What are you reading the week of October 02, 2010?

New week, new thread!

Graham Greene (2nd October 1904) - English novelist, playwright, short story writer, travel writer and critic. His works often examined the moral ambiguities of the modern world. Notable works include The Heart of the Matter, The End of the Affair, The Third Man, The Quiet American and Our Man in Havana.



“The world is not black and white. More like black and grey.” - Graham Greene
London Observer (January 2, 1983)

Thoroughly enjoying Frank Bruni's Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-time Eater...except that I'm having to fight the urge to make a pan of lasagna.

Still reading and enjoying Water for Elephants.

Porua- Good job setting up the new week's thread! It's much appreciated!

I finished an excellent graphic novel called Essex County by Jeff Lemire. I'm nearly done with the audio of Deathly Hallows and I knocked out a nice chunk of Mockingjay.

D E Stevenson, Mrs Tim Carries On The wife of an army officer in war time, lots of anecdotes about the home front

Laura Wilson, A Capital Crime historical crime, set in 1950 London

Katharine McMahon, A Way Through the Woods historical, set in 1920

Cathleen Schine, The Three Weissmanns of Westport

Geraldine McCaughrean, A Little Lower than the Angels children's historical

Joan Aiken, Moon Cake children's short story collection

Irene Nemirovsky, Dimanche and other Stories collection of newly translated short stories by this writer who died in Auschwitz - my copy's a Persephone but the same collection is also published in the US by NYRB

Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark

S J Rozan (ed), Bronx Noir anthology of short stories in the Akashic Noir series

This week's current reads:
-I promessi sposi
-1001 Arabian Nights
-Rousseau's Confessions
-Rabbit Hill
-Le Morte d'Arthur
-James Madison
-A Game of Thrones

My goodness! I feel like such a slacker, reading one book at a time! Lol!

I'm reading Maiden Voyages, edited by Mary Morris. I'm about half-way through, and I love where it's taken me, so far, and whom my travel companions have been!

I plan on reading horror all month this October, and I have a book for each of the following: vampires, zombies, werewolves, ghosts, and a general halloween book!

I'm starting with zombies by reading World War Z by Max Brooks.

I finished Killbox by Ann Aguirre, book 4 in the Sirantha Jax space opera series. Really enjoyed it.

Now starting A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif for a RL book group.

#9 Please comment on A Case of Exploding Mangoes when you have a chance. I still haven't read my copy and am on the verge of letting it go to a good home. Should I grab it back?

Still on Summer of Night which looks a lot like It but is much slower to get off the ground. It's not the kind of thing I read much of these days though I used to read horror voraciously and I'm still at a stage where it's looking hopeful. Also stuck in the middle of lots of study-related books but if they're boring me this much then it would definitely bore you to have to hear about them.

Will do Booksloth.

Finished Pomfret Towers last night and really enjoyed it. Started:

The Sin Bearer by Tom Taylor
What Katy did next
War and Peace--I've had a copy gathering dust for ages and decided to try and see if I'm up to it
The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel--I loved the first book so much when I was young that I've decided to read the whole series. None of them has been as wonderful as the first, but they've all been pleasant reads.
Plus, there's an interlibrary loan book waiting at the library today. I requested three and don't know which one it is, so there's that to look forward to.

Porua, it looks like you have a new job here on LT. Thanks for setting up the thread for us.

I'm heading back to Missouri from here in Texas in a little bit. I'll load up the next six discs in Every Man Dies Alone for my drive north. I'm finding it to be the perfect trip companion.

I've also been enjoying the wonderful The Things They Carried. I think I must have picked up this book once before as the first few stories were familiar to me.

>12 Bjace: Bjace My daughter is a big Pimpernel fan like you, and is collecting the series and enjoying it.

Agatha Christie's Destination Unknown, was a kind of slow burn thriller departure for her, and I found it so-so. Now I'm going to re-read her Cat Among the Pigeons.

Edited to give the touchstones another try.

Still listening to True Compass and reading Lehane's Moonlight Mile.

A few days ago I started a reread of To Kill a Mockingbird for Banned Books Week which was last week. I love that book! It's probably my favorite.

Reviews due this week:

Fatfingers: A Tale of Old New Orleans
The Snack Thief
Voice of the Violin
La Chute

Thanks, Porua! I loved, loved, loved Travels with My Aunt when I was a teen, and I've never stopped enjoying Greene's snark and venom since.

This week, I'm going to try to finish Hopscotch, which I've been sort of crawling along on. Despite how challenging it is, I've really been enjoying it.

I'm nearly finished with the flawed UK version of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, which I bought on my way back from London last week (more info on the mix up here). I'm also reading Hackney, That Rose-Red Empire by Iain Sinclair, and Pulp, a spoof of pulp fiction novels by Charles Bukowski.

Carlos, I look forward to your comments on Hopscotch.

I went shopping a bit yesterday at B&N and got a few of the scary books on my list that I didn't already have. Grant wants to look for a few out of print children's books from his childhood at our second hand bookstore so I will look for the others on my list. I have a few non scary books on that list as well.

I kinda dropped Booky Wook and Eat, Pray, Love but I'm still delusional that I'll come back to those at some point.

I also only finished the first story in A Matter of Magic by Patricia Wrede- so I'd like to come back to that one, just wanted a break.

I grabbed A Vampire Tapestry to read for the month of October, but honestly I think it might be a bad idea for me to read scary books before I go to bed, so I grabbed a non scary book to read before bed, Gargoyle.

I finished A Secret Kept by Tatiana De Rosnay last night - an alright story. As this was an LTER book, I will need to think a bit about the review I will write for this one.

Next up is Moscow Noir, a anthology of short stories set in Moscow from the Akashic Noir series.

This week I am reading
The Mabinogion - determined to finish this as I started it months ago and got sidetracked!

I am starting Little, Big by John Crowley for the 1010 challenge group read.

I also would like to read
The Painted Darkness by Brian James Freeman, my ER book
Jack Maggs by Peter Carey and The Quickening Maze by Adam Foulds, to complete my Alphabet Challenge
and to at least make a start on A World Lit Only by Fire by William Manchester, to clear up all the books I have out from the library.

I think that's it:)

#4 Thank you!

#13 Well, teelgee did say she was going to be busy for a few weeks and Richard did say it is ‘not’ anyone’s job. So, if I see that the new thread is not up yet and I happen to have nothing better to do then why not start a new one? Plus, I’m having fun looking for author birthdays and facts! :-)

#14 I really like Cat among the Pigeons! Hope you enjoy your re-read. I feel like re-reading it myself.

#18 You’re welcome! I’ve only read a few of Greene’s short stories, none of his longer works. My favoutite among the stories is A Shocking Accident a really twisted but funny story.

Meanwhile, still struggling with Shirley. I’m a little more than halfway through it. This is going to be a long slog!

I just finished My Name Is Memory by Ann Brashares. I really enjoyed it.

Starting The Stone Child by Dan Poblocki. It looks really fun.

I am reading Alan Furst's Kingdom of Shadows, a spy story about the years leading up to WW II, the politics of Europe at that time are complex, uncertain and confusing. On the lighter side, I am also reading A Girl Called Thursday by Lilian Harry about a British volunteer nurse, this one is set in Portsmouth in the early days of WW II.

#23--Porua, I read Shirley on vacation one year and I remember being so relieved to have finished it that I threw my paperback copy into the lake. (It had gotten nasty due to some form of liquid leaking onto it anyway, but I was so glad I would never have to see it again.)

The only Graham Green I have read was Brighton Rock, which is by turns boring and enthralling and requires a bit of a strong stomach. It isn't gory, but the main character is thoroughly evil.

I'm still working on Guards! Guards!. I need my weeks to slow down!

Didn't have a lot of reading time this past week. I'm just past the halfway point of Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage by Joseph Persico. It's a bit slow in parts, but overall very interesting.

Reading and enjoying The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.

Reading The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar, and listening to a Maisie Dobbs installment, Among the Mad by Jacqueline Winspear.

I'm listening to Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen, which I am loving, although it took me two tries to find a narrator I liked. Also reading Fablehaven by Brandon Mull.

Listening to The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi with my daughter. I am reading Climbing Parnasses by Tracy Lee Simmons, Don Quixote (still reading, I should say) and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.

I am reading Watching the English hoping for it to be lightweight but informative.

Robert

Almost done with Last Night in Twisted River, John Irving's most recent novel. It's good, but not his best. I do enjoy his writing style though and how he reliably includes New Hampshire, wrestling, bears, and a few other elements somewhere in his stories.

Still reading The Book of Unholy Mischief and am very much into it now.

Slightly off-subject, and I hope you will forgive me for that, but I came across this last night when checking out some of the blogs I follow (from living read girl's blog, to be precise).

In Celebration of the 199th anniversary of the publishing of Sense and Sensibility, October 30, 2010 has been declared Talk Like Jane Austen Day.

http://www.talklikejaneausten.com/talklikejaneaustenday.html

http://livingreadgirl.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-entreat-you-to-prepare-for-talk-lik...

>36 Storeetllr: LOL

Talk like Jane Austen Day!

ROFL

I'm going to make a start on The General of the Dead Army by Ismail Kadare and once I have finished reading it i'm going to celebrate Graham Greene's birthday by reading Brighton Rock.

Bosnia: In the Footsteps of Gustav Princip is excellent and I'll probably finish today, then on to Olaffson's The Ambassador

I'm about 2/3 of the way through Good Enough to Eat by Stacey Ballis and really enjoying it. I anticipate finishing it tonight. The main character is just incredibly genuine.

In audio, I'm listening to Mary Roach's Spook, also about 2/3 done, but I am not particularly enjoying that one. The interpretation give by the narrator's voicing of the text is really bothering me.

Since last Monday was my birthday, I took the day off from work. Since it was a gray, raining day in New England, I spent the day at home finishing Stronger than Iron, my ER book from July. (It didn't arrive until late September.) I'm trying to write my review, but nothing that I say can convey the horror of this grim memoir of life in the Jewish ghetto of Vilnia, Lithuania during the war.

I turned back to Petersburg, by Andrei Bely, but it was interrupted by the arrival of my August ER selection, The Road, by Vasily Grossman (no touchstone available). Poor Bely, he's been interrupted multiple times.

Recently I have been reading a lot of YA and Romance. I've decided to take another direction and today will start The Cellist of Sarajevo.

#10 I don't know, Booksloth, your travails with ROBINSON CRUSOE were pretty entertaining!

Thanks again, Porua, another great lead with Graham Greene! HEART OF THE MATTER is almost a textbook on how to write the perfect novel. I did, however, think BRIGHTON ROCK was pointless--though the film was terrific (Richard Attenborough was brilliant).

#40> If you ever get a chance, go to one of Roach's readings and here her read her own work.

>32 AMQS::AMQS: Tell us, which narrator for Sense and Sensibility won?

>41 fredbacon: Many happy returns of the day, Fred!

I finished and reviewed the third Inspector Montalbano mystery, The Snack Thief, in my thread...post #86. It was another delight in a series of delights.

I think talking like Jane Austen might be a bit lost on my kids, (probably on colleagues too but 30 October is a Saturday). I must remember to look out for others' experiences if anyone is doing it though.

I finished an ER book The Good Daughters and was sad it was not the book it could have been if the author hadn't made such a big deal out of the "secret" (not one of my favorite plot devices) and hadn't made a main character into such a twit for a third of the book. She gave big thanks to her editor, but I don't.

I also finished and tango makes three for Banned Books Week, a delightful little story about a real penguin family in the Central Park Zoo. You can hear it read here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0Ilx_DsZyY some of the clips have better sound, some better pictures.

I'm still listening to Betrayed and enjoying the story, but it's pretty YA.

Now I'm starting an ER book In Our Control The Complete Guide to Contraceptive Choices For Women by Laura Eldridge for a TIOLI Read a Book About Sex challenge.

leperdbunny, I hope you'll read that copy of Vampire Tapestry you grabbed. Suzy McKee Charnas is one of my favorite authors.

I finished the fabulous Good Enough to Eat earlier than expected, so I'm starting Charlene Baumbich's Divine Appointments.

>45 NarratorLady: NarratorLady, I started out with Sarah Badel, and switched to Nadia May. I was enjoying the Badel, but found that May reads with more inflection and expression. It makes it easier for me to understand, especially as I am doing other things as I listen.

#48 Citizenjoyce and leperdbunny ~ Charnas is pretty special! I've just added Vampire Tapestry too my wishlist.

Hmm, so turns out I don't actually have Divine Appointments, but one of Charlene Baumbich's other books, so I'm going to put that aside to see if I need to fix that problem, and read The Hanging Tree by Bryan Gruley instead.

#48 and #51, I've read 100 pages now of the book- it is turning out to be a fascinating read. Very atmospheric!

I'm glad you like her, but it's late. I thought you were afraid to read about vampires before bed.

Just started Cool Water by Dianne Warren.

I'm reading two at a time right now.
Classic Spanish Stories and Plays : The Great Works of Spanish Literature for Intermediate Students. I need to work on my Spanish so I can do more than bust the kids for bilingual swearing.

I'm also still reading The Dragon and the Stars. Still liking it. Also the short stories in the collection with I am Legend. The short stories are a bit inconsistent. Some are really good, and some are dated and perhaps a bit sexist. Sigh.

I'm reading The Girl who Played with Fire and Incarceron

Finished Book Lust. Now I'm reading More Book Lust. Nothing better than reading books about books when you are a bibliophile!

#43 Ah, it's always good to know someone has had a good laugh at my suffering (sob).

#20 Gargoyle may not be a scary book in the usual sense but I have to admit all that stuff about debriding and the general treatment of burns gave me a nastier turn than many a horror book.

I finished reading Water for Elephants last night, in the end I just couldn't put it down. I really liked it, and I can thank LT for helping me discover it.

I now started Fahrenheit 451 for some good old classic science fiction reading.

#60 I felt just the same way when I read it. Didn't think I'd enjoy it a bit and ended up loving it. I try to onquer my instinct be snobby about the books 'everyone is talking about' because just now and then they are right.

Yeah, same here. Some 'popular' books I tried and did not really like, but I can count on LT recommendations being right most of the time.

>#35 ~ jbleil, I have that book but I've been afraid to start it. Irving has long been a favorite of mine but his last few novels have really left me unimpressed. I feel like if I read another one of his books that disappoint, I can no longer consider him a favorite...weird, I know, but it would tip the scales, there would be more of his books I disliked than loved so I'm putting it off. Have you read Until I Find You? Would you say this new one is better than that one?

>#41 ~ fredbacon, Bely is easy to interrupt because there's not a lot of continuity, just a series of impressions really. I haven't read that Grossman book you mentioned, it is a novel or a collection of short stories? I have thoroughly enjoyed the Grossman I've read, Life and Fate and Everything Flows, I would love to read more.

I'm still working on The Thief by Leonid Leonov but I'll finish it today. Next on my list is Their Father's God by O. E. Rolvaag and with that I will be done with that trilogy.

Just finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. Hadn't heard of the Hunger Games series a month ago, but I'll be picking up the third one this week. Didn't expect to be so excited about a young adult trilogy. Hoping to turn my niece onto them. She needs something with high powered girl protagonist. Those gawdawful Twilight things don't cut it even though I've been suffering through them so we have some books to talk about.

Just started Country of the Pointed Firs by Sara Orne Jewett. Had read about half of it in college over twenty years ago. Was up in Down East Maine a month ago and kept thinking all the way back to this book.

Also read the first few pages of The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell. Love her and will dig in that one too.

#63, Lisa Stens, I am also reading Grossman's The Road (which doesn't yet touchstone). It is a collection of stories and other writings (letters, journalism) So far I've just read the first section, which consists of three stories from the 1930s. There is good commentary, too.

Finished Rabbit Hill (wonderful!), read Rhyme Stew (meh), and have started Rifles for Watie.

Finally finished The Catcher in the Rye, which seemed to take forever. I just lost interested about 2/3rd's the way through and really struggled to pick it back up. While I can still somewhat understand Holden's viewpoint, I can see how people "grow out" of appreciating the novel.

An interesting side note about the novel though. I had the opportunity to read it in public quite a bit (especially in airports), and without fail, someone always came up to me to comment on it. Whether to say how much they loved it, hated it, or were just curious about it. That has never happened to me before in regards to another novel. Has anyone had that experience before?

Now on to A Call from Jersey which is an Early Reviewer. I'm hoping it's good.

I finished rereading My Antonia but I imagine I'll keep it handy for a few weeks so I can revisit some of my favorite passages again and again.

Next up: The Imperfectionists by Tom Rachman

>67 greeneyed_ives: greeneyed: I can't say that has happened to me with any book. I did have a curious encounter at the beach years ago. I was reading Cold Sassy Tree and a woman came up to me and said, "If you enjoy that book, you'll love The Joy Luck Club." Well, I did enjoy Joy Luck, although I adored Cold Sassy and have re-read it. But I never understood the connection between the two.

mollygrace: I loved My Antonia and want to re-read it sometime too.

I'll be interested to hear what you think of The Imperfectionists. That one's been on my wishlist for awhile.

#63,#65, I reached as far as his essay The Hell of Treblinka last night. I couldn't face reading that again just before going to sleep, so I put it aside. I'm enjoying the stories quite a lot. Grossman has a very simple, realist style coupled with a razor sharp eye for the telling detail. He can deliver a devastating emotional blow with just a couple of simple sentences.

I can't rave enough about Fatfingers: A Tale of Old New Orleans! I've reviewed it in my thread...post #95.

The author, Charlie White, is an LTer who sent me a copy of the book about two months ago, and per my custom I've read the book twice before reviewing it. I waited two weeks between reads to be sure I wasn't just in a giddy, I-love-the-world mood when I read it the first time, thus explaining why I was so amused and entertained.

Nope. It's the book. I really, really think y'all should read it, especially anyone interested in things Cajun and things picaresque. It's good stuff!

#43 You're welcome, sholofsky!

Made good progress with Shirley today. A little more than 160 pages to go now.

>#65 ~ rebeccanyc, Thank you. I'll have to add that to my amazon wishlist. Grossman has such a fascinating story and took such an emotional journey, I'm sure I will love the other writings as much as I've loved his novels.

I went to see the movie version of Guardians of Ga'Hoole this last weekend and it was a winner. I really enjoyed it. It is really a compilation of the first three of the books but it was very well done. This is the way movies should be adapted from books. Unlike what was done with the Lemony Snickett books. Take your kids to see the Guardians. It's worth it.

There are some really good books out there that are classified as YA novels. Sometimes I think that this classification should be done away with as some books that are adult novels find their way into the YA classifications and some YA novels find their way into adult novels. What makes a book a YA novel anyway? Is it reading level? Or the whim of the publishers?

Just finished All the News Is Fit to Print and have moved on to The Compact History of the American Newspaper.

Just finished Fahrenheit 451, just could not put it down. Tomorrow morning on my commute to work I will start with Cloud Atlas.

>75 benitastrnad:
Pretty much the whim of the publishers. One of the more accepted definitions of what makes a book YA is the age of the protagonist, although there are definitely exceptions to this rule.

>46 richardderus: Another great review of the Montalbano series, Richard. Couldn't agree more on the mouth-watering food in The Snack Thief and all the other books!

I wondered about Guardians of Ga'Hoole. I guess I'll have to see it. My grandson is 11, do you think he's too old for it? Of course, now that his baseball season has started, we might not be getting him to any movies for month or two.

>72 richardderus: Thanks for the reccie, Richard. I tried to "wishlist" Fatfingers: A Tale of Old New Orleans but wasn't able to do so. Guess I'll have to add it to my TBR list the old-fashioned way. *licks pencil and starts to write*

#54 "I'm glad you like her, but it's late. I thought you were afraid to read about vampires before bed."

Yeah, I read it hours before posting that. . . although, thus far it didn't seem as scary as I was thinking it was going to be.

# 59 That is a good point!

divinenanny> Farenheit 451 was his first and IMHO his best. It's actually still on the top seller YA sf list on Amazon, & of course, needs to be trotted out every banned book week.

benitastrand> As to YA books, many are marketed as both YA and adult. All they do is change the cover. I've been at many a convention when the YA author has said I was just writing. I wasn't thinking of my YA novel as being YA. I just wrote what I wanted to, and I guess it was YA. At one convention, Patricia McKillip was on a panel with her editor Sharyn November and she turned to Sharyn and said "Why is my writing YA?"

The usually reason is a young protagonist combined with a close POV.

boulder_a_t> Country of the Pointed Firs is such a quiet collection. It hasn't gotten the attention it deserves. Hope you enjoy it!

#63 LisaStens: Yes, I did read Until I Find You, and I believe this is better than that, far more like some of his earlier work. I had to look up Until I Find You so that tells you something. There have been a couple that I just could not stand, like The Fourth Hand. I do feel as though Irving's finest years have passed and that nothing he writes now could compare with A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Cider House Rules, The Hotel New Hampshire, etc. Others will have different opinions, of course.

I took a break from A Case of Exploding Mangoes yesterday to read Dewey by Vicki Myron. Sweet, though I liked the cat better than the people in the book.

Back to Mangoes.

I loved The Vampire Tapestry too, but its not really a horror book ( other than the horror of being alone).

I'm finishing Night Train To Lisbon by Pascal Mercier. Interesting, but definitely a challenging read.

Books I came home with today from a charming little bookshop in Wichita that is now my favorite shop and I shall have to frequent it more often.

A Blessing on the Moon by Joseph Skibell
The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid
I capture the castle by Dodie Smith
Miss Pettrigrew Lives for a day by Winifred Watson

Just finished Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and loved it. Really sweet fun book, made me laugh, ended happily... a nice feel good story.

Am reading Love in Infant Monkeys: Stories by Lydia Millet. Very good thus far.

>#84 ~ jbleil, That is encouraging, that it's at least better than Until I Find You. I really didn't care for that one...or The Fourth Hand or A Son of the Circus and I was largely indifferent to A Widow For A Year. That's four I really didn't like, it balances out the four I thought were brilliant, The Hotel New Hampshire, World According to Garp, A Prayer For Owen Meany and Cider House Rules, one more and I am officially over the line.

>#89 LisaStens: I just finished reading the book and there is some interesting detail in the last few chapters about how his main character, a successful writer, writes his books, which of course is how Irving writes. In the paperback copy, which is what I have, there is also an Afterward that describes his writing method in a little more detail. I give the book a solid three stars, which is a little above average for me.

It's interesting: the first Irving I read was A Widow for One Year and then I quickly inhaled the very four you list as your favorites. After that I took a break from Irving and when I returned, did not like anything he wrote. I have since re-read all of those five books, some more than once. So I too am cautious about picking up anything new by him, because I'm afraid of becoming disillusioned.

#68, 70: Ditto. I'm not big on re-reading books, but MY ANTONIA will definitely get a re-read. Whenever I read some pretentious big-mouth, I will have to go back to MY ANTONIA to cleanse my palate, so to speak, and re-connect with the simple purity that is writing at its best. I cannot ever imagine MY ANTONIA going out of style or being considered too ornate by some future generation. MY ANTONIA will always be what writing is about. BTW did I mention I just loved this book?

#91 LOL!

#89/90 Irving is definitely a hit and miss author although, to me, the hits sooooo make up for the misses and when he's on form he's pretty well unbeatable. I do agree with LisaStens's top four, though I also loved A Widow for One Year and A Son of the Circus. I suppose it's a bit unfair to expect that every book will equal his very best but I did enjoy Until I Find You and Twisted River each in its own way - not up there with his very best though. On the other hand (pun not intended) The Fourth Hand is pretty dire. But then I didn't really get My Antonia (#68,70,91) either so what do I know? Slinks away in shame

>#89, 93 ~ Every book speaks to different people differently, what one person finds no worth in, another loves and that's as it should be. My Antonia didn't really do much for me either...I didn't dislike it, I was just very neutral about it. I'm not a huge fan of what I call, "Prairie novels" though so that might have had something to do about it. That said, one "Prairie novel" that I did love and would highly recommend to anyone is Giants in the Earth by O. E. Rolvaag. It's about Norwegian immigrants that settled the Dakota prairies...a subject matter that hits close to home for me because my family comes from Norwegian immigrants that settled the Dakota prairie, which is why I bothered to pick it up. It's an absolutely incredible book, heartbreaking and depressing, like all good Scandinavian books should be. ;)

I enjoyed My Antonia but my favorite Willa Cather is O Pioneers, details of which I vividly remember, unlike those in Antonia. Hmmmm.....think it's time for a re-read.

Reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This time I'm reading it with my son, so it's splendid being able to watch his reactions to the story.

I'm reading Boulevard by Stephen J. Schwartz on my Kindle. It's gritty and compelling. (I love police procedurals.)

Because the weekend weather was wet and miserable, I picked up Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer and stayed on the couch.

#94 Thanks for the recommendation for Giants in the Earth. I've never heard of it before but it sounds great and I've put it on my wishlist.

#95 I have a copy of O Pioneers but haven't gotten to it yet. Now, I'm really looking forward to it.

I am reading candyfreak. It is a light quick and light read. After that I am going to read Woman: an intimate journey. It has been on my wish list for years. My boyfriend is nice enough to let me use his library card at the university he attends so I am catching up on a lot of the books that have been on my wish list.

I am earnestly reading Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All and hope to finish it this week. I bought this book when I was in college because it was on the bestseller lists and sounded like a good read. It sat on my pile and traveled with me through three moves. I decided last winter that I had to get it out of the house and since I can't stand giving a book away without at least trying it I started reading it. It has proved to be slow going but not a bad book. I isn't a bad book, I just don't seem to be that interested in the subject matter. Although now-a-days we would say that the woman is living with a person who has a bad case of post traumatic stress disorder.

#100 purplemoonstar, I've started a Read a Book About Sex challenge on the Take It Or Leave It site. http://www.librarything.com/topic/99376

I hope you'll read Woman: An Intimate Geography (if that's the one you meant) and let us know what you think about Natalie Angier on my thread here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/99728#2225650

It's interesting that there is such a discussion on My Antonia here this week. I started the book on the weekend, and I am liking it, but not loving it, at least not yet. I do have to say it is beautifully written.

I think what I love most about My Antonia is Jim Burden.
I love his passion for the prairie and the people who settled it -- for Mrs. Harling -- for Otto and Jake -- for the immigrant girls -- the way certain times or moments are part of his soul forever. The story of Mr. Shimerda's grave is truly a great American story -- Jim's memory of that funeral made such a deep impression. I cried, too, when he told Antonia how much her father had meant to him.

The fact that Jim grew up to be a man who lived an entirely different sort of life and yet worked for the railroad that spanned the country he loved is interesting -- he would keep crossing and re-crossing it on business. The prairie broadened him and made him a man in a way college and the rest of his life could only expand on.

I love O Pioneers!, too, and I often think of the two of them together as the great American novel (until, of course, I think of several other books that might deserve the title.)

I finished and reviewed Rose Tremain's new novel Trespass.

I'm moving on to All the King's Men by Robert Penn Warren.

I've finished and reviewed Voice of the Violin, the fourth of Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano Sicilian police procedurals. It's in my thread...post #117.

I've also introduced a new format for my reviews, so I'd really appreciate y'all taking a minute to read it and comment on it.

I've finished Maiden Voyages, which was terrific! Now I'm on to the Oxford Book of Gothic Tales...a perfect read for the month of October! I've just started it but I'm sure it will be fun!

I've noticed that, for some reason, I'm reading a lot of anthologies, lately. I've pretty much overlooked them or ignored them until now for some reason, but I'm finding that they include some marvelous writing, and can be every bit as satisfying to read as a novel or other full-length book.

I'm currently reading Aldous Huxley: An English Intellectual by Nicholas Murray, although I won't finish it this week as I'm usually unable to read non-fiction books cover-to-cover. I have to stop for a fiction one every now and then...

Oh, in case anyone was wanting to stop by I reviewed 2 books from a week ago and posted some info about my new books and reading for this month!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/81070

#103 Delta Queen: The interesting thing about Willa Cather's books for me is how they grow on me. When I started My Antonia and Death Comes for the Archbishop I wasn't completely into them but as they went on, I really got drawn in and they've stayed with me after finishing them. For me, it's the images that stay in my mind of the places she writes about more than the characters.

At last finished Shirley by Charlotte Brontë! What a waste of time this was! My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/65134066

Or my 75 Books Challenge thread,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/98949

#110 - phebj - I think you have described my feelings exactly. The writing is so beautiful that I feel as if I was reading a series of essays. As Mollygrace already mentioned, the burial of Mr. Shimerda was a very moving piece. I was brought up in the suburbs, but my husband was a child of the Saskatchewan prairie, I keep reading scenes from the book to him because there are so many similarities.

#104, 110, 112 thank you for your heartfelt experiences of MY ANTONIA and for reminding me of what I loved about the book. To Booksloth and other readers who weren't as moved, thank you for a really great discussion. It got me to thinking that just as there is no right opinion (right is right for us), there may definitely be a right time. When I read MY ANTONIA I had just read an overrated western regional writer who I found to be just the opposite of the land and people he was writing about: pretentious and unnatural. MY ANTONIA was the perfect medicine at the right time. There are so many factors to our likes and dislikes--a New York steak is one thing when we are starving, something entirely different when we have the stomach flu. BTW (sorry!) #104, 110, 112 etc. being in October, let's not forget that MY ANTONIA is also a great Halloween read: that narrative about the pack of wolves decimating the Russian wedding party one by one--as a stand alone horror story, definitely hits the mark.

#113 I had forgotten about the Russian wedding party and the wolves!

#112 I recently saw a PBS documentary on Willa Cather (it was a DVD I took out of the library) and I remember them saying that, at least with Death Comes to the Archbishop, she was writing essays more than she was writing chapters. And it certainly seemed that way with My Antonia too.

guys i thought this sight will enable u to read book for free, geez where i can read T.T hope u can help me out hard to buy what i like in philippines cant find what i want so please; i`d really like to read

#115 Nope. Sorry. This is for cataloging and discussing books you have read or may be interested in reading. Try gutenberg.org or hatchitrust.org

Purplemoonstar: I really enjoyed Candyfreak. It is a light read but really made we want to buy candy in bulk.

Yesterday I read Buried in Books: A Reader's Anthology and as a result have added a great number of books to my own TBR pile in my head.

!115 sakurata, go to http://books.google.com/books, you should find plenty of books to read there.

sakurata,

You can check the following sites

http://www.literature.org

and

http://www.literaturepage.com

and

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu

and

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

If you like Science fiction you might try

http://www.baen.com/library

#113 You are so right there Sholofsky. For me it's definiitely a matter of timing. There was absolutely nothing to dislike about the book and the writing was terrific - it just didn't grab me for some reason. I'm convinced that on another reading I might well feel very differently about it. In fact, I really should reread it one day because I don't remember a single thing about it: every scene that has been mentioned so far has meant nothing to me whatsoever. If I hadn't entered it on the Book of the Month group I'd be beginning to doubt I'd ever read it at all (there was a wedding? wolves? - nope, nothing).

I loved My Antonia - I'm now reading The Song of the Lark as my Virago Modern Classic choice for this month - Thea is a small town Swedish American girl in Colorado in the 1890s, who wants to become a singer. This book looks dauntingly long but it's partly the way it's printed, I think, quite large print on the pages.

The introduction is by A S Byatt - I do love the VMC introductions.

I am still reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We were running all weekend and even yesterday so I didn't get much chance to read it. I am hoping to finish it before the weekend. I am really enjoying it and am excited to see how the plot lines come together.

#120> I am a huge Cather fan. I found The Song of the Lark to be one of my favorites. I also like Death Comes to the Archbishop quite a bit.

I just finished reading The Weight of Heaven by Thrity Umrigar. I will be attending a lecture by her this Thursday evening and genuinely look forward to it. I am going to start reading Brief Interviews With Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace as I will be seeing a stage production of the book next week. I am curious as to how one produces a production of a collection of short stories. Maybe I will have a better feel for it after reading them! I continue listening to Among The Mad, a Maisie Dobbs installment, by Jacqueline Winspear.

Finished Island of Saints ... ugh. Just not my cup of tea, very one dimensional and too rah rah Christian.

Picked up a book I had on the shelves (an ARC I must have gotten from a book sale) and it sucked me right in: Long in the Tooth by David Turrill. Unfortunately, I cannot find much out there one it, but it's intense, dark, interesting. The writing is awesome (bit different too). It reminds me a bit of Tim O'Brien's style so far.

# 116: retropelocin

Regarding Buried in Books: A Reader's Anthology:

I love books about books! I find them dangerous, because of all the books I end up adding to Mt. TBR! I never can resist, though!

I'm still reading The Einstein Girl by Philip Sington, pre WW2 thriller set in Berlin.

On the Irving theme, you do just keep sticking in there to see if he is going to blow your socks off again.

Ilium by Dan Simmons - It's brilliant

I finished Bath Tangle and am back reading Taliban by Ahmed Rashid.

Well, I *was* ready to read My Antonia until somebody mentioned the bit about the wolves. (weak stomach)

I'm currently reading The God of Small Things. It's wonderful, but I'm not *into* it, so I think I should put it down until I can appreciate it.

I'm having a reading crisis. My brain just doesn't have the attention span it used to for reading, which makes me sad because there are so many wonderful books. I hope this is temporary.

I'm reading The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver. I was intrigued by the idea of a fly-on-the-wall character/narrator in the Kahlo-Rivera household. After getting through the slightly slow beginning, I'm really enjoying the book.

Finished What Katy did next--lightweight but pleasant--and picked up The Valley of Bones again. I'd had a hard time getting into it, but once I got past the first chapter I'm finding I like it. Am also reading a chapter or two of War and Peace at nights and that's going surprisingly well, although I can't keep all the names straight yet.

Just finished Night Train to Lisbon by Pascal Mercier which was very interesting but also very challenging - a bit of a slow go. Needed something light and fun so I have started To Fetch A Thief- A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn. This is his third book in this series and they have all been good fun.

Reading While the Light Lasts, a collection of rarely published shorter fictions by Agatha Christie. This a total comfort read for me. Lord knows I needed some comfort after the disaster that was my last read.

Thanks for the warning, Bjace (from message #26). Wish I had the ability to leave a book unfinished.

Edited to fix typo.

Finished and reviewed Roosevelt's Secret War: FDR and World War II Espionage by Joseph Persico. Shorter review on the book's page. Slightly more detailed review on my 50-Book Challenge thread.

I'm almost finished Sworn to Silence by Linda Castillo and the writing and pace are great! Looking forward to Pray for Silence which is the next one in this series and an ER book.

Unfortunately all the other books I've been reading have taken a back seat temporarily. I'll get back to No Country for Old Men and get it finished soon, then The Girl Who Played With Fire is great...just got pushed aside. Also I need to finish Flourish, another ER book, and then there's Audition and Daddies and Daughters still waiting in the wings!

I have finished and reviewed My Antonia by Willa Cather. Such lyrical writing, this book could be used as an example of how to write - from the heart, simple, enriching. I will definitely be reading more of her work.

I am now moving on to The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks.

My Antonia is great. I've read other Iain Banks books, but not that one.

Barry Eisler's Fault Line was a pretty good thriller, but not as good, for me, as his John Rain ones, mainly because of annoyance at the brothers' ongoing psychodrama.

Next is Little Women, which I've never read.

# 136 jnwelch:

You've never read Little Women?! You're in for a real treat, but have some tissues handy! It's one of my lifelong favorites!

#131

I loved Night Train to Lisbon and have tried to get several of my book type friends to read it. Of the three I talked into reading it only one finished it. The other two got bogged down in the middle. Even the one who finished it said that it was slow going and that it wasn't one of her favorite books. She couldn't understand what I liked about it.

As for me - the book might have tried to do too much. Was it a middle age crises story? or a political thriller? or a treatise on the big questions of life? I do know that it was a book that made me think ponder while reading it and I thought even more about it after I had read it.

I am curious about one thing. Would you follow a woman who came into your classroom dripping wet, and who got there by mistake, and thus irrevocably change your life?

#139 benitastrnad:

I loved Night Train to Lisbon, too, until about 2/3 of the way through when I felt the story shift. Did you notice that shift? I think that's why people are pretty much having a hard time with it.

I thought that the fact that Mundus just took up and followed after that woman that he'd met on the bridge was a really interesting, integral part of the story. It was so far out of character for him. Perhaps one other reason that people tire of it at about the middle is that the questions of why this dry, stuffy academic who immerses himself in dead languages and whose every moment is so tightly proscribed would act so far out of character, what he would find in Lisbon, and how it would change him are the main questions I wanted answered in the book, and I'm probably not alone.

>#130, Bjace ~ Those names take awhile to sink in. When I first started reading Russian literature it was the names I found the most challenging. A character may be referred to by their first name and patronymic or last name or a nickname...it took me awhile to realize they were one person, not 3 different ones. Once I got that clear, everything else fell into place. War and Peace is incredibly readable. I was expecting it to be hard work and slow going but it actually flowed quite nicely. I would sit down and read only to discover I had read 100 pages or more without even noticing. I have found all of Tolstoy's works to be like that, his prose has a wonderful easy flow to it.

Finished The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery. I've only ever read Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables which was a while ago but I recognized the emphasis on natural beauty. It was a lovely, quick read and I enjoyed the nastily pompous aunts and uncles. Great hero and heroine: real escapist literature, in the best sense.

I also loved Night Train to Lisbon. I can understand him following the dripping woman and changing his life; sometimes people are ready and desperate for change and need only one event to push them in a radically new direction. His life sure seemed worthy of changing!

I do understand those who have problems with the book; it's messy, not neat, but it was a trip well worth taking, and one I've thought about a lot since.

>137 bookwoman247: What can I say? Better to read Little Women late than never? I'm looking forward to it.

I've never read Little Women either but I've seen a couple of the movie versions. Maybe someday! I'll have to add Night Train to Lisbon to the WL!

I finished Mockingjay! It wasn't as strong as the first two but I still liked it! Collins seemed to have run out of steam. I'm also reading a graphic called Fun Home, which is very good and started the audio of Packing For Mars, which I'm enjoying. Next up, the latest Vietnam epic, Matterhorn. Yes, I'm pumped!

I'm learning what it was like to live through WWII by reading Studs Terkel's The Good War.

Narratorlady, I bought my copy of The Blue Castle on Prince Edward Island and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. It brings warmth to my heart thinking about it.

>128 studio1: Don't let the bit about the wolves stop you from reading My Antonia, studio1. It's a masterpiece and well worth any slight discomfort. Or you could just skim that part, if you need to. (I read it about 10 years ago, studied it in depth for a literature course, in fact, and have absolutely no recollection of anything about wolves.)

I'm just beginning The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins as it seems appropriate for the season. I must say I hadn't expected it to be quite so humorous, which is a nice surprise. His character portraits are also excellent and so far I prefer him to Dickens by quite some margin.

I just finished Cloud Atlas and will start The Remains of the Day next.

#128 studio 1, I agree with Storeetllr,#147, completely, and I'm sorry if my mentioning what is really only a minor incident in a beautiful and gentle book should discourage you from reading MY ANTONIA. Don't let it. The "wolf" story (which occurs in chapter eight of book one) is only the recollection of one of the book's minor characters, and is so insignificant that, as you can see, many fans of the book forget it is there. This beautiful book is definitely not one that you need a strong stomach for.

#149 Oh divinenanny, what a joy you have ahead of you!

Finished The valley of bones and going on to Elizabeth Taylor's Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont

I finished The Hanging Tree by Bryan Gruley last night and it was quite a good, smart mystery. Now I'm reading After the Workshop by John McNally which is a fast, engaging read so far.

#148 I read The Woman in White quite some time ago and remember little about it. All I know is that it is definitely better than The Moonstone. I re-read the latter earlier this year and the re-read did nothing to improve my opinion of it. My favourite Wilkie Collins book is The Queen of Hearts. It is my #1 favourite read so far this year.

Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins were contemporaries and very close friends. I feel that Collins was less sure about what he wanted to do. He seems kind of preachy to me. Sometimes his social commentary overshadows his narrative and sometimes the light, entertaining side of his writing comes out. It’s like a play of shadows and lights. Dickens seemed surer about how he wanted to deal with the issues important to him (child labour, the condition of prisons, the judiciary system etc, etc,) and how and when to entertain. With Dickens the characters are such a big part of the plots that long after the book is over one remembers their personalities. With Collins the characters are memorable but seem kind of undermined by the central themes that he wanted to enlarge upon. To me at least, Dickens is superior of the two in those aspects.

#149 The Remains of the Day is one of my top favourites this year. I want to echo Booksloth from #151 and say you're in for a treat! The Remains of the Day is a wonderful book.

have you read day by day armageddon ?

#106 Richard I have yet to read anything you wrote without feeling admiration, as well as enjoyment of your wit. New format looks good to me.

Last night I added Death of a Salesperson, a short story collection by mystery writer Robert Barnard, to my "between book" stack. "Between books" are collections/anthologies and such that I read one story/entry at a time between the full-length novels and histories I read.

Okay, not that I read things that are all that serious, but I need fluff. Starting Divorced, Desperate and Delicious by Christie Craig. Hoping for brainless fun.

>157 Travis1259: *blush* Why thank you, kind sir/madam!

#157. You're welcome. And, it's David

I gave up on City of Masks, as it proved impossible to find enough time to read only during daylight hours (I get scared easily), and it was due back at the library with a hold. I'm still slowly but surely working through Girl Meets God and Flourish, my August ER book. At lunch today I started The Pillars of the Earth, which I'm very excited about!

Reading War and Peace and I am so taken by it I decided to revisit some books form my Russian literature classes taken quite a while ago. So I have added The Great Short Works of Leo Tolstoy to my pile to be read and just purchased The Collected Works of Nikolai Gogol.

I just finished reading India: A History which is very impressive as readable history giving equal time across the ages and regions of India. While it seemed a little heavy on battles and rulers, it still gave a good sense of India's culture, religions, and art. I found the book an excellent even-handed history. Being ignorant on the topic before reading it, I learned a great deal.

Enjoying The Vampire Tapestry!!

Come visit me!

http://www.librarything.com/topic/81070

#147, #150 - No worries. I was sort of just making fun of myself and my squeamishness. I will probably make my way to the book at some point. But thanks for your words of reassurance!

I am excited that my copy of The Imperfectionists has fiiiiiiiiinally come in at that library. Hopefully that will get me out of my reading slump!

Currently working my way through Moral Disorder: And other stories, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage and Rebecca. All good reads so far!

Finished Among the Mad, a Maisie Dobbs story, by Jacqueline Winspear last night and loved it so much I immediately started listening to the next installment, The Mapping of Love and Death. I continue reading Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace.

I started The Book Thief a few weeks ago, and noticed today it made its way back onto the shelf. I'll have to pull it out and try to enjoy it this weekend.

I started Cemetery Dance by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, as well as Only Uni by Cami Tang tonight.

I am reading Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist. Took me a while to get into it, but now that I am, I am thoroughly enjoying it.

I finished (and loved) The Remains of the Day, just as people here said I would. Great novel, I love Ishiguro more and more.

I started The Thirteenth Tale this morning.

#171--Divinenanny, enjoy The thirteenth tale I bought it from the Book of the Month Club by mistake, picked it up and couldn't put it down for hours. A little strange, but very engaging.

Finished Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont, which was good and pretty much what I expected. Started Mrs. Daffodill last night ; so far it seems fluffy but charming.

Finished The Summer of Night - okay, I guess, but not really my kind of thing any more. I do have A Winter Haunting on Mount TBR and will definitely read it but maybe not just yet. I'm now up to my neck in several different Antigone's for study purposes and 'fun' reading has been squeezed into a tiny corner of my life, which is why I've picked something short and quick for my next read and that's Bullyville. I just adored Prose's After and this looks like being every bit as good.

#171 So pleased you enjoyed Remains of the Day; Ishiguro can do no wrong!

El laberinto de la Rosa, de Titania Hardie
Me está gustando mucho

I've finished my zombie book for the month, World War Z, and posted my review! It was great, and a terrific start to my month of Halloween reading!

I am now moving on to werewolves with The Wereling by David Robins. My epectations are low, I just needed a werewolf book and this was the best I could find and my tiny public library. Hopefully it isn't too bad!

Just started Divine Appointments by Charlene Baumbich and about to start the audio of You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know by Heather Sellers.

# 171 divinenanny and #172 Bjace:

I just had to chime in about the Thirteenth Tale. I loved it! It's one of my favorites of the decade!

Finishing up Magic, Witchcraft, and the Otherworld: An Anthropology and Tanya Luhrmann's Persuasions of the Witch's Craft just arrived for me via ILL. Going to be a magical weekend.

Yo también leí The thireenth tale, el cuento número 13, está muy bien

#171 So glad you enjoyed The Remains of the Day, divinenanny!

Last night I started The Leopard's Spots by Thomas Dixon. The book was published in 1902, and my copy is a first edition. Seems like I've developed a little habit of reading the older books on my shelves over the past few months. I found this one in a Lake County (CA) antique store a few months back. The novel is the first of a notorious trilogy about the Reconstruction Era South. Wikipedia's entry on the book begins thusly:

"The Leopard's Spots is the first novel of Thomas Dixon's Ku Klux Klan trilogy that included The Clansman and The Traitor. In the novel Dixon offers an account of Reconstruction in which he portrays the villains as a former slave driver, Northern carpetbaggers and emancipated slaves; and heroes as members of the Ku Klux Klan."

The second book mentioned there, The Clansman was made into a movie you may have heard of: Birth of a Nation.

In fact, The Leopard's Spots' subtitle is "An historical romance of the White Man's burden"!

So while I'm looking forward to reading this book as a sociological and historical lesson of sorts, and while the storytelling so far is relatively straightfoward and the language easy to assimilate, I'm really not looking forward to the story's unfolding. But I am expecting it to be a fascinating read.

Attended a lecture by Thrity Umrigar last night. She was very interesting. A woman who believes in taking a stand on current issues and whose self-deprecating, wry sense of humor is also seen in her writing. As always it was fun to hear an author speak about their own writing process and personal history and how they have combined with, as she put it, "happy accidents" to lead to publishing their work. Wonderful evening!

Finished While the Light Lasts by the wonderful Agatha Christie. Every book makes me love her more! My review is here,

http://www.librarything.com/review/65132826

Or my 75 Books Challenge thread 2010,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/98949

I loved both The Thirteenth Tale and Daughter of the Empire!

175, a zombie book a month? That's crazy! I don't know if I could handle that much undead in my reading.

184: Oh, no, I might have worded that a bit better. This month I'm reading a horror book for each Halloween creature. I have a book for zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts, and a general halloween book. If I finish those early enough I'm going to try to fit one in for witches too, I just couldn't find one in time. World War Z was my 'zombie book for the month.' :)

I had hoped to get a good start on two different books last night, but I began to fall asleep during the first chapter of the first book, The Philosophy of Set Theory. She assumes that time and space must be infinite, so I don't know how long I will be able to stick with the book; I hope I'll get all the way through.

Robert

rocketjk> You've got a stronger stomach than I have! But it sounds like interesting reading from a history point of view. Sometimes it's hard for me to get into the head of someone who lived in a time period where things we find offensive were considered correct.

nubedealgodon> Como escribe Titania Hardie? Es el libro una fantasia?

I finished reading Classic Spanish Stories and Plays and enjoyed some of it very much and some of it not so much. My review is linked to my profile page if you're interested, and my reaction to El Burlador de Sevilla, aka Don Juan, is here: http://cammykitty.livejournal.com/95480.html Spoiler city. I found that particular play very uncomfortable.

I just finished Pigs in Heaven which I'm sure I found out about on LT. I found it very fun to read with a host of memorable, entertaining characters, most of of whom I liked. It dealt with a difficult dilemma which was perhaps too neatly solved but it made me happy.

I am reading Spook by Mary Roach. Not too spooky so far.

I finished both Fablehaven by Brandon Mull and Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen (audio) this week. Thoroughly enjoyed both!

"Of diseases, she preferred the lingering or incurable." Flannery O'Connor had a gift for characterization, and oddly enough her story "Good Country People" is in the horror collection I'm reading, The Medusa in the Shield.

The new thread is here,

http://www.librarything.com/topic/100222