What I'm reading

[Gabriela]

Although there are absolutely no rules here except for reading more in print, for my own Hardcopied month, I wanted to at least have a theme to my reading. After much thought, I've decided to go with historical fantasy/alternate history written by women. I have a few books on my list, but I'm always happy to get more recommendations!

What are you reading?

[Phyl]

I'll be reading "The War that Ended Peace" by Margaret Macmillan (her great book on the political movements, actions, and attitudes that led up to WWI), which I had just started recently and interrupted to read something else.

If I'm not in the mood for that, though, I may go through Dorothy Dunnett's "Lymond Chronicles" again. I'm a quarter through book three, and I think I could finish three through six in July.

So either a great big huge history book, or a historical fiction series.

[Alison]

i picked up some good ones at stanford's bookstore in london last week (and would highly recommend a visit there!) that i am looking forward to reading next month: "the weather experiment" by peter moore (because i always wanted to be a meteorologist before i realized you had to be good at math); "hidden city: adventures and explorations in dublin" by karl whitney (because i'll probably end up feeling like the vignettes mirror my own experiences there); and "berlin: imagine a city" by rory maclean (because i really hope to be able to attend IALL there in a few months!).

[Pipistrelle]

I just ordered the latest Laurie King novel from the library although it will likely be read and returned by the time July rolls around, depending on how many are in line in front of me.

I also heard good things about a suspense writer named Alexandra Sokoloff so I shall be reading her novel, The Harrowing, which was nominated for a Stoker for best first novel.

And surely something else, but I'm not yet sure what. I am a huge fan of microhistories.

[Gabriela]

I'm not familiar with microhistories! What are they?

[Barbara]

I'm likely going to go exclusively with fiction. For some reason, I do much better listening to non-fiction than reading it. I've already placed holds at the library on one of the Phryne Fisher mysteries, and on a collection of fairy tale-esque stories by A.S. Bayatt. My leisure reading time is pretty limited these days, so that may be all I manage to get through.

[Barbara]

Pipistrelle wrote: "I just ordered the latest Laurie King novel from the library although it will likely be read and returned by the time July rolls around, depending on how many are in line in front of me.

Pip, I listened to that when it first came out, and enjoyed the plot a great deal. Sadly, it was really kind of ruined for me by the fact that the narrator cannot do a Japanese accent to save her life, but didn't let that stop her from trying. In the spirit of this event, I may have to pick it up as a paper book, and re-read it.

(on edit) I love the group rules note that comes up. Don't be a jerk, indeed. =)

[Kelly]

I'm on pg 300 of Clash of Kings, book two of Game of Thrones. After that, The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz.

[Gabriela]

I decided that one of my selections will be Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, which I couldn't finish when it first came out. Since I'm watching the BBC adaptation, I'll try to finish that last third before I watch the corresponding episodes.

It fits my theme!

[Saskia]

I'm goint to read my way through the books on my nightstand, one of them being "Innovation Tournament" in preparation for the PLL summit in Philly. Other than that there are a lot of thrillers, especially by Scandinavian authors.

[Phyl]

>> I'm going to read my way through the books on my nightstand <<

That's sort of what I'm doing too, Saskia. Which means that if I finish the ones I want to get to first, I'm going to end up reading a new book on Women and Religions and perhaps the book "The Collapses of Globalism" by John Ralston Saul, and I may even finish a scholarly study of the city of Varanasi in India.

I go through different moods, so I often end up with five or six books on the table beside my bed. Ha!

[Jamie]

Just finished another Stephanie Plum novel, Top Secret Twenty One. Light reading for sure, but entertaining. I am currently staying with my mother who is hospitalized, so I have a wonderful opportunity to read as much as I can. I'm going through Mom's bookshelves and reading what I haven't in the past. All hard copies, for sure.

[Jennifer]

What a fun mixture of things! Such diversity. And it's giving me a lot of ideas. I stated on a different thread that I'm reading my way through the books that go with the author talks in my library this summer. Hardcopied is coming at exactly the right time for this....otherwise I'd be skimming on my Kindle. Now I'll be prepared with a better understanding of the books and, as a result, will be able to lead a better discussion, ask more informed questions, etc.

[Jennifer]

I just finished "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" by Junot Diaz (I'm not sure I got what all the fuss was about), and now I'm reading "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine" by Bebe Moore Campbell. I'm starting with the books that are due the soonest at the library and that are in the nightstand pile, so that means I will also try to finish "Heal Your Brain" by David Hellerstein, which seems a bit self-helpish but I am interested in the healing capacity of neuropsychiatry. My goal for the long weekend was to finish two books but I don't know if I will because I also want to watch the US-Japan soccer game tonight.

[Barbara]

I just started AS Byatt's short story collection "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye" tonight. I'm only about 10 pages into the first story, but she's done such a good job with the rhythm and feel of a fairy tale, that I realized I had started reading g it out loud without really noticing. Good thing I'm by myself I guess, since it would probably be annoying as all heck to anyone around me.

[Helen]

hello all. I'm currently addicted to listening to books...it helps me fall asleep, so I'm a week late joining the challenge. did you ever have the experience that an author/book keeps popping up so you feel you must read it? (not in an obvious way, like latest Harper Lee, which I still want to read) I've never read any of Neil Gaiman's books and the guy just keeps popping up, so I'm reading Neverwhere, to prepare for his interview on WNYC on August. 14.

[Gabriela]

I finished Karen Memory last night, and today I'm moving on to my attempt to finish Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell so I can watch the BBC episodes with a clean conscience.

I'm still finding it much easier to retain plot details and generally have the book stick with me in print than I normally do with e-reading.