What are you Reading August 2013?

[Victoria]

I just finished A Constellation of Vital Phenomena and while I enjoyed it, I don't think I have quite the same passion for it that many others seem to. And I started A Thousand Splendid Suns and I find myself really caught up in the story already. I started it last night and am about a 1/3 of the way through already.

[Janet]

Just finished The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P.. The main character was drawn well enough to irritate me. Started The Patience Stone and still reading Night Film which curiously I have bogged down with only 100 pages to finish. I guess it's not a page turner, at least for me.

[Nancy]

Marion wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Just finished by Mary Doria Russell and by Jill McCorkle and am now starting [bookcover:the supremes at ear..."

Marion, I think it may be the best book I have read this year. I am so looking forward to hearing Mary Doria Russell discuss it at Booktopia Petoskey!

[Karen]

NW by Zadie Smith

[Gerald]

Just finished last night.Thanks Neil for putting some light into my life at a bad time and thanks to Audible.

[Nikki]

Victoria wrote: "I just finished A Constellation of Vital Phenomena and while I enjoyed it, I don't think I have quite the same passion for it that many others seem to. And I started A Thousand Splendid Suns and I ..."

I thought both books were great. Constellation just absolutely captured me. I read an advanced reader copy of A Thousand Splendid Suns but remember reading it quickly myself. Sorry you didn't enjoy Constellation more. It makes me want to learn more about the wars in Chechnya and also makes me wonder why I don't already.

[Denise]

Reading The Girls of the Atomic City .. So interesting

[Robin]

Finished Tranatlantic by Colum McCann - wonderful, and spent a rainy day reading Vampires in the Lemon Grove.

[Amy]

Elizabeth wrote: "I have now started ."

This has been on/near the top of my TBR forever. And I jsut received Transatlantic from Harvard First Edition Club, but I just don't know when I am going to get to it.

[Amy]

Mary wrote: "I finished Wolf Hall!! I think I will wail awhile before reading Bringing up the Bodies!o..."

*Wail* awhile... or Freudian slip? I ask because I really really slogged through Wolf Hall and wailed because I had to hurry up and read Bring Up the Bodies right away for book club.

[Gerald]

Now listening to TRANSATLANTIC on Audible.

[Linda]

Gerald wrote: "Now listening to TRANSATLANTIC on Audible."

Did you see Colum McCann on The Colbert Report last night?

[Marion]

Nancy wrote: "Marion wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Just finished by Mary Doria Russell and by Jill McCorkle and am now starting [bookcover:the ..."

That's good to read, Nancy. I have given away 6 copies of The Sparrow to co-workers and three of them told me they enjoyed reading it.

I have the sequel, Children of God, to read before the year ends.

Marion

[Marion]

I finished and liked it. Looking forward to reading the rest of the Adam Dalgliesh novels.

Just started reading and it's a page-turner and nicely written so far.

Marion

[Doreen]

Linda...I did catch Colum McCann on Colbert...an even better interview was with Charlie Rose several weeks back...I just googled Charlie Rose and Transatlantic and the link came up.....I want to go back and read all of his early stuff.

[Linda]

Doreen wrote: "Linda...I did catch Colum McCann on Colbert...an even better interview was with Charlie Rose several weeks back...I just googled Charlie Rose and Transatlantic and the link came up.....I want to go..."

Yep, I watched that one, too, Doreen. I expect fiction authors on Charlie Rose, I don't on Colbert.

[Linda]

I don't know where to go after The Book Thief
I have:










and (my book club's choice)

all staring at me from the library. I think I want to go with The Son, but...

[Victoria]

Tough choices. I just started Doc on audio from the library.

[[deleted user]]

I just started Rivers after having finished , and

[[deleted user]]

Linda wrote: "I don't know where to go after The Book Thief
I have:




[bookcover:The Son|1624076..."

Linda, The Son is my favorite book of the year so far!

[Chanda2426]

I just finished . It was a great read. Just started . Looking forward to another great read! Happy reading all!!

[Gerald]

This is very different from any book that I have read. I don't usually read what they call literary novels but I have listened to the first two segments of the book.What I usually do while reading is to check reviews of the book and wikipedia the book for some background. Doing that gives up some of the book plotting but if I see some spoilers I will stop the research.

[Paula]

I read a classic short story a week. I know this thread has more of the current short fiction but the classic are so entertaining. This week I found "A Ghost Story" by Mark Twain.

The supernatural is not Twain's genre; this story is most unusual for this well-known American author of wit. Do you know the Cardiff Giant? New York, in the 1860s? Give this shortie a read, 20 minutes, and experience Twain's ghost. It's free on my Reading Fiction Tales of Terror blog.

http://paulacappa.wordpress.com/2013/...

[Elizabeth☮]

I have started A Tale for the Time Being.

[Linda]

Shannon wrote: "Linda wrote: "I don't know where to go after The Book Thief
I have:


"

I am leaning that way, Shannon - especially because since it's the next one due at the library (thanks to being able to renew Life After Life: A Novel today.

[Lil]

Linda wrote: "Shannon wrote: "Linda wrote: "I don't know where to go after The Book Thief
I have:


. It's still my favorite from this year so far!

[Lil]

I just finished listening to We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen joy fowler for book club and just started Unexpectedly, Milo by Matthew Dicks in print.

Now I need to formulate a game plan for the next Booktopia!

[Dawn]

Nancy wrote: "Marion wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Just finished by Mary Doria Russell and by Jill McCorkle and am now starting [bookcover:the ..."

We could probably start an entire thread as a lovefest for 'The Sparrow.' It's definitely in my top five ever. Probably still number one, but I try not to think too hard about what is 'the best ever.' Just grateful to the author for such an amazing reading experience. And the follow-up, 'Children of God' won't disappoint either. I liked it very much. I'm very jealous of Petoskey Booktopians who get to meet MDR!

[Kalen]

I just finished Sometimes We're Always Real Same-Same by Mattox Roesch from Unbridled Books. If you're a Sherman Alexie fan, you'll enjoy this.

[Garret]

Finished The Poisoner's Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York by Deborah Blum

started Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem

[Ann]

Just home from sales conference, sick with some kind of cold/flu thingy, but I don't care, because I have been nonstop reading Donna Tartt's new book THE GOLDFINCH (out in October). 250 pages in so far, and it's fabulous. If you reserve books from the library, get your reservation in now so you're near the front of the line.

If you haven't read Tartt before, do read THE SECRET HISTORY. Brilliant, and I want to re-read it.

[Linda]

Ann wrote: "Just home from sales conference, sick with some kind of cold/flu thingy, but I don't care, because I have been nonstop reading Donna Tartt's new book THE GOLDFINCH (out in October). 250 pages in so..."

Done!

[Janet]

And done! Thanks for the heads up Ann...do feel better soon.
I know I have The Secret History on my shelves, even started it once, but abandoned early for some other bright shiny object.

[Gerald]

Do bad goodreads is so limited I would have placed a pix of an American Goldfinch a bird seen briefly in the summertime. What the bird has to do with her novel of course I don't know.

[Louise]

Uh Traci I loved Cloud Atlas - hope you like it :-)

Hope you feel better soon Ann!

I'm reading An Ideal Husband and The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

[Karen]

I just started

[Elizabeth☮]

Lil wrote: "I just finished listening to We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen joy fowler for book club and just started Unexpectedly, Milo by Matthew Dicks in print.

Now I need to formulate a game..."

What did you think of Fowler's book? I have it in line to read next.

[Callie]

Finished Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob this weekend, and I'm still giggling from the last line, "Where's Whitey?" They'll have to do a new edition with the results of his capture and this trial added on.

I've started On the Road, and I'm really enjoying it. There is some beautiful phrasing in here, and I'm kind of sad that I didn't read this in high school.

[Kathy]

Marion wrote: "I finished and liked it. Looking forward to reading the rest of the Adam Dalgliesh novels.

Just started reading and i..."

You have such a treat in store with the Adam Dalgliesh books!

[Denise]

Half way through Battleborn by Claire Vaye Wakins

[Susan]

Chanda2426 wrote: "I just finished . It was a great read. Just started [bookcover:The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Goo..."
I just finished Ruthie Leming and loved it!

[Chanda2426]

Just finished . It was a good, refreshing read. Starting today. Should be a good, albeit quick read.
Happy reading all!!

[Melissa]

I've been in a bit of a reading slump this summer due to a couple of unengaging book club selections that I have had to really slog through, but night before last I started The Supremes at Earl's All You Can Eat and I am really enjoying it (thanks for the suggestion Ann when I heard you speak at Book Club Soiree at my local bookstore back in May). I also just received notification that I can pick up Jill McCorkle's Life After Life at the library this week! So I will read that next.

[Bobbi]

Gerald wrote: "This is very different from any book that I have read. I don't usually read what they call literary novels but I have listened to the first two segments of the book.What I usually do while reading ..."

I noticed this novel when I was in the bookstore on my pre-op buying spree, and I jotted it down in my notebook to remember because it really sounds interesting!

[Ann]

Melissa wrote: "I've been in a bit of a reading slump this summer due to a couple of unengaging book club selections that I have had to really slog through, but night before last I started The Supremes at Earl's A..."

So happy that you are enjoying it, and that you came to our event (RJ Julia, right?). Hope to see you again soon!

[Melissa]

Ann wrote: "Melissa wrote: "I've been in a bit of a reading slump this summer due to a couple of unengaging book club selections that I have had to really slog through, but night before last I started The Supr..."

Yes, Ann, RJ Julia! That was such a great event and it was also my introduction to BOTNS! Hope you are feeling better.

[Nancy]

I can't remember when (or what) I last posted, so I'll just note a handful of recently read books.

Print: Currently reading The Death of Arthur by Peter Ackroyd, a retelling of the King Arthur legend originally written by Thomas Malory in 1485 as Le Morte d'Arthur. Ackroyd's version was published just a few years ago. I love the King Arthur stories and have read many takes on them by different authors, focusing on different characters, interpreting the events differently. Even though Ackroyd has shortened Malory's version and made it more understandable for 21st century readers, I'm finding it a bit tedious. It seems to be very repetitious, just one episode after another of a knight out riding around, running into another knight, having a battle, one or the other getting seriously injured or killed, or being betrayed by a treacherous lady, etc. Maybe things will pick up in the latter part of the book. I must say I now appreciate more the efforts of novelists to take the generally agreed on characters and plot and develop them into a more coherent story.

Also have read: Stiff: the Curious Lives of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach; The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin, The Ashford Affair by Lauren Willig, and The Messenger of Athens by Anne Zouroudi (mystery/detective novel).

Audiobooks: Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen, The Cat's Table by Michael Ondaatje, The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, and Brookland by Emily Barton.

Next up in print is the Company We Keep: A Husband and wife True-Life Spy Story by Robert Baer. I'm waffling among several audiobooks.

[Louise]

:-)

[Kokeshi]

Over my holidays I read True Grit by Charles Portis. I absolutely loved it. Dark, funny, and intelligent. 5 stars from me.

[Gerald]

When I was a kid my parents must have had me in a dentist office were I saw a SATURDAY EVENING POST and it contained a short story written by Portis. I found out later that that was to promote the original film version with John Wayne. No attempt was made to promote the author or his books while with the second version I saw several stories about Portis and his writing.