What Are You Reading Now? Showing 151-200 of 2,435

[Corinne]

I'm currently reading The Hiding Place and just finished Anne of Avonlea!

[PattyMacDotComma]

I do love a good short story, so I'm glad that Amazon is publishing originals from many different authors. In the Empty Quarter by G. Willow Wilson is a scary little cautionary tale I enjoyed.
4★ Link to my review of In the Empty Quarter

[PattyMacDotComma]

They broke the mould when the Artist Known as Prince came along. This is another of the Little People BIG DREAMS series. Author Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara and illustrator Cachetejack have produced a bright, appealing children's book
4.5★ rounded up Link to my Prince review with several illustrations

[Nente]

Ah, unfortunately didn't find anything in Kavalier & Clay to make me feel that the stilted writing and the infodumps were in any way worth it. At least I reread at least three old favourites in pauses.

[Terry]

Nente, thanks for your comment. It may move the book down my list.

I finished A Girl of the Limberlost (***), by Gene Stratton Porter, which was a favorite of young girls a century ago, but found it not that interesting, and I am now starting In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. What a contrast!

[ALLEN]

Terry wrote: "Nente, thanks for your comment. It may move the book down my list.

I finished A Girl of the Limberlost (***), by Gene Stratton Porter, which was a favorite of young girls a century ago, but found..."

Not everyone likes ICB, but it's one of my favorites.

[Jenny]

I just finished Fahrenheit 451 for the first time in my life last night. Trying to choose between 1984, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, or Atonement for my next read.

[ALLEN]

Jenny wrote: "I just finished Fahrenheit 451 for the first time in my life last night. Trying to choose between 1984, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, or Atonement for my next read."

For another dystopian read, I'd recommend FAHRENHEIT 451.
Fahrenheit 451.

[Terry]

Allen, I just love the way Capote writes. I haven’t gotten to the gruesome parts yet, though.

[Janice]

I am reading Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield

[PattyMacDotComma]

Return to the Most Beautiful Village in the World is a bittersweet follow-up to Japanese artist Yutaka Kobayashi's previous two picture books about a little boy who left his war-torn village in Afghanistan.

Kobayashi says we must inspire the children!
4.5★ Link to my Return to ... review with many illustrations

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished:


Books of Blood: Volume VI by Clive Barker
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

which is the final volume in this omnibus collection:


Books of Blood, Volumes 4-6 by Clive Barker
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice

[Janice]

I was reading Once Upon A River by Diane Setterfield but stopped after reading 100 pages; just not for me. I am now reading Canoeing in the Wilderness by Henry David Thoreau and am enjoying it. :)

[Patty]

I’m currently reading The Liar’s Dictionary by Eley Williams.

This is about lexicographers and Mountweazels (false entries in dictionaries and reference books. Often used to safeguard against copyright infringement. Named after the fictitious Lillian Virginia Mountweazel who made her appearance in The New Columbia Encyclopedia in 1975.

Some Mountweazels: apopudobalia (a Greco-Roman sport much like soccer); zzxjoanw (pronounced as “shaw”, it is a type of Maori drum); and Jungftak which you’ll have to look up for yourself.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

[ALLEN]

Rand McNally used to put "Dot" on their road maps where there was no village, just a junction. That was designed to forestall plagiarism.

[Adda]

I am currently reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. This is the second Dickens novel I am reading, the first being Hard Times some years ago, yet I abandoned the book after reading half of it.Safe to say Great Expectations will not receive the same treatment as I now fully and truly understand why George Orwell once said that when Dickens describes something, that imagery sticks with you forever. I’m excited to finish this one so I can start reading David Copperfield as soon as possible 😅

[Luke]

Since I last posted, I've started:

Memories of the Future - Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky
Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent - Eduardo Galeano
The Gilda Stories and Bones & Ash (Bones & Ash part only) - Jewelle L. Gómez

[Patty]

Allen, in the book they talk about Trap Street in London’s A to Z, put in for the same reason (copyright).

[PattyMacDotComma]

Heartstone is the fourth in the excellent Matthew Shardlake historical mystery series set in King Henry VIII's very bloody England. Author C.J. Sansom seems to know his stuff (excuse the academic terminology) about the wars of the time.
3.5~4★ Link to my Heartstone review

[PattyMacDotComma]

I finally read the first book of the much-loved Monkeewrench mystery series by mother-daughter duo P.J. Tracy. People and plot were every bit as good as I was told. I'm delighted there are more!
5★ Link to my Monkeewrench review

[Nente]

So interesting about the copyright entries. Am I understanding correctly that if someone reprinted the text including the false entries, the original author could have come forward to say that this proved the copied book wasn't the result of actual research?

[Laurie]

Nente wrote: "So interesting about the copyright entries. Am I understanding correctly that if someone reprinted the text including the false entries, the original author could have come forward to say that this..."

Nente, I believe it would mean that if someone reprinted the text with the false entries, they would be guilty of copyright infringement, and therefore can be sued for making money on a copyright they don't own.

[Darren]

I just finished Herodotus's The Histories
been on my TBR for ages
so glad I finally got round to it
loved it
(and I'm not even a classical scholar!)

[Cami]

I'm reading "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell, which is the book that the TV Show, 'Durrells in Corfu' is based on. The book is such a joy to read! The characters are so zany and the descriptions of Greece are SOOO stunning! I definitely recommend it! I'm also reading "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. I never read it as a kid, but I wish I had! My inner child is loving it so far!

[Patty]

Nente about the mountweazels and copyright infringement. Someone could tell if another person just took their information—dictionary, for example—and reprinted it under their own name. They could prove this because of the inclusion of these mountweazels.

For example, my dictionary has the made up word “esquivalience” (an actual mountweazels). If I find that word included in your dictionary, I would know that you copied my dictionary since no other dictionary has this.

[Lilly]

Leni wrote: "I read it a few years back with my older child. I'm trying to convince my younger child to read it now, but he is hesitant even though I have assured him it's not scary or sad. It's not sad is it? I must admit I don't completely recall. A bit melancholy, perhaps. Which I must admit is not his thing, so I shouldn't push it."

Sorry for the late reply, Leni.
I haven't finished the book yet, as I had to pause it for others. But I cannot say that it contains anything scary. The way that Hatty lingers on her memories as an old woman and the separation of the two friends are somewhat said, but not too much.
If your child is hesitant, maybe get him to the watch one of the movie versions with you first. I can recomment the version by Willard Carroll, I think that was from 1999.

[Lilly]

Leni wrote: "Currently reading:
Hyperion oder Der Eremit in Griechenland - which is really stretching my ability to read German. It's also sublime in its descriptions of nature, and hilariously m..."

How are you doing with Hyperion so far?
Hölderlin's German is of course a little antiquated, so that could account for some of your difficulties ...

[Cami]

Adda wrote: "I am currently reading Great Expectations by Charles Dickens. This is the second Dickens novel I am reading, the first being Hard Times some years ago, yet I abandoned the book after reading half o..."
Nicholas Nickleby is a treasure too!!!

[Lynn, New School Classics]

Cami wrote: "I'm reading "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell, which is the book that the TV Show, 'Durrells in Corfu' is based on. The book is such a joy to read! The characters are so zany and the ..."

The Giver is a great book. So glad you enjoy. I have taught it to Middle School students who really appreciated it.

[Cami]

Lynn wrote: "Cami wrote: "I'm reading "My Family and Other Animals" by Gerald Durrell, which is the book that the TV Show, 'Durrells in Corfu' is based on. The book is such a joy to read! The characters are so ..." That is so wonderful to hear! I love to hear about kids loving to read. This is such a cool story, I'm glad I'm getting to it now. Better late than never!

[Nente]

Laurie, Patty, thanks for the replies! Funny to think about it as a widespread practice, but quite makes sense.

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished:


Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton
Rating: 3 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


The Devil's Alternative by Frederick Forsyth

[Terry]

I finished In Cold Blood by Truman Capote, five stars. I am starting The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck.

[Leni]

Lilly, watched the movie might be an idea. For some it makes them less likely to read the book afterwards, my eldest is like that, but my youngest likes knowing that the story is "safe" and then seeing how the book adds to the movie experience. Currently he is really into reading Arthur Ransome books though, so I'll just leave him to it.

I have almost finished Hyperion! I think my main difficulty is actually that there are no speech marks. I find it hard to tell when Hyperion is just writing down his thoughts and when he is actually voicing them. And sometimes I'm not even sure who is speaking. Actually, no one speaks in that book, they all cry out their statements - in either rapture or despair. Sometimes both in the same sentence.

[PattyMacDotComma]

Hello Friend We Missed You won The Guardian's 2020 Not the Booker Prize competition. I liked the real Booker winner better this year - Shuggie Bain - but Richard Owain Roberts IS a good writer, and it's nice to see Wales represented.
3.4★ Link to my Hello Friend review

[PattyMacDotComma]

Six Word Story: Stories, Memoirs, Poems and Jokes all written in only six words. is the second book of clever, quirky "stories" by Doug Weller. There's a competition you can enter, too. Fun to try making them up.
4★ Link to my Six Word Story review with a few stories included

[Nente]

I'm reading There Goes a Mensch: A Memoir by Alexander Granach. At first it felt like an appropriate companion to Zweig's The World of Yesterday which I read last year: both were Jews growing up in Austro-Hungarian empire, one a bourgeois in a cultured environment of Vienna, the other a peasant in a Galician village. The narratives are starting to diverge now, with Granach going into theatre, but it's still a gripping tale.

[Paula W]

I’m doing this weird thing where I have decided to read all the over-hyped books of the past few years that I didnt read. Because I usually hate those books. I am finding they are really good for an anger release

[Nente]

Do you still hate them or are there some jewels hidden in the manure?

[PattyMacDotComma]

Paula W wrote: "I’m doing this weird thing where I have decided to read all the over-hyped books of the past few years that I didnt read. Because I usually hate those books. I am finding they are really good for a..."

Nente wrote: "Do you still hate them or are there some jewels hidden in the manure?"

I hope you are stirring yourself up in a good way, Paula, and not going to give up reading what you really like!!

[PattyMacDotComma]

I love mysteries based in Ireland. Strange Flowers is a curious, intriguing story by the talented Donal Ryan.
4.5★ Link to my Strange Flowers review

[Patty]

Patty, I also love books that take place in Ireland. I hope my library has this one.

[Luke]

Since I last posted, I've started:

The Tale of the Heike - Anonymous
Pilgrimage, Volume 3: Deadlock, Revolving Lights, The Trap - Dorothy M. Richardson
The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge - Rainer Maria Rilke

[Janice]

I have just finished Canoeing in the Wilderness by Henry David Thoreau and started Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell

[BurgendyA]

The books that I am reading now is Narcissus in Chains by Laurell K. Hamilton & Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

[Lilly]

Janice wrote: "I have just finished Canoeing in the Wilderness by Henry David Thoreau and started Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell"

We read 'Island of the Blue Dolphins' at school. The story always made me sad ...

[PattyMacDotComma]

The One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot is a brand new favourite! It's hard to believe this is Marianne Cronin's first novel. Wonderful characters and story.
5★ Link to my review of One Hundred Years of Lenni and Margot

[PattyMacDotComma]

I just enjoyed Aussie author B Michael Radburn's second Taylor Bridges mystery, The Falls. Creepy murders in the Victorian bush.
4★ Link to my review of The Falls

[RJ - Slayer of Trolls]

I finished:


The Time Regulation Institute by Ahmet Hamdi Tanpınar
Rating: 4 stars
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

and I started reading:


By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho

[Janice]

I have DNF'd Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell and just finished Amal Unbound by Aisha Saeed and I loved it!!! Tomorrow, I plan to start The Circular Staircase by Mary Roberts Rinehart.