Constant Reader discussion

I can't believe it's August already. I'm reading a wonderful book of short stories, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Stories by Nathan Englander. I recommend the collection to anyone, especially short story lovers.

Al: Yes, I was sent back to Sebald by Open City, though On the Natural History of Destruction probably wasn't the most apposite choice. I need to reread The Emigrants. Also just ordered a book by Jenny Erpenbeck called Visitation that one reviewer described as a response to or recasting of Sebald.

Hi, I'm new here, so please let me know if this is the wrong place for this.

This month, I'm looking forward to reading some Agatha Christie. I just bought The Seven Dials Mystery. I'm also going to read some more Cleo Coyle while I'm waiting for some other books to be published in paperback.

Hi Laurin - welcome! Good to see you here.

You in fact are exactly right, this is a good place to mention your current reading. Often someone else knows your book and might make a comment.

The only Christie I've read is Death on the Nile, which was a real treat since it is largely set in Luxor, Egypt, where my family was on vacation when I read it!

Edit - I've now checked Wikipedia, and I've seen three movies based on her fiction -- Murder on the Orient Express, Then There Were None (also filmed as Ten Little Indians), and the wonderful Witness for the Prosecution, starring Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton, and the incomparable Marlene Dietrich.

Thank you, Wikipedia. I didn't even know thatWitness was based on a Christie story!

Another cat person. We do have an introduction section, but I will say welcome and hello glad to see you here.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/9...

I just started Michael Kimmelman's short book The Accidental Masterpiece: On the Art of Life and Vice Versa.

Welcome, Laurin. Glad you found us.

I just started Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. I am enjoying it so far.

I just started Sirena it looks like it will be a quick fun read.

Just finished God on the Rocks Selected it because I liked Old Filth so much. This book, however, wasn't nearly as good as OF. A little mannered.

Another book is going back to the library barely started: An American Heiress, which I thought would just be a light, fun read. Yechh. Terrible, cliched writing.

I started listening to The Lotus Eaters, a novel about the Vietnam war, which is really quite good, but a little too bleak for me right now. So I'm listening to The Bluest Eye, which is just so brilliant.

Just started Strong Motion by Jonathan Franzen.

Hi Laurin, glad to see you here. I love Agatha Christie, too.

Ruth, I was going to buy God on the Rocks, but I have so much else to read, I'm going to pass it up now.

I'm reading Remarkable Creatures. I loved Girl With a Pearl Earring, but other than that book, I'm not Tracy Chevalier's greatest fan. I was drawn to Remarkable Creatures by its setting in Lyme Regis, though. I love that seaside town. Would love to visit it again. Probably won't.

I liked Gardam's The Queen of the Tambourine.

John wrote: "I liked Gardam's The Queen of the Tambourine."

I may give that one a try. BTW, God on the Rocks was my very first Kindle read.

Gabrielle wrote: "Hi Laurin, glad to see you here. I love Agatha Christie, too..."

My first husband owned a drugstore, with a paperback rack. I read a lot of Agatha Christie in those days because it was the only thing on the rack remotely readable. Read them very, very carefully. Replaced them on the rack.

I'm reading Christie's "Murder at the Vicarage" - the first Marple story - in French, off and on. Can't say as that's the best way to keep hold of the plot, but it works as vocabulary practice.

Love Agatha Christie. I devoured her books in high school and college, and still reread them often. They're like my literary comfort food.

Right now, I'm in the midst of a Harry Potter re-read (on Chamber of Secrets now), Wolf Hall and picked up White Noise last night. On my Nook, I'm in the midst of Fall of Giants by Ken Follett and Val McDermid's A Place of Execution. Think I need a flowchart...

Sara wrote: "Another book is going back to the library barely started: An American Heiress, which I thought would just be a light, fun read. Yechh. Terrible, cliched writing.

I started listening to Th..."</i>

I thought An American Heiress sounded like a possibility too. I think I may take your word for it since I have such a quantity of books I want to read.
I'm still reading [book:The Story of Lucy Gault, and have added The Graveyard Book and an Iraqi novel, The Last Of The Angels: A Modern Iraqi Novel

I'm reading The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History. On deck, is The Blindfold: A Novel.

I'm reading Dubliners by James Joyce.

I like the Dubliners stories, but I find no symbolic "meaning" in them until reading the Spark Note commentary afterwards.

I just started American Woman by Susan Choi. Good so far.

I'm reading Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs and Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh.

Hi, Diana. Two different books you're reading!

I read Tarzan for our Classics Corner discussion here a couple of years ago. It was the first book that I read on my iPhone -- and also the last! Not the right format for me, I still love the feel of the book in my hands. But I'm likely to add a tablet reader at some point down the road.

I am readingThe Oracle of Stamboul and I truly enjoy it. Not a big book, but wonderfully written.

MAP wrote: "I'm reading The Ordeal of Elizabeth Marsh: A Woman in World History. On deck, is The Blindfold: A Novel."

Elizabeth Marsh sounds fascinating, MAP. I look forward to your thoughts after you finish it!

I'm reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Wonderful! Hadn't read this since a teenager. Now I want to read Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte, and see a couple of films from the books.

Marge

Just started Bridge of Sighs.

Ruth, when I was a teenager and living far away from any library, I used to spend a lot of time looking at the paperback rack of our local drugstore, and I didn't find much at all to read there, either. Agatha Christie was a joy when I did find one of her books. I know what you mean.

I'm thinking of reading Ahab's Wife. Has anyone read it?

I'm also reading The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie, which I started once and had to put aside. I don't generally like child narrators at all, but I do like Flavia. I think I'll read all the books in the series. I think a new one just came out or is due out soon.

Finished Zaat by Sonallah Ibrahim. I would give it a weak-ish recommend. In some ways it was quite good: Ibrahim captures (or it seems to me that he captures) the daily details of ground-level Cairo with a bleak, sometimes cynical humor. (A late chapter about what happens when the main character decides to report a jar of falsely dated olives to the Ministry of Health is masterful.) But the overall effect of the book is dreary, and unchangingly dreary. "Egypt is a dirty, corrupt mess, and the citizens of Cairo are without exception venal and ignorant"--that seems to be his point, and there's only so much of that you can take.

Gabrielle wrote: "Ruth, when I was a teenager and living far away from any library, I used to spend a lot of time looking at the paperback rack of our local drugstore, and I didn't find much at all to read there, ei..."

I liked Flavia too! I loved reading about a "gifted" girl! I have yet to read the next two in the series.

Marjorie wrote: "I'm reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. Wonderful! Hadn't read this since a teenager. Now I want to read Elizabeth Gaskell's biography of Charlotte, and see a couple of films from the books...."

Nice plan. I really want to read this again and Pride & Prejudice. Then the movies and good biographies. Perhaps that's a winter project if I remember it.

Gabrielle wrote: "Ruth, when I was a teenager and living far away from any library, I used to spend a lot of time looking at the paperback rack of our local drugstore, and I didn't find much at all to read there, ei..."

Don't blame the poor druggist. Those racks are provided and serviced by an outside contractor.

Gabrielle wrote: "Ruth, when I was a teenager and living far away from any library, I used to spend a lot of time looking at the paperback rack of our local drugstore, and I didn't find much at all to read there..."

I guess I was pretty lucky. Of the maybe 40 or so books in the revolving rack at my local drugstore, about a third of them were the old Signet Classics. I remember, at maybe age 13, buying my first serious book, Crime and Punishment for fifty cents.

Sherry wrote: "I can't believe it's August already. I'm reading a wonderful book of short stories, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Stories by Nathan Englander. I recommend the collection to anyon..."

Sherry, I'm reading The Ministry of Special Cases by the same author for one of my book clubs. I can't wait to hear what you think.

Ruth wrote: "Just finished God on the Rocks Selected it because I liked Old Filth so much. This book, however, wasn't nearly as good as OF. A little mannered."

Ruth wrote: "Just finished God on the Rocks Selected it because I liked Old Filth so much. This book, however, wasn't nearly as good as OF. A little mannered."

I suggest you read The Man with the Wooden Hat, It's the same story as Old Filth but from Betty's perspective, well, not exactly, but you'll see what I mean if you read it. Old Filth and The Man with the Wooden Hat are perfect companion books. I loved them both.

John wrote: "I like the Dubliners stories, but I find no symbolic "meaning" in them until reading the Spark Note commentary afterwards."

I love your post. It reminds me of how much I miss when I read, and why I love talking about books in a book club. Suddenly I can see so much more.

Recently finished Atonement -- at first I felt the pacing was too slow, but I couldn't put it down and by the end it became one of my all-time favorite reads.

Enjoyed The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival for the opportunity to delve into the culture, history, and ecology of a remote corner of the world (Russian Far East).

I'm concerned the next novel I read after Atonement can't help but pale in comparison, but I've finally settled on going back to the classics with Northanger Abbey.

Marjorie - I just watched the latest film adapation of Jane Eyre -- Mia Wasikowska gives an amazing performance as the heroine.

Jane wrote: I suggest you read The Man with the Wooden Hat, It's the same story as Old Filth but from Betty's perspective, well, not exactly, but you'll see what I mean if you read it. Old Filth and The Man with the Wooden Hat are perfect companion books. I loved them both.

I've read it, and enjoyed it very much. Now, on Sherry's recommendation, I'm reading For the Relief of Unbearable Urges: Stories

Greer, Atonement, for me, was just a solid book. Great history-- my favorite McEwan.

For my birthday I received A Moment in the Sun, by John Sayles who is a fiction writer better known for his films. This is a 950 page historical novel that takes place in the 1890's. It is rich with history: The Spanish American War, the acquisition of the Philippines, the Wilmington (NC) race riots of 1898. Well written, informative, but too long...... TMI. But Sayles is a terrific writer.

Kenneth Two wrote: "Greer, Atonement, for me, was just a solid book. Great history-- my favorite McEwan.

For my birthday I received A Moment in the Sun, by John Sayles who is a fiction writer better known for his fil..."

I saw an interview with him discussing this book a while ago and wondered about it. Maybe at some point I'll give it a look see.

Started listening to Beloved but have set it aside for the moment. I read another Carol Goodman book, The Seduction of Water, which was a quick, good read. I'm now listening to People of the Book, which is not what I thought it was at all! (I think I had it confused with another of her books: The Year of Wonders.) Nothing wrong with that, because it's very good, and the reader is hitting all the multi-cultural accents beautifully. A simple description is that it is about a very rare book and the hands and places it travels through, including Nazi Europe and 1990's war-torn Bosnia.

I've just begun to read The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier. It seems to be a series of linked stories. I love these in general and, in particular, this one is amazing. The illumination sets up the situations, but really the stories are about love and loss and marriage and death...all the things we read literature to explore. My friend Marylynn recommended the book to me and she is always dead-on smart about books. Her recommendations always have gorgeous sentences and interesting, complicated characters. I recommend it as a treat if you are reading for work or a book club and are not utterly delighted. This book, although somewhat painful (!) is delightful. Its sentences are delightful, maybe that's why I think so.

Gabrielle wrote: "Ruth, when I was a teenager and living far away from any library, I used to spend a lot of time looking at the paperback rack of our local drugstore, and I didn't find much at all to read there, ei..."

Gabrielle, I recently read Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-gazer. I thought it was good, but not great, by any means.

Jane, I absolutely loved Kevin Brockmeier's The Brief History of the Dead, which, as you say, is also delightful, if somewhat painful. I have The Illumination, but it is still among the unpacked books from my move a year ago (haven't yet replaced the rickety old bookcases I tossed at that time). The guy is an amazing writer.

I've decided to reread Heart of Darkness. Up the river I go....

A.J., beware of the horror and survive by virtue of rivets! When you're done watch "Apocalypse Now" again.

Based on a couple peeks into the discussion thread, I'm reading The Children's Book. I'm about of a third of the way through and am really impressed.

Next on my list may be Slavery by Another Name: The Re-Enslavement of Black Americans from the Civil War to World War II. I read The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration about a month ago, so I figure reading David Blackmon's account of industrial wage slavery in the eighty years after the Civil War might add an additional perspective to the upcoming discussion.