June: What Are You Reading?

[Tango]

Just finished Elizabeth George's "This Body of Death". It was great - same great characters, some plot twists to keep you guessing and a few hints at the end as to the direction of the next one.

[Dottie]

Kat wrote: "I'm reading 3 books right now. One is Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon, one is Lark and Termite by Jayne Anne Phillips, and the third is Austen's Lady Susan, which I downloaded so that I could exp..."

Kat -- when you finish Lost City Radio do look for the constant Reader discussion among the discussions section lists on the book's page

[Kat]

Thanks, Dottie. That will be especially helpful as I'll be discussing this book with my face-to-face book group.

[Hazel]

Heather wrote: "I just finished La Reine Margot by Alexandre Dumas last night. I thought it was fantastic!"

Heather, I saw a French film by that title over 10 years ago. Perhaps Isabelle Adjani? Really liked it, but didn't think of looking for the novel. Thank you, I will now!

[[deleted user]]

I finished The Aeneid this morning. I didn't like the battles, almost all unknown names to me and no way to keep straight who's with who. Some of the other chapters I did like. Later today I will be starting Pan. I'm really looking forward to reading another Hamsun.

[Rosana]

And I haven’t been reading at all. Life is so busy around here. I am missing my time with a good book... maybe next week. Wait, the World Soccer is just starting. Maybe it will be July by the time I get back to reading...

[Janet]

I just started Norton's Ghost. I encountered this title on a web thread where authors post a blub about what they've written. (I'm not sure why we authors do this. After all, the thread is mostly just read by other authors who are really only interested in promoting their own book.)

Anyway, I was intrigued because it has a similar opening scenario to my book: A college student with no clear view of their future grapples with the implications of a sudden death in the family. I've only just started, but I'm anxious to see the direction this author takes. I'll keep you posted.

(Plus, the .99 price on Kindle made it tough for this cheapskate to pass up.)

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

Capitu wrote: "And I haven’t been reading at all. Life is so busy around here. I am missing my time with a good book... maybe next week. Wait, the World Soccer is just starting. Maybe it will be July by the ..."

The first two games were terrific. Ties!

Now I can read, until tomorrow.

[Beej]

Rose, I've been keeping an eye on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks since the day it was released. (I work in a book store.)
What an intriguing story!

[Marialyce]

Beej wrote: "Rose, I've been keeping an eye on The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks since the day it was released. (I work in a book store.)
What an intriguing story!"

It is and it was a fascinating story, more because it is true.

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

I'd like to read Norton's Ghost and Henrietta Lacks, but just no time. Thank goodness Jean Brodie is short!

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

Tango wrote: "Just finished Elizabeth George's "This Body of Death". It was great - same great characters, some plot twists to keep you guessing and a few hints at the end as to the direction of the next one."

Great! That's in my TBR stack. I love the Inspector Lynley mysteries.

[Hazel]

I've just finished The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, which seems to me a better-than-usual fantasy novel and better-than-usual first novel. Recommended.

[Jim]

The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein. This book makes the point that the recession was a result of supposedly smart people taking too much risk because of the system in which they worked. It was not just a question of exotic financial instruments, we had a system that rewarded companies who made bad loans and Nobel prize winners assuring people that if they packaged enough bad loans together, they would have a good loan.

The second half of the book focuses on Paulson and Bernanke trying to keep things from disintegrating while the clock kept ticking. Curiously absent from the story is the President, who doesn't seem to have been at all active.

Overall a pretty good story. Admittedly, this might be a little better for those who know some of the basic technical things about leverage, markets, and bonds.

[Al]

Jim: Thanks for the review of Lowenstein's latest. I think he is a great financial writer. I really enjoyed his book about LTCM.

Gabrielle: I am also excited about the slimness of Miss Brodie :)

Marialyce: I read Henrietta Lacks this spring. It was an incredible story. I loved the first half of the book but was disappointed with the second half - especially the afterword. I felt like the author threw in all kinds of issues that she had wanted to raise within the story but didn't and that somehow left a really bad taste in my mouth. I can't explain or even figure out why it bothered me so much, but for that reason I have not been as gung-ho about recommending it to folks. But I do think it is a story people should know about.

I just finished American Subversive: A Novel - it is a thriller about a blogger and a political activist. Fast paced, very au courant, it was fun. Mostly I was impressed with the ending - the author really tied things together in a way I did not think he would be able to pull off. There's a bit of a Bret Easton Ellis, so if hearing about rich young people in NYC bothers you - you might not enjoy it.

I'm now reading Elegy for April: A Novel. It is a fast read, but I am starting to wonder if these characters and settings have run their course for Benjamin Black.

[Roxanne]

Finished Stoner - excellent book. Loved the writing style of the author - and the setting in academia - his plight and the clean, spare, sense of his life. Great recommendation. Starting another Brian Morton novel, Starting Out In the Evening - This is a very interesting book that seems to be commenting on the artist life, and consequences thereof. I dont' read this very often and find it fascinating. I actually love Brian Morton's writing. Resonates with me. It isn't always pretty, but shines light on corners and shadows.

[Al]

Roxanne:

glad you enjoyed Stoner. How would you compare Starting out in the evening to Breakable You?

[Roxanne]

Al:
Let me think on this.
I just read your review of Breakable You. I actually agree with your take on the first half being much better than the second half. However, for some reason I still thought it was a good book. I guess the good overrode the not so good. I am finding bits of Starting Out in the Evening to be so insightful that I can't put it down - and then kind of slog through a few pages. But I do think that some of the slogging may be necessary. Not sure - will get back to you on this.

[Kat]

I saw the film based on Starting Out in the Evening. Don't know how much they changed, but it made quite an impression on me. Maybe I'll look for the book.

[Sara]

Kat, I really liked the movie too. I keep thinking I'm going to find the book . . . but it's not that I don't already have plenty to read after all.

Not making much progress right now. New job, moving in mid-July, no commute time, so I'm just conceding that I may not be actually reading much until August.

[Sherry, Doyenne]

I loved Starting Out in the Evening. That's why I nominated Breakable You. I wanted to read more of him. The movie is one of the few that I think does the book justice.

[Carol]

I have been meaning to read Henrietta Lacks also. I will add it to my list.

[Marjorie]

I just finished MUDBOUND by Hilary Jordan. Very interesting book. Good writer. Makes you realize what it must have been like living in the deep south before the Civil Rights movement, when a black person had to ride in the back of a truck if you gave them a ride, even if it was raining, where a black could be hanged and no one did anything about it, and forget it if you were a black man and even looked sideways at a white woman.

Laura, an educated woman who thought she was destined to be an old maid teacher, is courted by a nice man and marries, but finds he wants to farm and they move to a 200 acre farm in the Mississippi Delta with his misogynist, racist father. When her husband's brother and his black friend return after WW2, the trouble starts after they've been used to the way things were in Europe and find they have trouble living under the racist rules in Mississippi.

Marge

[Sara]

I found Mudbound to be thoughtful, harrowing and excellent all at once.

[Carol]

I am starting Petals from the Sky. I have a few more pages of Tinkers to finish.

[Roxanne]

Sherry wrote: "I loved Starting Out in the Evening. That's why I nominated Breakable You. I wanted to read more of him. The movie is one of the few that I think does the book justice."

I am also loving it. I dont' know what all the smacking is about, but I think Morton is totally under appreciated. But I usually like non-mainstream books anyway. More than half way through - I think Morton has an amazing grasp of personalities, motives, society and the life of the artist. Love it.

[Hazel]

I've just started The Long Ships: A Saga of the Viking Age, and find it fast-paced and humorous. This translation is smooth and easier for me to read than others of non-English epics. So far, good fun.

[Monica]

Starting Out In The Evening got a mention over on the Movies At Home thread.

[Carol]

Petals from the Sky is turning into a good book. It is about a young Chinese woman who wants to be a Buddhist nun against her mother's wishes.

[Sara]

I've just started The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey. Never read her before, and I'm not very far in, but so far, quite good. I need an easy one right now.

[Carol]

I have only read one of hers called The Singing Sands. As I recall it wasn't too bad. It is a mystery.

[Roxanne]

Finished Started Out in the Evening. Liked it a lot. He posed a lot of questions, and, of course, we do not get the answers to life's conundrums - but we get a glimpse into a life. Very, very interesting to me. I have a question - the slap at the table - and she melted into him. Seemed like the most intimate act - broke all walls between them. Did it seem like something he would really do?

[Kat]

I've taken the plunge and have started the P&V translation of WAR AND PEACE. It will probably take me several months. Still reading LARK AND TERMITE and LOST CITY RADIO as well, which means I'm reading (in some sense) three books about war.

[Jean]

I just finished Jo Nesbo's The Devil's Star. He is a Norwegian writer of mysteries. His protagonist is the alcoholic, detective, Harry Hole. (I'm assuming this name is pronounced differently in his native language.) Harry is an interesting, complex character and this story has some unusual twists. I know he wrote Redbreast which I'm having trouble getting into, but now I know Harry is in it, I'll try it again.

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

Kat wrote: "I've taken the plunge and have started the P&V translation of WAR AND PEACE. It will probably take me several months. Still reading LARK AND TERMITE and LOST CITY RADIO as well, which means I'm rea..."

That edition of War and Peace has been calling to me lately. I really want to make the time to read it. I'm finishing up The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie today.

[Sherry, Doyenne]

Be sure to go to our W&P discussion when you finish, Kat and Gabrielle. It was one of our better ones.

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

Thank you, Sherry. I think I joined just as you were finishing up that discussion.

[Sarah]

Marge and Sara, I read Mudbound several years ago and I was very impressed. I need to look to see if she has any other books out.

[Mary Ellen]

Kat& Gabrielle, I bought the P&V W&P a few months ago after 2 tries w/library books only brought me 1/4 through the book. I was thinking of tackling it this summer, too, so I'll look for your comments here!

Josephine Tey: Long ago, I read her The Daughter of Time and thought it was excellent. It is a "mystery" in a way, in which a 20th century hospital-bound "sleuth" tries to figure out whether Richard III really killed off his nephews. A different sort of mystery, but very well done.

[Jim]

I read Henrietta Lacks story early this year

I don't understand why someone/company who made money off Henrietta Lacks cells didn't pay the family a decent amount of money even if legally they didn't have to.

[Jim]

Jim wrote: "The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein. This book makes the point that the recession was a result of supposedly smart people taking too much risk because of the system in which they worked. It..."


did You read The Big Short by Michael Lewis
if You did how did it compare to The End of Wall Street?

[Carol]

Sara I forgot I read The Daughter of Time also . It was an excellent book. I will need to read more.

[Kat]

I read quite a lot of Josephine Tey at one time. Haven't picked her up in a long time with one exception--I reread her book BRAT FARRAR every couple of years because I like it so much.

[Carol]

Kat wrote: "I read quite a lot of Josephine Tey at one time. Haven't picked her up in a long time with one exception--I reread her book BRAT FARRAR every couple of years because I like it so much."

That clinches it I must read more of her books.

[Mary Ellen]

I finished Lawrence Block's The Burglar Who Painted Like Mondrian over the weekend. A lot of fun, with the usual witty dialogue. But the ending was a bit confusing and convoluted!

[Roxanne]

Kat wrote: "I saw the film based on Starting Out in the Evening. Don't know how much they changed, but it made quite an impression on me. Maybe I'll look for the book."

I've got the movie reserved at the library. I didn't know it was a movie.Thanks!

[Roxanne]

Jean wrote: "I just finished Jo Nesbo's The Devil's Star. He is a Norwegian writer of mysteries. His protagonist is the alcoholic, detective, Harry Hole. (I'm assuming this name is pronounced differently in ..."

I love Harry Hole!

[Carol]

I can't believe it. I don't have a book I am reading. I have to scour my shelves. I have been house bound without a car. And internet shopping is out for a while. I have Hungerto read, but that looks to depressing to read for now. I might start Moloka'i. Has anyone read it as yet?

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

Carol (akittykat) wrote: "I can't believe it. I don't have a book I am reading. I have to scour my shelves. I have been house bound without a car. And internet shopping is out for a while. I have Hungerto read,..."

I have,Carol, and I interviewed the author, Alan Brennert for my literary blog. It's a terrific book, but depressing in spots as well. Brennert is one person who made the transition from screenwriter to novelist well.

[Sara]

Well, I just broke down and ordered a bunch of Josephine Tey from Amazon--the library copy I have of The Franchise Affair is so old that it is literally crumbling as I turn the pages, and corners are gone, and I finally can't stand it anymore. I do have the audiobook of Daughter of Time on hold at the library, so I didn't order that one. I'm really enjoying the tone of her writing, so I think I'll like all the books.