Constant Reader discussion

It's November! Let's move our discussions of what we're reading over here.

I am reading The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. Lynn mentioned Penny to me at the Contant Reader Convention last month, so I thought I would give her a try. I am really liking this book so far.

Mary Anne wrote: "It's November! Let's move our discussions of what we're reading over here.

I am reading The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. Lynn mentioned Penny to me at the Contant Reader Convention last mont..."

They are so good! But you get a lot of stuff about friendship, and food, and laughter in the earlier ones. Just sayin'. :-)

Mary Ellen, I'm very curious about the book you wrote about at the end of the October thread. How did you find it? And, what motivated you to read it?

Thanks for bringing that up, Barbara. I had meant to write that while I don't think that specific book is one I'd read, I feel better about my TBR being so non-fiction oriented.

Speaking of which, I have culled three books from that pile as one's I just feel I wouldn't like (or get into anyway):

The Newlyweds
The Pigeon Pie Mystery: A Novel
The Jewels of Paradise

I came across it in a church library. I know Sisters who are missioned in Taiwan, and friends-of-friends went after their wedding as missionaries to Taiwan. I know mainland China is not Taiwan, but...close.... And as a kid, I developed a love of reading lives of saints, so decided to see if I'd enjoy something similar now. It was short and I thought it would be kind of light...it was easy reading, but not light. The incredible dedication of this man, yet his evident humanness, gripped me.

You might enjoy Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil - I loved Kate Reading's narration, and the Mother Superior at the convent in China was my favorite character.

Finished re-reading Jennifer Egan's Emerald City; I still agree with the 4 I gave it last time. Really good stuff.

Our Man in Havana. Is a fun book ,with deeper implications. I can't wait until discussion.

I liked THE PAINTED VEIL as well.

I just read The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, which was a fast read because of course, its theories can be summarized in a couple of paragraphs (as any book like this these days). But it felt enormously relevant to me, as I've realized the vast extent to which habit determines my life and I want to get more life out of my life while I can - and I find that I need to free myself up from a few ingrained habits that don't serve me well. So I'm going to try out the theory in the book and see if it will help me to replace some binge with eating more healthy regularly, some of my sedentary habits with exercise, and maybe less TV/movies and more meditation. We'll see!

Geoff wrote: "Finished re-reading Jennifer Egan's Emerald City; I still agree with the 4 I gave it last time. Really good stuff."

Thanks, Geoff. I've been wanting to read more Jennifer Egan doing A Visit from the Goon Squad here.

Just finished East of Eden - I give it 4/5. My review is here, though is spoiler-ish: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Next up:
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World
Light In August
Doctor Faustus

Carol, I really enjoyed Our Man in Havana! Graham Greene's stories are just entertaining to me - and, as you say, often have more than one level.

Susan wrote: "Just finished East of Eden - I give it 4/5. My review is here, though is spoiler-ish: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Next up:
Paris 1919: Six Months That Changed the World
Light In..."

Hope you join the discussion on Dec. 1st.

Oh, good. I forgot about the discussion coming up! Thanks for the reminder.

Yesterday I finished The Warmest December by Bernice McFadden. At first I thought it was going to be another of those books about a bad bad man who ruined his family's life. But it turned out to be so much more than that. It is about forgiveness, and healing and how to change the cycle of destruction in a family torn apart by alcohol. It has the ring of truth about it. McFadden sent me this book with a personal note in 2004. I thought I had only had it a couple of years. Boy how time flies.

A few days ago I finished The Queen Of The Tambourine by Jane Gardam. Loved it. I tend to like epistolary novels and this is no exception. What a ride this is. We’re inside the mind of Eliza Peabody as everything starts, and continues to fall apart. What is real and what isn’t? Jane Gardam is a beautiful writer.

I read "Queen" before "Old Filth" finding Eliza's unreliability gripping.

I am reading The Brontes by Juliet Barker. It is, to say the least, exhaustive, but readable and debunks quite a few myths. I confess to skimming over some of the childhood sagas of mythical kingdoms that served to sharpen the childrens' narrative skills. Barker casts the family biography in its historical and geographic aspect which is interesting in itself.

John wrote: "I read "Queen" before "Old Filth" finding Eliza's unreliability gripping."

Absolutely.

I just finished reading Haven by Kay Hooper

Just finished Salmon Fishing In The Yemen and am about to pick up Shantaram :D

I'm reading a few right now, The Man Who Never Returned by Peter Quinn, a fictional account of a detective in 1955 looking into the disappearance of Judge Crater in 1930. Interesting, but not riveting, unfortunately.

I've started The Twelve, by Justin Cronin. It's the sequel to his The Passage. I'm really enjoying it, thankfully, as some reviews have not been kind, citing the method he is using to tell the story. Re-telling in a way, but from different aspects. This one reminds me, so far, in many ways of Stephen King's The Stand.

I've recently finished Salvation of a Saint by Keigo Higashino. It's a follow up, or second in a Japanese detective series. The first was The Devotion of Suspect X, which was one of the twistiest, and best detective/mysteries I've read.

Finished HOW IT ALL BEGAN, I enjoyed it much more than the last novel I read by Penelope Lively. Not sure how believable some of the plot arcs were, however. Now continuing on with Sister Carrie, which I'm really liking, and am reading a very short, readable interesting book called THE GOD FILE. Narrator is a man in prison who says finding God in nature or amid a loving family isn't persuasive, what about finding him in prison? And he collects "evidence," some of which is pretty grim. Not for the faint of heart.

Ruth wrote: "A few days ago I finished The Queen Of The Tambourine by Jane Gardam. Loved it. I tend to like epistolary novels and this is no exception. What a ride this is. We’re inside the mind of Eliza Peabo..."

That is the first book I ever read by Gardam and I've been a fan ever since. You must read her others, esp her more recent ones Old Filth and the sequel The Man in the Wooden Hat are very good reads. Her older ones include Crusoe's Daughter (recently rereleased) The Flight of the Maidens and Faith Fox (not my fav, but still good)

After reading the Cloud Atlas discussion, and seeing the movie, I spent much of today revisiting the book. Haven't read it in a while, but its been a long favorite of mine. Rereading it makes me realize how brillant Mitchell was, and how the lack of subtelty really ruined the movie for me.

Old Filth was my first Gardam, and Man in the WH, my next. I liked them both very much and also Queen of the T. I'm probably going to go on a Gardam binge.

Kat - thanks for mentioning that one, as I dropped an Audible credit on it, but haven't listened yet.

I partially completed two books I got on my Kindle from the library. In one case, my borrowing time expired before my interest. In the other, I had already given up in frustration.

First the good book:Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child by Bob Spitz. This starts with Julia's life as a very rambunctious child in Pasadena, California. Julia had tremendous personality and energy, but didn't start to hit her stride until she joined the OSS during World War II and met the love of her life, Paul Child. She came to cooking in her late 30's and pretty much started from scratch. She had no facility with languages, but mastered French through sheer determination to communicate. Her attention to detail and willingness to repeatedly experiment to get everything just right is amazing. Even better, Julia was a very happy,warm person. The author of the second book should have studied her.

That book wasThe Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. The author is truly a woman with too much time one her hands. When she runs out of material, she quotes from posters to her blog on the Happiness Project. She decides she needs to broaden her interests, so she goes to a magazine display, closes her eyes and picks out 3 magazines at random. At this point, I threw in the towel.

About 100 pages into a re-reading of 1984 and really enjoying it.

Ann wrote: "I partially completed two books I got on my Kindle from the library. In one case, my borrowing time expired before my interest. In the other, I had already given up in frustration.

First the go..."

I loved My Life in France by Julia Child herself.

It seems Gretchen Rubin has a very limited way of broadening herself.

Sherry,
I thoroughly enjoyed My Life in France as well. This book covers some of the same ground, but the part about her early years was completely new to me. I plan to check the e-book out again so I can finish.

Now I wish I could cook at least a fraction as well as Julia! I'm afraid I don't have the patience. But she really was a wonderful person and I have enjoyed getting to know her more.

So I got diverted from reading Ken Follett's WINTER OF THE WORLD to read Justin Cronin's THE TWELVE. And then before I finished that, I picked up John Varley's Slow Apocalypse. One disaster after another. The Varley book was quite good, better than the usual disaster novel. Cronin's sequel to THE PASSAGE is a continuation of his mankind vs. vampires tale. He writes well, especially when he writes about family situations, but I thought that this book was not nearly as good as THE PASSAGE. So it's back to the Follett book ... as I also slowly move through Stephen Greenblatt's Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. Moving slowly through this one to savor it.

Mary Ellen wrote: "I came across it in a church library. I know Sisters who are missioned in Taiwan, and friends-of-friends went after their wedding as missionaries to Taiwan. I know mainland China is not Taiwan, b..."

Sounds like one I would enjoy. It reminds me of the work of Mother Teresa in India. I find these books so inspiring!

I did enjoy Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, Larry. It amazed me how Greenblatt could write such an interesting book when so few details are known about Shakespeare. Obviously, he filled in with lots of details about the times he lived in.

Hayley wrote: "Just finished Salmon Fishing In The Yemen and am about to pick up Shantaram :D"

Heard many good things about Shantaram...look forward to your thoughts.

Ann wrote: "I did enjoy Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, Larry. It amazed me how Greenblatt could write such an interesting book when so few details are known about Shakespeare. Obviousl..."

Ann, just as one example, his information on the two teachers in the grammar school who were the ones who likely taught Shakespeare as well as the on the teacher who followed them simply astounded me. It is a very interesting book indeed ... I'm also glad to be reading a book with no vampires or other very bad things of an author's imagination ... other than the truly bad things of Elizabethan times.

Yes, I seem to remember heads hanging from pikes on the major bridges. Life has gotten better after all. :-)

...The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. The author is truly a woman with too much time one her hands.

Thanks for the laugh, Ann. I have friends who recommended that book, but it sounded like a waste of time to me. I appreciate your confirmation.

Finished A Drink Before the War. What an excellent book. Lehane's writing is fantastic.

Now I'm reading Every Dead Thing.

Ruth wrote, "Old Filth was my first Gardam, and Man in the WH, my next. I liked them both very much and also Queen of the T. I'm probably going to go on a Gardam binge."

I loved Gardam's GOD ON THE ROCKS. Can't wait to read Queen of the Tambourine.

Marge

Marge,
GOD ON THE ROCKS was a real favorite of mine too.

Reading The Emperor of Scent by Chanlder Burr. Fascinating!

I'm reading Lives of the Novelists, by John Sutherland which provides brief sketches of varied novelists from the 17th century to the present. The list isn't based on quality, but on variety so it is quite entertaining.

Ann wrote: "I did enjoy Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare, Larry. It amazed me how Greenblatt could write such an interesting book when so few details are known about Shakespeare. Obviousl..."

I read this awhile ago and enjoyed the portrait of Shakespeare as a canny businessman.

Larry wrote: "So I got diverted from reading Ken Follett's WINTER OF THE WORLD to read Justin Cronin's THE TWELVE. And then before I finished that, I picked up John Varley's Slow Apocalypse. One disaster after a..."

Ok, I don't know what's more exciting - that John Varley has a book I didn't know about, or that there is someone else out there who reads him!

Took a fall and have been on crutches for about a week (though nothing serious), so I've been treating myself to what I thought would be an easy read--the novel PASSAGE, by Connie Willis. It's definitely a page-turner, but it's so focused on death that it evokes some sober thinking in one of my years.

Kat wrote: "Took a fall and have been on crutches for about a week (though nothing serious), so I've been treating myself to what I thought would be an easy read--the novel PASSAGE, by Connie Willis. It's defi..."

Although Passage is not at the top of my list of her books, I LOVE Connie Willis. Have you read Blackout and All Clear?

I'm reading The Brutal Telling and Bury Your Dead back-to-back, and I recommend that any other Louise Penny fans read these two books together, because they are connected. Otherwise, you may be disappointed in The Brutal Telling.

Finally getting back to finishing The Man Who Never Returned by Peter Quinn(a fictional take on the Judge Crater disappearance). It's picking up now that the fictional detective is actually delving into Crater himself.

Finished Half Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan, a book that was shortlisted for the Booker last year. Excellent, but slightly drawn out. The ending was fantastic.

Sara wrote: "Kat wrote: "Took a fall and have been on crutches for about a week (though nothing serious), so I've been treating myself to what I thought would be an easy read--the novel PASSAGE, by Connie Willi..."

Yes, I enjoyed those, Sara. But DOOMSDAY BOOK is the one at the top of my own Connie Willis list.

Ann wrote: "I partially completed two books I got on my Kindle from the library. In one case, my borrowing time expired before my interest. In the other, I had already given up in frustration.

First the go..."

Glad to hear you enjoyed Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child -- I put this on my TBR list a little while ago because I enjoyed My Life in France so much.