Books on the Nightstand discussion

Just to get the month started (Thanks, Eric, for reminding us) one that I've been working on is Michael Crichton's

I have started reading Gone With the Wind in anticipation of the session at Booktopia with Ellen F. Brown.

I'll be starting tomorrow.

I am reading Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman This is my second attempt...I wouldn't say it's dry, it's just drier than the historical fiction that I'm used to reading. I'm also getting ready to head to BEA in NY on Monday and I think the excitement is compromising my attention span.

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail is Oprah's new book club choice. A friend in NM recommended it, so I bought it in early April . . . moves to the front of my TBR pile today!

Listening to Arcadia, which is lovely, although not particularly quick-moving. I'm also reading The Happiness Project for book club, which is interesting, but I keep having the nagging feeling that I'm being lectured to. Like I should be feeling guilty for not appreciating my life more, or something.

I'm working on my "nightstand" books: By Heresies distressed by David Weber. I borrowed it over a year ago from my daughter. (sci-fi) There is a whole cast of characters to track, so it's not "light" reading!

For my lighter reading I'm reading: Every Day in Tuscany by Frances Mayes.

There are at least a dozen more books waiting on the nightstand...

i finished last night.

i started this morning.

I've just started Agatha Chrisie's Death on the Nile.

Callie wrote: "Listening to Arcadia, which is lovely, although not particularly quick-moving. I'm also reading The Happiness Project for book club, which is interesting, but I keep having the nagging feeling that..."

I felt the exact same way with that book!

finishing up

I'm reading iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us for work. For fun, I'm reading Foal's Bread by Aussie author Gillian Mears. Amazing.

@ Becky, how is that John Irving?

I've just come across some very nice short stories by Susan Glaspell, and I just discovered that she's also written a lot of plays - any of you know of her?

Louise wrote: "I've just come across some very nice short stories by Susan Glaspell, and I just discovered that she's also written a lot of plays - any of you know of her?"

Glaspell is very good indeed--an expert at letting information about her characters trickle out slowly and dramatically. I'm trying to get my local community theater to schedule a one-act play series that includes her masterful Trifles (which she later revised as the short story "A Jury of Her Peers").

Starting off June with The Expats because my name came up at the library and there is a long list behind me so I can't renew. I read over 100 pages last night - loving it! Next up is Brave New World and Girls in Trouble for by TBR challenges (oldest on list and oldest on bookshelf). Then, I've got 3 more Oxford Booktopia authors left to read: Tom Franklin, Suzanne Marrs, and Russ Kick. The Russ Kick book will count as my New in 2012 Challenge book for the month. And then I need to read the Faulkner for the challenge, The Sound and the Fury.I tried to read it in AP English in high school, but it ended up a no go. Hopefully I will be able to get into it this time. My summer group is reading Fifty Shades of Grey (gotta see what all the hype is about!) and another book TBD for June. Finally, I have to get in the 6th Harry Potter book for the 6th month... all leading up to me FINALLY reading the final/7th book next month for the TBR challenge.

Gonna be challenging to get this all in - especially the Oxford books before the Oxford retreat (sadly I'm not going so no biggie if I don't finish in time).

Oh, and I am listening to Wolf Hall on audio getting ready to listen to Bring up the Bodies for the Santa Cruz Booktopia.
. I am about 1/3 of the way through (about an hour left of the first of 3 files).

Amy wrote: "Starting off June with The Expats because my name came up at the library and there is a long list behind me so I can't renew. I read over 100 pages last night - loving it! Next up is Brave New Worl..."

wow

June I'll be reading


and hopefully finishing (finally


If I'm lucky, since I'll have several days off from work, I'll also have time to start and maybe finish

Finished Portrait of a Spy on my nook, The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child in print, and Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake on audio.

Currently reading Are You My Mother?: A Comic Drama, The Secrets of Mary Bowser and Mr. Midshipman Hornblower in print, and Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail on audio.

Am I ever glad that I have Wild checked out already - after Oprah's announcement, the wait list is ridiculous!

I'm starting off my summer reading with some great things - - I am almost finished with Julie Otsuka's "Buddha in the Attic" for a book group discussion tomorrow night. I am half finished with Leslie Maitland's "Crossing the Borders of Time" - - I wish I had someone to discuss it with! It is such a beautifully written book, and is a good reminder of how important Holocaust literature still is. Everytime I read something new that is based around WWII, I am amazed and impressed that there are still so many stories to tell, and so many ways to tell them. On that topic I just recently finished "Not Me" by Michael LaVigne which was very intriguing, and also read a Kindle Single by Dara Horn called "The Rescuer" with was excellent. I'd be curious to hear from other readers what Holocaust and/or WWII literature you've read, which has been published recently, that you've really enjoyed and/or gotten a lot out of?

Janet wrote: "@ Becky, how is that John Irving?"

typical odd John Irving & I am enjoying it !!

has any one read the wild i have it on my list

@ melodie,

i'm on a long waiting list at my library. hopefully i'll get it by the end of the summer.

are you going to oxford

@ melodie,

i can't make it this year. i have a little one, so that makes it difficult to travel right now.

ok if you want to send me you address i have a extra copy of the wild i be glad to send you my email is [email protected]

I'm half way through The Red Book and am listening to The Newlyweds. Next I'm working my way through the Santa Cruz authors.
Just read The Baker's Daughter and am waiting for South with the Sun and Memoirs of an Imaginary Child. Late May I read Heft and Cain.

I just finished An Uncommon Whore which I loved. And I'm about 2/3 thru Morning Star which has been ok so far.

melodie wrote: "has any one read the wild i have it on my list"

Just cracked it open - will let you know soon.

I am reading the latest Lisa Lutz, 'Trail of the Spellmans" She is fantastic. Also, the car book on audio, is "Maine" by J. Courtney Sullivan.

I just finished The Yard by Alex Grecian and now need to choose between Animal Farm by Orwell, As I Lay Dying by Faulkner, or Nothing to Lose by Lee Child (A Reacher Novel). Any suggestions?

just finished The Sense of an Ending...really good!

Pamela wrote: "I'm starting off my summer reading with some great things - - I am almost finished with Julie Otsuka's "Buddha in the Attic" for a book group discussion tomorrow night. I am half finished with Les..."

My two recommendations would be Half Blood Blues which I read (and loved) for The Readers Podcast Summer Book Club. Also The Invisible Bridge which Ann steered me toward and I really loved.

I just finished Shanghai Girls which I LOVED and highly recommend. Also "Home" by Toni Morrison completely blew me away. I'd never read any of her work, and I picked it up at the library just on a whim. I definitely want to read more Lisa See and Toni Morrison now!

Sue wrote: "I am reading the latest Lisa Lutz, 'Trail of the Spellmans" She is fantastic. Also, the car book on audio, is "Maine" by J. Courtney Sullivan."

Sue, you have to give your opinion of Maine when you're finished. I had started a discussion on it but don't read it until you finish the book.

I've had a pretty enjoyable couple of weeks with the books I've read. First up was The Devil All the Time which I absolutely loved. It was dark and violent and had some of the most revolting perverted characters I've ever encountered in a book yet I could not put it down. I don't know what that says about me, but I am now a huge fan of Donald Ray Pollack and am trying to get my hands on his short story collection. To counter all that darkness I picked up Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir. I had never heard of the author whomI guess is a popular blogger, but her stories, especially the conversations she has with her husband had me laughing out loud.
Then I read Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail which I found to be really well written and made me want to plan a hike! And finally I read Portnoy's Complaint. I have never read anything by Philip Roth and I'm not sure this is the book I should have started with, but it left me wanting to read more by him.
Now I am in the middle of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk: A Novel...just started so no opinion yet.

Pat wrote: "Sue wrote: "I am reading the latest Lisa Lutz, 'Trail of the Spellmans" She is fantastic. Also, the car book on audio, is "Maine" by J. Courtney Sullivan."

Sue, you have to give your opinion of ..."

Will do! :-)

Shona wrote: "First up was The Devil All the Time which I absolutely loved. It was dark and violent and had some of the most revolting perv..."

I second that! I read this for book club last month and I was shocked at how much I enjoyed such a dark book, with yes, VERY perverted characters. I guess sometimes it is just fun to go along with wild characters so far outside the realm of my reality.

I just finished The Rook by Daniel O 'Malley and now I'm enjoying Ready Player One by Ernest Cline-I'm past halfway with this one. Even though I wouldn't read much from this type of genre I love both books.The storylines were great and fluent which made me wanting more from these two writers.Both books are definitely pag turners!It's amazing how some things about books can change your mind.Also even though these two books are incredibly long, they are must reads on my list and I would recommend them to any bookworm who loves to read.

I'm reading .

Finished , and while I appreciated the research (and may pursue some of the books she mentioned), I grew tired of the author about halfway through the book, and if I read about her commandment to "Be Gretchen" one more time, this library book might have been flung into the pool. I am amused that a book on happiness left me so irritated.

In trying to figure out what to read next, I looked at my TBR list, and felt overwhelmed at the ~190 titles. I decided I would let someone else choose for me, so I used a random number generator, excluded the top 7 books (the ones remaining for +12 in '12), and went with book #39- . Thanks random number generator!

I've also been reading a lot of poetry lately. I picked up Horoscopes for the Dead (I LOVE Billy Collins), which is great (I recommend "Hangover"), and grabbed a small collection of works by Carl Sandburg from the library. Embarrassingly, I've never read any Sandburg before, but I'm glad I've discovered him now.

I'm reading Touched by an Alien a humouristic paranormal romance. I needed something light and it just fits the bill.
I'm also listening to Nocturnal an excellent horror from Scott Sigler as expected.

Callie wrote: "I looked at my TBR list, and felt overwhelmed at the ~190 titles. I decided I would let someone else choose for me, so I used a random number generator..."

I have over 700 on my TBR - lol. Random number generator idea is fantastic!!!

Callie, you won't be disappointed.

Shona wrote: "I've had a pretty enjoyable couple of weeks with the books I've read. First up was The Devil All the Time which I absolutely loved. It was dark and violent and had some of the most revolting perv..."

I also read "The Devil All the Time" and felt exactly like you did! The writing was genius in creating a book with such hateful characters, but wrote it in such a way that it was difficult to put the book down! I loved this book.

Lisa
http://thebookbags.blogspot.ca/

Becky wrote: "Pamela wrote: "I'm starting off my summer reading with some great things - - I am almost finished with Julie Otsuka's "Buddha in the Attic" for a book group discussion tomorrow night. I am half fi..."

I just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fanby Lisa See and loved it. I, like you, would like to read more Lisa See books!

Lisa
http://thebookbags.blogspot.ca/

I just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fanand really really enjoyed it. I love Chinese history. It's so interesting!

Tonight I'm starting The Fault in Our Stars- Finished it...very good!

Currently reading - Running With Scissors

Lisa
http://thebookbags.blogspot.ca/

Lisa wrote: "Becky wrote: "Pamela wrote: "I'm starting off my summer reading with some great things - - I am almost finished with Julie Otsuka's "Buddha in the Attic" for a book group discussion tomorrow night...."

So I was going to dive right into Dreams of Joy, the follow up toShanghai Girls (I didn't know that Shanghai Girls was part of a series. . but loved the characters so much that I'm glad it is. . . don't let that dissuade the person out there who stays away from series, is it Tanya?). . . but anyway, I thought I'd take a break from 1950's Chinese communist repression and read about North Korean oppression instead. . . so just finished Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West. Oh my god, if I could recommend just one book to everyone, it would be this one.

Read it! Read it!

It's an unbelievable, amazing story. . . I was so moved, that even though I'm your average peace-nik lefty, by the end I was thinking, "we really should invade North Korea! They're really horrible there!". . . and also wanting to donate to a North Korean refugee cause. . .

Thank you Ann for recommending it.

Becky wrote: "So I was going to dive right into Dreams of Joy, the follow up toShanghai Girls (I didn't know that Shanghai Girls was part of a series. . but loved the characters so much that I'm glad it is. . . don't let that dissuade the person out there who stays away from series, is it Tanya?). . .

There are two Tanyas on this list but the shoe fits me! I generally read stand-alones and first-in-series. That said, I have read the first 52 titles in the Nancy Drew Mysteries (in the mid-seventies), all forty-gabillion of Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles/II books; the Andy Carpenter series (by David Rosenfelt; narrated by Grover Gardner); and I have a good feeling about James Lee Burke's Robicheaux series. Still, the first-in-series always has a certain concentrated essence of the author's writing that I love :-)

That having been said, the first Jack Reacher book is not the best.

I have a love/hate relationship with series. When the first book is really good, I can't wait to read them all but I still resent the fact that series take up so much reading time that could be spent on stand-alones. It's rare for every book in a series to be a "home run".