What's Everyone Reading, Part II [Archive]

lawyerlee

01-14-2007, 05:23 PM

I haven't read The Emperor's Children, but it is on my list. I wonder if maybe the fact that the characters were unlikable but fit your profile was what made it so off putting? I could imagine that bothering me quite a bit.

I finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards this weekend. I really enjoyed it. I loved the writing and the characters. Toward the end I started to feel like I was losing the thread - it just seemed so disjointed. But Edwards brought it all back together for me. I recommend this one. :)

Now I'm reading Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. I'm not sure what to think yet. I've heard a wide variety of opinions on this one, so I'm curious to find out what I will think of it.

mili04

01-16-2007, 06:01 AM

I just started The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. Thanks to the good reviews here and on Amazon.com, I'm looking forward to it.

Rosebud

01-16-2007, 04:14 PM

Over the weekend I finished The Birth of Venus by Sarah Dunant. I picked it up after reading a few mentions of it in this thread. It's pretty good historical fiction, although I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. The information about the time period (late 1400s Florence) was very compelling, but I didn't get as emotionally invested in the main character as I would have liked.

Now, I'm starting The Hamilton Case by Michelle de Kretser.

Synopsis: De Kretser's accomplished second novel, set in the author's native Sri Lanka in the years before its independence in 1948, is as much a haunting character study as it is an elusive murder mystery and a deep exploration of colonialism. At the heart of the story is Sam Obeysekere, a brilliant Ceylonese prosecutor and perfect English gentleman—who isn't, of course, English. .... De Kretser's self-deluding protagonist will no doubt remind readers of the butler in The Remains of the Day: it's a sharp portrayal of assimilation that she manages to make complex and even poignant ("Are we to become a nation capable of talking only to itself, a lunatic on the world stage?"). But Sam is his own unique and problematic self, and like everything else in this lush, uneasy world, from the secondary characters to the ghost-haunted jungle, he is capable of shocking. De Kretser's fine, brooding, mischievous style is sure to captivate fans of serious literary fiction.

Niobe

01-16-2007, 10:07 PM

I just today started The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory.

Like another poster mentioned, I read a lot of fiction (not so much current, mainly historical and fantasy) written by and usually from the point of view of women. The male authors I read tend to be more "bestseller" types - John Grisham, Michael Crichton, Dan Brown. Do a lot of you find this to be the case, that you seem more drawn to female novelists and/or female protaganists?

KB57

01-18-2007, 06:40 AM

I finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards this weekend. I really enjoyed it. I loved the writing and the characters. Toward the end I started to feel like I was losing the thread - it just seemed so disjointed. But Edwards brought it all back together for me. I recommend this one. :)

Delurking to say I just finished this too. I enjoyed it-what a story! I wasn't so sure how it would end up either but she wrapped it up pretty nicely.

chefker

01-19-2007, 09:38 AM

I'm currently reading Christ the Lord by Anne Rice. I'm not particularly religious, but I like Anne Rice's other books, so I thought I'd give this a whirl--even though it's completely the opposite of what she usually writes!

I had read some awful reviews of this book, but it's been a pleasant read for me thus far. I don't love this book, but it's an interesting perspective--the narrative is from a 7-year-old Jesus, who knows there is some 'secret' surrounding his birth, and is trying to figure out who he is.

TX Sweetheart

01-20-2007, 08:18 AM

I'm in the middle of Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters... I love it! Can't wait to finish it and move on to the next book in the series...

Alanna

01-20-2007, 08:38 AM

I just finished "the other boleyn girl" by philippa gregory...

I enjoyed it - though i have to admit... going into it - i thought it was going to be a little more - ahem- elevated than it was... DH kept asking me how my Bodice Ripper was going... and i couldnt exactly argue against the description....

it was a nice light read... i probably will read the next one after i have a break for a while...

MsPeachy

01-21-2007, 06:31 AM

DH kept asking me how my Bodice Ripper was going Man, that book isn't even close to a bodice ripper!!

Just finished Footprints of God by Greg Iles. It was very good. He writes really page-turning thrillers.

Currently reading The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan - It's about the Mary Magdalene gospels. I'm only a few chapters in but so far it's good.

MrsD108

01-22-2007, 09:20 AM

Belm

01-22-2007, 09:58 AM

MrsD108 ~ I cried reading Harley and me, too.

chandy

01-22-2007, 07:58 PM

I just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See tonight, and I really enjoyed it! I would definitely recommend this one.

kugrrly

01-22-2007, 08:02 PM

I was crying like a little baby while reading Marley and Me.

Rosebud

01-22-2007, 10:12 PM

I just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See tonight, and I really enjoyed it! I would definitely recommend this one.

I loooooooved this book!! :D

MaineBelle

01-23-2007, 05:49 AM

I just finished the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and really enjoyed it. Did anyone else read it? I liked how she wrote so matter of factly and wasn't trying to get sympathy from the reader.

Rosebud

01-23-2007, 10:56 AM

I just finished the Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and really enjoyed it. Did anyone else read it? I liked how she wrote so matter of factly and wasn't trying to get sympathy from the reader.

Yes, we talked about The Glass Castle a lot in the previous What Are You Reading thread. I loved it as well. I agree with you-- her writing style is what really makes the story exceptional.

LaughAtlantis

01-23-2007, 03:19 PM

I just bought and finished Marley and Me by John Grogan yesterday. It was a great book about a family and their yellow lab. I was made fun of by my family because I laughed and cried while reading it.
I felt like such an idiot reading this book. I do most of my reading in transit to and from work, and I was sitting on the bus in the morning laughing out loud. That same evening, I was audibly sobbing on the train on the way home, trying to hide my head in my hands. I *live* for my two basset hounds, and I'm bound to get emotional over dog stories. Great book.

Speaking of dogs, I just finished Pug Hill (Allison Pace) over lunch today. It's what I think of as high end chick lit (as in, there's no shoe shopping, frou-frou drinks, gratuitous product placement, or completely bubble-headed main characters). I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Now I'm starting on Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson). I remember reading this as a kid and loving it. I saw that there is a movie version of it coming out this summer and I want to read it before I see it. I also am interested in seeing why it is such a commonly banned book. I don't remember it being particularly offensive in any overt way.

pocket

01-23-2007, 06:01 PM

I'm reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. I'm only about 5 chapters in and it is pretty slow.

If anyone has read it - does it get more interesting??? I'm sure I just need to hang in there.

It's really long and really really good! I just loved it, but it does take a very long time to get going. You can try just skipping over the footnotes if you want. That's what I did the first time through.

MrsD108

01-25-2007, 05:52 AM

I am reading A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle but it really has not grabbed my attention yet.

sheartm7

01-25-2007, 11:16 AM

What Looks like Crazy on an Ordinary Day
by Pearl Cleage

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/2/2f/180px-What_looks_like_crazy.jpg

amberfiddles

01-25-2007, 11:41 AM

100 yrs of solitude

i'm having a terrible time getting into it and may put it down for now and pick it up again later.

chandy

01-25-2007, 12:02 PM

100 yrs of solitude

i'm having a terrible time getting into it and may put it down for now and pick it up again later.

I'm glad I'm not the only one. I've picked that book up and started it twice now, and I just can't get into it.

I just started The Red Tent by Anita Diamant last night. So far, so good!

Rosebud

01-25-2007, 12:55 PM

I am reading A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle but it really has not grabbed my attention yet.

We had a big discussion about A Year in Provence in the previous What Are You Reading thread. Some people loved it, some (like me) liked it fine but prefer other, similar books about living in France (like Paris to the Moon and From Here You Can't See Paris). Anyway, it spawned a "travel writing" thread you might be interested in. Here's the link:

Travel Writing- Post Your Recommendations! (http://www.constantchatter.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23679)

MsPeachy

01-25-2007, 04:40 PM

Currently reading The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan - It's about the Mary Magdalene gospels. I'm only a few chapters in but so far it's good. I just finished this book and really enjoyed it. It was quite moving at times. If you liked the concept of The Red Tent and the themes of The DaVinci Code, you might want to check it out.

LittleFredPunkinHead

01-25-2007, 08:26 PM

I recently finished "Hour Game" by David Baldacci and "Sick Puppy" by Carl Hiaasen. "Hour Game" was your typical thriller... Okay to pass the time on the train, but not anything great. "Sick Puppy" was good, but Hiaasen's written better.

I'm now reading "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" by Christopher Moore, which- as you might imagine- is pretty off-the-wall, but is also quite touching in places too.

BumbleB

01-26-2007, 09:20 AM

Now I'm starting on Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson). I remember reading this as a kid and loving it. I saw that there is a movie version of it coming out this summer and I want to read it before I see it. I also am interested in seeing why it is such a commonly banned book. I don't remember it being particularly offensive in any overt way.

This movie comes out in February, actually. ;)
- such a good story, I want to see the movie just to see if they can even come close to the book.

berry

01-26-2007, 04:06 PM

I too am excited to see Bridge to Terabithia. I'd have to say, it remains one of my favorite books.

I think one of the reasons it was banned, is because of the tragedy in the book (don't want to say anything further and ruin it for someone who hasn't read it yet). Google the title and banned.

I just finished reading Freakonomics. Found it fascinating and much easier to read than I was expecting.

Also just finished Marian Keyes books Angels and Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married. Very predictable and yet still funny.

Next up Special Topics in Calamity Physics which I just picked up (I think I was on the library wait list for 2 months!).

curlyjr

01-27-2007, 11:19 AM

Right now I am into reading the Hannah Swensen mysteries by Joanne Fluke and The Goldy Bear sries by Diane Mott Davidson, they combine by love of reading and love of cooking:)

Adaya

01-28-2007, 07:26 AM

The Blackbird Papers by Ian Smith. He's the physician on Celebrity Fit Club that wrote "The Fat Smash Diet". This novel that he has written is awesome! I can't put it down.

amberfiddles

01-29-2007, 06:22 AM

chandy-i know! i really want to read it but i just can NOT get into it.

i put 100 yrs down and started a family daughter instead. interesting so far...
from bn.com:
It's 1979, and seven-year-old Abby, the youngest member of the close-knit Santerre family, is trapped indoors with the chicken pox during a heat wave. The events set in motion that summer will span decades and continents, change the Santerres forever, and surprise and amaze anyone who loved Meloy's Liars and Saints.

A rich, full novel about passion and desire, fear and betrayal, A Family Daughter illuminates both the joys and complications of contemporary life, and the relationship between truth and fiction. For everyone who has yet to meet the Santerres, an unmatched pleasure awaits.

has anyone read blonde by joyce carol oates? i have it in my stack to read and was curious if anyone else read it...

Rosebud

01-31-2007, 04:14 PM

I finished reading The Hamilton Case by Michelle de Kretser. I read so many glowing reviews of it, but it was just "okay" for me. The protagonist wasn't very appealing, in my opinion. It made it difficult for me to care about his fate. There was a lot of good, quirky character work, but I found it hard to relate to anyone in the story. However, the writing definitely showcased the setting (Sri Lanka) and really brought the flora, fauna and politics of the country to life.

Next up for me is Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's our book club's next book.

Synopsis: At the age of thirty-one, Gilbert moved with her husband to the suburbs of New York and began trying to get pregnant, only to realize that she wanted neither a child nor a husband. Three years later, after a protracted divorce, she embarked on a yearlong trip of recovery, with three main stops: Rome, for pleasure (mostly gustatory, with a special emphasis on gelato); an ashram outside of Mumbai, for spiritual searching; and Bali, for "balancing."

Katy

02-01-2007, 10:23 AM

I just finished book one of the Outlander series. I really enjoyed it and look forward to the other books.

I too am currently reading Eat, Pray, Love for book club. I'm still in the beginning, but I have a feeling that I'm going to enjoy it.

sheartm7

02-01-2007, 10:26 AM

Just started

Lucia, Lucia
by Adriana Trigiani
http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/9650000/9657025.gif

Lucia Sartori is the beautiful twenty-five-year-old daughter of a prosperous Italian grocer in Greenwich Village. The postwar boom is ripe with opportunities for talented girls with ambition, and Lucia becomes an apprentice to an up-and-coming designer at chic B. Altman’s department store on Fifth Avenue. Engaged to her childhood sweetheart, the steadfast Dante DeMartino, Lucia is torn when she meets a handsome stranger who promises a life of uptown luxury that career girls like her only read about in the society pages. Forced to choose between duty to her family and her own dreams, Lucia finds herself in the midst of a sizzling scandal in which secrets are revealed, her beloved career is jeopardized, and the Sartoris’ honor is tested.

Rosebud

02-04-2007, 03:45 PM

I'm halfway through Eat Pray Love (http://www.amazon.com/Eat-Pray-Love-Everything-Indonesia/dp/0670034711/sr=1-1/qid=1170632487/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1163057-7493741?ie=UTF8&s=books) and am really enjoying it! Even based on what I've read so far, I'd recommend it.

I'm also listening to the audiobook of Amsterdam (http://www.amazon.com/Amsterdam-Novel-Ian-Mcewan/dp/0385494246/sr=1-1/qid=1170632450/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1163057-7493741?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Ian McEwan. I read Atonement and liked parts of it, but not others. But I've been really curious about his other work. So far, so good.

I also wanted to recommend a book I read a while back but enjoyed. The writing style is really interesting, and it has a certain Irish, poetic loveliness. In remembering it, I immediately thought that some of you ladies would like it.

Four Letters of Love (http://www.amazon.com/Four-Letters-Love-Niall-Williams/dp/0446674931/sr=1-1/qid=1170632522/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1163057-7493741?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Niall Williams

The New York Times Book Review: Four Letters of Love is formed with an unusual authority and grace, and it is filled with marvelous characters, large and small, all depicted with an understated veracity.... Contemporary Irish fiction is almost always about Irishness. Extraordinarily rooted in the Irish language and landscape, this novel is no exception, embracing both William Trevor's dark Ireland and Maeve Binchy's lighter one. Yet in its serious fancifulness, its feverish intensities, Four Letters of Love also gives us Niall Williams's own Ireland, a place devoted to the belief in miracles and the obsessive power of love.

From Library Journal: In a dingy little city in Ireland, civil servant William Coughlin abandons his job and his family because he believes God has commanded him to paint. The son wants to hate his father but cannot, eventually following him into the west of Ireland to try to understand his father's motivations and redeem his life. On an island off the west coast of Ireland, young Isabel blames herself when her gifted little brother falls mysteriously mute and lame, and though she heads to the mainland for schooling, her school teacher father has great dreams for her, expecting her to redeem his life, her guilt and her passionate nature combine to drive her off course. Naturally, these two stories meet and blend beautifully in Williams's lyrical, dreamy first novel, which more than anything else is a meditation on the love, both sacred and profane, that shapes us. Both William and Isabel look for signs from God, and both are disappointed. But there is a miracle at the end that redeems everyone. Readers will find the occasional passage of grievous overwriting that one might expect from a beginner and just as often thoughtful, wonderfully wrought passages that soar and soar. Highly recommended.

nawsgirl

02-04-2007, 04:25 PM

I'm about to start The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky by Ken Dornstein. His brother was killed on Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, so he goes on a kind of quest to find out who his brother really was and finds some surprising answers along the way.

OK, I'm just about done with this one. It wasn't quite as dramatic as I thought it might be- the only big revelation is covered within a couple of short chapters. It reminded me quite a bit of The Year of Magical Thinking, style-wise, although not as lyrical. But in a way more tragic because you have to wonder if the author's brother would have fulfilled expectations, become a great writer as he'd planned, etc. There was a lot of detail about the bombing- what investigators think happened to the passengers and the plane, which I found really interesting. All in all, I would recommend it.

whos that girl

02-05-2007, 05:05 AM

Just finished Aint She Sweet.

Susan Elizabeth Phillips is one of my favorite authors. She has a way of writing characters that practically jump out of the page with you- you can picture yourself sitting down to lunch with them, theyre so real.

This book in some parts was difficult to read as Sugar Beth is treated quite nastily by the very people she used to call her best friends. They have good cause, but they take their animosity too far and its painful to read.

Fortunately, since the book is technically filed as a romance, there is a happy ending and all will be right in the world. I recommend reading it to find out how the story cleans up!

lawyerlee

02-05-2007, 03:58 PM

The last two books I read:

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett

I enjoyed the characters and exploration of how people respond under pressure-filled circumstances, but I ultimately felt like this was a bit of a let down. At the end I found myself asking, "so what?" Yes, I enjoyed reading it as I was doing so, but I felt like there was a lot of build up and very little resolution of the conflicts that were so thoughtfully developed and considered throughout the novel.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Although I'm ordinarily skeeved out by sex scenes in novels, this story was so damned good that I dealt with it and enjoyed the book anyway. I just adore Claire and Jamie, and I can't read to continue with the rest of the series.

Now I'm reading An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison and Why Marriages Succeed or Fail by John Gottman.

meganth

02-05-2007, 04:44 PM

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Although I'm ordinarily skeeved out by sex scenes in novels, this story was so damned good that I dealt with it and enjoyed the book anyway. I just adore Claire and Jamie, and I can't read to continue with the rest of the series.

I LOVED this book, but i have a love/hate relationship with the rest of the books. I wanted to know what happened with the rest of their lives, but IMO the rest of the books just weren't that good.

BumbleB

02-06-2007, 10:02 AM

I also loved Outlander and the series as a whole is great, but The Fiery Cross was pretty much - Snore. I also thought Dragonfly in Amber should have been cut in half.

I'm currently reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and finishing up Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell - which has been ok so far, I think I was expecting more out of this book. It has been quite tedious in places - I'm hoping the last quarter is better. There are parts of the story I really love and then parts where I feel it just drags and drags - so I need her to tie it together for me in the end, we'll see - should be done in the next couple days.

As for Bel Canto - That was one of the most disappointing books I've ever read.

MrsD108

02-06-2007, 12:09 PM

Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together
I was just looking at CC's Amazon and found this book. Has anyone read it yet?

berry

02-07-2007, 02:49 PM

Tried to read Special Topics in Calamity Physics and really couldn't get into it, which is rare for me.

Just read Spooning: A Novel by Darri Stephens and Megan Desales. Very light and very girly. Not much there and only slightly entertaining. The best part of the book was one of the characters worked for a woman/company that sounded like Martha Stewart. Those scenes were funny.

Currently reading Hillary Rodham Clinton's book Living History. I'm finding it very interesting.

lawyerlee I really loved An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness and the look inside her experiences.

lawyerlee

02-07-2007, 08:59 PM

I really loved An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness and the look inside her experiences.
It was really great. I admire her so much for the way she has chosen to handle having a mental illness. I have depression and experience a lot of shame and embarrassment about it. I hope someday I can be more like her and see it for what it is.

TracieB

02-08-2007, 04:57 AM

Right now, I'm reading Little Earthquakes by Jennifer Weiner. I think I may be the last person to read this one!

Next up is Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gerbert. Reviews:

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Gilbert (The Last American Man) grafts the structure of romantic fiction upon the inquiries of reporting in this sprawling yet methodical travelogue of soul-searching and self-discovery. Plagued with despair after a nasty divorce, the author, in her early 30s, divides a year equally among three dissimilar countries, exploring her competing urges for earthly delights and divine transcendence. First, pleasure: savoring Italy's buffet of delights—the world's best pizza, free-flowing wine and dashing conversation partners—Gilbert consumes la dolce vita as spiritual succor. "I came to Italy pinched and thin," she writes, but soon fills out in waist and soul. Then, prayer and ascetic rigor: seeking communion with the divine at a sacred ashram in India, Gilbert emulates the ways of yogis in grueling hours of meditation, struggling to still her churning mind. Finally, a balancing act in Bali, where Gilbert tries for equipoise "betwixt and between" realms, studies with a merry medicine man and plunges into a charged love affair. Sustaining a chatty, conspiratorial tone, Gilbert fully engages readers in the year's cultural and emotional tapestry—conveying rapture with infectious brio, recalling anguish with touching candor—as she details her exotic tableau with history, anecdote and impression.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From The New Yorker
At the age of thirty-one, Gilbert moved with her husband to the suburbs of New York and began trying to get pregnant, only to realize that she wanted neither a child nor a husband. Three years later, after a protracted divorce, she embarked on a yearlong trip of recovery, with three main stops: Rome, for pleasure (mostly gustatory, with a special emphasis on gelato); an ashram outside of Mumbai, for spiritual searching; and Bali, for "balancing." These destinations are all on the beaten track, but Gilbert's exuberance and her self-deprecating humor enliven the proceedings: recalling the first time she attempted to speak directly to God, she says, "It was all I could do to stop myself from saying, 'I've always been a big fan of your work.'"
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

pixielou

02-08-2007, 12:19 PM

recent reads that i have really enjoyed. . .

The Honey Thief by Elizabeth Graver
This will be a contender for the best book I read in 2007. Elizabeth Graver has a way of making you have empathy for the characters without feeling sorry for them. A twist on the basic coming of age story.

i enjoyed this so much that i've just started reading another of her novels, Awake. i'm only 25 pages in or so, but can tell i'm going to love it.

Remind Me Again Why I Married You by Rita Ciresi
The sequel to "Pink Slip", but can easily stand alone. I enjoyed this more than the original - maybe since we're in the midst of house hunting and seconedary infertility.

Brownsville Stories by Oscar Casares
Excellent collection of short stories. The stories were unique, yet universal. I'd love to find more by this author. In the running for the best book I've read this year.

~pixie

BumbleB

02-14-2007, 01:10 PM

Just finished:
English Passengers by Matthew Kneale- Interesting plot and characters, the last 1/3 of the book really made it worth the read - interesting look at colonialism of Tasmania/Australia and attitudes toward the English.

Now Reading:
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster - Continuing with a similar subject. I'm about 1/3 through this one and really liking it so far.

Rosebud

02-14-2007, 01:40 PM

Just finished:
English Passengers by Matthew Kneale- Interesting plot and characters, the last 1/3 of the book really made it worth the read - interesting look at colonialism of Tasmania/Australia and attitudes toward the English.

I read this a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I totally agree with you-- the last third of the book is the best part. Educational, for sure.

lawyerlee

02-14-2007, 01:55 PM

I just finished Dry by Augusten Burroughs. It was just brilliant. If you liked Running with Scissors at all, you absolutely must make sure you read this. He has such a gift for putting words together in a way that makes you laugh and cry and feel compassion all at the same time. Yet, you never start to pity him or any of the "characters" in his book. He is incredibly gifted.

Now I'm reading Cross-X by Joe Miller. It's great so far.

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. For anyone who thinks of high school debate and envisions nerdy teens, the story of the Kansas City Central debate squad will be eye-opening. Despite the inner-city school's academic deficiencies, and the students' own turbulent home lives, the young African-American debaters have been able to carve out a sphere of success for themselves—in part by making the racial issues surrounding their participation a key part of their arguments. Miller, a local reporter, spends most of his time with two teams of debaters: underclassmen Ebony and Antoine, who are still learning the ropes, and seniors Marcus and Brandon, working their way toward a national championship in Atlanta. Miller embeds himself deep into their lives and is forthright about how his journalistic objectivity slowly eroded. (First, he tells Marcus not to skip a debate; eventually he becomes the team's assistant coach.) Convinced by the energetic competitions that debate is "the best education-reform tool I've ever seen," he attacks the bureaucratic red tape of a "dysfunctional" school system that forces the students to break the rules in order to travel to out-of-state events. The reporting is both lively and engrossing, and even at nearly 500 pages, the book encourages most readers to learn more about these remarkable teens.

ginastorm

02-14-2007, 03:02 PM

I just finished Hitched by Carol Higgins Clark. Her mother is mystery writer Mary Higgins Clark and her writing style is very similar to her mother's. A light, fun read!

mgrace

02-15-2007, 09:06 AM

I'm still reading The Omnivore's Dilemma, which is good, I just haven't had much time to read. I'm also reading Confessions of a Shopaholic for something rather mindless. :)

catch

02-15-2007, 09:07 AM

whos that girl

02-15-2007, 10:51 PM

Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates

Why wouldnt I love this book? It combines two of my loves- Marilyn Monroe and fiction.

One of my favorite things was how none of the main players, Joe DiMaggio, Arthur Miller and John Kennedy amongst them, are mentioned by name. Instead theyre referred to with names like The President and The Ex-Athlete.

This book was wonderfully written.

http://archives.cnn.com/2000/books/news/04/27/oates.blonde/

alootikki

02-16-2007, 03:45 PM

Just finished Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore. Very funny - like Bridget Jones on Capital Hill!

doozer

02-17-2007, 07:13 AM

The last two books I read were: Love Walked In by Maria de los Santos and History of Love by Nicole Krauss.

I picked up Love Walked In for a silly reason - I read on the back of the book that it was set in Philadelphia and I'm always a sucker for books set in places that I know. It's about a woman named Cornelia who works in a cafe and meets a guy who has a daughter named Claire. The daughter's mom has a nervous breakdown and leaves and Cornelia ends up taking care of Claire while they try to figure out where the mother is. It's told from both Cornelia and Claire's point of view and while it's interesting, the ending left me less than satisfied.

On the other hand, I loved the History of Love. It was so beautifully written. It is also told from the point of view of several narrators. One is an old man living in New York City who tries every day to be noticed by someone in case that will be the day he dies. He even poses nude for an art class or makes a point of dropping change all over the floor in a store so that people notice him. He escaped the Holocaust and left the love of his life in Europe and he wrote a book about her. The other is Alma, a young girl who was named after the woman in a book called The History of Love. Her mother and father loved the book but her father has died and their entire family is coping with it in their own odd ways. One day her mother gets a request to translate the book into English. Alma decides that she is going to set up her mother with the man that requested the translation. The way all their stories interconnect is just amazing. I loved every minute of it and I loved the way it ended. It was one of those books that the minute it was over, I wanted to pick it up and read it again. I don't think I'm doing it justice in the way I described it either.

Currently I'm reading Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. So far very good. Stephen King blurbed it on the back and seemed impressed.

Rosebud

02-17-2007, 06:23 PM

Thoughts on my most recent reads:

Eat, Pray, Love : One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia By Elizabeth Gilbert

I'm a sucker for stories about people who decide to live in foreign cultures and what they learn about the people there, and themselves. However, only parts of Gilbert's story worked for me. I did think there were some wonderful lessons imparted in this book, though. I definitely got a sense that this journey healed and educated the author. And I enjoyed it, for the most part.

Amsterdam By Ian McEwan

I'm not the hugest McEwan fan. Atonement was just so-so for me. This novel struck me the same way. There are moments of real intensity and curiousity and then long, long sections where McEwan rambles on about things that aren't necessarily critical to the plot. I thought this book was interesting, but not particularly emotional or revelatory.

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower By Stephen Chbosky

The book tells the story of Charlie, an awkward and introspective high school freshman. The book is comprised of a series of letters that Charlie writes to an unknown reciepient, relating the news of his life: the friendships with a group of seniors, his complex relationship with his family and his bond with a teacher who believes Charlie is special. This is a wonderful coming-of-age tale-- recommended!

mgrace

02-19-2007, 07:42 AM

Just finished Sammy's Hill by Kristin Gore. Very funny - like Bridget Jones on Capital Hill!
I loved Sammy's Hill! :)

LexyLou

02-19-2007, 08:54 AM

I'm reading "Zade Smith on Beauty" and I am not loving it. I know a lot of you said positive things about it and I don't hate it but I'm on page 350 and I'm still waiting for it to get good.

I just bought Little Earthquakes at Amazon and I have this thing about finishing one book before I start another so I'm trying to read 100 pages a day of Zade Smith so I can start on Little Earthquakes.

hokiegirl

02-19-2007, 08:56 AM

Eat, Pray, Love : One Woman's Search for Everything Across Italy, India and Indonesia By Elizabeth Gilbert
I'm a sucker for stories about people who decide to live in foreign cultures and what they learn about the people there, and themselves. However, only parts of Gilbert's story worked for me.

I felt the same. I don't know why I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, but it was just okay to me none the less.

I am currently reading The Devil in the White City - it's interesting, but there are some dry points as it's getting set up.

Rosebud

02-19-2007, 09:14 AM

I felt the same. I don't know why I didn't enjoy it as much as I thought I would, but it was just okay to me none the less.
I'm glad I'm not the only one! Parts of it were really interesting, but parts of it totally lost me. I love these kinds of books (Paris to the Moon, Almost French, even Under the Tuscan Sun), but this one didn't do it for me quite so much.

I just started reading I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith and cannot put it down!! After reading so many glowing reviews of it here I picked it up and am thoroughly enjoying it so far (about halfway through).

kris97

02-19-2007, 09:38 AM

I'm on a chick lit kick, but took a break and recently finished The Rule of Four. It's totally a Da Vinci code knockoff, and not terribly well-written, at that, but I sheepishly enjoyed it nonetheless because it's mostly set where I went to college.

EmilyZA

02-19-2007, 11:10 AM

I'm reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime for the second time (it was a book club choice this time around.)

trishcutie

02-21-2007, 07:58 AM

Just finished Little Children by Tom Perotta - I really enjoyed it and it went nice and quickly!

EmilyZA

02-21-2007, 02:58 PM

I'm about halfway through Sellevision by Augusten Burroughs.

Rosebud

02-21-2007, 06:19 PM

I finished I Capture the Castle and just loved every word of it. What a lovely, charming book! I highly recommend it.

Question for those who have read it in white (SPOILER-- don't read below if you haven't finished the book!):

I adored this book but was very frustrated by the ending. I really thought that at some point Cassandra was going to realize she loved Stephen and was disappointed that she was so smitten with Simon when he clearly didn't love her. Am I the only one? I really thought there was going to be a happy ending!

MrsBeckyLP

02-21-2007, 06:22 PM

I'm on a chick lit kick

I love chick lit! ;) (So cheesy, I know!) I have read all of Mary Kay Andrews' books, and they are chick lit to the max. Hissy Fit, Little Bitty Lies, Savannah Blues, etc.

I'm on a Jodi Picoult kick right now. She's great. I just finished The Pact, and I'm now on The Tenth Circle. I have also read Vanishing Acts and My Sister's Keeper.

bookworm

02-21-2007, 06:25 PM

I just finished Lipstick Jungle, which I liked much better than the last one I read by that author (Trading Up, maybe?).

Before that was a pile of romance novels.

Today I started The Apprentice by Tess Gerritsen. It's a little gory for my taste, but I'll probably keep going.

MsRo

02-21-2007, 07:11 PM

I just started The Red Tent by Anita Diamant last night. So far, so good!

I read this last year and totally loved it. I've been whoring the book out to everyone I know. :D

Currently I'm reading Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. So far very good. Stephen King blurbed it on the back and seemed impressed.

I'm reading this now and am totally enjoying it. My sister told me to read it and she's never steered me wrong.

amberfiddles

02-22-2007, 09:45 AM

i just finished reading the color of water and i loved it. the stories of the mother and son, the son's search for identity and the mother's past were so interesting and well-written.

i'm currently sucked into random family which is an excellent piece so far. adrian nicole leblanc followed 2 teenage girls and their families in the bronx for 10 years to write this book about love, life and drugs in the bronx.

BumbleB

02-22-2007, 11:14 AM

the color of water is on my list of books to read this year, nice to see that you liked it.

I'm currently reading The Twelve Little Cakes by Dominika Dery. It is a memoir of the author's childhood in Communist Czeckoslovakia starting in the mid-1970's. So far I like it, well written - her language reminds me of fairytales.

am_81

02-22-2007, 11:38 AM

LexyLou

02-22-2007, 02:49 PM

I'm about 50 pages into Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson. I've heard its a great book and I'm trying to get into it, but my most recent amazon.com purchases just came in and The Blind Assasin (Margaret Atwood) and The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath) are beckoning from my bookshelf.

I've tried about 5 times to get in to Snow Falling on Cedars and I never can. My mom swears it's a great book and I just need to give it time.

Another book my mom likes that I can't get in to is "Blue Afternoon". I just can't get passed page 100.

I just finished "Little Earthquakes" in one day. I gave up all TV and internet time to read it. Totally chick lit but fun and good.

Has anyone read her other books? Are they good?

Rosebud

02-22-2007, 03:52 PM

I loved Snow Falling on Cedars! It's a little moody/slow in the beginning, but it's definitely worth sticking with it.

BumbleB

02-22-2007, 04:34 PM

Snow Falling on Cedars is wonderful! - stick with it. ;)

I also loved The Blind Assasin, much prefer it to The Handmaids Tale.

MsRo

02-22-2007, 04:54 PM

I just finished "Little Earthquakes" in one day. I gave up all TV and internet time to read it. Totally chick lit but fun and good.

Has anyone read her other books? Are they good?

They are! The book In Her Shoes was made into a movie with Cameron Diaz and Toni Collette. It's good but I did like the book better. :)

LexyLou

02-22-2007, 08:01 PM

Ok, I'll pick back up Snow Falling on Ceders.

Do you guys ever buy books and then realize you've already read them? I really need to keep a list because I always forget what I've read.

I just started "Conversations with The Fat Girl". So cute. I'll be done with it tomorrow. I feel like I need to read a book with more substance though.

Rosebud

02-22-2007, 10:55 PM

Do you guys ever buy books and then realize you've already read them? I really need to keep a list because I always forget what I've read.

Try Bibliophil.org! It's really help me keep track of what I've read and whether or not I liked it. :)

Myra

02-22-2007, 11:41 PM

am_81

02-23-2007, 06:09 AM

Thanks for the encouragement on Snow Falling on Cedars; I know once I get into it I'll end up loving it, but the allure of new books is so strong. Must. Resist.

As for Jennifer Weiner, I've read both In Her Shoes and Good in Bed. Both were good, in a chick-litty kind of way. Its been a while since I've read either, but I remember them both as being light, fun reads.

EmilyZA

02-23-2007, 12:57 PM

doozer

02-24-2007, 08:34 AM

LexyLou:I've read a few of Jennifer Wiener's books... Little Earthquakes, Good in Bed, and In Her Shoes. I'm not a fan of chick lit, but I do like her stuff. I also have another one of her books, can't think of the name yet, and haven't had a chance to get to it. It's a mystery, supposedly, so a little different from her typical stuff.

Goodnight Nobody. It was pretty good. Although I kind of guessed whodunnit before the end of the book but it was still a good read to figure why that person did it.

I finished Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn. It was really good and I couldn't put it down but it was a little disturbing. It's about a Chicago reporter that has to go back to her hometown to report on two murders of 13 year old girls. She doesn't have the best relationship with her family or her hometown and by going back home, she has to face all the things she didn't deal with before, in addition to reporting on these 2 murders. It was good but kind of creepy.

MsRo, what did you think?

MsRo

02-24-2007, 12:01 PM

doozer, still reading but I'll report back when I'm done. ;)

amberfiddles

02-27-2007, 12:01 PM

i just finished:
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, Vol. 1
by John Taylor Gatto
i'm not sure what to think about this book. i think gatto makes some interesting points but overall i think his ideas are a little whack. i think it would be almost impossible to dismantle compulsory schooling, but i do like his idea of giving kids more private time and more time to learn on their own. he also makes a very compelling argument about time in schools and the ringing of bells, how students are expected to drop what they're doing immediately and move onto the next thing and it conditions them to not finish things and have shorter attention spans. i think some of this is already being combatted by the move to block scheduling. the book is short and a quick read so if you're interested i would probably pick it up...

just started reading under the banner of heaven. anyone else read this, what did you think of it?

HeatherFL

02-27-2007, 12:55 PM

I am embarrassed to admit I haven't read it up to this point, but I am finally reading The Fountainhead!

~H.

Rosebud

02-27-2007, 01:50 PM

just started reading under the banner of heaven. anyone else read this, what did you think of it?

I read it several years ago and thought it was fascinating. A very interesting, and sometimes infuriating, look at a fundamentalist lifestyle.

BumbleB

02-28-2007, 10:26 AM

I am embarrassed to admit I haven't read it up to this point, but I am finally reading The Fountainhead!

~H.

Heather - You're not the only one. ;) It's on my "to read" list this year.

I just finished The Twelve Little Cakes which I really enjoyed, it was a memoir of the author's childhood in Czechoslovakia during the 1970's and 80's. Very good, but especially magical if you've been to that area of the world.

I'm on a bit of a Historical kick - Now I'm reading The People's Act of Love :

Book Description (from Amazon.com)
In a remote Siberian village, amid a lawless, unforgiving landscape, lives Anna Petrovna, a beautiful, willfully self-reliant widowed mother. A mystical, separatist Christian sect, a stranded regiment of restless Czech soldiers, and an eerie local shaman live nearby, all struggling against the elements and great social upheaval to maintain a fragile coexistence.
Out of the woods trudges Samarin, an escapee from Russia’s northernmost prison camp, with a terrifyingly outlandish story to tell about his journey.
This stranger, his bizarre story—if it is to be believed—and the apparent murder of the local shaman quickly become a flashpoint for this village: temperatures rise, alliances shift, and betrayals emerge. Written with a commanding historical authority and remarkable grace, The People’s Act of Love is an epic that leaves the reader utterly mesmerized through to the final heart-pounding pages.

This one is interesting so far, it's a little dark and there are some outrageous parts, but I think the author does a good job of making you believe that these things could have happened in early 1900's Russia - Siberia is the perfect place for an escaped convict and this type of storyline.

sheartm7

03-01-2007, 09:56 AM

http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/5930000/5930439.gif

and it's great. I love Jane Green!

HeatherFL

03-02-2007, 11:05 AM

Heather - You're not the only one. It's on my "to read" list this year.

I'll be interested to see what you think! It started slow for me, but I'm really liking it now!

~H.

Rosebud

03-02-2007, 11:26 AM

I just finished reading The Foreign Correspondent by Alan Furst.

I liked it but didn't love it. Here's what I wrote in my Bibliophil.org review:

This book got a lot of positive reviews, so I thought I'd check it out. I really enjoyed many aspects of the novel, including the author's writing style, but wasn't completely satisfied by the story. The novel was a little slow to get started, but then became quite compelling later on.

The Foreign Correspondent is set in Paris in 1938, on the eve of World War II. It tells the tale of Carlo Weisz, an Italian who has fled his country for Paris as Mussolini's grip tightens in Italy. He works for Reuters in Paris, but his passion is writing for the underground, anti-fascist newspaper Liberazione. When the paper's editor is murdered by OVRA, the Italian secret police, Carlo assumes his mantle and fights to keep the paper going despite the increased threat to its staff. Concurrent with the political intrigue is Carlo's personal drama. He has reunited with the great love of his life, Christa. A German now married and living in Berlin, she embarks on an affair with Carlo and reveals that she is deeply involved with a resistence movement in Berlin. As Hitler's intelligence officers close in on Christa, Carlo uses his influence with the British secret service to try to save her life.

Now I'm reading The True History of the Kelly Gang by Peter Carey. So far, it's really interesting.

In this masterful performance, two-time Booker Prize winner Peter Carey... rescues the legacy of Australian outlaw Ned Kelly from the colonial compost with his ironically titled novel, True History of the Kelly Gang. In a bold and ingenious act of historical ventriloquism, Kelly's "true history" -- which won the 2001 Booker Prize -- is presented in the form of several idiosyncratic journals supposedly written by the outlaw himself and dedicated to his unborn daughter, so that the real tale of his life might be preserved and remembered. While the historical record portrays Kelly as a ruthless crook and brutal murderer, Carey's Kelly is an essentially good person whom circumstance has forced into a life of crime -- a criminal with a heart of gold. Our impulse as Americans is to compare Kelly to Jesse James or John Dillinger, but the hero of True History is at war with a system not merely for personal gain but also to effect political change, and he therefore might better be likened to our Founding Fathers.

Rosebud

03-02-2007, 03:06 PM

Just a FYI...

My favorite book community on LJ has started its own website. They've only just set it up so there's not a ton of content yet... but there will be. This is a really active community on LJ and the people there usually have great recommendations. So, in case anyone is looking for recommendations or just wants to read about books:

HipsterBookClub.com (http://www.hipsterbookclub.com)

nawsgirl

03-02-2007, 03:54 PM

I'm listening to The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer. Definitely good so far, I'm about 1/3 of the way through:

From Booklist
Wes Holloway, a hotshot presidential aide, is wounded in an assassination attempt that kills the president's close friend. Eight years later, the dead man reappears, disfigured but very much alive and apparently stalking the former president. Wes thinks he can figure out what's going on, but to do so he must decipher a two-century-old code and penetrate the secrets of Masonic history.

I just finished listening to The Tender Bar by J.R. Moehringer, and I have to say it went by REALLY slowly for me... I thought the overall sentiment of the book was very nice, but I found myself getting bored sometimes. Maybe it's just not a great audiobook.

I'm reading Snow Blind, by P.J. Tracy. It's the latest in the Monkeewrench series, but the Monkeewrench people are barely in it at all so far- they've only popped up three or four times in 200 pages, it's mainly about Magozzi and Rolseth. Good story, though. Hopefully it will continue that way- with the other books I've often thought the ending was a let down after all the great build up.....

pixielou

03-04-2007, 02:00 PM

recent enjoyable reads. . .

Willy Slater's Lane by Mitch Wieland
The story of 2 brothers, living a hermit's existence, subsisting on the farm they inherited from their parents, as well as from the kindness of strangers. Very enjoyable. On the one hand, nothing happens in this book. But that's what makes it enjoyable - finding the simple pleasures of nothingness.

I searched amazon - but can't seem to find anything else by this author. I'd like to find more of his work.

Puerto Vallarta Squeeze by Robert James Waller
I was a bit hesitant to read this - knowing that he wrote Bridges of Madison County[/b] which (the movie anyway) was just a bit to sappy for my taste. But I liked it. A great story of a couple gringos in Mexico running from the law. I had a bit of trouble in the beginning, but by the middle couldn't put it down. It really was a great love story without reading like a love story. A very enjoyable read.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by [i]Stephen King
I really haven't read King since I was in college when I had to read 5 of his novels in 5 weeks for a Fantasy and Horror class. But I recently heard about this one and it combines my 2 loves - hiking and the Boston Red Sox! So how could I not love this book? The last 150 pages - I couldn’t put the book down. But there was a happy ending and I almost cried when Tricia was saved. If you hike or you love baseball - this should be required reading!

~pixie

whos that girl

03-04-2007, 11:35 PM

"Crazy For You" is by my all-time favorite author, Jennifer Crusie. How can I not love a book when one of the opening scenes has our heroine trying to hack into a frozen brownie with a large carving knife? That's my kind of girl, right there.

EmilyZA

03-05-2007, 06:27 PM

I'm just about to start The Bastard of Istanbul by Elif Sharaf.

LeslieandPaul

03-07-2007, 02:40 PM

I'm reading Freakonomics and Shopaholic and Baby. Freakonomics is my gym book and Shopaholic is for work and bed. Once I'm done Shopaholic, I have Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood. I ordered both these books in January and just got them last week (had to wait for them both to be available). I love both series, and was very excited when i got these two.

1MegMeg

03-07-2007, 03:44 PM

I am reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It's less about motorcycling and more about life learning in general. I originally read it when I was 15 or so and loved it...decided it was time to read it again. :)

vwinkel

03-08-2007, 08:42 AM

Just started

Lucia, Lucia
by Adriana Trigiani
http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/9650000/9657025.gif

I read this awhile ago and really liked it. I still think about that recipe with the ice cream balls with the cherry in the center! :)

Currently I'm about to finish Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and have really liked it so far.

I'm also reading Better Read than Dead by Victoria Laurie (link (http://www.amazon.com/Better-Read-Than-Dead-Mysteries/dp/0451215583/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-9700875-7086317?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173372018&sr=8-1)). It's the second in the Abby Cooper series. I recommend these for an easy read. I love this character.

hokiegirl

03-08-2007, 11:03 AM

I read this awhile ago and really liked it. I still think about that recipe with the ice cream balls with the cherry in the center! :)

We read this for my book club and the host made the cheese cake. I'm dying to try and make the snowballs - yummm...coconut!

Rosebud

03-09-2007, 10:05 AM

Currently I'm about to finish Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and have really liked it so far.
Loved this book!

I just finished Happiness Sold Separately by Lolly Winston for my book club. It has been described as chick lit, but I'd say it's more intelligent than your average chick lit book. I didn't love the book, but I did really enjoy the fact that the characters made honest, realistic decisions and the tough moments in the story weren't sugar coated. No one comforted themselves by going shoe shopping, let's put it that way! :D

Now, I'm starting I Am Not Jackson Pollock: Stories by John Haskell. I got the recommendation from Hipsterbookclub a while back & it sounds interesting.

From Booklist: Jackson Pollack created images of passion and mystery and sparked a new fervor for abstraction in the art world. Similarly, Haskell's collection of stories--not quite fiction, not always true--equally tells of passions, mystery, and abstraction. He takes real-life situations: Pollack himself trying to separate the man from the artist in "Dream of a Clean Slate"; the infamous Coney Island man-killing elephant, Topsy, in the year 1900 and the fabled Hottentot Venus, an African woman whose body was a Parisian circus spectacle, both seek the true love of a man in "Elephant Feelings"; Janet Leigh's character in Psycho and her relationship with Anthony Perkins' character is analyzed and romanticized in "The Judgment of Psycho"; Glenn Gould's hypochondria is examined in "Glenn Gould in Six Parts"; and the tribulations of Laika, the Russian dog that was the first animal in space, are addressed in "Good World." These are just a few of the wonderful, quirky, even extraordinary tales that intersperse Hollywood gossip with plumbing the depths of the human spirit.

BumbleB

03-09-2007, 11:07 AM

I just finished The Dive From Claussens Pier - Ann Packer
- I really enjoyed this book, I wasn't expecting it to make me think as much as it did. I found the relationships in the book very interesting, and I felt the characters were all well developed. I truly loved the way the author confronted tragedy and I felt the ending was fitting, Carrie's new life still wasn't entirely defined and she was ok with that.

I'm now reading Resistance by Anita Shreve

MaineBelle

03-09-2007, 12:45 PM

Let's see I read:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

I liked it. It wasn't too heavy and gave a fascinating look inside the not too pretty world for the traveling circus during the depression

March by Geraldine Brooks
Very good. A story about the father from little women who is a Union Chaplain during the civil war.

right now I am reading The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Polland and it really makes me only want to eat the food that I can grow in my backyard.

lawyerlee

03-09-2007, 03:53 PM

I just finished Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin.

This one suprised me, but in a good way. I enjoyed reading about a less-than-perfect protagonist, and I think Emily Giffin did a great job keeping you unsure how things would end. This is a little better than most so-called chit lit. I recommend it.

I'm still working on Cross-X by Joe Miller, but I think I'll start Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon. I received it from Paperback Swap today, and I'm too excited to wait! :D

MizLarner

03-09-2007, 08:26 PM

I'm reading The Devil Wears Prada (http://www.amazon.com/Devil-Wears-Prada-Lauren-Weisberger/dp/0307275558/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-7017421-0189456?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173500889&sr=1-1), Seabiscuit (http://www.amazon.com/Seabiscuit-Laura-Hillenbrand/dp/0345465083/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-7017421-0189456?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173500869&sr=1-1), and Crispin: The Cross of Lead (http://www.amazon.com/Crispin-Cross-Lead-Avi/dp/0786816589/ref=pd_bbs_2/103-7017421-0189456?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1173500800&sr=8-2). I'm trying really hard to not add a Gary Paulsen book into the mix!

Alanna

03-14-2007, 11:33 AM

I just finished The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith.

I am late getting to this book - i know it received alot of positive reviews when it came out. I am so glad I finally read it though! It is a very charming mystery novel that features warm and memorable characters. It reminds me of the gentleness that the Miss Marple mysteries were written with.

I really really enjoyed it... I'm looking forward to reading the second one. Highly recommended for people who enjoy a good old fashioned mystery novel that is just as much about getting to know the people in the village as solving mysteries.

LittleFredPunkinHead

03-14-2007, 09:12 PM

Just finished "The Overnight" by Ramsey Campbell.
Horror story that's kind of slow moving, but pretty creepy and great prose.
I liked it enough that I'm definitely picking up his book "The Darkest Part of the Woods."
Now I'm finally reading "Mystic River," and it's as great as I've heard.

SMgal

03-14-2007, 10:23 PM

[/B] I'm now reading Resistance by Anita Shreve I'll be curious to hear about this one... I really love Anita Shreve!

Right now I'm reading Mrs. Kimble. It's a bit heavy thus far, but I'm really liking it! The story seems to move VERY fast- A page turner!

am_81

03-15-2007, 05:47 AM

Originally Posted by BumbleB
I'm now reading Resistance by Anita Shreve

I'll be curious to hear about this one... I really love Anita Shreve!

I read Resistance not too long ago and enjoyed it. Definitely one of her shorter, more fast-paced novels. I'm really into that time period (WWII) . . . in fact I had just read Atonement (Ian McEwan) right before that. All in all it wasnt my fave of her books (that spot is held by The Last Time They Met), but its still in the top 2 or 3 for me.

ETA:

I forgot to mention that I stuck with Snow Falling on Cedars and finally finished it. I'm glad I kept going . . . it really was a good story. Not action-packed by any means and I thought the story wrapped up a little too quickly, but the descriptions of the island, the internment camps, the relationships of the main characters were beautiful. As I mentioned above, I really enjoy reading about the WWII time period, so that definitely helped keep my interest.

After that I breezed through The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath) . . . very quick reading, it only took me about a day. I liked it; its definitely one of those books that I'll probably re-read in a year or so and try to pick up on things I missed the first time around. Now I'm about 70 pages into The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood). I am very intrigued by the novel-within-a-novel aspect, but I can already tell I'm going to need a little more "concentration" to keep up with it. Sci-fi isnt one of my fave genres, so forcing myself to really read those sections will be my biggest issue.

kcjaime

03-15-2007, 08:46 AM

I recently finished "The Double Bind" by Chris Bohjalian. I HIGHLY recommend this book, a I really enjoyed it! Here is the synopsis from Amazon.com:

Best known for the provocative and powerful novel, Midwives (an Oprah Book Club® Selection), Chris Bohjalian writes beautiful and riveting fiction featuring what the San Francisco Chronicle dubbed "ordinary people in heartbreaking circumstances behaving with grace and dignity." In his new novel, The Double Bind, a literary thriller with references to (and including characters from) The Great Gatsby, Bohjalian takes readers on a haunting journey through one woman's obsession with uncovering a dark secret.

I am now reading "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult, and though I'm early in it, it is excellent so far. :)

Rosebud

03-15-2007, 10:09 AM

I recently finished "The Double Bind" by Chris Bohjalian. I HIGHLY recommend this book, a I really enjoyed it!

That sounds interesting! I'm going to add it to my list. Thanks!

BumbleB

03-15-2007, 10:47 AM

I'll be curious to hear about this one... I really love Anita Shreve!

Finished Resistance. It was very good. This was actually my first Anita Shreve book, and I'm looking forward to reading another of hers. I just thought it was a very touching story and something that could and did easily happen during the war. I loved loved loved the last line of the book.

For those of you interested in WWII reading, I have a couple more recs that are somewhate different in viewpoint:
Plum Wine - deals with the fall-out of dropping the atomic bomb in Japan - one of the BEST books I read in 2006.
Five Quarters of the Orange - by the author of Chocolate, focuses on the childhood of the narrator in German occupied France.

Right now I'm re-reading The Brothers K by David James Duncan, it's a pretty long one but probably my favorite novel about the ties of family and the 1960's. (I really need to go to the library though.)

Library Journal:

If John Irving reimagined The Brothers Karamazov as one of his kooky families and Thomas Pynchon did a rewrite, the result might be something close to this long-awaited second novel by the author of The River Why. The brothers are the Chance boys, sons of Papa Toe, a minor league pitcher whose crushed thumb is replaced by a transplanted toe, and his devout Seventh Day Adventist wife. Like Dostoevsky's Karamazovs, the Chances speculate on the nature of God, delve into the nuances of what constitutes moral behavior, experience evil, suffer from criminal acts, and, finally, determine that God is love and love redeems. But these are American boys, and although their lives contain some terrible moments, this is essentially a comic novel. Among its many merits, it reflects far better than most fiction the wide variety of Sixties experiences, giving student radical and Vietnam grunt alike their sympathetic due. Baseball provides the central metaphor for this huge hypnotic novel, but although in that sport a ``K'' indicates a strikeout, here it scores a home run.-- Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.

am_81

03-15-2007, 11:14 AM

For those of you interested in WWII reading, I have a couple more recs that are somewhate different in viewpoint:
Plum Wine - deals with the fall-out of dropping the atomic bomb in Japan - one of the BEST books I read in 2006.
Five Quarters of the Orange - by the author of Chocolate, focuses on the childhood of the narrator in German occupied France.

Thanks for the recs; I just added both to my amazon wishlist. The only un-read WWII book I have left on my shelves is Gone to Soldiers by Marge Piercy. I've heard wonderful things about it, but havent felt up to digging in yet.

On a side note, I was wasting time in the bookstore this afternoon while waiting for my bus and picked up Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. I've been seeing rave reviews for it everywhere and couldnt resist, despite having to pay $20 for the trade paperback version. The mark-up on books here really sucks.

Rosebud

03-15-2007, 12:23 PM

Plum Wine - deals with the fall-out of dropping the atomic bomb in Japan - one of the BEST books I read in 2006.

Me too! This is a wonderful book. I highly recommend it as well.
:)

JamBray

03-15-2007, 01:56 PM

I just recently finished Red Dragon and am now on Hannibal.

SMgal

03-15-2007, 09:57 PM

Thanks am_81 and BumbleB for your reports on Resistance! If you like her writing, one of my all time favorite books was The Pilot's Wife. ;)

lawyerlee

03-16-2007, 12:34 AM

I really enjoyed Plum Wine, though it was incredibly melancholy.

I'm reading Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. It's the story of two working class families in Perth, Australia, over twenty years time during the 40s/50s/60s. It's really fantastic. The story is rich with details and description, and the characters are extremely well developed and compelling. I know I'm going to be sad when I finish it up.

lawyerlee

03-17-2007, 01:37 AM

I finished up Cloudstreet by Tim Winton last night, and I highly, highly recommend it. I'm now reading Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon and The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan.

MrsBeckyLP

03-17-2007, 11:47 AM

I am now reading "Nineteen Minutes" by Jodi Picoult, and though I'm early in it, it is excellent so far.

Me too. I'm on page 74, and it's hard to put down.

am_81

03-19-2007, 06:04 AM

After a marathon reading session yesterday, I finished The Blind Assassin (Margaret Atwood). It was definitely easier to read than I originally predicted. The sci-fi chapters werent really all that sci-fi . . . I dont think I can explain it very well without spoiling the plot. Anyway, I think it is probably the best book I've read so far this year (only 7 as of yet, so that may not be saying much) and I will definitely be reading more of her work.

Next up, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (Lisa See).

nawsgirl

03-21-2007, 11:37 AM

I'm listening to The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer.

Finished this and thought it was "eh" overall- it started out good, but definitely fizzled, I thought. By the end I didn't really care what happened anymore.

I'm reading Snow Blind, by P.J. Tracy. It's the latest in the Monkeewrench series, but the Monkeewrench people are barely in it at all so far- they've only popped up three or four times in 200 pages, it's mainly about Magozzi and Rolseth. Good story, though. Hopefully it will continue that way- with the other books I've often thought the ending was a let down after all the great build up.....

Ugh, I jinxed myself on this one! Yet again, I was totally disappointed by the ending. I can understand why they ended it that way, but I found it unsatisfying.

I am almost done with Forever in Blue- the Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares. For some reason this book seems a lot more advanced than the others- i.e. her prose has a lot of SAT-level vocab, that I don't remember noticing in the others. Storyline is OK so far, I think this is the last one so I'll be interested to see how it ends. I do think the characters overanalyze way too much (even for college age)- for example one girl spends what seems like 20 mins contemplating whether or not a guy is actually standing in front of her (duh, he obviously is), and then asks him to come back later??

Also just started Girls Night In which is a collection of short stories by chick-lit authors. I am only about 5 pages in so no real opinion yet....

conneals

03-22-2007, 07:01 AM

Newbie to this post...I am doing a modified version of 50 books in a year, I call it 25 in 07. I can only read about 2 books a month, what with working fulltime and having a 19 month old!

I just finished The Constant Princess by Phillipa Gregory. It was okay. I have enjoyed her other books revolving around Henry VIII much more.

I just started The Drowning Tree by Carol Goodman. It is very good so far, about 1/3 of the way thru. It is nice mystery with lots of mythology references.

kd 9.21.02

03-23-2007, 11:02 AM

About to start The Feminine Mistake: Are We Giving Up Too Much?

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1401303064.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_V43428599_.jpg

From Publishers Weekly
It would be easy to dismiss this as yet another salvo in the mommy wars —the debate over women opting out of careers to be stay-at-home moms. But Bennetts, a longtime journalist and writer for Vanity Fair, is more interested in investigating what she sees as the heart of the matter: economics. Through impressive research and interviews with experts and with real women, Bennetts shows that women simply cannot afford to quit their day jobs. Long-term loss of income has a cascading impact in areas such as medical benefits and retirement funds, not to mention a woman's sense of autonomy, derived from financial independence. Further, a career supplies a woman with a measure of security for herself and her children in the event of unexpected sickness or divorce. As any woman who has tried knows, returning to the workforce and finding a well-paying job after an absence of years, or even decades, is difficult. Not so long ago mothers would pin a dollar bill to their daughters' underclothes when they went out on a date in case, for some reason, they needed carfare home. Those mothers knew all to well that without money of your own it's easy to be left stranded. As Bennetts expertly shows, it's still true.

zayt

03-24-2007, 10:33 PM

I'm reading Cloudstreet by Tim Winton. I know I'm going to be sad when I finish it up.

lawyerlee
Have you read any others by Tim? He is a fantastic Australian writer. Dirt Music and The Riders are my favourites - you should give them a try.:)

TracieB

03-25-2007, 03:44 AM

Just finished Shopaholic and Baby. I LOVE that series, so loved the book! Now I'm onto Lipstick Jungle. Figure I might as well read the book before the movie comes out!

lawyerlee

03-25-2007, 11:09 AM

lawyerlee
Have you read any others by Tim? He is a fantastic Australian writer. Dirt Music and The Riders are my favourites - you should give them a try.:)
No, I haven't. I will definitely have to add those to my list, though. Thanks for suggesting them. Everyone must make it a point to read Cloudstreet, IMNSHO. It was fabulous! :)

Rosebud

03-25-2007, 02:35 PM

Cloudstreet is definitely on my list!

Currently reading: Suite Francaise (http://www.amazon.com/Suite-Francaise-Irene-Nemirovsky/dp/1400096278/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-1163057-7493741?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174858425&sr=8-1)
Currently listening: Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (http://www.amazon.com/Balzac-Little-Chinese-Seamstress-Sijie/dp/0099452243/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1163057-7493741?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174858463&sr=1-1)

am_81

03-26-2007, 06:30 AM

I finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan last week; what a wonderful story! The writing was just beautiful and I was totally felt like I knew Lily and Snow Flower. While it didnt make me flat-out cry, I definitely had a tear or two in my eyes towards the end.

After that, I raced through Another City, Now My Own (http://www.amazon.com/Another-City-Not-My-Own/dp/0345430514/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174913312&sr=1-2) by Dominick Dunne. He is such a shameless name-dropper, but I love his writing in Vanity Fair and his books never disappoint. This one was a semi-fictionalized memoir about his time covering the OJ Simpson trial. As always, it was full of celebrity gossip and scandal. I swear, he has lived the most fascinating life. I was hoping to read The Tipping Point (http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174914845&sr=1-1) by Malcolm Gladwell next, but DH is still only halfway done. Instead, I picked a random book off my shelf -- Versailles: A Novel (http://www.amazon.com/Versailles-Novel-Kathryn-Davis/dp/0316737615/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174915024&sr=1-3) by Kathryn Davis -- about Marie Antoinette and her life once she left Austria and went to France. Its fiction, but I dont know if its technically historical fiction or not. It hasnt gotten very good reviews, but its fairly short and I needed something to read.

Cant wait for my next amazon.com shipment to makes its way over here; I ordered:

Ghostwritten (http://www.amazon.com/Ghostwritten-David-Mitchell/dp/0375724508/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174915198&sr=1-1) by David Mitchell
Hunger Point (http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Point-Novel-Jillian-Medoff/dp/0060989238/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174915330&sr=1-1) by Jilian Medoff
Lolita (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679723161/102-8071547-0725759) by Vladimir Nabakov
Alias Grace (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385490445/102-8071547-0725759) by Margaret Atwood
Saturday (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400076196/102-8071547-0725759) by Ian McEwan

Its kind of a random assortment, but my reading is pretty ecclectic and I like having a variety of subjects/genres to read.

BumbleB

03-28-2007, 01:45 PM

I am currently reading:

Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
and
A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell

I'm about half way through both, A Thread of Grace is fabulous, and since I know there are a number of you interested in WWII stories, I'm posting the review here. This is one of the most unique stories of that time I have found, told from many points of view, it is very engrossing.

Amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Thread-Grace-Mary-Doria-Russell/dp/0449004139/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-1886044-7392926?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175113650&sr=8-2) review:
Mary Doria Russell's extraordinary and complex historical novel, A Thread of Grace, is the kind of book that you will find yourself haunted by long after finishing the last page. It opens with a group of Jewish refugees being escorted to safe-keeping by Italian soldiers. After making the arduous journey over a steep mountain pass, they are welcomed into a small village with warm food and clean beds. They have barely laid their heads to rest when news is received that Mussolini has just surrendered Italy to Hitler, putting them in danger yet again.
The rich fictional narrative is woven through the factual military maneuvers and political games at the end of WW II, sharing a little-known story of a group of Italian citizens that sheltered more than 40,000 Jews from grueling work camp executions. Rather than the bleak and hopeless feeling that might be expected, the novel has the opposite effect; it reminds us that just as there will always be war, crime, and death, so too will there be good people who selflessly sacrifice themselves to ease the suffering of others. Perhaps best of all, Russell succinctly opens and closes her writing with short pieces that bookend the story with the force of a freight train. Her moving finale wraps up her narrative in the present day, with a death bed scene that's sure to rip the heart out of readers of every faith and ancestry.

BlackMagicRose

03-28-2007, 06:44 PM

has anyone read

Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant

If so, what did you think??

meatpie

04-01-2007, 10:15 AM

I'm reading the most wonderful book called Suite Francaise. We just got back from France, but *** don't need any experience with Paris, the country, to love this book. Absolute must read.

From Publishers WeeklyStarred Review. Celebrated in pre-WWII France for her bestselling fiction, the Jewish Russian-born Némirovsky was shipped to Auschwitz in the summer of 1942, months after this long-lost masterwork was composed. Némirovsky, a convert to Catholicism, began a planned five-novel cycle as Nazi forces overran northern France in 1940. This gripping "suite," collecting the first two unpolished but wondrously literary sections of a work cut short, have surfaced more than six decades after her death. The first, "Storm in June," chronicles the connecting lives of a disparate clutch of Parisians, among them a snobbish author, a venal banker, a noble priest shepherding churlish orphans, a foppish aesthete and a loving lower-class couple, all fleeing city comforts for the chaotic countryside, mere hours ahead of the advancing Germans. The second, "Dolce," set in 1941 in a farming village under German occupation, tells how peasant farmers, their pretty daughters and petit bourgeois collaborationists coexisted with their Nazi rulers. In a workbook entry penned just weeks before her arrest, Némirovsky noted that her goal was to describe "daily life, the emotional life and especially the comedy it provides." This heroic work does just that, by focusing—with compassion and clarity—on individual human dramas. (Apr. 18)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Edited to add: Rosebud are *** enjoying this book as well??

pixielou

04-01-2007, 10:30 AM

Based on the reco's of this thread, I recently read Lucia, Lucia. Enjoyable story about a career girl in the 50's. Though I could not figure out the purpose of the Kit character. Or why Maria Grace had to die.

I also read The Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrandt. EXCELLENT!!! Wow! Definitely the best book I have read this year. I was worrying about the characters whenver I put the book down, and totally bawled my eyes out the last 30 pages. Not needing a kleenex crying - crying to the point that i couldn't read thru the tears and I was becoming a snotty mess. I wasn't expecting this to be such a heart wrenching love story. Excellent!

i also have read Homo Domesticus: Notes from a Same Sex Marriage by David Valdes Greenwood. Has anyone else read it? I'm wondering what *** thought. I wasn't impressed. Except for the fact that this guy is in a same sex marriage, I just didn't see any reason why I would be interested in his relationship and his life. And if *** changed the word husband to wife - *** would have had a nice boring book about your typical suburban boring married couple. Whatever. Elinor Lipman had given it a decent review - so I was surprised to find that it bothered ** so much.

~pixie

fuzzy

04-02-2007, 08:13 AM

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. It is a memoir; She writes about the year after her husband has a fatal heart attack and her only child is dealing with a near-fatal bout of pneumonia. I did a little bit of grief counseling a few years back, so I found it fascinating and very well written on one level. On another level, it felt strange reading it -- she seemed to write to clinically about everything, it almost felt...cold. Still, I recommend it.

A Dog Year: Twelve Months, Four Dogs, and Me by Jon Katz. Very cute, more or less a fluff book for the plane. There were some parts that bothered me, but having just gone through puppyhood with our own version of "helldog", most of it resonated with me.

Based on some recommendations from another CC thread, I picked up Trans-sister Radio by Chris Bohjalian. I thought the first two thirds of the book were great, but felt the end was a bit...hokey.

meganth

04-02-2007, 08:31 AM

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. It is a memoir; She writes about the year after her husband has a fatal heart attack and her only child is dealing with a near-fatal bout of pneumonia. I did a little bit of grief counseling a few years back, so I found it fascinating and very well written on one level. On another level, it felt strange reading it -- she seemed to write to clinically about everything, it almost felt...cold. Still, I recommend it.

When she was doing the rounds for this book on NPR she always sounded really emotionless about the whole topic - it was a little strange. Maybe that was either her way of dealing with it all or just how she is! Still, it was surprising!

superchick

04-02-2007, 08:52 AM

The Historian, I love it!

fuzzy

04-02-2007, 08:59 AM

When she was doing the rounds for this book on NPR she always sounded really emotionless about the whole topic - it was a little strange. Maybe that was either her way of dealing with it all or just how she is! Still, it was surprising!

It probably was her way of dealing with it, so part of me feels bad for kinda getting hung up on it...but then again, it just "felt" strange.

LittleFredPunkinHead

04-02-2007, 03:54 PM

I'm waiting to get moved into our house mid-month so I can finally get a library card. In the meantime, I bought a couple books at the Friends of the Library store. So I just started "Whiskey Sour" by J.A. Konrath, a rather gory but also humorous detective novel, and although it's pretty cliched, so far it's also pretty entertaining and a fast read.

LeslieR

04-02-2007, 04:33 PM

For those who read Nineteen Minutes, what did you think? I loved the book until the ending. The whole thing just fell flat for me.:(

MsRo

04-02-2007, 08:18 PM

I just started The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. If the book is anything like the preface I'm going to love it.

Rosebud

04-02-2007, 08:21 PM

I'm reading the most wonderful book called Suite Francaise. We just got back from France, but you don't need any experience with Paris, the country, to love this book. Absolute must read.

Edited to add: Rosebud are you enjoying this book as well??

I am! I'm about 150 pages in. It was a little slow going at first, but now I'm finding it very compelling. It's great to hear that you are liking it as well! It's a side of WWII that I hadn't thought much about but am finding really emotional and fascinating.

:)

Belm

04-03-2007, 07:34 AM

I just finished up The Kite Runner and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time thanks to Rosebud's reading rec list.

I really enjoyed The Curious Incident. The Kite Runner was harder for me to get through because it was so depressing.

kd 9.21.02

04-03-2007, 07:56 AM

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0375415483.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_V46682464_.jpg

Black & White (http://www.amazon.com/Black-White-Dani-Shapiro/dp/0375415483/ref=pd_bbs_7/104-0676568-4839146?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175611998&sr=8-7) was a really good read. I also enjoy reading the author's blog (http://www.danishapiro.com/).

From Publishers Weekly
Clara, the protagonist of Shapiro's fifth novel (after Family History), is the youngest daughter and muse of Ruth Dunne, a famous Manhattan photographer who made her name shooting Sally Mann–style (read: nude and provocative) photos of a young Clara. Unable to bear the humiliation of being "the girl in those pictures," Clara runs away from home at 18. Fourteen years later and still estranged from her mother, Clara's living in Maine with her husband and daughter when her older sister calls and tells her Ruth is in failing health. Clara travels back to Manhattan, where she comes to terms with her family and herself. Though Clara's frequent bemoaning of her emotional scars tries the reader's patience, Shapiro's sharp depictions of love and shame go a long way toward putting the self-pity into relief. It's unfortunate that Ruth fails to comes across as anything more than a narcissistic artist, but the novel offers some fine insights into marriage, the making of art and the often difficult mother-daughter dynamic.

meatpie

04-03-2007, 09:07 AM

I am! I'm about 150 pages in. It was a little slow going at first, but now I'm finding it very compelling. It's great to hear that you are liking it as well! It's a side of WWII that I hadn't thought much about but am finding really emotional and fascinating.

:)

I feel the same way. It's just beautifully written and tragic since she was only able to complete the first two "books" she had planned. I was reading the book last night and then decided to catch up on past Amazing Race episodes. When they went to Auschwitz - I lost it since she died there.

Sashi

04-05-2007, 06:58 AM

I'm just now deciding to get back into reading and I hope to be frequenting this thread more often. I've been studying for 4 years for my CPA and going to school while working full time before that. The only thing I've read are exam books, accounting books, etc. etc.

So my first two books just ordered were to help me with my decisions to have a family sooner rather than later:

I'm so intriqued by this first one, People Magazine just did a review on it and it sounds like something I would write if I could write.
The Feminine Mistake (http://www.amazon.com/Feminine-Mistake-Are-Giving-Much/dp/1401303064/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-0375034-2773742?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175781170&sr=8-1)
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1401303064.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_V23473632_.jpg

and because you can't buy just one :p , I got this also:

Baby Love (http://www.amazon.com/Baby-Love-Rebecca-Walker/dp/1594489432/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-0375034-2773742?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175781381&sr=1-1)
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1594489432.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_V43700163_.jpg

kd 9.21.02

04-05-2007, 07:15 AM

Sashi - I read "Baby Love" and really enjoyed it. I'm reading "The Feminine Mistake" right now and LOVING it. Unfortunately we're going through financial issues with MIL and I told my husband she is "exhibit A" from Leslie Bennetts book.

Sashi

04-06-2007, 07:26 AM

YAY! I can't wait to read them now. They haven't shipped yet from Amazon but I'll be sure to come in when i do get them and update on how i liked them.

berry

04-06-2007, 01:39 PM

I'm always forgetting to post my recent reads over here.

One Mississippi (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316012114/sr/ref=pd_cp_b_title/002-0844302-6536034?ie=UTF8&qid=1175890727&sr=1-1&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-41&pf_rd_r=0QZDJ4ASGC7505JPWV67&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_p=252362401&pf_rd_i=0316012122) by Mark Childress

Fascinating tale of a young boy growing up in Mississipi in the 1970s. I found the main character intriguing.

Also read Happiness Sold Seperately by Lolly Winston

It was a good read, nothing amazing.

I also read Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. (I haven't read anything by Sparks before.)

I found the story and prose so romantic and beautiful. I didn't want the book to end.

I also loved Self Storage: A Novel by Gayle Brandeis (http://www.amazon.com/Self-Storage-Novel-Gayle-Brandeis/dp/0345492609/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0844302-6536034?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175891640&sr=1-1)

From Publishers Weekly
Flan Parker is floundering: her sweet but hapless husband, Shae, is procrastinating on finishing his dissertation, their young children are running wild, and the beloved yard sales she holds in their University of California-Riverside student housing cul-de-sac are under fire from the housing office. Then Flan becomes fascinated with her Afghani neighbors, particularly the wife, Sodaba, hidden beneath a burqa. When Sodaba, pulling into her driveway, accidentally runs over Flan's daughter, racial tension in the community is heightened. The unlikely friendship that develops between Sodaba and Flan in the accident's aftermath sparks its share of trouble as the FBI begins investigating Sodaba's husband for suspected ties to terrorism. Flan is an endearing, juicy character: well-intentioned, less than perfect, with a love of the old and faded (the ancient copy of Leaves of Grass she totes around and frequently quotes, for instance).

I found this fascinating and highly recommend it!

I just started Soul Kitchen (http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Kitchen-Poppy-Z-Brite/dp/0307237656/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0844302-6536034?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175891950&sr=1-1) (3rd in the series of Liquor and Prime) by Poppy Z. Brite, so far just as funny and yummy as usual.

styron

04-06-2007, 07:40 PM

I just finished Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Wiener, and that is 5 days of my life that I will never get back.

emmasart

04-06-2007, 11:30 PM

I just started Soul Kitchen (http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Kitchen-Poppy-Z-Brite/dp/0307237656/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-0844302-6536034?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175891950&sr=1-1) (3rd in the series of Liquor and Prime) by Poppy Z. Brite, so far just as funny and yummy as usual.

I read this book a while back. I loved it, but Brite is one of my favorite authors so I'm a bit bias. :) I hear she has a new novella out called D*U*C*K (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159606076X/ref=cm_plog_item_link/102-0768950-7194539). I think its the 4th in her Rickey and G-man series that she wrote and is set after Katrina hits New Orleans. I can't wait to read it.

MsRo

04-07-2007, 06:41 AM

I read this book a while back. I loved it, but Brite is one of my favorite authors so I'm a bit bias. :) I hear she has a new novella out called D*U*C*K (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159606076X/ref=cm_plog_item_link/102-0768950-7194539). I think its the 4th in her Rickey and G-man series that she wrote and is set after Katrina hits New Orleans. I can't wait to read it.

Sweet! I didn't know she had another book out. Thanks for the tip!

bevvied

04-07-2007, 09:01 AM

Sisters by Danielle Steel

Rosebud

04-08-2007, 08:02 PM

I recently finished reading Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie. I really liked both of them. Suite Francaise is set in France in WWII and Balzac... is set in 1970s China. I'd recommend both of them. Reviews are in my Bibliophil.org Library (http://www.bibliophil.org/library/UserLibrary.php?v_UserName=Rosebud03)

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k284/rosebud03_2006/gossip/suite.jpg http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k284/rosebud03_2006/gossip/balzac.jpg

Now I'm on to The City is a Rising Tide by Rebecca Lee.

Synopsis: Justine Laxness, a 37-year-old with a battered heart and an agenda hidden even from herself, works as the business manager for a precarious not-for-profit run by aloof and poetic Peter, who intends to build a healing center on the Yangtze River. Justine has been secretly in love with Peter since her childhood in China as the daughter of well-off missionaries, when Peter worked for Richard Nixon. Now, in booming 1990s New York, Justine pretends to be protecting Peter by withholding information about the impending drastic consequences of the Three Gorges Dam and concealing her risky financial machinations, but in fact her actions are rooted in anger and lead to sabotage. Lee has created a moody, entrancing, and suspenseful seriocomic tale replete with shimmering landscapes, caustic irony, and provocative inquiries into the motives of do-gooders and the narcosis of illusion.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k284/rosebud03_2006/gossip/city.jpg

am_81

04-12-2007, 12:31 PM

I have totally given up on the book I was reading (Versailles: A Novel (http://www.amazon.com/Versailles-Novel-Kathryn-Davis/dp/0316737615/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174915024&sr=1-3) by Kathryn Davis) and moved onto The Tipping Point (http://www.amazon.com/Tipping-Point-Little-Things-Difference/dp/0316346624/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1174914845&sr=1-1) by Malcolm Gladwell. I made it halfway through Versailles before deciding I really didnt care to go any further. Its not a bad story, just not what I'm really in the mood for right now. I was holding off on reading The Tipping Point because DH was only halfway through, but since he hasnt made any progress in like a month I snatched it up. Now I'm a third of the way through and really enjoying it.

I also picked up another book today, The Thirteenth Tale (http://www.amazon.com/Thirteenth-Tale-Novel-Diane-Setterfield/dp/0743298020/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176406093&sr=8-1) by Diane Setterfield. I was attempting not to buy anymore books since I have 5 new ones on the way, but when I saw it was the last copy, I had to get it. Its a sickness, I tell you.

BumbleB

04-12-2007, 01:09 PM

am_81 - I know what you mean. I just ordered 4 more from Barnes+Noble, and I have about 4 un-read books sitting at home already. :rolleyes:

Keep telling myself I need to just go to the library.

MsPeachy

04-13-2007, 05:33 AM

I'm currently reading Sarum: The Novel of England (http://www.amazon.com/Sarum-Novel-England-Edward-Rutherfurd/dp/0517223546/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-2188753-1303048?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176467455&sr=8-1)by Edward Rutherford. It's a big huge book at almost 900 pages and covers events in the Salisbury Plain region of England for the past 5 thousand years. So far it's very interesting. The writing style is a wierd mix between pure narrative and character dialogue. If you like historical fiction, this would likely be something you'd enjoy.

am_81

04-13-2007, 05:49 AM

am_81 - I know what you mean. I just ordered 4 more from Barnes+Noble, and I have about 4 un-read books sitting at home already. :rolleyes:

Keep telling myself I need to just go to the library.

Hee. I'm way too embarrassed to reveal how many un-read books I have on my bookshelves. Lets just say that my usual "cure" for boredom was to wander the aisles of Half Price Books.

chefker

04-13-2007, 05:51 AM

MsPeachy - that book sounds right up my alley. I'm going to have to check that out!

I just finished reading Hood, by Stephen Lawhead. I LOVED this book! It was a real page-turner.

From Publishers Weekly:

Lawhead (Byzantium), known for his historical and fantasy fiction, reimagines the tale of Robin Hood in his latest novel, the first in the King Raven Trilogy. Based on detailed research, Lawhead places the folk hero (whom he names Bran) in Wales in 1093, at a time when the land was under constant assault from the new Norman rulers of England. When Bran's father, the king, is killed in an ambush along with nearly all his warriors, the land of Elfael is overtaken and its citizens subjected to great oppression. Though Bran should be king, he has lost faith (in both himself and whatever God he once knew) and decides to flee instead. Through agony and adventure, aided by a ragtag group of colorful characters, his sense of justice grows, along with his commitment to leading the people of Elfael and his creative strategies for dealing with the enemy. Lawhead examines questions of faith from both sides of the conflict, so readers see Welsh monks praying for deliverance and Norman rulers asserting their divine right to the land. The story's tone is uneven—by turns sweet, violent, and funny—and it gets a bit bogged down in the middle, but overall it's a fun read that will leave readers anxious for the next installment.

MsPeachy

04-13-2007, 06:36 AM

chekfer - I'm jealous because I wanted Hood and now Costco doesn't have it (where I get many books) They do have the Rutherford books now so if you go to Costco, you might check in their book section. He also has books on Ireland, Russia and a couple more on England

BumbleB

04-13-2007, 08:27 AM

I'm about 1/3 through 1776, by David McCullough. I was thinking this would be really dry, but so far it hasn't been bad. I would even go as far as to say it has been mostly enjoyable - however, I like history and enjoy all the personal accounts he has included from letters written at the time. This book truly does bring into focus what a great triumph our nation's freedom really was.

From Barnes and Noble:

The story of 1776, the year of our nation's birth, has become so enmeshed in shadow play rituals that we no longer sense its immediacy or its significance. That changes with this full-bodied narrative history. With this book, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough does for George Washington (and surprisingly enough, George III) what he did for John Adams, Harry Truman, and Theodore Roosevelt. He sets the grassroots fervency of the outnumbered colonists against the mighty United Kingdom, the world's only superpower. Like all McCullough's books, 1776 captures history at its most human level. He takes the reader, for instance, on the arduous journey of Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller who dragged tons of heavy British artillery to turn the tide in the siege of Boston. America at its most heroic; history at its finest.

KaliLily

04-13-2007, 08:37 AM

Last month I read Fall On Your Knees by Ann-Marie MacDonald for my book club. It was a difficult one to finish as it was a very dark, disturbing story. If I'd chosen it on my own I wouldn't have finished it, but I ended up being glad I did. The end was satisfying.

I'm about to start Angry Housewives Eating Bon Bons by Lorna Landvik, which is the latest book club selection. We all needed a fun, light read after that last one!

kissmary

04-13-2007, 12:03 PM

Currently reading Haruki Murakami's The Wind-up Bird Chronicles. The writing is very accessible and enjoyable.

whos that girl

04-16-2007, 02:51 AM

The Dragon & The Unicorn by A.A. Attanasio.

This book actually makes my top 10 list of all-time favorites. A fantasy novel, it is a book (one of many) about King Arthur. It tops the list of King Arthur fiction, however. Attanasio has this amazing lyrical quality to his writing that holds me captivated. He's definitely not a read-it-on-the-bus writer- his writing deserves your full attention.

Alanna

04-16-2007, 07:07 AM

Has anyone read The Disapparation of James by Anne Ursu?

I just finished it last night. What a strange and beautiful book. It's the best novel I have read in a long time...

Rosebud

04-16-2007, 09:40 AM

Has anyone read The Disapparation of James by Anne Ursu? I just finished it last night. What a strange and beautiful book. It's the best novel I have read in a long time...
That sounds really interesting. I'm going to add it to my list. Thanks for the recommendation!

I just finished The City is a Rising Tide by Rebecca Lee, which I thought was interesting but didn't love. I couldn't get really invested in the characters. Also finished The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory, which I didn't like at all. It isn't a page-turner and a real guilty pleasure in the way The Other Boleyn Girl was. The characters weren't as fascinating, and at times it read like a cheap romance novel. What a disappointment!

Now I'm on to The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn. He originally wrote this as a short story called "What Happened to Uncle Schmiel?", which I read in a compilation, one of those "Best American Travel Writing" collections. It was devastating and I couldn't stop thinking about the story. I'm so excited that he expanded it into a full length novel. I'm not that far in yet, but am already finding it pretty mesmerizing.

http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k284/rosebud03_2006/gossip/thelost.jpg

Synopsis: Daniel Mendelsohn's The Lost is the deeply personal account of a search for one family among his larger family, the one barely spoken of, only to say they were "killed by the Nazis." Mendelsohn, even as a boy, was always the one interested in his family's history, but when he came upon a set of letters from his great uncle Schmiel, pleading for help from his American relatives as the Nazi grip on the lives of Jews in their Polish town became tighter and tighter, he set out to find what had happened to that lost family. The result is both memoir and history, an ambitious and gorgeously meditative detective story that takes him across the globe in search of the lost threads of these few almost forgotten lives.

BumbleB

04-16-2007, 01:12 PM

The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million was one of the first books I put on my "to read" list for this year - hope to get my hands on it soon.

I'm just about finished with Into The Wilderness by Sara Donati. If you've read Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series, you will probably enjoy Donati's Wilderness series. I just find the subject matter so fascinating, I love the window into America's past and the harsh realities of life during that time (starting in the 1790's). There's also a short mention of familiar characters from the Outlander series. Needless to say, I've gotten sucked in and will end up reading the whole series - in both cases, I did not realize how many books (and pages) that would mean. :rolleyes:

c'est la vie

04-16-2007, 01:21 PM

I'm reading Little Earthquakes. So far so good. I love chick lits. And I just finished reading Snowed In - A Novel (http://www.amazon.com/Snowed-Novel-Christina-Bartolomeo/dp/0312320892/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-9476030-6963339?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176754736&sr=1-1) by Christina Bartolomeo and I enjoyed it, although I was not immediately blown away by it.

berry

04-16-2007, 06:31 PM

emmasart Thanks for the heads up on the new novella by Brite. I enjoyed Soul Kitchen. Those recipe descriptions always get to me!

I recently read Tales from the Crib (by Risa Green, who also wrote Notes from the Underbelly). Only very very mildy entertaining. I seriously don't know why I picked it up at the library. The main character is so self-centered I seriously wanted to kill her!

Thankfully I had also picked up The Seecret Life of Bees (by Sue Monk Kidd) at the library. I never read this when it came out in 2002. I loved this book, the characters, the story, and the writing. I think I'm going to order her other book The Mermaid Chair next.

Kalilily I loved Fall on Your Knees about the generations of that Canadian family. Yes, I found it very dark, but I liked that!

MsRo

04-16-2007, 07:11 PM

I read D*U*C*K this weekend. Not one of Brite's best but it was enjoyable.

am_81

04-17-2007, 12:48 PM

I finished The Tipping Point (malcolm Gladwell) on Sunday. It was a very good book, full of interesting information, but I think by the end my brain was on info overload. I read it in pretty much 3-4 sittings, so taking in all that information at once was overwhelming towards the end. Its too bad, because the last third of the book was the most interesting to me (teen smoking and the magic number 150). I'll probably read over those few chapters again once DH finishes the book so we can talk about it. I started my new book The Thirteeth Tale (http://www.amazon.com/Thirteenth-Tale-Novel-Diane-Setterfield/dp/0743298020/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176838030&sr=8-1) by Diane Setterfield less than 24 hours ago and I'm already just past halfway done. Very, very intriguing story. The back cover refers to it as a "love letter to reading" and the description definitely fits. I can hardly put it down.

amberfiddles

04-17-2007, 12:55 PM

i just finished the fourth traveling pants book....eh, it's lost the sparkle of the earlier books and i was eager to finish it. i just started the memory keeper's daughter at lunch...

vwinkel

04-17-2007, 01:58 PM

I've been in the mood for light reads lately and have been reading Victoria Laurie's Abby Cooper, Psychic Eye series. I really like the characters and recommend the series. I'm on Killer Insight (http://www.amazon.com/Killer-Insight-Psychic-Mystery-Mysteries/dp/0451219333/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/002-2428308-6275262?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176843296&sr=8-2) which is the last one so far. I hope she writes more!

am_81

04-18-2007, 10:21 AM

Wow. One marathon reading session later and I'm done with The Thirteenth Tale (Diane Setterfield). It has been a long, long time since I've read a book so quickly. Like back in my Danielle Steel days, long ago.

This book easily fits into my personal list of top 10 books. Sure, the story wasnt exactly "profound" or ground-breaking, but something about it just drew me in so quickly. I would put this book on the level of the few great stories I've read in the past year -- The Time Traveller's Wife (Audrey Niffeneger), The Blind Assasin (Margaret Atwood) or The Historian (Elizabeth Kostova). She may not be a Pulitzer prize winning author, but Diane Setterfield sure knows how to tell one hell of a story. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who truly loves books and reading.

Editorial Review from from amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Thirteenth-Tale-Novel-Diane-Setterfield/dp/0743298020/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176838030&sr=8-1):

Settle down to enjoy a rousing good ghost story with Diane Setterfield's debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale. Setterfield has rejuvenated the genre with this closely plotted, clever foray into a world of secrets, confused identities, lies, and half-truths. She never cheats by pulling a rabbit out of a hat; this atmospheric story hangs together perfectly.

There are two heroines here: Vida Winter, a famous author, whose life story is coming to an end, and Margaret Lea, a young, unworldly, bookish girl who is a bookseller in her father's shop. Vida has been confounding her biographers and fans for years by giving everybody a different version of her life, each time swearing it's the truth. Because of a biography that Margaret has written about brothers, Vida chooses Margaret to tell her story, all of it, for the first time. At their initial meeting, the conversation begins:

"You have given nineteen different versions of your life story to journalists in the last two years alone."

She [Vida] shrugged. "It's my profession. I'm a storyteller."

"I am a biographer, I work with facts."

The game is afoot and Margaret must spend some time sorting out whether or not Vida is actually ready to tell the whole truth. There is more here of Margaret discovering than of Vida cooperating wholeheartedly, but that is part of Vida's plan.

Margaret has a story of her own: she was one of conjoined twins and her sister died so that Margaret could live. She feels an otherworldly aura sometimes or a yearning for a part of her that is forever missing. Vida's story involves two wild girls--feral twins (is she one of them?)--who would have been better off being suckled by wolves. Instead, their mother and uncle, involved in things too unsavory to contemplate, combine to neglect them woefully. There's also a governess, a Doctor, a kindly housekeeper, a gardener, and another presence--a very strange presence--which Margaret perceives as a ghost at first. Making obeisance to other great ghost stories, there is a deadly fire, a beautiful old house gone to ruin, and always that presence....

The transformative power of truth informs the lives of both women by story's end, and The Thirteenth Tale is finally and convincingly told.

Since I cant imagine finding anything half as good as this right away, I've picked up one of DH's fluff books for the time being . . . . The Camel Club (http://www.amazon.com/Camel-Club-David-Baldacci/dp/0446615625/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1176916855&sr=8-2) by David Baldacci. I've read a few of his books and theyre always good for some mindless reading.

Belm

04-19-2007, 07:25 AM

I just finished reading This Dame for Hire by Sandra Scoppettone.

From Publishers Weekly...

Starred Review. An original idea—a female PI working on her own in 1943—and an unusually imaginative portrait of a New York City coping, surviving, even thriving during WWII lift the first of a new suspense series from Scoppettone (Gonna Take a Homicidal Journey). Faye Quick makes a tough and touching heroine, with a voice that just cries out for an actress like Ida Lupino to bring her to cinematic life. She starts as a secretary, learns everything her sleazy but charming boss knows about being a detective, then assumes charge of the agency after her employer is drafted. "Even though I looked like any 26-year-old gal ankling round New York City in '43, there was one main difference between me and the rest of the broads," Faye tells us. "Show me another Jane who did my job and I'd eat my hat." This lively, slightly mocking tone continues at perfect pitch, as Quick finds the dead body of a missing young woman on a snowy street, then is hired by the victim's parents to catch the killer. There are echoes of Chandler and Hammett in the distance, but the plot offers some fresh surprises. Best of all, Quick's 1943 New York looks like old magazine and newspaper photographs come to life—not faded but enhanced by the passage of time.

BumbleB

04-23-2007, 09:22 AM

Over the weekend, I read:
Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America
by Erik Larson

I could not PUT THIS BOOK DOWN. It was incredible. Equal parts fascinating (the building of the White City) and chilling (the story of the serial killer and the Black City), this was one of the best historical books I've read lately.

From Barnes and Noble Editors:

The bestselling author of Isaac's Storm returns with a gripping tale about two men -- one a creative genius, the other a mass murderer -- who turned the 1893 Chicago World's Fair into their playground. Set against the dazzle of a dream city whose technological marvels presaged the coming century, this real-life drama of good and evil unfolds with all the narrative tension of a fictional thriller.

berry

04-23-2007, 06:27 PM

Over the weekend, I read The Mermaid Chair (by Sue Monk Kidd). It was a beautifully written story, but a bit predictable. I didn't like it as much as the Bees story.

Rosebud

04-24-2007, 07:34 PM

I finished The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn. Oh wow... this is an amazing book. It's dense and emotional and not by any means light reading, but it's one of the most intense and powerful stories I've read in a long time. I really can't recommend it highly enough. Here's what I wrote in my Bibliophil journal:

This is a mesmerizing and powerful book, certainly one of the best books I've read in quite a long time.

The Lost tells the true story of the author's search to discover what happened to his great-uncle's family in WWII. His relatives can say only that Schmiel, his wife Ester and their four daughters were killed by the Nazis in their small Polish town. Daniel Mendelsohn becomes obsessed with knowing more than that; he needs to have a deeper knowledge of how and when these family members died. This desire takes him from Poland to Israel, Australia and Sweden to interview Holocaust survivors who knew his family and can offer up clues as to how they lived their final years, days, moments.

This a deeply personal and emotional book. I found it very moving and impossible to stop thinking about once I'd finished the book. The account of how Schmiel and his family struggled to survive in Bolechow won't soon leave you. Daniel Mendelsohn's book is a masterpiece, combining the most intimate family memories with a larger theoretical and theological conversation. Brilliant.

Foley42

04-27-2007, 06:58 AM

Has anyone read Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi. It looks like a great read. here (http://www.constantchatter.com/shop/081297106X/Reading_Lolita_in_Tehran_A_Memoir_in_Books.html)

framboise

04-27-2007, 11:42 AM

JoyfulGirl

04-27-2007, 10:27 PM

Foley, my book club read Reading Lolita a year or more ago & none of us loved it. We were really interested in the lives of the female teacher and her students, but the book really focused on reviewing other books, specifically Lolita. We were unanimous in thinking that there was waaaaayyyyy too much reading Lolita and waaaaayyyyy too little about the people doing the reading. It really is a shame because the parts about the girls and the teacher were great, there just wasn't enough of it.

I would have to agree with this, there was too much book review. Although, I thought the information that it did give on their personal lives was worth reading it for me. I was fascinated by the glimpse it gave into their personal struggles.They had their entire lives changed by government rules put on them because they were women. And eventually many of them decided to leave their country because of it.

I wouldn't spend the money on it again, personally, but I would check it out from the library. I passed my copy on to my book club as a recommended read.

Foley42

04-28-2007, 02:27 PM

framboise and JoyfulGirl: Thanks for your thoughts on the book.

framboise

04-30-2007, 03:46 PM

JoyfulGirl, I enjoyed what little glimpse there was into the women's lives too. I just really REALLY wished that there had been more because it was so so limited.

Foley, if you read it, let us know if you agree!

BumbleB

05-03-2007, 09:11 AM

I've just finished reading:

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

I had no idea what to expect from this novel, but since reading it I have found myself thinking about it again and again. Seeing such a tragic part of our recent histroy through the eyes of a child is heart-breaking, yet humorous and touching all at once. At times it was difficult to read, but this is one novel that will stay with me forever. This is a weighty but wonderful tale of the journey of healing after a tragedy.

From the Publisher:

Nine-year-old Oskar Schell has embarked on an urgent, secret mission that will take him through the five boroughs of New York. His goal is to find the lock that matches a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on the morning of September 11. This seemingly impossible task will bring Oskar into contact with survivors of all sorts on an exhilarating, affecting, often hilarious, and ultimately healing journey.

and

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

This is the story of the building of a Cathedral in 12th Century England and centers around all of the lives influenced by that great task. This was a truly fascinating read - historical fiction at its best! I have never wanted a character to die in a novel as badly as I did with this book. Good and Evil, love, betrayal, revenge, it is all fantastically written. You can picture the characters as if they were standing right in front of you - Can't wait for the sequel.

MsPeachy

05-04-2007, 04:05 AM

am_81

05-04-2007, 06:59 AM

Havent posted here in a couple weeks . . . .

Finished up The Camel Club (David Baldacci) (http://www.amazon.com/Camel-Club-David-Baldacci/dp/0446615625/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178286011&sr=8-2) fairly quickly. It was okay I guess, typical political suspense/thriller. I bought DH Baldacci's other book with the same set of characters (The Collectors (http://www.amazon.com/Collectors-David-Baldacci/dp/044653109X/ref=pd_bbs_3/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178286046&sr=8-3)) and will probably read it next time I find myself in between books purchases.

After The Camel Club was Hunger Point by Jillian Medoff (http://www.amazon.com/Hunger-Point-Novel-Jillian-Medoff/dp/0060989238/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178286069&sr=1-1). Again, it was okay. For some reason I thought there would be a bit more about the anorexic sister and was more interested in her story than the narrator's. Also, the narrator (Frannie) really grated on my nerves at times.

Now I'm muddling my way through Saturday by Ian McEwan (http://www.amazon.com/Saturday-Ian-Mcewan/dp/1400076196/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178286390&sr=1-1). After reading another one of his books (Atonement) I knew to expect a slow beginning, but now that I'm 2/3 of the way through, I feel like I'm still "waiting." I've come to realize that there is pretty much no plot . . . had I known that before I started reading it wouldve been fine (stupid me, not reading the reviews carefully enough), but right now I'm a tad disappointed. His writing is as well-thought out as I remember it being though, which makes it worth reading on that basis alone.

I should be done with this over the weekend and next up is either Lolita by Vladmir Nabakov (http://www.amazon.com/Everymans-Library-Classics-Vladimir-Nabokov/dp/185715133X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178286866&sr=1-1) or Ghostwritten by David Mitchell (http://www.amazon.com/Ghostwritten-David-Mitchell/dp/0375724508/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-8071547-0725759?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178286909&sr=1-1).

BumbleB

05-04-2007, 08:48 AM

BumbleB - The Pillars of the Earth has long been on my Fave Books Ever list. Did you hear or read something that said there is going to be a sequel? It seems odd to come out with one now, since the book is 18 y.o.

Here you go! I just stumbled on it on Barnes and Noble.com. It is set to be released Hardcover in October, 2007. :D

This is straight from www.ken-follett.com (http://www.ken-follett.com/home/index.html)

Ever since The Pillars of the Earth was published in 1989, readers have been asking me to write a sequel.The book is so popular that I’ve been nervous about trying to repeat its success. But at last I screwed up my courage and am working on World Without End.

I couldn’t write another book about building a cathedral, because that would be the same book. And I couldn’t write another story about the same characters, because by the end of “Pillars” they are all very old or dead. 'World Without End' takes place in the same town, Kingsbridge, and features the descendants of the “Pillars” characters two centuries later.

The cathedral and the priory are again at the centre of a web of love and hate, greed and pride, ambition and revenge. But at the heart of the story is the greatest natural disaster ever to strike the human race: the plague known as the Black Death, which killed something like half the population of Europe in the fourteenth century. The people of the Middle Ages battled this lethal pestilence and survived – and, in doing so, laid the foundations of modern medicine.

There's another description here: link (http://www.ken-follett.com/bibliography/world_without_end.html)

MsPeachy

05-05-2007, 05:07 AM

Wow - I had no idea!! Very gutsy of him to go for it - especially knowing the pressure of what it has to live up to.

Thanks so much for posting the info! :)

~~
I should post an update on my book, Sarum. It's been mostly interesting so far but now that I am on page 800 and the timeline has moved into England's industrial age, the book as ground to a halt for me. The politics and reform has been a real struggle for me to plow through as the book as almost become more narration and less dialogue/character interaction.

kalogrias

05-06-2007, 02:24 AM

Just finished reading Bergdorf Blondes (total chick lit), which was amusing and a decent light read.

Before that, I was reading two books:

Gweilo by Martin Booth -- HIGHLY recommended. I loved it.

From Amazon.co.uk:

Synopsis
Martin Booth died in February 2004, shortly after finishing the book that would be his epitaph - this wonderfully remembered, beautifully told memoir of a childhood lived to the full in a far-flung outpost of the British Empire...An inquisitive seven-year-old, Martin Booth found himself with the whole of Hong Kong at his feet when his father was posted there in the early 1950s. Unrestricted by parental control and blessed with bright blond hair that signified good luck to the Chinese, he had free access to hidden corners of the colony normally closed to a Gweilo, a 'pale fellow' like him. Befriending rickshaw coolies and local stallholders, he learnt Cantonese, sampled delicacies such as boiled water beetles and one-hundred-year-old eggs, and participated in colourful festivals. He even entered the forbidden Kowloon Walled City, wandered into the secret lair of the Triads and visited an opium den. Along the way he encountered a colourful array of people, from the plink plonk man with his dancing monkey to Nagasaki Jim, a drunken child molester, and the Queen of Kowloon, the crazed tramp who may have been a member of the Romanov family.

Inheriting the Holy Land by Jennifer Miller -- this book was an interesting read in that it was fascinating to see the conflict through someone else's eyes. Unfortunately, I found her opinions and views to be thoroughly biased and unacademic, and the book just ended up pissing me off in the end.

Alanna

05-06-2007, 05:24 AM

I love this thread! I have gotten so many good recommendations from all of you... (i just added The Pillars of the Earth to my list...)

I know many of you have already read this one, but - I just finished "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger and I have to add my enthusiastic recommendation to everyone else's....

What a great book... I couldn't put it down.... bittersweet and so well written....

Highly recommended!

berry

05-07-2007, 09:13 AM

Last week, I read another Nicholas Sparks book called True Believer. It certainly isn't literature, but is a good read.

I also just finished Murder 101 (http://www.amazon.com/Murder-101-Maggie-Barbieri/dp/0312355378/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-4276819-7352116?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1178554156&sr=8-1) by Maggie Barbieri.

I was actually surprised that I liked this. I thought it would be more fluffy, but it ended up being pretty good. I loved the main character.

Currently reading: Target Underwear and a Vera Wang Gown (http://www.amazon.com/Target-Underwear-Vera-Wang-Gown/dp/1592402909/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-4276819-7352116?ie=UTF8&s=books&sr=1-1) by Adena Halpern

So far very funny.

vwinkel

05-08-2007, 12:34 PM

I just finished My Sister's Keeper and WOW. That has to be one of the best books I've read in ten years. I loved all of the different narrators and side stories. I actually listened to this book on CD and they had different readers for each narrative, which at first I didn't like but by the middle it worked so perfectly. I was sobbing at the end and I have NEVER done that with a book before!

Currently listening to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night and my nightime read is What's a Ghoul to Do? by Victoria Laurie (not so fond of it so far).

whos that girl

05-08-2007, 02:08 PM

I'm reading The Automatic Millionaire and For A Few Demons More. The first a finance non-fiction and the other is 5th in a great paranormal series by Kim Harrison.

BumbleB

05-10-2007, 08:57 AM

I just finished Life of Pi - it was interesting. I thought it was written well, I'm not sure I fully "got it" but I did stop in the middle to read a couple other books???

Last night I started: Suite Francaise, by Irene Nemirovsky

SiValleySteph

05-10-2007, 09:57 AM

I've read a few books recently that I especially liked.

Brick Lane by Monica Ali
This book is about a Bangledeshi woman who moves to England when she marries (arranged marriage). I really enjoyed ready about the culture clashes and adjustment of the next generation. I think I particularlly liked it because where I live has many immigrants from Asia (Silicon Valley) and also my husband is a first generation immigrant.

The Sex Lives of Cannibals: Adrift in the Equatorial Pacific by J. Maarten Troost
I really enjoyed this book. It's a non-fiction account of the author's two years in Kiribati which is an island nation. I had never even heard of Kiribati before and loved ready about the culture and the unique problems faced living on an atoll. (Nowhere for the trash to go!) I plan on ready his second book which is about his time on Fiji, I think.

Mapping the Edge by Sarah Dunant
I discovered this author randomly in the author and I plan to read all her books the library has. It's not hard core literature, but I find these books enjoyable and to be quick reads. This book used a "Sliding Doors" (the movie) type technique where there were two alternate realities occuring at the same time. It was a bit confusing at first, but interesting.

Belm

05-14-2007, 07:53 AM

Just finished Summer Sisters by Judy Bloome. It was just okay, but a very easy read that is perfect for car/plane rides.

vwinkel

05-14-2007, 09:49 AM

I just finished A Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, but I didn't really care for it. I liked how the author really made you understand how the child's mind worked, but I just didn't enjoy the rest of the story.

kd 9.21.02

05-14-2007, 11:00 AM

Has anyone here read "A Fine Balance" by Rohinton Mistry?

http://g-ec2.images-amazon.com/images/I/41RAHSEOSOL._AA240_.jpg

I'm really enjoying it but I've put it down twice -- for long stretches. Reviews on Amazon say it's a heartbreaking book that only gets sadder and sadder.

If you've read it, what did you think?

hokiegirl

05-14-2007, 01:40 PM

I just finished reading Children of Men by PD James. In hopes that it would answer some questions I had after watching the movie, I realized that it was pretty different from the movie - same concept, but diffent storylines. The first half was a bit boring, but perservered and the last half was interesting. Not my cup of tea though overall.

Read at the same time Do I Need to Slap You by Michele Hickford. She wrote the sex columns on Ediets.com and I have met her. Thought she's a hilarious chic in person that it would be interesting reading her book. Got a couple of chuckles out it.

Now reading Perfect Little Mistress by Diane Haeger for my book club.

kugrrly

05-15-2007, 08:06 PM

In the last couple days I finished You'll Never Nanny in This Town Again, and Lacedby Carol Higgins Clark. Both were quick fun reads. I started Nineteen Minutesby Jodi Piccoult last night. I got through the first chapter, and I feel like it is going to be very emotional and powerful book.

magrat

05-15-2007, 08:22 PM

I just finished The Crimson Petal and the White (http://www.amazon.com/Crimson-Petal-White-Michel-Faber/dp/1841954314/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0131075-5039803?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179285403&sr=8-1) and really really enjoyed it. It's historical fiction and was very well-researched and accurate, with lots of unexpected details and descriptions (a rarity in my experience). And no real historical characters to make you doubt the authenticity. It takes place in London in 1875 and is about a prostitute who makes her way from being a streetwalker to a kept-mistress, among other things. The ending is a bit abrupt and that bothers lots of people on Amazon, but it didn't bother me, and it had to end somewhere! I kind of like that it's kind of open-ended rather than tragic or climactic for shock value alone.

Rosebud

05-16-2007, 01:04 PM

My most recent reads...

The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri

If you haven't read any of Jhumpa Lahiri's work, you really should put it on your list. There's a reason that The Interpreter of Maladies won a Pulitzer Prize-- Lahiri is a phenomenal writer. The Namesake, her second book, doesn't disappoint. It's a lovely, thoughtful and intelligent book about being a first generation American, the child of immigrants still tied to their home country and its traditions. I thought it was utterly compelling, beautifully written, and the characters stayed with me for days after I finished the book.

Au Paris by Rachel Spencer

The author had a blog for a while about being a nanny in Paris, so I picked up her book hoping it would be a fun read. Not so much. The writing is really unpolished and the story is thin at best. There's no real character development and you don't truly care about anyone in the story. Definitely pass on this one-- it's a stinker.

A Long Long Way by Sebastian Barry

I really liked Barry's book The Whereabouts of Eneas McNulty, and so far I'm really enjoying A Long Long Way. It paints such a vivid picture of WWI battlefields and emotions. It might be less interesting if you didn't know a little something about Irish-English politics of the time (such as, the Irish were fighting in the British army in WWI because they'd been promised home rule if they did so). But even if you don't, it's pretty darn compelling.

From Publishers Weekly: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori--that's the line from Horace... that Irish poet, playwright and novelist Barry seeks to debunk in this grimly lyrical WWI novel. After four years of brutal trench fighting, Willie Dunne, once an eager soldier in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, is still a "long long way" from home. Irish Home Rule seems a distant fantasy after the miserable Easter 1916 uprising in Dublin, which Willie, back in Ireland on his first furlough, was forced to help quell, firing on his own people; relations with his pro-British father, who abhors Willie's equivocal stance on Irish nationalism, have soured; his beloved Gretta has married another man; and most of his original Irish band of brothers have been slaughtered. The novel's dauntless realism and acute figurative language recall the finest chroniclers of war.

LexyLou

05-16-2007, 03:43 PM

OMG BumbleB, I could not for the life of me get in to Devil in The White City. Maybe I need to give it another try.

I just finished Water for Elephants. I really liked this book. It was a book I couldn't put down.

I'm about to start Beautiful Lies buy Lisa Unger. Has anyone read this?

megc1

05-16-2007, 06:44 PM

Has anyone read The Road by Cormac McCarthy? I just finished it and really enjoyed it. It was a little hard to get into in the beginning but by the middle I couldn't put it down.

lawyerlee

05-16-2007, 09:44 PM

I'm reading Yellowcake by Ann Cummins. I'm enjoying it. Her style reminds me of Louise Erdrich's. It's a very American story with good characters and lots of great details.

Yellowcake by Ann Cummins (http://www.amazon.com/Yellowcake-Ann-Cummins/dp/0618269266/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-7410697-5909514?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179376817&sr=8-1)

From Booklist

*Starred Review* At the frenzied inception of the nuclear age, miners were exposed to the deadly uranium concentrate known as yellowcake, and suffered accordingly. Cummins, author of a highly praised short story collection, Red Ant House (2003), is the daughter of a uranium mill worker and grew up in Shiprock, New Mexico, on a Navajo reservation. This world inspired her tensile and many-valenced first novel. Surefooted in her leaps between the psyches of her sympathetic characters, Cummins begins with Ryland, once a foreman at a uranium mine, now dependent on an oxygen tank and worried about being strong enough to give his daughter away at her wedding. Woody, a Navajo and a pal of Ryland's, is also gravely ill. Woody's daughter and Ryland's wife join an activist group demanding compensation from the mining company. Meanwhile, Ryland's fellow yellowcaker, former brother-in-law, and all-around wild man Sam seems healthy, but he has plenty of other problems. By fusing suspenseful love entanglements with family angst, Native American concerns, grief over the poisoning of the land, penetrating compassion, and ironic humor, Cummins brilliantly conflates the insidious damage wrought by radiation sickness with the maladies of the soul caused by prejudice, poverty, nature's abuse, and love's betrayal. Donna Seaman

Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

I loved The Devil in the White City. I was so completely drawn in by the serial killer character. But then again, I find many creepy things utterly fascinating. ;) :)

mgrace

05-17-2007, 01:38 PM

I just started reading Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia. So far, so good. Makes me want to run away and live outside. :)

mili04

05-18-2007, 03:56 PM

My most recent reads have all been good:

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella

The Book Thief by Markus Zusack (LOVED this one)

The Quilter's Homecoming by Jennifer Chiaverini (not her best)

OMG BumbleB, I could not for the life of me get in to Devil in The White City. I felt the same way about this one. Now I don't feel so bad!

Dotsie

05-22-2007, 02:38 PM

I just finished Marley and Me by John Grogan. If you love animals, especially dogs, this is a must read. It had me in tears. Both from laughter and then sadness. Loved it.

ausi2b

05-23-2007, 07:14 AM

Dotsie - ITA on Marley and Me. I was reading it during a work conference (I know - not good) and really had to work to compose myself after finishing it! DH read it and bawled like a baby!

hokiegirl

05-23-2007, 09:00 AM

OMG BumbleB, I could not for the life of me get in to Devil in The White City.

I felt the same way about this one. Now I don't feel so bad!

I thought the same at the beginning since it was setting up the scene and was a bit boring to read the boring logistics. It gets better though.

Rosebud

05-23-2007, 12:36 PM

It did take a few chapters to get into Devil in the White City, but then I couldn't put it down. I loved it!

I recently started listening to the audiobook of Julia Childs' autobiography, My Life In France. It's really interesting! So far, it's all about her being an ex-pat in Paris in the late 1940s, her love of the local culture and food, etc. Totally enjoyable.

amberfiddles

05-23-2007, 01:23 PM

rosebud glad to hear my life in france is enjoyable! its in my huge pile of books to read :)

i just finished dreams from my father and it was okay. didn't love it, didn't hate it. some of the spots were good, others were a bit slow.

imagirliegirl

05-24-2007, 07:18 PM

I just finished The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls. It was pretty crazy.

Today I bought The Starter Wife by Gigi Gazer. I needed something cute and mindless so I picked it up.

I was reading Haunted by Chuck Palahnuik but I had trouble getting into it. I think I might finish it since I started but I found something to distract me for now.

lawyerlee

05-24-2007, 07:29 PM

I was reading Haunted by Chuck Palahnuik but I had trouble getting into it. I think I might finish it since I started but I found something to distract me for now.
Same here. I am hoping it was just my mood at that time and that I'll get into it when I try it again. I'd heard a lot of good things about it from people who have good taste.

I just finished The Partly Cloudy Patriot, a book of essays by Sarah Vowell. I just love her. She so funny and bright and twisted, but not too twisted. I've also recently read Something Borrowed and Something Blue by Emily Giffin. Loved them both, especially the latter. I have Baby Proof on my shelf, which I plan to get to soon. And I'm still working on A Long Way Down by Nick Hornby.

I'm getting ready to start A Million Little Pieces by James Frey. In a way I feel glad that I never read it before his twisting the truth was revealed. Now I know how to approach it as a reader: it's loosely based on a true story. I'm okay with that. ;) :)

Alanna

05-25-2007, 04:51 AM

I just finished The Partly Cloudy Patriot, a book of essays by Sarah Vowell. I just love her. She so funny and bright and twisted, but not too twisted.

She is one of my very favorites too!.... i love getting her stuff on audio because her delivery is so perfect... i love how she is so smart and funny at the same time....

I liked Assassination Vacation even more than The Partly Cloudy Patriot...

whos that girl

05-26-2007, 11:53 PM

Anita Shreve's Fortune's Rocks.

Most of the time I'm torn between throwing Anita Shreve's books against the wall or loving them until their covers are shredded to bits, but regardless of my reaction, she always draws me back in for more.

This book is fantastic. A really great story about a young girl who fall in appropriately in love and the results of it. It also tells a very strong story of feminism, surprising and pleasant considering the time period the book is in.

vwinkel

05-29-2007, 09:42 AM

Most of the time I'm torn between throwing Anita Shreve's books against the wall or loving them until their covers are shredded to bits, but regardless of my reaction, she always draws me back in for more.

I share your same sentiment! There are always phrases that jump off of the page for me, despite whether I like the book or not. ;)

imagirliegirl

05-29-2007, 11:15 AM

I just picked up The Assault on Reason by Al Gore. It seems like it will be very interesting.

framboise

05-29-2007, 03:22 PM

I'm about to start Beautiful Lies buy Lisa Unger. Has anyone read this?

LexyLou, I actually read this earlier this year with my book club. I didn't love it & I didn't hate it, but it certainly wasn't my favorite. I really liked the theme of anything you choose / do / don't do in your life can shape much of what happens to you, but I didn't care for the actual story much. I finished it because it went pretty quickly, but not because I was really interested. What did you think?

BumbleB

05-30-2007, 10:37 AM

If anyone is interested in historical reading, I just finished:

Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick

From the editors:

With compelling detail, he describes the delicate social ecology achieved by the Pilgrims and Native Americans before it was broken by a deadly war of attrition. His carefully modulated story blends acts of settler courage and kindness with those of savagery and cowardice. A major nonfiction work.

It was good, took a little time to get into - but very interesting window into a part of our nations past that is always so glossed over in school.

Now I am reading Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky - been too busy to get far into it, but I really like it so far.

magrat

05-30-2007, 10:47 AM

I have just started a really interesting non-fiction book called The Great Starvation Experiment.

The heroic men of the title were 36 conscientious objectors who, at the end of World War II, volunteered to take part in a yearlong experiment on starvation. They were assigned to the Civilian Public Service Corp. Dr. Ancel Keys, the inventor of the K-ration, headed the experiment. For six months, the men ate a rigorously restricted diet similar to the wartime rations of Europeans. Many of these people, especially survivors of the concentration camps, were dying from malnutrition. During the next six months, Dr. Keys studied their rehabilitation in an effort to understand how best to help feed the starving people after the war.

It is very interesting so far and I read a lot of good reviews of it before I picked it up at the library. The experiment was really unethical and similar to ones being done by the Nazis, but in this case the men were volunteers. The conscientious objectors were highly motivated to do something meaningful while in the civilian service, and anxious to prove that while they were unwilling to kill other people, they were quite willing to risk their own lives and health like soldiers at the front.

am_81

05-30-2007, 12:07 PM

I've been trying since last Friday to get into Alias Grace (Margaret Atwood) (http://www.amazon.com/Alias-Grace-Novel-Margaret-Atwood/dp/0385490445/ref=pd_bbs_2/102-3358034-6896967?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180550674&sr=8-2) . . . I *know* its a good book and I *know* I'll enjoy it, but I'm just not getting sucked in like I thought I would. I havent even made it 100 pages yet (in 5 days!), which is unheard for me. What I really want to read is The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett) (http://www.amazon.com/Pillars-Earth-Ken-Follett/dp/0451207149/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3358034-6896967?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180550863&sr=1-1), but I'm trying to save it for our NYC trip in July. I need to pack light (saving room for everything we'll buy when we're there!) and I know this monster of a book could easily take the place of the two books and half a dozen magazines I normally take on a trip.

I finished up Ghostwritten (David Mitchell) (http://www.amazon.com/Ghostwritten-David-Mitchell/dp/0375724508/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-3358034-6896967?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180550752&sr=1-1) right before my last visitors came into town and while I didnt get as much closure as I had hoped for in the final story, it was still an amazing book all the same. It was fun to see (and guess) how Mitchell took all those seemingly unrelated stories and connected them all. Not to mention, the descriptions of the various citites (Tokyo, Mongolia and St. Petersburg, for starters) and cultures were extremely well-written. I dont know much about most of the locales in the stories, but he certainly had me convinced he knew what he was talking about.

nawsgirl

06-06-2007, 01:04 PM

I just finished Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill and I have to say I did not like it at all.... From amazon:

From Publishers Weekly
Middle-aged rock star Judas Coyne collects morbid curios for fun, so doesn't think twice about buying a suit advertised at an online auction site as haunted by its dead owner's ghost. Only after it arrives does Judas discover that the suit belonged to Craddock McDermott, the stepfather of one of Coyne's discarded groupies, and that the old man's ghost is a malignant spirit determined to kill Judas in revenge for his stepdaughter's suicide. Judas isn't quite the cad or Craddock the avenging angel this scenario makes them at first, but their true motivations reveal themselves only gradually in a fast-paced plot that crackles with expertly planted surprises and revelations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

If Joe Hill really is Stephen King's son, then I think the apple fell pretty far from the tree, although many amazon reviewers seem to disagree with me.

MsPeachy

06-07-2007, 04:26 AM

That sounds like some movie I once saw on tv somewhere. I thought SK's son was named Owen?

MsRo

06-07-2007, 05:30 AM

I've been reading Pretty Little Mistakes (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780061133220&itm=1) by Heather McElhatton. It's so much fun! A Choose Your Own Adventure for adults. :D

nawsgirl

06-07-2007, 11:09 AM

That sounds like some movie I once saw on tv somewhere. I thought SK's son was named Owen?

I just googled him and the title of the book and got this from abcnews.com:

Joe Hill is the pen name of Joseph Hillstrom King, son of horror master Stephen King.

They had a picture too and he was kinda scary looking :)

According to Stephen King's web site they have three kids: Naomi, Joe Hill, and Owen.

MsPeachy

06-07-2007, 11:57 AM

They had a picture too and he was kinda scary looking His Wiki pic looks a lot like when SK had his beard-look going on. Apparently brother Owen is also a writer. I'm sort of interested to read the book you mentioned since there is such a differening of opinions.

ysolde

06-07-2007, 02:46 PM

I am off to purchase The Road. It sounds sooo good.

nawsgirl

06-07-2007, 03:04 PM

I'm sort of interested to read the book you mentioned since there is such a differening of opinions.

You know, one thing that may be affecting my opinion is that I recently read Lisey's Story by SK and it was kind of a similar thing- famous person, wife/girlfriend as heroine figure, alternate worlds- and I think SK just did it so much better. Of course he has a lot more practice :)

WisWis

06-07-2007, 03:33 PM

I just finished reading A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah. It was not a light read but it was very moving. Channel One had done a story on child soldiers during the school year and I was interested in learning more about that. The book was incredibly eye opening. I'd recommend it, but it isn't a light-hearted summer read.

Rosebud

06-07-2007, 03:48 PM

I am off to purchase The Road. It sounds sooo good.

I just got my copy from the library and am really excited to start it! Have heard good things.

Adaya

06-07-2007, 07:18 PM

kugrrly

06-07-2007, 07:53 PM

I can not find the post about The Road. What is it about?

I picked up some easy read from the library today. One is Sixth Target by James Patterson. I am not expecting a lot from it other than it will be a quick read. I have read all of his books.

SpanishRose

06-07-2007, 09:26 PM

Just picked up a copy of Alphabet Weekends by Elizabeth Noble.

Rosebud

06-07-2007, 10:22 PM

I can not find the post about The Road. What is it about?

The Road is Cormac McCarthy's recent book. It won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Awards. It was also an Oprah's Book Club selection. Several of my friends have raved to me about it lately, so I finally got a copy. It's definitely not a light read, but it's not super long either.

Synopsis from Random House (http://www.randomhouse.com/highschool/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307387899):

The searing, postapocalyptic novel destined to become Cormac McCarthy's masterpiece.

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind. It is cold enough to crack stones, and when the snow falls it is gray. The sky is dark. Their destination is the coast, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there. They have nothing; just a pistol to defend themselves against the lawless bands that stalk the road, the clothes they are wearing, a cart of scavenged food-—and each other.

The Road is the profoundly moving story of a journey. It boldly imagines a future in which no hope remains, but in which the father and his son, "each the other's world entire," are sustained by love. Awesome in the totality of its vision, it is an unflinching meditation on the worst and the best that we are capable of: ultimate destructiveness, desperate tenacity, and the tenderness that keeps two people alive in the face of total devastation.