What Have you Finished Reading recently?

[Jennifer]

I just finished The Last Time They Met, by Anita Shreve. She's a really good writer!

[Beth]

When I was manning a booth for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America at the Mountain and Plains Independent Booksellers Association conference, I picked up an ARC (Advanced Reading Copy) of The Heretic's Daughter that was published in September. I just finished it and I highly recommend it! The book is beautifully written, powerful, and gives you a clear, emotion-filled picture through the eyes of a girl living in late 1600's Andover, Massachusetts (near Salem), of what life was like back then with its Indian attacks, smallpox, terribly hard toil, poverty, and ominous whispers of witchcraft. You'll need a box of tissues nearby near the end as you read about whole families, including women and children, being tortured into confessing to witchcraft then thrown into jail to starve because their relatives are too poor to pay to feed them. I think it's an important book to read and discuss because it shows how corrupt men in power can turn the dangerous forces of ignorance and fear to their greedy own ends. It's a message for our times.

[jennifer]

I've just finished The New Lifetime Reading Plan- the updated version. I really enjoyed it because it explains why a certain author or book has had an audience for fifty years or even for thousands of years, as plenty of the ancient Greeks are represented. I was able to add many new books to my TBR pile.

[Jim]

I just finished American Lightning and Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar

both were fun and fast reads as well as informative

American Lightning was about the bombing of a newspaper building in LA in 1910 and the class warfare between labor and capital going on
plus it had information on the film director D W Griffith and Clarence Darrow and how their lives/times intersected

Plato and a Platypus is a very funny book that explains almost every philosophy I've ever heard of so that I understand what most of them were about and increased my understanding of how different philosophical movements developed

a really good overview philosophy

[Scarlet]

I recently finished Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris and A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket.

[Louise]

Yesterday, I finished an excellent biography Sex Variant Woman: Jeannette Howard Foster. She was one of the first people to hold a doctorate degree in Library Science, and worked at the Kinsey Institute for Sex Research as librarian. Her life is fascinating; she lived through the Depression, the McCarthy era, and Gay Rights revolution.

[Danita]

I just finished "Some things I never thought I would do" by Pearl Cleage and it was wonderful- it was a welcome break from " Voyager" which I am still reading.

[Barbara]

I have just finished Skeletons at the Feast by Chris Bohjalian and it was an amazing read. The author does an amazing job of bring you into the story and making you feel for each character in the book. A wonderful book.

[Jim]

I just finished The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien

unusual book - different take on reality evaluation
very good

[jennifer]

I've just finished Bloody Jack by Louis A. Meyer, the first in a series about a young girl who disguises herself as a boy to work on a Royal Navy ship that hunts for pirates. It was a decent read but I don't know if I'll read the next one.

[Ashley]

I just finished "On Strike for Christmas" by Sheila Roberts.

[Anna]

Hello everyone. I've just joined this group and would love to share with you two books I've just finished:
Gods Own Country by Ross Raisin - first person narrative about a teenager from Yorkshire that lives in a farm at the top of the hill and watches as the town below grows higher and closer to him. He is mocking of the townfolk and their ignorance of country ways but he then falls for the daughter of some newcomers. Increasingly disturbing yet remaining hilarious at the same time - wonderful.

Also - If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor which alternates from third person to first person. Its about the effect of a tragic event on a street and how the residents react to it. Its a beautifully written poetic book and staggering for a debut novel

[Ashley]

I just finished "Pirates: Scourge of the Seas" by John Reeve Capenter

[jennifer]

I've finished the Sherlock Holmes story "A Study in Scarlet". Very interesting, especially as we see Holmes and Watson meeting for the first time as financially-strapped young men.

[Jim]

i just finished THE WOMAN IN WHITE by WILKIE COLLIN

good look at mid1860s England and good suspense but almost 800 pages

[Julie]

Jim, I read that one not too long ago. Also recently read The Moonstone by the same author -- both really good.

[Stef]

Last night I finished INTERRED WITH THEIR BONES by JL Carrell. Loved every page of it, well written and interesting characters.

[Jim]

Stef wrote: "Last night I finished INTERRED WITH THEIR BONES by JL Carrell. Loved every page of it, well written and interesting characters."

what's the book about?

[Robin]

I've just finished:

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
Avempartha - final read before publication
Mistborn: The Final Empire
Flight: A Novel


--
Wife of fantasy author: Michael J. Sullivan
The Crown Conspiracy (Oct 2008) | Avempartha (April 2009)
Reviews: Fantasy Book Critic | Odysssey | Amazon | MidWest Book Review | Huntress Reviews

[Danita]

I have just finished "Voyager" by Diana Gabaldon- it was pretty good I enjoyed it - it was a long one but it was good.

[Nikki]

I just finished "Across the Nightingale Floor" by Lian Hearn. Before that I reread "The Princess" by Jude Devereaux; before that, I read "The Pagan Stone", by Nora Roberts.

[Jim]

THE WORLD WITHOUT US by Alan Weisman
very good and thought provoking plus packed with information about places/things I never knew existed
-makes You want to visit the places talked about in this very intense book

[Ashley]

I just finished "Stay With Me" by Garret Freymann-Weyr

[jennifer]

I finished Agatha Christie's "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding", which is a collection of short stories. The title story is unusual for Christie as there is no murder, but a theft.

[Jim]

I finished THE NAMING OF THE DEAD by Ian Rankin - as always good read with story lines tied together and realistic rendering of how real people interact in fiction setting

I finished BAD MONEY by Kevin Phillips which goes into macroecomomics, political and historical comparisons with prior superpowers economic decline that US may be undergoing now
very illuminating and puts lot of current situation in perspective

[Louise]

Just finished Electroboy by Andy Behrman. A good memoir-autobiography about an extroverted Bipolar who commits art fraud and forgery. Electroboy refers to electroshock; Behrman finally resorts to electroshock to control the manic-depressive mood swings which are meds resistant.

[Stacey]

finished No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories by Miranda July

Weird, funny, sexual, depressing. Liked it, didn't love it.

[jennifer]

I read "The Xenophobe's Guide to the Americans", which is part of the Xenophobe's series I'm collecting. They are very slender books, each written as a character study of the people of a particular country. I have many others on the series (the English,Germans, etc.)but was really looking forward to seeing how Americans would be described. Not favorably is the short answer.

[Kathy]

For January, thus far, I have read On What Grounds by Cleo Coyle, a nice, little cozy mystery and Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos.

[Ashley]

I just finished "Just Listen" by Sarah Dessen, my first book of 2009.

[Carol]

I just finished The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, which was a great start to 2009.

[Kathryn]

I just finished The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. REAL PAGE TURNER. I really think anyone would like it. it was really intense. just don't depend on it to have writing that is anything groundbreaking or something. But for this genre and this story it really worked and I don't think she could have done a better job.

[Amy]

I just finished VI AGRA FALLS by Mary Daheim. I just love the craziness and lighthearted messes of the B&B Mysteries.

[jennifer]

I finished "Lobotomy: Surviving the Ramones" by Dee Dee Ramone,the original bass player for the band. A good, fast read, as he recalls the forming of the legendary band, the group dynamics, etc. Just as interesting is the level of his paranoia, which was amazingly high and made him feel that whole cities hated him.

[Hovercraft]

Waggle

Has anyone else read this book?!

I've come across a recently published book called Waggle by Joe Redden Tigan. It's a self-published diddy through iUniverse, so of course I was skeptical when a buddy recommended it. Man, was I surprised. Here's the review I gave it: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12762...

Very curious for others thoughts!

--Hovercraft

[Matthew]

i just finished Colapase by Jared Diamond.

[Kathy]

In the past few days, I've finished Belong to Me: A Novel by Marisa de los Santos and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie.

[Jean]

I just finished Paula by Isabel Allende and A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseine.

[Ashley]

I just finished reading Pretties by Scott Westerfeld.

[Jim]

I just finished RACE AND REUNION by David Blight

great book about how competing memories of an event/period/movement shapes what history is recounted to future generations

this specifically discusses the post Civil War conflict between the drive for reunion of the States vs carrying out the intent of the Emacipation Proclamation

[jennifer]

I finished two books on tea-
"London: Tea in the City" by Jane Pettigrew and "A Taste of Tea" by Brian Glover.

[Jim]

jennifer wrote: "I finished two books on tea-
"London: Tea in the City" by Jane Pettigrew and "A Taste of Tea" by Brian Glover."

I love tea (and London)
which book do You recommend

[jennifer]

Jim-
If you want to know about locations for being served tea (and see some gorgeous photos of places like Harrod's tearoom) go with Pettigrew's. If you want to learn about tea-how it's grown, grades and flavors- go with Glover's.
Both books are great for tea lover's, but for different reasons.

[Paula]

I've just finished reading Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. It was a verrrrry slow start but I was surprised with the ending, wan't expecting it. Gotta love that!

[Danita]

I have just finished a couple of days ago- "The Survivors Club" by Lisa Gardner - the book was very good and suspenseful.

[Dawn]

Just finished "Out Stealing Horses". Loved it, but want to know what happend with all the characters. Curiosity is killing me. I wish there was a book that went into more detail of the history of the people in the book beyond the story that was told.

[jennifer]

I've finished "The Perfect Scent" by Chandler Burr, who is the perfume critic for The New York Times. I would recommmend it for someone who wants to know how fragrances are actually made-both the ingredients and the never ending cycle of meetings involved. Burr's problem is that he doesn't edit anything from these meetings, so the book is longer than it needs to be.

[Southernbelle0326]

I have just finished Courting Trouble by DeeAnn Gist. I have to admit this was another book that I really enjoyed and it was a fast read. I started reading Deep In The Heart Of Trouble which is the 2nd book and I didnt realize it. So I put that down and started CT and I can say that now I know why Essie is like she is.

[Beth]

While on vacation in Mexico the last half of January, I read two books by two of my favorite mystery authors:

Yankee Doodle Dead by Carolyn Hart
and
Owls Well That Ends Well by Donna Andrews.

Both were enjoyable reads and great reminders why I loved these authors, Carolyn for her terrific characterization and setting, and Donna for her madcap humor. I recommend both books!

[Stef]

Last book to finish was THE CHASE by Clive Cussler last night. Great book. Loved every page of it. Will hopefully find time to read more of his books later this year although I heard this one is completely different than all his other works.