March 2013 What are you reading and why?

[Julia]

Started reading Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo by Lawrence Anthony for my "B" title for the ABC Challenge

[Cherie]

Nicole wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Judy, I adore Grapes of Wrath. Everybody says it is depressing, but jeez there are lines that are so terribly funny!!!! Don't people notice them?! I am enthralled. I am going to re..."

You two have convinced me! I do not know why I never had this one on my TBR list, but it is there now!

[Kimberly]

Julia wrote: "Started reading Babylon's Ark: The Incredible Wartime Rescue of the Baghdad Zoo by Lawrence Anthony for my "B" title for the ABC Challenge"

Fantastic book!

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey and have started The Three Musketeers. Hmmm, I wonder why!?!

[Shannon]

This months read was one I really enjoyed Haunted Ground. I liked her second one as well but not quite as much and then the same for the third. If she has another I will try it too - especially if she brings it back to Ireland.

I am currently reading the very strange . I am not sure what to think of it yet.

[Travis]

Shannon wrote: "This months read was one I really enjoyed Haunted Ground. I liked her second one as well but not quite as much and then the same for the third. If she has another I will try it too - especially if ..."

The Book of Killowen book #4 comes out today

[Dem]

Just finised and enjoyed Calling Me Home: A Novel This is my review.
www.goodreads.com/review/show/539932647

[cazdoll]

This week I started off reading The Tea House on Mulberry Street and now I'm reading Matilda only cause I have read it since I was a child, it's bringing back good childhood memories

[Cherie]

Dem wrote: "Just finised and enjoyed Calling Me Home: A Novel This is my review.
www.goodreads.com/review/show/539932647"

Great review, Dem. Thanks for making me want to add it to my list to read!

[Cherie]

Catherine wrote: "This week I started off reading The Tea House on Mulberry Street and now I'm reading Matilda only cause I have read it since I was a child, it's bringing back good childhood memories"

I just read Matilda last month, Catherine. I had never read it before, but have always loved the movie. I enjoyed it very much. I was surprised at Miss Honey's little house and how impoverished her aunt had made her. I so love the cake scene at school!

[Julia]

Kimberly wrote: "Fantastic book!"

I'm halfway through and I'm loving it! I'll be checking to see if he's written any other books.

[Shirley]

Cherie wrote: "Catherine wrote: "This week I started off reading The Tea House on Mulberry Street and now I'm reading Matilda only cause I have read it since I was a child, it's bringing back good childhood memor..."

Went to Netflix and added to "my list" the site has changed a lot!

[Allison]

reading torment to continue the fallen series. seems kinda boring, but i finish books to see what happens :)

[Shannon]

Travis of NNY wrote: "Shannon wrote: "This months read was one I really enjoyed Haunted Ground. I liked her second one as well but not quite as much and then the same for the third. If she has another I will try it too ..."

Oh yay! And they are back in the bog! Very timely. Thanks. I have added it to my TBR list.

[Dem]

Cherie wrote: "Dem wrote: "Just finised and enjoyed Calling Me Home: A Novel This is my review.
www.goodreads.com/review/show/539932647"

Great review, Dem. Thanks f..."

Hope you enjoy it Cherie.

[Stuart]

I am reading Enchantress by James Maxwell as it gets a very good Goodreads score and sounds my type of book.

[Janice, Moderator]

You'll have to tell us your opinion of the book, Stuart. It sounds interesting!

[Chrissie]

I cannot recommend The Grapes of Wrath more highly. Engaging fiction that teaches about life during the Depression.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I will begin In This Hospitable Land. While I am still living here, I thought I would read another book set in Belgium.... and France too.

[Almeta]

The Book of Flying
Almeta's Review of The Book of Flying

[Cherie]

Julia wrote: "Kimberly wrote: "Fantastic book!"

I'm halfway through and I'm loving it! I'll be checking to see if he's written any other books."

Oh, Roald Dahl has written scads of books!!! You HAVE to read The BFG! He also wrote James and the Giant Peach, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. These are my favorites.

[Lisa]

I have just completed And Then There Were None for the March challenge. I really enjoyed it and gave it 5 stars. Next I will be reading my F selection for the Alphabet challenge which is The Frightened Man.

[Dem]

Just finished and really enjoyed Little Wolves
This is my review www.goodreads.com/review/show/502895846

[Julia]

Dem wrote: "Just finished and really enjoyed Little Wolves
This is my review www.goodreads.com/review/show/502895846"

Sounds interesting, I've added to my TR shelf.

[Almeta]

Finished Shawnee Alley Fire for D in the alphabet challenge.

Almeta's review of Shawnee Alley Fire

I'm hot now!
;P .,* pfft! not

[Travis]

About to start The Black Echo by Michael Connelly

[Chrissie]

I do recommend River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, if you are at all curious about what it might be like to live in a remote Chinese town at the very end of the 20th Century. Not as a foreigner, but as a Chinese. Good book!

My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Lynn]

Currently reading for a group read in another book group.

Currently listening to for the classics challenge on here.

[Shannon]

Reading Away by Jane Urquhart and loving the writing so far (about 120 pages in)

[[deleted user]]

Well I've just about finished the books i was due to read in february - onto march's list.
Started The History of the Kings of Britain for the March neglected classics challenge and
The Children of Men which is doing double duty as sci-fi (in another group) and alphabet surname J.

[Chrissie]

I finished In This Hospitable Land.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Yeah, it was good. Somehow it feels like a YA book. It is written simplistically. You follow one event after another, and I did learn funny little things! Magnificent writing? No.

So now I have started another audiobook by Colum McCann: Everything in This Country Must. I listened to the sample and loved the Irish brogue of the first narrator. It has two novellas and a short story. I need to listen to something short, so I can stop very quickly b/c Simran, a GR friend, will be visiting me here in Belgium. This is the second GR friend I have met. YAY for GR. I don't think I will have much time to read! I am terribly excited!!!!! Oh, this is going to be fun.

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished Haunted Ground and will start Seven Days From Sunday later today. It's the selection for my irl book club. I'm not looking foward to this book. I'm not into espionage, nor am I into the plethora of Middle East intrigue that has come out since 911 and this book has both. Perhaps I'll be pleasantly surprised. One can hope.

[Jennifer]

Reading Case Histories . This is the first Kate Atkinson I've read. I was a little uncertain about it on page one, but by page three I was hooked. Good book!

[Chrissie]

I already finished Everything in This Country Must! Why couldn't it just last for one more day at least. As all of Colum McCann's writing is, this too was excellent. Four stars, and I don't like short stories! You get two short stories and a short novella. The setting is Ireland.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I will start Birds, Beasts, and Relatives. I would have preferred to start with My Family and Other Animals, the first in the Corfu Trilogy, but I couldn't get it. I am not sure I will like it, but everyone raves about it so I must give it a go.

[Dem]

Just finished and enjoyed Plainsong This is my review.
www.goodreads.com/review/show/461439970

[Almeta]

Haunted Ground because I'm greedy for another badge!☻

[Lisa]

I have just finished my 'F' book for the Alphabet Challenge which was The Frightened Man. I gave it a 3 star rating because I thought it was ok but not great. It had its good points but I also thought that there were long periods where nothing really happened which made reading it a bit of a drag.

Next I will be reading another classic for the March challenge which is The Ladies' Paradise . I recently watched a BBC tv drama series which was based on this book and I really enjoyed it so hopefully I will enjoy the book too.

[Travis]

The Stand halfway, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde finished, and Fahrenheit 451 almost finished and find it no better than when we read it in high school at least its short

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Naww that's disappointing Travis. But good on you for giving it another go.

I'm still waiting on my D book, so picked up Jane Eyre. I was always turned off by the Brontes as my mum hated them. I'm only 70 pages in or so, but I think my 16 year old self would have loved this book. I'm very much enjoying it, but you know when you realise how much more you would have liked something at another time...

[Dem]

Rusalka wrote: "Naww that's disappointing Travis. But good on you for giving it another go.

I'm still waiting on my D book, so picked up Jane Eyre. I was always turned off by the Brontes as my mum hated them. I'm..."


I just watched Jane Eyre movie on Sunday night, its the one with Michael Fassbender as Mr Rochester and it was excellent and really makes me want to read the book again.

[Chrissie]

I completed the audiobook Birds, Beasts, and Relatives. Yep, I am smiling and chuckling.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

So now, having learned about the Durrell family, I have to read a book by Gerald's older brother, Lawrence Durrell: Justine, this being the first of the Alexandria Quartet.
I am telling you, the style is completely different, and I am NOT enthused with the narration by Jack Klaff. When the women speak they sound like dreary, sad but masculine beings. Can I stand all four of these books? I don't mind the book being complicated, there are two couples that have sex not only with their partners but numerous others, but the "profound musings" seem to me pure sophistry. I don't give up easily; it does create the exotic, sensual, multicultural atmosphere of Alexandria before Nasser arrived on the scene. Neither is the rendition chronological. Oh my.......

[[deleted user]]

Question - would there be any interest/benefit in having a What are you reading/what have you bought" type thread devoted to non-fiction? Sometimes feel that the non fiction gets crowded out by the fiction, as there tends to be more fiction read. I wonder if it might benefit from a separate thread, and encourage more non-fiction discussion. Just throwing the idea out there, seeing if it has any friends...

[Chrissie]

I personally think it is a bad idea, Helen. Many books are a mix of fact and fiction. I like simplicity. Just my opinion though. I read lots of non-fiction.

[Almeta]

The Dark Place by Aaron J. Elkins for my Alphabet Chalenge E.

Almeta's review of The Dark Place

[Janice, Moderator]

Helen wrote: "Question - would there be any interest/benefit in having a What are you reading/what have you bought" type thread devoted to non-fiction? Sometimes feel that the non fiction gets crowded out by the..."

Any member is welcome to start new threads. If you have an interest in it, give it a go.

[Lynn]

Still making my way through and about to start

[Shirley]

Songcatcher

During a visit to her sister in Appalachia, a gifted musicologist stumbles upon a musical treasure trove of dozens of Scots-Irish ballads.

Cast:
Janet McTeer, Aidan Quinn, Emmy Rossum

When I watched this on Netflix it appears that the same thing happened to her.

[Almeta]

Shirley wrote: "Songcatcher

During a visit to her sister in Appalachia, a gifted musicologist stumbles upon a musical treasure trove of dozens of Scots-Irish ballads...."

I saw this movie, which was loosely based on true events. In fact the mention of it here is quite a coincidence, since a friend and I were recently discussing it. The musical score was performed at times by some rather famous singers and an album was produced with actual Appalachian performers.

I wasn't aware of the book, Songcatcher, will have to add it to my list.

[Chrissie]

Finished the first book of The Alexandria Quartet, ie Justine.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I complained an awful lot while I listened to this book. The audiobook version narrated by Jack Klaff, I would definitely avoid.

But now I am hooked. That does say something. I have started Balthazar, the next in the series of four.

[Chrissie]

I tried to listen to Balthazar, and I cannot do it. The narration by Jack Klaff is even worse in this one than in Justine. I changed my star rating of Justine down to two stars. Terrible narration can really wreck a book.

I will now start East of Eden

[Chrissie]

Judy, it is all very strange, but I could get the audiobook download of East of Eden from Downpour. This was not available to me in Belgium from Audible!