What are you currently reading? Showing 801-850 of 2,082

[Reggia]

Hi Sally! I was very interested in your review but decided not to finish it until I was done with the book. Very curious to see how these characters develop... anyway, thanks for sharing!

[Sally]

I recently read and loved The Vanishing Witch by Karen Maitland. It is unusual and fascinating in every way, from narration to subject matter. Highly recommended for lovers of historical fiction and the feminist literary theorem of "the pit or the pedestal" (the stereotyping of women in literature as either evil or pure). 4★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Werner]

When I'm finished with a book, but expecting to start a common read on a fixed date that might not allow me to read another whole book in the interval, I usually fill in the time with a short story collection; and that's the case now. This one is a spin-off from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series, set between the show's first and second seasons (so the stories are not adaptations of actual episodes). I've only ever watched scattered episodes of the series, when it was syndicated in our area back in the 90s; but for the most part I liked the ones I saw.

[Reggia]

Almost done with Wuthering Heights... wow, dark, dark, dark! I need something light after this!

[Reggia]

LOL @ yellow pages! ;-)

[Reggia]

Hah! I've already given Moby Dick two attempts... it's currently on my "Abandoned" list. :-p

[Ann at the Beach]

Just finished Sisterland --- great character development --plot not so much

Just started The Things They Carried

[Werner]

Indicating the differences in tastes that can be found in our group, I was able to finish and appreciate ("like" might not be exactly the right word in either case! :-) ) both Wuthering Heights and Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. Of course, I have more tolerance for 19th-century diction than many modern American readers do. So far, I haven't gotten around to reviewing the former, but my review of the latter is here, if anyone's interested: www.goodreads.com/review/show/15332840 .

[Reggia]

I'm done; I finished Wuthering Heights. All I can say is, what a weird tale!

Now reading An Echo in the Darkness... it's possibly a re-read as was the first in this series. I'm also on the lookout for a quick, easy, fun read to bridge these two.

[Sally]

I recently read one of the most enjoyable and interesting biographies it has ever been my privilege to encounter: Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Schiff - 4★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Werner]

My Fans of British Writers group is doing a common read of The Dark Horse by Rumer Godden (1907-1998) this month, so I'm taking part in that. Godden was Anglo-Indian, and like many of her novels, this one is set in India --in this case, in Calcutta in 1932, focusing on the milieu of high-stakes competitive horse racing there. Since this book is pretty short, I expect it to be a quick read.

Last summer, my wife bought the Darksword trilogy by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman at a yard sale. (Of course, being a librarian, I've heard of this pair, but haven't read any of their work.) She thought it might be a good possibility for reading aloud; so we've just started on the first volume, Forging the Darksword, as our "car book."

[Ann at the Beach]

Just started Indignation by Philip Roth

[Reggia]

I've started Liar Temptress Soldier Spy

[Werner]

While I wait to start a planned buddy read with a friend, and probably don't have time to start and finish another novel or nonfiction monograph in the interim, I'm filling in by reading in the anthology The Vampire Hunters' Casebook. Peter Haining (1940-2007), the editor, was well-known as a compiler of genre collections, two of which I've read and greatly enjoyed already. (I picked this one up last summer at a second-hand store.)

[Werner]

We have The Emperor of All Maladies in the Bluefield College library, although I haven't read it myself. I selected it for the collection a few years ago because I thought our pre-med students really needed a much more updated monograph on cancer than the ones we had then.

[Sally]

Incantation of Frida K. by the brilliant Kate Braverman affected me so deeply that it has taken me a while to process my thoughts and feelings about it enough to write a proper review, but here it is:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Of the forty-odd reviews I've written, this one may be the one that means the most to me. This extraordinarily beautiful book still has the power to bring tears to my eyes just from thinking about it - not sad tears, grateful tears for a story so beautiful and so profoundly resonant with my own. 5★s are woefully inadequate here.

[Werner]

In a way, the book I started this morning is a reread, but in a way it isn't. I read my Goodreads friend Mackenzie Dare's first novel, Fire Storm, two years ago, soon after it came out, and rated it three stars. She subsequently rewrote it extensively, to incorporate some (though not all) of the constructive criticism she received from me and other readers; I promised to read the new version sometime and revise my review accordingly, and it's this new version that I'm reading. (It's taken a while to get a copy --long story!-- but the delay hasn't been caused by lack of availability.)

[Werner]

Recently (I thought I'd posted about it here before now, but evidently I didn't!), I started reading Saint Sebastian's Head, by my Goodreads friend LeAnn Neal Reilly. This novel is descriptive general fiction, like The Dark Horse which I read earlier this year; in that respect, both are a change of pace from the speculative and genre fiction that's tended to dominate my reading in recent years (though that hasn't always been the case).

Since neither of us were getting into it, Barb and I finally bailed on our read of Forging the Darksword. (I go into this more at www.goodreads.com/review/show/1217232393 .) As our new "car book," we've started on the first book in Dave Duncan's King's Blades fantasy series, The Gilded Chain.

[Werner]

Unlike the long-running Sword and Sorceress fantasy series edited by the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which the various installments just have Roman numerals, the volumes of editor Esther Friesner's similar (but generally more humorous in tone) Chicks in Chainmail series all have slightly different titles. While I'm waiting to start a May common read in another group, I'm passing the time with stories from the second book in the latter series, Did You Say Chicks?!. (I really liked the first volume, Chicks in Chainmail.)

[Werner]

Reading electronic books on my Kindle app doesn't fit into my schedule as well as reading print books, which I prefer anyway. But I recently picked up Brackett Hollister: The Werewolf Pack by my Goodreads friend Quentin Wallace, when he offered it as a freebie for a couple of days, and I just started reading it last night. As usual, if i like it I'll buy a print copy. (It's his first novel, and intended as the opener for a series.)

[Reggia]

I just finished the latest installment of The #1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, The Handsome Man's Deluxe Cafe.

Now I can concentrate on Cutting for Stone.

[Sally]

I finally finished my review of Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a very important postcolonial novel - 4★s.

Here is my review:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Werner]

I've just started Doha 12, an action-adventure/espionage novel by my Goodreads friend Lance Charnes (although this isn't a free review copy; I bought it some time ago). This is one I've had on my radar for some time, so I finally decided that it's time to read it.

[Reggia]

Still working through Cutting for Stone... and enjoying immensely!

[Reggia]

Trying to start on Phantom
... something different chosen by my local book group. We'll see, I've begun listening to the audio.

[Werner]

A couple of days ago, I started on a book I won in a recent giveaway, God's Daughter, by my Goodreads friend Heather Day Gilbert. It's a historical novel set in North America shortly after 1000 A.D., and following the experiences of the Viking explorers (both men and women) through the eyes of Gudrid, wife of expedition leader Thorfinn Karlsefni. (These two, and other characters, were real-life people; Gilbert has fleshed out their story from the old sagas that handed it down in oral form.)

[Reggia]

I'm not sure if I'm going to continue with Phantom. I began listening to the book on CD but having a hard time following... it could be the audio so I may try with the actual book. Or I may begin Remarkable Creatures.

[Mary]

I just started Jesse Andrews' YA novel, ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL, and I already like it. I recently completed favorite adult novelist Toni Morrison's last (hopefully) novel, GOD HELP THE CHILD, and was not impressed.

The three nonfiction books read recently are Tom Brokaw's A LUCKY LIFE INTERRUPTED, Amanda Berry and Gina Dejesus's HOPE, and Candice Bergen's A FINE ROMANCE.

[Werner]

My Kindle app doesn't get used much, unless I'm trying out a free book in that format to see if it's worth buying in print. At the moment, I am previewing one this way: Dakiti by E. J. Fisch, who's a fellow member of my Action Heroine Fans group; it's an Sf series opener. I've seen good reviews and comments about this one; so when the author recently made the e-book free for a day, I grabbed it up, and started on it today.

[Reggia]

I just slipped in an intriguing read of Sarah's Key these last few days... now back to Remarkable Creatures.

[Werner]

Around the beginning of next month, I'll be starting a common read in another one of my groups; so I wanted a short, light-weight read that I could finish in the meantime. So I've recently started a spin-off novel based on the Xena Warrior Princess TV series (I was a fan of the show, back in the days when it was still on the air!), Xena: The Huntress And The Sphinx by Ru Emerson. I'd snagged a copy from BookMooch some time ago.

[Reggia]

Just finished Remarkable Creatures and now beginning Map of Bones.

[Werner]

Barb and I started on another "car book" yesterday: Stalking Ivory, the second installment of Suzanne Arruda's Jade del Cameron mystery series, set in colonial Africa just after World War I. The series opener, Mark of the Lion, was one of our favorite reads last year, and Jade herself quickly became one of our best-liked fictional heroines.

[Werner]

One of my other groups is doing a common read of a W. Somerset Maugham novel, Cakes and Ale, this month. Because of factors beyond my control, I had to start it late, but finally got started on it a couple of days ago. Given that it was first published in 1930, it might be a candidate for our 250 Classics Challenge thread; wouldn't you agree, Charly?

[Werner]

When I finish reading it, I'll add it to that thread, Charly!

[Werner]

I don't always start another e-book right on the heels of finishing one (that isn't my regular format for reading!), but last night I started reading a review copy of The Strong One, by my Goodreads friend David Wittinger. (It's not available in paper format at this time, though hopefully it eventually will be.) Though I interpreted the warnings about some bad language and explicit sex as a caution light, I chose to take a chance on it; so far, I'm liking it.

[Reggia]

Okay, forget Map of Bones as there was not enough time to finish before the next group read (one right here in my neighborhood). So I'll be starting Life After Life and I'm reading this nonfiction: Naked Statistics.

Charly, I enjoyed Remarkable Creatures... it was different and unexpected although the ending was quiet and uneventful, lol, like many a classic... we learn to like them for their character development though, don't we?

[Ann at the Beach]

Reading In the Woods by Tana French

[Werner]

While I wait to start on a buddy read with one of my Goodreads friends (I'm getting the book by interlibrary loan, and it's in the mail), I'm reading in the anthology Men O'War: Stories from the Glory Days of Sail. (At this point, I'm listing it on my "being read intermittently" shelf instead of "currently reading.")

[Ann at the Beach]

Started A Fine Balance

[Werner]

The Fatal Tree, the book I was waiting on to buddy read with my friend, finally arrived earlier this week, so I've started on it. (When I finish, it will be another completed series read for me.)

Barb and I started a new "car book" early this month, Operation Chaos by Poul Anderson. We read his The High Crusade together years ago, and really liked it.

[Werner]

I'm currently reading the Summer 2015 issue of Fungi (Fungi, Summer 2015), as if it were a book --Amazon and Goodreads treat the individual issues of this periodical as "books," and they have ISBNs as a book would. My friend Andrew M. Seddon has a short story included, and recently sent me a free review copy.

The title is taken from a poem by H. P. Lovecraft, "Fungi From Yuggoth." Irregularly published, the issues are fairly thick (this one has 120 pages), with a large-size, glossy format. It aims to present quality short fiction, poetry and art (with some pieces of nonfiction commentary) oriented towards the weird, fantastic and macabre. (In other words, right up my alley! :-) ) Most selections are new; a very few are reprints. I'm pleased with it so far!

[Janelle]

I've just started Henry vi Part 2. It's been very political so far.

[Sally]

Here is my long-overdue review of The Paris Wife by Paula McLain:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Reggia]

Well, I just put The Paris Wife on my to-read list but then read too many reviews, oops! I may have to let a considerable time go by to get started (in the hopes that I forget the spoilers).

I'm now reading The Thirteenth Tale.

[Werner]

Last week, I finished reading Legends of Sleepy Hollow, an anthology of original scary short stories set in or around the eponymous New York village made famous by Washington Irving in "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." (Again, this was a free review copy given to me by my friend Andrew Seddon, who has a story included.) It was a quick read, though a good one; I'd already finished and reviewed it before I got around to mentioning here that I was reading it!

Starting around Oct. 1, I'll be doing a common read with my Supernatural Fiction Readers group. So rather than start a new book for my regular reading, I'm reading more in a book from my "being read intermittently" shelf, The Mammoth Book of Men O'War. But Barb and I did recently start a new "car book."

Between 1945-49, gifted Western writer Les Savage Jr. wrote some eight short stories/novellas for the pulp magazines of that day, featuring a gallant female outlaw (and like Robin Hood before her, she's got a good reason to be one!) nicknamed Senorita Scorpion. Altus Press reprinted these in a two-volume collection in 2012 (The Complete Adventures Of Senorita Scorpion Volume 1 and Complete Adventures of Senorita Scorpion, Volume 2. I gave Barb a copy of the collection over Labor Day weekend for our 35th anniversary. Since we were ready for a new "car book" around that time, we've started reading Vol. 1 together (and will follow it with Vol. 2, if we continue to like it as well as we do so far).

[Reggia]

...having a hard time deciding what to read next; may finish something from my Abandoned/Unfinished list.

[Reggia]

Charly said:

Read or finish a classic.

Charly, you're in my head, lol, that's exactly what I'm doing and thought of you when I made the decision. ;-)

So I picked up Anna Karenina where I left off some time ago.

[Werner]

While I wait for next month's annual common read in my Supernatural Fiction Readers group, I'm passing the time with another free review copy from my friend Andrew, his The Deathcats of Asa'ican and Other Tales of a Space Vet, which collects his SF tales that feature his Doc Hughes character ("vet" here is short for veterinarian --and a veterinarian in space can meet up with some interesting life forms!). I've beta read all of these stories years ago, but thought a reread would help me do a better job of reviewing them. (If I don't finish every story before October, I can just set the book aside temporarily and put it on my "being read intermittently" shelf.)

[Werner]

Every October, my Supernatural Fiction Readers group here on Goodreads does a common read of a group-selected book; so I'm taking part in this at the moment (although I expect to finish by tomorrow; it's a short, quick read). This year, the group voted for Haunted by the late British author James Herbert (1943-2013). I'd heard of him only vaguely before this, and had never marked any of his books as to-read; but I'm enjoying this one.