What are you currently reading and why? (CLOSED) Showing 3,851-3,900 of 4,001

[Kimberly]

I started Wildflower Hill by Kimberley Freeman because its a BOTM in my other Goodreads group. I'm 100 pages in and I have to say its pretty darn awesome!

[Kat]

Dem wrote: "Just finished Skeletons at the Feast this is my review www.goodreads.com/review/show/266145924"

I really enjoyed that one too, Dem. The only one of Chris Bohjalian's books that I couldn't get into was
Midwives - it was just too slow. But otherwise I really enjoy his work. And he Tweeted me once, which made my day!

[AmyK]

Dem wrote: "Just finished Skeletons at the Feast this is my review www.goodreads.com/review/show/266145924"

That's one more for my to read list.......man it's getting long.

[Kimberly]

I'm reading Thaw by Bryan Dunn and I'm really enjoying it so far. I love books with monsters in them.

[Chrissie]

Me too, I loved Skeletons at the Feast. I gave it five stars, which is unusual for me. I have heard the The Sandcastle Girls, isn't quite as good! I will read it but first I want to back up my knowledge on the Armenian Genocide and massacre of 1915, so I am reading Armenian Golgotha. This book is the one to read if you want to know everything, all the facts. The author survived; he lived through it! All the facts and his personal experiences, all is in this book!

[Janice, Moderator]

I will be starting A Discovery of Witches on my way to work this morning simply because it's "the next of the list". :)

[Kat]

I just finished my first audiobook in about six months! It made me realise just how essential it is to pick the right story and the right narrator. This one only started to slightly annoy me in the last hour or so ;-)

The Age of Miracles

[Christine]

Linda wrote: "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". .."

Working my way through "Feast of Crows by George RR Martin" as well. Sorry can't provide a link, on my work computer at lunch time - so what I can do is limited.

The Martin Books are fascinating character studies, which delve deeply into national politics. They are long-reads though and require committment. Not fast ones.

Also reading "Game Change" about the 2008 US Presidential Campaign, and Thomas Hardy's Far from the Maddening Crowd (which is slow-moving), I may be allergic to the 1800s. ;-)

[Kat]

Christine wrote: "Linda wrote: "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 afte..."

I've always been intrigued by that series Christine, but the political aspect, and the length really turns me off. Maybe one day :)

[Eileen]

Linda & Christine - I've been putting off reading A Dance With Dragons for a similar reason. I like the story, but, if I am going to invest that many pages, it would be nice if something would actually HAPPEN.

[Kimberly]

I'm reading and

[Janice, Moderator]

I started reading The Store for SAI Recommends group and bonus.... it's ORANGE .

Besides, a good horror will be just what the doctor ordered.

[Chrissie]

Judy, I enjoyed The Orphan Master's Sonin the beginning......but then it went south. I couldn't finish it. It was the very first I returned to Audible. I had serious trouble with the line between reality and fantasy, the political satire and the different voices. It is NOT an easy read; but that rarely deters neither you nor me! I am hoping you like it, but if you don't I hope you got it at the library or from Audible where it can now be returned. Isn't this wonderful that Audible let's us return what we really dislike?

My review: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11...

I finished Armenian Golgotha. Here is another book filled with gruesome events. It is about the Armenian genocide that occurred during WW1. You know me, I enjoy memoirs! This is a seminal work. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Now I will start The Long Song, another book set in the Caribbean, as I listen to Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life. I have only praise for this book on Che. I am learning so much about this icon, the truth about his life and ideology. Did you know that Che means "You, there"?

[Janice, Moderator]

Judy, when you download audiobooks from the library, do they have to be "returned" within a certain time period? How does that work?

[Janice, Moderator]

I believe it does. I haven't looked into it though since I have around 30 audiobooks from Audible that I haven't read yet.

[Janice, Moderator]

Emergency, vacation, retirement... it's all good. LOL!

[Janice, Moderator]

Yup - I'm sitting here with my laptop, the cat who wants to be a laptop curled up against my hip, and a cuppa coffee. I'm set!

Hmmm - I think I'll name my next cat "Laptop". (NOT)

[Janice, Moderator]

One might even get a government grant to do the study!!

[Chrissie]

Judy, yeah, me too. It would be nice to just try any old book. I have to be so careful about what I choose. I love Audible for letting us return bad audiobooks.

[Susan]

I hate to be the Devil's Advocate here, but I have dogs and drink coffee.

[Susan]

I finished readingThe Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon in print form yesterday, and thoroughly loved it, but found that I had forgotten much of the detail of The Angel's Game. I ordered the audiobook of TAG from the library, but I am relistening to The Shadow of the Wind for a third time because I have it on hand and have forgotten some of the details of that.

I finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins also yesterday, and really, really liked it. Mockingjay is on order from the library, there will be a slight wait. I am told to expect to be disappointed. I'll see.

I started reading The Last Policeman: A Novel by Ben H. Winters, since I believe the concept of what one would do in the interim while awaiting certain annihilation is an interesting one. Enjoying it so far. I like the writing.

[Eileen]

Susan - I have a hard copy of TAG on my shelf, and I found myself reviewing whole swaths of it while I was reading POH. I just wish POH was LONGER - it felt like a tease to me.

I was not disappointed in Mockingjay, but I know others were - your mileage may vary too when you read it.

[Eileen]

(Also, add me to the book, cat, tea variety of reader...maybe with a blanket on a cold day!)

[Susan]

Eileen wrote: "Susan - I have a hard copy of TAG on my shelf, and I found myself reviewing whole swaths of it while I was reading POH. I just wish POH was LONGER - it felt like a tease to me.

I was not disappoi..."

Yes, Eileen -- and Daniel says it's just the beginning . . . . I was surprised by how short it was, since the others were so long.

Glad to hear something big about Mockingjay.

[Chrissie]

I finished The Long Song last night and started A Three Dog Life. It is so short, I am half way through. Wonderful lines:
"When periodically I went through closets and threw things away wholesale, he joked that if he weren't careful he'd be on the dustheap too." (page 28)

I needed a book with dogs to cheer my up after the last book! My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review

[Kat]

Susan wrote: "I finished readingThe Prisoner of Heaven by Carlos Ruiz Zafon in print form yesterday, and thoroughly loved it, but found that I had forgotten much of the detail of The Angel's Game. I ordered the..."

I didn't find
Mockingjay disappointing either - I think for a lot of people was that the first book was so different from the norm that by the time they got to book three, they still expected to be in that 'honeymoon' phase.

[Chrissie]

I finished A Three Dog Life in one day. I highly recommend it.
My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

Now I will start Solibo Magnificent. I am still listening to Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life, which I absolutely love. Excellent narration. Interesting, not too difficult to follow on an audiobook. You really come too understand who he was. I am no communist, but still I admire him tremendously. This book is the longest audiobook I have ever listened to - five parts!

[Chrissie]

Judy, it was wonderful. Short but sweet. Thanks for reminding me about the Hilary Mantel biography!

[Dem]

Just finished The Unfinished Work of Elizabeth D. this is my review www.goodreads.com/review/show/396902757

[Chrissie]

I am reading A Year In The Maine Woods

My review of Solibo Magnificent is here:
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...

[Chrissie]

Judy, Bernd Heinrich is a fantastic author. I gave The Snoring Bird: My Family's Journey Through a Century of Biology five stars and Winter World: The Ingenuity of Animal Survival four. All are by the same author. Great stuff about ravens.

[Janice, Moderator]

Judy wrote: "Chrissie, AYitMW looks good!"

I agree! It sounds a bit like Perfection of the Morning: A Woman's Awaking in Nature

[Chrissie]

Janice, I think there is a difference between these two books. My impression, but this is just a guess, is that the woman's memoir is about her leaving an earlier lifestyle (in the city) and moving into the country and nature. The difference is that Bernd Heinrich has always been one curious about nature and animals and particularly ravens. He is not really changing. Over and over he writes about nature.

[Janice, Moderator]

I have read Perfection of the Morning. A large part of the book is Sharon Butala's connection with nature as an intregal part of her life and spirituality. It is a memoir, but it focuses mostly on her relationship with the land.

When I read "he rediscovers the meaning of peace and quiet and harmony with nature" in the review of A Year In The Maine Woods, it made me think of Sharon's book. I would have to read the book to see if there truly are similarities.

[Eileen]

Finshed up Shadow of Night, which I greatly enjoyed - I just love Tudor period fiction and I really like these characters. Harkness makes me want to be an historian! I'm now reading the next book in Mantell's Tudor Triology Bring Up the Bodies, so I'm still immersing myself in Tudor England - just from Cromwell's perspective. I'm also reading Zinn's A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present, which is disturbing and fascinating at all once, and I'm only on page 25.

[Chrissie]

Janice wrote: "I have read Perfection of the Morning. A large part of the book is Sharon Butala's connection with nature as an intregal part of her life and spirituality. It is a memoir, but it focuses mostly o..."

I do see what you mean, Janice. Maybe so. I only meant that Heinrich is and always has been a nature type person.

[Eileen]

Well, Zinn starts the book off by recounting that when Christopher Columbus came to the New World, the first thing he did was to wipe out the Arawak Indians by misuse, abuse, slavery, war and disease. It was a genocide - but we don't ever talk about that aspect of Columbus' expeditions - we basically focus on the heroic aspects of progress, etc. It's a cultural choice to kind of hide the really bad thing, inside the really good things, as a form of justification. History is most often propaganda for the winning side, after all.

[jaxnsmom]

See where you fit in ☺

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/entert...

I'm a Multi-Tasker (the nice way of saying you are a promiscuous reader)

[Chrissie]

Janice, in this book he starts by saying that he is and has always been a naturalist, but he now wants to just live out in the forest and raise a raven. He has a baby raven. You should see his trip to the house with the raven in the car.

I didn't realize you had read the other book. Is that about her leaving city-life? I have to check out if you have a review. I am in a big hurry now. Will do later. Thank you for telling me about the book.

[Janice, Moderator]

Chrissie wrote: "Janice, in this book he starts by saying that he is and has always been a naturalist, but he now wants to just live out in the forest and raise a raven. He has a baby raven. You should see his trip..."

It's been a while since I read Butala's book, but it was about her experiences on a large ranch on the prairie of Saskatchewan. It doesn't dwell much on her leaving the city, or even living in the city except to establish her background. It's more about her discovering the beauty of living on the ranch. Every morning, she would go for a walk and it was on these walks that she discovered "the perfection of the morning".

I grew up on the prairie in Alberta, so I could relate to her book a lot.

[Chrissie]

Janice, it sounds really lovely. I know what you mean when a book takes place somewhere you really, really know. Thanks for the tip.

[Chrissie]

Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life is a very long audiobook - 36 hours and 48 minutes. I absolutely loved it. My review: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/...
Compelling from start to finish.

I picked up free from Audible The Autobiography Of Black Hawk. That is what I am listening to now. It is only about three hours long. When that is done I will start A Long Long Way. Another book about WW1 and Ireland. I am into reading about WW1, as a change from WW2 or biographies/memoirs.

[Kimberly]

I'm reading No Regrets by Michele Ann Young I haven't been able to focus on reading this week so I needed a nice historical romance to get me back in the groove of things.

[Kat]

I'm listening to Gone Girl - not one of my 'usual' genres but really enjoying it so far.

[Susan]

Kat wrote: "I'm listening to Gone Girl - not one of my 'usual' genres but really enjoying it so far."

While not my usual genre either, I decided to order it from the library. I am now 106th in line. Two weeks ago I was 443rd.

[Betsy]

GoneGirl is horrifyingly good.

[Kimberly]

Kat wrote: "I'm listening to Gone Girl - not one of my 'usual' genres but really enjoying it so far."

Ooh can't wait for your review!

[Jennifer]

Finished Gone Girl . Meh.

[Janice, Moderator]

Jennifer wrote: "Finished Gone Girl . Meh."

Meh? Waaaaa!! Have you read either of Flynn's other two books?

[Jennifer]

Janice wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Finished Gone Girl . Meh."

Meh? Waaaaa!! Have you read either of Flynn's other two books?"

No. This was my first. The first two thirds were engaging enough but the last third left me walking away wondering why I'd bothered. The ending sank the whole experience for me.