March 2013 What are you reading and why?

[Kimberly]

I finished and gave it 4 stars I also finished and gave it 5 stars.

Now I'm starting

[Chrissie]

I have completed Travels with Charley: In Search of America. I highly recommend it but look at my review and see how I compare it with another author....
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
To be fair, two different books can have two completely different purposes.

I am now listening to Songdogs. I love how they add music to parts of an audiobook! WOW!

I am reading Mao's Last Dancer and like how the author, even when describing the horrible times of the "Big Leap Forward" and the "Cultural Revolution" and the "Great Famine", ALSO mentions the fun of Chinese New Year's celebrations and kite flying and.... It is a biography. So of course I like it. I cannot get through books that only point out the bad, with not a glance at happy events. I was talking about this with a friend. I NEED both; otherwise I fall apart.

[Cherie]

I am reading . I checked it out from the library a couple of weeks ago but just got to it. It seems slow going but is interesting. I have to get back to my ABC books soon though.

[Jennifer]

I'm about halfway through My Forbidden Past which is one of those melodramatic old historicals written in the 40s. I picked it up because an old Ava Gardner movie I saw recently was based on it. Also almost done with Landay's The Strangler , my first foray into Landay since Defending Jacob. Finished Double Life: A Love Story from Broadway to Hollywood and A Box of Darkness: The Story of a Marriage the latter of which was irritating.

[Kimberly]

I started really good so far!

[Chrissie]

I finished Songdogsand b/c I loved it so much I will immediately start the only book I have left to read by Colum McCann: Fishing the Sloe-Black River.

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

Exquisite writing. Not a comfort read though, few of McCann's are, but they always include hope and show you what is beautiful if you just look. Songdogs takes you from Ireland to Spain to Mexico and across the US, California to Wyoming to the Bronx. It is an emotional trip.

I highly recommend that you listen to this book narrated by Paul Nugent. The Irish is just perfect.

[Kimberly]

I finished this one totally blew me away. I generally have a strong dislike bordering on hatred for contemporary ya novels but this one was awesome! 5 stars.

[Tejas Janet]

Chrissie wrote: "I finished Songdogs and b/c I loved it so much I will immediately start the only book I have left to read by Colum McCann...

I'm really glad to know about Songdogs. Have added it to my TBR list. I have Travels with Charley coming up sometime on my ABC challenge. Looking forward to that.

[Chrissie]

Janet, I recommend both very highly! They are very different in style. There are so many different ways of of writing a really good book.

[Pragya]

Kimberly wrote: "I finished this one totally blew me away. I generally have a strong dislike bordering on hatred for contemporary ya novels but this one was awesome! 5 stars."

Glad to know you liked it, Kimberly. I did too. I started reading long back but had to get over to other books, so it's in the lurch for now. Will you be reading it soon?

[Kimberly]

Pragya wrote: "Kimberly wrote: "I finished this one totally blew me away. I generally have a strong dislike bordering on hatred for contemporary ya novels but this one was ..."

I don't know if I'll be reading it for awhile. I didn't like Beth in Pushing the Limits so I may not read that one til the summer time.

[Kimberly]

I've started , and

[Pragya]

Kimberly wrote: "Pragya wrote: "Kimberly wrote: "I finished this one totally blew me away. I generally have a strong dislike bordering on hatred for contemporary ya novels b..."

Yes, I can't get into it because of Beth. :(

[Pragya]

Kimberly wrote: "I've started , and "

Temptation looks great. How's it?

[Lisa]

I finished The Ladies' Paradise earlier today for the March Neglected Classics challenge which I really enjoyed and rated 4 stars.

I am currently just under halfway through The Greatcoat which is my G selection for the Alphabet challenge and it is really good so far.

[Kimberly]

Pragya wrote: "Kimberly wrote: "I've started , and "

Temptation looks great. How's it?"

I'm only about a dozen pages into it but I like it so far.

[Chrissie]

Fishing the Sloe-Black River was the first of Colum McCann's books to disappoint me.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I have begun the audiobook version of The Book of Night Women, narrated by Robin Miles. After a chapter, the Jamaican patois is no problem. This too was available for me at Downpour, but not Audible. This audiobook was recommended to me by Gaeta due to its fabulous narration. So far I totally agree.

[Michelle]

Just finished Plainsong for my alphabet challege and loved it! Also just finished China Road: A Journey into the Future of a Rising Power, an account of the author's journey through the heart of China, from Shanghai westward. I'm about to start The Mill on the Floss and The Secret Keeper.

[[deleted user]]

I finished the not at all factual The History of the Kings of Britain, which was actually a really good read, once I stopped expecting it to be real. It's one of those books that has twined itself into the fabric of our consciousness, being original source for a lot of stories we'd now recognise from other writer.

I now find myself reading The Gemini Contenders by Robert Ludlum, which isn't at all my usual thing, but I needed an "L" author at short notice.

[Esther]

I am reading Anna Karenina because it's one of those books that has been screaming my name for a long time and I can't ignore it any longer. I've managed to slot it into a challenge as well.

[Jess :)]

Very nice Esther! One of my all-time favorites!

[Esther]

E :) wrote: "Very nice Esther! One of my all-time favorites!"

Thanks, it's great so far :-)

[Kimberly]

I finished this morning and loved it. Now I'm starting .

[Lynn]

Kimberly wrote: "I finished this one totally blew me away. I generally have a strong dislike bordering on hatred for contemporary ya novels but this one was awesome! 5 stars."

Good to hear, that's on my TBR list.

[Dem]

Just finshed and really enjoyed East of Eden. This is my review.
www.goodreads.com/review/show/560284449

[Sharon75uk]

REadingDracula for the March challenge...finding it ok

[[deleted user]]

I've finished The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and meh is the best I can offer.

Back to fact next, with Katherine Mansfield's journal to read.

[Pragya]

Reading My Ántonia for the March Challenge.

[Shannon]

I have started Honolulu byAlan Brennert. I read and enjoyed his book Moloka'i so when I saw this one thought I should buy it and give it a whirl. I am definitely enjoying it but not quite as much as Moloka'i but if it keeps up this good then I would read more by Brennert.

[Chrissie]

Pragya, I loved "My Antonia" and think that is really Willa Cather's best!. Have fun.

[Pragya]

Wow, thank you for letting me know, Chrissie. I had never heard of this book before and just grabbed it because it was much shorter than other classics. :-p I have never read anything by Willa Cather. I'm hoping to like it. :)

[Janice, Moderator]

Shannon wrote: "I have started Honolulu byAlan Brennert. I read and enjoyed his book Moloka'i so when I saw this one thought I should buy it and give it a whirl. I am definitely enjoying it but not quite as much a..."

I have Honolulu to read as well. He's got a new book coming out soon, Palisades Park.

[Tejas Janet]

Chrissie wrote: "Pragya, I loved "My Antonia" and think that is really Willa Cather's best!. Have fun."

I know I loved the movie version. Didn't even realize it was Willa Cather. So great to learn stuff here.

[Chrissie]

Continue enjoying! We learns stuff every day!

[Kimberly]

I just finished and now I'm starting ...this is a rather addictive series.

[Almeta]

Finished:
Aeschylus: Seven Plays for YLTO!!! March 2013 Neglected Classic Challenge

Haunted Ground for YLTO!!! March 2013 Book Group discussion

Fear the Worst for Stephen King Recommends Group Read

Starting Suspect because Sis wants to me to read the second in the series Lost and I want to read them in order.

[Shannon]

Just finished Honolulu (Which I really did enjoy, especially the second half) and am now going to read Trapline Outlaw: Simon Peter Gunanoot for a report that I need to write.

[Janice, Moderator]

I'm glad you enjoyed Honolulu. I need to bump that one up higher on my to-read list. I may have it on my alphabet challenge... off to check.

[[deleted user]]

I'm reading Journal of Katherine Mansfield, and while I like her manner of constructing a sentence, she's not striking me as a terribly easy person to like or live with. I suspect verging on the manic depressive - she veers from being unable to write and thinking herself worthless to being annoyingly superior, and with wild enthusiasms about whatever (or whoever) has tweaked her fancy. I suspect this might have been put down to "artistic temperament" at the time...

[Cherie]

You forced me to "Google" Katherine Mansfield to see who she was and what she wrote, Helen. Have you read any of her work or did you come across her because of the biography?

[[deleted user]]

It's a group read for another group (I know, shock, horror!). I've not read any of her other writings, although I am thinking about doing so. Her prose is lovely - I'm just not sure I like her very much.

[Cherie]

I guess that is the thing about reading. We do not have to like the authors, or even know anything about them, to like what they write. It is interesting to learn and know about them, but not a necessary part of the reading experience of their books or stories.

Reading about someone from their journal entries is totally different.

[Chrissie]

I finished Mao's Last Dancer
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I have started The Places in Between. The author walked across Afghanistan, from Herat to Kabul. He began in January 2002. He walked over the mountains, in the winter, six weeks after the fall of the Taliban.

[Almeta]

Finished Suspect
Almeta's Review of Suspect

I am starting Max And The Cats A Novel because it is said that Life of Pi author Yann Martel got his idea from this book. So I am curious about it.

[Denise]

I read The Count of Monte Cristo last month and enjoyed it a lot. Shortly after, and not sure how, I found out about Revenge, by Stephen Fry. It is a re-telling of the Count of Monte Cristo, and it is really interesting so far. It may be one of those few books that I get pushy about in recommending!

[Michelle]

Chrissie wrote: "I finished Mao's Last Dancer
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

I have started The Places in Between. The author walked across Afghanistan, from Herat to Kabul. He began in J..."

Chrissie, great review! I read Mao's Last Dancer a few years ago, and didn't like it much but couldn't remember why. You captured what turned me off about it exactly! (I've probably read too many "serious" books about China to enjoy the simplicity of the writing...)

I'm eager to hear how you like The Places in Between. The landscape seems so bleak, and he seems to miserable much of the time. It's certainly a contrast to the mood of Mao's Last Dancer! :-)

[Rusalka, Moderator]

I started Day Watch, finally giving up on my other D read ever arriving. After Jane Eyre, this book is incredibly refreshing. I never thought I would say that about dark Russian magic users.

[Lisa]

I have finished my alphabet challenge G read which was The Greatcoat . I found it to be an entertaining little read and I enjoyed it quite a bit so I gave it a 4 star rating.

My next read is going to be the first book in the 'Outlander' series, Cross Stitch (I don't know why it has a different title here in the UK?) and I am sooooo excited for it!

[Sharon75uk]

Lisa wrote: "I have finished my alphabet challenge G read which was The Greatcoat . I found it to be an entertaining little read and I enjoyed it quite a bit so I gave it a 4 s..."

I have
The Greatcoat on my bookshelf from the library...looking forward to starting it now :)

[Lisa]

Sharon75uk wrote: "Lisa wrote: "I have finished my alphabet challenge G read which was The Greatcoat . I found it to be an entertaining little read and I enjoyed it quite a bit so I ..."

I hope you enjoy it too Sharon! :)