What are you reading in 2016?

[Jon]

Starting The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya. A re-telling of Antigone set in the midst of the Afghanistan war:

"Following a desperate night-long battle, a group of beleaguered soldiers in an isolated base in Kandahar are faced with a lone woman demanding the return of her brother’s body. Is she a spy, a black widow, a lunatic? Or is she what she claims to be: a grieving young sister intent on burying her brother according to local rites? Single-minded in her mission, she refuses to move from her spot on the field in full view of every soldier in the stark outpost. Her presence quickly proves dangerous as the camp’s tense, claustrophobic atmosphere comes to a boil when the men begin arguing about what to do next.
Told from various points of view, including those of the U.S. soldiers, Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya’s heartbreaking and haunting novel takes a timeless tragedy and hurls it into present-day Afghanistan"

[Pamela]

Currently reading The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts. Despite the rather sensationalist title, this is fascinating and really well written. It's what I hoped The Bookseller of Kabul would be like but wasn't .

[Paul]

Just added it Pamela. Great title too

[Jan]

Jon wrote: "Starting The Watch by Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya. A re-telling of Antigone set in the midst of the Afghanistan war:

"Following a desperate night-long battle, a group of beleaguered ..."

Ooh, sounds fascinating. Am adding it to my list!

[Marina]

Pamela wrote: "Currently reading The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts. Despite the rather sensationalist title, this is fascinating and ..."

Well yes, this isn't much of a title, but it sounds very interesting. Thanks for letting us know about its existence, I had never heard of it (whilst I have read some fascinating newspaper articles on the same subject).

[Jackie]

I'm reading The Watchers on the Shore by Stan Barstow. A sequel to A Kind of Loving.

[Tracey]

I'm about to start Bleak House My copy a beautiful Folio Society edition published in 1985 :)

[Jackie]

I'm going to start reading Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey today.

[Paul]

I have never heard of him Jackie

[Paul]

Just started The Fish Ladder: A Journey Upstream. Beautifully written so far.

[Alik]

Jasper Jones is one of my all-time favourite books Jackie. Enjoy!

[Paul]

Next four books to read are:
Terra by Mitch Benn
The Bees by Laline Paull
Wild by Nature: One Woman, One Trek, One Thousand Nights by Sarah Marquis
Casimir Bridge by Darren Beyer

[Ruby]

Just started The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

[Jackie]

I loved that book, Ruby. Hope you enjoy it.

I'm reading The Absolutist by John Boyne. It's great so far.

[Jackie]

Hi Alik!

I thought Jasper Jones was pretty good! Some of the convos between Jeffrey & Charlie made me smile :)

[Paul]

I have only read The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by him Jackie

[Jackie]

I hadn't heard of him either, Paul, but I liked his writing so would probably read something else by him.

[Jackie]

The last one I read by him was Crippen. Loved that one too. I've got The House of Special Purpose somewhere as well, although haven't read it yet.

[Jackie]

Ooo I forgot about A History of Loneliness (I think it's called) loved that one!

[Jan]

Wuthering Heights, and I am hooked again from the get-go. Heathcliff, the misanthrope helps his tenant get home to Thrushcross Grange-extraordinarily complex character.

[Tytti]

I really should read that, Jan. I could then watch the movies, too...

[Jan]

I highly recommend it, if you like sturm und drang emotion and tortured characters.

[Tytti]

Well I'm not sure if I really like that but I know I prefer "faulty" characters to perfect ones.

[Jan]

Then you'll like it.

[Pat]

I hated Wuthering Heights when I first read it. Then it was the only English book I could get in Suez 30 plus years ago. I suddenly understood it. Read a few times since and love it.

[Jan]

Interesting reaction, Pat.

[Paul]

Started The Old Straight Track yesterday.

[Jackie]

I'm about a quarter of the way through The Cuckoo's Calling and enjoying it so far.

[Tytti]

I have been reading a couple of short books I really should finish some day... One is a book of two short stories by Minna Canth who was an important figure in a fight against equality between men and women in the 19th centery. I actually quite like it, just haven't been reading much lately. And I probably hadn't started reading that even now (been meaning to for years) but I started a book club for Finns here and chose her and equality as the first theme of the month as it was her flag day in March. And then I have a couple of Shakespeares plays written as prose by a Finn for April because he was one of the people who had an anniversary then. Luckily I have already read this month's book earlier... :D

It probably would make more sense to have someone who actually reads more as the book club moderator but no one had started one so it might as well be me. There are many Finns in other groups at GR but obviously they don't read Finnish books that often and it's a bit easier to discuss in Finnish with people from the same culture. Next month we are probably reading a Danish book "Beskyttelseszonen" which I suggested mainly because of the cover as it is time for Euro 2016. Though it also sounds interesting, about the relationship between Denmark and DDR, and of course there are Stasi and a bit of football in it, too.

[Paul]

Just starting:
Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Four-Dimensional Human: Ways of Being in the Digital World by Laurence Scott

[Jo]

I am reading The Missing Hours by Emma Kavanagh and listening to Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham.

Jealous of you reading Remains of the Day, Paul! No time for a re-read unfortunately. One day perhaps....

[Paul]

Looking forward to it. And one from the dusty shelf too

[Wendy]

A couple of chapters into The Shining Girls enjoying it so far

[Paul]

Thought that was a pretty good thriller Wendy

[Patricia]

Paul wrote: "Just starting:
Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro
[book:The Four-D..."

As a high school teacher, I see the effects on my students of always having lived in the digital age. I'm interested in reading The Four-Dimensional Human to see how the author explains what I am seeing in the classroom and also how these changes might play out in the lives of my grandchildren. And I can't believe how much non-fiction I am reading and enjoying since joining Book Vipers.

[Paul]

For some non fiction is a foreign country, and they are missing out! I will let you know what it is like when I have finished Patrica. The other worth reading is The Winter of Our Disconnect

[Sooz888]

Paul wrote: "For some non fiction is a foreign country, and they are missing out! I will let you know what it is like when I have finished Patrica. The other worth reading is [book:The Winter of Our Disconnect|..."

I agree totally about nonfiction. It has been a revelation to me in this past year. I have lopped great swathes of fiction from my tbr list list to clear room for more nf.

[Patricia]

Paul wrote: "For some non fiction is a foreign country, and they are missing out! I will let you know what it is like when I have finished Patrica. The other worth reading is [book:The Winter of Our Disconnect|..."

I'm glad to hear that The Winter of Our Disconnect is a worthwhile read. I have it on my "maybe" list.

[Tytti]

Paul wrote: "For some non fiction is a foreign country, and they are missing out!"

There was a time I read mainly nonfiction and usually about history. Not always from cover-to-cover but the most interesting and important parts of the book. Many times the truth is stranger than the fiction.

[Jan]

Oh, so true! Margaret Macmillan's book on the Paris Peace Talks after WWI was an eye-opener for me. It's so easy to dismiss politicians as greedy, incompetent megalomaniacs. History teaches you how extraordinarily complex leadership is.

[Jackie]

Going to start reading The Lie by C.L. Taylor.

[Jon]

Starting Pastoralia by George Saunders. A collection of his short stories.

[Jackie]

I'm now reading A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler.

[Jo]

I am listening to The Moth Catcher. I've not read any of her books before. It's not what I expected. It is one of a series of crime novels featuring Vera Stanhope. I was imagining something akin to a female Simon Serrailer, really dark and gritty, but this is quite different. It's like one of those ITV crime dramas that have an edge of surreal comedy to them.... nods and winks and deep, dark secrets at every turn. Odd, but strangely quite good.

[Joy]

Just started Down Among the Dead Men by Peter Lovesey, my favourite detective author.

[Jackie]

I'm going to start reading City of Women by David Gillham today.

[Paul]

Just starting these:
Pier Review: A Road Trip in Search of the Great British Seaside by Jon Bounds
An Octopus in My Ouzo: Loving Life on a Greek Island by Jennifer Barclay
Retreat from a Rising Sea: Hard Choices in an Age of Climate Change by Orrin H Pilkey
The Running Hare: The secret life of farmland by John Lewis-Stempel

[Toyah]

Just started the mammoth Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace...I'm not sure what to make of it yet, it may drive me insane by midway

[Joy]

I'm chuckling away at Hot Water - P.G. Wodehouse, but not Jeeves.

[Jon]

Just started A Darkling Sea. Supposedly a good first contact novel set underwater on an alien planet.