You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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What are you currently reading and why? (CLOSED)
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Janice, Moderator
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Aug 11, 2012 09:49AM
LOL! No crying is allowed. :)
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Have finished Gone Tomorrow
(and am now out of Reacher until a new one comes out, dammit); Very Valentine
(at least there are two more to go in this trilogy so I'm not entirely bereft); Skirting the Grave
(love this series but found this one harder to follow than the others for some reason. One to go here before I'm stuck waiting...); The Sins of the Fathers
(I'm rereading this series-- not by accident-- but it turns out I'm reading them in order, which is ENTIRELY by accident!) all within the last week or so. So now I'm in the middle of Time to Murder and Create
and Days of Splendor, Days of Sorrow
. Been awhile since I picked up a European historical royalty read.
How many books do you all have on the go at once? I can manage 2 - if they're sufficiently different, but some of you have oodles!
Sometimes as few as two. Sometimes as many as eight or ten.
I always have a print book and an audio book, but I can have as many as six. Nonfiction goes very slowly for me, and sometimes I'll get to a point in a fiction book that bogs me down, so I have a different one on hand. I often have one or two nonfiction, a couple fiction books and an audiobook of either fiction or non-.
All I have been doing the last few days is listening to the audiobook Birdsong: A Novel of Love and War, narrated by Peter Firth. I couldn't stop listening. It is that engaging. You simply must read it.My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Helen, I usually have one audiobook and one DTB, but actually I prefer reading one at a time. You sink in better!
I saw Birdsong adapted on PBS this past spring, and it was wonderful. I have the book on my wishlist. I can have up to three or four books going at time, but, I have found I make much better head way when I stick to one at a time, so I've been doing that more lately. I finished Broken Harbor yesterday, and I really enjoyed it. I love Tana French's police procedure mysteries - she always has a great psychological twist in them.
Eileen, I do not know what PBS is? It is pretty amazing that a book about WW1 can be so very good. It is because it combines horrible events with wonderful things too. It quite simply puts you there where the events are taking place.
Chrissie - PBS = Public Broadcast Service, which are publicly supported television stations around the USA. It is available on DVD through Amazon too - here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/Masterpiece-Cla.... I really enjoyed it.
I just completed and totally loved The Lady and the Unicorn. Here is why: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... Others do not enjoy this book as much as Chevalier's Girl With a Pearl Earring. Maybe this is because much of the Unicorn takes place in Brussels, and I know Brussels....I am listening to Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson, my attempt to enjoy mystery crime novels. It is good. This audiobook has excellent narration by Simon Vance. Everybody says he is good, and I certainly agree.
I will start the DTB Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan. Books about Bhutan interest me!
Kat wrote: "Finished Speechless
last night - really good contemporary Young Adult.Now to start The Orchardist
" Love the cover Kat!
Found Renegade: The Making of a President in this apartment and I'm reading it... first book in months to make it past page 100 on.
I'm about a third of the way through The Orchardist - it took me a while to get into it, but now I'm having trouble putting it down!
Dem, re "A Grown Up Kind of Pretty": this one is to be listened to in the audiobook format rather than read, I believe. When the author narrates it, it is truly compelling and FUNNY.
Kat wrote: "I'm about a third of the way through The Orchardist - it took me a while to get into it, but now I'm having trouble putting it down!"Oooh - I'm looking forward to your review too.
Alison, I have been considering The Invisible Ones. Many recommend it. I think I might try it, in my new effort to check out mystery/crime novels.I am still enjoying Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson. I mean, the lines are really funny. It is exactly in the style of Arthur Conan Doyle, but somehow I like this more than those! I actually understand what is going on. I am actually curious to know more. It is fun that it is about Jack the Ripper. I am glad that I have also picked up The Gods of Gotham.
Chrissie wrote: "Alison, I have been considering The Invisible Ones. Many recommend it. I think I might try it, in my new effort to check out mystery/crime novels.I am still enjoying Dust and Shadow: An Account o..."
Jack the Ripper's not my idea of fun! The Invisible Ones is a mystery/noir/detective but not at all gory. Finished it and it was excellent.
I have been reading "The Red Chamber" by Pauline A Chen, "Petals from the Sky" by Mingmei Yip because I have a strong interest in stories from either Japan or China and I have recently finished reading "The Orange Blossom Pavillion" by Mingmei Yip and I really enjoyed her style of writing and "The Red Chamber" was the next one on the pile in that genre. I am also reading "The Feast of Crows, Book IV from the series Song of Fire and Ice" by George R. R. Martin which I have been reading for the past 8 months and have one more book after this one and then I need to await his next printed book. Supposedly he has signed on for 3-4 more books in the series which he began in the 1980's". Finally I have just started "City of Women" by David R. Gillham a Goodreads author, which I won here on Goodreads and which has my interest the most. The story is historical fiction which is my favorite genre and takes place during WWII which is a war my father fought in. The story takes place in Germany and she is the wife of a German soldier. I will not spoil the story anymore but it is turning out to be an Amazing story and I will be sorry when the book is finished.
Alison, the lines are funny, not the subject matter. Of course! It is fun trying to solve the murder mystery. I like it when dark themes are presented in such a manner that you can laugh too. Some authors can pull this off. Think if Holmes really could have solved this for us?! :0) This isn't gory, except for a few sentences. The topic is catching the murderer and "feeling" the London of those times.
I finished today Beyond the Sky and the Earth: A Journey into Bhutan
Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
and
Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson
Review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
With these two books, so very different from each other, I could manage to keep them separated in my head.
I will now read Kasztner's Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust and listen to Wild Steps of Heaven. I ought to be able to keep them apart too since one takes place in Hungary during the Holocaust and the other during the Mexican Revolution. The author of the book I am reading is outstanding. I have read her before. The one that takes place in Mexico is historical fiction, but based on the author's father's life and family.
I always get so excited when I start a new book. :0)
Chrissie, You have good taste.I'm reading The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat & Other Clinical Tales. I'm researching memory loss for future work, but it's such an interesting read, I'm now powered on pure enjoyment.
Amaya, well thank you! I hope the books turn out good. I am sure about Porter's. If you haven't read The Storyteller: Memory, Secrets, Magic and Lies, you absolutely must! Here is my review of that one: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/.... This I gave five stars. Just wonderful.
Chrissie wrote: "Amaya, well thank you! I hope the books turn out good. I am sure about Porter's. If you haven't read The Storyteller: Memory, Secrets, Magic and Lies, you absolutely must! Here is my review of that..."Cheers, thanks. I'll add it now. Nice to swap ideas :-)
Judy wrote: "@Kat I just put The Orchardist on hold with my library.I was surprised at the cover art. With a name like The Orchardist, you'd think it would have more green on the cover. hmmmm now I am real c..."
You would think so - but I do think the cover is very fitting, sets the mood perfectly.
Amaya wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "Amaya, well thank you! I hope the books turn out good. I am sure about Porter's. If you haven't read The Storyteller: Memory, Secrets, Magic and Lies, you absolutely must! Here is ..."It is fun sharing really good books with others.
Alison wrote: "Currently reading The Invisible Ones and loving it."I am glad to hear that you like it. I loved The Invisible Ones, but I refuse to tell anyone about it. I loved Stef Penney's first book
The Tenderness of Wolves and recommended it to so many people, all of whom hated it. So, when I read her second book and liked it, I said, "&**((&& it! I'm not telling a soul about it." Her books are very slow and character driven and I love how she writes. if you're looking for fast and furious, they're not your kind of books.
Why, oh why, is it taking me so long to read Yes, Chef: A Memoir. *sniff* I want to finish it before the Toppler starts on Saturday.
Janice wrote: "Why, oh why, is it taking me so long to read Yes, Chef: A Memoir. *sniff* I want to finish it before the Toppler starts on Saturday."Is it not as good as you hoped?
I'm Starting
for my first Rainbow read!
I finished Wild Steps of Heaven, narrated by Dick Hill. I was all over the place with this one.My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
I will continue in Latin America with Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. This book is suppose to give you everything about him. Everything. I picked it up at the BOGO sale. :0)
I just finished
.I picked it up because of the time travel aspect and I had enjoyed the Gabaldan Outlander series. Household Gods is very entertaining, often humerous but with a message.
I finished
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald last night/early this morning. I gave it 3 stars. I'll be reading the second book soon. I read it because there was an animated version of this that I loved as a kid but the book didn't live up to it. I do plan on making this one of the books I read to my kids one day.
Bring Up the Bodies is up next for me. I fished Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, which I found to be both insightful and affirming about my own ways of relating to the world. I especially found the part about the orchid personality to be helpful to me in reframing how I cope with interpersonal stressors - particularly conflict. Now I'm reading and really enjoying Shadow of Night, the second installment of Harkness' trilogy. This one combines my love for fantasy/horror with my love for Tudor period history. Great fun so far!
I've finished
, which I can't say I really enjoyed. It did improve in the second half, but it left an unpleasant taste in the mouth. I've also had a very satisfying afternoon, lounging about in the sun, having a browse through the David Austen roses catalogue. Now if someone could invent smell-o-pages, this would be exactly the publication for it.
Not sure what next, maybe something safe and unchallenging for a change.
, which I can't say I really enjoyed. It did improve in the second half, but it left an unpleasant taste in the mouth. I've also had a very satisfying afternoon, lounging about in the sun, having a browse through the David Austen roses catalogue. Now if someone could invent smell-o-pages, this would be exactly the publication for it. Not sure what next, maybe something safe and unchallenging for a change.
Since I read the second novel, Rainshadow Road for the give-aways on Goodreads and liked it,I'm going to read the third novel Dream Lakes by Lisa Kleypas.
I finished The Orchardist a couple of hours before the Toppler began on Saturday - I thought it was fantastic, so anyone that wants to read my review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...Blackstone Audio have it available on their website, so expect to see it on Audible soon!
So many books.... so little time!
I stopped reading Kasztner's Train: The True Story of an Unknown Hero of the Holocaust and here is why: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...So now I will read
Armenian Golgotha. I explain a bit about it here: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
The main thing is, non-fiction does NOT have to be dry and confusing. They can be just as engaging as novels. I started reading "Armenian Golgotha" and I just don't want to stop. It is about the Armenian Genocide, but begins in Berlin when WW1 commences. It is riveting.
Just takimg it easy with . I reviewed as a Goodreads giveaway the second book in the trilogy,Rainshadow Road.
Betsy wrote: "Just takimg it easy with Dreak Lake by Kletpas. I reviewed as a Goodreads giveaway the second book in the trilogy,Rainshadow Road."Could you link the books you discuss by clicking on the "add book/author" link above the comment box? It makes it easier for people to take a peak at the book page.
Your book would look like this in your message: Dream Lake
I am reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking by Susan Cain and listening to Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins. Catching Fire has not yet caught my interest as The Hunger Games did, but I am only on the second disc. Quiet is very interesting and relate to a lot of it.
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
The Sandcastle Girls (other topics)The Bachelor Farmers (other topics)
Anna Karenina (other topics)
The Hoard (other topics)
The Orchardist (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Leo Tolstoy (other topics)Alan Ryker (other topics)
Brenda Sorrels (other topics)
Anna Funder (other topics)
Patrick Carman (other topics)
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