What are you reading? Showing 23,601-23,650 of 28,901

[Chinook]

War and Peace character tree:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:War...

[Sasha]

Ha! Well, thanks for the advance warning, Shay. *cracking my shoulders, preparing for a haul* Anna Karenina was worth it...I hope War & Peace is too.

[Sasha]

Chinook, my homegirl Petra from right here on GR is actually mailing me a laminated character tree bookmark.

If that were the Jeopardy clue, the question would be: "How cool is this site?"

[Shay]

Alex wrote: "Ha! Well, thanks for the advance warning, Shay. *cracking my shoulders, preparing for a haul* Anna Karenina was worth it...I hope War & Peace is too."

I haven't read Anna Karenina yet, but after a deserved break from the Russians, I intend to tackle it. But, from what I've read, Anna Karenina seems to be more what Tolstoy does best- richly drawn characters, scenes with a real eye for detail. W & P really needed a good editor to hack off about 1/2 the book.

[Sasha]

I can't testify as to W&P yet, obviously, but yeah, Anna Karenina is an intricate psychological study. It's terrific because of its length: Tolstoy observes things really carefully and has the patience to write it all down. I think Freud called him the greatest psychologist.

[Shay]

Alex wrote: "I can't testify as to W&P yet, obviously, but yeah, Anna Karenina is an intricate psychological study. It's terrific because of its length: Tolstoy observes things really carefully and has the pa..."

In W & P, then, his strength is a weakness. It's incredible detail with no "soul". Half of the story is told with such unfeeling detachment that you feel if he doesn't care, why should you?

[Sasha]

Interesting. Only 75 pages into W&P but I understand your gist, I think: W&P deals with Real Events, whereas AK is free to focus on relationships only - Tolstoy's strength. All I can say is I can't wait to decide whether I agree with you or not.

[Rebecca]

I have finished Heart-Shaped Box Hill's ideas and style are not particularly original, and in terms of excitement the book rarely rises above or falls below 'readable'. 2 stars
Confessions of an Ugly StepsisterWhilst I was intrigued by the concept of the book, I found the book itself slightly slow. 3 stars
I have started Mary Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

[Ashwini]

Hi All !

I am reading one of my favourite authors, Chitra Divakaruni Banerjee's The Palace of Illusions Its based on the great Indian epic Mahabharata but retold from the perception of Draupadi.

[Claire]

I got most of the way through Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult and skimmed about the last 1/4th of it. I found it pretty boring and just the same storyline as My Sister's Keeper. Has anyone read anything of hers that they can recommend? I have a few of her books on my TBR and am not sure I even want to read them.

Next up is The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

Really enjoyed The Devil's Company: A Novel.

[Scott]

I finished The Waste Lands earlier today.

On the way home I'm going to start The Graveyard Book.

[Steph]

Anyone else find The Bone People hard to get through? Is it worth it?

[BirdiesBookshelves]

I am more interested in this series than I thought I would be. I just finished and gave it 4 stars. I have just started .

[Betsy]

Kitty wrote: "I thought South Of Broad was not one of his better books, but I still enjoyed it."

Hmm,what ones would you reccommend? I don't have alot to compare.About 15(?)years ago I read The Prince of Tides,but this would only be my second Conroy book. I'm thinking if I liked this book so much,one of his better ones ought to be fantastic.

[Sasha]

I'm reading War and Peace. This book is lengthy.

[Emilly R]

I am still reading "TREE JUNES"by Julia Glass,so far i love this book

[Julie]

I am reading Look Again. I am a little over halfway and I really like it so far!

[Chinook]

Claire wrote: "I got most of the way through Handle with Care by Jodi Picoult and skimmed about the last 1/4th of it. I found it pretty boring and just the same storyline as My Sister's Keeper. H..."

I've found that to be true of Jodi Picoult books before - the plots are very similar.

[Caity]

I managed to finish off Dead Until Dark and Dear Exile : The True Story of Two Friends Separated (for a Year) by an Ocean in three days, so I'm now trying to focus on One Hundred Years of Solitude.

I've been trying to read this since August. I'm currently on page 61. It takes me an hour to read about 40 pages of most books, but this one I can get through 20 pages in 3-4 hours. It's not because I'm soaking up what's going on, either, because I don't have a clue what is happening. I read a few pages and feel so disoriented and off-balance it's not even funny. It's like it's jumping around all over the place, trying to stick primitive herbal medicinal discoveries in the same time period as the prototypes of cameras and... I don't even know. I haven't been this tempted to give up on a book in a long time, but I'm about ready to list this on ebay or something just to get rid of it. If I wasn't morally opposed to book-burnings, I'd have chucked my copy in the fireplace by now.

[Esther]

Toni wrote: " Heather wrote: Ummm... maybe in another lifetime--"
Emma is one I've tried to get through a few times. YUCK - I can't seem to get through it at all."

Emma is my least favourite Austen with my least favourite heroine.

This is probably the reason I feel the Gweynth Paltrow film to be a good adaptation - not being a fan of Ms Paltrow I feel her portrayal of Emma is spot on.
In contrast the recent BBC adaption though brilliant is much too enjoyable for me to consider it a faithful adaptation!

[Esther]

I started Angelfire but Dead Until Dark just yelled at me from the bookshelf so I had to pick it up and so far it is great fun.

[Gitte]

Catie wrote: "I finished A Prayer for Owen Meany and it left me feeling so depressed! It was good though. I then read Perfect Chemistry in one afternoon, which was fluffy and silly. ..."

I read Owen Meany last Christmas and felt the same way! It made me so sad!

[Suzanne]

I am reading Friends of Choice by Linda Nelson. I won it in the giveaways. Awesome!

I am also reading Promise Not to Tell by Jennifer McMahon. Promise Not to Tell seems to be a little more engrossing to me, as I am flying through it and can't seem to put it down to pick up the other one.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

The Water is Wide is a good one, Betsy.

[Susanna - Censored by GoodReads]

Alex wrote: "I'm reading War and Peace. This book is lengthy."

Really!?!

[Alisha Marie]

Claire, the only Jodi Picoult book that I loved besides My Sister's Keeper was Plain Truth. I've stopped reading her books though because I feel like once you've read one, you've basically read them all since their pretty formulaic.

Anyway, I finished my re-read of The Spellman Files and enjoyed it just as much as the first time. I've put down The Cruelest Cut because it seemed to go down this revenge route with a kid dying by chapter 3. And I'm not into that. Now I'm reading Going Bovine.

[Suzanne]

Alex wrote: "I've started War and Peace. As usual with books like this, the first bit takes a while as you try desperately to get all the characters straight. I'm sure it'll speed up eventually."

I want to read that! But I've got to get caught up on all the other books I have first. My husband finally but a limit on the books I can buy that I haven't read yet. lol

[Jessica]

I have many books going on right now as I apparently decided that just because I can get books for free at the library, I need to pick up 15 at one time. Star Islandlike all Carl Hiaasen's book is,so far, a quick read and funny. I am also reading Stardust and I am listening to Inca Gold on CD.

[Flora]

I finished In the Time of the Butterflies which I absolute loved. I gave it 5 stars, which I rarely do. And I admit, I cried at the end.

I'm still trying to get into Phineas Finn but at this point I'm not sure I am going to finish it. I'm also working on False Memory which I haven't gotten very far into but I like it so far.

[Catherine]

I'm about halfway through The Thin Man. Before that I read Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. I'm on a bit of a mystery kick at the moment.

[Diane]

I just finished a really bad holiday novella: Two Tickets to the Christmas Ball. Glad to be beyond that, but still in a holiday mood. I'm just starting Christmas Wishes, by Barbara Metzger, who's supposed to be a great romance writer. We'll see . . . .

[Lori]

I'm reading one I stumbled over accidentally, The Darkest Child. I keep skipping all over the place in genres these days.

[Diane]

Me, too but then, I always have.

[Gabriella]

I know this isn't the right place to ask, but I'm looking for a few books and I don't know their names or the authors and I was just wondering if you could help me. Some of them are by a young boy who was on the Oprah show, he was in a wheelchair and he was very sick. He wrote some books of poetry. The other one is by a women who wrote a memoir about her sister, who was a victim of Robert B. Pickton. Do you guys know the names of any of these books? thanks.

[Diane]

Sorry, no. The boy from Oprah sounds familiar, but I don't remember his specifics.

[Suzanne]

Gabriella wrote: "I know this isn't the right place to ask, but I'm looking for a few books and I don't know their names or the authors and I was just wondering if you could help me. Some of them are by a young boy..."

Mattie J.T. Stepanek is the little boy that was on Oprah, I believe. I'm not real sure about the other one, but I will see if I can find it.

[Carol]

The other one is by a women who wrote a memoir about her sister, who was a victim of Robert B. Pickton. Do you guys know the names of any of these books? thanks.


Missing Sarah: A Vancouver Woman Remembers Her Vanished Sister- by Maggie de Vries

[Gabriella]

Thanks so much!

[Carol]

You are welcome.

[Diane]

I hadn't heard of this before . . . . It looks interesting. Do you like it?

[Dana *]

Just finished The Pleasure of My Company which was delightful and a rest from my usual horror novels. Now reading DMZ Vol. 3: Public Works and Scalped Vol. 6: The Gnawing

[Sasha]

Marjorie, I have never read Anne Frank. Weird, huh? I have a little segment in mind to cover that, Elie Wiesel's Night and this The Kindly Ones thing at some point so I can be totally depressed. Is Prose saying it's a fabrication? Or just that Anne Frank is a smart kid?

[Heather L]

Toni: I also liked Mansfield Park. Honestly, I've liked all the ones I've read except Emma. Still need to read Sense and Sensibility -- hope to get to that one next year!

Esther: I've not seen any of the adaptations for Emma, probably because I disliked the book so much. *grin*

[Kaion]

Just started North and South for the Victorian book group on goodreads. Loving it so far:

"...she wished herself back with her mother—her father—anywhere away from him, for she was sure he was going to say something to which she should not know what to reply. In another moment the strong pride that was in her came to conquer her sudden agitation, which she hoped he had not perceived. Of course she could answer, and answer the right thing; and it was poor and despicable of her to shrink from hearing any speech, as if she had not power to put an end to it..."

[Claire]

Marjorie wrote: "I am reading Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl.

I have this on my to read shelf, Marjorie. I'm looking forward to reading it. It was never an assigned book when I was in high school/junior high (at least my classes never had to read it). I'm glad you like it.

[MichelleCH]

Patricia wrote: "I finished Sula by Toni Morrison yesterday and am now reading The Children's Book by A.S. Byatt."
Just started this as well after finishing
Wolf Hall

[Sasha]

I see, Marjorie. That's interesting!

[Esther]

Heather L wrote: ".....I've not seen any of the adaptations for Emma, probably because I disliked the book so much. *grin* "

Try the TV adaption with Romola Garai and Johnny Lee Miller. The exchanges between Emma and Mr Knightley are electric. Most unlike the book itself.

[Dani]

I'm currently reading The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Dracula by Bram Stoker. I'm on a classics binge. Wait, I'm always on a classics binge! :)