**What Are You Reading Now? -- November 2012

A place to post about what you are reading, reviewing, thinking about etc.

Thanks, Dan!

I'm reading Baudolino by Umberto Eco with a group read in the 12 in 12 category if anyone is interested in joining in. http://www.librarything.com/topic/143909

Also reading a great ER win - The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age by Janet Wallach.

I've started The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl by Tim Pratt.

I'm re-reading The Druid's Son by G. R. Grove for the group read I'm leading. I'm also reading The Cartoon History of the Universe III by Larry Gonick and the 75th anniversary edition of Poetry magazine (1987). Several other books hanging around with real and electric book marks in them, but I haven't touched them in a while.

Like Dan I have several books hanging around with bookmarks in them that I haven't touched for awhile, but I seem to be actively reading Frankenstein in the Norton Critical Edition. I'm a little bit over half way through the novel proper.

Robert

My requested copy of The Faraway Horses was waiting at the library for me so I picked it up and started it this morning. Since I was at the library I picked up The Fall of the House of Usher And Other Tales by Edgar Allan Poe & The Picture of Dorian Gray. It's a good thing library books are renewable.

continuing with my musical studies and I am reading The AB guide to Music Theory

I've just started The Cage: The Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers by Gordon Weiss, my LT Early Reviewers book for September.

Darryl - I have a copy of The Cage; the Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers from ER too. Haven't started it yet. I also recent purchased Still Counting the Dead: Survivors of Sri Lanka's Hidden War by Frances Harrison based on Roma Tearne's glowing recommendation.

The university drum is in full beat, so I'm not ready many good novels lately. But yesterday I (finally!) finished a real behemoth, Brokers of Culture: Italian Jesuits in the American West, 1848-1919. This morning I knocked off a more lightweight English Grammar to Ace Biblical Hebrew by Miles van Pelt.

I've now finished and reviewed Robertson Davies thoroughly delightful first trilogy, The Salterton Trilogy.

#11 - Jonathan - Brokers of Culture sounds fascinating. Reminds of The Invasion Within: The Contest of Cultures in Colonial North America by James Axtell, another tome. It compares Jesuit conversion of Native Americans to Native American conversion of colonists. Fascinating stuff.

Started read Une Vie (A Woman's Life) by Guy de Maupassant. My first book by the author.

Finally wrapping things up. Three books finished over yesterday and this morning. I picked back-up and finally finished God Knows by Joseph Heller. As you might guess, I found it tough to read. Then late last night I finished the 75th anniversary edition of Poetry magazine (1987), which I had been reading since September. It was very very rewarding. And then this morning I finished my re-read of The Druid's Son by G. R. Grove. That's 59 books for me this year. The most I've read in any one year before was the 55 I read last year.

So, with those down I picked up three more: Druids : A Very Short Introduction by Barry Cunliffe, for the Oxford Very Short Introduction series. Florida Postcards : Poems by Enid Shomer, which is only 23 poems, and I re-picked up Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin. This is not a tough read, actually it's the most uplifting book I've read in a long time. Lincoln is inspiring. It is, however, a bit long (900 pages) and I was simply reading too many things at once to put it aside. I'm about half way through.

Should finish up Life after Death tonight.

Next up: Russo's Elsewhere and The China Factory

>15 dchaikin: - Congratulations on the tally, Dan!

Recently finished The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell, and just started Therese Raquin by Émile Zola.

> 13, 15

Congrats on finishing all the books! I am now reading The Bible Unearthed, which I recall you did not too long ago as well. It's definitely interesting, but I'd also like to hear the other side of the story from another archaeologist.

What was the thesis of the book on conversion?

Jonathan - It's been too long and there many ideas expressed. He covers what it took to be a Jesuit missionary, which was insanely intense. Very few could manage, and those that did were magnificently qualified to learn and understand and interact with native America cultures. Then he compares the general troubles and failures of early efforts to convert natives to Christianity. By contrast, when the natives sometimes took colonists as prisoners to incorporate into their tribes, those prisoners typically became dedicated members of the tribe.

Also, I agree about The Bible Unearthed. I would like other opinions. My take was he has an excellent criticism of bible-guided archeology, and a lot of very good ideas; but, that there is no reason to believe there are no other equally good explanations. However, it seems Israel Finkelstein is now, ironically, considered THE leading expert, inspiring a lot of criticism.

> 20, 21

I know of Werner Keller's popular book, The Bible as History, that floats around a lot of bookstores and book sales. But Keller's book is quite dated and Biblical archaeology has changed quite a bit in the last few decades, at least according to Finkelstein and Asherman.

Jesuits have the longest formation period of any Catholic religious order: 10-12 years, depending on the amount of education one comes in with. It can be even longer if one goes beyond the M.Div. for another degree, which a lot do. (The tradeoff is that they never retire, lol - one Jesuit professor at my university died last week, still teaching full-time at 84.) McKevitt describes how even among thing hyper-educated group of clerics, many were not fit for the psychological and intellectual challenges of Native American missions. For starters, they would have to be a linguistic genius to rapidly master native languages. But they would also need to appreciate a vastly different culture enough to not only live and work in it, but also love and appreciate the natives. Of course that ideal was not always met!

I'm finishing up Blind Descent: The Quest to Discover the Deepest Place on Earth by James M. Tabor. Very interesting subject, but I'm not 100% thrilled with the writing. Next up is The Silver Pigs by Lindsey Davis, a mystery set in ancient Rome. I might slip Frencesco Marciuliano's I Could Pee on This: And Other Poems By Cats in there, too, just because it's short and looks amusing.

I've just finished and reviewed two fascinating novels by the wonderful Beryl Bainbridge: Master Georgie and An Awfully Big Adventure.

And I'm still reading the new Anne Applebaum: Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 (no touchstone yet).

I've finished the first of 14 novels by Émile Zola I plan (hope? dream?) to read by the end of 2013: Therese Raquin (actually Thérèse Raquin but the touchstones don't work when you put the accents in).

I'm still reading Vilette by Charlotte Brontë and Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson, but I plan soon to start To Live by Yu Hua.

> 25

You "Zolaites" impress me. It looks too intense for my tastes. I'm still trying to get to the Shusaku Endo read in Author Theme Reads. All the nonfiction I read for school is making me crave something with decent narrative.

Just started In Good Company: The Fast Track From the Corporate World to Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience by James Martin, S.J.. I already read Martin's book about his stint working with refugees in East Africa. He is an amazing writer and a great ambassador for Catholicism. He is also the official Colbert Report chaplain.

Also just finishing up the book of Jeremiah for a scripture course I am taking.

>26 JDHomrighausen: James Martin, S.J. Who's that?
The Colbert Report chaplain. OH, that GUY. I know who THAT guy is. *snicker*

The distractions continue but I am reading a little. Finished the very good Night Dancer by Chika Unigwe, and an intriguing little novella Down the Rabbit Hole by Juan Pablo Villalobos (he is featured in the latest issue of World Literature Today, which conveniently arrived just as I finished).

I have now taken up The Elephant Keepers' Children by Peter Hoeg.

Finally finished China: a novel, which was just okay, and now I'm on to an ER book, The Cage: the Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, and I'm trying to get to Mrs Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor.

I started Soldier Dogs this morning. Interesting stuff.

I am reading Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami and I am finding it enchanting.

I'm now reading Jonathan Franzen's Freedom, long after everybody else.

I've just finished and reviewed the harrowing but compelling, and sometimes funny, Red Sorghum by this year's Nobel Laureate Mo Yan.

It's back to my old mucker Patrick White. Started The eye of the storm another one of his doorstops.

And so for some light relief I am also reading Machiavelli and his friends: their personal correspondence

I'm enjoying Building Stories by graphic novelist/cartoonist Chris Ware -- linked stories about the residents of a Chicago three-flat, formatted variously as books, pamphlets, leaflets, posters, newspapers, magazines -- 14 items packaged together in a box.

RL was hectic for a while, so just picking up where I left off my reading a month ago. Finishing Milton Rokeach's The Three Christs of Ypsilanti - I have mixed feelings about the experimental approach used to studying identity formation in three inmates of the asylum all claiming to be God, still this book is very well-written and leaves much to ponder. Also continuing with Fortey's very fascinating Life: An Unauthorized Biography. For my fiction read, have decided on Hermann Broch's The Spell.

Just finished Liftoff: The Story of America's Adventure in Space by Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins, a worthwhile followup to Carrying the Fire, which I read a few months ago.

Next up is The Magicians by Lev Grossman. This seems to be kind of a love-it-or-hate-it book, and I'm very curious to see which camp I end up in.

Probably won't read much over the holiday, but I'm in the early parts of Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (my first Dickens) and Traversa: A Solo Walk Across Africa, from the Skeleton Coast to the Indian Ocean by Fran Sandham.

I've finished and reviewed Happy Moscow, a challenging and puzzling collection by Andrey Platonov.

Hope to read a lot this weekend!

Starting an ARC of Jennifer Gilmore's The Mothers.

My holiday read is Christmas at Eagle Pond by Donald Hall.

I'm reading A Possible Life by Sebastian Faulks, my LT Early Reviewers book for October.

I'm reading Peter Pan. It's better than I expected it to be, so far, anyway.

>42 Nickelini: - Joyce, are you reading the play, or Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens? I've always meant to read them both, but so far, my only exposure to Peter Pan has been (increasingly terrible) movie adaptations...

On the reading front, I've been busy with exams and other end-of-year irritations, so I haven't been able to post any reviews. Or, to be more honest, the books that I've finished seemed impervious to meaningful reviews (yes, Zarathustra, I'm looking at you).

I am, however, almost finished with The Vivisector, which has been a great, if not enjoyable, read. There have been several excellent reviews, so I think I'll focus on a deconstructive reading of the transferred signifier relaying Coetzee's introduction in my review.

Sorry about the strikethrough - I've just written an exam on philosophical hermeneutics and Derridean deconstruction ;)

Joyce, are you reading the play, or Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens? I've always meant to read them both, but so far, my only exposure to Peter Pan has been (increasingly terrible) movie adaptations...

Hmmmm, not sure? I don't quite follow the history of what Barrie did, and there was something in the beginning of this book that I skimmed over that said this started out as Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, and he changed it. Not sure, I'd have to reread. I didn't know I'd be asked! It's not written as a play, in any event.

I too have not liked the movie adaptions, although there are parts of them that I do really like. I just don't like the loud obnoxious parts. They seem to have too much franticness going on. I'm hoping it has more of the cool part that I like

Completed volume 4, The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, in Robert A. Caro's magnificent series on LBJ. Now, have to bide my time (impatiently) waiting for the 5th and final volume. Meanwhile, have just started Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes 1963-1964 ed. by Michael R. Becschloss, which is the perfect companion piece to Caro's volume. As is, http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/presidentialrecordings/johnson

I've just finished and reviewed Anne Applebaum's fascinating and important new book, Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-1956.

#45 I definitely have to get to Caro's LBJ series one of these years!

#46 - You definitely do!

Thanks for the review of "Iron Curtain" - I have this on Kindle and look forward to reading it one day. In fact, I should probably read it before I delve into my copy of Khrushchev's Cold War: The Inside Story of an American Adversary by Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali, covering the period 1955-1965, but I know I won't ;)

Finished The Cage: the Fight for Sri Lanka and the Last Days of the Tamil Tigers, by Australian journalist, Gordon Weiss. This is an ER book, so I'll be writing a probably-too-long review soon, but I just want to say that it was bit of work to get through. In part because it was very detailed, but also because it was a disturbing read. I couldn't read it at night because I wouldn't sleep well after reading it, so I had to find another time. Much of that was while taking transit--I wonder if anyone noticed me gnashing my teeth and getting red in the face.

Darryl (Kidzdoc) is reading this too, so it will be interesting to compare our comments. Well, I'll find it interesting, anyway.

Yesterday I read Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto, then started Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters.

I have taken on a doorstopper in German: Goethe's Briefwechsel mit einem Kinde. This is a fictional, epistolary novel by Bettina von Arnim, a contemporary of Goethe, who actually was a personal friend of Goethe.

My edition is the first complete and unabridged new edition since original publication in 1835. Sturm und Drang, much in the style of "the Werther".

Not reading much. A few stories in JCO's new collection, Black Dahlia and White Rose, other odds and ends, like the excerpts going into the forthcoming issue of Belletrista. Otherwise, I keep starting books and then put them aside.

I'm reading Les liaisons Dangereuses, Baudolino by Umberto Eco and experimenting with audiobooks by listening to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

I'm reading (or kind of reading) a collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories: Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales. Short stories are what I need right now as my attention span is incredibly short now!

I've just read and reviewed Alice Munro's latest collection of insightful and perceptive short stories, Dear Life and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's most recent memoir, In the House of the Interpreter, about his time in an elite boarding school during the rebellion against the British.

Finishing up Baudolino by Umberto Eco. Things have just taken a turn for the weird.

Finished The Vivisector last night, and will report on Coetzee's introduction shortly. I've begun reading something very different, The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, which is a refreshing change of pace from White.

I've just finished When Science Goes Wrong by Simon LeVay, a collection of true stories about large and often rather horrific screw-ups in various fields of applied science. Now I'm on B. H. Fingerman's Bottomfeeder, an amusingly low-class vampire novel.

December thread is up a day early...(because I'm thinking about it now, and know I might forget later)

http://www.librarything.com/topic/145270

Just finished Blue Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson and have started The Song of Everlasting Sorrow by Wang Anyi. I'll probably also be starting The Tunnel by Ernesto Sábato this weekend too, and putting it on a fast track for a group read.

I've decided to put my collection of Poe short stories on the shelf for the time being and start reading The Christmas Box trilogy - it's a traditional read for me.