What You're Reading the Week of 5 January 2008

Umberto Eco Name of the Rose I finished David Weinberger's Everything is Miscellaneous but wasn't terribly impressed (there's my life subscription cancelled). I also finished off Book Design br Andrew Haslam which was interesting but a bit weak towards then end when it tried to cover a lot of ground in short chapters; Seth Godin's The Dip took about an hour one afternoon too; and Sign of the Cross by Chris Kuzneski a kind of Dan Brown substitute, I was pleased I didn't buy it - though I did take the time to finish it.

Hey, all the touchstones are working, this is the first time for a long long time. Oh, except for Seth Godin who I forgot the first time I posted.

Woo! I've been waiting for a new thread because I was so far behind on the last two weeks' worth. I finally finished Cryptonomicon last week (absolutely fantastic book), and this week I started Vladimir Nabokov's Ada. Then I had to go out, and my copy of Ada is a huge hardcover edition, so I started Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe so I could have a paperback in my purse. I'm still in roughly the first quarter of each.

GreyHead, I wasn't terribly impressed with Everything is Miscellaneous either -- I thought it was basically a magazine article stretched out to book length.

I am still reading The Savage Detectives by Roberto Bolano and am getting into it much more than I did originally. I took a break from it and read The Birthday Party by Stanley Alpert, a true story of how he, as an assistant US Attorney (federal prosecutor for those outside the US) was kidnapped and managed to live an tell the tale -- fast-paced, well-written, and a fun and easy read.

I just started The Peony Pavilion by Xianzu Tang and am almost done with Murder on Several Occasions by Jonathan Goodman. I've also started Yoshitsune translated by Helen Craig McCullough which I got for Christmas.

I am still reading The House at Riverton by Kate Morton, and I am enjoying it so far. I guess it was popular in the U.K. and soon to be released in the U.S. (I have an ARC of the American book).

For various reasons, I haven't read much lately. I can't seem to find the time! I'm still reading Rhett Butler's People and I should have finished that days ago! I'm not sure what I'll start next. I have several I really want to read now! :)

philosojerk (#2)--I really liked Cryptonomicon as well. Have you read Stephenson's Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The Confusion, and The System of the World)? A big time commitment, but well worth it, in my opinion.

I'm finishing Anthem during my downtimes at work. (Hi Boss).

I want to read Cryptonomicon, but I want to read The Diamond Age first for some reason.

I just stayed up half the night to finishThe Moonstone, which was fantastic, and am now back to my usual form of one paperback book - Spring Moon - and one hardback book - The Plot Against America.

I'm on Chapter 16 of Mairelon the Magician by Patricia Wrede - hoping to finish it this weekend.

I am about to start The Virgin's Lover, the 2nd book I've read of Philippa Gregory.

I'm finishing up Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively tonight, then will probably move on to Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist. Still waiting for my Early Review book, Firefly Lane before I delve into anything bigger i.e. Anna Karenina.

Uh, what's up with touchstones tonight? They're actually all WORKING!!! Wonders never cease! ;o)

I am still reading Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice.

And not all touchstones are working for me! Why isn't Anne Rice working? That's just a sin. I have discovered she's great! This'll be another one down on the 1,001 books you must read before you die list.

I finished The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy by Robert Leleux and am back to reading The Wilde Century: Effeminacy, Oscar Wilde and the Queer Moment by Alan Sinfield.

I have just completed the Early Reviewers book The Story of Forgetting by Stefan Merrill Block, and am now reading Magical Thinking: True Stories by Augusten Burroughs.

I'm off work for the week, and so have had time to read quite a bit! I expect to also read (or at least start...) The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls and The Autograph Man by Zadie Smith this week. Would love to hear your experiences with any of these books!

(Various touchstones are not loading.)

Still reading He Knew He Was Right...

I just finished Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson and I've started on Peter and the Shadow Thieves. Then it's on to the conclusion of the trilogy, Peter and the Secret of Rundoon (and this one doesn't seem to be working on Touchstones). It's a prequel to Peter Pan.

I think I'm going to start on some of Charlotte Bronte's juvenilia after that, starting with The Green Dwarf and The Spell.

Just finished Out of Line Growing Up Soviet by Tina Grimberg and am now reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick.

I read post 5 and for a minute thought I had already posted to this thread--I am also reading The house at Riverton by Kate Morton. I am enjoying it whenever I actually sit down with it, but this week has just not been a good week for reading for me. Too tired I guess. I'm hoping to finish this book this weekend but might put it down in favor of Irreligion, which came in the mail yesterday and which seems nice and short and fast.

Currently reading three very different books:

The Truth About Fairy Tales by K T Casha (reviewing for author)
Think passion is all over once you hit forty? Well, think again. Jaded after a series of failed relationships, Cate McCormack's channeling her "inner romantic" into her very successful books. Author of a series of contemporary takes on traditional fables and legends, Cate's surprised tofind herself caught up in her own fairytale as two "princes", one young and handsome and the other rich and powerful, vie for her affections. Head battles with heart as Cate slys the twin dragons of public perception and dented self-esteem to assert her right to her very own happy ending.

Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (audio book)
'I shall do one thing in this life - one thing for certain - that is, love you, and long for you, and keep wanting you till I die.' Gabriel Oak is only one of three suitors for the hand of the beautiful and spirited Bathsheba Everdene. He must compete with the dashing young soldier Sergeant Troy and respectable, middle-aged Farmer Boldwood. And while their fates depend upon the choice Bathsheba makes, she discovers the terrible consequences of an inconstant heart. Far from the Madding Crowd was the first of Hardy's novels to give the name of Wessex to the landscape of south-west England, and the first to gain him widespread popularity as a novelist. Set against the backdrop of the unchanging natural cycle of the year, the story both upholds and questions rural values with a startlingly modern sensibility.

Out by Natsuo Kirino (reading circle choice)
In the Tokyo suburbs four women work the draining graveyard shift at a boxed-lunch factory. Burdened with chores and heavy debts and isolated from husbands and children, they all secretly dream of a way out of their dead-end lives. A young mother among them finally cracks and strangles her philandering, gambling husband then confesses her crime to Masako, the closest of her colleagues. For reasons of her own, Masako agrees to assist her friend and seeks the help of the other co-workers to dismember and dispose of the body. The body parts are discovered, the police start asking questions, but the women have far more dangerous enemies -a yakuza connected loan shark who discovers their secret and has a business proposition, and a ruthless nightclub owner the police are convinced is guilty of the murder. He has lost everything as a result of their crime and he is out for revenge. Out is a psychologically taut and unflinching foray into the darkest recesses of the human soul, an unsettling reminder that the desperate desire for freedom can make the most ordinary person do the unimaginable.

I just finished The Camel Bookmobile and am a few chapters into Lord of the Flies. I'm enjoying it immensely--and can't believe I didn't read it sooner.

I finished Parke Godwin's Sherwood (do not trust this touchstone) and started a reread of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. I will also be starting the sequel to Sherwood, Robin and the King.

I finished my last book of 2007 (a reread of Mansfield Park) and my last audiobook of 2007 (The Kite Runner). I am now listening to The Night Watch by Sarah Waters and reading The Cottagers by Marshall N. Klimasewiski.

I will probably finish my audiobook, A Spot of Bother this weekend, not sure what I'm going to listen to next.

I'm currently reading The Fire Rose, one of my SantaThing books, and enjoying it immensely. I've also dipped into The Natural History of Sex for my Go Review That Book! assignment, but it's too much of a "work" book for me to want to devote a lot of my leisure time to it.

Kell_Smurthwaite, I read Kirino's Out a few years ago, the epitome of Japanese noir and a real creep-fest that you won't soon forget.

#22 I've been eying my huge hardcover edition of Jonathan Strange and thinking of "rereading" it too. (The first time was on audiobook, and I think I will get a whole new take on it now by reading the book.)

Last night I started The Shape Shifter, Hillerman's latest Joe Leaphorn mystery. Pretty good so far.

I'm working my way through New Moon by Stephenie Meyer. It's a reread, and I think I'm enjoying it more this time through.

I started January part-way through reading Trace by Patricia Cornwell and still need to finish it.

I started and finished 20th Centuary Ghosts by Joe Hill this week and really enjoyed it.

I have also just started Fangland by John Marks and, although I have not got very far, I am enjoying it.

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Alison Weir's Queen Isabella. I've been devoting a little more of my time to reading this week through a combination of time off and having spent so much time knitting before Christmas.

I'm reading two books right now A Bend In the River by V.S. Naipaul and Princes of Ireland by Edward Rutherford.

I finished Lucille Fletcher's "Sorry, Wrong Number," the radio play, not the stageplay, teleplay, screenplay, the novelisation, or even the radio play based on the screenplay. In this version we are left to surmize how a neurotic woman made her husband's life a living hell, but we know how he returns the favor.

Also finished "Bedazzeled" by Michael J Bird, based on Peter Cook's screenplay. Some of the jokes are better on the page than they were on the screen.

Just finished Cannery Row by John Steinbeck. What an incredible book! Tortilla Flat on steroids! Next up is The Pastures of Heaven.

I finished Lord of the Flies. A great read, long overdue. Next up is Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.

I have finished The Silent Sin and posted a review. I was strangely unfulfilled at the end. It seemed the book could've been so much more. Still, some nice domestic details within the mid-18th century Amsterdam setting. I had planned to start Nervous Conditions today but I have a nasty cold and can't focus, so I've been watching. . . *gasp* - television. Well, a DVD: 3rd season of "Black Books" and at 9 p.m. Susan Faludi is on BookTV.

*stoning, virtual or otherwise, is prohibited under LT statute 58321.456

I'm getting to the end of Bless Me, Ultima, and feeling like there is an entire culture within the United States with which I am utterly unfamiliar. Shame on me. This year I need to read more chicano/latino books and get up to speed on my own country's cultural heritages instead of focusing on cultures across the ocean.

I've also been reading Fragile Things which I absolutely love--"we save our lives in such unlikely ways"--wow. I get chills.

But then again, I love pretty much everything Neil Gaiman does. I swear, if that man wasn't already married...

Ahem. Anyway, I'm saving the last story in FT because its a Shadow story and I want to reread American Gods before I read it and then read Anansi Boys after it. Is that too freakishly obsessive or what?

Just finished The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which I haven't read for several years. This time around I was struck by just how cruel Tom Sawyer's plan for "rescuing" Jim was. I found the book to be much darker, too - abuse, murder, scams, lying, cheating, stealing. By the end I felt as if after that long journey, Huck ended up where he started. Maybe not exactly - he obviously learned something in his relationship with Jim - but Huck's willingness to follow Tom's crazy plan at the end, well.

Next up: Saraminda, my December Early Reviewers book.

I am still reading The 2007 O. Henry Prize Stories which is very good so far. Very interesting collection of short stories.

I hope to finish this soon and then start on King Dork and then on to The Story of Forgetting (no touchstone for this for some reason).

I am still reading The Trouble with Poetry. I've also been reading Fahrenheit 451 because I'm going to read it with my juniors this quarter. I'm not sure what I'll read next as I have so many to choose from. Probably a YA book like Everlost or The Book Thief.

I'm about half way through The God Delusion with The year of living biblically waiting. #2 & #7 glad to hear Cryptonomicon is worth the read. It's been sitting on my shelf for a year or so, mocking me, I might try and tackle it this year.

#22 and #26 RE-reading Jonathan Strange yikes! It was on my clunker list a couple of years ago, it took everything in my power to finish the book. And I mean everything, I even switched from reading it to the audio version, thinking it would be better if it was read to me - it wasn't. Different strokes I guess.

I am reading The Lincoln Lawyer by Michael Connelly. I have also been trying to assemble a teadmill -- so now I have some extra screws and need more screws. It is a stormy night in the Western US so early to bed with a good book to read sounds great to me. I am enjoying this. The main character is a criminal lawyer in L.A. who operates out of the back of his car (a Lincoln towncar). He is challenged by a client who just might be innocent. The interesting thought brought out is that if a lawyer fails a guilty client well the client did deserve a consequence anyway, but if you fail an innocent client that is a guilt a lawyer will carry forever. An enjoyable read and a fortunate purchase from my favorite thrift store.---Alice

Presently reading The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe and will be starting True at First Light by Ernest Hemingway next ...

I started The Blind Assassin tonight.

I'm supposed to be reading Olive Kitteridge, but I'm experimenting with book selection ideas. One thing I've been trying is to read the beginning of a bunch of books that might be interesting. Well, I started Out Stealing Horses and I couldn't seem to stop. Somehow I was just mentally aligned with the tone of this book and I absolutely loved reading it. So, now back to Olive Kitteridge, I think.

Decided to read A History of Rome by Theodor Mommsen one or two chapters a day. That is the only way I think I can get through a 19th century German historian that approaches the Republic period through an analysis of Roman Law. I'm beginning to get the hang of it.

Also started John Adams by David McCullough. 200 pages in and it is fantastic. Reads like good fiction.

A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition by Burton G. Malkiel (2007)

I'm on page 170 as I write this. The book seems to take a smart, skeptical look at all the various ways people try to beat the market.

Favorite parts so far are this line: "Indeed, Mark Hulbert reports that the stock-market researcher David Leinweber found that the indicator most closely correlated with the S&P 500 index is the volume of butter production in Bangledesh."

and the passage that, in attempting to illustrate the chance nature of emerging fund management "geniuses," describes a coin-flipping contest in which the eight statistically inevitable finalists, with streaks of nine and ten "heads" flips in a row are "celebrated as geniuses in the art of coin flipping, their biographies are written, and people urgently seek their advice. After all, there were 1,000 contestants and only 8 could consistently flip heads."

I am reading my early reviewer book, The foreigners and am not really enjoying it. The writing is dry and the stories are not that engaging. But, I'm only half way through and so will reserve my judgement for the end of the book.

#15, I loved The glass castle. Truly a well written and engaging book. Becareful, it can be a bit of a tearjerker, for me at least.

I've started The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. Two in a row for me that are "domestic fiction" and I'm finding it kind of restful.

At the tail end of a string of mysteries ~ halfway through The Mosaic Crimes, a Dante Alighieri Mystery by Giulio Leoni. What could be more fascinating than Florence ca. 1300 A.D. in the company of Dante as he goes about solving a murder, saving the city from the predations of the false pope Boniface, and being inspired with ideas for what would eventually become The Inferno?

(I don't think the touchstones are working - again. Boo.)

#31 - Standbooks -- I loved A Bend in the River -- a flawless novel IMHO

I am still reading Colleen McCullough's The Grass Crown - a huge book, but almost finished.

Not sure what I'll read next -- either Tobacco Road or possibly continue my Italy trip rading and read The Agony and the Ecstasy I think its called as touchstones are not working. A biography of Michaelangelo. I NEVER read biographies so I am a little nervous -- but it was an LT recommendation so we'll see.

#45 Smiley - I read John Adams this past year and absolutely loved it! I have such a newfound admiration for the man! I think it would be so interesting to read a biography on Thomas Jefferson like David McCullough's, but I have a feeling he would not write one on Jefferson, I get the impression he was not a big fan of his.

# 25 LouisBranning – I’m about 200 pages into Out and so far I’m enjoying it, although I’m not really connecting with any of the characters at the moment. Still, I’ll carry on and see how things pan out…

I also finished another book last night - The Wit and Wisdom of the Discworld by Terry Pratchett:
‘A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.’ from The Fifth Elephant. ‘Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened.’ from Moving Pictures. The Discworld is filled with a vast and diverse population - from witches to vampires and from the fiendish to the foolish, it is a world in which magical books can devour the unsuspecting, and Death can escape to the country for some time off. The Wit and Wisdom of Discworld is a collection of the wittiest, pithiest and wisest quotations from this extraordinary universe, dealing one-by-one with each book in the canon. Guaranteed to transport you back to your favourite or forgotten Discworld moments it is the perfect book for die-hard Pratchett fans, as well as anyone coming to the Discworld for the first time.

It was excellent and a must-have addition to any fan's collection.

#26 Storeetllr: Oh yes, you must have the experience of reading it yourself too. The illustrations are great. I love the first one of Mr Norrell, with the caption "Whenever he talked about magic it was like a history lesson and no one could bear to listen to him." Heehee!

I'm really enjoying the reread (sorry you didn't like it, sydamy). I had a feeling it would hold up well to revisit, and it has. The first time I read it, I devoured it in two sittings, so I'm enjoying a bit more leisurely of a pace this time though.

In fact, I'm off to read it now. (Oh, and in case anyone is wondering what the heck I'm talking about, it's Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell).

Since you ask I'm reading volume 1 of the Collected Short Stories of W Somerset Maugham. I read some at school and I've been meaning to read more for years so when we found the whole lot in a second hand book shop my wife bought them for me as a Christmas present. So far I've really enjoyed them: intelligent, witty, moving stories. I'll move on to his novels later in the year.

I am reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Or as a patron to our library called it A Thousand Splendid Sins.

Hosseini really has a way of pulling you right into the story. I think I will like this as well as the The Kite Runner.

I finished The Alchemist this morning and was quite underwhelmed by it. So repetetive!

Just starting Case Histories by Kate Atkinson. Too early to tell much but I do like the writing style.

Touchstones seem to be completely out of sight today.

>7 cabegley: cabegley Cryptonomicon was the first of his books that I've read, but considering how good it was, I'm definitely up for some more. I was thinking Snow Crash next, but I'll keep my eyes open at HPB for the series you mention as well.

>56 teelgee: teelgee You're not alone in your feelings about The Alchemist - I agree very much, and I know a number of others who do as well. It seems to be one of those books that you either really dig, or else are really disappointed in.

#56, #57: I'll try again with a post on The Alchemist--I think my other was a victim of the downtime.

I love Coehlo's books--BUT his original language is Portuguese. I think that The Alchemist suffered in translation. Coelho wrote the book in literary Portuguese, and in that form--and the format used--it comes out far more a prose poem of a dream than in the sections of the English translation that I read. In Portuguese, it is a beautiful book if you like poetry about spiritual journeys. In English, it comes out almost silly.

An excellent book of his that translates well into English is The Fifth Mountain, which is "straight" fiction and does not rely on language so much.

I'm working on The Stories of Eva Luna by Isabel Allende.

#57 etc. I'm tempted to put a glowing recommendation for Snow Crash, especially for those you already like Neal Stephenson, but then you will just be disappointed. Anyway, it's a fun book, but futuristic, not historical. And it includes a church of Elvis!

Pope Joan by Donna Cross

Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson

I finished Master of Souls by Peter Tremayne and I've started Death Masks by Jim Butcher.

I finished The Boleyn Inheritance and am now reading Barack Obama's Dreams from my Father. The results of the Iowa Caucus have nothing to do with this; I picked up this book at a library sale a few months ago. It's very well-written -- he's just as articulate a writer as an orator, and to think this was written in 1992 ...

Finished the Edna O'Brien "Country girls" trilogy, but I really enjoy Maeve Binchy's books about Irish women more. Now it's non-fiction A civil Action

Finished Three Cups of Tea today, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Amazing man. Began The Last Tsar, which I've been gazing at longingly for awhile. Too many books, too litte time.

A Civil Action is very good. I think you will enjoy it marianV. I just read The Almost Moon, which just really reached me since my grandmother has finally been diagnoised with dementia. Currently reading The Patron Saint of Liars and I am finding it to be very enjoyable.

Still working on Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier, although I'm not moving as quickly through it as I am Ann Packer's The Dive From Clausen's Pier, which must be finished for book club by Wednesday. Not sure what will be up next...

History of God by Karen Armstrong

Going to concentrate on the non-fiction on my wish list for a bit....

>65 lauralkeet: lindsacl I'd love to get your thoughts after you finish the Obama book. I've heard mixed things from different people, but most of it seems to have been colored by their perceptions going in. Maybe an LT reader would be more honest about it!

Just finished Alan Bennett's Telling Tales and now reading the second of Henrietta Taylor's pair of books on France.

Just finished Rex Dolphin`s Trouble Is My Name and started The Woman on the Spot by John Hunter, who I admire very much.

Unfortunately, the Hunter entries on LT are getting in a bit of a mess - his titles seem to have become mixed-in with works by another writer of the same name, amnd different copies of the same titkle seem to have been separated as if they were different books. I hope to find time to address this soon - I know another Lter/Hunter fan had a go recently.

I'll be Going After Cacciato by Tim O'Brien. The new year has got me reading at a good clip! This is #4.

The Baroque Cycle is tremendous, but so sprawling that it is taking me a long time to get through it. Cryptonomicon is far and away his best work, although Snow Crash is also wonderful. Neal Stephenson, William Gibson and Iain M. Banks redefined Science Fiction

Currently in the process of reading three books.

Matriarch by Karen Traviss
Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Exile by Aaron Allston
Choke by Chuck Palahniuk

I've just got the following books out from Wellington Public Library:

Aliens & Anorexia (Native Agents) by Chris Kraus
Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Cloudstreet by Tim Winton

Cloudstreet is for the book group I'm in. The other two are punts - the edition of Confidence-man is heavily laden with editorial footnotes - not sure whether that will help or hinder

Started Meg Wolitzer's The Ten Year Nap yesterday. Seemed like a good chocie for Sunday afternoon reading. It will be published in March.

Last night I started a contemporary romance called Coming Undone by Susan Andersen. I have the Book Thief out from the library but decided I'm not really in the mood for it yet. That will probably be my next read after this one.

I like Interview With The Vampire. It's too bad
Anne Rice decided to stop writing her Horror
Novels and devote all of her time only to writing
about the Fictional Life of Jesus Christ when she
did that she lost me as a long time fan. I would
go back to her again if she ever changed her
mind and started writing Horror Novels again.
I think she should be able to satisfy ALL of her
fans both old and new alike by writing Horror
Novels AND the Fictional life of Jesus Christ.
That way she doesn't bite the hand that feeds
her and made her a house hold name in the first
place. I still have her books on my bookcases
at home and can still enjoy them anytime I
want to read one of her Vampire Novels or
The MayFair Witches Trilogy.

Librarianwannabe

#68 - I thought The Almost Moon was a very good book, although it was disturbing. Also, I think The Patron Saint of Liars is my favorite Ann Patchett book.

I am currently reading What Maisie Knew by Henry James and enjoying it.

56-58> I, too, was one who was really unimpressed by The Alchemist, so I'm intrigued by what Joycepa has to say - maybe someone will re-translate it sometime and I might enjoy it then!

This week, I'm reading Annapurna, first conquest of an 8000 metre peak by Maurice Herzog, the expedition leader. It suffers a little from poor maps and the insistence on writing all heights in feet (I'm sure that the original french version didn't burden their readers with such a thing!) but I realise the latter is a result of my age rather than the book itself...! Otherwise I'm enjoying it a lot - the story is told very well.

I've just started All Families Are Psychotic by Douglas Coupland

I just started Cryptonomicon and am liking it so far. Looks like there are some Neal Stephenson fans here. This is the first of his books I have read but I don't think it will be the last!

Started Emma by Jane Austen on Saturday. Still reading True Grits: Tall Tales and Recipes from the New South in bed.

After finishing up Paul Bibeau's Sundays with Vlad: From Pennsylvania to Transylvania, One Man's Quest to Live in the World of the Undead, I began Naomi Klein's The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism this past weekend. I'm about a third of the way through---I'm finding it completely engrossing.

I just started Half the Blood of Brooklyn by Charlie Huston and King Rat by China Mieville.

*edited for bad touchstones*

I finished Foreigners - not touchstone yet-which did get significantly better toward the end. It consists of three short stories and the first one and a half were slow, with the last half of the second story and third story getting better.

I am now reading The year of magical thinking, which is a book I have been wanting to read for a while.

I'm reading Dissolution by C.J. Sansom. For its type it's o.k. I bought it because of the historical aspects of it as I'm not much of a mystery fan. Been a quick read so far.

I've started Geraldine Brooks' newest, People of the Book, and Thomas Kidd's The Great Awakening. Both seem excellent so far.

I would love to hear your feedback on People of the Book. I have loved her other novels. Ms. Brooks will be coming to our bookshop in a couple of weeks, so I should move it up my TBR pile!

I have about 100 pages of Empire Falls by Richard Russo to finish. Loved this book! I love the supporting characters and how well they are developed as, of course, the protagonist. A great book for the collection - won the pulitzer a few years back.

Next, Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Chabon. I have yet to read Chabon and look forward to reading his work!

#92 - I love Richard Russo. Nobody's Fool is my favorite of his books. I also really like The Risk Pool.

I too am a big fan of Richard Russo's. My favourite was probably Nobody's Fool too - still haven't seen the movie! I really liked The Straight Man as well - but The Risk Pool was a bit disappointing. I haven't read his new one yet - any opinions on it?

#94 - I have read Bridge of Sighs and really enjoyed it. It was one of my top reads of the year.

#92-95 - I read Empire Falls last year and enjoyed it. Bridge of Sighs is sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read. Glad to see you liked it, okie!

All finished with The House at Riverton by Kate Morton, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I will be starting The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta this evening.

Very mischievious touchstones!

#91: I'll keep you posted. I'm just three chapters in, but I've enjoyed it a great deal so far.

Yesterday I finished The Cottagers by Marshall N. Klimasewiski. I thought the writing was good, although he did need some reining in occasionally. I was a bit let down by the ending, but I think endings are the hardest part, and the most likely to suffer in a first novel.

Now I'm reading Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk, which is fascinating and very disturbing.

#33 -- one of my absolute all-time all-stars, Cannery Row!

just started The Pickup Artist...

Just started Royal Assassin after finishing The Virgin's Lover.

Currently reading First Among Sequels by Jasper FForde. I'm not sure what I'm going to read next; I'm trying to decide between The Fourth Bear and The Sirens of Titan, although I might just start Stephen King's The Gunslinger. I got the first five books of the Dark Tower series for Christmas.

I just finished reading Javier Sierra's The Secret Supper (which I picked up mostly because it was translated by one of my favourite writers, Alberto Manguel). Now I'm starting on William Gibson's Neuromancer, which I might have to write an essay on soon (so I'm taking furious notes).

#101 I'm in the midst of reading the Dark Tower series, though I'm spacing the books out, I am enjoying them. The Gunslinger is so far my least favorite, but books 2 and 3 are great! I could barely put them down. #4 is next for me. If you've read King's other stuff like The Talisman or Eye of the Dragon you'll recognize some bits in this series.

I've just started Rachel Ferguson's whimsical novel The Brontes went to Woolworths and am also about halfway through Luc Brisson's thought-provoking and exquisite survey of hermaphroditism and dual sexuality in Graeco-Roman antiquity, Sexual ambivalence. If you have a thing for ghosts, vengeful gods, and disembodied talking heads, the latter is the book for you!

I am still listening to The Colour by Rose Tremain, and reading both Jasper FForde's The Well of Lost Plots which I am really enjoying and just started The Uncommon Reader by Allan Bennett at lunch today. I think I will like this one too.

I am still listening to The Colour by Rose Tremain, and reading both Jasper FForde's The Well of Lost Plots which I am really enjoying and just started The Uncommon Reader by Allan Bennett at lunch today. I think I will like this one too.

Just started reading The Color Purple by Alice Walker. It is quite good so far. Although I haven't really gotten anywhere yet.

Just finished reading Three Soldiers by John Dos Passos (if it does not make my top books of the quarter I will be surprised). Now working on Loud and Clear by Anna Quindlen and on the lighter side, Traveling with the Dead by Barbara Hambly. I continue to work on Cultural Amnesia by Clive James, which to this point has been excellent.

I’ve read John McGahern’s Collected Stories twice since it was published 15 years ago, but in the Shannon Airport I picked up his last book published before his death, Creatures of the Earth - New and Selected Stories to read on the flight home. But as I proceeded through the book I couldn’t help but notice that he ruthlessly cut many stories that, even as they stood, seemed already perfect. I’d love to know why he felt the need to revise and polish 15 years later. But there are two new stories that he added, one of which I finished last night, The Country Funeral, that strikes me not merely as the best that he ever wrote, but also as the one that most accurately typifies the sort of subject that he chose and his unsparing way of dealing with it. It’s a story that I immediately went back and read again after finishing it the first time. And I very rarely ever do that.

Just started reading The Warden in earnest. It almost makes me cry tears of joy that there's so much Trollope ahead of me. As a huge Dickens fan, I am 1) ashamed to have never read Trollope before now, and 2) stunned by how similar their writing seems to be (in terms of style, anyway - Trollope seems to shy away from the slapstick and exaggerated characters that are Dickens' hallmark). Anyway, VERY good stuff so far.

Also reading State of Denial by Bob Woodward, book three of his 'Bush at War' trilogy, and it's NOT pretty (the Bush administrtion being the PERFECT antidote for low blood pressure). Woodward is like crack for me, and it's going quickly.

I'm almost finished with Airframe by Michael Crichton, one of the TBRs I've had the longest.

Crichton is always on the leading edge of technology, so the best part of reading this novel (orig pubbed in 1996) is remembering how different tech was just a decade ago. In the midst of a week-long crisis, the main character gets beeped a few times, gets a couple cell-phone calls, but otherwise wades through faxes and telexes. No Internet. Today, she wouldn't go 5 minutes between calls, texts, and wireless email!

Just finished my Early Reviewer book The Sex Club which got better as it went along. Began The Witch of Portobello on the trolley this morning for my church's new book club.

Well, because my computer crashed on Saturday morning, I've been reading a lot of material related to setting up my new one. Aside from that, I'm listening to a wonderful book on audio, The Blood of Flowers by Anita Amirrevzani. I'm also still reading The Child In Time by Ian McEwan--another winner.

And I've been culling through and skimming a stack of books that I pulled from my TBR pile that don't seem too interesting. The stacks, shelves, boxes, and bags of TBRs are getting unmanageable, so I want to put some of them up on PBS. I think The Courage Consort by Michel Faber will be the first to go. I was not impressed with the title story.

I finished Queen Isabella this morning. At lunch I will be starting Jane Austen's Persuasion, my first fiction of 2008.

I'm reading Lord of the Fading Lands by C.L. Wilson. I'm on Chapter 3!

#110: mikeepatrick - I felt the same way when I read The Warden. I am also a huge Dickens fan. One of my reading goals for this year is to read as much Trollope as I can get my hands on. Have you joined the Trollope group yet? It is called 'Trollope lovers unite or fight' if you are interested.

Just started Mayflower: a story of courage, community and war by Philbrick. So far (1st chapter), I'm enjoying it.

Storeetller, I enjoyed the Philbrick book immensely but after recently rereading Of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647 by William Bradford I see very clearly where he got his source material. That said, he develops it into a very readable history.

Just finished Pope Joan by Donna Cross. Starting Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas for some reading challenges I'm participating in.

#118 I looked at Of Plymouth Plantation on amazon.com. Another book to add to my already ponderous tbr list. *sigh*

:)

Glad to know you enjoyed Mayflower.

Finished Loud and Clear, so I have now added Water for Elephants and Denying the Holocaust to the mix for this week.

#109 SeanLong, I couldn't agree more with your sentiments regarding John McGahern (my favourite Irish writer) and the last collection.

I'm currently on a bit of an Irish short story trip right now... having just finished Colm Tóibín's Mothers and Sons, I'm now reading Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan, and will follow that up with Cheating at Canasta by the marvellous William Trevor, and finally the latest collection by Booker-Prize winning Anne Enright (Taking Pictures, to be published in March - I have an arc).

It's what I call pigging out!

Getting into The Egyptologist...while the big identity mystery isn't that hard to figure out even at the 1/2 way mark, I'm enjoying the author's wit and am interested to see how it will all unwind.

#123 Citizenkelly,

Having finished the McGahern last night, I can’t tell you how disappointed I am that he brutally cut some of these stories. However, the last story he wrote before his death, The Country Funeral, is one of the best stories I’ve ever read. Toibin’s Mothers and Sons was one of my best books read of 2007, as was Cheating at Canasta, and I envy you having an ARC of the Enright. Please report back once you’ve finished reading it.

#123. And may I take the liberty of wishing you, citizenkelly, a very happy birthday. One of the advantages of LT is that one's birthday extends over two days! May the books flow freely for your birthday AND for all of 2008!

I'm having a great start to my reading year, and currently really enjoying both The Handmaid's Tale and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

I hope to finish The Handmaid's Tale this week, but think I might have a break from Margaret Atwood before tackling The Blind Assassin.

Reading A House for Mr. Biswas. Just started it.

Put off The Book Thief again for Immortality by Maggie Shayne, a little novellette I pulled out of my TBR pile.

Gave up on The Last Tsar. Badly written. Radzinsky did not always write it chronologically and he also inserted his own beliefs regarding people and events without giving any basis for them. It made it difficult and annoying to read.

Started A Ship Made of Paper instead. So far (only a few pages in) it's much better written and quite interesting.

...and he also inserted his own beliefs regarding people and events without giving any basis for them

That drives me absolutely batty, especially when the opinion is presented as if it were fact.

I started and and am greatly enjoying, in a sad way because what he's talking about is sooo depressingly true, The Assault on Reason by Al Gore. I was able to pull a quote out this morning while talking with my 14-year old about the NH Primaries.

It's not an easy read, since in 3 days I've only read 63 pages, but it's not a boring read.

karenmarie - I read that this fall and found it very informative and well presented. Gore tripped on his ego a bit, but it's still an important book. Glad you were able to use it as a resource with your child!

#126 Thanks, avaland!

Started The year of Living Biblically, and liking it. Still reading The god Delusion. Its interesting reading both at the same time as they are sort of opposites. One is about god in daily life the other trying to prove the absence of one. The same type of examples being spun in different directions.

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Nineteenth Annual Collection. I'm really enjoying it so far. Some of the horror stories have been a bit iffy, but I've gotten a big kick out of almost all the fantasy selections.

Delighted to see people reading House at Riverton (published as The Shifting Fog in Australia). That was my book of the year for 2007.

I'm having a childhood nostalgia this week and rereading Anne's House of Dreams. Gag, I know, but I do think the pretty-pink-fluffy reputation Montgomery has isn't 100% justified.

I'm also reading The Shadow of the Wind. I'm entranced, and just wish I could read it in the original Spanish. I always feel like I'm missing out on something when I read a translation.

And for the last six months I've had Eucalyptus by Murray Bail next to my bed. I read a bit every so often. It's actually good, I'm just not often in quite the right mood for it.

#137: My feeling is that if you're entranced or otherwise taken up, the translation is almost always excellent. Years ago, at a seminar at Seattle Opera on the opera War and Peace, which was about to be produced there, a diction coach commented that even if you didn't know Russian, it didn't matter--if the singers weren't pronouncing the words correctly, you'd be aware of something "off", not quite right, that would detract from the enjoyment. I think this is true of translations as well. A good translator recasts idiomatic (whatever language) into idiomatic English and captures the rhythm. I think the latter is important as well. Occasionally I read, online, Corriere della Sera, one of the leading Italian newspapers. If you read the English translations, they're excellent--but the rhythm of the sentence structure is NOT English.

Two examples I can think of off the bat: I love Andrea Camilleri's Inspector Montalbano series, set in Sicily. The translation seems great to me--but the sentence structure, many times, is a bit choppy--like Corriere's English translations. It doesn't particularly bother me, but I notice it.

However, whenever I read Arturo Perez-Reverte, there's never any jarring, any sense that I'm reading anything but English. Maybe it's the difference between Italian and Spanish--I grew up listening to the former and speak and hear the latter every day, and I know the rhythms are different--but I have always put it down to the translators. Which of course may be doing an injustice to Stephen Sartarelli, Camilleri's translator, who certainly has captured the spirit of the language. I swear that every time I read one of those books, I see and hear my Sicilian relatives! It's a wonderful excursion back into childhood, especially Christmas.

Then there's the problem of trying to tell when you've hit an inadequate translation and when it's just bad writing! Or you just plain hate the subject. :-(

I am reading Kevin Henkes's new YA novel, Bird Lake Moon. It will be published in May.

I am really enjoying it. He is both a great storyteller and illustrator, as my 6 year old daughter will attest to. She is reading Kitten's First Full Moon and Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse now, two of her favorites.

Currently I’m reading two books. Peter Quinn’s Looking for Jimmy - A Search for Irish America, is a collection of essays that gives a deft examination and a great analysis of America’s Irish. So far, many of his stories are so identical to my own family’s that it’s giving me a very nostalgic feeling.

I’m also doing a reread of J. G. Farrell's Troubles, the story of Ireland's fight for its independence from England from the close of World War I through 1922. Farrell does an excellent job of illuminating the attitudes and insensitivities that made revolution a necessity for the Irish people, although it’s far from being a one sided view of that tumultuous time. Farrell also focuses on the personal costs to the residential Anglo-Irish aristocracy as they find themselves being driven out of their homes. Farrell’s Empire Trilogy is excellent, and although he won the Booker Prize in 1973 for The Siege of Krishnapur, Troubles just might be the best of the lot.

Finally reading the last in the Lisa Kleypas Wallflowers series, Scandal in Spring. It's not that the books are bad they just aren't what I usually read but they are for a reading challenge so I feel obligated to complete the series.

I finished Jane Austen's Persuasion today (in an astonishingly short period of time). I'm working out the draft of a review, which I will post when my sinuses are behaving themselves -- though, come to think of it, they probably won't until the temperature does.

I did, however, start reading Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's Good Wives: Image and Reality in the Lives of Women in Northern New England.

#137 ChocolateMuse - I thought The Shadow of the Wind was wonderful! I read it once and immediately reread it.

This week I finally finished How Language Works: How Babies Babble, Words Change Meaning, and Languages Live or Die - David Crystal (NF) and read The Brief History of the Dead - Kevin Brockmeier (F), The Tombs of Atuan (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 2) - Ursula K. LeGuin (F), and A Wizard of Earthsea (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 1) - Ursula K. LeGuin (F).

Also started One Perfect Day: The Selling of the American Wedding - Rebecca Mead (NF) and Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason - Jessica Warner (NF).

Also continuing on two longer-term books: The Intellectual Devotional : American History: Revive Your Mind, Complete Your Education, and Converse Confidently about Our Nation's Past - David S. Kidder (NF) and The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen - edited by Edward Copeland and Juliet McMaster (essay anthology).

I would agree with your assessment, SeanLong (#140)--Troubles is the best of an excellent lot.

#138 Joycepa - thanks for your thoughts. I found an indefinable similarity in the 'feel' of the language of Shadow of the Wind and Inkheart, even though they were translated from very different languages. Whether that's because they're both translated, or if it's something else (such as the similarity of subject matter!) that did it I don't know. While on the topic though, I was very impressed with the translator's work, she (I think it was a she, from memory) did a wonderful job. I realised that translators of fiction need to be excellent writers in their own right; not only knowing both languages, but having a feel for their rhythms and subtleties of connotation.

I haven't read enough translated books, to tell the truth. All I can think of off the top of my head are the two above-named, plus Madame Bovary and All Quiet on the Western Front which I read years ago and didn't even finish. And a few others by Cornelia Funke. And the Bible, which goes in a separate category.

(Horrors, surely I've read more translations than that!!)

#143 GeorgiaDawn - I finished it late last night and wish there was more of it! The atmosphere of the book is almost like magic realism, even though there's no actual magic. I'm working on a short review that I'll put on my 50 Book Challenge post.

#144 How Language Works sounds fascinating! How did you like it? I'm also planning to read The Brief History of the Dead this year. Long ago I read the Earthsea Cycle and remember loving it.

>144 fannyprice:, Storeetllr - Ah... I was not terribly taken with How Language Works - I reviewed it here. I think if you've never read a single book about language before, it might be interesting, but a lot of it is pretty superficial and rather dry, which is strange because Crystal is one of my favored writers.

#148 Hmm, well, maybe I'll just pick it up if I happen to see it at the library and look it over a bit. I haven't actually done any reading on liguistics before (that I can recall ~ lord knows I've forgotten half of the books I've read during my long life), so I may find it interesting. Thanks for the review, fannyprice!

Finished Nervous Conditions by Dangarembga and read two novellas today: The Lifted Veil by George Eliot and The Moonlight Bride by Buchi Emecheta.

Just started Baudolino by Umberto Eco. I'm about 20 pages in and it seems interesting, but I'm not hooked yet.

Edited to say: How appropriate - I've just noticed (on the thread picture) that it was his birthday this week!

I am reading Defcon-2 by Norman Polmar which is an exhaustive look at all aspects of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Tough going at the beginning, but two-thirds of the way through I am finding it worth my time.

#140, SeanLong, and cabegley, #145, I totally agree with you about Troubles -- one of my favorite books of last year and, in my opinion, definitely the best of the Empire Trilogy.

I wasn't sure about The House at Riverton by Kate Morton but enjoyed it more as I read further. It was the voice that worried me to start with, everything being seen from the maid's viewpoint, but once I'd got used to that I began to get more from it.

I'm new to LibraryThing............I am reading The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander..................He creates wonderful characters and can tell entrancing stories with tongue in cheek the entire time. I really enjoy his work.

hemlokgang welcome to Library Thing. I hope you enjoy it as much as we all do.

#137 & 143--I too loved Shadow of the Wind. It's the kind of book you hate to see end. I'm hoping to see more from this author.

Just added Troubles to my wishlist. Thanks everyone. My TBR Mount just keeps getting bigger...

Hi everybody! I have been away from LT for so long! A friend just gave me Still Life with Woodpecker which is reminding me of Breakfast of Champions; I like it, but I just read it in short bursts. Not something I am going to get engrossed in. Not like Shadow of the Wind - I ate that book up!

Finished up Traveling with the Dead last night, so I am moving on to more Anthony Trollope - working on Barchester Towers now.

--> 155

First of all, welcome to LibraryThing!

I loved The Ministry of Special Cases. It made me see what a good writer Englander is. I'm going to look for his first book of short stories now. Some people did not like The Ministry of Special Cases precisely because of the humor. I loved the biting humor with the really sad commentary beneath the obvious. The end of the book left me stunned.

Let me know what you think of it when you're done.

P.S. I hope you find LibraryThing as much fun as I do. It's nice to have you on board with us.

I finished Annapurna and have started Jorge Luis Borges's Ficciones, which I think are marvellous. I'm going really slowly though - there seems to be an awful lot to think about in all of them!

Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me by Julie Johnston

I finished Death Masks and I'm starting Blood Rites, both by Jim Butcher.

Just finished The Negotiator by Dee Henderson and starting The Guardian by Dee Henderson. The first of her books to read and really enjoyed them. Also have Kite Runner and Splendid Suns on my list, just got them from my husband for Christmas

Started a re-read of The Great Gatsby. First time since college.

suite francaise, a thousand splendid suns, the glass castle

Reading black & white by dani shapiro for book club

Finished The Birth of Venus -- mediocre. Just about to start The Secret River by Kate Grenville which has been floating around on my TBR shelf for a good part of last year -- I feel bad for it ;)

#168 jhowell: It's only been sitting there for a good part of last year? I have some stuff that's been sitting here for a good part of a decade that I still haven't got to! lol

Samuel Johnson Is Indignant, a wonderful collection of short short stories by Lydia Davis. Also reading Fancies and Goodnights by John Collier and The Complete Saki.
The nice thing about reading short story collections is you feel you can hop around from one book to another without worrying that you suffer from ADD...especially after just finishing Pynchon's Against the Day (brilliant!)