what are you reading at the moment?

[[deleted user]]

Just about to start The Courilof Affair and The Inheritors

[Laurel]

Finished A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore which was pretty good - might have to check out some of her short stories which seem to be quite highly thought of. I'm still reading Rick Bragg's memoir All Over But the Shoutin' and have started A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

[[deleted user]]

I keep meaning to read A Tale for the Time Being - next month for sure.

[Howard]

Have started, in the last two days:

Margaret Atwood - Alias Grace
Charles Martin - The Dead Don't Dance
Leslie Gilbert-Lurie - Bending Toward the Sun

Nonfiction:
Pete Russell - From Science to God: A Physicist's Journey into the Mystery of Consciousness
Steven Pinker - The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language
Ervin Laszlo - Science and the Reenchantment of the Cosmos

Taking advantage of the free 30 day offer I mentioned in '...the Walrus...'. Have read 2 of Martin's works in the past year, he is considered to be a faith-based writer, but isn't preachy, just very well written feel-good novels - the way things should be kind of a thing. Would be a good counterpoint to works like Algren's. This work was his debut novel, I think. We know Alias Grace (thanks, Lee), and actually, Bending Toward the Sun should have been in nonfiction also. It is a multi-generational holocaust survivor memoir.

I finished By the Rivers of Babylon and will finish Battle Cry tonight or tomorrow. Plodding along in the other works, quite contently.

[[deleted user]]

I like the sound of "the language instinct" - learning to talk must be one of the most amazing things that we humans do.

[[deleted user]]

By the way Anitpodes - have you read any Thomas Wolfe ? He came up in On This Day - I gather he was once ranked alongside Hemingway and Faulkner but that his reputation has declined.

[Joy]

I've been feeling so tired lately, I've not got on very well with new books, so I'm comfort reading. I just adore Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde and am happily drifting along through it for about the 6th time!

[Laurel]

That one sounds good Joy, I'll have to add it to the tbr list. Have read The Eyre Affair quite recently but this one seems a little more serious, is that right?

@Antipodes - how goes the Faulkner?

[Howard]

@Lee - No, have never read any Thomas Wolfe, have heard of Look Homeward... and You Can't Go Home... , if anyone can recommend one of his works over another, onto the TBR. Pinker's The Language Instinct is pretty fascinating stuff. Am two chapters in and he is developing his premise that the development of complex grammatical structure in language is as innate a behavior as growing two arms, but that the relative complexity, that is, the degree of complexity can and does vary considerably from one culture to another. His concentration is on the development within the individual brain, however, and it is quite interesting. It would seem that we all undergo a grammatical explosion of only a few months duration at 3 years of age or so, during which most of our grammatical rules are determined.

@Laurel - The Faulkner reading is going well, read Barn Burning in Collected Stories and am a ways into As I Lay Dying, enjoy both. I have found that I must slow down my reading rate, and even then find myself, having lost the contextual thread, having pretty much no idea what I am reading as I am reading it and am somewhat surprised when that realization dawns. Kind of like waking from a dream but not quite able to grasp its gist, it's just beyond my fingertips. One then must go back and reread the previous few sentences, on occasion the prior couple of pages, in order to regain context. This is happening less and less as I acclimate to his writing and find that I must slow down and pay more attention, and as I do, find that I can become as close to totally immersed in an author's world as I ever have been. The current appropriate vernacular of the younger folk around me as to how excellent the writing is would be "off the chain" - it just doesn't get much better than that.

[Angela]

I am unfamiliar with both of these... think I will have to do some research.
I am going to finally crack a few pages of Stardust before I go to bed tonight. Plus the continual Sew-Crates (thanks Lee!)

[georgiabread]

Diary of Anne Frank

[[deleted user]]

@ Angela - you're welcome - sweet dreams.
@ Antipodes - your experience with Faulkner sounds a bit like mine with the later Henry James novels. I love them but, by the time I've got to the end of each (epically long) sentence,I've forgotten how it began and have to read it another couple of times at least before I've understood it.

[Howard]

@Joy - Read through several reviews of Shades of Grey and subsequently added it to my read next list. Thanks.

[[deleted user]]

Me too.

[Angela]

Me three! :-)

[Laurel]

Sounds amazing Antipodes - I've actually got it on order and it should be turning up sometime this week which is why I'm so curious ;) I've been meaning to try his stuff for a while.
Hope you enjoy Stardust Angela - it's not quite the same as the film but it's still fun.

[Angela]

Thanks Laurel. I haven't seen the film so I'm going in with a blank slate, which is probably a good thing. I'll want to watch it after though :-(

[[deleted user]]

Half way through Grey Souls and about to start book 2 of The Idiot.

[Joy]

Shades of Grey is different in style to the Thursday Next books but is still very witty.

[Hilary]

I came across The Secret Of Crickley Hall in the library while looking for this months book(unsuccessfully I need hardly add) and I remembered it was televised some time ago. I have read a couple of his horror books although I prefer Dean Koontz for that, but thought I'd try it.

[Hilary]

I should really be reading something worthier like catching up with Plato, Pickwick, or the mad characters in The Idiot but sometimes you really need a bit of junk.

[[deleted user]]

That you do :0). Just finished Grey Souls and I'm not really sure what I think about it. I thought the first half was just ok and then almost exactly half way through something clicked and I thought it was rather wonderful and then the ending really annoyed me and almost ruined the rest of it. Lots of people have given this book very good reviews and I know that Jenny really likes it so maybe I ought to try it again sometime.
I'm trundling through The Idiot and not sure whether to go with The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn or Closely Observed Trains next.

[Angela]

Thanks for the honest opinion Lee. I just had a look at the book and the plot itself sounds great! I've put it on the TBR and if/when I get to reading it we can compare notes :)

[Laurel]

It does sound really good doesn't it?

I've just finished The Light Between Oceans and now I'm reading George Eliot: The Last Victorian and catching up with Pickwick and Co.

[Angela]

My TBR is getting a good injection today! How was The Light Between OceansLaurel? It looks good!

[Hilary]

That sounds good - how do you track down these books, Laurel? Is it luck, recommendations or is there a filter or list somewhere?

[Jenny]

Lee wrote: "That you do :0). Just finished Grey Souls and I'm not really sure what I think about it. I thought the first half was just ok and then almost exactly half way through something click..."

Aw, shame you didn't like it as much! I've read it a really long time ago, so I don't fully remember what I thought (apart from really liking it) but I do remember that lot's of it was balancing very awkwardly on the thin line between really beautiful and complex, and slightly unbelievable or a layer of paint put on just a bit too thick. For me it fell into the first category in the end, but I would be curious to know whether I'd still read it the same way.

[[deleted user]]

That's a perfect description of it Jenny.

[Laurel]

Hilary wrote: "That sounds good - how do you track down these books, Laurel? Is it luck, recommendations or is there a filter or list somewhere?"

Well The Light Between Oceans was everywhere when it came out - if it wasn't a Richard and Judy book club book then it should have been cos it's just that sort of novel. I did enjoy it, it was decently written and I cared about what happened to the characters but... as with a lot of 'book-clubby' type books it probably won't stay with me for a long time hence 3 stars rather than 4.
If it was the George Eliot one you meant - I was just randomly looking through the biography section in Sunderland library ;)

[Suzan]

I've just finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which I thought was great, and tonight I'm going to start reading Moby-Dick for which I'm very excited.

[[deleted user]]

Ooh - I've been meaning to read Moby Dick for ages - maybe next month :0)

[Hilary]

Moby Dick is a great book! Enjoy.

[Hilary]

@Laurel do you find the Central Library in Sunderland good? As I am in Sunderland almost every weekend, I'm tempted to take out a membership there. The Northumberland libraries aren't too good. I couldn't get Akunin and now I can't get Naryanan. It's very frustrating.

[Laurel]

Yeah it's pretty good, quite big and does have a decent range of books - although it doesn't have the Naryanan book, I'm going to have to order that one in by the looks of things. They are closed till the end of the month though cos they're getting a refurb.

[Hilary]

Thanks Laurel

[Laurel]

No probs - wouldn't want you to have a wasted trip!

I'm reading The Earth Hums in B Flat as a lighter read alongside the George Eliot bio.

[[deleted user]]

I really enjoyed that - I've got her 2nd book Dead Mans Embers to read soonish too.

[[deleted user]]

Are we still up for Dantes Inferno in April?

[Jenny]

YES!!

[Laurel]

I'm liking it so far, Gwenni is very sweet.
also - excited for Dante!!! But still haven't decided which translation to get....I'm dithering ;)

[Angela]

@Lee - are we still doing The Unbearable Lightness of Being at some point?

[[deleted user]]

Yes definitely - is May ok for everyone who would like to join in?

[Angela]

Perfecto!

[Joy]

Suzan wrote: "I've just finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles, which I thought was great, and tonight I'm going to start reading Moby-Dick for which I'm very excited."

I love Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Hardy's best novel IMO. I especially like the way the countryside not only reflects Tess' moods and situations but amplifies these.

Moby Dick, on the other hand... Well, I've started it twice and given up twice!

[[deleted user]]

I've tried a few Thomas Hardy books (not Tess I must admit) but the only one I haven't given up on as being too depressing is Under the Greenwood Tree - and even that one is quite depressing. I love his poetry though.

[Anna]

Read Tess a couple of times, but ages ago, and agree it's probably TH's best. But couldn't get on with Jude the Obscure, Return of the Native etc.

@Lee - Have you tried Far From the Madding Crowd? I seem to remember that was a bit easier to read.

[Anna]

Currently reading (just started):

Victoria Hislop - The Island - for my local U3A reading group

Markus Zusak - The Book Thief - on my Kindle

Then need to read by April and return to local library

Tracy Chevalier - Girl With a Pearl Earring

[[deleted user]]

@ Anna - no I haven't tried that one - I'll add it to the to read list.
I really enjoyed The Girl With the Pearl Earring

[Hilary]

Well I've finished The Secret Of Crickley Hall. What can I say? It's not great literature, the characters and plot pretty standard for the genre, nothing particularly good but nevertheless a very enjoyable page turner.

[Ellie]

Just started A Tale For The Time Being for a book club; also still getting through a backlog including Invitation to the Waltz by Rosamund Lehman, and The Spire by William Golding (he is this month's author, isn't he? Tell me
I've nearly caught up!!)