WHAT ARE YOU READING? - Part 3

And time for a new thread. Spring is officially here in the Northern hemisphere even if some regions are still getting snow.

How is everyone’d reading year going?

My reading momentum stalled in Plutarch. Still reading his Lives, and all the other stuff...too many to mention. Slow progress everywhere. I did finish an audiobook—Milkman, which now serves as my insight into 1970’s Northern Ireland. My next audiobook, which I just started, is Washington Black - so far Barbados and the brutality of 17th-century slavery.

I gave up on listening to Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman and moved on to Doubt Factory by Paolo Bacigalupi. Both are YA books, but the Badigalupi is much better than the Hartman, and because I loved the first two books in the Seraphina series I wanted so much to like Tess of the Road. Not to be. It just didn't catch my interest, while Doubt Factory has.

So far this month I've read Thirteen by Richard K. Morgan and An Elegant Defense by Matt Richtel, neither of which was quite the book I wanted it to be, and both of which took longer to read than they should have.

I've now started Young Men in Spats by P.G. Wodehouse, because, truly, there is nothing like Wodehouse to lift one out of a book slump.

I am starting another 16th century play performed before Queen Elizabeth I The Misfortunes of Arthur by Thomas Hughes

I just finished the 4th volume of Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage and I'm really enjoying it. I think I'll move straight on to the 5th which is published in the same volume.

I'm also slowing reading Madame President: the Extraordinary Journey of Ellen Sirleaf Johnson, the first woman President of Liberia. It's fascinating but very violent, so I'm needing breaks.

On Friday I started reading The Shape of the Ruins by the Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez, my favorite active Latin American novelist, which is centered on the assassination of the Liberal Party leader Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, the leader of a populist movement in Colombia, in 1948, and the subsequent riots (Bogotazo) and decade long political unrest (La Violencia), that followed, which led to the death of at least 200,000 Colombians and affected the country for many decades afterward. I've only read 30 pages but it's outstanding so far, and it would seem to be a worthy candidate for this year's Man Booker International Prize.

>7 kidzdoc: I have that in my sooner-than-later queue, because it and Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (what a great title, eh?) are the two Man Booker short list finalists I have.

But for now, I finally finished David W. Blight's Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, thanks to a second library checkout and some recent time on a plane. And it was worth those 912 pages for the incredibly comprehensive overview of that time period and the very fraught courses of abolition and reconstruction (both of which are named to sound like contained processes, and both of which were anything but). Blight paints a thorough picture of the politics of the day—not simple, to say the least, but really worth taking the deep dive into if you have any interest in that kind of thing.

Now I'm reading another library hold that came in, Pretend I'm Dead—I'm about ready for a little fiction—and also a really nice looking graphic history, Darwin: An Exceptional Voyage, for a Library Journal review.

I’m currently reading the cookbook (it has lots of non-recipe bits) Deep Run Roots, by a NY chef who returned to her hometown in eastern North Carolina to open a restaurant and re-connect with her family’s culinary roots.

I’m also reading Daisy Jones & the Six for a book club, and it is just okay thus far.

>6 japaul22: that book on Ellen Sirleaf Johnson was terrific. Seriously disturbing stuff, mind you, but a great book that I don’t hear much about.

>7 kidzdoc: noting. In December I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s experiences in these riots. Crazy stuff.

>8 lisapeet: I’m thinking this Frederick Douglas book should be my next audiobook. Maybe.

Finished A Canticle for Leibowitz yesterday, after having put aside Look Homeward, Angel as requiring too much focus. I continue to be delighted with my subway read of The Tunnel, the fourth volume of Pilgrimage.

I finished the odd and unsettling The New Me by Halle Butler, which was sharply written and reminded me of Otessa Moshfegh.

I'm now reading Staff Picks by George Singleton, a short story collection by a local author, and Assumption by the always excellent and underrated Percival Everett.

I finished reading Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry. This was for my real life book discussion group. We are supposed to have a group of 10 people and only 3 of them showed up for the discussion. I know others read the book, because they told me they did, but they just didn't show up for the discussion.

I finished Housekeeping, and am about to start Lullaby / The Perfect Nanny - call it what you will!

>14 AlisonY: so what did you think of Housekeeping? I found it to be very different from her other books, but still very spiritual or meditative.

>15 benitastrnad: I enjoyed it. At first I thought it was perhaps a little too quiet, but on reflection I think it's very clever in its subtlety. More ramblings on my thoughts are on my thread. I'll definitely read more by her.

I am more or less on track with all my stated reading goals for the year, which makes me happy. Currently I am actively reading three books, all ones I own:

- 12 Rules for Life by Jordan B. Peterson
- The Midnight Heiress by Ashtyn Newbold
- The Penderwicks at Last by Jeanne Birdsall

I finished listening to Lucifer's Hammer over the weekend, but I haven't decided which book I want to listen to next. For the past few days I have been going through my backlog of podcasts instead.

I am reading The Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd

I finished the steampunk novella Black God’s Drums. This one was on the 2019 Alex Award list. I enjoyed it and since it was the first novel by this author I expect that he will be writing for some time. This one was all about African and African American mythology with a good dose of New Orleans fun all inside of an alternate history.

I have just started Fire and Fury. I wasn't sure what to make of it, what with all the hype, but so far, I find it quite okay. I do take issue with quotations from people who (quite understandably) do not want to be named, though, as it makes the claims less trustworthy.

I finished The Aftermath by Rhidian Brook and am now reading a really fun juvenile fiction book The Unteachables by Gordon Korman and listening to and reading Trevor Noah's Born A Crime.

I started reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. I heard the author talk about this novel when she visited Atlanta in 2017 and it has been on my bedside table for that long. Now it is my real life book discussion group read for May. Time to get cracking on it.

I also am about half done with Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey From Beijing to San Francisco by Cecilia Chiang. This is a memoir with recipes. It is very interesting and even though I got it from the library I am thinking of getting my own copy of this book.

I'm reading The Other Americans by Laila Lalami.

On to The Innocent by David Baldacci. Judging from the first fifty pages or so, this will be a page-turner.

I'm reading The Maze at Windermere and Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

I had a trip away last week, during which I didn’t manage to read as much as I was expecting to, but finished Bolaño’s first short story collection, Llamadas telefónicas, and Patrick Gale’s recent novel Take nothing with you. Reviews coming soon.

On the train home I started Le colonel Chabert; I’ve also still got Anglo-Saxon attitudes on the go. And I found a further pile of Christine Brooke-Rose books in my mailbox when I got home...

Reading the Four Soldiers by Hubert Mingarelli. I found his previous book powerful, and saw this one on a prize list (although I don't now remember which one). Also, in the last pages of the nonfiction book on evil and a crime novel (that last is dragging a bit). Spring has finally shown up and the outdoor work is cutting into my reading time.

OK. In a weak moment I picked up from the pile next to me, All that Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes by Dame Sue Black and skipping the intro (as I sometimes do with nonfiction), I started the first chapter and became completely mesmerized by it....

I finished Lonesome Dove. Trying to put more time into Plutarch’s Lives, but at night in bed I’ve started reading Giovanni’s Room.

I started The City in the Middle of the Night for my bookclub this morning. I then realised that Washington Black is due back at the library in a week so I started reading that this evening.

I just finished reading Seventh Daughter: My Culinary Journey from Beijing to San Francisco by well known Chinese restaurateur Cecilia Chiang. I happened to be watching the PBS channel titled "Create TV" (this is a PBS channel that airs old episodes of shows produced for, and distributed by, PBS) and they showed one episode of a 6 part series done for San Francisco PBS about Cecilia Chiang. It was fascinating watching her cook and work with other famous Chefs of the Bay Area. At the time this show was produced she was in her late 80's. She is now 98 and still living in the San Francisco area. Her son, Philip Chiang, is a co-founder of the restaurant chain P. F. Chang's.

This book is part memoir and part cookbook. Chiang has a co-author, and the this co-author has selected and written the story of Chiang's life. These memoirs are interspersed with recipes from Chiang's famous Mandarin Resturant. This format works very well. The recipes are interesting, but what I was really interested in was the story of this woman's life. The memoir reads like a novel. It almost reads like a Lisa See novel come to life. This is not an objective look at history or culture. It is the story of one woman's life and her point-of-view about how events affected her and her family. It is also the immigrant story of a filthy rich Asian who comes to America and makes good. I am not saying that Chiang didn't work hard and that she doesn't deserve her fame and success. I am saying that she came to the U. S. not intending to immigrate - but she did, eventually. Not intending to open a business - but she did. Not intending to life apart from her husband and raising her children in the U. S. - but she did. I am saying that she is not your typical immigrant. She came to the U. S. with all the advantages and made good use of them by finding something that she loved doing and making it a success.

I really liked this book and put it on my personal best of the year list.

>10 dchaikin: I'd be interested to hear what anyone thinks of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom as an audiobook. I can't quite picture what that would be like, but then I'm not an audiobook person.

Pretend I'm Dead was super quirky, which I don't necessarily like, but this one kept my attention—not least because it was so completely unpredictable. Plus I'm always interested in the ways people (particularly women) write about cleaning. The narrator is a house cleaner by profession, and has an interesting attitude toward it—slightly defensive, slightly proud—that made the book for me. Cleaning—it's such a thing. How or whether you learn it as a kid, how well you feel you accomplish it as an adult, how you feel about spending time on it. The author, Jen Beagin, was over 40 when she published it, so I'm thinking maybe there's a Bloom piece in here... she's got a sequel out, Vacuum in the Dark, so I'll probably read that first and see what I think.

Also finished and reviewed Darwin: An Exceptional Voyage, a really graphic history of Darwin's first expedition on the H.M.S. Beagle. I love when a graphic treatment uses all the techniques that make it a unique format, and this one is really terrific—very cinematic and the art is beautiful.

Now I'm reading Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America by James Poniewozik, for a nonfiction/current events book panel I'm doing at the end of May. Anyone who knows me raises their eyebrows at this—I don't like Donald Trump or TV—but his thesis, that Trump's persona is entirely generated by, and grew up along with, the medium, is a good one, and the book is very straightforward.

I had posted this on the message board, but thought I’d post it here because today is the last day. If you are interested in books that have been translated into English.

Amazon Is offering nine free kindle books as part of World Book Day. The deal is available through April 24th.

From Mexico, The Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia
From Netherlands, An American Princess by Annejet Van Derek Ziji
From Spain, All This I Will Give To You by Dolores Redondo
From Germany, The Hangman’s Daughter by Oliver Potzsch
From Israel, About the Night by Anat Talshir
From Sweden, The Dark Heart by Joakim Palmkvist
From Japan, Go by Kazuki Kaneshiro
From Argentina, The Passion According to Carmela by Marcus Aguinis
From Norway, This Life or the Next by Damian Vitanza

The link to find the books... I should have added it earlier.

https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=17728818011

>34 NanaCC: Thanks Colleen!

>34 NanaCC: Yes, thank you for sharing this! I hadn't been aware of it until you posted about it earlier, and I got four of the books. I also shared the information with my mother, and she downloaded several of the books as well.

Hugely disappointed by Lullaby / The Perfect Nanny. I think I'm going to start Lionel Shriver's So Much For That in the morning on my journey to work (first day back after Easter - boo!).

I had been almost not reading lately but started Heard's A Taste of Honey a few evenings ago and it is just what the doctor ordered - a calm and slow murder mystery with someone who is easily recognizable even if they have a different name.

I'm over halfway through Pat Barker's re-telling of The Iliad, The Silence of the Girls, and I'm loving it. And yesterday I started the first part of Tu rostro manana (Your Face Tomorrow) by Javier Marias.

I finished E.T.A. Hoffmann's gothic novel Die Elixiere des Teufels, which has been a long-stay resident on the TBR shelf. Now trying to overcome my prejudice against space-travel novels with Stanisław Lem's Solaris.

I just finished The Hit and will continue with something a little less light: Augustus by John Williams.

>39 rachbxl: I look forward to your thoughts on the Marias!

I am about to start Nightwood by Djuna Barnes

>40 thorold: I'm not sure Solaris is the novel I'd recommend for overcoming space-travel prejudice! I look forward to reading your review.

I picked up Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk from the library on Friday after work and it is simply delightful. Many thanks to Colleen (NanaCC) for the BB.

>40 thorold: , >44 rhian_of_oz: I'm not even sure that Solaris is really about space travel.

I've recently finished Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World by Mark Kurlansky, and am now remaining out at sea with Pactrick O'Brian's The Surgeon's Mate, book seven in his Aubrey-Maturin series.

>44 rhian_of_oz: >45 haydninvienna: Well, it had some space-travel in it, but that wasn't really the main point. I found it interesting, anyway - review in my thread and cross-posted to the RG theme read.

Next up after Solaris, which turned out to be largely about absence of meaning, was another Christine Brooke-Rose, Amalgamemnon, in which everything means at least two different things at once...

>47 thorold: ... and I'm back to the Zolathon, after a longish break, with No.8: Une page d'amour. One I'm sure I've read before, but not for a very long time.

I finished Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country by Louise Erdrich and thought it was a very well done addition to the National Geographic Directions series. It was full of travel to see First Nations rock paintings in the Canadian province of Manitoba and about the delight the author has in books and storytelling.

Finished the first volume of Plutarch’s Lives. 49 hours of reading over two months and 4 days. I don’t think anyone will be surprised that I don’t recommend it, but it does end at the best part - Crassus’s loss of his life and entire army to the Parthian horsemen in the Battle of Carrhae in 53 bce.

I've finally come back from the sea and am now heading out into space with Down These Dark Spaceways, a collection of science fiction/mystery novellas, edited by Mike Resnick.

I finished Stephen King's 11/22/63 last night, and today I started in on A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving (print) and Parnassus on Wheels by Christopher Morley (ebook). And on Monday I started listening to Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia, after catching up on a bunch of backlogged podcasts.

Still reading the nonfiction mentioned in #29, but have picked up a recent SF novel, Austral by Paul McAuley. I don't read all that much SF & F these days, but favorite author and an Antartica setting....

>53 shadrach_anki:
I loved Prayer for Owen Meany. So far no other John Irving novel has lived up to that book. I still want to read World According to Garp as I hear that one might be better than Owen Meany.

I finished read Red Collar by Jean-Christophe Rufin. This is one of the translated Europa Editions that I love to read from time-to-time. This one is a story set in post World War I provincial France. Very good reading and exposed me to a part of French history I didn't know about. I did not know that France sent an army to Greece and Salonika during WWI to fight against the Turks and the Austrians.

Still listening to/reading Born A Crime and in the middle of the YA novel The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Started Die letzte Welt by Christoph Ransmayr for the speculative fiction theme, as well as an old non-Maigret from the TBR shelf, La boule noire, because the Ransmayr is too nice to take hiking in my backpack on a wet day...

Started Foreigner yesterday, and started and finished The Rosie Result today.

Yesterday I finished Giovanni's Room (which I loved!) and Washington Black on audio, so suddenly I have bunch of reviews to write. Today I started Winter by Ali Smith and, on audio, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David W. Blight. I'm excited for both. Volume 2 of Plutarch's Lives has been staring at me, and I've flipped through it, but I haven't quite started reading it yet.

Also, the mail brought me Ali Smith's Spring and 1,000 Books to Read Before You Die by James Mustich

I finished James Poniewozik's Audience of One: Donald Trump, Television, and the Fracturing of America on yet another bit of business travel (delays and missed connections, great for reading but less so for total hours slept), and started Dina Nayeri's The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You. Both for a current events nonfiction author panel I'm moderating later this month.

I'm reading Say Nothing by Patrick Keefe, about The Troubles in Northern Ireland. It's hard to put down.

I'm also reading The Snakes by Sadie Jones, an author I love unreservedly. Too early to tell where this one goes.

And I'm also reading His Bloody Project by Graeme Macrae Burnet.

After sorting the monsters lurking at the back of my TBR shelf, I got sidetracked into starting David Crystal’s excellent The stories of English, which has been in the queue since June 2011. One of those cases where a book has been there so long that you just take it for granted that there was a good reason for not reading it years ago...

Because I clearly don’t have enough books in progress, I’ve started The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. And...I plan to begin Willa Cather’s The Song of the Lark about this time next week.

I'm on a mission to finish the Man Booker International Prize shortlist by May 21st, when the winning book will be announced. So far I've read The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vásquez and The Remainder by Alia Trabucco Zerán, which were both superb, and I should finish Celestial Bodies by Jokha Alharthi tomorrow.

I enjoyed So Much For That by Lionel Shriver, and plan to start History of Wolves later today.

I have started Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Golden Samovar. It is a Regency Romance/Time Travel/Mystery mashup that pokes fun at all kinds of tropes. It's fun and nothing serious.

My other book right now is Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. At first I wasn't sure about this book because it was so slow to get started, but now I can't put it down at night. It has sucked me into the world of the characters. Lovely book with wonderful characters.

I started and finished Heartbreak Hotel yesterday.

I finished The stories of English and Die letzte Welt - both excellent - and had time yesterday evening for an old Boekenweek gift I missed at the time, Harry Mulisch’s Het theater, de brief en de waarheid from 2000. Reviews for the last two still to come.

I’ve started my next Brooke-Rose, Xorandor, which looks as though it’s going to be fun. It’s written in a mixture of English and (a variant of) BASIC.

>69 thorold: I vaguely remember in one of Donald Knuth's books he flirts with the possibility of sitting down in the evening with a program listing and a snifter of fine brandy to read the code for pleasure--but that's Knuth.

>70 haydninvienna: I think Knuth and Brooke-Rose must have been heading towards the same spot ca. 1990, albeit starting from opposite ends. I wonder if they ever got to the crossover point? Fascinating to see her talking about Turing tests and reflect that she actually worked with him at Bletchley Park - although she may not have known what he was doing, of course. Not many people did.

>71 thorold: I actually used to have a copy somewhere of Knuth's celebrated first publication: "The Potrzebie System of Weights and Measures", first published in Mad issue 33.

Recently finished the latest Michael Crummey novel, The Innocents, which was excellent, and am reading Dear Evelyn by Kathy Page.

With regards to nonfiction, I continue with the exceptional All That Remains, but have started Around the World in 80 Trees by reading a tree or two each time I pick the book up.

>73 avaland: I hadn’t heard of Around the World in 80 Trees before, I look forward to reading it, thanks!

I finished Pachinko by Min Jin Lee this will be one of my personal Best of the Year books. I gave it 5 stars. It's only fault is that it starts out so slowly and takes to long to get into. I don't think most readers will have the patience to stick with it long enough to find out what a really good novel it is.

Finished reading Democracia em Risco. 22 ensaios sobre o Brasil hoje, portuguese edition. Review in my thread.

I've finished History of Wolves, which was most frustrating in that Emily Fridlund spoiled a very strong first novel with a weak and meandering last 25%.

I'm looking forward to starting A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale later today hopefully.

I'm reading The Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson. I've really enjoyed a lot of Bryson's other books, but I'm finding this one kind of disappointing.

Next up is Severance by Ling Ma.

>78 bragan: yes! On Bryson being disappointing there. He sounds really old in that book, older than he is (and he seems to imagine we want a tour and summary of every museum he can visit in a day trip from London...)

Oh, right, I started another book - A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A fun reread. (I haven’t finished anything, just starting lots of stuff)

Still haven’t quite had time to finish Xorandor, but I’m sure I shall soon...
In the meantime, it’s been overtaken by Stella Duffy’s Theodora: actress, empress, whore - a nice historical novel, but nothing special. And back in 19th-century-novel-land, I’ve also started Fontane’s Irrungen Wirrungen, which looks like fun.

>79 dchaikin: Yes! Very "you kids get off my lawn!" curmudgeonly, which is not at all the same thing as being wittily snarky. And I think one of the other reviews I saw likened it to sitting through a family member droning on at you over their vacation photos, which feels just a little too accurate.

I actually found the museums at least slightly interesting. If nothing else, they were different from town to town. But I really didn't need umpteen repetitions of the same list of shops that the town did or didn't have, or of "and then I had dinner at an Indian restaurant and then I had a beer and then I went back to my hotel." Sigh. The book wasn't entirely without merit, for sure, but "disappointing" does pretty much sum it up.

Enjoying a step back in time with No Highway.

Finishing up Annie Ernaux's superlatively good The Years, which is slow going because I keep falling down internet rabbit holes whenever I look up an unfamiliar name or event.

I'm also reading Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli, which also is asking me to read more slowly than I usually do. I may put this one on hold if it makes the ToB Summer Reading Challenge, so as to finish it closer to the week its being discussed.

>84 RidgewayGirl: Seems I have one of Luiselli's earlier books kicking around here somewhere. Hmm.

>84 RidgewayGirl: I read Luiselli's The Story of My Teeth, which was strange and beautiful. I had Lost Children Archive and then lent it to a coworker... hope I get it back at some point.

I finished Dina Nayeri's The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You. And interesting blend of memoir, narrative, and rhetoric, this takes a hard look at the experience of refugees and the mythology around immigration. There are a lot of tools in Nayeri's toolbox here, and she makes use of them well. It's a little rough around the edges in parts, but this is also an early galley so I imagine there will be more editing before it pubs. And when she gets impassioned she really gets the job done beautifully.

Now reading Moving Forward, by Karine Jean-Pierre, the chief public affairs officer for moveon.org—doesn't even have a touchstone here yet. She says this is aimed at younger folks who may be considering a career in politics, but I'm enjoying it a lot. Her personality really shines through, and I'm looking forward to doing this panel with her on it.

>84 RidgewayGirl: I agree, Kay. Lost Children Archive is not a fast read.

The last few months have been busier/more stressful (both good and bad), so I haven't been able to focus on reading , let alone posting or writing reviews. So I've been doing some genre reading and comfort re-reading. I've re-read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and The Secret Garden, and also finished Embassytown and Beggars in Spain. As I transitioned into the good-stressful, I was able also to read the delightful Cassandra at the Wedding.

ETA: I am....17 reviews behind :/

I finished Verbivore, the sequel to Xorandor. But I still have a few more Brooke-Rose books on the shelf...

In the meantime I’m two-thirds of the way through Anthony Burgess’s Malayan trilogy, a re-read from a long time ago.

I have a good start on 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West by Roger Crowley. It is a military history of the last campaign and conquest of this great city.

I am about half done with the Scandicrime novel Stonecutter by the Swedish author Camilla Lackberg. This is the third novel I have read by this author and she is getting better with each mystery she writes.

Finished Moving Forward, and now I'm on the last of this batch of current events nonfiction, Matt Taibbi's Hate Inc.: Why Today's Media Makes Us Despise One Another.

I finished A Place Called Winter by Patrick Gale (no literary fiction masterpiece, but a good read). This morning on my short commute I started Unless by Carol Shields.

Having finished Winter, I started Nobody Knows My Name, James Baldwin’s second essay collection. (Also, I’ve been neglecting Plutarch, hope to catch up a bit this week. Still reading Song of the Lark and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame at slow paces, and still listening to the Frederick Douglass biography.)

Finished the Burgess, and read a 70s cruising memoir I came across, The petrified mariner (not worth leaving port for!); I've moved on to Christine Brooke-Rose's thinly-disguised autobiography, Remake.

I'm reading City of the Lost by Kelley Armstrong and am really enjoying it so far. I thought it was a CR recommendation (though maybe a book ricochet rather than a bullet) but I can't find it. So now I have no idea where the recommendation came from!

I'm mainly reading Queen of the Sea: A History of Lisbon by Barry Hatton, an Englishman who is a long time resident of the Portuguese capital.

Am finishing up Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman and on the nonfiction front still working my way through Trevor Noah's Born A Crime; comedian/actress Retta's So Close to Being The Sh*t Y'all Don't Even Know and Switch On Your Brain by Dr. Caroline Leaf.

Reading Dear Evelyn by Kathy Page, so far it's a lovely novel, part epistolary. The book in my handbag is Alan Lightman's In Praise of Wasting Time, and the pickup book on the bay window with the view of the woods is Around the World in 80 Trees by Jonathan Drori. But then, at other moments yesterday I was reading bits in The Mueller Report but also in my ancient copy of a Audubon bird book (is that a swift, barn swallow or purple martin in the bluebird box?)

Lois' post reminded me that my read-at-lunchtime-when-working-at-home book is Fight Like a Girl.

I'm currently reading The Wolf and the Watchman by Niklas Natt Och Dag, which is a crime novel set in eighteenth century Stockholm and I am so into it.

I'm also reading We Are All Good People Here by Susan Rebecca White, which has a fantastic premise - the story of two college roommates, one who became a 60s radical in a group loosely based on the Weathermen, and the other who became a lawyer. Unfortunately, the book is hampered by the one-dimensional characters and predictable plotting, with anything interesting happening off the page.

And I'm reading Wickett's Remedy by Myla Goldberg, whom I met at the book signing for her new book, Feast Your Eyes. She's a really interesting person and this novel, a seemingly straightforward historical tale is taking some risks with the format.

>101 RidgewayGirl: Myla Goldberg...cool that you met her. I still think about Bee Season, which I read pre-LT (in 2002).

>102 dchaikin: I was lucky with that. The crowd was sparse and I ended up chatting with her and one of the bookstore owners for a while at the end. Of course, I couldn't remember the name of the author of the book I was reading Selahattin Demirtaş, and so looked like both an idiot and someone who doesn't bother with foreign names. My interactions with authors I admire seem mainly characterized by my looking either like a stalker or a weirdo.

>103 RidgewayGirl: She sounds like she'd be fun to talk to. And honestly, I bet most authors are happy to talk to their fans and expect a little awkwardness... if you think about it, it's an odd type of exchange to begin with. Plus I bet you're a lot less weird to them than you think you are.

I started reading The President’s Hat by Antoine Laurain today while I was waiting at the doctor’s office. After 20 pages it seems like a good novel. This is translated from the French and is by an author I know nothing about. It will be fun to read and see how I like what he has written.

>103 RidgewayGirl: : ) I’m sure she was happy to get to talk to meet a well-read fan.

I finished reading Stonecutter by the Swedish author Camilla Lackberg. This is the third book in this mystery series that I have read. I think that the author and the translator have finally found their footing and so I enjoyed reading this mystery although I found it a tad bit too long and with to many plot threads. The basic story was good. This author and this series is one I will be recommending to fellow mystery readers.

>101 RidgewayGirl:
I listened to Wickett’s Remedy when it first came out and thought it was a good novel. As I was listening I began to sense that there was something off about the recorded version. I went to the library and checked out the book and sure enough the format was very different. This is one book I don’t advise people to listen to the recorded version.

>33 lisapeet: Have you read Darwin's Ghosts by Rebecca Stott? I am reading that. It's very interesting. I have loved everything she has written.

>39 rachbxl: I read that and loved it. But I've loved almost all of her books.

This is such a great book!

I am reading memoirs of a Dutiful Daughter by Simone de Beauvoir - it was the next one on the TBR shelf.

I’ve nearly finished Quentin Durward, a return to Scott after a long gap and the “oldest” book on my TBR shelf in at least two senses of the word (an 1891 edition, and it’s been on the shelf since May 2008).

I have been reading for NetGalley lately and just posted two reviews. I have been busy with writing curriculum guides for a new series of courses that has been in process for three years now, and also teaching an online course. This week we have a break for Memorial Day weekend, so I have time to breathe a little.

The Artist Who Loved Cats by Susan Barnardo--a really cute rhyming picture book that tells the life of Steinlen. A lot of people are probably familiar with his posters. The colored illustrations provide interest, and there are facts about the artist at the end of the book, along with some seek and find pictures.

The Tinderbox by Beverly Lewis--novel about an Amish family dealing with past events that catch up with them. Shunning makes me sad--why turn one's back on someone who is a sinner and needs support and care? We all fit that description at some time. I am not Amish, so maybe I just don't get it.

Moved on from the mid-15th century to the early 20th, with Angus Wilson’s No laughing matter and Irmgard Keun’s Gilgi: eine von uns.

>101 RidgewayGirl: The Wolf & the Watchman is such a entertaining and addictive—if grim at times—read, isn't it!?

I've started Fools by Pat Cadigan and I am very confused. Hopefully things become clearer!

I finished And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie, now reading Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer Holm, which I think I read for a YA seminar in library school.

Finished with the snooze fest that was Unless by Carol Shields. On now to Home by Marilynne Robinson. I didn't plan to read another Robinson novel so soon, but it spoke to me on a random book purchase expedition a few weeks ago.

Tamburlaine The play that put Christopher Marlowe on the map in Elizabethan England is next for me.

I'm reading two mysteries, but they are very different so it's working ok. I started The 7 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle because it's a library book that I need to read and return to the library. And I've slowly been enjoying Tombland by C. J. Sansom.

I'm also supposedly reading Leadership in Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin, but I seem to have put it on hold for the moment.

>120 baswood: I read this probably 50 years ago and still remember:

“Is it not passing brave to be a king, Techelles?”
and
“To ride in triumph through Persepolis”
—the second, as a single line, as good as any single line in Shakespeare.

ETA almost right:
“TAMBURLAINE. And ride in triumph through Persepolis!—
Is it not brave to be a king, Techelles?—
Usumcasane and Theridamas,
Is it not passing brave to be a king,
And ride in triumph through Persepolis?”

Finished listening The Inerrant Word: Biblical, Historical, Theological and Pastoral Perspectives, by John MacArthur. Review in my thread.

After a very indecisive weekend, I'm now hopping about between Bolaño's Putas asesinas, Ilse Aichinger's Eliza Eliza (both short story collections, so eminently hoppable) and Robert Löhr's enjoyably silly adventure story Das Erlkönig-Manöver. Lets see which of them I finish first...

I'm reading Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips, and Death in Summer by Swiss author Michael Theurillat. Still trying to catch up on reviews.

I finished Fools and am about as confused at the end as I was at the start. Wanting a more straightforward story I began and finished Miss Lily's Lovely Ladies. I am now four reviews behind that I plan to catch up on now we're home.

>116 avaland: I enjoyed it so much. Reading a solid and well-written historical crime novel is sheer pleasure.

I'm currently reading Daisy Jones & the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid and Bowlaway by Elizabeth McCracken for the Tournament of Books Summer Reading Challenge and both are both good and also disappointing. Daisy Jones is purely entertaining and I'm very entertained, but it lacks the depth that makes for a memorable novel. I do recommend it as a good beach read. It's a blast. Just not a blast that is saying much more than "isn't this fun?" And Bowlaway has some sentences and paragraphs that are just superlatively written. My library copy is currently festooned with post-it notes marking our especially perfect phrases. But the whole isn't adding up. The quirky characters remain just that -- every time life creeps into one of them, the attention shifts away to someone else.

>127 RidgewayGirl: It did bring to mind Coffee Trader and A Conspiracy of Paper by David Liss books I read in the early Otts, and one called Hunting Midnight by Richard Zimler read about the same time. I those were all 17th century though.

>128 avaland: I have The Coffee Trader on my tbr. Maybe it should come along to the beach with me later this month.

>129 RidgewayGirl: If you aren't reading that standalone thriller by Denise Mina due out this month....

>130 avaland: I may have pre-ordered a copy....

>122 haydninvienna: Yes Marlowe did write some great lines and they seem to have lived long in your memory. I have just finished Tamburlaine the Great part 1 and now onto part 2.

>129 RidgewayGirl:
I read Coffee Trader years ago and really liked it. I found the descriptions of the early stock markets fascinating. Lots of history worked into a mystery/thriller novel. I have Conspiracy of Paper somewhere on my shelves. I should get it down and read it this summer.

I am reading two books right now. Oregon Trail: A New American Journey by Rinker Buck and loving this one. It is for my real life book discussion next week. I am reading Catwoman: Soulstealer by Sarah J. Maas for work. This one is a YA novel that is part of the new DC Icons series. DC Comics has commissioned some well known YA authors to write prequels of their most famous superheroes. The stories must deal with the superheroes teen years - before they became the superheroes with the timelines and story lines that most people already know. I read Wonder Woman: Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo earlier this year and enjoyed it. I finished Batman: Nightwalker by Marie Lu and it wasn't as good of a book as the Wonder Woman and Catwoman books. Oh well - its a series, and series are almost always uneven.

I started Who Runs the World? yesterday as my commute book.

Reading Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips and...the new JCO book My Life as a Rat....(JCO during the day, Phillips before bed).

Finished two while on a short trip to South Dakota:
Black Coffee by Agatha Christie--a novelized version of her play. I found it slow going, and it seemed as if I was reading the play and all the stage directions. This was turned into a novel by an actor.

Deadly Deception by Hope Callaghan--This is number 4 in the Cruise Ship mystery series. The author is quite prolific and has several cozy mystery series going. This was the first one I read in this series, and I quite enjoyed it. I have a few more on my Kindle. The author definitely has a handle on cruising and the layout of the cruise ship.

I am now reading a few for NetGalley.

Back in normal reading mode - so ended up finishing 4 books in the last 2 days or so:

Sibanda and the Black Sparrowhawk - a mystery set in Zimbabwe, not always a comfortable read but enjoyable nevertheless. Third in a series... so need to read the first two.

4000 Miles and After the Revolution: Two Plays by Amy Herzog - two seemingly unconnected plays by Herzog which share characters - and as such reading them together actually makes a lot of sense.

Swamp Thing, Vol. 7: Regenesis by Rick Veitch - the 7th volume of the collected edition and the first one after Moore stepped down. From what I had heard, I expected something a lot worse - as it is, I actually did enjoy it.

The Parade: A Novel by Dave Eggers - call it an allegory, call it a story about a road - in both cases, it makes you think. How should someone help a country that needs help and can the help ignore the locals?

Reviews for these 4 in my thread (finally) :)

Tell me more about the mystery set in Zimbabwe? Would you liken it to any particular author's book I might be familiar with?

>139 avaland: Alexander McCall Smith but with a professional detective (think miss Marple vs Hercule Poirot) and a lot more gruesome. Less polished in some ways :)

It does play on the racial history of Zimbabwe and it does play on the difference in education and customs a lot. But without sounding patronizing - even when it is making fun of some of the less-educated policemen. At the same time it has gruesome and uncomfortable elements to rival Billingham or Kellerman for example - but they do work in the context of the story.

It is not a cozy mystery but it does not cross all the way into the hard crime subgenres.

I am not very good at comparing books to each other :)

The books I'm reading all have yellow covers. Is this a new trend?

I'm reading an ARC of Paris, 7 A.M. by Liza Wieland and the writing is just so lovely. Wieland is imagining the time American poet Elizabeth Bishop spent in Europe, after graduating from university in 1937.

I'm also reading First Execution by Domenico Starnone. I really enjoyed another of his novels, Ties, and I'm glad Europa Editions is making his work available to English readers.

I've begun Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney and I'm on the fourth story in Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah's Friday Black.

I finished President's Hat by Antoine Laurain. This is a book translated from the French and I enjoyed it very much. It made me laugh and a book that can elicit that kind of emotional reaction is well written. I think this book provided a window into some aspects of modern French life that made it enjoyable for me to read.

>141 RidgewayGirl: The books I'm reading all have yellow covers. Is this a new trend?

The one I just finishes is also yellow yellow and orange anyway) so who knows...

Bosstown is a violent novel that actually works well and manages to make the violence part of the story. Review in my thread.

On Sunday I didn't feel like reading the books I was already reading or the books I have on my list to read next, so I picked out The Bedlam Stacks from the TBR pile.

I also started Master and Commander this morning as part of our Group (well pair) Read.

I finished reading number 16 in my read-through of all the National Geographic Society Directions series. My Famous Evening by Howard Norman was very well done. There are two chapters on folklore from the area. One is the Native American folklore and the other is the Nova Scotia folklore. Nice book. Number 17 in that series of 22 has been requested through ILL.

>140 AnnieMod: Although the setting intrigues me I probably would read, at best, just one of the series. I read maybe two of the Alexander McCall Smith books and found them entertaining but a bit light for me. Thanks, for the additional info though.

>141 RidgewayGirl: I'm reading a book with a marigold yellow cover...but it was published in '74 :-)

I climbed up on the library ladder to put the now finished latest Joyce Carol Oates novel away and found myself browsing through her collections. I pulled out a slim volume (with aforementioned marigold-colored cover) of The Hungry Ghosts: Seven Elusive Comedies and the idea of reading a comedy was somehow appealing to me....

>146 avaland: Depending on why you found them too light, these may work a bit better. I had not touched Smith in years either - he is on my "popcorn" list of mysteries -- these ones are definitely not there. Will be curious to see what you think when/if you try one of them.

>141 RidgewayGirl: Yellow covers are hardly a new trend - think about the classic Albatross Continental Library paperbacks from the thirties, or Gollancz from the late 20s to the 90s, or Reclam, or any number of paperback publishers who had series with yellow covers. In Italian “giallo” has even become the standard word for a crime novel...

>148 thorold: And now I'm wondering if the Starnone novel I'm reading has a yellow cover in order to remind readers of the "giallos." It seems too obvious a connection to be accidental.

Hm, I haven't checked in here in a while. I just read Ted Chiang's Exhalation, which I liked. He walks down the aisle between sf and philosophy and pulls in both sides for each story—so "What's Expected of Us" looks at the conundrum of free will through a sf/tech lens, and "The Lifecycle of Software Objects" is a take on AI and tech obsolescence that turns it into a philosophical/moral issue, bringing in not just the expected Uncanny Valley musings but also thoughts about agency, animal rights, parenthood, and consent. The collection reminded me of reading sf as an early teen, when the good thoughtful stuff (hello, Dangerous Visions) was new and sparked all sorts of deep thoughts... none of Chang's plots is particularly radical, but he approaches them in novel ways and writes well.

Every time I said I was reading this, people would tell me that his last collection, Stories of Your Life and Others, was the real killer, so I'll probably be librarying that one up one of these days. But now for something completely different, and I'm packing Red Clocks for my commute, a donation to my TBR pile and recommendation from my friend Lauren.

Other recent reads:

Hate Inc.: Why Today’s Media Makes Us Despise One Another by Matt Taibbi—Agreeably testy, basically focusing on the anxiety-industrial complex aspects of network and cable news, and how their main business model is to keep viewers in a state of high anxiety in order to make a 24-hour news cycle viable. The left comes off no better than the right here—the cover features Sean Hannity side-by-side with Rachel Maddow, which makes perfect sense if you think about it. Smart commentary, a little rambly in places—it's pulled from his online Substack newsletter—but the premise is good. I agree with it, anyway... this administration is anxiety-producing enough without feeding the cocaine rat of "Now This."

Cinderella Liberator by Rebecca Solnit—Great contemporary retelling of the Cinderella story by Solnit, kind of a Stories for Free Children (dating myself here) for the new century. If I had youngsters I would definitely read them this... guess I'll just hold out for grandchildren someday. In the meantime it was fun, though, and I love her use of Arthur Rackham's original, and totally timeless, illustrations.

Vacuum in the Dark by Jen Beagin—Interesting kind of push-me-pull-you thing going on with this book, and I imagine Beagin was aiming for a love/hate experience for her readers. The main character is equal parts alienating and relatable, as was the storyline(s) themselves. But I enjoyed it overall. I particularly like the two books' subtext of the ways we (especially women, I think, though it probably crosses gender lines) are defined by our relationship to cleaning. I spend... my god, a HUGE amount of my very limited free time just keeping my house from looking like shit, and I think about the whole time I'm vacuuming/mopping/dusting/putting crap where it goes—the unpaid labor aspect, the class aspect (because if I were more successful I'd have someone "come in" once a month), the woman's work aspect... so I particularly liked the books for their musings on that. Plus the cleaning tips, which were kind of awesome. Caveat: Lots of raunchiness and bodily functions, so stay away if that bothers you. I liked it.

I've done a fair bit of reading since I last checked in on this thread, it seems. Specifically:

Elizabeth is Missing by Emma Healey: Extremely good, but I think the fact that it looks like it's packaged as a mystery/thriller does it a real disservice.

Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own Writing by Ben Blatt: An interesting subject, but not as much so as I was hoping.

The Prestige by Christopher Priest: Good book that was made into a good movie. I recommend both, in whichever order.

To Be or Not To Be by Ryan North: Hamlet as a choose your own adventure! Ridiculous and delightful.

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup by John Carreyrou: Good, but angry-making.

Exhalation: Stories by Ted Chiang: Very popular here at the moment, and with excellent reason.

Time Traders II by Andre Norton: Omnibus of books 3 and 4 in Norton's Time Traders series. Not quite made worthwhile by the nostalgia factor they have for me, I'm afraid.

And, finally, I've just started Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief Engineer by Rob Manning and William L. Simon.

I haven’t got much reading done the last couple of weeks, somehow, but I did manage to finish Putas Asesinas, which was worthwhile, although perhaps not quite as full of sex and violence as the title implies.

On the other hand, I’ve started dipping into Bettina von Arnim’s Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde, a spectacularly dull-sounding title which doesn’t really lead you to expect the cross-dressing, tree-climbing, pistol-packing Calamity Jane of German Romanticism. It remains to be seen whether the rest of the book is as lively as the first 20 pages...

I am back after some traveling and just doing stuff and running errands and so on. Also went to a Chicago Cubs game and they won! Go Cubs Go! I am a big fan from childhood, when I watched the games on TV with my dear daddy, whom I miss every day.

I read The Amish Cookie Club for NetGalley, and The Not-So-Great Outdoors for LT Early Reviewers. Almost done with The Healing Jar for NetGalley. I have quite a few of those to catch up on.

>146 avaland: I have read all but two of the Smith mysteries, and I do like them. They are light reading, but I feel as if I know the characters like my own family.

>150 lisapeet: Oh, another Solnit! I still haven't done a review on her latest book of essays.

>153 LadyoftheLodge: The ones I read were very good, just not my thing, I suppose.

I feel a bit emotionally exhausted after finishing Marilynne Robinson's Home.

I met Terry Waite, who was held captive in Beirut for almost five years in the 1980s, this week at a book festival, and I'm looking forward to starting his book Solitude: Memories, People, Places next.

I just finished Pachinko for my book club. It was interesting but I thought Lee tried to do too much with it. Still worthwhile though.

I'm starting Ordinary People now.

I read Leni Zumas's Red Clocks thanks to a friend's strong recommendation and physical handoff. I'd stayed away from it when it first came out because it seemed like a bit of a Social Issue Flavor of the Week novel, but I'm so glad it was literally put in my hands because it was great. Really lively, solid writing, without the heavy-handed message I was dreading. That sounds like faint praise, and I don't mean it that way—rather that the story was interesting and nuanced and moral-free (other than the obvious thought that no one should legislate what women do with their bodies), and in fact a lot of fun to read.

Oh and before that, Ted Chiang's Exhalation. More commentary on my own thread, but I liked it a lot, thought it was a good thoughtful collection, and am looking forward to librarying up his Stories of Your Life and Others.

Now on to The Wolf and the Watchman, thanks to a few recommendations here. I have a train ride down to DC at the end of the week and a good historical thriller seems like just the thing.

Still reading the Julia Phillips novel, but have started listening to Madeline Albright's Fascism while I work in the studio. She reads it herself as she did her previous book; she is a fine, clear reader and I'm enjoying the history lesson.

>157 lisapeet: I loved Red Clocks as well.

I am now reading The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book by Neil Gaiman, my love for the TV show being such that I am not ready to be done with it just yet.

Next up is a story collection from Early Reviewers: We Are Still Here by Emily Koon.

I'm about to start on Cynthia Ozick's Foreign Bodies. It's my first Ozick book, so intrigued and looking forward to it.

I am reading too many books -- Daniel Deronda was started on audio when I ran out of podcasts, Interim -- the fifth volume of Pilgrimage as an at home book that I started while waiting for After Claude to be available.

I finished The Wolf and the Watchman, tempted by a few recommendations here, which was an extremely gruesome but very well crafted thriller.

Now on to The O. Henry Prize Stories 2019 100th Anniversary Edition.

I'm reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

For nonfiction I'm reading Proust's Duchess, a new nonfiction book that explores the lives of 3 women on which Proust based his character, the Duchesse de Guermantes. Many of you probably remember how much I loved reading In search of Lost Time last year and this has been a fun way to revisit it.

I am reading a debut Irish novel, When All Is Said, which is wonderful so far.

I’m reading The Coddling of the American Mind, which is excellent, a nice blend of readability with intelligent review and integration of research.

Goethes Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde took me all last week - I think it was just about worth it, but 600 pages of Romantic gush was quite a big investment...

Since then I've finished two quick reads - the 70s East German science-fiction novel Unheimliche Erscheinungsformen auf Omega XI and Dubravka Ugrešić's The museum of unconditional surrender, and I'm now having a go at Borges in Spanish with El Aleph.

I'm reading Denise Mina's latest, Conviction - a sort-of-angsty-funny thriller thus far. Also reading a small book, Feminism and Pop Culture by Andi Heisler.

I am reading Gabriel's Lament by Paul Bailey - the next one on my bookshelf

Just reading a lot of comics these days. Best way to ease back into Japanese reading so that I can hopefully start some novels soon.

I finished reading the Donna Leon Guido Brunetti mystery Sea of Troubles today. It is number 10 in this lengthy series. I will start reading Michael Dibdin's ninth Aurelio Zen mystery Medusa while sitting poolside. Vacations with pools and mysteries. Perfect.

I finished When All Is Said, a elegiac novel, very Irish. Loved it.

I just started Circe and I hope it lives up to my high expectations.

>170 lilisin:

Anything interesting (and translated into English)?

>173 AnnieMod:

Just reading a series about soccer that I don't think would be of interest to anyone plus it has not been translated. It's helping make up for the fact that I don't get to watch the Women's FIFA World Cup this year since the games (other than Japan and now that they are out...) aren't being shown on any of the free channels unlike the men's tournament. It kills me that I won't get to watch France v USA tonight.

Despite saying I wasn't in any rush to read it, I'm reading The Lily and the Rose which is the second in the Miss Lily series. It wasn't my fault - I was at the library returning some other items and it was right there on the shelf. ;-)

>174 lilisin:

Too bad it is not translated (soccer fan here as well) :)

>176 AnnieMod:

Other than some rare cases like the basketball series called Slam Dunk, sports manga don't tend to get translated into English as there isn't a market for it. Not making any attempt at political correctness and going after the full on stereotype, "nerds" who read manga don't tend to play sports, and sports fans don't tend to like "foreign things". So it's hard to justify translating a series if they don't think anyone will buy it.

>177 lilisin:

You are not wrong about that... Plus soccer even if it has somewhat of a Renaissance in the States, is not as popular as American football or baseball. Which does not help matters much. From what I am seeing, manga is getting more and more mainstream - but it is not there yet. So between the two, you are probably right in your analysis.

I've recently finished The Science of Sherlock Holmes by E. J. Wagner, which was interesting (even if it was probably more about history than about science) and The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh, which stared out promising but quickly became disappointing.

Now reading Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, which so far is as good as everyone says it is.

Yesterday I started Falling Leaves for June TBRCat (at least I *started* it in June) and today I started Slaughterhouse Five which is for bookclub on Tuesday.

Finished El Aleph - Borges is someone you can’t easily get tired of - and read another Iris Murdoch that was loitering on the TBR shelf, The flight from the enchanter.

And it’s still balcony weather, so I’ve started Nana (no.9 in my Zolathon) and La forma de las ruinas by Juan Gabriel Vásquez, which was a tip from Darryl’s Booker International thread. They should both keep me busy for a little while...

I finished Plutarch's Lives (after 4 months for both volumes). So...yeah. Also today I finished, with a group, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame.

Next: With groups I'm reading Shakespeare's difficult Troilus and Crassida and I'm about to start My Antonia. And I should get back to James Baldwin soon.

Finished listening The God Delusion, by Richard Dawkins. Review in my thread.

And time for a new thread :)