What's Everyone Reading?

[rachrich]

Just borrowed Wicked from one of my HS students. The musical is hugely popular among teachers and students alike at the school I teach. Haven't seen the musical but i hear it's pretty different compared to the book. I LOOOOOVE the music from the show. I also heard it's a hard read, but looking forward to it.

[FoxyBlue]

'Living the Simple Life' by Elaine St. James

Loved it! Very inspiring. I tend to naturally overcomplicate things, so I appreciate genuinely helpful advice.

I'm especially committed to simplifying my wardrobe!

[schmeevee]

finished MIDDLESEX and THE PACT while in cabo san lucas.

currently working on THE NAMESAKE... just about finished. just about 100 pages to go ;)

[schmeevee]

just finished reading THE NAMESAKE. 4/5 stars. it was interesting, but not captivating although it did make me think of my own family and how they left their ancestral home to make a life in America; how as a first-generation American I struggled to maintain my heritage in a world that was very different from my parents.

i'm going to start ALL THE NUMBERS by Judy Merrill Larsen tonight.

[Rosebud]

I gotta get to The Namesake. The Interpreter of Maladies was so awesome that I've been meaning to read The Namesake for a while now.

Just finished a really excellent book that I highly recommend to everyone. I read it for my book club, and I think it'll make for excellent discussion-- so if you're in a book club you might consider recommending this to your group. The main character is so smart and interesting and the way her life changes through the course of the book is really compelling. I loved it and couldn't put it down once I got into it.

My Year of Meats by Ruth L. Ozeki

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0140280464.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Publisher Comments:
Veteran filmmaker Ruth Ozeki's novel has been hailed as "one of the heartiest and yes, meatiest debuts in years" (Glamour). It tells the story of a year in the lives of two ordinary women on opposite ends of the earth, brought together by a convergence of extraordinary circumstances. Jane, a struggling filmmaker in New York, is given her big break — a chance to travel through the U.S. to produce a Japanese television program sponsored by an American meat exporting business. But along the way, she discovers some unsavory truths about love, honor, and a particularly damaging hormone called DES that wreaks havoc with her uterus. Meanwhile, Akiko, a painfully thin Japanese woman struggling with bulimia, is being pressured by her child-craving husband to put some meat on her bones — literally. How Jane's and Akiko's lives intersect taps into some of the deepest concerns of our time — how the past informs the present and how we live and love in an ever-shrinking world.

[eli1126]

50 Harbor Street by Debbie Macomber

It's a perfect easy weekend read.


Beth

[EmilyZA]

Geez, my wish list on Paperbackswap is getting pretty big! I just ordered My Year of Meats and added Interpreter of Maladies to my list.

[eli1126]

Revenge of the Middle Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan


Beth

[ee_chick]

I just finished Water for Elephants, which I really enjoyed, and I'm in the middle of My Year of Meats.

[MsRo]

I enjoyed Interpreter of Maladies too. I'm currently reading Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton. I don't know how much more of this series I'll be able to take. There were no sex scenes in the first few books, then some romance development, and suddenly the series shifted into basically erotica held together by a little plot. Not my style. Apparently, a lot of her fans are upset by this change in style.

I got into Laurell K. Hamilton recently and read all the books in the Anita Blake series over the last two weeks. I agree that toward the end they got...kinda sick. I have Danse Macabre on reserve at my library but... I don't know if I'll even check it out when my number's up.

I just finished reading Knocked Up: Confessions of a Hip Mother to Be. It was a fun, light read for someone who doesn't have children but is considering the possibility (me). The reviews haven't been stellar but I enjoyed it.

[Camdynlyn]

Finished Firstborn. Thought it was really good.
http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/7590000/7594390.gif

I'm now reading Bookends by Jane Green. I'm new into it but so far, so good.
http://images.barnesandnoble.com/images/5930000/5930438.gif

[schmeevee]

Finished ALL THE NUMBERS last night. 3.5-4/5 stars. It was pretty predictable what would happen and wish it woulda had more plot twists to keep things interesting.

Right now I'm reading MY SISTER'S KEEPER and I'm already pulled in. I read Jodi Picoult's other novel (my first of hers) - THE PACT and I LOVED it. After the 1st page of My sister's keeper, I started to have that feeling that JP just might be my favorite author. But I'll let you know after I finish reading this one ;) But so far, so good!

[meatpie]

I'm reading Washington's Crossing and it's truly wonderful.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/019518159X/sr=1-1/qid=1154994522/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0812783-6141710?ie=UTF8&s=books

[eli1126]

Tha Family Fortune by Laurie Horowitz

One more library book to go!


Beth

[Gatsby]

Finally finished The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl. The first 3/4 was good, but I really hated the end of the book. It was long, drawn out, tedious, etc... Ended up skimming the last 25 or so pages.

Just started The Culture Code by Clotaire Rapaille (nonfiction). Only a few chapters in, but it's really good so far! It claims to be "an ingenious way to understandy why people around the world live and buy as they do." It's interesting to see how people in different countries view different things like love, marriage, money, etc...

Man, my reading list has quadrupled since subscribing to this list!! :eek: I may never catch up!

[EmilyZA]

I just finished The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, and I absolutely loved it.

I'm starting The Pact by Jodi Picoult tonight.

[TMat13]

I am about halfway through The Husband by Dean Koontz and its just ok. Not really very interesting IMHO

[mgmhmj]

I haven't read much of anything other than textbooks for the last year, but I've read Bookends and love it - along with everything else I've read by Jane Greene. I really want to read My Sister's Keeper. It's on the list for post-graduation in December!

[schmeevee]

Just finished MY SISTER'S KEEPER. I BAWLED. Any book that makes me cry gets an automatic 5/5 stars :)

Next, I'm gonna read LOLITA and then watch the movie (since it'll be off OnDemand soon haha)
Amazon.com
Despite its lascivious reputation, the pleasures of Lolita are as much intellectual as erogenous. It is a love story with the power to raise both chuckles and eyebrows. Humbert Humbert is a European intellectual adrift in America, haunted by memories of a lost adolescent love. When he meets his ideal nymphet in the shape of 12-year-old Dolores Haze, he constructs an elaborate plot to seduce her, but first he must get rid of her mother. In spite of his diabolical wit, reality proves to be more slippery than Humbert's feverish fantasies, and Lolita refuses to conform to his image of the perfect lover.

Playfully perverse in form as well as content, riddled with puns and literary allusions, Nabokov's 1955 novel is a hymn to the Russian-born author's delight in his adopted language. Indeed, readers who want to probe all of its allusive nooks and crannies will need to consult the annotated edition. Lolita is undoubtedly, brazenly erotic, but the eroticism springs less from the "frail honey-hued shoulders ... the silky supple bare back" of little Lo than it does from the wantonly gorgeous prose that Humbert uses to recount his forbidden passion:

She was musical and apple-sweet ... Lola the bobby-soxer, devouring her immemorial fruit, singing through its juice ... and every movement she made, every shuffle and ripple, helped me to conceal and to improve the secret system of tactile correspondence between beast and beauty--between my gagged, bursting beast and the beauty of her dimpled body in its innocent cotton frock.

Much has been made of Lolita as metaphor, perhaps because the love affair at its heart is so troubling. Humbert represents the formal, educated Old World of Europe, while Lolita is America: ripening, beautiful, but not too bright and a little vulgar. Nabokov delights in exploring the intercourse between these cultures, and the passages where Humbert describes the suburbs and strip malls and motels of postwar America are filled with both attraction and repulsion, "those restaurants where the holy spirit of Huncan Dines had descended upon the cute paper napkins and cottage-cheese-crested salads." Yet however tempting the novel's symbolism may be, its chief delight--and power--lies in the character of Humbert Humbert. He, at least as he tells it, is no seedy skulker, no twisted destroyer of innocence. Instead, Nabokov's celebrated mouthpiece is erudite and witty, even at his most depraved. Humbert can't help it--linguistic jouissance is as important to him as the satisfaction of his arrested libido. --Simon Leake

[Foley42]

Currently I'm reading Thursdays at Eight by Debbie Macomber and I'm about half way through. I borrowed it a long time ago from a friend's mom and I'm just now getting around to reading it. It's good so far :)
http://static.flickr.com/66/212244263_5d89c03a78.jpg?v=0

[schmeevee]

hmmm....i started LOLITA tonight, but i just can't get into it.... so i'm putting it down for now and picking up:

A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060736267/sr=8-1/qid=1155285485/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-6875225-3294412?ie=UTF8)

[ginastorm]

I just finished Coming Out by Danielle Steele. While I know that I wasn't reading classical literature and just some fluff reading, this book was bad. I wanted to email Danielle Steel to tell her that I get it, the main character in the book was a wonderful mother that was smart and beautiful and had a wonderful marriage. I didn't need to be reminded 500 times. She's perfect. Got it.

[Alioop12345]

Gina- I totally agree~ I hated that book!!!

[ginastorm]

Alioop12345, I'm glad that I just borrowed the book from the library and didn't actually buy the thing!

[Alioop12345]

me too! :)

Also wanted to post that I just read How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got A Life, cute quick read,

[taffers]

I just finished Harvesting the Heart by Jodi Picoult- it wasn't my favorite, but still good.

I just started Salem Falls by Jodi Picoult- I'm only on page 14, but it hasn't grabbed me yet.

I see a lot of people are reading The Pact right now- I loved that one!

As you can see, I read a lot of Picoult!

[lawyerlee]

I've been reading O Pioneers! by Willa Cather. Loving it, by the way. I'm almost finished, and then I'll move on to The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer for my book club.

[emmasart]

I just finished A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679731148/sr=8-1/qid=1155627402/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0768950-7194539?ie=UTF8).

Amazing, completely amazing. It left me seriously considering trying to talk DH into dropping everything and moving to the South of France. Buy a farm house, and spend the days drinking fine french wine.

When I can't be on a vacation in Provence, this book is honestly the next best thing.

[mgrace]

emmasmart, I loved that book, too. It was so easy to imagine--the places, the people, the wine, everything. I think I need to read it again. :)

[ee_chick]

I recently finished Digging to America. It got great reviews, but I thought it was only okay. I'm about 3/4 of the way through The Stolen Child, and I'm really enjoying it. I wasn't sure that I'd like it since I generally stay away from fantasy, but it's very good IMO.

[Rosebud]

I just finished A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0679731148/sr=8-1/qid=1155627402/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0768950-7194539?ie=UTF8).

Amazing, completely amazing. It left me seriously considering trying to talk DH into dropping everything and moving to the South of France. Buy a farm house, and spend the days drinking fine french wine.

When I can't be on a vacation in Provence, this book is honestly the next best thing.

I just finished A Year in Provence over the weekend and really enjoyed it. If you liked this book, I highly recommend From Here You Can't See Paris: Seasons of a French Village and its Restaurant by Michael Sanders. It's in a similar vein, and I actually liked it a little better than A Year in Provence. It provides even more of the sights/sounds/feelings/flavors of a particular French region and is just lovely.

I'm now on to reading The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory and cannot put it down! It's long, but totally engrossing. The politics and mannerism of King Henry VIII's court are really brought to life, and the relationship between the Boleyn family members is very compelling. I'm not even the hugest fan of historical fiction, but this is great.

[LittleFredPunkinHead]

Just finished the audiobook of "The Red House Mystery" by A.A. Milne. Great old mystery.

[nawsgirl]

I recently finished Digging to America. It got great reviews, but I thought it was only okay.

ITA with this. The first 3/4 I really liked, but the ending disappointed me. It was like, I wanted the ending to focus more on the girls, not necessarily the families. I don't know, there was just something missing for me.

I've started listening to The Debutante Divorcee by Plum Sykes. Total fluff, but that is a good thing sometimes :p

[msnicolea]

Finally finishing The Tender Bar--I had to take it back to the library when we moved and then had to wait a month to get a new copy! LOVE it!!!!

[BumbleB]

I've finally started reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes, I had to go back and re-read parts of the past books in the series to refresh my memory. So far I am really liking it, I'm finding it more interesting than Fiery Cross.

I still can't believe she has plans to do 2-3 more books in this series - that is going to be a lot of reading, especially with how long they each are.

[alootikki]

The Price of Motherhood - nonfiction by Ann Crittenden. Scariest pre-TTC book ever! :eek:

[paulinaaa]

I've finally started reading A Breath of Snow and Ashes, I had to go back and re-read parts of the past books in the series to refresh my memory. So far I am really liking it, I'm finding it more interesting than Fiery Cross.

I still can't believe she has plans to do 2-3 more books in this series - that is going to be a lot of reading, especially with how long they each are.

That's a great book. I met her last October- a really really neat woman. Let me know how you like it.

I'm reading Seize The Night by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

[MsPeachy]

I met her last October- a really really neat woman. I am so jealous. ;)

We did have a discussion thread about this book somewhere in the book forum.

[BumbleB]

That's a great book. I met her last October- a really really neat woman. Let me know how you like it.


Actually, after reading last night I'm almost to the half way point and really am loving it. A couple of her books felt a little slow in places, but this one is really keeping my intrest. I love all the medical stuff.

I would think she would be a very interesting person to meet.

Thanks for pointing that out MsPeachy, I'll have to see if the thread is still around.

[nawsgirl]

I finished The Debutante Divorcee- it was entertaining, but nothing spectacular.

Also listened to London is the Best City in America by Laura Dave. It's about a girl who left her fiance (literally walked out of their motel room) and now a few years later her life is stagnating and she returns home to attend her brother's wedding... only to find out that he is having doubts about his fiancee. I felt like the author made too much effort to craft a "different" story, and used some pretty implausible events to twist things around.

Next up is Shadow in the Wind, and I've forgotten the author's name :o It sounds pretty good though!!

[lawyerlee]

I recently finished reading The Confessions of Max Tivoli by Andrew Sean Greer. It was a fast, fairly entertaining read. It's a creative premise, which was enough to keep me plugging through, even though the pace of the story was a bit slow at times. I also read O Pioneers by Willa Cather. It is sad and compelling, yet so simple. I love the way the tone and pace of the book matches the tone of life on the prarie. Not that it is the same now as it was then, but I felt like it gave me a little window into what it might have been like for my ancestors who came to Kansas in a covered wagon generations ago. Now I'm reading Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs.

[EmilyZA]

I just finished Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. I'm starting The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper tonight.

[meatpie]

Reading Flags of Our Fathers by James Bradley in anticipation of the Clint Eastwood movie in October. It's shocking, brutal, sad, and so very heroic.

[JenDawg]

The last book I read was The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. It was just okay, I don't know that I would recommend it.

Currently reading Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama. Love it so far!

[EmilyZA]

The last book I read was The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards. It was just okay, I don't know that I would recommend it.

This is the book I need to read for my book club! I'm sorry to hear you didn't like it-- I haven't started it yet.

[msnicolea]

I'm reading this:

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/067003777X.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

So far, I really dig it!

[VASLP]

Just finished A Garden in Paris and just received the follow-up A Hilltop in Tuscany from paperbackswap today..can't wait. If the follow-up is anything like the first book, I'm already hooked.
Also just finished Levi's Will- this one was an unexpected treasure I picked it up at a bargain store. What a wonderful story, I couldn't put it down!

[lawyerlee]

Currently reading Dreams from My Father by Barack Obama. Love it so far!
It is *so* good! I just adore Senator Obama. :D

I finished Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs. It was fantastic. Very funny, but also thoughtful. I love his sarcastic style so much. Now I'm reading The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl. It's pretty good.

[MsRo]

I'm nearly finished with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781400032716&itm=1) by Mark Haddon. Not only is it my book club's pick for August but my nephew is a high-functioning Autistic. Really a good read.

[msnicolea]

I'm nearly finished with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9781400032716&itm=1) by Mark Haddon. Not only is it my book club's pick for August but my nephew is a high-functioning Autistic. Really a good read.

I LOVED this book.

[MaineBelle]

I just finished History of Love by Nicole Krauss. It was well written. The plot is like a puzzle that slowly unfolds. Now I am reading the Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. I've only read the first chapter but can tell I am going to like it.

[MsRo]

Will be starting Kitchen Confidential (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780060934910&itm=2) by Anthony Bourdain this evening. I'm really looking forward to it!

[EmilyZA]

I just finished The Book of Joe by Jonathan Tropper. I really liked it, although it wasn't what I expected-- for some reason I thought it would be much more funny, like Augusten Borrough's books (someone told me this.) Still, a great, quick read.

I'm about to start The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards for my book club.

[lawyerlee]

I've just finished The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl.

I enjoyed this book immensely. I think it was brilliant of Pearl to craft a Poe-esque tale about a Poe devotee who becomes consumed with uncovering the mystery surrounding the final days of Poe's life and the circumstances of his death. I've been enjoying historical fiction a great deal this year, and this is by far the most satisfying, engrossing novel I've read in this genre recently. I highly recommend it, especially if you enjoy historical fiction and/or Edgar Allen Poe. I've not yet read his first novel, The Dante Club, but I'm adding it to my to-be-read list now.

Now I'm starting On Beauty by Zadie Smith.

[Katy]

I just finished two Megan Crane books (Everyone Else's Girl for bookclub and English as a Second Language) and liked them both. Now I'm reading Marian Keye's latest, Anybody Out There. So far I'm liking this, it's in a different style, than her other books, but it's still back with the Walsh Family.

[mili04]

I'm about to start The Game by Laurie R. King. It is a part of her Mary Russell series. I read the earlier books a few years ago and forgot how much I enjoyed them until recently.

From the author's website, http://www.laurierking.com
Mary Russell is what Sherlock Holmes would look like if Holmes, the Victorian detective, were a) a woman, b) of the Twentieth century, and c) interested in theology. If the mind is like an engine, free of gender and nurture considerations, then the Russell and Holmes stories are about two people whose basic mental mechanism is identical. What they do with it, however, is where the interest lies.

[lawyerlee]

I finished reading On Beauty by Zadie Smith last night. I really enjoyed it all the way through, but I was slightly disappointed by the ending. It felt anti-climactic, I guess. It's still worth reading, though, I think. It's our book club book for this month, so I'm interested to hear what other people in my group thought about it.

Then I dove into Encyclopedia of An Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal. It's pretty cool - funny and a bit weird, but in an endearing way.

[lawyerlee]

I finished reading Encyclopedia of An Ordinary Life by Amy Krouse Rosenthal last night. Thanks to msnicolea for the recommendation way back when she read it. I thought it was a very cool book. She has a way of being funny, endearing, snarky, and bit wacky without seeming like she's trying too hard. She's unpretentious, and I really like that.

I'm still working on Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. And I *will* finish that damned book, come hell or high water!

Next up, The Known World by Edward P. Jones.

[MrsWilson]

I just finished Honeymoon with my Brother (http://www.amazon.com/Honeymoon-My-Brother-A-Memoir/dp/0312340842/sr=8-1/qid=1157734657/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0934672-8740613?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Franz Wisner. The author is very funny and I really enjoyed the story. Now I am reading The Sex Lives of Cannibals (http://www.amazon.com/Sex-Lives-Cannibals-Equatorial-Pacific/dp/0767915305/sr=1-1/qid=1157734836/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-0934672-8740613?ie=UTF8&s=books)by J. Maarten Troost. So far I'm enjoying it as well.

[pixiecat]

I'm just starting Flesh and Blood by Michael Cunningham (also wrote "The Hours") It is written so beautifully, but is sometimes quite painful to read. I have to put it down a lot, otherwise I get too sad!

[littlemia]

I keep forgetting to come back to this thread.

Let's see- I finished The Devil in the White City- very good. I also read Flavor of the Month: Why Smart People Fall for Fads by Joel Best. It's about institutional fads and was okay. Somewhat interesting but I would have been satisfied just reading an article on the topic. I then read two guilty pleasure fiction books- the latest Kathy Reichs and Janet Evanovich (the titles are escaping me right now).

I'm currently reading Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883. I'm a little more than halfway through and so far it's pretty interesting. After this, I'm going back to fiction for a little bit- I have the latest Jeffrey Deaver and Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahnuik.

lawyerlee, is Collapse that painful? ;) I know one of these days I'll have nothing else to read and I'll pick it up.

[lawyerlee]

lawyerlee, is Collapse that painful? ;) I know one of these days I'll have nothing else to read and I'll pick it up.
It's very dry, so reading it has been slow going for me. Most times when I sit down to read it, I end up falling asleep. :o

I started reading The Known World by Edward P. Jones over the weekend. I don't really have an opinion of it yet.

[mili04]

I'm reading The History of Love by Nicole Krauss. I put it off for a long time because I don't like the title (too wishy-washy), but I'm enjoying it so far.

[Alioop12345]

I just finished two decent reads:
The Other Woman by Jane Green
A quick, entertaining read and
The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards I really enjoyed this one... A read the whole thing in one day/night.... I even cried...something I haven't done while reading a book in a LONG time.

I am now reading Kitchen Confidential and am mostly skimming it...Then, I am going to read Marley and Me.

[framboise]

I'm really bad about making time to read lately, but I've been listening to a lot of audio books on my commute.

~ I've been reading Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes for weeks now. I like it for a "pink book" as my friend & I call chick-lit, but I only read about 5 pages per night so it's not moving quickly by any means.

~ I'm on the last disc of Getting Mother's Body by Suzan-Lori Parks. I'm really enjoying this one, because it's a pretty unique story and is told by just about every character mentioned.

~ Just before that, I listened to The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart. I picked it up because of the cute frog on the cover. Yes, I'm shallow like that about books once in a while. It was a cute story, but not the greatest ever. It's kind of "young chick-lit", if such a category exists. Good to pass the time on the drive home but not quality literature or anything.

~ Before that I listened to Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie. I originally picked it up because the narrator was BD Wong (from some version of Law & Order and the movie Father of the Bride, among other things) but I ended up really liking the story. It could be classified loosely as historical fiction because it takes place during the cultural revolution in China and is about two teenage boys who are sent to remote mountain villages to be "re-educated" and the author himself had a similar experience during that time. I really enjoyed this book and recommend it highly.

Going to the library tomorrow to refill my audio books for another few weeks of commuting!

Alioop, I'm glad to hear that you liked The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It's my turn to bring 3 books to my book club's next meeting for everyone to vote on & select to read and that's one of my choices. You're making me cross my fingers that they select that one!

[nawsgirl]

I just finished listening to Two Little Girls in Blue by Mary Higgins Clark.... OK, but not great. The supposed "internal dialogue" of the characters got annoying after awhile... it was just a way to reveal the plot but she could have done that just by stating it rather than having the character think it. Plus everytime a character came back into the story she put in a reminder of who they were and what their connection was....

Now starting A Death in Belmont by Sebastian Junger. I grew up right near Belmont so it has local interest to me. The author lived in Belmont and it's about a woman murdered there in the early 60s who was thought to be a victim of the Boston Strangler....

[Myra]

I'm still working on Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. And I *will* finish that damned book, come hell or high water!

I'm reading Collapse, mostly for 20 minutes at a time while commuting. I really like it, but it is dry. Sometimes I find myself having to go back several pages because I realize I hadn't paid attention at all. It's fascinating, though. Every chapter I finish, I think, ooh, I want to go to Easter Island. No, Greenland!

[EmilyZA]

I just finished The Memory Keeper's Daughter[/u by Kim Edwards. I loved it.

I started [U]One for the Money by Janet Evanovich the other day. It's very funny so far.

[strwbrygirl]

I just finished Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World (Linda Hirschmann)- interesting perspective. Also- The Librarian (Larry Beinhart)- REALLY enjoyed it. He's the author of American Hero, which was made into the movie Wag the Dog.

[EmilyZA]

I finished One for the Money on Friday. It was a really quick read, pretty funny too. I just requested Two for the Dough on Paperbackswap. :)

I started Middlesex Friday night. I'm only about 50 pages in so far, but so far, so good... I've heard so many mixed reviews on the book, so I really don't know what to expect as far as how I'll feel about it.

[MMH]

Just finished The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, it blew my hair back. Page turner!

Now working on Broken For You.

Emily - I liked Middlesex!

[MMH]

Also - anyone read Running with Scissors? I'm SO curious as to how the movie will play out. I thought the book was slightly disturbing!

[Rosebud]

I just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon. It was wonderful! The point of view was so interesting (the main character is an autistic teenage boy), and I really felt for all of the characters. It was also a very quick read, fast-paced and compelling. I'd highly recommend it!

I also recently read The Man Who Heard Voices: Or How M. Night Shyamalan Risked His Career on a Fairytale by Michael Bamberger. It's probably most interesting to people who know a fair bit about the film business. I found it fascinating, but think it needs an epilogue to examine the fallout from the movie's very disappointing reviews and box office.

[Alanna]

hi everyone!

I just finished

Anybody out there? by Marian Keys
I liked it but found the subject matter a little tough... i dont want to give anything away about the book so im not going to talk too much about the plot...

if you have liked her work before... you will blow through this one... though this is not as light as her usual fare...

i also finished:
My latest Grievance by elinor lipman
she is one of my favorite authors and i really enjoyed this book... it has a young female (high school aged) protagonist... i really enjoyed it.

10th Grade by Joe Weisberg
this is a really fun read... its written from the perspective of a 10th grade boy who is keeping a journal... the time period is a little fuzzy but seems to be in the early - mid eighties... i thought it was great fun.. lots of run on sentences and i thought he really captured the feel of highschool...

I dont know if anyone are lookig for a new book swapping site.... but i have been having a ton of fun on bookmooch (www.bookmooch.com) if you are interested in swapping books i would definitely recommend it... it was new this summer and is growing like crazy!

[lawyerlee]

I'm reading Collapse, mostly for 20 minutes at a time while commuting. I really like it, but it is dry. Sometimes I find myself having to go back several pages because I realize I hadn't paid attention at all. It's fascinating, though. Every chapter I finish, I think, ooh, I want to go to Easter Island. No, Greenland!
I feel the exact same way! And it's very weird to me that I can find the subject so fascinating and still find myself falling asleep every time I sit down to read in it! :p

I finished reading The Known World by Edward P. Jones last night. Unfortunately, it was only okay. I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. The characters were rich and well thought out, but I found what little plot there was to be pretty boring. I found that I had a really hard time caring what happened to the people in the book. I wanted to care, but I didn't feel like Jones really gripped the reader with anything compelling. I did find his exploration of free black people owning slaves very interesting, but the topic wasn't presented in a way that kept me racing through the novel.

I think I'll be reading Self Made Man by Norah Vincent next and continuing to work on Collapse, of course. ;) :)

[framboise]

MMH, my book club read Running with Scissors about two years ago and we still talk about "Bible dipping" and some of the other crazy stuff in there every once in a while. We felt like it was impossible for people to live like that, but also impossible that the author could have made it up! We're all curious about the movie too & can't wait to see how it turns out!

[MrsKinnison]

MMH, I'm reading Running With Scissors right now. Disturbing and captivating all at the same time. I'm just about half way through.

I also just finished The Devil Wears Prada. That was a great, really fun book to read.

[MsRo]

I'm about 3/4 of the way through The Red Tent. (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?z=y&EAN=9780312195519&itm=1) I didn't think I'd like it or even read the whole thing but I was sucked in from the very first page. Excellent.

[MMH]

MsRo - Years since I read The Red Tent, but I remember it being a page turner!

Right now I'm on Broken For You, it is SO good. I only have a few minutes each night to read and I find myself really looking forward to going to bed with this book waiting!

[rachrich]

Just finished The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. A favorite book of mine from middle school. I decided to go back and read it again. A good mystery.

[Katy]

I just started Linda Francis Lee's The Devil in the Junior League (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312354959/ref=pd_rvi_gw_1/103-5359155-0292657?ie=UTF8) (Jr. Leaguer that I am!!) So far (4 chapters in) it's okay. She's still working on setting the stage, so to speak.

http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/0312354959.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_V64257203_.jpg

[Myra]

I finished reading The Known World by Edward P. Jones last night. Unfortunately, it was only okay. I didn't love it, but I also didn't hate it. The characters were rich and well thought out, but I found what little plot there was to be pretty boring. I found that I had a really hard time caring what happened to the people in the book. I wanted to care, but I didn't feel like Jones really gripped the reader with anything compelling. I did find his exploration of free black people owning slaves very interesting, but the topic wasn't presented in a way that kept me racing through the novel.

Thanks for reviewing this. I started reading it but couldn't get into it--too many characters and too slow. Now reading My Dark Places by Ellroy, plus I bought Heat for DH and hope to steal it soon.

[lawyerlee]

I've just finished reading Self-Made Man: One Woman's Journey into Manhood and Back by Norah Vincent.

This is a fascinating non-fiction read. At first I bristled at Vincent's suggestion that men, especially white men in America, struggle with their role and experience legitimate difficulties when they try to live up to societal expectations. Oh, boo hoo, I thought. But as Vincent continued describing her experiences and what she learned about the men she became acquainted with as an outsider turned insider, I started to see what she was talking about. Yes, it is wonderful to be in a position of privilege in society. But that does not insulate one from cultural pressures. There is a trade off. Even putting herself in this position ended up being a trade off for Vincent. Being her male alter ego, Ned, took a serious toll on her psychologically. As much as we might think men and women are basically the same, a lot about her experience shows us that this just isn't true.

Next up is The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead.

[Toonces]

I'm reading Dancing in the Dark (http://www.amazon.com/Dancing-Dark-Mary-Jane-Clark/dp/0312323158/sr=1-4/qid=1159115256/ref=sr_1_4/104-8594500-0079101?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Mary Jane Clark. It's an entertaining mystery but I'm having a hard time finding time to read b/c of DD.

[Alanna]

I just finished:

The $64 Tomato: How One Man Nearly Lost his Sanity, Spent a Fortune, and Endured an Existential Crisis in the Quest for the Perfect Garden by William Alexander

this would have been a great book except there is a chapter in the middle where he deals with animals in his garden very inhumanely (groundhogs etc) made me hate him and totally made me unable to recommend this book even though the other chapters were entertaining though not particularly well written.

Next up for me:
The Queen of Big Time bby Adriana Trigiani

[dionysia]

Cold Flat Junction by Martha Grimes.

And the AAP's Guide to your Child's First Year. ;)

Di

[MsRo]

Finished Happiness Sold Separately. I didn't really like it, especially the end. WTH?

[MaineBelle]

Finished The Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks. About the plague in a little town in England. I enjoyed it.

Also read The Emperor's Children by Claire Messud. Well written book.

Now I am reading Song of the Lark by Willa Cather for my book club.

[Alanna]

I finished The Queen of Big Time by Adriana Trigiani
I enjoyed it... i really liked her big stone gap novels... but didnt like Lucia Lucia... so im happy that i liked this one... if anyone hasnt tried her... she is like a less good (but fine) Maeve Binchy who writes (usually) about italian-american families...


Next up for me: Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis
It about the world of Scrabble Tournaments....

[fuzzy]

Ernie's Ark by Monica Wood. A collection of really touching short stories that are all intertwined. Very sweet book.

[pride&prejudice]

I've been lurking in here and have gotten great ideas of books to read. Just finished read Picture Perfect by Jodi Picult

Now starting on a series of Agatha Christi murder-mystery books, A Carribean Mystery is first. I just inherited my grandmother's book collection (easily at least 100+ hardbacks) that range from books published in the 1920s to the current Dean Koontz. So I decided to read every single one of them.

I don't think I'll be getting to current books anytime soon. :)

[Rosebud]

I recently finished two books:

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Fight Terrorism and Build Nations . . . One School at a Time by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
Really amazing story of a man who has devoted his life to building schools in rural Pakistan. Completely inspiring. I highly recommend it!

Amazon: Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Left Bank by Kate Muir
Light reading which didn't totally engage me for a couple of chapters, but then I couldn't put it down. It's not great literature, but I did enjoy it.

Amazon: In their elegant apartment, Olivier and Madison Malin live a surreally well-endowed Parisian life--the sharpest clothes, the finest cheeses, the most exquisite wines, the most celebrated acquaintances. Oliver springs from generations of French aristocracy, Madison from Texas roots suitably repackaged by Hollywood. Their perfect world of perfect appearance goes awry when their daughter disappears on an outing at a European version of an American amusement park that combines Disneyworld with Las Vegas, and the couple is forced to acknowledge the less-attractive aspects of their ethereal Parisian existence.

[JamBray]

The Fiery Cross by Diana Gabaldon, 4th in the Outlander series.

[Adaya]

Murder in the Model City: The Black Panthers, Yale, And the Redemption of a Killer by Paul Bass and Douglas Rae

From Amazon:
The murder of a Black Panther opens a revealing window into the volatile, confusing era that bridged the 1960s and 1970s in America
May 20, 1969: Four members of the revolutionary Black Panther Party trudge through woods along the edges of the Coginchaug River outside of New Haven, Connecticut. Gunshots shatter the silence. Three men emerge from the woods. Soon, two are in police custody. One flees across the country.

Nine Panthers would be tried for crimes committed that night, including National Chairman Bobby Seale, extradited from California with the aide of Panther nemesis, California Governor Ronald Reagan. Activists of all denominations descended on the New England city--and the campus of Yale. The Nixon administration sent 4,000 National Guardsmen. U.S. military tanks lined the streets outside of New Haven.

In this white-knuckle journey through a turbulent America, Doug Rae and Paul Bass let us eavesdrop on late-night meetings between Yale President, Kingman Brewster, and radical activists, including Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman, as they try to avert disaster. Meanwhile, most heartrending of all is the never-before-told story of Warren Kimbro--star community worker turned Panther assassin--who faces an uphill battle to turn his life around.

[laura]

I just finished something by James Patterson - whatever is his newest hardcover - and Plain Truth by what's her name, Picoult. Both books were decidedly eh. The Patterson one I lent to a friend w/o even finishing b/c I just didn't care what happened and the Picoult one - I don't know. It was so incredibly predictable I thought. Of course that didn't stop me from obsessively reading it during my commute every day last week!

I think I'm reading either The Diamond Age or The Bhagavad Gita next, based on proximity since they're both on my desk at the moment.

[MMH]

Sooooo...has anyone read I Hope they Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max? I am slightly ashamed to say that I am partly through this book. I am interested to hear what other normal people think of Tucker. This book is highly offensive, but a total trainwreck that I can't put down.

[emmasart]

Just finished Soul Kitchen by my favorite author: Poppy Z. Brite. Its her 3rd in a series of books about a male 2 some of chefs who have created a trend setting restaurant in New Orleans (pre-katrina). In this book, the mastermind chef is asked to help create a menu for a new restaurant set in one of the cities floating casinos. I loved this book, as I have the 3 other books in this series (Liquor, and Prime), but i dont think its necessary to hsve read the 2 previous books to really enjoy the 3rd. Poppy Z. Brite is really stretching out from her roots as a horror homo-erotic writer, and its a really wonderful change. It is definately an easy to read, comforting kind of literature. I'm a huge fan.
From Publishers Weekly
Chefs (and lovers) John Rickey and Gary "G-man" Stubbs (first appearing in Liquor and Prime) are once again involved in drama and suspense at their trendy eatery, Liquor. Chef Milford Goodman, an old friend of Rickey's, shows up after a 10-year prison stint for murder (of a restaurant owner) ends, thanks to a retrial acquittal. Just then, as it turns out, the current chef, Tanker, quits in a huff. Milford takes over, and through him, Rickey meets a manipulative, pill-pushing doctor named Lamotte, who pressures Rickey to join a restaurant venture, Soul Kitchen, involving a shady local businessman-investor, Clancy Fairbairn. Rickey, hooked on Lamotte-supplied Vicodin and wanting to give Milford the break he needs to become a top chef, agrees, various complications ensue, and the deal ends in tragedy. Throughout, Brite demonstrates a deep passion for and knowledge of New Orleans' food scene, and winningly sends up the city's wealthy elite, who "were like great dark sea creatures circling below the water's surface." The novel is brisk and entertaining, and manages to deal sharply with homophobia and racism amid a frothy plot. The novel was completed, Brite notes, the night before Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the city where she was born and now lives with her chef husband. An open-ended conclusion hints at another installment to come.
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/0307237656.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_V65791195_.jpg
Buy it here. (http://www.amazon.com/Soul-Kitchen-Poppy-Z-Brite/dp/0307237656)

[EmilyZA]

I just finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. It took me a long time to get through, I just haven't had a lot of time to read lately. I really enjoyed the book. I almost wished that I had saved it for a potential book club read, because it's just such a great book to discuss.

I started Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich last night as a quick read while I waited for my next book club book to come in from Amazon.

[lawyerlee]

My recent reads:

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs.

I'm probably the last person in America to read this, but I finally got around to it. I read this on vacation, and I swear to you that my mouth was hanging open in disbelief most of the time. Burroughs is a great storyteller. Somehow he manages to be respectful of the characters in his totally messed up childhood, and himself, while still pointing out just how dysfunctional and disturbing the time was for him. And his gift with humor underlies it all. No wonder this book has been so popular. I highly recommend it if any of you haven't read it yet (which is doubtful!). :)

The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead.

This is a cool, but slow paced and unassuming mystery. I really liked the main character, a female elevator inspector who finds herself wrapped up in the middle of what increasingly looks to be a conspiracy related to an upcoming election. I appreciated her strength and resourcefulness and that Whitehead wrote her as the kind of woman who can (and does) take care of herself. She is a quiet person and a bit of a loner (not entirely by choice), but a heroine nonetheless. The race issues unlying the story are incredibly fascinating, too.

Now I'm reading Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes, who is one of my favorite "guilty pleasure" authors, as well as a slew of non-fiction books. :)

[Rosebud]

I recently finished The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. I know it's been recommended many times in this thead, and I have to chime in and say how amazing this book is! If you haven't read it, definitely add it to your list. The way Jeannette grows up is so shocking that if you didn't know it was true, you'd never believe it. Her writing style is lovely and lacking in any self pity or overt sentimentality. It's a wonderful book, and one that I can't stop thinking about!

Amazon.com synopsis:
Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover.

[lawyerlee]

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed The Glass Castle so much, Rosebud03. It is hard to grasp what her childhood was like without reading her description of it. I am in awe of her success given that start in life.

I finished reading Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes today. It was great! I definitely recommend it. Though it is technically chick lit (a term I truly despise because I think it belies the serious topics often addressed by these so-called chick lit authors), it deals with serious topics in a thoughtful way.

Marian Keyes' books have been one of my favorite guilty pleasures since I first picked up Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married. It is wonderful to be able to say that each novel is a bit better than the last. I love Keyes' ability to weave humor through the true-to-life experiences of twenty- and thirty-something women and capture the special quirkiness of our relationships with our families and friends.

Now I'm reading The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard. I have been dying to read this, so I was thrilled when my book club chose it for our October meeting. From Amazon.com:
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Bayard follows Mr. Timothy (2003), which brilliantly imagined the adult life of Dickens's Tiny Tim, with another tour-de-force, an intense and gripping novel set during Edgar Allan Poe's brief time as a West Point cadet. In 1830, retired New York City detective Gus Landor is living a quiet life at his Hudson Valley cottage, tormented by an unspecified personal sorrow, when Superintendent Thayer summons him to West Point to investigate the hanging and subsequent mutilation of a cadet. Poe aids Landor by serving as an inside source into the closed world of the academy, though Poe's personal involvement with a suspect's sister complicates their work. But the pair find themselves helpless to prevent further outrages; the removal of the victims' hearts suggests that a satanic cult might be at work. This beautifully crafted thriller stands head and shoulders above other recent efforts to fictionalize Poe.

[nawsgirl]

Just finished listening to Sweet Ruin by Cathi Hanauer. Here's a description from amazon.com:

From Publishers Weekly
Editor of The Bitch in the House and author of My Sister's Bones, Hanauer returns with a compelling turn on a familiar story: a couple recovering from the loss of an infant son. Elayna Leopold, 35, traded in her life as a single magazine editor in Manhattan for life as wife and mother in affluent suburban New Jersey, with lawyer husband Paul. Two years after the death of their son, Oliver, Elayna spends her days caring for six-year-old daughter Hazel and working as a freelance editor of a poetry magazine. Elayna starts to come back to life, her awakening coinciding with the appearance of hot young dog-owner Kevin in the apartment building across the street. As Elayna's entanglement with Kevin threatens her marriage, Hazel's relationship with Elayna's fashion photographer father, Devon, raises the specter of Elayna's childhood and her father's dubious judgment. Excellent characterizations (including Devon, Elayna's adulterous friend Celeste, and day care provider Pansy Dougherty), dialogue and the spot-on representation of the family dynamic make this book difficult to put down. One keeps waiting for something horrific to happen, but instead the story builds slowly and plausibly. What happens is subtle and ambiguous—as in real life. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


I liked that the story was not totally predictable and she didn't just wrap it up neatly at the end. However, she did such a good job building everything up and describing everything that I started to feel bad and guilty, and I certainly didn't do anything!! :p

[Emily]

Hi there... I'm new to this thread. I love to read, and on the other message board I was on I had a book journal. This seems like a great thread! I'm currently reading Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. I like it although its quite graphic!

[Gatsby]

I'm new, too! I just added about 100 books to my list. My current read is Wicked, so you can see that I'm already WAY behind... This thread has motivated me (at least for the moment) to get moving on that list, though, so thanks! :)

[Noniitis]

Ernie's Ark by Monica Wood. A collection of really touching short stories that are all intertwined. Very sweet book.
Thank you for recomending this book it was a nice read.

I am almost finished with Self-made man : one woman's journey into manhood and back again by Norah Vincent. I am going to have my husband read it when I am finished. I really am interested in see what he thinks of her findings.

I read To feel stuff by Andrea Seigel last week as well. It reminded me a lot of some of the books I read in high school.

I also read The summer of ordinary ways by Nicole Lea Helget. What an eye opening memoir. I kept having to remind myself that the author is just slightly younger then myself.

[jen]

A co-worker gave me a book to read that a friend of hers wrote.

Monique and The Mango Rains: Two Years with a Midwife in Mali
by Kris Holloway

This book is amazing. It is just a really wonderful, moving story... quick read too!

Reviews:
From Publishers Weekly
This tender, revelatory memoir recalls the two years Holloway spent as an impressionable Peace Corps volunteer in the remote village of Nampossela in Mali, West Africa. It centers on her close friendship with Monique, the village's overburdened midwife. When Holloway (now a nonprofit development specialist) arrived in Nampossela in 1989, she was 22; Monique was only two years her senior. Yet Monique, barely educated, working without electricity, running water, ambulances or emergency rooms, was solely responsible for all births in her village, tending malnourished and overworked pregnant women in her makeshift birthing clinic. With one of the highest rates of maternal death in the world, these Malian women sometimes had to work right up until and directly after giving birth and had no means of contraception. Holloway especially noted Monique's status as an underpaid female whose male family members routinely claimed much of her pay. Monique shared her emotional life with Holloway, who in turn campaigned for her rights at work and raised funds for her struggling clinic. Holloway's moving account vividly presents the tragic consequences of inadequate prenatal and infant health care in the developing world and will interest all those concerned about the realities of women's lives outside the industrialized world. B&w photos, map. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Book Description
What is it like to live and work in a remote corner of the world and befriend a courageous midwife who breaks traditional roles? Monique and the Mango Rains: Two Years with a Mali Midwife is the inspiring story of Monique Dembele, an accidental midwife who became a legend, and Kris Holloway, the young Peace Corps volunteer who became her closest confidante. In a small village in Mali, West Africa, Monique saved lives and dispensed hope every day in a place where childbirth is a life-and-death matter and where many children are buried before they cut a tooth. Kris worked side-by-side with her as they cared for each other through sickness and tragedy and shared their innermost secrets and hopes. Monique’s life was representative of many women in one of the world’s poorest nations, yet she faced her challenges in extraordinary ways. Despite her fiercely traditional society and her limited education she fought for her beliefs—birth control, the end of female genital mutilation, the right to receive a salary, and the right to educate her daughters. And she struggled to be with the man she loved. Her story is one of tragedy joy, rebellion, and of an ancient culture in the midst of change. It is an uplifting tribute to indomitable spirits everywhere. Monique and the Mango Rains is a fascinating voyage to an unforgettable place, a voyage spent close to the ground, immersed in village life, learning first-hand the rhythms of this world. From witnessing her first village birth to the night of Monique’s own tragic death, Kris draws on her first-person experiences in Mali, her graduate studies in maternal and child health, medical and clinic records, letters and journals, as well as conversations with Monique, her family, friends and colleagues, to gives readers a unique view—and a friend in West Africa.

[keska]

I just finished Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz and now I'm reading I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb.

[lawyerlee]

I have just finished The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard

Where it is fair or not, I have not been able to keep myself from comparing this to The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl. It is a good story with a fabulous ending. It drags in the middle, but the language throughout is really lush and engrossing. I did not enjoy it as much as The Poe Shadow, for what it is worth.

Now I am reading Nausea by Jean-Paul Sartre and The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowhsip by Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman.

[mili04]

Last night I started reading Pope Joan by Donna Cross. It was recommended by a friend, and I'm really enjoying it so far.

[Alanna]

I finally finished slogging through Wordfreak by Stefan Fastis last week. I was so disappointed... i generally love books like this... but i found a deeper look into the world of tournament scrabble - for me - revealed rather boring personalities and a game that hinges on word memorization ... i guess if i had thought about it, i would have known this (the word memorization part) but i had always assumed that it would take a fair amount of creativity too... sigh. such is life. I think that this book, might have been a better read if it have been more highly edited... i'm not sure about that though.


Amazon.com
Like a cross between a linguistic spy and a lexicographic Olympic athlete, journalist Stefan Fatsis gave himself a year to penetrate the highest echelons of international Scrabble competition. Word Freak is the account of his journey. It's a wacky grab bag of travelogue, history, party journal, and psychological study of the misfits and goofballs whose lives are measured out in Scrabble tiles.

Fatsis gives us all the facts about Scrabble--from the story of the down-on-his-luck architect who invented the game in the 1930s to the intricacies of individual international competitions and the corporate wars to control the world's favorite word game. He keeps the reader turning the pages as we get involved in the lives of the Scrabble obsessives: men and women who have a point to prove against the world and have chosen Scrabble as their playground and their pulpit. As Fatsis goes on his own quest to attain the coveted 1600 rating, we actually get obsessed with him as he lies awake at night pondering moves and memorizing lists of words. For anybody who is interested in words, Word Freak provides an entertaining and absorbing read. --Dwight Longenecker, Amazon.co.uk --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Next up: Im about half way through Radio On by Sarah Vowell - Im not surprised (i love her!) that im really enjoying it.

[chefker]

Absolution by Murder, by Peter Tremayne, first in the Sister Fidelma mysteries series.

So far I really like it; it's set in ancient Ireland.

From Publishers Weekly:

This immensely appealing launch of a new series is set in seventh-century Ireland, which in Tremayne's rendering is a golden age of enlightenment and of total equality for women. Such narrative stumbling blocks as an abundance of stereotypical characters and much more dynastic trivia, ecclesiastical and secular history than can be absorbed are offset by the vigorous, intriguing puzzle posed by a series of murders and by Sister Fidelma, the tale's brilliant and beguiling heroine. An ecclesiastical conclave to settle major divisions between the Roman and Celtic branch of Christianity is held at Whitby in 664. When a major proponent of the Celtic way, the Abbess of Kildare, is murdered, Sister Fidelma, a fellow Celtic follower and legally trained scholar, is asked to investigate. She is paired with her ideological opposite, Brother Eadulf, on the Roman side, who is shrewd, highly educated and immediately smitten with the outspoken sister. The intellectual and physical sparks that are ignited between these two clerics (in an age before celibacy) light up the pages, and when two monks are killed and the malevolence thickens, the book becomes difficult to put down. It is reassuring to read that Sister Fidelma and Brother Eadulf will reappear... next time in Rome.

[BumbleB]

I just finished reading The Glass Castle, there was a review a page or two back - but I will add that it was fabulous. Jeannette Walls writes with such an understanding of her childhood, you can tell that she has really come to terms with her past and this book has helped her heal.

I loved the transition that took place with the kids between when they were young and able to accept and welcome sleeping in a cardboard box because it was an "adventure" and the recognition as they got older that their life was not normal and they could not depend on their parents to make things better. This was truly an uplifting story and a great testament to the bonds of family.

[alootikki]

The Man of my Dreams by Curtis Sittenfeld. Prep really annoyed me, but I read her second book anyway. Eh. I just don't understand her unsocial main characters and their motivations...

[nawsgirl]

I've been listening to The Poe Shadow by Matthew Pearl which I think was mentioned earlier. Maybe it's the voice of the guy reading it, but the main character, Quentin, is very irritating. Or maybe it's me. I can see getting involved with a cause, but not to the obsessive degree that he has- pretty much giving up everything else in his life to pursue the truth about Edgar Allan Poe's death. Things are starting to come together though so maybe it'll all be worth it in the end :)

[Cinnamonjane]

Just finished 13 Moons by Charles Frazier (who wrote Cold Mountain).

While superbly written, I thought it was a little overlong and I was just a tad dissapointed. Oh well.

[EmilyZA]

I'm reading Blood Brother by Anne Bird... she's the biological sister of Scott Peterson (Scott's mother put her up for adoption as a baby, and she was reunited with them later in life.) She thinks Scott is guilty. I always followed that story so thought it would be interesting, but it's eh so far.

[Jenyfer9]

Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. It's not an easy read like his other book, but I find myself nodding with what he's saying.

[Holls]

One Child by Torey Hayden .... I'm reading it for a book club and almost finished it in the first weekend bc it was soooo good!

[HeatherFL]

Holls I've been reading her books since I was a kid-I have all of them. I love Torey Hayden!

I am now reading The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls. Based on the author's childhood. So far, a really good book!
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/074324754X.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_OU01_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

[MsRo]

Last week I read Liquor (http://www.amazon.com/Liquor-Novel-Poppy-Z-Brite/dp/1400050073/ref=bxgy_cc_img_a/104-5670392-0691931) by Poppy Z. Brite and really enjoyed it. I'm now on to the second book in the series, Prime (http://www.amazon.com/Prime-Novel-Poppy-Z-Brite/dp/1400050081/sr=1-1/qid=1163080139/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5670392-0691931?ie=UTF8&s=books), and have Soul Kitchen (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307237656/ref=pd_rvi_gw_1/104-5670392-0691931) on hold at the library.

[ginastorm]

I'm in the middle of "Berdorf Blondes" by Plum Skyes right now. I got it from the bargain bin at Barnes & Noble. It's better than I thought it would be, but I'm only halfway through it.

[emmasart]

Last week I read Liquor (http://www.amazon.com/Liquor-Novel-Poppy-Z-Brite/dp/1400050073/ref=bxgy_cc_img_a/104-5670392-0691931) by Poppy Z. Brite and really enjoyed it. I'm now on to the second book in the series, Prime (http://www.amazon.com/Prime-Novel-Poppy-Z-Brite/dp/1400050081/sr=1-1/qid=1163080139/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-5670392-0691931?ie=UTF8&s=books), and have Soul Kitchen (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307237656/ref=pd_rvi_gw_1/104-5670392-0691931) on hold at the library.

I'm a huge poppy z. brite fan! I think Liquor is the best out that series, but Prime and Soul Kitchen are excellent as well. The menus in the books make me drool!

[MsRo]

The menus in the books make me drool!

No kidding!

[BeakersTrio]

Another The Glass Castle reader here! I just started it, but so far I am really enjoying it!

[HeatherFL]

Cool, Erin! I'll be interested to know how you like it from start to finish! Parts of it make me so angry! :mad:

[SeptSapphire]

Last night I started reading Pope Joan by Donna Cross. It was recommended by a friend, and I'm really enjoying it so far.

I really liked this book too.

My newest craze is Tracey Chevalier. I am enamored by anything she writes. I love them all.

I'm about to start The Historian (http://www.amazon.com/Historian-Elizabeth-Kostova/dp/0316011770/sr=8-1/qid=1163391914/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-0967458-2941763?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Elizabeth Kostova. It looks good!

[Rosebud]

My newest craze is Tracey Chevalier. I am enamored by anything she writes. I love them all.

I just finished Girl With A Pearl Earring and liked it (but didn't love it). Which other of her books did you especially like? I'd be curious to read something else by her.

I'm about to start The Historian (http://www.amazon.com/Historian-Elizabeth-Kostova/dp/0316011770/sr=8-1/qid=1163391914/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-0967458-2941763?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Elizabeth Kostova. It looks good!

I really enjoyed The Historian! Hope you do, too.


I'm currently reading Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America (http://www.amazon.com/Big-Chief-Elizabeth-Adventures-Colonists/dp/0312420188/sr=8-1/qid=1163395254/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-6598494-0547958?ie=UTF8&s=books). So far, I'm really enjoying it. The writing style is really catchy and even humorous at times, so it reads more like a novel than historical non-fiction.

Big Chief Elizabeth is a sprawling, ambitious tale of how the aristocrats and privateers of Elizabethan England reached and colonized the "wild and barbarous shores" of the New World. Milton's story ranges from John Cabot's voyage to America in 1497 to the painful but ultimately successful foundation of the English colony at Jamestown by 1611. However, the main focus of the book is Sir Walter Raleigh's elaborate and tortuous attempts to establish an English settlement on Roanoke Island, in present-day North Carolina, following the first English voyage there in 1584. Scouring contemporary travel accounts of the period, Milton creates a colorful and entertaining account of the greed, confusion, and misunderstanding that characterized English relations with the Native Americans, and the violent and tragic conflict that often ensued.

[Myra]

Rosebud, that sounds interesting. I just read The Starter Wife, and it was so awful that I should be banned from picking out reading material. The book is in love with its own cleverness, but it's not really clever. Now I'm reading Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. It's good, but it has a precocious child narrator, which I think is kind of a cheap, easy device.

[TurtleDove]

I am so behind in the times.:( I am reading Harry Potter volume 3.

[framboise]

My book club just read The Memory Keeper's Daughter (http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Keepers-Daughter-Kim-Edwards/dp/0143037145/sr=1-1/qid=1163531376/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4345086-2249636?ie=UTF8&s=books)by Kim Edwards & everyone enjoyed it, in spite of the terrible decision one main character makes at the beginning of the book.

From Publishers Weekly
Edwards's assured but schematic debut novel (after her collection, The Secrets of a Fire King) hinges on the birth of fraternal twins, a healthy boy and a girl with Down syndrome, resulting in the father's disavowal of his newborn daughter. A snowstorm immobilizes Lexington, Ky., in 1964, and when young Norah Henry goes into labor, her husband, orthopedic surgeon Dr. David Henry, must deliver their babies himself, aided only by a nurse. Seeing his daughter's handicap, he instructs the nurse, Caroline Gill, to take her to a home and later tells Norah, who was drugged during labor, that their son Paul's twin died at birth. Instead of institutionalizing Phoebe, Caroline absconds with her to Pittsburgh. David's deception becomes the defining moment of the main characters' lives, and Phoebe's absence corrodes her birth family's core over the course of the next 25 years. David's undetected lie warps his marriage; he grapples with guilt; Norah mourns her lost child; and Paul not only deals with his parents' icy relationship but with his own yearnings for his sister as well. Though the impact of Phoebe's loss makes sense, Edwards's redundant handling of the trope robs it of credibility. This neatly structured story is a little too moist with compassion.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.


Our next book is Ella Minnow Pea (http://www.amazon.com/Ella-Minnow-Pea-Novel-Letters/dp/0385722435/sr=8-1/qid=1163531246/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4345086-2249636?ie=UTF8&s=books)by Mark Dunn which I've already read & really enjoyed so I might read it again just for kicks. This one is a very quick read & I highly recommend it.

Ella Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island’s Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop. As the letters progressively drop from the statue they also disappear from the novel. The result is both a hilarious and moving story of one girl’s fight for freedom of expression, as well as a linguistic tour de force sure to delight word lovers everywhere.

*pangram: a sentence or phrase that includes all the letters of the alphabet


I am currently listening to The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (http://www.amazon.com/Ladies-Detective-Agency-Today-Show/dp/1400034779/sr=1-1/qid=1163531560/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-4345086-2249636?ie=UTF8&s=books)by Alexander McCall Smith which I have been wanting to read or listen to for quite a while but just hadn't gotten around to. So far so good.

From Publishers Weekly
The African-born author of more than 50 books, from children's stories (The Perfect Hamburger) to scholarly works (Forensic Aspects of Sleep), turns his talents to detection in this artful, pleasing novel about Mma (aka Precious) Ramotswe, Botswana's one and only lady private detective. A series of vignettes linked to the establishment and growth of Mma Ramotswe's "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" serve not only to entertain but to explore conditions in Botswana in a way that is both penetrating and light thanks to Smith's deft touch. Mma Ramotswe's cases come slowly and hesitantly at first: women who suspect their husbands are cheating on them; a father worried that his daughter is sneaking off to see a boy; a missing child who may have been killed by witchdoctors to make medicine; a doctor who sometimes seems highly competent and sometimes seems to know almost nothing about medicine. The desultory pace is fine, since she has only a detective manual, the frequently cited example of Agatha Christie and her instincts to guide her. Mma Ramotswe's love of Africa, her wisdom and humor, shine through these pages as she shines her own light on the problems that vex her clients. Images of this large woman driving her tiny white van or sharing a cup of bush tea with a friend or client while working a case linger pleasantly. General audiences will welcome this little gem of a book just as much if not more than mystery readers.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


I just finished listening to Falling Angels (http://www.amazon.com/Falling-Angels-Tracy-Chevalier/dp/0452283205/sr=8-1/qid=1163531740/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4345086-2249636?ie=UTF8&s=books)by Tracy Chevalier which was my first book by her. I really enjoyed it & will definately read or listen to more of them.

Set among the sweeping skirts and social upheavals of Edwardian London, Tracy Chevalier's Falling Angels is a meditation on change, loss, and recovery. Her central characters are two young girls of the same age, whose family plots are situated side-by-side in a cemetery modeled on Highgate. Lavinia Waterhouse is respectably middle-class, devoted, like her conventional, doting mother, to the right way to do things, although suspiciously well- schooled in subjects like funerary sculpture and the English practices of mourning. Her friend Maude Coleman comes from a slightly more privileged and free-thinking background. In contrast with Lavinia's mother, Maude's mother Kitty Coleman is well-educated by the standards of the day, and it has made her restless and irritable. But neither her reading, nor her gardening, nor her affair with the somber, high-thinking governor of the cemetery is enough for Kitty. She comes alive only when she discovers the women's suffrage movement, and her devotion to the cause takes her away from Maude in every sense.
Although the point of view shifts between many characters (with even the Coleman's maid and cook getting their say, sometimes unnecessarily), Falling Angels is essentially the children's story, since it is their lives that are most open to change. The narrative spans exactly the years of Edward VII's reign, from the morning after his mother Queen Victoria's death in January 1901 to his own death in May 1910. Chevalier (Girl with a Pearl Earring) deftly uses the nation's dramatically different mourning for these two monarchs to signal the social transformations of the period. Readers at ease with English history will find Falling Angels an unusually subtle novel, with an emotional range that recalls the best of the Edwardian novelists, E.M. Forster, and his quintessential novel of Edwardian manners, Howard's End. --Regina Marler --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

[lawyerlee]

I've been reading The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship by Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman. It is pretty good, but very long - over 600 pages. It was a bit too detailed and dry at the beginning, but it has picked up and really drawn me in. I had no idea Frank Lloyd Wright was such a weirdo! It's pretty fascinating. :)

[Leia]

LawyerLee, I have been looking for a book on Wright to read, so I appreciate the recommendation. I have taken to becoming a bit of a Wright fan and make it a point to check out his work as I travel around. He was most definitely an eccentric man.

[EmilyZA]

I just got back from vacation so I got a bit of reading done!

The first I read was:
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B000BHA3QS.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_OU01_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
This book wasn't very well written-- I didn't expect it to be. I was always interested in this case, and I thought that the book would provide a little more insight, but it really didn't-- I think most of the stuff she talked about has been pretty obvious in news reports, the way he's acted, etc.

I also read:
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This book was INCREDIBLY relatable to me... my personality is a lot like the author's, and husband is a lot like mine. I enjoyed it, although it definitely wasn't a page turner.

I'm currently reading:
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and it is absolutely hilarious so far!

[HeatherFL]

I forgot The Glass Castle when we went to NOLA over the weekend b/c I wanted to finish it on the plane, so I picked up Miss Understanding (http://www.stephanielessing.com/index1.htm) by Stephanie Lessing. It's okay. I'm not a big fiction person, but choices were limited. If anyone wants it, PM me and I'll send it to you when I finish it. :)

~H.

[fuzzy]

I was just babbling in my LJ how I finished Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin. I thought it was a really, really fascinating book.

[katmg]

I was just babbling in my LJ how I finished Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin. I thought it was a really, really fascinating book.

I enjoyed that book a lot. I read some of her writings when I was in college - we were actually applying it to interior design and the built environment. She's had a very interesting life.

[justHB]

I've read a lot lately due to travel/vacation time, so I thought I'd drop off my thoughts on some books.

http://ec3.images-amazon.com/images/P/074327248X.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_OU01_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg
The Constant Princess, by Philippa Gregory
From Publishers Weekly: As youngest daughter to the Spanish monarchs and crusaders King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, Catalina, princess of Wales and of Spain, was promised to the English Prince Arthur when she was three. She leaves Spain at 15 to fulfill her destiny as queen of England, where she finds true love with Arthur (after some initial sourness) as they plot the future of their kingdom together. Arthur dies young, however, leaving Catalina a widow and ineligible for the throne. Before his death, he extracts a promise from his wife to marry his younger brother Henry in order to become queen anyway, have children and rule as they had planned, a situation that can only be if Catalina denies that Arthur was ever her lover. Gregory's latest (after Earthly Joys) compellingly dramatizes how Catalina uses her faith, her cunning and her utter belief in destiny to reclaim her rightful title. By alternating tight third-person narration with Catalina's unguarded thoughts and gripping dialogue, the author presents a thorough, sympathetic portrait of her heroine and her transformation into Queen Katherine. Gregory's skill for creating suspense pulls the reader along despite the historical novel's foregone conclusion.

* * * * * *

I found it moved *really* slow and I had a hard time getting to the end, mostly because you already know how it ends. Not as good as the Boelyn novels she's written previously.



Also by Philippa Gregory ...

http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/0743249291.01._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_AA240_SH20_OU01_SCLZZZZZZZ_V61204520_.jpg
Wideacre: A Novel
From Publishers Weekly: Gregory's full-blown first novel is a marvelously assured period piece, an English gothic with narrative verve. Beatrice Lacey loves nothing more than the family estate, Wideacrenot her bluff, hearty father, her weak brother, Harry, or her mother, who can't quite believe mounting evidence that damns her passionate daughter. Foiled in her hunger to own the estate by the 18th century laws of entail, Beatrice plots her father's death, knowing she can twist Harry in any direction she chooses, for her brother harbors a dark, perverted secret. Their incestuous tangle is not broken even by Harry's marriage. And while a bounteous harvest multiplies, no one gainsays the young squire and his sister, the true master of Wideacre. Beatrice marries also, managing to hide the paternity of two children sired by Harry until her increasing greed squeezes the land and its people dry, and the seeds of destruction she has sown come to their awful fruition. Gregory effortlessly breathes color and life into a tale of obsession built around a ruthless, fascinating woman. Doubleday Book Club main selection; Literary Guild alternate; major ad/promo.

* * * * * *

Um, hated it. Hated the main character and the supporting characters. Actually, I liked one character, which isn't saying a lot. I wish the summary on the back of the book had alluded to all the incest; I might not have picked it up. Of course, since it's part of a trilogy, even though I hated the book, I feel the overwhelming desire to find out what happens next. I will say that even though I disliked the story and the characters, I thought it was written reallyw ell.



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How to Marry a Marquis, by Julia Quinn
Elizabeth Hotchkiss needs to marry a wealthy man, and fast. The oldest child of four well-bred orphans, she's managed to keep the wolf from their door for years, but she's running out of options. The only marriage prospect in sight is her landlord, Squire Nevins, but his lecherous gaze makes Elizabeth's skin crawl. So when she discovers the book How to Marry A Marquis in her employer's library, she impulsively stuffs it into her reticule and takes it home. Encouraged by her insistent sister, Elizabeth reluctantly agrees to learn the book's rules well enough to catch a monied husband. But first, she must find a man to practice her wiles on. Enter James Sidwell, the Marquis of Riverdale. Posing as the new estate manager per his beloved Aunt Danbury's instructions, he just happens to arrive at the Danbury estate on the very day that Elizabeth discovers the book. Is it too coincidental that James's Aunt Danbury needs his assistance in catching a blackmailer at the precise moment that Elizabeth needs a guinea pig? Perhaps, but neither Elizabeth nor James have reason to suspect that they're being lovingly maneuvered.

James begins to search for a blackmailer, and Elizabeth is high on his list of suspects. While purposely spending time with her to explore her guilt or innocence, however, he's irresistibly drawn to her beauty and kindness as well as her practicality and sharp tongue. And when he learns that she's practicing to entice a husband, he can't resist offering to tutor her in courtship. Before long, the two realize their growing feelings for each other. But the course of true love never did run smoothly, and the lovers encounter a few obstacles along the way. Will the evil Squire Nevins easily give up his designs on Elizabeth and her sisters? What about the nefarious blackmailer? And how will Elizabeth react if she discovers that James is not who he pretends to be?

How To Marry A Marquis is a delightful read with witty dialogue that sparkles, wonderful secondary characters--including the difficult Aunt Agatha and an impossibly arrogant cat named Malcolm--sensuous love scenes, and a hero and heroine that readers will fall in love with.

* * * * * *

I'm almost ashamed to say I read this book, but it was so campy and fun that I can't deny it. I didn't like the ending (it felt too forced and quickly wrapped up), but it was good for a train ride.


And finally ...

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Anybody Out There, by Marian Keyes
From Publishers Weekly: International bestseller Keyes is back with another quirky, heartwarming story of the Walsh sisters (Angels, etc.). Anna Walsh has returned to the bosom of her family in the Dublin suburbs to recuperate from the horrendous car accident that has left her with multiple fractures and a disfiguring scar across her face. Desperate to go back to New York and resume her normal life, she soon packs up her bags and returns to her job in beauty PR for punk cosmetics brand Candy Grrrl. A lonely and debilitated Anna leaves e-mails and phone messages for her mysteriously absent husband, Aidan, pleading for him to reply. [...] Meanwhile, she reminisces about their courtship and marriage while her kooky family (especially her Mum and hyperactive PI sister Helen) tries to buoy her spirits. Keyes's trademark blend of humor, diverse characters and a warm but unsentimental tone strikes gold.

* * * * * *

Probably my favorite chick lit author out there, this book does a great job of stradling the fence between that genre and just fiction. I loved the characters and like the saying goes, I laughed, I cried (a lot) - I give it two thumbs up.

[lawyerlee]

I'm currently reading Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America. So far, I'm really enjoying it. The writing style is really catchy and even humorous at times, so it reads more like a novel than historical non-fiction.
This sounds so fantastic! I'm definitely putting it on my list. :)

I'm still working on The Fellowship, the book about Frank Lloyd Wright and the Talliesin Fellowship, and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. I have read a few other books while working on that one, though.

Plum Wine by Angela Davis-Gardner - This novel is historical fiction about the effects of WWII on the people of Japan, particularly those who were directly affected by the nuclear bombs. This is such a beautiful story written with lush, vivid prose. I definitely recommend it.

Oblivion by Peter Abrahams - An enjoyable and somewhat unique take on the suspense novel. It was a fast read, but worthwhile.

Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell - I loved this little book. Vowell makes the sober topic of presidential assassinations funny with her clever presentation and willingness to poke fun at her own morbid obsessions.

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood by Alexandra Fuller - I really kind of tore through this on our way home from Thanksgiving, so I'm not sure that I savored the way I should have. But I really enjoyed the story and Fuller's gift with descriptive language. I felt as though I knew exactly what she was talking about even though I've never been anywhere remotely similar to where she grew up.

[Alioop12345]

Has anyone read THe White Masai by Corinne Hofmann? I found it to be incredibly (although a bit annoying how often she referred to her husband as "my darling") and I am dying to get my hands on the two sequels...but I don't think they've been published in English yet.

I also read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and really enjoyed that as well

[bookworm]

justHB, I have to urge you to not continue on the Wideacre trilogy. I read them all a few years ago and I still don't feel clean. In general, I like Philippa Gregory (except "The Virgin Queen" or whatever the story about Elizabeth I was...wretched, wretched, wretched book), but these were just...ew. I need to shower just thinking about them.

Also, I didn't realize there was a new "Walsh" book from Marian Keyes :). I've put it on my Christmas list... thanks!

[Rosebud]

This sounds so fantastic! I'm definitely putting it on my list. :)

lawyerlee- I finished Big Chief Elizabeth and thought it was great. It's such an interesting look at the colonization of America and all the personalities and politics involved. I learned a lot and was totally entertained. Hope you like it, too! Oh, I also read Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight last year and loved it. Have been meaning to pick up Plum Wine-- after reading your review I'll be sure to read this one soon!

Read a couple others over the holiday:

The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson- This book tells two stories, one about the architect who drove the planning of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, and the other about a serial killer who preys upon the women of Chicago during the same period. It was completely fascinating and I found it hard to put down.

Wolves in Chic Clothing by Carrie Karasyov & Jill Kargman- I wasn't expecting it to be great, but I met the writers several years ago, liked them a lot & wanted to read their latest. It's not good. Totally transparent and unbelievable. There's way better chick lit out there than this.

Currently reading:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See- I'm a little more than halfway through and absolutely loving this book. It's historical fiction about two women who form a lifelong bond in 19th century China. The writing is lovely and the characters are quite compelling. Women's lives are so sad in this place & time and I've been really moved by this story. I was actually in tears reading it on the plane today. It's not a total downer, just very poignant. I'll update when I've finished.

[littlemia]

Slow reader here...

Finally finished Krakatoa by Simon Winchester. Interesting, but like most non-fiction it takes me forever to read the last third or so. Trying to find a non-fiction book that's a little quicker paced.

Read Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. Disturbing but good, I thought. So I picked up Choke. Didn't care for that one. I'm debating on trying another one of his books.

Also read The Librarian by Larry Beinhart. Pretty good, pretty fast read.
Review from Booklist:
Mild-mannered university librarian David Goldberg decides to supplement his meager salary by cataloging the personal library of Augustus Winthrop Scott, an eccentric billionaire. The fact that Scott is an ultraconservative who thinks nothing of buying politicians and even stealing a presidential election does not bother Goldberg. He soon discovers, however, that the little bit of knowledge he gains from organizing Scott's personal papers puts him in great danger: Homeland Security is pursuing him, and the state of Virginia has charged him with bestiality. Following in the tradition of Carl Hiaasen and Elmore Leonard, Edgar-winner Beinhart effectively employs a combination of dark humor and frightening, outrageous plot twists that strike close to home in the era of the Patriot Act. Although the novel falls prey to some traditional stereotypes, especially in the portrayal of Goldberg's female colleagues, it is refreshing to encounter a political thriller with a librarian hero--not coincidentally a librarian, either, but one who uses his information skills to save the day.

I probably read something else too, but I guess it wasn't very memorable.

Currently about halfway through The Kite Runner- I like it quite a bit. I think I'm going to read The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan after that.

[BumbleB]

Just finished reading The Good Earth by Pearl Buck

It was ok. I just wished by the end that someone had breathed a bit more life into the pages. It was a little flat for me.

lawyerlee - I'm glad you liked Plum Wine, that was one of the best books I've read this year.

I'm reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan next.

[Rosebud]

I finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Wow, it was really good. I found it very emotional and thoughtful and would definitely recommend it!

Now I'm on to White Teeth by Zadie Smith.

[lawyerlee]

I finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Wow, it was really good. I found it very emotional and thoughtful and would definitely recommend it!
That is on my reading list. I'll have to make it a priority to get to it soon. :)

Last night I finished reading The Fellowship: The Untold Story of Frank Lloyd Wright and the Taliesin Fellowship by Roger Friedland and Harold Zellman.

From what I have read in reviews of the book, it rehashes a lot of ground covered by previous biographies of Frank Lloyd Wright, but I enjoyed it immensely. These authors paint a very rich picture of Wright and his family members and apprentices. I was particularly saddened to read about his daughter Iovanna's struggles in her adult life. Of course, learning about her parents and their less than stellar parenting skills should have been a sign that things might not have worked out well for her. Her mother and father were terribly selfish, manipulative people, their artistic gifts aside.

Now I'm reading The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Finally getting around to it. ;)

[mili04]

I'm almost through with The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen. Its about a mill town that attempts to quarantine the outside world during the flu epidemic of 1918 and the effect the quarantine (and WWI) has on the town's citizens. I highly recommend it.

[apoppy]

I just finished Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. I liked her previous books and I enjoyed this one very much too.

[Rosebud]

I'm almost through with The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen. Its about a mill town that attempts to quarantine the outside world during the flu epidemic of 1918 and the effect the quarantine (and WWI) has on the town's citizens. I highly recommend it.

That one's been on my list since I read a fantastic review of it somewhere. Glad to know that you liked it!

[lawyerlee]

I'm reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain (finally!), Blankets by Craig Thompson, a graphic novel my book club selected, and Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose. I'm loving Blankets, much to my suprise. This is my first graphic novel, so I didn't really know what to expect, but I'm glad it was the choice because it pushed me to finally try one. :)

[Rosebud]

I finished White Teeth by Zadie Smith. Liked it but didn't love it. Her writing style is fantastic, and the book is a really interesting look at the immigrant experience... but it just started to feel LONG after a while and I got a little bored with it in the last third.

Now I'm reading Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson, which is excellent so far.

Synopsis from Amazon.com:
"I exist!" exclaims Ruby Lennox upon her conception in 1951, setting the tone for this humorous and poignant first novel in which Ruby at once celebrates and mercilessly skewers her middle-class English family. Peppered with tales of flawed family traits passed on from previous generations, Ruby's narrative examines the lives in her disjointed clan, which revolve around the family pet shop. But beneath the antics of her philandering father, her intensely irritable mother, her overly emotional sisters, and a gaggle of eccentric relatives are darker secrets--including an odd "feeling of something long forgotten"--that will haunt Ruby for the rest of her life. Kate Atkinson earned a Whitbread Prize in 1995 for this fine first effort.

[Myra]

I'm reading The Family that Couldn't Sleep. It's interesting, but I'm 100 pages in, and the author has only spent about 15 of them talking about the titular family. Instead, there are several chapters on scrapie and kuru.

[lawyerlee]

I'm reading Rumspringa: To Be or Not to Be Amish by Tom Shachtman. I was thrilled to discover so much in depth information and explanation of the origins of their practices and beliefs. I have been suprised to note that much of the explanations for the way they live their lives sounds a lot like what I was taught in my United Methodist church growing up. I guess it stands to reason that we would have similar roots, but I did not expect the ideas they base their practices on to sound that familiar. It's a really good book (so far, anyway!). :)

[Rosebud]

I finished Behind the Scenes At the Museum, which has nothing to do with museums but is a really wonderful story about an eccentric English family and all their little dark secrets. I would definitely recommend this one! Great writing style, compelling protagonist, really quirky and different.

Now I'm on to Almost French: Love and a New Life in Paris by Sarah Turnbull. Because I can't go more than a month without reading something set in France! :D Synopsis from Amazon:

A bestseller in Turnbull's native Australia, this cute firsthand look at the hardships of settling into a city infamously chilly to outsiders gives a glimpse of the true nature of Parisians and daily life in their gorgeous city. Though Turnbull tells readers less about love than new life, it was in falling for a Frenchman that the journalist found herself moving to Paris, for a few months that stretched into years. The cultural relationship is challenging enough, leaving aside the more intimate personal story (though readers do learn enough about Turnbull's now husband to understand her decision to stay), and she writes of finding work, making friends, surviving dinner parties and adapting to the rhythms and pace of life with a Parisian boyfriend with humor and a developing sense of wisdom. Of the struggle to adapt to her new home in the mid-1990s, the author writes, "I've discovered a million details that matter to me- details that define me as non-French" no matter how much she tries to assimilate, while over time she grows to appreciate some perplexing aspects of French culture.... This is an engaging, endearing view of the people and places of France.

[Phen]

"I Am Charlotte Simmons" by Tom Wolfe is absolutely knocking my socks off. I really didn't anticipate becoming so caught up in it -- I'm nearly done with it and have put it down to try to prolong reading it...I don't want it to be over!

~ phen

[tunibell]

Joy in the Morning by P.G. Wodehouse. So, so funny.

[nylons73]

I just finished The Devil in the White City and I will throw another endorsement for it on the pile! :) I then read Larson's latest book called Thunderstruck which again tells two stories. One about Marconi (who invented wireless communication (basically radio) and the other about a long suffering doctor in a miserable marriage. Fascinating as well. Two thumbs up! :)

After finishing those books, I finished Ordinary Heroes by Scott Turow this weekend. A very well written fiction about World War II bravery and the human drama/casualties of war. The book is somewhat based on Turow's father's experiences during WWII. I found it fascinating. Even those who don't care for history will be engaged with the love story, side plots, eccentric characters, etc. Highly Recommend!

I am now finishing a book I started a while ago, but put down for some reason. It's called We Thought You Would Be Prettier and the author is Laurie Notaro. She is hilarious. The book is a good choice if you only have snippets of time here and there. Each chapter is it's own little comedic vignette. :)

[MsPeachy]

I then read Larson's latest book called Thunderstruck which again tells two stories. One about Marconi (who invented wireless communication (basically radio) and the other about a long suffering doctor in a miserable marriage. Fascinating as well. Two thumbs up!
I'm so glad to hear this! I'm hoping to get Thunderstruck for X-mas ;)

[SiValleySteph]

I've been reading The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists by Neil Strauss.

Has anyone read this book? Just curious what others thought. It's an autobiographical book about how the author becomes a PUA (pick-up artist). Interesting read.

[nylons73]

I'm so glad to hear this! I'm hoping to get Thunderstruck for X-mas ;)

Peachy - PM me if you don't get it for Christmas and I will mail it to you. It's the very least I could do after 'borrowing' your wedding hair style for my 2004wedding :)

[BumbleB]

I'm so glad to hear this! I'm hoping to get Thunderstruck for X-mas ;)


I'm hoping to get Thunderstruck for Christmas too. It sounds really good. There are one or two others I'm holding out for - after Holiday reading should be good. :D