What are you currently reading? October 2011

[Annette]

I just finished "Freedom" by Jonathan Franzen. Amazing.

[Lisa]

Janet wrote: "Someone please tell me The Tiger's Wifepicks up...I'm on page 132 and thinking about throwing in the towel."

My vote is to "throw in the towel". I was disappointed by this book all the way around.

[Claire]

I am reading by Stephen King. I'm still near the beginning so the spook factor hasn't set in yet!

[Kats]

Lisa wrote: "Janet wrote: "Someone please tell me The Tiger's Wifepicks up...I'm on page 132 and thinking about throwing in the towel."

My vote is to "throw in the towel". I was disappointed by ..."

Boy, am I glad that I'm not the only person in the world who wasn't smitten with this book. A few passages were engaging enough, but overall I was so bored by this book, the characters, the storyline ("plot" would be an overstatement) that both the print and the audio book regularly put me to sleep. I vote for "throw in the towel", too, because life is too short.

[Callie]

Finished The Exorcist, and it was fabulously disturbing, and surprisingly well-written.

Started The Night Strangers, and it hasn't gotten too creepy yet, but I know it's coming!

I also attempted Heart of Darkness, but I don't think it was the right time for it. I kept on falling asleep and my mind kept wandering. I'll try again another time.

[nancy]

8:00 Boston-- just got the steve jobs book...
Just finished This Beautiful Life. Very good

[nancy]

8:00 an Boston Just bought the Walter isaacson Steve Jobs book...can't wait

[Linda]

oooooo, Nancy...

[[deleted user]]

I've been doing a horror-filled month of listening:



Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater; narrated by Jenna Lamia & David LeDoux


Psycho (Library by Robert Bloch; narrated by Paul Michael Garcia


Carrie by Stephen King; narrated by Sissy Spacek

FRANKENSTEIN (by Marry Shelley; narrated by Simon Vance)

I've hardly touched print this past month which is very unusual; but I just picked up Sarah Vowell's THE WORDY SHIPMATES from the library for the Thanksgiving season :-)

[Janet]

Thanks for the votes. I often think when a book has been nominated for some major award like The Tiger's Wife has been nominated for the National Book Award, and I don't enjoy it or even "get" it, that something is wrong with me, like maybe I'm just not intellectual enough.

[Elizabeth☮]

Callie wrote: "Finished The Exorcist, and it was fabulously disturbing, and surprisingly well-written.

Started The Night Strangers, and it hasn't gotten too creepy yet, but I know ..."

a colleague of mine is currently teaching Heart of Darkness. i read it my senior year and really liked it. i think i had a good teacher that was enthusiastic about it and so the students were too. my students from last year were saying how "boring" it is and so they are not reading it. i think the time must present itself. but it's worth the read.

[Kevin]

Janet wrote: "Thanks for the votes. I often think when a book has been nominated for some major award like The Tiger's Wife has been nominated for the National Book Award, and I don't enjoy it or even "get" it,..."

I think that those responsible for nominating and voting awards in books and movies fairly often don't get it themselves but make their selections based on the hope to appear more intelectual/artstic than they actually are.

[Jana]

I just started Kings of the Earth for a book group read, and I'm totally hooked right off. Great writing.

Last night I had the delightful experience of having Michael Ondaatje read to me (and many hundreds more) from his new book. Oh, to have him read me the whole book...that would be delightful. His voice is just perfect. Alas, I must read it myself.

[Flora]

I've just started The Last Werewolf and not overly thrilled with it so far.

[Jana]

Flora wrote: "I've just started The Last Werewolf and not overly thrilled with it so far."

I'm listening to it and loving it. Trying to find excuses to stay in the car longer. Hope it grows on you.

[Linda]

Reading . My friend, Ruth picked it up at Northshore Books last April and really liked it, so it because the book for this month's book discussion group.

I'm listening to - I think it's Scarpetta #11.

[Kats]

I just finished Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet for a book group and I am now going to get started on the December choice for the same book group which is The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Sparks.

My audio read this month is The Night Circus read by the wonderful Jim Dale - I've been taking it very slowly to make the enjoyment last! I held a print copy in my hands last week, and now I'm tempted to get the book in hardback - it's so beautiful!

[Flora]

Jana wrote: "Flora wrote: "I've just started The Last Werewolf and not overly thrilled with it so far."

I'm listening to it and loving it. Trying to find excuses to stay in the car longer. Hop..."

It has grown on me actually. I like it more now than initially.

[Jay]

I finished Ready Player Onewhich was the most true nostalgic fun and joy I have had reading in awhile. I would run to it every spare second I had to read it and was a bit sad when it was over.

Luckily the follow up to this is also starting off quite well but for totally different reasons. I started The Art of Fielding yesterday. I've read about 60 pages and the writing is really quite gorgeous so far.

I am also re-reading The Help but it is hard to get excited about reading this when the other book I am reading is so compelling.

[Janet]

I have a question about The Art of Fielding. Do you think someone who dislikes baseball would like this book? I mean is it about something loftier that transcends the game?

[Shannon]

I started Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet last night, which I am reading for my book club and personal pleasure. I enjoyed the first two chapters!

[[deleted user]]

Once the plot gets moving (about the point Reacher is taken into custody by Homeland Security agents), this book picks up the usual steam, which it maintains to the finish. I've noticed a political shift in the Reacher books. In the early ones, Reacher seemed skeptical, even resentful of liberal politicians. Now his resentment seems to be turned the other way, although he never shows a particular affinity for any politician or philosophy. But around the tenth book or so, the theme, "WE ARE BEING LIED TO BY THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENT" rears its head and maintains its presence through the series.

Before this book, one was always assured that Reacher would go medieval on the ass of any man or the collective ass of any group of men bad enough to warrant his attention. Now we find that may have been too narrow a classification. Reacher will, it is now clear, go after ANY ass, regardless of sex, race, class, sexual preference, or country of origin.

[Jay]

Janet wrote: "I have a question about The Art of Fielding. Do you think someone who dislikes baseball would like this book? I mean is it about something loftier that transcends the game?"

I'm only about 75 pages in but so far it is more about the characters than it is about the game and I am completely absorbed in these characters.

[Normandy]

I just started .

[Elizabeth☮]

N wrote: "I just started ."

Interesting story. I couldn't finish only because it was a disturbing read while nursing.

[Janet]

Elizabeth wrote: "N wrote: "I just started ."

Interesting story. I couldn't finish only because it was a disturbing read while nursing."

I loved The Gargoyle and I thought it was the most under-promoted book I read last year. It's always funny to me which books get promoted and which ones don't. I'm sure I miss out on a lot of great reads.

[Esther]

N wrote: "I just started ."
I disliked .
After the author had indulged himself with graphic descriptions of pain, porn and food he seemed to have forgotten to include a plot.
Oh and the cover art on my edition was wrong.

[[deleted user]]

This one was just okay.

It's the long ballyhooed story that explains why Reacher left the Army. Reacher is dispatched to Mississippi to investigate a murder, with the understanding that what he finds out may be so sensitive that the Army may want to keep a lid on it. What seems like a single murder becomes a case of serial killing. Adding to the confusion are cover-ups which lead to other killings.

Novels about serial killers often rely on salacious examinations of the abnormal psychology of the perpetrator. That's not a bad thing. In fact, it's probably the sine qua non of a good novel of that type. But here we get never get up close and personal with the killer. We see the end results of what the murderer has done, but unlike most Reacher novels, we never stand in the presence of the evil in such a way that when Reacher comes down on the perps in typical Biblical fashion, we feel that it's warranted. The killers and conspirators seem hapless rather than diabolical, so when Reacher finally murders them in cold blood (yes, not even in self-defense, in some cases), we end up directing our opprobrium toward Reacher himself, and not his victims. And that's not why you read a Reacher book. For Reacher's over-the-top brand of violence to work, you need to feel that the bad guy is a monster that needs killing.

[Kate]

Finished The Language of Flowers which was great and will stay with me for a while, and then I finished The Reservoir which I had been picking up and putting down. I liked it, but I think reading it straight through would have been the way to go. Now back to The Night Strangers which I also started and put down; but now I am ready for it!

[Melissa Wiebe]

Reading Frankenstein (Signet Classics); its a very interesting book. Never thought I would enjoy the book as much as I have.

[Callie]

Finished The Haunting of Hill House by candlelight last night, and it was so spooky. Highly recommend, especially if you lose power in a late October snowstorm! It adds to the ambiance of the situation.

[Amy]

Janet wrote: "Elizabeth wrote: "N wrote: "I just started ."

Interesting story. I couldn't finish only because it was a disturbing read while nursing."

I loved The Gargoyle a..."

Read this for book group earlier this year. I think pretty much everyone liked it in the group. Yes some discriptions were difficult to read, but I thought it was a fantastic story.

[Jana]

I'm (finally!) reading my first Jack Reacher book: . Thank you Ann Kingman for making this a must read. It appears my husband is going to be hooked as well.

For book club I'm reading which is amazingly good. Disturbing characters, fascinatingly odd situation, great writing. I love it. Halfway through.

I might be at an all time high of books being read at the same time...8. I vow not to start a 9th until I've finished a few of them.

[Normandy]

I am so pleased to see the great comments about this book. I am on page 81 of . This is a very disturbing and graphic read. The description of the wreck and the realization you are on fire and the aftermath at the hospital are so gripping you want to stop reading but you can't. I am to far into it to quit now. I want to know more about Marianne.

[Libby]

Reading The Ballad of Tom Dooley: A Novel by Sharyn McCrumb. She has created a totally amoral character as one of the narrators. I saw McCrumb at a book store signing and she said that the story of Tom Dooley didn't quite make sense so she's come up with her own theory about the crime immortalized in the song made famous by The Kingston Trio.

[Tracey]

Callie wrote: "Finished The Haunting of Hill House by candlelight last night, and it was so spooky. Highly recommend, especially if you lose power in a late October snowstorm! It adds to the ambiance..."

Hi Callie! I hope you got power back and you are not in the group that are still in the dark!

It's crazy!

Tracey

[Callie]

Tracey wrote: "Callie wrote: "Finished The Haunting of Hill House by candlelight last night, and it was so spooky. Highly recommend, especially if you lose power in a late October snowstorm! It adds ..."

Hi Tracey! No power yet, but they said it's supposed to be back by Friday... fingers crossed!