June: What Are You Reading?

[[deleted user]]

I finished Pan today. Hamsun didn't disappoint, but Hunger is still my favorite.

[Carol]

Sibyl I glanced through Hunger, but just could not gear up to read it just yet.

[Mary Anne]

Sara wrote: "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 a..."

I recently read The Franchise Affair. I some ways, it reminded me of The Little Stranger, with the house playing a dominant role.

[Sue]

I just started reading The God of Small Things. Very impressed so far. (p. 44)

Just completed An Incomplete Revenge, my latest read in the Maisie Dobbs series. Liked it a lot. The series is moving into the 30s, with the start of the depression and the lingering traumas of WWI.

[Sara]

That's really interesting, MAP. I really like the sort of arch tone to the telling. I would have kept going in the library book if the corners of the text didn't keep showing up missing! I should have it by Thursday, though.

[Badly Drawn Girl]

For someone who is used to reading a new book every other day, I'm amazed that I'm still working my way through The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. It's 600 some pages long and it's not a book I can just sit down and read through. Man it's heavy, in more ways than one. I'm about 150 pages from the end and I couldn't tell if I like it or not! It's a doozy of a book.

In my in-between time I'm reading A Fine Dark Line by Joe R. Lansdale and Brothel: Mustang Ranch and Its Women by Alexa Albert.

[[deleted user]]

Carol (akittykat) wrote: "Sibyl I glanced through Hunger, but just could not gear up to read it just yet."

I can understand your hesitation, Hunger is not the most cheerful book out there, but it is a very interesting look into an unusual character, and well written.

[Sara]

I started A Thousand Cuts which is pretty good--about 40 pages in.

[Flora]

Just started The Girl with the Dragon Tattooits been really good since I've gotten past tht first chapter. I'm also reading the #3 in the Percy Jackson series. I love this series altho it reminds me so much of HP.

[Sherry, Doyenne]

I just finished the final book in the Larsson trilogy, Flora. My suggestion is to not wait a long time between reading #2 and #3. I was a bit confused at first, because I didn't remember some of the characters. But after a while it was smooth sailing. I really enjoyed the whole series. It's such a shame Larsson died.

[Sue]

Mary Ellen wrote: "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 comm..."
I remember reading Daughter of Time and have it on my wish list at Amazon to read again. Can't remember which others I've read or not.

Just read an excellent review of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. That definitely goes on the TBR list.

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

Sherry wrote: "I just finished the final book in the Larsson trilogy, Flora. My suggestion is to not wait a long time between reading #2 and #3. I was a bit confused at first, because I didn't remember some of th..."

I don't think I'd like the books at all, but yes, it's such a shame he died. He was young, he was going to be a major talent in the literary world, then life has to intrude with other plans. I felt really sad when I read about his death.

[Cathy]

Lilian wrote: "Rose wrote: "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks byRebecca Skloot. All I can say is WOW!

From GR synopsis: "Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her ..."

Lilian wrote: "Rose wrote: "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks byRebecca Skloot. All I can say is WOW!

From GR synopsis: "Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her ..."

Thanks for lucid and enticing review and all the other comments on the book as well. I put that on my to-read list but couldn't recall why or what it was about. Now I've gotta read it.

[Cathy]

I just finished The Kabul Beauty School and didn't realize there was such a controversy about this book until started googling the book as the narrator seemed melodramatic and unreliable. I expected a dishy and light read that might offer a glimpse into another culture--instead I came across a lot of controversy surrounding the Rodriquez's veracity and motivation. NPR reported that some of the women described in the book are at risk because of Rodriquez's exposure NPR. I now question the whole book--which is a pity because shining a light on the true condition of women in Kabul would be enlightening. Follow-up, and more research, would make for a good read.

[A.J.]

I'm starting The Surf Guru by Doug Dorst.

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

I want to read Hunger and hope I get to it.

[Badly Drawn Girl]

Well I FINALLY finished the Wind Up Bird Chronicle... that took almost as long as 2666 to finish!

I also finished After This
by Alice McDermott which I absolutely loved.

Now I'm reading a "beach read", I'm Not the New Me by Wendy McClure, a book written by a woman who is an internet star. She has a blog that started out as a personal blog for tracking her weight loss but it grew into something much bigger. It's an easy, fun read which I needed after all the thinking involved with the Wind Up Bird mystery.

I just started Out Stealing Horses by Per Petterson which I've heard good things about.

[A.J.]

Finished The Surf Guru, which I thought was quite good, though uneven.

Now reading Bill Gaston's The Cameraman. I liked The Good Body, but this one is being tough sledding.

I loved Out Stealing Horses.

[Carol]

I am re-reading A Farewell to Arms. Just a few chapters to go. I have to change my rating, I appreciate this book more the second time around. I was too young before.

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

Carol (akittykat) wrote: "I am re-reading A Farewell to Arms. Just a few chapters to go. I have to change my rating, I appreciate this book more the second time around. I was too young before."

I'm looking forward to your review, Carol. I read it as a teenager and I didn't care for it, either.

[Sue]

I didn't care for any Hemingway when I tried it in high school or college. I wonder if I would also feel differently now.

[Carol]

I finished A Farewell To Arms. What a sad story. Catherine irritated me with her silly bantering sometimes, but all and all a good book about the Italian side during WWI.

Here is my small review

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

[Erin]

Badly Drawn Girl wrote: "I also finished After This by Alice McDermott which I absolutely loved."

BDR, I also loved After This. I had the good fortune to take a workshop course for grad school with Alice McDermott last summer. She's absolutely brilliant. Her reading is incredibly insightful, and even listening to her critique others' stories taught me so much about reading and critiquing my own work. I just took pages and pages of notes.

[A.J.]

Catherine seems a little overwrought, doesn't she? I find that's Hemingway's Achille's heel.

The Sun Also Rises, now....

[Al]

OMG - The Sun Also Rises - I read this in high school for the first time and developed a serious Hemmingway crush. it took a long time after that for me to realize while Ernest was a fabulous writer, he may not have exactly been husband material :)

BDG:
Out Stealing Horses is great. And if you like it, I also highly recommend another writer from that part of the world - Italian Shoes: A Novel.

I just started The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - so far, so good.

I'm also really liking The Second Coming: A Novel - but have no idea if I will be able to finish before it is due back at the library. I've been a Walker Percy for some time.

[Carol]

A.J. wrote: "Catherine seems a little overwrought, doesn't she? I find that's Hemingway's Achille's heel.

The Sun Also Rises, now...."

At times I wanted to say will you shut up.
Al I don't know ,I like Hemingway's style what more can I say. And no he was not good husband material.

[A.J.]

Now, ya know, if I said that maybe Alyssa Milano would't be good "wife material," y'all'd complain I's bein' a sexist pig. ;)

I think in both A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemingway was guilty of overwrought female leads. (But Ingrid Bergman ... Robert Capa, you dog! I digress....)

Anyway, The Sun Also Rises.

I'm not looking to Hemingway (or to anyone else, for that matter) for husband material.

[Al]

I did preface my comment by explaining I was in high school :)

And meanwhile, A.J., I follow Alyssa Milano on Twitter and I think she is great wife material - albeit I think she wed last summer - she is a HUGE baseball fan, the L.A. Dodgers, but still she gets credit in my book for appreciating the sport

[Carol]

Oh what to read next. I haveWolf Hallto finish, but I want something light . I will work on the Hall in the background. I can't concentrate on it right now. I don't want to read Hunger right now either . It is too depressing. The library hasn't come through with my inner library loan books yet, maybe tomorrow.

[A.J.]

Alyssa wed last summer?! Without even responding to my proposal?

I am despondent. ;)

And if my wife is reading this ... oh, my. Look at the time!

[Carol]

A. J. glad to see you back . I missed you.

[Al]

A.J. - Your response totally cracked me up.

Carol - As for something light and different, I would recommend American Subversive: A Novel - pretty fun and on the lighter side.

[Hazel]

Carol (akittykat) wrote: "I am re-reading A Farewell to Arms. Just a few chapters to go. I have to change my rating, I appreciate this book more the second time around. I was too young before."

Thanks to Goodreaders, I've been revisiting childhood/early adulthood reads, and finding just that. Clearly I wasn't as precocious a youngster as I thought!

[Ruth]

Amazing how a book can change over the years, isn't it?

[Carol]

The book was amazing. I really liked it the second time around. I will have to re-visit other Hemingway books . I finally finishedBeowulf on the Beach: What to Love and What to Skip in Literature's 50 Greatest Hits. That was like a very condensed version of classics or a quick peek into them.

[Sue]

No Beowulf was another I just couldn't like.

[Carol]

As Murnighan say's Beowulf is the first Man Lit. novel.

[Hazel]

Ruth wrote: "Amazing how a book can change over the years, isn't it?"

:-)

One of my teenage favourites was Beowulf to Beatles: Approaches to Poetry, a lovely wide-ranging collection. I've got a copy somewhere. Must go find it.

[Sue]

Hazel wrote: "Ruth wrote: "Amazing how a book can change over the years, isn't it?"

:-)

One of my teenage favourites was Beowulf to Beatles: Approaches to Poetry, a lovely wide-ranging collection..."

Now that sounds interesting. (even though my teenage years are far behind me) Still love the Beatles.

[Hazel]

If I remember correctly, Susan, it was a college textbook. I loved poetry in general, and this collection in particular. Hope it hasn't changed too much! :-)

[Marialyce]

Going to start Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet right now.

[Carol]

Marialyce wrote: "Going to start Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet right now."

I liked that book a lot. It was an interesting narrative.

[Sue]

Hazel wrote: "If I remember correctly, Susan, it was a college textbook. I loved poetry in general, and this collection in particular. Hope it hasn't changed too much! :-)"

If I can't find it, I can still enjoy the name. I'm really just getting back into poetry thanks to Ruth and her weekly poems. Shout out to Ruth!

[Ruth]

Shout out to all those who've added poems to our list.

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

A.J. wrote: "Now, ya know, if I said that maybe Alyssa Milano would't be good "wife material," y'all'd complain I's bein' a sexist pig. ;)

I think in both A Farewell to Arms and For Whom the Bell Tolls, Hemi..."

Hemingway was guilty of overwrought female characters and he seemed to love to kill off women in childbirth as well.

No, Alyssa Milano seems like terrific wife material (after she let her hair grow long) just like Gabriel Aubry would seem like terrific husband material for me (if I weren't already married and he didn't have a child - children and I are like oil and water, we don't mix).

[Marialyce]

I just finished Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. It was a lovely, simplistic read.

[Erin]

Marialyce wrote: "Going to start Hotel On the Corner of Bitter and Sweet right now."

I need to read that one.

[TheGirlBytheSeaofCortez]

I'm starting the next Inspector Lynley novel now, This Body of Death.

[Mary Anne]

I am doing a re-read of Thinks by David Lodge, in advance of my in person book club. Wonderful book. Did we read it here at CR some time back? I feel like we did, but I can't find the discussion.

[Carol]

I didn't finish the book. (Let Us Now Praise Famous Men)

Too much on my plate right now.