What are you reading ?

Wow, we sure did have it made on AOL boards, didn't we.
But I'm sure we'll adjust.
I tried again Alias and MADE it.
They sent an invite to my email address and I followed the link back and figured it out.
THANKS!!

I am enjoying a bit of hard-boiled mystery thriller in James Lee Burke's Tin Roof Blowdown. It has been checked out of our library for months, but I found a copy in large print (no glasses required)! I like Burke anyway, but since we toured Katrina ravaged New Orleans a year ago, the story seems especially poignant.

I am in between and can't decide what to read next. I have Teacher Man by McCourt and One Minute to Midnight. And I am waiting on Crossing to Safety from the library. I've spent way too much time on the computer, and haven't read a thing in two days.

I did just finish a book on Van Gogh. In The Footsteps of Van Gogh. As the title implies gives you his bio along with photo's of the places where he grew up. It also has photo's of some of his paintings.

I also read a YA book about him titled, Vincent Van Gogh by Greenberg & Jordan that was excellent.

I just finished reading Deep Pockets by Linda Barnes, one in the Carlotta Carlysle series - she's a PI/cab driver. Am now reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson.

Hmm, I didn't put in a graphic when I joined, wonder what my post will look like?

I'm currently reading, Teacher Man by Frank McCourt. I really loved Angela's Ashes, and Tis.

This one I think is a bit of a rehash of Tis. Though if you are a teacher I think you would enjoy it a lot.

I am in the middle of "Serena", Ron Rash's newest book. It is excellent, as are most of Rash's books, but it is heavy.
http://www.amazon.com/Serena-Novel-Ron-R...

Yesterday I received an ARC of "Never Tell a Lie" by Hallie Ephron who is a book reviewer for The Boston Globe. And yes, she is one of THOSE Ephrons. Anyway, I started it today and was instantly hooked.
http://www.amazon.com/Never-Tell-Lie-Nov...

I just needed a short break from "Serena".

I'm reading Amazing Gracie. It was a gift. It is written by one of the men who started THREE DOG BAKERY. It's about a puppy he gets who is deaf and nearly blind. A Great Dane.
It really is a cute book.

I had a brindle great dane when I was growing up. People were so frightened of the dog because of her size, but she really was so gentle. Later on I got a mix bread dog that looked like a shaggy dog. Everyone wanted to pet him. Kids called out...Hey look The Shaggy DA. However, the dog would take your arm off.

I've added Amazing Gracie to my TBR list, though I still am getting over my crying jag when I read Marley Me.

I loved Amazing Gracie and wish it had gotten more "press".

We have plans to see "Marley and Me" on Christmas night (it opens that day). Some of it was filmed locally near West Chester (PA) University, a nice little college town, and my husband was an extra. They also used his car a lot. I am sure the car will get more screen time than my husband. They had him driving it up and down and around for two days.

That is neat, JoAnn. I didn't know they were making a movie of Marley.

I don't know if I could see a movie like Marley in a theater. I think I would be too embarrased by my crying. lol

I started Marley and me and was enjoying what I was reading but for some reason I put it aside to start something else probably Infidel and I haven't picked it up since. So hopefully I'll get back to reading it soon. At the moment I'm going to push myself today to finish Under the Duvet finally only 37 pages left to read. And one other book that I'll be able to zip though the last short story. Then I had stopped at the library today and got A Good Women by Danielle Steel (couldn't pass it up since I wanted to read the book it's on my list and I would normally have to reserve it but they have a limited amt of extra books that sit on the small cart that even though it might be on the reserve list you can get. So if you reserved it and see if you get ahead of everyone else or if you hadn't reserve it you can get it. It's kind of weird they do it but they do. Also got Domestic Affairs by Eileen Goudge. So now I have to try and get though these so my sister can read them next. And I'm hoping that I'll be almost done before going to the shore next thursday so I don't have to take a hc with me. I looked for Stegner's book but they didn't have it. I don't think they have a copy since I looked on their website the other day. So I don't think I'll be reading it after all. Unless check at the shore next week if they have it at the ubs. I have this weird feeling I used to own this book. But I got rid of it before reading.

I'm reading "Crossing to Safety," and just finished "God's Harvard" by Hannah Rosin. It's a fascinating and well-written piece about Patrick Henry College, which was started to train fundamentalist kids to be political activists. God's Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America

Sarah, God's Harvard is on my "to be reserved" list at the library. The topic is fascinating to me.

I was tellling a friend about the recent van Gogh book I read.(Vincent van Gogh by Greenberg & Jordan) She said she had some terrific books on him that she would lend me. Well, she lent me 2 large, oversized, gorgeous books on his works. And two other books that I can't wait to start. One is: Portrait of Dr. Gachet- The story of a van Gogh masterpiece, money, politics, collectors, greed and loss by Cynthia Saltzman.

Amazon Review: Only a few weeks before his 1890 suicide, Vincent van Gogh painted a portrait of Paul-Ferdinand Gachet, a local physician the painter had been fruitlessly consulting about his depression. Upon his death, the painting, like much of van Gogh's work, went to his brother, Theo. A few years later, Theo's widow sold it for 300 francs (worth, then, $58). In 1990, a wealthy Japanese businessman paid $82.5 million at a Christie's auction for it and promptly hid it away in a Tokyo warehouse, where it presumably remains to this day.

Cynthia Saltzman traces the painting's provenance through a century of art collecting and cultural politics. Along the way, the portrait passes through--among others--the hands of early modernist collectors, the Nazi regime (where it was shown as part of an exhibit of "degenerate" art), and New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. In addition to a detailed account of the circumstances of each change of possession (it slipped out of the Nazis' hands, for example, when Herman Goerring needed a quick transfusion of hard currency), Saltzman provides a sensitive appraisal of the changing critical reputation of van Gogh and of the fluctuating market for "masterpieces" on canvas. Portrait of Dr. Gachet is an art history which never loses sight of the fact that art history is always a subset of a larger history


The other book is : The Kennedy Curse by Edward Klein.

Amazon Review: Once again, on a day that should have been full of joy and celebration, America's first family was struck by the Kennedy Curse.In this probing expose, renowned Kennedy biographer Edward Klein-a bestselling author and journalist personally acquainted with many members of the Kennedy family-unravels one of the great mysteries of our time and explains why the Kennedys have been subjected to such a mind-boggling chain of calamities.Drawing upon scores of interviews with people who have never spoken out before, troves of private documents, archives in Ireland and America, and private conversations with Jackie, Klein explores the underlying pattern that governs the Kennedy Curse. The reader is treated to penetrating portraits of the Irish immigrant Patrick Kennedy; Rose Kennedy's father, "Honey Fitz"; the dynasty's founding father Joe Kennedy and his ill-fated daughter Kathleen, President Kennedy, accused rapist William Kennedy Smith, and the star-crossed lovers, JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette. Each of the seven profiles demonstrates the basic premise of this book: The Kennedy Curse is the result of the destructive collision between the Kennedy's fantasy of omnipotence-an unremitting desire to get away with things that others cannot-and the cold, hard realities of life.

So my reading plans are to start Crossing to Safety in the next few days, and then probably the van Gogh book and after that the Kennedy book.

have any of you ever read the warriors saga

I have Tin Roof Blowdoan on my shelf and now that I have finished my "assignments" I intend to get to it.

Alias,
I agree -- I think Tis isn't quite so terrific but if you are a teacher (or ever were -- which is my case) you would enjoy it.

I've been reading George Hamilton's autobiography. I think it's called Don't Mind If I Do. To say his mother was a 'loose woman' is to put it mildly. I don't know how he remembered all the men or all the places he lived growing up.

In the Dancing With The Stars chapter, he talks about the huge crush he developed on Stacy Kiebler.........that was not returned. He came into the show with lots of injuries, and he said the doctors shot him up with lots of that Human Growth Hormone and steroids stuff, so he says he was acting like a teenager again! He's certainly not the best actor, but he's good to look at and certainly has many intersting stories of old Hollywood.

Donna in Southern Maryland

I am reading Anita Shreve's TESTIMONY and will say that the author that I loved is back again after a couple of losers. This is not a pretty story, but she tells it well.

Thanks JoAnn. I'll consider putting Testimony on my list.

Oh, I finally got around to The Year of Magical Thinking. It was on my DL and it is already November. Sobering -- and reading it just after Crossing to Safety has a particular frame of reference as well.

I'm STILL waiting on Crossing to Safety.

Donna.. I love listening to the old actors on talk shows telling old stories. Michael Caine; Peter Sellers, etc... now the press makes everyone look bad...
when you hear the old stories of the drinking etc... its funny. Ya hear about it in present day and we think they are all troubled actors.

The best old actors I liked to listen to were Richard Harris and Peter O'Toole. They cracked me up. No doubt they both had drinking problems, but they sure were wild and crazy!Especially when they were together.

I am currently reading and really enjoying Very Valentine, Adriana Trigiani's upcoming novel - about a company in Greenwich Village that has made custom wedding shoes for over 100 years.

Looks like I'm taking Terry Pratchett's satiric fantasy The Color of Magic, and Margaret Truman's Murder at the Smithsonian to the beach tomorrow. I finally finished up with Behind the Scenes at the Museum (reviewed by me on GoodReads) and Tom Tryon's horror classic, Harvest Home. The latter was still very creepy, but not as good as I remembered from my earlier days. The extreme sex and violence at the end made me squirm, though I think the novel is well crafted.

I am reading The Zion Gate by Brock and Bodie Theone. This is the first book in the Zion Chronicles. I am really enjoying the book.

Finished a Suzanne Brockmann book and started a Lora Leigh book which I finished awhile ago. Just in the mood to read fast books or books that grab me. I read almost a whole book today. I did go outside to just put stuff in the mail this afternoon but that was it.

I finally broke down and ought myself a Christmas/birthday present of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle. While I keep saying I'm sticking to shorter fiction, I was convinced to spend the cash and time because two groups are reading it for January. Plus it is set in rural Wisconsin, which is always something I like. I'm 130 pages into it and very happy indeed.

I just finished, Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda. I enjoyed it very much. He tells about growing up and his career. At times it is lol funny, and other times quite sad. Especially the part about his mother's mental illness. I would recommend it.

Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: And Other Things I've Learned

I finished another DL book Shelf Life by Suzanne Strempek Shea and started and read another DL E-Mail to the front by Alesia Holliday which is excellent. Can't wait to get back to reading it. It has you almost laughing at time and almost crying at other times. It's her true story of her life done in emails and other she's a wife alone when her military husband is deployed and she has 2 children. I'm still making a good dent in Voyager so I'm hoping that will be finished up in the next few days.

Right now I'm reading Run, by Ann Patchett, for my local group. The story involves two families: a man with three sons, two adopted, and the family of the woman who gave the sons up for adoption, and who has a daughter. The wrinkle is that the woman has secretly been following the lives and she saves one from being struck by a car. It's OK, but isn't grabbing and shaking me.

I also just started Truman Capote's 1958 novella, Breakfast at Tiffany's. I began in bed last night, and flew through 35 pages before I was too tired to continue. So far, it's altogether charming. Can you believe I have never seen the movie. My DH is going to read it too, and we'll watch the film together.

I am currently reading Team of Rivals.

In a few days I plan to start, Lazy B.

And after that I will start our monthly read, Founding Brothers.

Team of Rivals The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Lazy B

Founding Brothers The Revolutionary Generation

Alias Reader wrote: "What are you reading ? "

I'm currently reading "Cutting For Stone" by Verghese. I know I made a resolution not to read anything longer than 500 pages this year, but heck, I never kept any other New Year's resolutions, so why should I bother keeping that one. The book is excellent and it's one of those that, when I put it down (like now!) I can't wait to pick it up again.

I am trying out a link, reading Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin. Sometime soon I will start the monthly read, but I'm a little put out by the negative reviews to far. Founding Brothers The Revolutionary Generation

Edit: Ooh, it worked!!

I just started Out, a Japanese murder mystery by Natsuo Kirino, for the Constant Reader group here at Goodreads. I'm not sure how I feel about it. The past year or so I've lost my taste for thrillers and mysteries, pretty much. This one has a wife killing her loutish husband, and her friends disposing of the corpse in a particularly grisly way. It's going fast, but I have the urge to wash my hands after I shut the covers.

I'm listening to The Art of Racing in the Rain for my local face to face group. Gotta say that I'm not digging the anthropomorphic doggie narrator. I have a sinking feeling that it's going got be too sentimental for my taste. We shall see. I can't tolerate syrupy stories.

My favorite of the bunch right now is The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I grabbed it about ten days ago when I had finished my other books and didn't want to get anything from the library before our trip. This copy has been on the shelf as long as we have been married. I love Franklin's no-nonsense recollection of growing up, first jobs, starting a subscription library, and so on. I read him before bed.

Carol/Bonadie wrote: "I am trying out a link, reading Hide and Seek by Ian Rankin. Sometime so..."

Oh gosh Carol, don't go by what I said. Founding Fathers has lots of interesting stuff in it. It's just that when I read for pleasure, I want to truly enjoy what I'm reading. You might love this book! Give it a chance.

Sherry: My favorite of the bunch right now is The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. I grabbed it about ten days ago when I had finished my other books and didn't want to get anything from the library before our trip. This copy has been on the shelf as long as we have been married. I love Franklin's no-nonsense recollection of growing up, first jobs, starting a subscription library, and so on. I read him before bed.

---------------------------------

Sherry, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin has been on my TBR stacks for quite a long time. Your positive reaction makes me want to move it up the queue.

----------------------------------
Sherry: The past year or so I've lost my taste for thrillers and mysteries, pretty much.
------------------------------------

Isn't it funny how our reading tastes change. I used to read legal thrillers, cop/detective and Stephen King type reads. Then with the advent of Oprah's book club I read more literary fiction. Now I am a non fiction biography and history girl.

That is why I like to keep a journal. It lets you look back and see how your reading tastes have changed. My only regret is not starting a book jnl upon graduating college. I started mine in 1999. I think I started it when I got into the AOL Oprah book club.

I find it fascinating that all this time later Franklin's AUTOBIOGRAPHY can hold our interest so well. When i read it as a kid i admired his goal setting & "rules." As an adult it was his varied life which fascinated me. And i often see it on lists of Top 100 nonfiction.

Alias, you mentioned keeping a journal, which informs you of your own changing trends. I noticed that when i transferred mine recently. I knew i went through a sci-fi stage, as well as a mystery stage but not the numbers. Wow! It was one after another, sometimes several a week...and that was when the kids were still at home.Curiously, now that they are gone, my reading is more eclectic. Probably because i can focus better, so needn't limit myself to "simple" story lines & types.

I am actually reading 4 books at once.

So I am reading -- "Team of Rivals", and "Founding Brothers" and "I am Not a Cop" by Richard Belzer -- this is a light crime novel which I am enjoying immensely and "Peony In Love" by Lisa See which I am reading for my F2F group.

"Peony In Love" is a Chinese fantasy from the period when women in China still had their feet bound. I am enjoying it. There is an interesting dicotomy (sp?) between the old traditions which totally debased women and the strength of the female characters.

Bobbie57 wrote: There is an interesting dicotomy (sp?) between the old traditions which totally debased women and the strength of the female characters.

That's something that's always interesting about the women characters in Chinese novels, isn't it? With bound feet they're nearly completely immobilized and isolated from the world outside their home. Yet they still manage to survive all the vicissitudes of life in China in the 19th and 20th centuries and they rule their homes, whether with an iron fist or simply gentle pressure and implacability.

Bobbie--or would you still prefer we call you Barbara?(old habits)--i am certain i couldn't keep reading four books at once straight in my mind. It seems the only way i can read two books at once is if one is NF & the other a novel. Two history works would throw me so far out of kilter i'd be brushing the rings of Saturn, i'm sure.

deborah

madrano wrote: "Bobbie--or would you still prefer we call you Barbara?(old habits)--i am certain i couldn't keep reading four books at once straight in my mind. It seems the only way i can read two books at once i..."

And Deborah I see you're signing Deb now. Is that what you want us to call you? The numbers of Donnas and Debbies and Nancys among board members is astonishing, isn't it? I guess we always knew there were several and differentiated names, but seeming them in a list makes the numbers obvious.

And Deborah I see you're signing Deb now. Is that what you want us to call you?

You know, i have been bouncing back & forth on this & doubt i'll remember which i agreed to sign. I've been debating just letting the madrano stand on its own & not signing but i'm bad enough with names. It is disconcerting to see someone mention Deborah's post & think, "I didn't write that!" For now i'll stick with deborah, lower case. That's case, not caste but maybe lower class.

deborah

Deborah said: " I've been debating just letting the madrano stand on its own & not signing but i'm bad enough with names"

Sorry, Deborah, I'll never manage the lower case. My pinkie automatically jerks to the shift key.

I like it when people are signing at the bottom of their posts. I know its a holdover habit from AOL, but I can keep track of who said what better when I see a signature. Also, if it's a longer post, that brown bar that announces post number and "posted by" disappears at the top of the screen. Hey, it's out there at the very top of my Goodreads profile now: I'm 55 and I cannot be expected to remember whose post I'm reading clear to the bottom.

Jan, the infirm O'Cat

If you are complaining about your memory when you are a kid of 55 how can I possibly make sense when I am about to be 73.

So OK Mother -- I will sign my name --
Barbara

JanOMalleycat wrote: "madrano wrote: "Bobbie--or would you still prefer we call you Barbara?(old habits)--i am certain i couldn't keep reading four books at once straight in my mind. It seems the only way i can read two..."

I usually signed my posts on AOL Barbara as there aren't too many people left alive in the world who actually call me Bobbie. But I don't object either way. Just don't call me late for dinner. OK Stop groaning -- it must be reading the Belzer novel that is doing it to me.

Barbara

madrano wrote: "Bobbie--or would you still prefer we call you Barbara?(old habits)--i am certain i couldn't keep reading four books at once straight in my mind. It seems the only way i can read two books at once i..."

Reading lots of things at once is probably an old habit from college. OK -- so it is a very old habit. But as I was a History major and an English minor the amount of reading that I had at any one time was sometimes ridiculous. This is nothing by comparison.

Barbara

Hi all! It's been a long time since I've been to BookNook. Having just discovered Goodreads, I'm addicted!

I just finished THE GLASS CASTLE and it's going to be a Top Read for me this year. I downloaded THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO to my Kindle but haven't really gotten into it yet.

Bobbie57 wrote: Just don't call me late for dinner. OK Stop groaning -- it must be reading the Belzer novel that is doing it to me.

LOL! I'm looking more & more forward to reading that, old jokes & all, Barbara. And thanks for the reply about being able to read so many books at one time. This explains why i can't--never studied enough.;-)

deborah

Sally wrote: "Hi all! It's been a long time since I've been to BookNook. Having just discovered Goodreads, I'm addicted!

I just finished THE GLASS CASTLE and it's going to be a Top Read for me this year. I down..."

==========================

Welcome, Sally ! What was your AOL name?
You might want to go to your Account and put:
Sally/your aol screen name.

Anyway, glad you found us here.

I read Glass Castle for my F2F book group and I liked it a lot. It's amazing how the kids survived that crazy home life.