bookstore.

The one review here so far of The Novel Bookstore seems favorable albeit not wildly enthusiastic. I hope that you will add your review when you have finished reading the book.

Robert

Curse my Dell computer.

I'm on chapter 37 of The Historian. It started off quite slow and it took a bit of time to get used to the style of writing (easily confused), but it gets really good after the first 100 pages.

49, Citizenjoyce: Oh, it is, it's fantastic. I just finished a 5-star book, usually that makes whatever I read next seem...lesser, but I'm loving it so far! :)

I started the audio of 1776, read by the author and also finally dove into The City and the City, my first Mieville. It begins with much promise.

I picked A Brief History of the Flood from the stack.

I have finished A Simple Act of Violence, which I was disappointed with, just not as good as Ellory's other books. I am now going to make a start on Skippy Dies by Paul Murray.

I just started The Golden Calf by Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov, the duo who wrote The Twelve Chairs. I'm only about 30 pages into it but I'm already enjoying it a great deal. I love that dark humour the Soviets do so well.

Finished Death and the Devil and started The Swarm, both by Frank Schätzing.

Still reading A sudden Dawn by Goran Powell. About 70% done, but have to put it aside for required reading.

Have to start Evening is the Whole Day by Preeta Samarasan for a RL book group next week.

I abandoned December and, quite by accident, picked up another book concerning a non-speaking child, The Weight of Silence. It's easy reading and I'm not expecting any surprises but it seems to be what I need between studying at the moment.

I finished two books yesterday, Room by Emma Donoghue from the current Booker Prize longlist, and Closing the Chart: A Dying Physician Examines Family, Faith and Medicine by Steven D. Hsi, MD. I've reviewed both books on their respective LT home pages.

Today I'll finish Yesterday by Maria Dermoût, and The Half-Finished Heaven: The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer.

Darryl, have you read The Scalpel and the Soul? It looked interesting to me. Have I asked you this before?

We will be doing a Group Read of Blindness by Jose Saramago and this begins on Sept 15th. If you are interested, stop over: here
The more the merrier!

It's been a while since I've been here, but I've missed you all!

Right now I am in the throes of The Hunger Games trilogy. In one week I've finished the first two books, and today I start Mockingjay. I wanted to spread them out, but I couldn't help myself.

AMQS - I got Rascal from bookmooch per your recommendation, but I haven't read it yet. Also, I wanted to read an Austen this year and was torn between Persuasion and Emma. Based on your experience, looks like it will be Persuasion.

I am also reading the first Harry Potter to my daughter. It's so fun to experience it with someone new to the story.

P.S. Happy Birthday Terri!

I finished and loved The Year of the Flood and started The Angel's Game.

Continuing my "summer" reading...finished "State Fair" by Earlene Fowler, started "The Virgin of Small Plains" by Nancy Pickard.
Also getting a start on my book-discussion read, (discussions begin in October) with "The French Lieutenant's Woman" by John Fowles.

Happy Birthday Teelgee to you and your granddaughter! May you both have a wonderful day!

I am still plugging away at The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I am not liking this one so much--loved the 1st two in the series. But I've forgotten alot of the characters from 1st two books and this one is not holding my interest as much.

I just started The Wives of Henry Oades and like it so far.

I think that's why kids love Eragon and adults tend to have trouble with it. I had a girl I worked with in a school who seldom read, but I had to keep taking her copy of Eragon from her so she wouldn't read it in class. :) Kids don't know that Paolini was using tons of tropes to build his plot. It's fresh to them.

I'll be attending Arcana, a horror convention soon, so I'm trying to give myself a crash course on horror. I'm reading I am Legend right now. I haven't seen the movie, and didn't want to because I know a dog gets it. The dog has just shown up in the book, and I'm very, very worried for it's well-being. :) It's horror though. Dog's don't do well in horror or young adult.

#76 Hmm... So in the case of Eragon ignorance is truly ‘bliss’! ;-)

But I’ve got to say the book is very fast paced and entertaining, if not original.

>Cammykitty, I never thought of that! But thats very true. I can see how kids would love it, not knowing where it all came from. I enjoyed it even though I knew he borrowed all his ideas from better books.

I am really hoping he comes out with a more original series next time! He does have talent. But then he is a kid too isn't he? He was like 17 or something when he wrote it, I can see how it might be hard to discern 'inspiration' from 'total assimilation' of other's ideas into our work at that age.

divinenanny - LOVED The Angel's Game!

I'm still working on Consciousness: An Introduction by Susan Blackmore. I like it better than I thought I would, and am also following the philosophical parts of the various arguments she discusses more easily than I anticipated being able to.

I am about to finish Five Quarters of the Orange and I like it but an not loving it. I can say that I am really getting tired of reading book that have heroines that I can't really like. I am not sure if the major character is really that unsympathetic or if I am being lead down a garden path by the author. I keep thinking that if I just have patience all will be made clear. I suspect that I am being told all of the bad qualities of this character so that when the end of the novel comes it will be with a big bang and I will suddenly love the character because all was made clear.

This novel deals with a very difficult subject - the collaboration of the French populace with the Germans during WWII and the aftermath of all of these secrets. Secrets that have been kept for fifty years because residents don't want to admit that they collaborated. I also wonder about the wisdom of a nine year old child. This is the character that I hate and it is she who is telling the story. I can't imagine a nine year old having the kind of wisdom and manipulative abilities as this one is displaying in this book. Oh well, will wait until the end to find out. Only have 75 pages to go.

>benitastrnad - Wow. Sounds like the kind of book you'd love to love, but it isn't quite there. What a difficult subject, and what a strange decision to write it with such a young protag. I'll be interested to see what you think when you've finished it.

>Porua & Dancingstarfish - Yup, it was a double success because kids loved reading what a "kid" wrote, and the tropes were still fresh for them. Of course good pacing doesn't hurt. That is quite a talent, in and of itself. As for the tropes, they became cliches because they were loved to death.

I haven't read much on Paolini or followed his career, but the last book in the series missed it's publication date by quite a bit. My theory is he had matured enough as a writer to see the flaws in the first two books, and he wanted to do something better. Perhaps he'll switch to a pen name, but I think we'll see more and better books from him in the future.

I finished two books today: Yesterday by Maria Dermoût (reviewed today), and The Member of the Wedding by Carson McCullers (review later this week).

I'll finish The Half-Finished Heaven: The Best Poems of Tomas Tranströmer later this week, and I'll start Sanctuary by William Faulkner tomorrow.

74 momom248 -- I had the same problem with Hornet's Nest. I think this is the book where you know for sure he badly needed an editor to help him organize the entire trilogy. Oh, what might have been . . .

Booksloth -- I've been meaning to tell you how much I appreciated your comments about O'Nan's Last Night at the Lobster -- O'Nan is great at illuminating the lives of 'everyday people' (the title of another of his books, by the way).

25 sholofsky -- Poor Mrs. Lynley never had a chance. I knew the minute he married her she was doomed. George can't resist giving her hero something to brood over, and of course a dead wife and child are the ultimate excuse -- plus, he can go on one of his patented guilt trips. He's terrific at guilt. His brooding seems self-indulgent and thoughtless toward family and co-workers. Whatever happened to the good old British stiff upper lip? Like I said, if it weren't for Havers, I'd have given up on this series long ago.

Also -- Whitewater is even better than I remembered. I'm taking it slowly, savoring every word. Horgan has always seemed underappreciated to me.

I'm now reading Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden. So far, so good I think.

#82 Five Quarters of the Orange was, I think, the last Joanne Harris book I really liked - after that they all started to seem a bit 'samey' and then I gave up. It's a long time ago now but I don't actually remember disliking the main character. I do feel that, in some ways, many writers are still rebelling against the days when a protagonist - especially a child - had to be seen as impossibly sweet and good. Instead of just throwing in a few less-likeable characteristics to temper the sweetness, there is often a tendency to throw out all that is good about the person: it's quite interesting the first few times you find yourself supporting a basically unlikeable character but it wears thin after a while. I do remember finding the ending of the book to be really satisfying though. Don't worry, I'm not going to spoil it for you - mainly because I don't actually remember the details - but I do recall putting it down and thinking Wow! That was pretty good after all! Hope it perks up for you.

#86 Thank you for your comment. You really should be thanking dancingstarfish who so kindly sent me her copy after I discovered the only ones I could get over her cost about £35. Some of his others were cheaper though and I now have a nice little pile consisting of Wish You Were Here, A Prayer for the Dying, Songs for the Missing and The Speed Queen waiting to be read. I rarely read several books by the same author consecutively so they'll no doubt wait for a little while but I'm looking forward to them all. So exciting when you discover a 'new' author with a back catalogue just sitting there waiting for you!

#87 A really good book, I thought. Reads so much like a memoir you tend to forget it's fictional (or I did).

#88 It's putting me in mind of 18th century fiction in a way; like really early novels, it goes to great pains to make the reader think that it's 'real'. It's also using the same tricks of the main narrative voice being filtered through another and removed by two languages until it reaches the form on the page. I don't think I've seen many modern novels written like that, so it's interesting to read.

About to start The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

Finished The Weight of Silence - okay if a bit bleagh. Moving on to Blue Diary.

Booksloth, I felt the same way about Five Quarters of the Orange. It was one of the last Joanne Harris books I read and the one with the most original plot. It was a complex book with no easy answers and I liked that about it, instead of cookie cutter characters that were interchangeable and easy plot points that told you how to feel. It reminds me of Amy Tan, all her books have basically the same plot and the same conflict. If you read one, you've really read them all.

>35 NarratorLady: NarratorLady: Thank you for urging me to hang in there with Unaccustomed Earth. I did and I am very glad. The final short story, more of a novella, as you mentioned, was wonderful. I was finally able to lose myself in the writing and felt so, so dreadful for the characters as it wound its way to the conclusion. Part two of the book could stand alone as a short book. I was not at all enamored of the short stories in Part one, but that's probably my dislike of the short story format asserting itself. I like the device of linking the stories, as was done in Part two and also in Olive Kitteridge. I'm just not crazy about a series of stand-alone stories.

I haven't decided what to read next. I've got at least 25 samples lined up on my Kindle.

I'm reading Hard-boiled Wonderland and the Edge of the World by Murakami. Just the ticket for a long journey home from San Francisco to London this week.

I finished and reviewed Wigs on the Green by Nancy Mitford, a sprightly romantic comedy and satire marred by its joking take on fascism and the Nazis.

I finished Reclaiming the F-Word and started Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte.

Mollygrace I agree Larsson needed an editor. This book just does not have it. I am ready to just skim the rest...

I'm probably too indiscriminate, but I raced right through The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest and loved every bit of it. Lisbeth Salander is unforgettable.

The Housekeeper and the Professor was well done and poignant. A beautiful friendship all around.

Next up should be quite different: The Killer by Tom Hinshelwood, a new thriller.

#92 I still haven't read The Bonesetter's Daughter but I do agree with you about the rest of Amy Tan's books, with the exception of Saving Fish From Drowning which I loved and thought was very different.

To be fair to Joanne Harris, I did absolutely love those first two or three books.

Finished and reviewed the short story collection The Spot; stories by David Means. As it is a cold, rainy day where I live - is summer now over? *Gulp* Where did the time go! - I plan to spend the day relaxing on the couch with a warm cup of tea reading The News Where You Are, an LTER book. 80 pages in and so far it is turning out to be quite a fast read.

After that, I plan to read The Last of the Crazy People by Timothy Findley.

I'm wading through my TBR list and came across Maggie O'Farrell's The Hand That First Held Mine. Not a clue how it got there. Did somebody recommend it here on LT? Anybody a fan?

I have to agree with you about Careless in Red. I did manage to get through it because I am that kind of person - never leave a book or anything unfinished. This not always a good trait. I did just finish George's newest Lynley/Havers This Body of Death and thought it was particularly strong. I have always loved the Simon and Deborah St James characters and they both reappear in the newest title. Haver's neighbors (perhaps love interest) are present too. I am trying to whet your appetite to plow through Careless in Red and get to This Body of Death.

#19 - NarratorLady - I recently read Charles Glass's Americans In Paris in which Shakespeare & Co is prominently featured. Great nonfiction title about the day to day lives of extraordinary ordinary people in Paris. I recommend it - if you like that sort of thing!

jnwelch what I am finding w/ The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest is that it gets really good in parts..then slows/bogs down--then it gets good again and so on. It's just not keeping my interest like the other 2 books did where I can't wait to get back to it. When I put this one down, I really don't have any desire to pick it back up again.

Sorry to hear it, Maureen. Wish I could help. I was bleary-eyed at work from staying up late with it because I didn't want to put it down.

One thing I can say is that it's worth getting to the end of the story. I hope you end up enjoying it overall.

#87 Ygraine, ditto with Booksloth: GEISHA is a marvelous book. When Ms. B says "...you tend to forget it's fiction," she may be close to the truth. The famous geisha Golden interviewed for the book tried to sue him for just that--using her life without permission. BTW if you haven't checked it out, the film was excellent.

Starting GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST just to see what more he can do with the characters.

just finished Nora Roberts' The Search. Truely enjoyed it.. Then hit a couple of verse novels for my YA lit. class-- Becoming Joe Dimaggio by Testa and Becoming Billie Holiday by Weatherford. Similar titles but totally different styles.. Testa's is more a story about a kid growing up during the era of Dimaggio while Weatherford's is a fictional bio on Holiday. On to start the Hunger Games finally...

>70 jhedlund: jhedlund, I hope you love Rascal! I have not read Emma but I am loving Persuasion -- I'm actually listening to it in the car on the long drive to and from school, and it is making my commute so much more enjoyable.

I read the first two Harry Potter books to my kids, too. We really enjoyed sharing them that way.

I really liked the Steig Larsson books. Readers need to be aware that the author signed a contract with the Swedish publisher for a ten book series. These are the first three books. The fourth book was almost done with complete outlines for the 5th and 6th books turned in to the publisher. The author died three months after the first book was published. Neither the author or the publisher planned on the author's early death. In retrospect the publisher should have probably gone back after Larsson's death and edited all three books to take out threads that would have become full blown stories in later books. This would have made the books sleeker and stopped all of the wondering about story threads that go no place.

What I want to know about the Larsson books is why Hollywood thinks that they have remake a movie that by all accounts the Swedish film industry has already done admirably. What kind of xenophobia is that?

I'm rereading These Old Shades. I "borrowed" a 1929 edition from my parent's house.

SPOILER ALERT!!

re: Steig Larsson and his books.. the one unfinished/unpursued thread that bothered me the most was Lisbeth's sister. Why even introduce the fact that she exists if you aren't going to follow up? Of course HE didn't know that he was going to die and never have the chance...

Joe, Thank you. I am going to continue w/ Hornet's Nest and hopefully it will be worth it. I've already put alot of time into reading it, I might as well continue on.

109 Benita--I didn't realize that Larsson had planned a 10 book series. Very interesting information. It's too bad he died so young w/ so much left unsaid in the stories.

>93 jbleil: jbleil: So glad you enjoyed the end of Unaccustomed Earth. I'm also not a fan of short stories but Lahiri is one of those authors I'll read no matter what genre she chooses.

>103 agutierrez: agutierrez: Thanks for the recommendation. It sounds like a good follow up to Time Was Soft There even though too many books about Americans in Paris has the potential of making me jealous I'm not one of them!

>109 benitastrnad: benitastrnad: I'm not sure that it's xenophobia that would cause Hollywood to make movies of the Larsson books. As ever, it's money! The audience for an English-speaking version is there because there are many, many American moviegoers who won't go near a movie with subtitles, no matter how much they love the books. It's ridiculous but once when I suggested a foreign film to a friend, he said, "I don't go to the movies to read!"

#109 Yes, thanks for the info on Larsson. My main problem with the books, though, isn't plotlines that go nowhere--it's the same information digested then regurgitated then digested again, ad infinitum. It reminds of what I learned in school about cows and their multiple stomachs.

#113 is right. Remakes of foreign films in various forms is, of course, an old Hollywood practice. Many people don't like sub-titles and the alternative, dubbing, is even worse, both for the audiences and the foreign actors and actresses having their performances butchered by less-talented English-speaking stand-ins.

Started and finished Ragtime by El.L. Doctorow.
5*"s. What else can I say.

Re: Steig Larsson messages...

I was totally absorbed with the first although the second has had some competition from another book. I'm looking forward to the third. Interesting to hear that a 10 book series was planned. I recently saw an interview with Larsson's significant other but she wouldn't comment on whether there was another book in the works. Wouldn't it be interesting if they brought in a "ghost" to finish the series?

I saw the movie for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in it's sub-titled version and found it very easy to follow. What it left out from the book wasn't important to moving the story along. They stuck very close to the original story and I found myself only "checking" with the sub-titles to verify conversations. A very well done movie. Even so, I'll probably go see the 'American' version when it is released.

I finished The Contract with God Trilogy, and thought it was great. Posted a review.

Tomorrow I'll be starting I Left My Sneakers in Dimension X by Bruce Coville. I read Aliens Ate My Homework in elementary school and it is my all-time favorite book read in childhood. I'm weary about revisiting the book, afraid I might mar my pristine memory of it, so instead I'm going to read the sequel, which I've had sitting in a box since those years without ever having read it. Can't wait to get to it! :)

I recently finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and think this book is the reason Larsson wrote the series in the first place. He wanted to write a book about right wing fanatics using patriotism to access power, and he needed Lisbeth Salander to get people to read it. It's worked. How many of us would have read a book about Swedish constitutional law without Salander? I also think his work in the area of right wing fanatics might possibly be what got him killed. From the few spy novels I've read, it seems quite possible to kill someone making it look like he had a heart attack.

I am reading The Physick Book of Deliverance Daneby Katherine Howe, this book is turning into a real struggle. It is finally starting to develop a plot, but I am almost 200 pages into it.

I started Louise Penny's new Three Pines book, Bury Your Dead and just love it!!

#119 almin, that book is alright. I stayed interested all the way through, until I realized how it was ending and then I kinda wanted to kick some ass. It felt like she was pulling at straws at the end to choose what happened. I don't know, maybe that was just me. I hear some people really liked the whole thing.

I reserved Daughters of the Witching Hill at the library which is why someone suggested The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane but then I've heard they are nothing alike (other than having to do with salem & witches families) I heard Daughters of Witching Hill is quite good, so I'm looking forward to picking that up tomorrow.

Read The Goblet of Fire today for some fun reading, and am now moving on to Rereadings by Anne Fadiman tonight.

I finished The Gilded Chamber. It was a mostly involving read, and I didn't have the burden of figuring out whether the history was right or wrong since I'd never heard the story before.

And on the topic of Memoirs of a Geisha, I really enjoyed the book - I remember feeling immersed in it. I didn't see the movie though because I thought it was ridiculous that the main actresses were all Chinese.

I finished I am Legend. Well written, and I see why it's a horror classic, although I was lead to believe the bit with the dog would be much worse. I think the movies have played on the dog theme. There were a few times when my knowledge of human pathology made the suspension of disbelief a bit difficult though, & OMG, if I were in a house surround by vamps, I'd wait until morning to open the door and throw a body out.

For the rest of the week I'll be reading horror short stories. Read one from Eternity and Other Stories by Lucius Shepard that was fantastic. He's a very underrated novela & short story writer. His stories are always well-grounded in different contemporary societies, political and apt.

The other short stories will be various Lovecraft because people idolize him, but hey, Rats in the Walls is nothing to write home about. I'm going to a horror con soon though, so must edumacate myself. Or the stories will be from The Medusa in the Shield which is a collection of classic horror stories like Murders of Rue Morgue and The Yellow Wall Paper.

#122 And all the geishas in the film spoke English! A little suspension of belief, please, Ursula, and I think you'll really like the film--quite spectacular visually, if nothing else.

#122/125 Gotta say I didn't take to the film at all and I do take Ursula's point in a way - a bit like blacking up white actors for Othello, though I also think that kind of thing (the pc-ness) can go too far: it is acting after all and that involves playing a character. I don't think we'd want to see the day when John Merrick could only be played by another sufferer from neurofibromatosis.

On the subject of filmed versions of great books - and forgive me please if I've hit the wrong thread here - there was a discussion a couple of weeks ago about the BBC dramatising The Crimson Petal and the White - I think this was the thread. One of the things we talked about was the casting and (on a lighter note) whether Gillian Anderson had been picked simply for being red-haired. Well, I have to take that all back. I just found another article giving more details of the cast - http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2010/08_august/11/crimson... - and it appears Anderson will be playing Mrs Castaway! Sadly, I don't see any reference here to the marvellous Emmeline Fox, one of my favourite characters, and I imagine she has been cut out of the storyline. What a shame - still I guess these things have to be done to fit a mammoth book like this into four episodes.

# 125 I've not seen the film yet, but I'll certainly look out for it. The book is turning out to be a rather enjoyable read, and I can see how it would translate very well onto the screen.

Well, finished the "reading experience" that was The Magus by John Fowles. I need some sink in time before I can do a proper review today, but overall I'd say for a voracious reader it was "interesting" but rather a mess; and it doesn't age well, in my humble opinion. It felt VERY dated on most levels.

So to get out of my head, I am reading Free to a Good Home by Eve Marie Mont - total beach fluff. My Mom gave it to me because for 13+ years, I've done humane association work (foster/adopt dogs/cats - and now also on the board and do their lawyer-ing stuff) and it has a lot in there about rescuing abandoned dogs. So far it's a super easy read and not that well written, but I expected that. It's kinda cute though.

#126 I think when you cross the race line (whites playing blacks or asians for example) it's a different issue. No one wants to return to the days of minstrels or caucasians made up as asians. But when you have asians playing asians--like the Chinese actors in the GEISHA film--that's like Brits playing Americans and vice-versa (of the same race). And I love British talent far too much, Booksloth dear, to want to stop that :-)

I just finished the book, Get Down. It was a collection of short stories about young people, 12 to 30. They described their attempts to deal with awkward situations told with compassion, honesty, and with full access to their inner fantasies and fears. It might not be great literature but very good and numerous of its characters linger in my mind.

Just started The Road from Coorain, my neighborhood book group read this month.

Burning through Queen of Shadows by Dianne Sylvan. I'm not normally into paranormal fiction, but this is a fun, fast, sexy read.

I finished and reviewed Louise Penny's best mystery yet Bury Your Dead. Up next is The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

I just finished Captain Alatriste by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Not a lot happened. It was almost dull. But, if I take it as the first chapter in a series, then it's actually a good start.

Next up, I'll be reading Crime City: Manchester's Victorian Underworld by Joseph O'Neill.

Not that the world really needs another review of Of Human Bondage, but I have finished and, indeed, reviewed Mr. Maugham's masterpiece. Just a wonderful reading experience. Not sure yet where I'm going next.

#126 booksloth

Oh darn! There's another book I will have to hurry and read before the movie version comes out.

I finished reading Five Quarters of the Orange yesterday and I did like it. You guys were right, the ending is very satisfying. The author tackled the issue of French collaboration and resistance in this book and did a good job of bringing it into the story. I loved the way she intertwined the food and farming (the widow Dartigen knows all her trees by name) and how that was so important to her life. I also liked the way the author wrote about small towns. As a resident of a very small town (150 people) I know about small towns and the author got the closeness and inability to have secrets while still keeping secrets just right. (Nobody in a small town knows anything, but they also know everything and it takes some getting accustomed to.) But, I still had trouble with the heroine. Would a nine year old be that manipulating and would adults fall for it? The nine year olds I know aren't that sophisticated. I have Gentlemen and Players by the same author so will have to get busy and read it so that I can compare the two books.

I started reading Angel's Game last night. I liked Shadow of the Wind so much that I may have subconsciously set the bar to high on this one, but I am usually very forgiving of sequels. If I liked the first one I will like the second one just as much.

I am t-h-i-s close to the end of Tanglewreck by Jeanette Winterson. I'm excited about finishing it. It is good, but, I think, I'm just not one who loves children's lit - Harry Potter being the exception that proves the rule. It is certainly good enough that I intend to put it in the "big boy books" box for my son.

I think I'll follow it with something mystery or thriller-ish, but we'll see where I land when I get there.

#123 I've had some experience reading horror story collections. Earlier this year I read For The Blood Is The Life And Other Stories written by F. Marion Crawford. Crawford wrote many horror stories in late 19th century. I found two of his stories, The Upper Berth and The Screaming Skull, to be pretty good. In fact The Upper Berth was praised by Lovecraft as “Crawford's weird masterpiece ...”. As you've read some Lovecraft I thought I'd share this with you. You may want to check out some of Crawford's stories. :-)

I review books for multiple places I am reading The Mermaid's Pendant just about done with that one , finishing this one today " Terminal Care", working on reading STAY, and last but least Cleopatra The Life...LOVE this book I love History will be done with this book soon too.

After casting about for a day or two, I started reading Ava's Man by Rick Bragg, who also wrote All Over But the Shoutin', which I loved when it came out a few years ago. This is about his grandfather and the Deep South during the Great Depression.

I just finished Joanne Rendell's Out of the Shadows, which is being released today, and I really, really enjoyed it. Now I'm moving on to For the King's Favor by Elizabeth Chadwick which I believe is ALSO being released today in the US, although it has been out longer in the UK, but under a different title I think.

i heart mary oliver!!!! i am reading the lost memoirs of jane austen for my book club and the hunger games just to see what all the hype is about!

I'm reading The Postmistress, a pretty recent novel about WWII with a focus on the Blitz and the U.S. pre-war homefront, but not particularly enjoying it.

I haven't had much time to read since school started. I'm still slowly working my way through O Pioneers!. By slowly, I mean that I haven't picked it up in a week. Maybe I'll read some before bed tonight, but I doubt it.

Jeanne- I recently finished Ava's Man and it was another terrific memoir by Bragg! I hope you like it!

I finished The Passage over the weekend, which was pretty good but not great. Too movie-like, I think. I'm almost done with The Children's Book which is also good but not great. These big, sweeping, multigenerational novels need really interesting characters (see: the Buddenbrooks), but I'm not really interested in the fates of any of these characters (since WWI is about to start, I imagine things will end badly for at least some).

In between these two clunkers, I'm reading Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell.

I finished Death's Excellent Vacation for a TIOLI challenge, entertaining but far from great literature. Now I start on Unaccustomed Earth for my RL book club.

I've reviewed and recommended the grim, cold, exciting follow-up to "Child 44"...The Secret Speech is a terrible (in the original sense) thrill ride!

Just finished Cold Sassy Tree and loved it! Such a wonderful protrayal of a small Southern town and, from someone who grew up in such a town, painfully realistic. For those of you have read it, is the sequel Leaving Cold Sassy worth picking up? I'm hesitant about a half finished sequel that was then completed by a ghost writer...

For my next read, I'm going to reread Catcher in the Rye. I was really young when I first read it (maybe 10?). I picked it up because it was deemed controversial, so of course I had to know what it was about. I think I was too young to appreciate it, though now, as I'm about to reread it, I fear I'm too old. I guess I'll figure it out soon enough!

So excited! Today I picked up SPQR: The Year of Confusion by John Maddox Roberts and am starting it right now!

Blue Diary was an extraordinary book about forgiveness, mistakes and the possibility of change. Hoffman is unflinching when it comes to a refusal to go for the easy answers and this book will stick with me for a long time. Just as I finsihed it there came a knock on the door and my copy of Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of Lenore Doolan and Harold Morris, Inclduing Books, Street Fashion and Jewelry arrived. This was recommended to me by a friend whose recommendations are usually pretty infallible so it's going to be my next read and I expect great things! (And who could resist that title anyway?)

I began reading The Forever War by Dexter Filkins this morning. It is already brilliant and devastating.

About to finish Free to a Good Home by Eve Marire Mont. It was cute, kind of what the doctor ordered after the heaviness and sadism of The Magus.

Can anyone recommend a "feel good" novel? It doesn't have to be happy all the way through, but a happy ending would suffice. Just looking for something really good and uplifting.

#154 Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson is my new favourite happy novel. It's lovely and light and entertaining.

#136 Booksloth - READ IT, it's an amazing book. I just hope the BBC don't ruin it.

>Ygraine Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day is also a favorite of mine. Glad you liked it so much.

>jefetting Thank you for your "good but not great" assessment of The Children's Book. I was thinking about picking it up, but won't hurry now.

>152 Booksloth: (And who could resist that title anyway?)
I know I can't! *runs off to wishlist bizarre-sounding tome*

I've reviewed the last book in a favorite time-travel series, "The Merchant Princes" by Charles Stross. The review is of The Trade of Queens...post #182.

I just started The Reminiscences of Carl Schurz, Volume One 1829-1852. Schurz was a native of Germany, born in 1829, who took part in the revolutions in Germany in mid-19th century and eventually made his way to the U.S., where he became a general in the Union army during our Civil War. He became a member of Congress and Secretary of the Interior in the Hayes administration.

Somehow or other I came upon reference to him and realized I had his memoir somewhere on my shelves. But when I found the book, I realized it was Volume Two of a three volume set. So I found volumes One and Three online. This first volume covers his life right up until his departure from Germany to the U.S.

My volume seems to be an original edition. According to the inscription written on the inside front cover, it was given as a gift in 1909 ("Best wishes for a bright future from your friend.")

I'm about to join the rest of the world reading the Stieg Larsson books; however, I'm 'cheating' by starting with The Girl Who Played With Fire. I saw the film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and am hoping that I have enough background info for Book No. 2 in the series.

Carolyn: Not a novel, but I would recommend The Urban Hermit and The One-Week Job Project by Sean Aiken. For novels The Eyre Affair series and The Princess Bride. And if you're interested in mysteries, The Rabbit Factory and Medicus: A Novel of the Roman Empire.

These are all pretty "feel-good" and fun, quick reads.

I've finished and reviewed Bury Your Dead in my thread...post #186.

What else need I say? You've either already drunk from Penny's Kool-Aid and are on the Three Pines Express, or you're a mutant alien from a galaxy where life is silicon-based and therefore don't get it.

I took a break from reading and looked at Dorothea Lange's intriguing collection of photos of the Japanese internment camps, published under the title Impounded. Best known for her documentary photos of U.S. sharecroppers during the Depression, Lange's images of the Japanese internment camps are no less haunting (& meaningful to me on a personal level, since my grandparents were there....) My full review can be read at: www.the-reading-list.com

I have finished I Left My Sneakers in Dimension X. I nice stroll down memory lane! See my review for details.

Tomorrow, I'm going to start The Great Influenza by John Barry. Yes, I know, it's quite a change of pace! :)

When you are engulfed in flames, by Dave Sedaris
laughing out loud funny and dead-pan serious at the same time.

Currently on Ice Hunt by James Rollins and reading Voyagers by Ben Bova on ebook at work during lunch. Enjoying both!!

Embalmer, if you smoke, Sedaris gives you a great method for stopping, provided you have the funds for a month in Japan.

I've read only the first story in Unaccustomed Earth and am loving it. I thought Lahiri's style reminded me of Stephanie Kallos, then it occurred to me that both are in Seattle. It must be piny Washington humidity that does it.

Donna828, I think you'll be okay. I saw the movie The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and went straight upstairs to Barny Noble's to buy The Girl Who Played with Fire which I read and have since seen as a movie. Since then I have read The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I was enthralled, but I haven't read and I intend not to read the first book.

Robert

>#150 greeneyed: It's been a while since I read Leaving Cold Sassy but from what I recall, I think you could leave that one on the shelf. It's essentially the non-fiction account of Will Tweedy all grown up. Will stood in for her father, who was not the man I had hoped Will would grow up to be. I wondered why she ever undertook the project. Better to keep those Cold Sassy Tree characters in your memory; some things can't be improved upon.

Waitaminnit waitaminnit waitaminnit!! Teelgee is having an *even more* significant milestone birthday celebration this weekend than mine? (See post #1, which I've somehow missed reading until now.) No wonder so few people are coming to my birthday party! (Aside from the fact that my real birthday's not until Tuesday.)

Happy happy day, Terri!

>150 greeneyed_ives:, I agree with NarratorLady, and like her, it's been awhile. The story only has a few chapters, and the rest is mostly her notes for how the book would proceed, and some of the story of Cold Sassy Tree being edited and published, and the making of the movie.

Hey Twiglet,
I had the same experience when I read Pillars a few years back. I think it is a wonderful book. Hope you enjoy it.

>170 NarratorLady: & 172 Thanks for the advice! I had suspected as much, once I heard it was unfinished, but it's always nice to hear it confirmed by other people. I'll just leave the characters as they are at the end of Cold Sassy and assume they all ended up happy. :o)

I'm reading Alligator by Lisa Moore. It's one of those novels where the events seem ordinary and harmless, but you can't escape the feeling that all of the characters are rushing towards some fatal disaster. Moore's descriptions are beautiful, and she is very observant.

I finished The Hunger Games the other day and really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to reading the other two books in the series.

I am currently reading Bastard Out of Carolina which is a sad but compelling story.

>bookaholicgirl I tried reading bastard out of Carolina and couldn't do it to myself. It's obviously a good book, and from what I saw of it and what I've heard from others, it portrays abuse very realistically. Let me know what you think of it when you're done.

>CarolynSchroeder I work with dogs too. Have you read The other end of the leash? It's not a feel good book. It's nonfiction, and very funny. Also one of the best books on the philosophy behind dog training that I've ever read.

>Ex_Lit_Prof I love Dorthea Lange's photos. I'll have to look for this. Sounds very interesting.

As for my reading, I'm plodding through Lovecraft and am scratching my head. He is sooooo loved, but is truly a horrible stylist. His ideas may be good, but his sentences are tortuous. He repeats things over and over again, he uses words like "race" to mean things they don't mean like "species" and even adverbizes etc words that just aren't meant to be treated that way. And as for horror, I ain't scared. Sigh... I'll plow through this 74 page story, and then I'll switch over to someone like Lucius Shepard who has good ideas AND can write.

>cammykitty I've just picked up Lovecraft for the first time, too. I thought being in the midst of an epic allergy attack wasn't improving my opinion of him, but perhaps the allergies aren't entirely to blame.

I finished listening to Persuasion by Jane Austen today. Loved it! Why did it take me so long to try listening to books in the car?

>ursula Probably not. A friend of mine has read a lot of his works and we talked at length about my reaction to him yesterday. She believes his popularity is due to his Cthulu world and the spin-offs by other writers. A grad-school paper crossed my path once that claimed his works to be "well-written" and she laughed and said that Lovecraft scholars have never called him that.

There's a quote that goes something like this. "We are giants that stand on the shoulders of our forefathers." A lot of writers are standing on his shoulders. He started something, but modern writers have gone a lot farther with it.

>179 AMQS: AMQS: Listening to audio books in the car is absolutely delightful. There are times at the beginning and end of the day when I'm so happy to get back in the car and listen to more of a good book.

102 agutierrez -- Thank you for your message about Careless in Red. I've put it back in the tbr stack. I'll give it another try in a few months.

In the meantime, I finished Paul Horgan's hauntingly beautiful Whitewater. This is the third or fourth time I've read it and each time I've fallen deeply under its spell. Perhaps it's because I was once a teenager in a small Texas town -- or because I so longed for a different kind of life, a life I was sure I couldn't have if I stayed there. Maybe it's simply Paul Horgan's graceful prose or the town he creates -- so many finely drawn characters.

Now I'm reading Alison Light's Mrs. Woolf and the Servants.

>169 Mr.Durick:: Thanks, Robert. You are absolutely right. I stayed up way too late reading The Girl Who Played With Fire, and I got all the background I needed from the Dragon Tattoo movie. This book is going to go fast. I'm glad that I can borrow the third one in the series from my daughter this week end.

I started Still Missing last night.

After finishing and enjoying Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden I've begun Sophia Scrooby Preserved by Martha Bacon, a children's book which I fear has languished on my shelves without being read from the time I was the target audience.

So far it looks like it could be interesting, but the short sentences and simplicity are taking a bit of getting used to after Arthur Golden's highly descriptive prose.

I finished the magnificent The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk. I believe he is one of the truly all-time great authors! I am starting Chess Story by Stefan Zweig as part of an ongoing group read of Zweig during 2010 here on LT, and I am listening to The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny, another wonderful Three Pines mystery!

cammykitty - Bastard Out of Carolina is a VERY difficult book to read (and I am only on page 100 or so). DH's cousin read it for a literature class she took this past semester and told me the same thing - a great book but very hard to read (especially for someone with 4 kids like me). I will let you know how it goes.

I've gone back to Homecoming by Bernhard Schlink after a lovely break revisiting Georgette Heyer's regency period in These Old Shades. Lawks!

Finished "The Virgin of Small Plains" by Nancy Pickard.
Starting "Eight Days to Live" by Iris Johansen,
and, continuing "The French Lieutenant's Woman" by John Fowles.

#131 megwaitclayton
After finishing "The Road From Coorain", you might like the sequel: "True North".

#177 - I have not read The Other End of the Leash but will give it a look. Having been in the "business" of rescue for 13+ years now, I tend to get a little jaded by what's out there - so much doing more harm than good. But that said, I do listen when someone really recommends one.

I picked up The Indian Lawyer by James Welch - had it on the shelves of recent book sale purchases. So far, it's good - great mood/location (Montana - prisons/lawyers/politicians) - little off the beaten path. No reviews of it here, but a few @ Amazon liked it.

#154> Can anyone recommend a "feel good" novel? It doesn't have to be happy all the way through, but a happy ending would suffice. Just looking for something really good and uplifting.

Carolyn, don't know if you're still looking for recommendations, but I just finished Of Human Bondage and found it to be very uplifting. Not always cheery, and not a quick and breezy read, but definitely a book with a positive outlook on life, all in all.

I may have to take on Of Human Bondage sooner rather than later with all the affirmations of it on LibraryThing.

Meanwhile last night I started The Wordy Shipmates. It is glibly written with a special emphasis so although it is not particularly new revelation I think it'll bear reading.

Robert

Read the first 3 chapters of The Book Class by Louis Auchincloss while at the library today. Not bad, I'll pick up where I left off on it next week.

I finished Unaccustomed Earth and am singing the praises of Jhumpa Lahiri. She weaves elements and places together in an almost mythical way, definitely a 5 star read, and I will look into her other works. I'll be on to Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster for a TIOLI education challenge after I take a little while to digest Lahiri.

Too funny, Of Human Bondage as a feel good novel.

#195> Too funny, Of Human Bondage as a feel good novel.

I know what you mean. But, on the other hand, when I finished reading the novel, I realized that the story had made me feel, well, good, actually.

>#154: Because we'd been discussing it earlier, when you mentioned a "feel good novel", I immediately thought of Cold Sassy Tree. But my fave this year would have to be Major Pettigrew's Last Stand.

bookaholicgirl> At the time, I'd been reading a lot of books about alcoholism and abuse and just had more than I could take. I'm glad that people are writing books like Bastard out of Carolina because it's an issue that needs to be talked about, but I need a little more fortitude before I'm ready to tackle that book.

CarolynSchroeder> I know what you mean. I start bristling anytime someone mentions Cesar Milan because I've seen too many fear-aggressive puppies (yes I mean under 6 months old) and I know the first thing the handler is going to say is "I was watching Cesar Milan and he said..." Patricia McConnell isn't that way at all. Matter of fact the hardest part to read in the book is her rant about the alpha-roll. McConnell is all about positive reinforcement and using body language to communicate with the dog. (Not the calming signals thing though.) This isn't a training book. It is a book that compares primate behavior to canine behavior. I now refer to a dog enjoying his/her handler flipping out the act of "watching the monkey dance." They do find us primates amusing. Also, you might want to look at the September Early Review books. There was one that's a romance about a woman who rescues dogs.

If I can continue my Lovecraft rant, here's a sentence from The Shadow out of Time, hopefully not the corrected text, where he is describing an eerie wind at an underground archeological site. "Though in my rear, that wind had the odd effect of hindering instead of aiding my progress; as if it acted like a noose or lasso thrown around me." Maybe I've been working with kids too long, but "though in my rear?" Sounds like the main character needed some Gas-X.

I'm done with Lovecraft and have now started The Medusa in the Shield which is an odd collection of horror short stories from authors as wide ranging as Thomas Disch, Flannery O'conner, and LeFanu. I'm much happier now.

>181 NarratorLady: NarratorLady, it's true -- I'm a convert! It's made my commute much nicer:)

#195, 196 I won't drop any spoilers, but OF HUMAN BONDAGE has suffered heavily from critics for what many considered a pasted-on feel-good ending. However one looks at it, it doesn't detract from the over-all stature of the novel. Personally, good writing always leaves me feeling good, and BONDAGE has it in abundance.

#200> Agreed. Personally, I wasn't even referring to the final plot development you've alluded to, but more the journey of discovery the character goes through, and what I saw as the book's overall message of hope for the human condition, despite the significant rough patches the character (and reader) is taken through along the way.

I am reading The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage.

One of the characters I find very creepy.

I just finished The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest and loved that trilogy! I needed something different though after reading all three of those books so I started The Blue Notebook by James Levine. I'm not very far into it but am loving it so far. Very tough subject matter but his writing is poetic.

I'm now reading The Education of Henry Adams by Henry Adams. So far, I'm enjoying it (even how he refers to himself in the third person). He knew such interesting people.

I am enjoying The Cold Dish by Craig Johnson, the first in a series about a small town sheriff in Wyoming. I am also just going to start Ivan Doig's The Whistling Season, which I am really looking forward to.

#200, sholofsky: Personally, good writing always leaves me feeling good, and BONDAGE has it in abundance.

OK, I'll buy that.

I'm just over 1/4 of the way through World Without End, and I started my ER win, Barefoot in Baghdad. I'm enjoying both very much. I'm very familiar with Ken Follett since I've read most of his books so I knew what to expect in World Without End. Barefoot in Baghdad is even better than I expected, so far.

>203 Pickle115:, The Blue Notebook is such an incredible work. I don't think it took more than two sittings to read. I just couldn't put the book down. It's one of those books that makes you want to do something.

Just saw that Never Let Me Go is coming out on film on Sept. 15! o_O

I dunno. I enjoyed the book a lot. I wonder what the movie version will be like.

#207: Thanks, Joyce. I think Maugham, on the whole, is underrated.

cammykitty - I was just wondering why you dislike Cesar Milan. We don't have any pets (mostly because we know we couldn't afford the vet bills, etc. and feel that we are out of the house way too much which wouldn't be fair) but my kids love Animal Planet channel and are constantly begging for a dog. Is there something specific that you dislike about him and his techniques? Thanks!

Just finished listening to The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny. My favorite so far! I continue reading Chess Story by Stefan Zweig and I will start listening to Still Missing by Chevy Stevens.

I am rereading Some of Us Have to Get Up in the Morning by Daniel Scott. Breathtaking short (and long) stories.

Message 154: CarolynSchroeder wanted a feel good novel recommendation. I have to go with Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster about an orphan girl who is given a college education with the stipulation that she write to her anonymous benefactor once a month to tell about that education. It's a wonderful feel good book, and you'll have such admiration and respect for the girl-woman in the story, and for her education. I think it was made into a movie, which I've never seen. I picture Audrey Hepburn as Jerusha Abbot even though it was Leslie Caron who played the part. (She wasn't French but completely American, why did they do that?)

I'm starting a reread of Neil Gaiman's American Gods. It's been at least 5 years since I've read it and I remember liking it so I think it's time to refresh my memory. I have so many books on my 'to read' pile is seems silly to reread something but once the idea gets into my head, it haunts me until I do it.

Bernard Malamud's The Fixer, and Carroll Quigley's Tragedy and Hope.

sholofsky> I agree about Maugham being underrated. One of my favorite books of all time is Moon & Sixpence.

bookaholicgirl> He's gotten a lot of heat for using coercive methods. Lots of snapping fingers in the face, chain jerking, etc. Snapping fingers in the face of a fear aggressive dog is going to get you an even jumpier dog in most cases. Also, there is tons of stuff left on the cutting room floor which gives people a false sense of what actually happened. They show Cesar hanging a dog for a minute. The dog wiggles like a fish on the line. Cut to next scene. Voila, perfect dog. Well, it takes more than a minute to hang a dog into submission, and furthermore, dogs have sometimes had to see vets after this particular technique is used. I know someone who took a dog to a school, instructor hung dog, dog had permanent trachea damage. My "favorite" Cesar moment. He took a fear-aggressive dog on a leash into his fenced yard filled with unleashed, reformed dog. No fight happened, so he pronounced the dog cured. The dog was clearly whale-eyed, ie petrified. First comment on that. It's never safe to mix leashed and unleashed dogs. People do it. People get lucky. Second, would you take a teenage bully, put him in a jail cell with ten guys like Mike Tyson and BTK, then say he's cured because he was too scared to mix it up with the meaner dudes?

CitizenJoyce & Carolyn Schroeder> I'll back Daddy Long Legs too. It was one of my favorite books when I was a teenager.

#214 Joyce, Re: DADDY LONG LEGS film. It was a charmer, though they changed the story to make Leslie Caron a French war orphan. Fred Astaire played her benefactor--but you're right: Audrey Hepburn would have been great as Jerusha.

Regarding the dog training discussion: My wife and I rescued our yellow lab mix from a shelter at age six months (the dog, not us) when we moved to our home in the country. Neither one of us had had a dog since adolescence. We got turned onto the book Mother Knows Best: the Natural Way to Train Your Dog by Carol Lea Benjamin, which we found extremely helpful. The basic idea was to watch what mother dogs do and train your puppy the way his/her real-life mother might have done it. Our dog was relatively calm (for a 6-month puppy, mind you) and showed no destructive fear of humans or dogs, so we didn't have that steep a hill to climb with him. Nevertheless, we found the advice in the Benjamin book, as I said, quite useful. Mostly, it was about being kind, but firm.

My favorite piece of advice, though, came in a video we watched somewhere along the line (and I'm paraphrasing): "If your puppy wets the carpet, get yourself a newspaper or magazine, roll it up good and tight, and smack yourself over the head with it. Because if your puppy wets the carpet, it probably means you weren't paying close enough attention and missed the signs that he needed to go out."

would you guys believe that there is a Millennium Trilogy walking tour of Stockholm where you get to see all the sites in the books, including the 7 Eleven frequented by Lisabeth Salander? This stop is complete with a look/see into the freezer case to find out if Billy's Deep Dish Pan Pizza is in stock!

I finished and loved The City and the City. It was my first Mielville and I plan on reading everything else he has done. I also finished and enjoyed the audio of 1776 and started the audio of Pride and Prejudice, my first Austen. I also recently cracked an ARC of The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino. It's a Japanese crime novel and looks promising.
And once again, we will be having a Group Read of Blindness and that will begin next Wednesday. Still plenty of time to snag a copy!

#220 I'd read about that. I was amused by the entire article. I loved the books, but would have no interest in that particular walking tour.

cammykitty - Thanks for the info.

I also agree with Daddy Longlegs as a "feel good". The copy I have is a hardcover with stills from the silent Mary Pickford film version.

#Message 220: benitastrnad, You can bet if I lived in Sweden I'd be signing up for the tour, but I have to ask, what's the deal with Billy's Deep Dish Pan Pizza? Is it really so good or is it just fast junk food?

#221 msf59 - You MUST try Un Lun Dun, it's a fabulous read. Much better than The City and The City, in my opinion.

Finished today

Penny Vincenzi, An Absolute Scandal

ed Peter Spiegelman, Wall Street Noir

Still reading

A S Byatt, The Children's Book

Frances Towers, Tea with Mr Rochester (Persephone)
Short stories

Jan Struther, Mrs Miniver (Virago Modern Classic)

Joan Aiken, A Harp of Fishbones
short stories for children

Now also reading:

Jean Webster, Daddy Long Legs

Ruth Sawyer, Roller Skates

Jill Murphy, The Worst Witch

Rachel Cusk, The Lucky Ones

Just finished: The Edge of the Gulf by Hayden Hury (Kindle Ed.)
My review: http://www.librarything.com/work/717118

Reading in hardback: Death Wore White by Jim Kelly
So far, excellent

In audio: A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly--also excellent

"Swedish for Beginners" by Susanne O'Leary (Kindle Ed.) -- Somewhat interesting

Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko (ePub ed.)--I like it.

In the Batter's Box: Document Z by Andrew Croome -- won Vogel

Finished The Angel's Game during a late night read last night, I just could not put it down. But I still don't get it... I feel I missed the clue, the whodunnit.... Ah well. I did enjoy it very much.

I picked up A spot of bother, mainly because I loved The curious incident so much.

And I love the comments about China Mieville because on a shopping trip to London next week I was planning on picking up The city and the city and Kraken. The only reason I am holding off on Un Lun Dun is because the plot sounds so similar to Neverwhere which I recently read, and I feel this may cloud my judgement...

>teresa- Un Lun Dun is on the list, along with most of Mieville's other books. I also was a fan of Neverwhere, my first Gaiman.

The new week's thread: right here

229 Divinenanny--I feel the same away about Angel's Game--I know I missed something. I left a little lost at the end--like what really happened here?

Glad to see I wasn't the only one. I didn't have this with The Shadow of the Wind... Hard to explain without spoiling...

I agree about Shadow of the Wind. Yes it is too hard to explain w/o spoilers. I did enjoy the story of Angel's Game but felt it wasn't up to the caliber of Shadow of the Wind.

http://www.librarything.com/topic/98408#

That's the new thread.

I finished The Wordy Shipmates last night. I don't know what I'll start in the new week.

Robert

rocketjk> LOL - The trainer I work with says that bit about the newspaper all the time! I haven't read MKB, but I've heard good things about Benjamin.

jmyers24> I love A Northern Light It was so beautifully written, and it was so nice to have a "romance" where the young woman makes a sensible decision.