Books on the Nightstand discussion
What are you reading March 2014
message 51:
by
Kate
(new)
Mar 12, 2014 07:07AM
I finished
The Orphan Master's Son for one of my book groups and am now reading
The Secret History. After that,
The Trial for my other book group. Overall, a pretty bleak selection; hoping my April selections are a little uplifting!
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I finished a Wrinkle in Time: A Graphic Novel by Hope Larson last night. I enjoyed it (3 stars) and thought it would be interesting to read the original and the graphic novel side by side. I just finished Neil Gaiman's The Ocean at the End of the Lane this morning and really enjoyed it (4 stars). Some ideas were very frightening so I don't think it's a children's book. He certainly has quite the imagination!
Just finished listening to ANCILLARY JUSTICE. This is a book that you might be better reading and not listening. There are two stories , the main characters life as a spaceship and the second story of her life as an ancillary flows to quickly in audio and might be better understood reading the story. There is also her thinking as a machine (she thinks of all people in the story as a "she") that might be understood better in the reading.This is a good sci fi adventure and very well worth reading if you like sci fi. This is the first book in a series of two.
Been in a reading slump so imagine my delight to receive Parnassus on Wheels in my Book Riot box. What a little gem. For me this was on a par with 84, Charing Cross Road....just charming, and very bookish!
Listening to
. Still on a fanasy,science fiction track.I saw
in audible but I promised to read it. Sooner or later.
Kate wrote: "I finished The Orphan Master's Son for one of my book groups and am now reading The Secret History. After that, [bo..."Kate-- Does The Orphan Master's Son get better? Does it pick up the pace a little? It is my April book club book, so I have to read it, but I am struggling making an connection to it. And when I put it down I don't want to pick it back up...I find myself watching West Wing DVDs this week instead of reading, but I stare at the book sitting on my nightstand!
about half way through and I'm loving it!
Mod
Divergent today. Then I'll get back to Booktopia Vermont books.
Just finished The Moon Sister ... not very good. To purge this experience from my system, I am starting The Dead Zone by Stephen King. I don't how I missed this one! It's funny because every time I read a bad book I feel compelled to follow it with a King book. I guess I am offsetting the negative vibes! Happy reading!
Finished the play
, wich I rated four stars. Note to self: read more newer plays.
1) As an actor/director, I need to keep abreast of the stuff that's out there.
2) They're short books. As my tastes usually run to long tomes, I can up my annual book count by reading plays.
, wich I rated four stars. Note to self: read more newer plays.1) As an actor/director, I need to keep abreast of the stuff that's out there.
2) They're short books. As my tastes usually run to long tomes, I can up my annual book count by reading plays.
Melissa wrote: "Kate wrote: "I finished The Orphan Master's Son for one of my book groups and am now reading The Secret History. Af..."I liked the second part better and pretty. Much flew through it. My book group met last night and opinions were split; some loved it and some not so much. One of the moderators couldn't get past page 100. One of the other members also kept putting it down to watch West Wing :)
Thanks, Kate. I will stick with it. I finally passed 100 pages last night.
Mod
Chandra, I wanted to see if that was a book that I put on my TBR list, but I could not find a listing for "The Moon Sister". Who is the author?
Denise wrote: "I just got The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. Is it really great? I have my doubts because it's such a long book."I really want to read that!
I finished The Second Life of Samuel Tyne by Esi Edugyan 
I'm currently reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck,
I hope to finish The Life of Pi too! Looking to be a good reading month :)
I have finally picked up The Bookseller of Kabul. Even though it is based on facts it is written like a novel and the style is not the subject makes for easy reading. Although the subject is not new she has captured my interest.
Billy Collins took a turn hosting THE WRITERS ALMANAC over the summer. He did a good job.
Miss Fisher. I think you can stream the series on Netflix .
Esther, I really enjoyed The Book Seller of Kabul, even though the treatment of women as second class citizens there made/makes me furious.
Christine wrote: "I have just finished reading. Me Before You. I just started reading The Interestings and have also borrowed Where'd You Go, Bernadette from the libra..."Oh so jealous...Rebecca is my favorite book ever. I hope you enjoy it!
Laura wrote: "Gerald wrote: "Miss Fisher. I think you can stream the series on Netflix ."Yes, the first season is available. It's got a deeper and darker backstory than the novels, but I like that - and reall..."
Laura and Gerald, I also loved Miss Fischer's Murder Mysteries. She is so much fun!
Laura and Gerald, I also loved Miss Fischer's Murder Mysteries. She is so much fun!
I'm almost done with Lexicon (20 pages left), and I'm still not sure what the book is about. Although the concept is good (words have the literal power to control people), the plot is weak with some missing chunks in the storyline. Others have liked it; I'm just not one of them.
I finished First Among Sequels (book 5 in the Thursday Next series) and am rereading One of Our Thursdays Is Missing (book 6) so I can finally read The Woman Who Died a Lot (book 7).I really enjoy Jasper Fforde's books, although book 6 took a while to get into because it deals almost exclusively with written Thursday. I'm glad book 7 gets back to the "real" Thursday -- I wonder if it will touch on the the serial killer issue raised in book 5?
Susanne wrote: "I'm almost done with Lexicon (20 pages left), and I'm still not sure what the book is about. Although the concept is good (words have the literal power to control people), the plot ..."I agree Susanne!
On Such a Full Sea, which though it is good, it is somehow also very very slow. I am afraid I will lose it to the library queue before I finish.My current oyster book is
River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze. This is quite interesting, but is on the back burner unless I am waiting somewhere and get in a few pages.
Purely by accident, I seem to have be focusing on books by authors named Smith. First was Alexander McCall Smith's latest in his Ladies' Detective Agency series, The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon, then NW by Zadie Smith, and now Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith on audio. Authors NOT named Smith include Alan Bradley, whose new Flavia de Luce book (The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches) I devoured as soon as I got a copy from the library. Big changes ahead for our girl Flavia, assuming this isn't the end of the series. Currently I'm reading Handling Sin by Michael Malone. I had to buy this for a book club since the library didn't have it. When it landed on my porch with a 700-page thud, I thought I was doomed to not finish on time. However, it's a very easy, fun read; I'm halfway through with a week to go. I have another book club meeting the same week and will be reading Cordelia's Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold. I gather it's the first in a series. If I like it, I'l look for more.
I am hoping to finish all of these, although THE STAND will make it difficult, but I couldn't pass it up after Michael's strong recommendation. Loving A CONSTELLATION OF VITAL PHENOMENA right now though, such beautiful writing. 
Mod
Jeff, just above the comment box, when you type, it says "add book/author" Click on that then look up your book. At the bottom you get a choice to mark a box for the link or the cover. If you click "cover" the result will be the picture of the book cover.
I just started The Walking Dead comic book series and am loving it. Also reading Fables, vol 8, Mockingjay, A Tale for the Time Being, and Poems by Phillis Wheatley.
Jeff wrote: "Oh no...how did you guys do tht where you add in the picture of the book?"What Linda said.
Since you already have the link in your post, you can edit your post by adding "cover" at the end of "book" in the book's link and it will change it to the bookcover/picture.
ie... change "book:Leaves of Grass|27494" to "bookcover:Leaves of Grass|27494"
I've finished One of Our Thursdays Is Missing and am half way through The Woman Who Died a Lot (thanks to audio books, I can read at work :)) I've also picked up Night Film from the library.
I just finished the 2nd gem in my Book Riot box called Judging a Book by Its Lover: A Field Guide to the Hearts and Minds of Readers Everywhere I am impressed with Leto's bibliophilia though I don't necessarily agree with her on every point.Now I'm starting my Booktopia Asheville reading with Wiley Cash and A Land More Kind Than Home
I finished
The Secret History and started
the Trial. I am in need of levity so I also started
Kids These Days.
Mod
If You Ask Me so, I can go back to listening to
Standing in the Rainbow which had to be sent back to the library for cle-cle-cleaning.
Linda, you are too funny. Isn't Betty White a hoot? Thought she did a great job narrating her book.
For the next couple of weeks I'm abandoning my vow to pare down my owned-but-unread Teetering Stack. My library's offerings are just too tantalizing. I'm currently 200 pages into an entertaining doorstop of a film biography, Barbara Stanwyck: Steel-True 1907-1940. I'm a big fan of Cold Comfort Farm but haven't read Stella Gibbons' other novels, so I plan to give Nightingale Wood (1938) a try. Next up: David Low's book-collecting memoir With All Faults, John Fox Jr.'s 1904 novelette A Cumberland Vendetta, Cyril Connolly's essay collection Enemies of Promise, the Peter Ustinov autobiography Dear Me, and--how appropriate!--Brigid Schulte's new Overwhelmed: Work, Love, and Play When No One Has the Time.
.
Mod
Alison, stick with us and soon you'll have a pile of books so high it will act as the nightstand - I know!
I just finished The Dead Zone by Stephen King. WOW! I don't how I missed his early works (well OK I was a wee one) but his storytelling is timeless. Starting a new one this afternoon. I'm thinking Songs Only You Know. ARC
Happy reading all!
Currently in the midst of "the Diamond in Your Pocket" by Gangaji, "What Should we be Worried About?" which is written by a collection of various scientists and thinkers, and "a Guide to the Good Life" by William B. Irvine. An interesting assortment, granted. Gangaji is a teacher in the Neo-Advaita school, in a lineage that traces back through HWL Poonja to Sri Ramana Maharshi, possibly the greatest sage of that school. Certainly one of if not the most well known one. Stoicism is a western philosophy that came out of the west, but reminds me of what might happen if Lao Tzu or Buddha was born in the west instead of the east. What should we be worried about is just what it sounds like. With all the worry and fear and tragedy on the news every day, the book is a collection of essays discussing what people who have spent their adult lives studying science believe are actually reasonable to worry about
I'm reading Night Film and listening to The Last Dragonslayer. My husband and I are reading The Book Thief for an upcoming book club.
Mod
The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son and started
Who Could That Be At This Hour?
Last night I finished Eleanor & Park, which I recommend to YA fans -- bonus points if you were a teen in the 80's. I'm just finishing up the audio of In Defense of Food. I think there are some good points made by the book, but the narrator is not my favorite. The Forever Girl is waiting on my nightstand (literally) for tonight's reading pleasure.
currently reading: 
and on my kindle I'm reading:
They are both excellent so I decided to read one at night before bed and the other when I get the chance to read in the day so that I can continue them both
Books on the Nightstand
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