April 2013 - What are you reading and why?

[Janice, Moderator]

The narrator of The Whale Rider, was Jay Laqa'aia , not Humphrey Bower. You can't compare the two narrators. First of all, Jay is a New Zealander, not an Australian. He's not "polished" like Humphrey. He sounds like he could be the uncle of this girl telling her story. I think he was the perfect choice. I'm not sure that Humphrey (as much as I love him) could have given the story the authenticity that Jay gave it.

[Removed]

AmyK wrote: "Scott wrote: "I'm reading Ken Follett's Fall Of Giants. My sister-in-law recommended it to me, and I have to say I'm glad she did. For an author to tackle a subject like World War I, as a work of..."

You will love it. Its the first of his that I've read, and while its a long read, its definitely worth every minute of it.

[Chrissie]

Janice, I am very tempted! Thanks for explaining the difference between the two narrators. It is also nice to know that you too think and think before you choose your books!

I just bought it.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Chrissie wrote: "I just bought it."

Woohoo! enjoy.

[Chrissie]

Janice and Rusalka, I listened to the sample again, and you know there is music between each chapter. I have the feeling it will be a delightful experience.

[Rusalka, Moderator]

Oh I will have to check it out. I do love Maori music.

There was a great clip of NZ Parliament last week when they passed Marriage Equality laws. Whatever your stance on the issue is, there was something beautiful about the public gallery and the members of Parliament interrupting the stuffy traditions by bursting into a spontaneous sing along of a Maori love song.

[Chrissie]

Rusalka, I have been wondering how long it would take them to start putting music in audiobooks.Society's Child: My Autobiography has music too.

[Janice, Moderator]

Yes, there is music between the chapters. Some people really hate that, but I don't mind it as long as the narrator isn't trying to speak above it.

I thought the music sounded quite Hawaiian which I guess is not surprising.

I hope you enjoy the book, Chrissie.

[Chrissie]

Janice, thanks.

[Pam]

I've got book club meetings coming up so I have to get busy. This week my 8th grade book club will be meeting at school. I have to finish Legend for that. My adult book club will be meeting next week and I have to finish Madge's Mobile Home Park: Volume One of the Peavine Chronicles. Jane, the author, will be coming to meet with our book club.

[Cherie]

Esther wrote: "Cherie wrote: "I am finally getting back to my ABC books after almost 2 months and have Bryce Courtenay's last book open to the 1st page.
I have never read a..."

I am only into the 2nd chapter after 45 pages, but I like the language and flow of his writing so far. The book setting is during the Great Depression, in the Toronto, Canada area in a place called Cabbagetown.

[Kimberly]

Think I'm going to start

[Kimberly]

Cherie wrote: "Esther wrote: "Cherie wrote: "I am finally getting back to my ABC books after almost 2 months and have Bryce Courtenay's last book open to the 1st page.
I ha..."

I hang out in Cabbagetown all the time! Going to have to read this one.

[Cherie]

Kimberly wrote: "Cherie wrote: "Esther wrote: "Cherie wrote: "I am finally getting back to my ABC books after almost 2 months and have Bryce Courtenay's last book open to the 1..."

Oh, so you are used to the cold he keeps talking about in the winter and the snowstorms they call a Panhandle Hook, which blow in over Lake Ontario. Brrr! Your mother probably never had to pack newspapers under your shirt, next to your body, to keep you warm. Are chilblains like frost bite?

[Shannon]

Still reading Dancer and am enjoying it. Am also listening to Rob Lowe's Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography which is also narrated by Rob. I had no idea he had written so many stories. The audiobook was suggested to me as I was looking for something to listen to while running and it really is like having Rob as my running buddy as he talks in my ear. :)

[Marnie]

I have just finished part one of Gone Girl audiobook. Is there two more unlikable people? I am also about 80% done with 11/22/63? I keep going back and forth between the two books because I can only take so much of Gone Girl at one time ( yet I'm dying to see how this plays out).

[Tejas Janet]

Shannon wrote: "Still reading Dancer and am enjoying it. Am also listening to Rob Lowe's Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography which is also narrated by Rob. I had no idea he had written so many storie..."

I recently read and enjoyed a print version of Stories I Only Tell My Friends.

With his wonderful (and sexy) voice and acting ability, I bet this audio version is a treat to listen to! I may check out the audio version just to hear him ;)

[Chrissie]

Shanon, I am so glad you are liking Dancer! I really do enjoy his style.

[Pragya]

Marnie wrote: "I have just finished part one of Gone Girl audiobook. Is there two more unlikable people? I am also about 80% done with 11/22/63? I keep going back and forth between the two books because I can onl..."

Marnie, I too just finished part one of Gone Girl audiobook and I keep getting distracted by other books.

[[deleted user]]

Marnie wrote: "I have just finished part one of Gone Girl audiobook. Is there two more unlikable people? I am also about 80% done with 11/22/63? I keep going back and forth between the two books because I can onl..."

That's about what kept me going when i read it, something keeps dragging you on and you have to know how it all works out...

[Anna]

Yesterday I finished Selected Poems
by D.H. Lawrence, my review http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Today I finished Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness it's really good book. Definitely worth reading.

[Chrissie]

I have just completed two audiobooks: The Whale Riderand enjoyed it very much. Good YA literature is even for adults!
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Thank you both, Rusalka and Janice, for nudging me.

and

Freeman
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
This is GOOD historical fiction.

Both were very good, i.e. four stars.

Now I will startWashington: A Life. This is my first by Ron Chernow. I have heard he offers even more depth than McCullough. I don't care what the critics say, I think David McCullough is a really good writer, but now I must try Chernow too.

[Janice, Moderator]

I'm so glad you enjoyed The Whale Rider, Chrissie. :)

[Kat]

Janice wrote: "The narrator of The Whale Rider, was Jay Laqa'aia , not Humphrey Bower. You can't compare the two narrators. First of all, Jay is a New Zealander, not an Australian. He's not "polished" like Hum..."

I want to make Janice an honorary Aussie for pointing out that difference LOL! But I love Humphrey Bower, so I'm also a little defensive about him.

[Chrissie]

Thank you, Janice for bringing "Whale Rider" to my attention.

[Chrissie]

After 267 pages of Forever Amber, I gave up and dumped it.

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

Moved on to: You Have Given Me a Country: A Memoir. It is about a family that lived through the India Pakistan Partition and how it feels to have a mother and father from different cultures. The author's mother is Irish-Catholic and her father is Sindhi-Indian.

[Shirley]

Secrets of the Lost Summer

for a challenge of course

APRIL SCAVENGER CHALLENGE - LET'S TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER!
1. Weather is the state of the atmosphere, to the degree that it is hot or cold, wet or dry, calm or stormy, clear or cloudy. As weather is usually described in terms of opposites, for this task you will read two books. Each book’s title should contain a word that is opposite to another word in the other book’s title.

this is next

Blackberry Winter

[Janice, Moderator]

Kat wrote: "I want to make Janice an honorary Aussie for pointing out that difference LOL! But I love Humphrey Bower, so I'm also a little defensive about him..."

Thank you, Kat! I embrace my honorary Aussie status! Just call me Matilda. :)

Love me some Humphrey Bower too!

[Janice, Moderator]

I had started listening to A Confederacy of Dunces and couldn't figure out what was going on, and so I gave up. I have too many other good books that I want to read to persevere.

I started listening to The Snow Child instead.

[Shannon]

Had to put Dancer down to start Half-Blood Blues for my in-person book club.

[Rachel]

Shirley wrote: "Secrets of the Lost Summer

for a challenge of course

APRIL SCAVENGER CHALLENGE - LET'S TALK ABOUT THE WEATHER!
1. Weather is the state of the atmosp..."

looking forward to your thoughts on Blackberry Winter- it's been on my tbr for a long time.

[Ladyhawk]

. Because Dex and Perry are fun to hang with.

How else would I get to City of Fallen Angels?

[Tejas Janet]

Janice wrote: "I had started listening to A Confederacy of Dunces and couldn't figure out what was going on, and so I gave up. I have too many other good books that I want to read to persevere.

I started list..."

I agree it's an odd book, and I recall almost putting it aside, but I wound up liking A Confederacy of Dunces pretty well by the end. I hope you like The Snow Child better. I thought it was a good story, and enjoyed reading it.

[Marnie]

Janice wrote: "I had started listening to A Confederacy of Dunces and couldn't figure out what was going on, and so I gave up. I have too many other good books that I want to read to persevere.

I started list..."
I tried reading A Confederacy of Dunces a few years ago because someone told me it was " the funniest book ever." I didn't get past 100 pages. I just didn't get it. Life is too short to read bad books!

[Chrissie]

Janice, OK I only listened t the abridged version on BBC, but having done that I was not enticed to try the unabridged version of The Snow Child. The first half enchanted, it was magical and beautiful but then...... it all changes, and that is not good!

Maybe also if the language is beautiful the abridged version didn't capture this properly? I have totally stopped checking books out at BBC. A waste of time for me; the abridged format is BAD news!

[Dem]

I just finished One Step Too Far
This is my review; www.goodreads.com/review/show/595285171

[Anna]

I finished The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. It was fantastic story and I really liked it. Now I've to read 3 books more to complete ABC challenge =)

I started reading Don't Ask by Laura Hughes I got it for free in another GR group.

[Almeta]

Bet you didn't think I'd ever finish reading Not The End Of The World
for a Connections Challenge.
Almeta's Review of Not the End of the World

Read Chronicle of a Death Foretold
for a Shortcut Challenge

Read The Photo Scribe: A Writing Guide: How To Write The Stories Behind Your Photographs, to get tips for my genalogy scrapbooking and for a Shortcut Challenge

Read The Burn Palace for April YLTO!! Who Said That Challenge

Next up Dead End for Connections Challenge and then Dead Aim for Connections Challenge, Sai King Recommends Challenge and YLTO!! ABC Challenge.

[Kimberly]

I started I miss graphic novels so I'm hoping this is a good series to get into.

[Janice, Moderator]

I finished reading The Bone Bed and gave it three stars. I doubt I'll be reading any more Patricia Cornwell. I wasn't that enthusiastic about her writing style.

I started... drum roll, please... my D book for my alphabet challenge! A Daughter of the Snows. I'll also be counting it for my Cross Canada challenge because it is set in the NWT.

[Marnie]

To wet my appetite for May's challenge- I am listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

[Almeta]

Marnie wrote: "To wet my appetite for May's challenge- I am listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

I'll bet this is a really good book in audio.

[[deleted user]]

Marnie wrote: "To wet my appetite for May's challenge- I am listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

I keep meaning to get a copy of the original radio plays as I'm sure they're uproariously funny.

[Esther]

Helen wrote: "Marnie wrote: "To wet my appetite for May's challenge- I am listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

I keep meaning to get a copy of the original radio plays as I'm sure they're uproari..."

The BBC ones? They are, for someone who had read the books anyway, not sure what one who hasn't would think. it's been too long since I last listen to them. I made the mistake of taking them for a road trip. I almost drove myself into the ditch a few times. :)

[Kimberly]

Marnie wrote: "To wet my appetite for May's challenge- I am listening to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

One of my favourites! Stephen Fry is an Excellent narrator (if you're listening to that audio version that is)

[Kimberly]

I started good so far.

[Chrissie]

I definitely enjoyed You Have Given Me a Country: A Memoir. It is not your typical autobiography, and it does have some fictional parts. I would suggest it to those curious about bi-racial marriages, multi-cultural themes and philosophical musings.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Have begun: Genghis: Birth of an Empire. This is a book of hf, easy to read and so far better than my expectations. Nice, it is the first of a series!

[Ann]

I just finished Saving Fish from Drowning and Lost the first for my alphabet challenge and the other just for fun. They were both good. I just started for my alphabet challenge. Enjoying it so far.

[Nicole]

Finished the River of Time series by Lisa Tawn Bergren. Total young adult, but I thoroughly enjoyed all 3 books. 4 stars.

Also finished Good Night, Mr. Tom by Michelle Magorian. Sweet story. 3 stars.

Now reading Girl in Translation by Jean Kwok. It's mediocre.

[Roz]

I needed something fast and light. I'm reading . One of those guilty pleasures. Fast and fun. These books make me laugh :D