What are you reading June, 2015

[Linda]

I'm listening to Jim Henson: The Biography and reading Finding Nouf and The Liars' Club

[Janet]

Thanks for starting this Linda. I'm reading Margaret Atwood's Stone Mattress: Nine Tales...I started with the title story and it was unbelievably good....I haven't laughed so hard in ages. In the car, I'm listening to Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free. Thanks to Dawn for that recommendation. And I started the audio of The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat on Scribd because a certain someone is an evangelist for it. You know who you are.
If anyone is wondering about Scribd, I have to say I think the audio collection is much better than I expected it to be. They have many titles in audio that they don't have in print.

[Dawn]

Just finished The Women and Pale Horse, Pale Rider. Both excellent reads.

Still dipping in and out of Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Life - which is very readable, but may take me awhile because ... SQUIRREL!

And I pulled Kevin Brockmeier's The Truth About Celia off the shelf where it's been sitting since before Oxford. And as always - I'm reveling in his perfectly formed sentences and imagery. He needs to write faster. Seriously.

[Adore]

i'm finishing up: and i really really like it. i wasn't so sure at first. i've been spacing out my reading to savor it and now i'm incredibly behind in my other reading --hopefully my summer bingo won't turn into a christmas one. :(

next up:

.

i heard the author speak thoughtfully about this book on a few podcasts, so i'm sold.

[Meredith]

Starting Blue Nights by Joan Didion today. That's my book on a topic that challenges me!

[Meredith]

Starting Blue Nights by Joan Didion today. That's my book on a topic that challenges me!

[Karen]

Just finished The Nightingale, The Luckiest Girl Alive....

[Sue]

I'm listening to Delicious Foods, narrated by the author, who does an incredible job. While I'm loving his performance, and it really is a performance, I also wish I had the book in print for flagging - the prose and imagery is magnificent.

In print, I'm reading In Zanesville, a harrowing and hilarious coming of age story set in 1970's Indiana.

[Mary]

I just read "Girl On The Train"- finished it in 2 evenings. Loved it.Just found "The Sparrow" at a used book store so will probably read that next -it is mentioned so often on the BOTNS podcast.

[Stephanie]

Sue wrote: "I'm listening to Delicious Foods, narrated by the author, who does an incredible job. While I'm loving his performance, and it really is a performance, I also wish I had the book in..."

I am about halfway through Delicious Foods (and I need to pick up the pace before a borrowed ebook disappears from my device), but I'm finding it incredibly bleak. I may not be eating the fruit that I brought to work for a snack.

[Loretta]

I'm about 2/3 of the way through A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, which is really making me want to go hiking. In my case, I'd do just a day-trip rather than attempt to thru-hike, though!

[Sue]

I'm definitely a sucker for bleak, and it is, but so darkly comic, too. Maybe just dust the fruit for prints before you eat it...

Stephanie wrote: "Sue wrote: "I'm listening to Delicious Foods, narrated by the author, who does an incredible job. While I'm loving his performance, and it really is a performance, I also wish I had..."

[Linda]

Just started listening to something I missed as a child AND didn't read to my son (she says ashamedly). The Collected Stories of Winnie-The-Pooh

[Janet]

I just started an ARC that I got at BEA, Fates and Furies. I had planned to read some on my lunch hour but I need to learn a lesson not to stay in my office because I get too many interruptions.

[Adore]

^ janet, i can't wait to read that! i already pre-ordered it so i won't forget the release date. let us know your thoughts.

[Sue]

^ Me too, me too!

[Jumana]

Reading for Book Club: The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic

Listening on my Phone: Night Film

Listening in the Car:The Never List

[Julie]

Linda wrote: "I'm listening to Jim Henson: The Biography and reading Finding Nouf and The Liars' Club"
I'll always remember reading Mary Karr's The Liar's Club! Really a great memoir, the best of similar ones that followed (by Jeannette Walls, Nicole Helget, Jennifer Lauck, for example). Her Lit was also very good.

I've just started A Little Life after finishing Stillwater by Minnesota author Nicole Helget - an excellent book of historical fiction set in this town on the St. Croix River. Next up: I'm going to reread TKAM, before Harper Lee's Go Set a Watchman is published next month. I even bought a NEW, HARDCOVER copy on a whim at B & N! (TKAM). ETA: June 28, 'All the Light We Cannot See' just came in on my library reserve - must finish the last 250 pp after beginning this one in March!

[Loretta]

I've started listening to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I'd tried reading it like 3 years ago and gave up about 40% in due to just having too much going on. I'm hoping to have better luck this time (and I seem to be enjoying it more this time around as well).

[Mary]

I have subscribed to Peirene Press which publishes "Contemporary European Literature, Thought Provoking, well designed novellas". The Novellas are translated. so far, I have read White Hunger by Aki Ollikainem, translated from Finnish and Reader for Hire by Raymond Jean translated from French.

www.peirenepress.com

[Jaylene]

Loretta wrote: "I've started listening to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell. I'd tried reading it like 3 years ago and gave up about 40% in due to just having too much going on. I'm hoping to have bette..."

One of my very favorite books, though the first time through was daunting (footnotes!?) but worth it. Have re read a couple of times since. It just gets better each time.

[Loretta]

It's really great. I love the wit of it. It's a shame life got in the way last time, though part of it I think is that I was doing it as a read-along with a group, so I was only "allowed" to read about 50 pages a week. Hopefully going at my own faster pace will make it a better read this time.

[Gerald]

Now reading . This is a very simple book with very clean writing but i can see the story is building.

[Liz]

I just finished the o,briens by lisa venova. it was very good. just started we are not ourselves by marrhew Thomas, heard good things about this book.

[Sue]

Hope you enjoy We Are Not Ourselves. I thought it was fantastic. I loved the way it slowly unfurled with such grace and candor.

Liz wrote: "I just finished the o,briens by lisa venova. it was very good. just started we are not ourselves by marrhew Thomas, heard good things about this book."

[Maureen]

Currently reading Alias Grace (Atwood) and also recently started Rules of Civility (Towles). Both are excellent, so far.

[Esther]

Gerald wrote: "Now reading . This is a very simple book with very clean writing but i can see the story is building."
This is a personal favourite. The writing is simple to leave space for your brain to get in a total knot about the story.

[Kathy]

Loretta wrote: "I've started listening to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell...."

A copy of this has been sitting on my shelf ever since it first came out, but for some reason I haven't gotten around to reading it. I see that the BBC's miniseries adaptation is going to be broadcast on BBC America starting this Saturday, so I may watch an episode and then crack open the book.

[LauraBytheBook]

I am about 2/3 done with Voyager by Diana Gabaldon (I am working my way through all 8 books). My husband and I are reading Let's Pretend This Never Happened: A Mostly True Memoir by Jenny Lawson together on our commute to and from work. I also just finished listening to the audiobook Funny Girl by Nick Hornby.

[Janet]

I started Disclaimer on audio....boy, it has truly reeled me in....I don't want to stop listening. Still got the Chileans in the car and the Lauren Groff next to my recliner. But after this week's BOTNS episode, I couldn't resist dipping into Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. I borrowed the e-book from the library and it is so engrossing....I am wondering if I should get a paper copy. Am I missing anything by reading it in e-book form?

[Marion]

I started reading Oracle Night by Paul Auster. A mysterious blue notebook is at the heart of the story. Pretty interesting so far after 60 pages. Will post a review when I'm finished.

[Linda]

Started listening to All the Light We Cannot See

[Melissa]

Just finished When We Were Animals by Joshua Gaylord. Very mysterious and strange.

[Linda]

Boxers

[Pam]

I loved The Bookseller by Cynthia Swanson! It has a unique take on alternate reality, Kitty's real life and the life she goes to in her dreams. Both lives have aspects that are wonderful and aspects that are difficult. I worried about how the author would pull this all together but she was able to do so in a satisfying manner. Not perfect but plausible. I also enjoyed that it took place in Denver in locations that I am familiar with and was centered around bookstores! This was a first novel so I look forward to future books.

[Janet]

Finished Our Souls at Night, review here https://www.goodreads.com/review/show.... Not sure what to choose next. I'm feeling like I want "light and fluffy" after reading sad.

[Gerald]

Finished last night while watching the NBA finals. That's how easy the book was to read. Starting last night on the Kindle but I have to check my bingo card to see if that type of book has a square.

[Sue]

It's been a good month so far! I've finished, and loved:

In Zanesville
Delicious Foods
On Chesil Beach

I'm currently reading and enjoying:

Saint Mazie
A Hand Reached Down to Guide Me: Stories and a Novella

[Esther]

I finished The Last Colony, Zoe's Tale and After the Coup which were brilliant.
I also read A Tiny Bit Marvelous which was disappointing.
I am now reading Breakfast at Tiffany's and it is amazing how Audrey Hepburn was so exactly like the character in the book.

[Jaylene]

My bingo card has 8 squares filled in so far. To get a bingo, I need either "about a subject that challenges you" or "western" and "Booker prize winner or made the short list."

I read widely and voraciously, fiction, non-fiction, memoir, biography, trash, "literature" and so on. Having trouble identifying a subject that challenges me (please say "algebra" does not count) without it seeming like a book I am just not interested in. What books have you found on subjects that challenged you, but that you were interested in reading?

[Janet]

Jaylene wrote: "My bingo card has 8 squares filled in so far. To get a bingo, I need either "about a subject that challenges you" or "western" and "Booker prize winner or made the short list."

I read widely and v..."

I quickly realized when I read The Martian that I was out of my depth with the science but it's written in such a way that it was enjoyable anyway.

[Jaylene]

Janet wrote: "Jaylene wrote: "My bingo card has 8 squares filled in so far. To get a bingo, I need either "about a subject that challenges you" or "western" and "Booker prize winner or made the short list."

I r..."
Yes, I enjoyed that book very much earlier this year.

[Gerald]

Kathy wrote: "Loretta wrote: "I've started listening to Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell...."

A copy of this has been sitting on my shelf ever since it first came out, but for some reason I haven't go..."

Comcast and BBC America finally made Jonathan Strange available.

[Gerald]

Finally finished reading,listening to last night. This book I started reading on the kindle,listened to on Audible and finished reading on my laptop. I'm in the 21st Century! I crossed off the middle square. Now reading .That could cover several bingo squares including WITH AN UGLY COVER. I also decided to go with the one book,on square policy.

[Diane]

I just finished The Prince of Tides and am in the middle of Longbourn, The Secret History of Wonder Woman, Rocket Girl Volume 1: Times Squared andA Few Seconds of Radiant Filmstrip: A Memoir of Seventh Grade. I really need to finish something.

[Loretta]

@Gerald: I saw that! I've been recording it on my DVR but am waiting until I've finished the book before I begin to watch. I'm on page 410 out of 780 now... I imagine I'll be done in another couple weeks, as I read other things in between as well.

[Linda]

Katherine Carlyle an ARC I picked up at BEA by the inimitable Rupert Thomson

Almost done listening to Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk on my iPad.

Still listening to All the Light We Cannot See in the car.

[Glenn]

All Involved by Ryan Gattis

[Janet]

I've finally acquired all my Booktopia Petoskey books so with a great long weekend ahead, I think I'm going to dive in. Since I'm so forgetful, I think I'll keep a notebook of my thoughts while I'm reading. Hmmm....where to start?

[Esther]

I enjoyed Capote's writing in Breakfast at Tiffany's and may well try some more.
Now I have started Cloud Atlas which I am enjoying but wish it would get a move on. RF is a little repetitive.