What Books By Women Are You Reading October 2010

I've begun my challenge Read a Book About Sex. My thread is here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/99728&newpost=1#lastmsg

It's part of the Take It Or Leave It Challenges for October: http://www.librarything.com/topic/99376

If you've been thinking about reading a book about sex, now's the time. My planned reads for the month are:

an ER book, In Our Control: The Complete Guide To Contraceptive Choices For Women by Laura Eldridge
Bonk by Mary Roach
The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power, and the Future of the World by Michelle Goldberg
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice To all Creation by Olivia Judson
Woman: An Intimate Geography by Natalie Angier
Sex In The Future: The Reproductive Revolution and How It Will Change Us by Robin Baker
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World by Michael Pollan who isn't actually female, but I'll give him a pass

Since non fiction takes so much longer to read than fiction (right Otherjoyce?) I don't guarantee I'll get to them all, but I'll do my best.

...by Michael Pollan who isn't actually female, but I'll give him a pass

*laugh* I like that. :)

I started Room by Emma Donoghue just a couple of days ago, and will be finishing it tonight. An excellent read, although I am having some quibbles with the narrative voice.

Starting October with Sulphuric Acid by Amélie Nothomb. It's very short, so there will be others as well.....

The new Deanna Raybourn is out, so I'm reading Dark Road to Darjeeling.

pop lit at its best

I'm reading As the Earth Turns Silver by Alison Wong and enjoying it. It won the NZ Post Book award for fiction this year, and it's set in Wellington in the early 1900s and is the story of a European woman and Chinese man who fall in love. I am very glad I did the same thing in the same place 80 years later!!

I'm reading The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For, a collection of Alison Bechdel's comic strip. It's very funny and really well observed.

I started Iris Murdoch's The Good Apprentice this morning, though I should have started it last month for our Iris Murdoch A (two) Month(s) Project (we moved to letting ourselves have 2 months to read each one when they got big!). It's marvellous; she's at the height of her powers and I really had to force myself to stop reading and note-taking and go to the supermarket/charity shop/town (the last to buy my beloved's birthday presents, so rather necessary!)

After a short jag of reading man-written books, am now reading Lydia Millet's latest collection, Love in Infant Monkeys.

Raven Black by British mystery writer, Ann Cleeves. Black Raven is the first in the Shetland Quartet series... Previous to that I read, The Crossing Places: A Case for Ruth Galloway by Elly Griffiths - Another British mystery author...

I am reading The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender. So far, it's been a great read. I also finished reading Purge by Sarah Littman.
I plan on reading the Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris.

I'm reading Rose Tremain's Trespass, which I received from Early Reviewers.

Message 6: charbutton, I got Alison Bechdel to sign my copy of The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For. Since I'm a retired labor and delivery nurse she signed it on page 114 where Toni gives birth. What a gracious woman.

Message 3: Menexedia, Sulphuric Acid? Sounds intense. Let us know what you think of it.

Still deciding on my next female author .

#12, I'm very jealous that you've met her and pleased that she's the kind of women I hoped she'd be! I'd planned to read Essential Dykes slowly to re-create the sense of it being a weekly comic strip, but I'm enjoying it so much I can't stop reading. I'm amazed that I care so much about the characters when they actually speak so few words compared to a novel.

I think graphic novels are like poetry in the necessity to use few words to express large topics. I didn't think this way until I read Bechdel's Fun Home and became completely emotionally involved in that perfect little book.

Oh, I forgot, I wanted to add a couple more sex books to the list:

Condom Nation: The U.S. Government's Sex Education Campaign from World War I to the Internet by Alexandra M. Lord

and

Virgin: The Untouched History by Hanne Blank

They both look interesting. I've started In Our Control: The Complete Guide To Contraceptive Choices For Women by Laura Eldridge and am engrossed. Margaret Sanger is presented as the complex person she was, eugenics is presented as one of the reasons birth control was accepted by upper class Americans (for the lower classes) and I'm just getting into the invention of the pill and its original test trials in Puerto Rico.

I'm currently reading the latest Jane Urquhart book, Sanctuary Line, which I'll review for the next edition of www.Belletrista.com

> 12, Sulphuric Acid was my first Nothomb book. Her novels have been described as being "..... preoccupied with manipulative and destructive dynamics, especially between women (...) Told from the point of view of the weaker party, her stories move between the clinical analysis of cruelty and a none too subtle plea for pity from the reader..." (TLS, 2004) and that's certainly the case with this book.
I found the main idea (that in the near future the celebrity culture will lead to a reality show that accurately replicates concentration camp conditions with all their cruelty) genuinely clever and really provocative. It is a very short book (just 127 sparsely written pages), so it is basically a series of events reported sequentially and rather abtruptly, quite like a play. I would have preferred a more lengthy, gradual and detailed building of plot and characters, and I think the subject deserved it. But overall, the book is worth reading, especially as it doesn't require a major time and effort committment.

About to finish up Soulless by Gail Carriger.

I'm reading Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds by Lyndall Gordon.

I'm reading The Winterhouse byRobin McGrath for my bookclub

BookNrrrd, I'm hoping to read Soulless this month, let us know what you think.

Menexedia, Sulphuric Acid sounds pretty horrible. Just thinking about it gives me the willies.

Soulless was rather heavier on the romance than I normally prefer, but overall an entertaining read. Carriger's built an interesting alternate world, and the "soulless" concept is pretty inventive (don't want to give anything away). Alexia, the protagonist, is strong and intelligent; however, most of the other female characters don't fare quite so well.

So many books, it seems, are able to have one fully actualized female character, but the rest are watered down. In the mean time, there are frequently plenty of fully developed male characters.

>24 Citizenjoyce: say more here please, I'm intrigued.

Off hand I'm thinking about my recent read of the Hunger Games series. Katnis is a good female role model, but there was no other female to look up to. Many women were mentioned as being in charge of one thing or another, but we didn't get to know them. Meanwhile we got to know quite a bit about her 2 male suitors and about her male mentor, also about some of her fellow male fighters. Her mother and sister are mentioned, but not followed.

Pope Joan also shows one strong female character, Joan-John. The midwife is mentioned and well portrayed at the beginning of the book, then no other women of note aside from the bitchy, frigid wife of her love interest and the good wife of a helper. A little girl is mentioned briefly and we get the idea that she does well in life, but she is not followed in any way.

Alas, both these books are by women.

26> I have recently been having trouble as I identify whether the books I read (as well as films I see etc) pass the Bechdel test. I'm sure it's been mentioned on librarything before, but it's a very succinct approach and horrifying how much popular culture fails to have:
1) two named female characters
2) who talk to each other
3) about something other than a man.

Even for items (especially films) which do pass, it still does quite a good job of highlighting the fact that most of the time, it's a throwaway comment - there just don't tend to be multiple female characters with developed relationships in much popular culture, especially that which is expected to be consumed by both genders.

Even for items (especially films) which do pass, it still does quite a good job of highlighting the fact that most of the time, it's a throwaway comment - there just don't tend to be multiple female characters with developed relationships in much popular culture, especially that which is expected to be consumed by both genders.

I greatly agree with your concern, so I feel I have to direct your attention to the new film Made in Dagenham. Many female characters--with names--talking to each other, and yes, it's a film that men can watch and enjoy too. I saw it at a film festival last night and loved it. It's going to be released in general distribution in the near future. Here's the trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0LF-F1QNAw

Just finished Sanctuary Line, by Jane Urquhart, which I very much enjoyed. Now on to Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell. It's a spooky October read.

For my October spooky / gothic / horror month, I'm reading We Have Always Lived in the Castle. A few others in the pipeline are:

Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman

28> Thanks, Nickelini! I've noticed it advertised over here in the UK and was tempted, so I will definitely put it on my list.

>24 Citizenjoyce: - 28 that's an interesting topic - if you don't mind, I'm going to pull it over to another thread for further discussion (rather than clutter up this one).

After a week of no reading - due to a nasty head cold and too much work - I am happily back to my books. Right now I am reading Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell, a stunning story of Ukranian immigrant farmers struggling to make ends meet on the dry, Canadian prairies during the 1930's. I am reading this book for two challenges, my 1010 Challenge and the Reading Through Time Monthly Group read for October.

I finished In Our Control: The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices for Women by Laura Eldridge It covers everything from menstruation to the pros and cons of various contraceptive methods (there's even a section on the "male pill" which has been 5 years away for several decades) , to the fact that economists have finally realized that improving women's lives can improve the economy of her country - which realization is in direct opposition to the push by conservatives in all cultures to suppress the rights of individual women in order to maintain traditional religious and social power structures. This last chapter lead directly to the book I'm now reading The Means of Reproduction by Michelle Goldberg. I found the discussions of menstruation and contraception in In Our Control very interesting, but the discussion of the political manipulation of women's rights may not be good for my blood pressure. It's so enraging!

I finished listening to Betrayed book 2 of the House of Night series and have started listening to book 3, Chosen by P. C. and Kristin Cast. There's a real high school vibe, which makes the series appealing to the YA audience for whom it's intended, but there are twists and grey areas between intention and action that make it appealing for adults too. These books meet and completely exceed the Bechdel test. The girls are so supportive of each other, it makes my heart happy to know teenagers are reading these books.

I finished In Our Control: The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices for Women by Laura Eldridge It covers everything from menstruation to the pros and cons of various contraceptive methods

Who is the audience for this book? Me in my 40s, or my daughter in her early teens, or . . . ?

(there's even a section on the "male pill" which has been 5 years away for several decades)

Hmmm. Well, I think that the reason that this isn't yet available has nothing to do with science. Actually, at this point in our culture, I don't care much. Fair or not, it's a woman who carries a fetus and gives birth to a baby, and I think a woman should control her own fertility. Maybe one day we'll be all enlightened and egalitarian, and men can be trusted with this, but not yet.

But, OtherJoyce, how many times have you heard or seen movies where a young man is "trapped" by a woman's pregnancy. Well, here's their chance not to be trapped. In Our Control:The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices for Women states that there are many cultures in which men are willing or eager to accept the responsibility for contraception, specifically Asian ones, but I can see in a committed relationship there would be women who would prefer that the man control his fertility rather than doing it herself. It wouldn't be my choice, but Eldridge's intention is to present pros and cons and let women make informed decisions for themselves. My favorite of the male pills would regulate calcium so that the sperm couldn't swim, leaving the man temporarily sterile. Eldridge thought if such a pill could be developed it could be a form of "morning after" pill for women as well as a temporary pill for men.

I would think in your 40's you could still get personally pertinent information from the book, as well as interesting political and philosophical information, and your daughter could benefit in all ways. She has a good discussion of the HPV vaccines, Gardasil and Cervarix. It's worth her attention if only for that, plus there's a chapter about the fertility awareness method that all young girls should read. I got several young women in my family Toni Weschler's Taking Charge of Your Fertility because it presents information all women should have about their bodies

But, OtherJoyce, how many times have you heard or seen movies where a young man is "trapped" by a woman's pregnancy. Well, here's their chance not to be trapped.

Excellent! No probs with that--I'm all for that method of B.C. However, I don't think any fertile woman should rely on it. If you, as a woman, really don't want to get caught pregnant, then you must do something yourself. Don't rely on the guy to . . . (take a pill, pull out, whatever). I have no problem with men halting their fertility, actually, I think it's a good thing. But if the corresponding woman feels likewise, I think she has make sure conception just doesn't happen. Because in the end, if it does, it's her's to bear.

Thank you for pointing out this book! Looks like a worthwhile read.

I've recently read and reviewed three books by women: Room by Emma Donoghue, which I found impressive and thought-provoking, if a tad manipulative; Salvation City by Sigrid Nunez which I found psychologically insightful despite its post-pandemic dystopian setting; and the witty and completely delightful The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party's Revolution and the Battle over American History by Jill Lepore.

I'm reading Edith Wharton's Summer. She's one of my favorite authors, and this looks like it'll be a good read.

I'm reading War for the Oaks by Emma Bull.

Apart from all the coursework (mainly by men - surprise, surprise!) I've got two works of fiction on the go right now: The Years by the divine Ms Woolf and A Gentleman of Fortune by Anna Dean. Both really enjoyable in very different ways.

Currently reading Fludd by Hilary Mantel. Still listening to Lives Like Loaded Guns.

Moved onto The Lake of Dead Languages by Carol Goodman, which I am loving so far. I hope it doesn't fall apart at the end, because it's terribly intriguing so far.

Just finished the new Tess Monaghan, The Girl in the Green Raincoat.

It's 'Rear Window' Laura Lippman style. And since Tess and Crow are having a baby, it's required reading for all Tessites.

Have just picked up Remake by Connie Willis. Looks like a nice bit of silly fun.

I finished The Means of Reproduction Sex, Power, and the Future of the World by Michelle Goldberg for my Read a Book About Sex challenge, and I'm still recovering. It should come with a health warning label. Once again we see how conservatives in various religions and countries work against the best interests of not only individual women but against their own countries in order to promote a culture of patriarchy. It was very interesting to see that assisting women to achieve economic and reproductive control over their own lives not only allows a decrease in overpopulation of developing nations but also encourages women to reproduce in developed nations that face decreasing native populations. Amazing that trusting women is so difficult when it is the most effective method of assisting civilizations. No more books about politics for a while. My heart needs time to recover.

Right now I'm reading Kindred by Octavia E. Butler about a modern (1976) black woman who is pulled back through time to antebellum Maryland in order to protect her white kin. As harsh as Butler can be, the book is a relaxation from non-fiction.

Hey, OtherJoyce -- great assessment of the Means of Reproduction!

Thanks, OtherJoyce. I think my blood pressure is almost down to normal, and I've pretty much stopped drooling out of the side of my mouth. With a little rehab I should be fine.

I finished and reviewed Kindred and loved it so much I can't believe I've stayed away from Butler for the last few years. I can't remember which books of hers finally turned me off, she just seemed to get darker and darker and more and more hopeless, and I just couldn't take any more. But, I may do a few re reads and see if I'm up to her again. She was so wise and so talented, I'm sure I have more to learn from her.

Now, once again back to my books about sex challenge, I'm starting Bonk by Mary Roach. I've heard so many good things about her, I hope my expectations aren't too high.

Just got Promiscuities by Naomi Wolf for the Read a Book About Sex challenge and looking forward to it although I have to finished something else first...

Looks interesting, Menexedia. Let us know.

On my Kindle, Black Girl, White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates, and I've finished Part I. I'm loving it so much, at least so far, that I'll be getting a copy in hard cover. (There's a used/rare bookstore in Bryn Mawr PA whose owners have a large stock of Oates hardcovers in storage at home, so I'll check with them first. To give you an idea of what this book store, The Title Page, is like, they've got a three-shelf bookcase devoted to Virago.)

I've just finished Elizabeth's Women by Tracy Borman, which is a fascinating take on Queen Elizabeth's life and reign by examining the women who influenced her, those she lived her most intimate life with, and those whose rivalry bedeviled her. Highly recommended for anyone interested in Elizabethan matters.

Now reading Runaway by Alice Munro for my book club. I'm generally not a short story enthusiast, so I'm not sure how I'll ultimately feel about this book--I probably wouldn't have picked it up on my own. We'll see.

It appears I have been negligent in posting on this thread. As a catch up, I finished, loved and will rave to anyone that will listen to me what an amazing book Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell is. Review posted on the book page.

I finished reading A Song for Nettie Johnson by Gloria Sawai this afternoon. For some unknown reason I didn't know that it was a collection of short stories when I started it. I posted a review on the book page to join the one lonely review that was there.

Next up is The Earth Hums in B Flat by Mari Strachan. I have been looking forward to this book after all the great comments I have read here on LT and can hardly wait to dive into it this evening!

Reading The immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. As a scientist who used her cells in graduate school, I feel compelled to discover what we (society-science-etc.) have done. I remember having dreams about this poor woman when I was in school. That was before people generally knew anything about her.

krazy4katz, you're the only person I know who knew about Henrietta Lacks before the book came out. I'm impressed.

I'm 124 pages in to Bonk loving it and learning lots. Well, I knew Freud was no friend of women, but I didn't know he thought female genital mutilation was a way to increase a woman's femininity. I hate to say he was a douche, but then douches are generally from useless to dangerous, so maybe. On the plus side I also learned that since only a minor part of the clitoris is external, excised women have been known to masturbate successfully by stimulating over the scar. I learned that doggie style (also known as the way of the cow) stimulates the g spot (OK, I'm old. I didn't know) And that sexually stimulating pigs during insemination increases their fertility but the same is not true for people. So far, I'd recommend this book to everyone.

Rebecca Stott's Ghostwalk. #54 Under This Unbroken Sky is next on the list thanks to your recommendations!

Finished the spectacular Wide Open by Nicola Barker (a five-star book for me), and also The Small Hand by Susan Hill, which is an entertaining, traditional ghost story (she has written better ones, imo).

Now reading Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia Fine a bit at a time. Working on some other books also.

Doggone, avaland. You just keep adding to my mountainous wish list.

mea culpa, mea culpa...

I finished Bonk and remain completely taken with it. Mary Roach manages to discuss sex as a normal, healthy, human activity. Amazing. Two more tid bits of info, 1. vaginal secretions are plasma. 2. Masters and Johnson did experiments on couples having sex and found that homosexual couples had the most satisfying sex. There were two reasons, homosexuals took their time and there was gender empathy meaning the partners knew what felt good for their partners because they knew what felt good for themselves. Lesbians were sexually aroused by their partner's arousal and they wanted to prolong the arousal, as opposed to heterosexual couples who just seemed to want to get to the finish. Her prescription for heterosexuals was to take time and talk to each other, we've heard it before, but it seems to work.

Now, a break from sex, I'll be reading Soulless by Gail Carriger.

61: Well, Soulless won't *entirely* be a break from sex...It's a bit romance-y.
Bonk sounds really interesting, have you read any other of Mary Roach's work? I've been intrigued by her for awhile now, but haven't yet actually read any of her stuff.

I've just started The Septembers of Shiraz by Dalia Sofer. I'm only 20 pages in but like it a lot so far.

This was my first Mary Roach, and I hear it's not her best. If so the others must be mind boggling.

From Soulless a first kiss tastes like a dark, rich French soup. Mmm, sometimes when you combine romance with sex it comes off pretty yummy, Booknrrrd.

65: Well, Alexia does like her food ;)

I'm well into My Lover's Lover by Maggie O'Farrell now. Gothic and intriguing.

I finished Soulless (whew!) and now return to books about scientific sex, as opposed to romantic sex, with Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation by Olivia Judson. For some reason my library has only the first book in the Parasol Protectorate trilogy, so I had to order the next two. When I come upon a trilogy about a scientifically oriented woman who has a healthy attitude about sex, food and fashion and is friends with a very posh homosexual vampire, I'm not going to stop with the first book.

I wasn't planning on continuing with the Parasol Protectorate, but after Citizenjoyce's description I might just have to!

After a long slog through some bloke books, I'm back with The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. Looking forward to this one.

I loved Soulless, wookiebender. I'll have to see if the next 2 books can live up to it.

I think I was just peeved at the amount of romance (and sex) in it. It wasn't what I was expecting, and I got all sulky! Must've picked it up at the wrong time, because I also recently read Silent in the Grave which had far more romance than I was expecting as well, but I loved it.

Ah, maybe it's the difference between unexpected romance, and unexpected romance-and-sex. :)

I definitely liked the idea, and it was nice having our heroine fall for a nice hairy werewolf, not a whinging sparkly vampire (*coff*Twilight*coff*). I can almost see the appeal of a werewolf. (So not a spoiler, btw, it's obvious from about page 2.) But.

You know I often have the same let down. I start reading what I think is a great book, then all of a sudden romance takes over everything. At first I agreed with your response to Soulless, but Alexia continued to be strong and opinionated and continued her friendship with someone her romantic interest disapproved of. How many desperate "spinsters" would bow to the interests of such an eligible suitor? I liked that she continued to try to understand what was going on all through the book, and that there remained unanswered questions. I also liked that the mechanics of sex were such a surprise to her, but that she was delighted at the discovery. The sex really was hot, but in the future books I wouldn't be disappointed at less sex, more science.

#70 So nice to know someone feels the way I do about hairy beasts. One of my favourite fairy stories has always been Beauty and the Beast but I do remember as a child feeling so sorry for poor Beauty when her lovely hairy cuddly beast turned into a tiresomely handsome prince.

(I'd just like to point out that none of this is a reflection on my husband who is neither particualrly hairy nor particularly non-hairy but it could explain why I've always surrounded myself with dogs.)

>50 Citizenjoyce: So, Promiscuities: I'm not very sure as to what kind of book this is. the author herself and some of her close friends recall their first sexual experiences in the seventies San Francisco. This serves as the starting point to express some thoughts and arguments and limited evidence as to how female sexuality and desire still does not (or did not at that point) receive the attention and respect it truly deserves. I feel that I do personally need books like that to remind me every now and then that we still have to dig and think and ponder and maybe act on women's role. On the other hand, I didn't find the book particularly engaging but that may because I fall in between adolescence (the main focus of the book) and the author's generation (I was born at the period when the book takes place).

I just finished and reviewed the stunning, if harrowing, Great House by Nicole Krauss, a novel about memory, loss, deception, and grief. What an amazing writer Krauss is, with such an eye and ear for the emotional heart of the moment.

I finished Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice to All Creation: The Definitive Guide to the Evolutionary Biology of Sex and, again, learned so much about various forms of sex, but was really impressed by the spotted hyena because it brought back a memory. A female spotted hyenas is bigger than the male and has an enormous clitoris that looks like a penis. Her vagina has fused and looks like a scrotum. She urinates, copulates and gives birth through her clitoris. (ouch) When I was a labor and delivery nurse I would occasionally dream of caring for a man who was giving birth through his penis. Evidently something rather Freudian was going on, or I was just dreaming about hyenas disguised as men (also Freudian, I guess).

rebeccanyc, I'm on the holding list at the library for Great House. I've heard some mixed reviews, so I'm glad you enjoyed it so much.

I think I'll finish October with Suite Française. I've heard and read to much about this book that I'm afraid I'll be disappointed. It happens frequently when the starting expectations are really high....

#75, I am not sure "enjoyed" is the right word for Great House-- it is compelling and fascinating, but relentlessly sad and sometimes claustrophobic. Of course, that tends to be the kind of book I like!

This month I read Mockingjay from The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It was ok, but not nearly worth all the hype. I gave the series a three. I also read The Good Daughters by Joyce Maynard, which I won in a giveaway and which was pretty mediocre. I also gave it a three.

I am currently reading The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, which is very long but rather interesting. I'm about two-thirds of the way through it right now. It is taking me much longer to read than I thought it would, and I'm hoping to finish it sooner rather than later.

Next on my list are The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice, which I have already started but had to put on hold for The Mists of Avalon, The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin, The Passion by Jeanette Winterson, Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, and The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt.

Remarkable Creatures is . . . well . . . remarkable. I can highly recommend it.

Reading Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth, which is amazing and moving.

On another list someone wrote an excellent review of The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant by Michel Tremblay, who I find is a man. What do you think of a man writing as a pregnant woman? I haven't read the book, but I'm intrigued by the review. I wiki'd him and he says he's one of those few homosexuals who don't like men. Hmm. Still, how much could he know about being a pregnant woman?

I've requested Remarkable Creatures from the library. I can't believe I saw it for sale at the grocery store a while back and didn't buy it. Non-buyers remorse.

I got to page 35 of The Fat Woman Next Door is Pregnant and I don't remember the narrator being a pregnant woman. Maybe I didn't get far enough. I just could not get into it though! I was glad it was a library book and I hadn't paid money for it.

Doing some spooky, Halloween-month reading now with Susan Hubbard's The Society of S and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson.

I guess The Fat Woman Next Door Is Pregnant is written in the voice of several people and is about 1942 Montreal. Was it the style of writing that got to you? I gather it's kind of stream of conscious. My library doesn't have it, but if you found it that bad, I guess I won't buy it.

#84 - maybe you can get it from inter-library loan? I really don't remember much about it other than it just didn't click with me. I was in school at the time, so had other reading obligations and just didn't have time to give it my attention. I tried to read it when it was in the running for CanadaReads and I had rather liked one of the earlier off-beat choices.

Just finished By Grand Central Station I sat down and wept - gorgeous poetic prose. Also, have enjoyed (almost as much) reading about the background to the book- it's semi-autobiographical.

#78> I heartily endorse both The Children's Book and The Passion.

#77 I went to an interview/reading/signing with Nicole Krauss a couple weekends ago, and what she had to say about Great House was pretty interesting. She mentioned that after The History of Love, which featured such naturally charming characters, she was more interested in writing a book in which the protagonists wouldn't initially come off as sympathetically, but would prove to be more sympathetic with deeper investigation. She used a really nice phrase that I wish I could remember perfectly--something about how these characters would force her to jump off a cliff into a vast empathy.

Finished Dreams of Speaking by Gail Jones. Lovely, if melancholy, book, beautifully crafted. I feel like I am floating. . ..

Now taking up her first novel, Black Mirror.

#86 That's interesting about the Nicole Krauss interview. I haven't read The History of Love, but I can certainly confirm that the protagonists in Great House are not naturally charming, in fact some of them I felt I wanted to slap. But it is Kruass's talent that made even the irritating characters understandable if not completely sumpathetic.

The Private Lives of Pippa Lee was a fascinating read. One of my best for the year.

Now back to some bloke books... (But I can feel Testament of Youth moving up Mt TBR...)

I just finished Half Broke Horses by Jeannette Walls - an OK read, not great, imo. And now just starting The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck - excited to finally be reading this classic!

I've started an ER copy of The Dissemblers by Liza Campbell about a young artist who forges Georgia O'Keeffe paintings. She describes the kind of vision necessary for painting in terms that lend itself well to writing. Wasn't it in The World According To Garp that a main character said she didn't want to be a writer, she wanted to be a reader. That's almost me, I'd love to be a writer, but lack the vision, so I settle for being a reader. The Dissemblers is about yearning and not settling, very good so far.

91 - ooh, I didn't like Pippa Lee much myself (my review is knocking around somewhere) - interesting!

>91 wookiebender:: But I can feel Testament of Youth moving up Mt TBR...
Good! I'm about 2/3 of the way through it now and it's so powerful. Sad, but powerful.

I'm reading Annabel, by Kathleen Winter, and loving it. I got it as a ER book back in June and for various reasons put off reading it--what a silly thing to do, because I've been reading some dreck instead of this!

I am reading The Calligraphers' Night by Yasmine Ghata and High Wages by Dorothy Whipple, and greatly enjoying both.

Just started the (horror?) classic, The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson in honor of Halloween. I generally like to read a good scary book around this time of the year in order to get me in the spirit. It's a slim volume, so I'm already a quarter away through it. Although it hasn't spooked me yet, it is interesting. All these years I've avoided the movie on TV because I had planned on reading the book first. I hope the wait will have been worth it.

Plus, I've started Jane Ziegelman's nonfiction book 97 Orchard : An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement, as well. I hadn't planned on reading it just now, but after a few pages of skimming, I was hooked.

I finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle today, and it was pretty wonderful. Spooky, suspenseful, funny, sad, bittersweet, and strange. Highly recommended. (98: I already had The Haunting of Hill House in my to-read pile, but it's just jumped higher up on the list.)

Now on to No Word from Winifred by Amanda Cross.

#99 I hope to read more Shirley Jackson novels - especially The Lottery: And Other Stories in the future. If only my Amazon wish list wasn't so loaded with other books I lust for too.

I did see a used copy of We Have Always Lived in the Castle at my favorite local second book store in town the other day and almost picked it up. However, I have to spread out my book buying sprees, otherwise my husband might catch on I'm book addict...yeah, like he doesn't already know....ha!

>98 CindyBytes: I remember that movie scaring the crap out of me as a teenager. Maybe scarier than the book. We Have Always Lived in the Castle isn't what I'd call spooky-scary, it's more along the lines of The Lottery-scary.

# 100 -- if it helps, I found the short story "the Lottery" for free online a few years ago. We read it waaaay back in high school, and I always remembered the story but not the title or author. One night I decided to see if I could find it, and I did. So if you just want to read that story, you can probably find it right now for free.

#101 -- Hmmm. I'm wondering what movie you are thinking of--I searched www.imdb.com for Haunting of Hill House and the only one it showed was the 1999 "Haunting" with Catherine Zeta-Jones. My math tells me there must have been another one, 'cause I know I wasn't a teenager in 1999. I actually saw that movie in the theatre, which was rather odd at that stage of my life, and I realized when I saw it that I had read the book as a teen and completely forgotten it. I'm curious to read it now and see what I remember. I had a similar experience when I read Rebecca a few years ago.

I finished The Dissemblers for an ER book. It's a combination art history lesson, and a very good one, and a morality tale. I'm going to want to read more by Liza Campbell. Now I've started Room. It seems fine so far, I just hope it won't creep me out.

I haven't read Shirley Jackson for so long. I agree now would be a good time for We Have Always Lived In the Castle. Wonder if I'll have time after Room before Halloween.

On the subject of "The Lottery," it's certainly Jackson's most famous story (and one of the most famous stories ever), but my own favorite Jackson story (and one of my all-time favorite stories period) is "Afternoon in Linen." It reminds me of the ending to Antonia White's Frost in May. And I really like the twist in Jackson's "Seven Types of Ambiguity." Neither one of these are "horror" (or even "scary") stories at all, and both are anthologized in The Lottery and Other Stories.

"Afternoon in Linen" in particular is so short (just about three or four pages) that you could actually read the whole story off-the-shelf at Borders or B&N.

101: True, We Have Always Lived in the Castle isn't "spooky" in a ghouls-and-ghosts sense. Perhaps I should have said "unsettling" or something instead?

102: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057129/ There is a 1963 version of the film "The Haunting" as well. I've yet to see either--I also usually like to read the book first.

#105 - Thanks for tracking that down. I knew TeelGee wasn't just making stuff up! Now I'm wondering --in 1999 when I saw the new movie, was I remembering reading the book, or seeing the earlier movie? Will I ever know?

98, etc. I adored We Have Always Lived in the Castle and couldn't believe I never read it until last year. Joyce (103), if you start it you will not be able to put it down! On the other hand, I didn't like the Haunting of Hill House as much as I hoped to, even though I read it eagerly after I finished We Have Always Lived in the Castle -- I guess I'm more drawn to disturbed people than the supernatural.

I am reading Far to Go by Alison Pick- it is very good.

#102 Nickelini, I think you are thinking of The Haunting (1963), which is quite excellent! I might even re-watch it this weekend for Halloween.

Remarkable Creatures is a perfect example of how something about which you may have given very little, if any, thought, fossils, can be absolutely fascinating -- at least in the context of a wonderful story about two women's friendship.

I kept seeing, at the bottom of my LT home screen: L. J. Sellers author of The Sex Club chat here. I thought it was some guy writing about killing prostitutes, but since I have the sex challenge this month, held my nose and checked it out. Amazing, not only is L. J. Sellers an interesting woman, but the book is about bombings at an abortion clinic. Then to make things even sweeter, I found Barnes and Noble is selling her Nookbooks for $2.99. I bought them all and hope I'll be able to squeeze The Sex Club in by Sunday.

You should go to the L. J. Sellers chat and see what she has to say about why she made the detective male instead of female. I always wonder when an author writes an opposite sex main character, and she helped me understand it, at least in her case.

I've had fun with my "Read a book about sex" challenge this month. Next month my challenge is to Read a Book About History, Fiction on Non Fiction. The Take It Or Leave It challenge page for November is here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/101390
and my individual challenge is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/101400

It should be fun. I find most of my non fiction books are by men and the fiction ones by women. But those are just the ones I planned to read. Join me if you wish starting Monday. Here's a partial list of books:
The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle Over American History By Jill Lepore
Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States by Bill Bryson American History, language
A renegade history of the United States by Thaddeus Russell
Common nonsense : Glenn Beck and the triumph of ignorance by Alexander Zaitchick US history
A people's history of the United States by Howard Zinn
The Great Starvation Experiment: The Heroic Men Who Starved so That Millions Could Live by Todd Tucker WWII, medical history
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition by Daniel Okrent
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed or
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond World History
The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell

FICTION

The Given Day: A Novel by Dennis Lehane US history, unions, police
Wolf Hall: A Novel (Man Booker Prize) by Hilary Mantel British History - Cromwell
Day after Night by Anita Diamant Holocaust survivors
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver Mexico, US, Mccarthy
The Night Watch by Sarah Waters WWII London
Shanghai Girls: A Novel by Lisa See Chinese American Immigrants
Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky - France WWII
Remarkable Creatures: A Novel by Tracy Chevalier 19th century England

Even though I have 755085::Suite Francaise listed, I put it into someone else's World War challenge, but if you read it, I'll be glad to discuss it on my own thread.

I seem to be in a minority of one re. We Have Always Lived in the Castle - I thought the 'reveal' was really predictable and the whole story a bit boring.

The first part really reminded me of the The Woman in White with an unworldly young woman, her wiser sister, an ineffectual uncle and a seemingly charming but actually horrible man trying to get in with the unworldly sister for money. I think that didn't help - I kept feeling like I'd read it before.

#133 I do see where you're coming from with WHALITC. I don't think it works as horror and the 'reveal', as you say, couldn't really have gone any other way, but I do love it for the writing and the 'feel' of Merricat's voice and I do find it quite unsettling the way she (like so many psychopaths) sees herself as perfectly normal. I think it's a charming read but I don't think it's at all scary (unlike The Lottery which, despite its eing somewhat dated now, scares the bejeezus out of me - but then I always find the idea of what people can do to each other way more scary than anything supernatural).

111 - Sorry, but I read "hope I'll be able to squeeze The Sex Club in by Sunday" and it made me giggle.

I am also reading Far to Go by Pick and enjoying it so far.

bucketyell, we all have to set priorities. :)

Booksloth, I haven't read WHALITC, but I like what you said about psychopaths seeing themselves as normal. Alas, how true. The rest of us are just their easy pickings.

#113> Char, I am part of that minority too!!!! I read it a while ago and, quite frankly, was not that impressed.
I am glad to see I am not alone in that. :-))

Finished Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg this evening. This is my first read through the book and I now appreciate how extensively Hollywood edited/condensed/revised the story when they made the movie adaptation!

Next up is the short story collection Are You Married to a Psychopath? by Nadine Bismuth.

I spent a few hours at Starbuck's this evening (OK, I admit it, I was avoiding the trick or treaters) and finished an LT ER book, Serious Men by Manu Joseph. It took awhile to get into it, but once it took off, it was hard to put down. Very, very clever!

Not sure what I will read next. I should move on to another LT ER book, George Eliot in Love, but I'd also like to finish The Quickening Maze, which I started last summer.

I also started a new audiobook, Trespass by Rose Tremain. It's read by the wonderful actress Juliet Stevenson. So far, so good.

(P.S. I'm not really a Halloween scrooge, I just really, really didn't want that candy in the house.)

>119 Cariola:: Starbucks ... not a bad idea! Can't say I blame you.

I finished the completely amazing Testament of Youth yesterday. Today I'll dive into At Mrs Lippincote's.

I finished The Sex Club and was very impressed with the way L. J. Sellers was able to weave Planned Parenthood, teen age sexuality, and good and bad quality men and parents into such an entertaining story. Good for her. Now if she'd just change the horrible title.

I'm listening to Sarah Vowell's The Wordy Shipmates and finding it fascinating. What a brilliant woman able to find correlations between so many threads of history.

>114 Booksloth:, I see what you mean about Merricat seeing herslef as normal. I did wonder if Constance had deliberately let Merricat run wild because she was too scared to try and discipline her.

>117 aluvalibri:, it's good to have some company!

#122 I think that's very likely - and when I watch Supernanny on TV I realise it isn't only in books that that happens!

Good comparison, Booksloth.