What Have you Finished Reading recently?

[Beth]

Recently finished La's Orchestra Saves the World (4 stars), The Pleasure of my Company (4 stars), and Um. . . Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean (3 stars). Now reading and very much enjoying The Day the Falls Stood Still.

[Jim]

COSMOPOLIS by Dom DeLillo and THE SAVAGE DETECTIVES by Roberto Bolano
I didn't really understand what the point of COSMOPOLIS was - if anyone does, please enlighten me

As for THE SAVAGE DETECTIVES, I really liked it but am not sure what it was about - again if anyone does, let me know what you think about that book

[Lianne]

I recently finished reading Victoria Hislop's The Island (interesting novel, learned a bit about 20c Greek history, leprosy and life in a small Cretan town) and Steve Berry The Paris Vendetta A Novel (interesting novel, as were his previous books, with some interesting turn of events) =)

[Denise]

I have read several books since last posting, the best two were Q's Legacy and The Lost Symbol. Have to say about The Lost Symbol that it was good up until the last 50 pages or so. Then Brown got preachy and I lost interest. Otherwise the story was fantastic.

[Ashley]

I finished reading "The Lightning Theif" by Rick Riordan last night. I'm now going to read the second book of the series "A Sea of Monsters" . I am also going to finish "Tempted".

[Beth]

Recently finished ~
The Boy Next Door A Novel
The Day the Falls Stood Still
The Ha-Ha A Novel
Each was a 4-star book, for different reasons.

[Ashley]

I finished the 6th book of the "House of Night" series, Tempted, last night.

[Kathy]

I've been reading M.C. Beaton's Hamish Macbeth mystery series lately and have finished Death of a Dustman, Death of a Celebrity, and Death of a Village. I want to stop for a bit and read some other books that I have on my January list, but I'm not sure I can. I get hooked on a series and find it hard to stop before I've read all in it.

[Jim]

Sam wrote: "Finished The Poe Shadow A Novel by Matthew Pearl and thoroughly enjoyed it. Pearl beautifully recreates 19th century Baltimore and Paris using the style and prose of the..."

I thoroughly enjoyed this book too and am going to read some of Poe's books that I didn't before

[Ashley]

I just finished The Maze Runner, by James Dashner. I loved this book! Cannot wait until October to read the next book in the trilogy.

[Monika]

i just finished Too Many Magpies by Elizabeth Baines

[Sam]

Jim wrote: "Sam wrote: "Finished The Poe Shadow A Novel by Matthew Pearl and thoroughly enjoyed it. Pearl beautifully recreates 19th century Baltimore and Paris using the style and ..."

Glad it's getting you reading a bit more Poe, put me in the mood to re-read my Poe books too :-)

[Wes, Moderator]

I finished A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson the other day and it was great. I read it at work and kept bursting out in laughter to the characters/nonfiction in the book. This book is alot of fun and a very good read.

[Ashley]

I just finished reading "Burned" by Ellen Hopkins. Great book but didn't like the ending, only because I am a sucker for happy endings.

[Kathy]

This past weekend, I finished If I Stay and loved it! It is well deserving of its popularity.

[Lianne]

I recently finished Daniel Silva's The Mark Of The Assassin and The Marching Season. They were both interesting but I much prefer his Gabriel Allon series; they're much more fast-paced and they flow a lot more.

[Lewis]

I just finished Millenium #3 - The Girl WHo Kicked the Hornet's Nest. It is terrific, only it's sad to say goodbye to Lisbeth and to the author Stieg Larsson. PS. I'm not revealing the plot, only referring to the fact that Larsson died.

[Kathy]

Just finished The Help, absolutely fantastic read!

[Denise]

I finished up 2009 with The Raven's Pool, Diary of a Provincial Lady, and The Grand Finale. The Grand Finale is one of Janet Evanovich's books written before her Stephanie Plum series. It was good.

So far in 2010 I have read:

The Shaman Sings, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (a wonderful book, one that I had put off reading because the title turned me off--I'm glad I finally gave in and read it), Steinbeck's Ghost (a supposed kid's book but I liked it alot), Blood Of The Prodigal: Ohio Amish Mystery, A Daughter's Trust, The English American (very good will be especially meaningful to anyone that is adopted), Mrs. Miracle (another good book by Debbie Macomber, and A Christmas Blizzard (this book started off great but fizzled as the story went on).

I should finish What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist-The Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England before the night is over. I thought this book would be much better than what it is. It is like reading a dictionary or encyclopedia--I'm rather disappointed.

[Lianne]

I finished reading Wilkie Collins The Woman in White last night. I really enjoyed it, it was fast-paced and filled with intrigue and mystery =) Can't wait to read his other works sometime =D

I also finished reading Geoffrey Hosking's Russia: People and Empire, 1552-1917, Enlarged Edition, which is a very comprehensive view of Imperialist Russia from a national identity approach. He's a very interesting academic, I've enjoyed his work on Russian identity (since I'll also be working on the topic for my MA thesis) =)

[Jim]

MONEY by Martin Amis
CALENDAR by David Duncan

[Kathy]

Last night I finished reading Four Spirits: A Novel by Sena Jeter Naslund, a powerful historical fiction book.

[Lianne]

The last book I finished was Nicky Pellegrino's The Italian Wedding which was an interesting and light read. I liked how they delved into the main character's family history in order to discover what the family feud was about.

[Jim]

LIGHT IN AUGUST by Faulkner

I liked it for various reasons but it's my 1st and last Faulkner read

[Sam]

I recently finished reading War and Peace (and how impressed was I by my dedication hehe) and thoroughly enjoyed it and was surprised by how enjoyable and easy it was to read, would highly recommend it.

Also read the first Sookie Stackhouse book on the weekend, Dead Until Dark, which I thoroughly enjoyed, far better than the Twilight ones that's for sure.

[Trevor]

Sam wrote: "Finished The Poe Shadow A Novel by Matthew Pearl and thoroughly enjoyed it. Pearl beautifully recreates 19th century Baltimore and Paris using the style and prose of the..."

I have read all of Poe's works so I should enjoy the book although I do know it isn't a prerequisite for reading the book.

[Trevor]

Sam wrote: "I recently finished reading War and Peace (and how impressed was I by my dedication hehe) and thoroughly enjoyed it and was surprised by how enjoyable and easy it was to read, would high..."
I am not a fast reader and need to have a lot of dedication to read it. It is worth knowing that Mrs Tolstoy proof read it and altered it to Leo's specifications 6 TIMES lol.

[Trevor]

Denise wrote: "I finished A Shortcut in Time, time travel book, was good but couldn't agree with the ending, it wasn't logical with the rest of the story. Am now reading The Outlander..."

I have read time travel books for the past 40 years (Using the current time line lol) and I am grateful for the recomendation.

[Lianne]

The latest book I finished reading was James Nichols's Transgression: A Novel of Love and War. It was an interesting novel; it certainly shows an aspect of the war that I haven't really come across too much in fiction novels set in this period *nods*

[Chelsi]

I recently finished The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson book 2). So far I like the series, but the storyline is predictable. Riordan has done very well with his personas for the gods and mythical creatures. I also like his writing style.

[Ashley]

I recently finished "Tricks" by Ellen Hopkins.

Chelsi, I am currently reading "The Sea of Monsters".

[Kimberly]

I just finished readingThe No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I have to say I loved it. From the first page to the last. I love the main character Presious Ramotswe and I love the premise of the book. It's light hearted and humourous and very charming. It's definately one of my favourites now and I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

[Trevor]

I tried reading Barry Trotter but found it trying so hard to be funny and amusing but not (for me) succeeding.

[Kathy]

I just finished Blackout by Connie Willis and loved it. Well, the ending, which wasn't an ending, was a bit startling. Willis has the rest of this story and its conclusion coming out next fall in All Clear.

[Angela]

I most recently finished South of Broad by Pat Conroy & Blue Christmas by Mary Kay Andrews.

[Jim]

2666 by Roberto Bolano

[Monika]

i just finished The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon

[Jim]

A FRACTION OF THE WHOLE by Steve Toltz
a good book with a lot of interesting and funny observations about contemporary life but too long

[Ashley]

I finished read "Crank" by Ellen Hopkins last night. It was good.

[Jim]

"The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot
excellent tying together an amazing individual story and boiethics

[Jim]

"The Man from Beijing" by Henning Mankell

keeps tension throughout book plus interesting view of modern China but ending doesn't match the rest of the book

[Kathy]

I've read several good ones since my last post--The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag, Thirteen Reasons Why, and Lincoln's Dreams.

[Wes, Moderator]

Finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy great book I highly recommend it

[Shawn]

Finished "Friday's Tunnel" by John Verney. Nice book, nice writer of juvenile books I just stumbled upon. This was my first book of his I have read.

[Kathy]

The Hand That First Held Mine by Maggie O'Farrell, started out slow, but ended up with a bang.

[Annet]

Wes wrote: "Finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy great book I highly recommend it"

I absolutely agree Wes, this must be one of the most impressive, if not the most impressive book I read in my life. Story made a deep deep impression on me and I love the writing style of Cormac McCarthy. I share the recommendation!

[Cheryl]

I just finished reading Alex Cross's Trail I am
a James Patterson fan already so this wasn't exactly
a chore!

[Kathy]

The God of the Hive by Laurie R. King, another fantastic Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes book!

[Sam]

I've just finished Pandora's Daughters and Nobody True

[LaTrica]

I ripped through The Last Battle. That completes the Chronicles of Narnia for me. It took me a year to finally finish them all. Voyage of the "Dawn Treader" was my favorite.