What are you reading?

[Sally]

Jim wrote: "GoodReads is changing the authors on all lectures to "NOT A BOOK" & not even listing the author as a narrator. They're deleting them entirely! I don't know why lectures suddenly aren't books. The..."

Does this belong in another thread?

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

It belongs in the Librarians' group.

[Jim]

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "It belongs in the Librarians' group."

It's there too, but I thought users would like to know & weigh in with GR support since that's where the change has come from & it affects regular users. I have several history lectures that have the authors changed & may be deleted. If you don't or don't care, don't bother.

[Debbie's Spurts (D.A.)]

@Jim, this is the topic "What are you reading.". Maybe you meant to create or post on a different topic? Put sporadically in a general update from your home page?

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

Support of readers in random groups won't affect how GR rules on this matter. Take it to the Librarians' group.

[Jim]

Debbie's Spurts (D.A.) wrote: "@Jim, this is the topic "What are you reading.". Maybe you meant to create or post on a different topic? Put sporadically in a general update from your home page?"

Nope. I meant to put it here since it affects what people are reading & how they discuss it.

Susanna, sometimes a write-in campaign can make a difference, especially since the Librarian's manual isn't clear on the distinctions.

[Linda]

I am reading The Witches: Salem 1692 by Stacy Schiff.

[Donna]

I am reading a review copy of a nonfiction title about Northern Ireland. I can't put it down, but I also must not read it at bedtime, because it sets my heart loose in my chest in a way entirely inconsistent with winding down for sleep. It comes out at the end of February, and it is riveting!

The face behind the scarf on the book's cover? That's a woman! That was the first surprise. Fascinating read.

[Tracy]

Donna wrote: "I am reading a review copy of a nonfiction title about Northern Ireland. I can't put it down, but I also must not read it at bedtime, because it sets my heart loose in my chest in a way entirely in..."
I hope I see this one on my stores bookshelves. I'm fascinated with this period of history. I look forward to your full review, as I always do. You're one of the stars on here that make Goodreads the go to site for book readers. Happy New Year, Donna!

[Donna]

Tracy wrote: "Donna wrote: "I am reading a review copy of a nonfiction title about Northern Ireland. I can't put it down, but I also must not read it at bedtime, because it sets my heart loose in my chest in a w..."

What a nice thing to say. Thanks, Tracy, and happy New Year to you also.

[Tracy]

I'm Just starting. A fascinating success story.

[Janet]

I am devouring - ok, reading Team of Rivals by Goodwin. It is excellent.

[Donna]

Janet wrote: "I am devouring - ok, reading Team of Rivals by Goodwin. It is excellent."

That one is on my to-read list! I have heard such good things.

[Sally]

I just finished reading "Shotgunned" by Dana Owen. He is a police officer now retired from the (Massachusetts) Metropolitan District Police In 1975, while chasing some hijackers, he was shot twice in the head and survived. His story is about the long struggle to find the perpetrators and bring them to trial. This is one tough man, physically, mentally, and emotionally, with a powerful story.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

Team of Rivals is excellent.

I'm currently reading Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution - highly readable but I do wish he'd cite his sources.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

T has been removed from the group.

[Donna]

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "T has been removed from the group."
Well done. Thanks.

[Anthony, Trivial Pursuit Master]

I cleaned up old posts to get the thread back on track.

[Anthony, Trivial Pursuit Master]

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads wrote: "Team of Rivals is excellent.

I'm currently reading Rebellion: The History of England from James I to the Glorious Revolution - highly readable but I do wish he'd cite his sources."

I've read this one too!
Peter Ackroyd is great, very readable and fun.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

I've tried one of his novels, which I didn't like (plot direction, not writing), but this is quite good.

[Jean]

The Gilded Hour by Sarah Donati is excellent. A story of two female doctors in late 19th century New York City, one white, one black. Donati gives reader a real feel for the physical and mental environment without being boring about it.

I’m also reading Tracy Chevalier’s The Blue Virgin. I’m not sure about it yet, but I’m depending on TC’s usually good storytelling.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads, Crazy Cat Lady]

I'm reading The Norman Conquest by Marc Morris.

[Donna]

This is one I would never have thought of reading without recommendations from a number of Goodreads friends. Absorbing, well paced, well written and of course, the subject is matchless.

[Scott]

Just finished "101 Things You Didn't Know About World War I" by Mental Floss contributor Erik Sass -- not bad at all, and a quick read.

[Donna]

I am reading Exile from Jamestown. This year marks the 400th Anniversary of the Settlement. Anyone have any other recommendations?

[Merryn]

Interesting to hear what everyone is reading. I've just started Sarah Dunant's In the Name of the Family. I really like her books and heard her talk on the Borgias at the Historical Novel Society Conference last year. She was terrific!

[Tracy]

Merryn wrote: "Interesting to hear what everyone is reading. I've just started Sarah Dunant's In the Name of the Family. I really like her books and heard her talk on the Borgias at the Historical Novel Society C..."

I'm always looking for new non-fiction authors. I will have to check Ms. Dunant's work. Thank you, Merryn.

[Tracy]

Donna wrote: "Janet wrote: "I am devouring - ok, reading Team of Rivals by Goodwin. It is excellent."

That one is on my to-read list! I have heard such good things."

I read one of her books last year. 'The Fitzgerald's and the Kennedy's'. It's an older book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Merryn]

Tracy wrote: "Merryn wrote: "Interesting to hear what everyone is reading. I've just started Sarah Dunant's In the Name of the Family. I really like her books and heard her talk on the Borgias at the Historical ..."

I don't want to mislead you, Tracy. The book is fiction but based on a large body of rigorous research - Dunant's re-evaluation, I think, of the role played by Lucrezia Borgia in the family's fortunes.

[Jan Mc]

Catching up here:
I am holding on to A Journey Through Texas by Frederick Law Olmsted. I've started it, but it's so interesting that I stopped reading until I can devote my entire attention to it. My husband read it, too, and enjoyed it very much (he's a Texas native).

I am preparing to annotate Quite Ready to Be Sent Somewhere: The Civil War Letters of Aldace Freeman Walker by Thomas LeDoux for the "Vermont in the Civil War" website, so I'm stuck hard in the 1860s, researching and reading... reading... reading...

However, I took a bit of time out to listen to the audiobook of the Beowulf translation by Seamus Heaney, which was wonderfully narrated by George Guidall.

And I can highly recommend the audiobook version of A Land Remembered by Patrick D. Smith, which is fiction but a very edutaining book about 19th-century Florida crackers. Also narrated by George Guidall.

[Merryn]

I read Heaney's Beowulf when it first came out and loved it, but an audiobook - there's a thought. I confess I haven't got into audiobooks yet.

[Donna]

Just finished reading Spearhead, by Adam Makos, which comes out in February. Tanks in WWII, told in a personal, you-are-there style. Very well written and documented.