Fall 2012 - What are you reading & why?

[Janice, Moderator]

Welcome to Fall 2012. Hopefully, starting a new thread will alleviate some of the problems people are having when using Goodread apps on various devices. Scrolling through multiple pages can be a pain.

[Nicole]

Rebecca...enjoying it.

[Chrissie]

Finished The Polski Affair
Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Starting: The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War I. Another book about WW1. A true story.

[Amber]

This weekend I have a goal of 3 books. I have to finish The Age of Miracles for my buddy read, I need to read The Store for my August-September read for another GR group and I want to get through another yellow book for my rainbow, The Yellow Birds, which arrived on my doorstep just this week. (There's nothing like the smell of new pages to welcome you home from a long day at work!)

[Janice, Moderator]

You're going to have a read-a-thon to yourself, Amber. You won't be able to put The Store down.

[[deleted user]]

Picked up the second Campion book, which is looking good. Mystery Mile
Also had Old Bear Stories arrive after winning a GR giveaway. It looks lovely - I'm too young to have had this read to me, so I may have to dip into that.

[Judy]

I just finished My review is here. Now its off to and my first rainbow.

[Chrissie]

Helen, gosh I remember those books by Jane Hissey. My daughter and I loved those!

[[deleted user]]

Opps. Got that wrong. I meant they were published after I was at a suitable age, so I'm coming to them for the first time.

[Chrissie]

Helen, Hissey is a great child's author. Enjoy now then.

[Chrissie]

I finished the audiobook The Sandcastle Girls. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

My last try for Victorian lit will be North and South. The narration by Juliet Stevenson is perfect. When you start some audiobooks you know this immediately.

[Janice, Moderator]

Chrissie wrote: "I finished the audiobook The Sandcastle Girls. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

My last try for Victorian lit will be North and South. The narration by Juliet Stevenson is..."

I was just reviewing my to-read and to-listen-to shelves to see if I have books that I could use in my various challenges. I realized I could count The Sandcastle Girls as Syria in Around The World and swap out one of the selections for which I haven't acquired the books yet.

[Chrissie]

I didn't know where to put The Sandcastle Girls. I was torn between Armenia and Syria. It is about the Armenian genocide, clearly. However, it takes place in Aleppo, Syria. I place my books by where they take place so finally I changed it to Syria. Aleppo was then part of the Ottoman Empire. As I see it, it doesn't really matter. I also have another book to read for Syria: The Dark Side of Love, which I also have sitting here next to my desk!

[Janice, Moderator]

The book page shows the setting as Syria, which is what made the determination for me. I have this book on my "new release challenge" too, so I can double dip. :)

[Janice, Moderator]

I just started reading The Sugar Camp Quilt for my irl bookclub which meets on Thursday night. I'm annoyed that it is set in Pennsylvania. It has such a pretty yellow cover.

[Amber]

Janice wrote: "You're going to have a read-a-thon to yourself, Amber. You won't be able to put The Store down."

You're right about that! I read half of it before bed last night and am now picking it up to finish this afternoon.

[Shirley]

Sadie Shapiro's Knitting Book



Made the mistake of looking through the TBR pile in the bedroom. After a few pages I was hooked.

This edition was Reader's Digest Best Sellers 1973 $5.95 and this one is not condensed. So cute!

[Kat]

I'm reading Matched to satisfy my dystopian addiction and Flowertown to satisfy my adult post-apocalyptic addiction.

On a completely different front, I've gone back to War and Remembrance and slowly working my way through it!

[Janice, Moderator]

Yellow alert!! , Flowertown is set in Iowa. Quick, add to your yellow rainbow lists.

[Kimberly]

Kat wrote: "I'm reading Matched to satisfy my dystopian addiction and Flowertown to satisfy my adult post-apocalyptic addiction.

On a completely diffe..."

Can't wait to see what you think of Matched when it's done Kat :)

[Kat]

Janice wrote: "Yellow alert!! , Flowertown is set in Iowa. Quick, add to your yellow rainbow lists."

Hehe I was wondering which Rainbow Fanatic would notice that one first ;-)

[Sam]

I've got three books on the go at the moment with Earth, Inversions and Death du Jour, all of which feed into my rainbow challenge ;-)

[Janice, Moderator]

Kat wrote: "Janice wrote: "Yellow alert!! , Flowertown is set in Iowa. Quick, add to your yellow rainbow lists."

Hehe I was wondering which Rainbow Fanatic would notice that o..."

I have a sneaky suspicion that I will never look at covers the same way. I'll be checking yellow books for setting, indigo books for publishing date, red books for author's last name for a long time after this challenge is over. *sigh*

[Nicole]

finished Rebecca 4 stars. now starting A Thousand Splendid Suns

[Chrissie]

I finished The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War I
Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

and have started First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers

[Pragya]

Chrissie wrote: "I finished The Englishman's Daughter: A True Story of Love and Betrayal in World War I
Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

and have started First They Killed My Father: A Daughte..."

Chrissie, let me know how you find First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers. I have it on my to-read shelf.

[Chrissie]

Pragya, OK.

[Shirley]

Started

Happy Hour



one of the whispersync bargains and I needed a fluff book after
The Orchardist

[[deleted user]]

Nicole wrote: " now starting A Thousand Splendid Suns"

That's some book. it's my real life reading group read this month. I suspect it'll prompt a fair amount of discussion.

[Judy]

I needed a fluff book after
The Orchardist

How did you find The Orchardist, Shirley?

[Shirley]

Judy wrote: " I needed a fluff book after
The Orchardist

How did you find The Orchardist, Shirley?"

I loved it and the narrator can move in tonight! His voice soothing and perfect. Feel free to look at my review.

[jaxnsmom]

Amber wrote: "I want to get through another yellow book for my rainbow, The Yellow Birds, which arrived on my doorstep just this week. (There's nothing like the smell of new pages to welcome you home from a long day at work!)"

This morning I got an e-mail from my library that The Yellow Birds is available from my holds list. I'm so far behind on September books that I'm trying to put off picking it up until Friday or Saturday, but it's such a temptation... You'll probably get to it before me, so you'll have to let me know what you think of it.

[Jennifer]

Janice wrote: "I just started reading The Sugar Camp Quilt for my irl bookclub which meets on Thursday night. I'm annoyed that it is set in Pennsylvania. It has such a pretty yellow cover."

Why are you annoyed that it's set in Pennsylvania?

[Amber]

jaxnsmom wrote: "Amber wrote: "I want to get through another yellow book for my rainbow, The Yellow Birds, which arrived on my doorstep just this week. (There's nothing like the smell of new pages to welcome you ho..."

I finished it before bed last night (quick read-read it in 2 sittings). 4 stars. The chapters alternate between the war and when he's back home after the war, and I thought it made it pretty suspenseful. As you're reading, you know of a certain outcome, and reading the before and the after and trying to piece how its all going to meet in the middle really made the pages fly by. And obviously this is a work of fiction, but you know there's some reality mixed in with the story (the author is an Iraq war vet), especially in the war scenes, and it really just makes you take a step back and think about what it was like for the soldiers through all of this. I think for me this particular story had a bigger impact than those I've read about wars in our past because this is today, the times that I'm living in and it's the people around me and people I know. Hopefully you're able to fit it into your reading schedule and enjoy it as well!

[Janice, Moderator]

Jennifer wrote: "Janice wrote: "I just started reading The Sugar Camp Quilt for my irl bookclub which meets on Thursday night. I'm annoyed that it is set in Pennsylvania. It has such a pretty yellow cover."

Why Why are you annoyed that it's set in Pennsylvania?
"

LOL! Because if it was set in Iowa or Idaho, I could have counted it towards the rainbow challenge.

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished Let Me In on audiobook today so will start The Statues that Walked: Unraveling the Mystery of Easter Island for my around the world challenge.

I also started Red Glass in iBook for y rainbow challenge.

[Kimberly]

I'm starting Reliquary by Douglas Preston, it's the sequel to Relic which I really enjoyed so I can't wait to see what happens in this book. I'm also starting Sea Change by James Powlik I'm really into the whole monsters theme right now.

[[deleted user]]

I've just finished Mystery Mile. Really good and kept me on my toes most of the way through. He's becomming less Whimsey-esque, although I'm wondering if he has Bertie Wooster overtones. Lugg is a most unusual character!

[Susan]

I am reading for my book club, and listening to the audio of . I do so enjoy when the book covers coordinate -- this time in both colors and the depiction of rivers. One time i was reading five books and they all have red and black covers. Okay, I'm weird.

[Pragya]

Now we know how Susan picks up her current reads. ;)

[Almeta]

I've been reading . This is a booklet of various birds, their picture, habitat, and description of the sounds they make, both in song and as calls, with accompanying CDs of the actual sounds and narrated pointers for recognition.

I live next to a narrow strip of woodland along the banks of a creek. Hear all kinds of forest sounds but can't identify their origins, mostly because of the foliage cover. I borrowed this from the library to learn more about the birds in my backyard.

Will check it out again next spring, when the chorus is greater!

[Judy]

Susan wrote: "I am reading for my book club, and listening to the audio of . I do so enjoy when the book covers coordinate -- this time ..."

That sounds like a plum of a reason to read them. :-)

[[deleted user]]

That's a fab idea, Almeta. When i was running I'd often see & hear birds but not be able to identify them. partly that's 'coz i couldn't see them in the distance - i run without my glasses!

Anyway, got home with a pile of library books to find a GR giveaway prize on the doorstep. Shadow of the Horsemen. And opened it to find it signed and with a personalised dedication. how lovely. I'm already well disposed towards it.

[Shirley]

Almeta wrote: "I've been reading . This is a booklet of various birds, their picture, habit, and description of the sounds they make, both in s..."

Have you watched Steve Martin "The Big Year" or “Birders: The Central Park Effect,” HBO. The birds — 117 species in all — get their own credits in the film, in order of appearance, starting with a double-crested cormorant and ending with a hooded warbler?

[Susan]

Pragya wrote: "Now we know how Susan picks up her current reads. ;)" No, it has to be pure happenstance, otherwise I would have to be Organized and Plan Ahead -- two things I am incapable of.

[Kimberly]

Almeta wrote: "I've been reading . This is a booklet of various birds, their picture, habit, and description of the sounds they make, both in s..."

That one sounds interesting. I love books like that.

[Marren]

I am reading Great Expectations and Emma. I want to reread Austen's books.

[Judy]

Marren, that is a great goal. Good luck with your reading! Are these your first for these authors?

[Jennifer]

Janice wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Janice wrote: "I just started reading The Sugar Camp Quilt for my irl bookclub which meets on Thursday night. I'm annoyed that it is set in Pennsylvania. It has such a pretty yel..."

Ah! That makes sense.

[Jennifer]

I just finished Brava, Valentine , which is the second of her books about an Italian-American family that owns a custom shoemaking company. I hope she writes a third and finishes the story. And the thanksgiving-dinner-gone-Hindenburg family scene was PRICELESS. I couldn't have stopped reading during that scene long enough to take my hand off a hot burner.