*** February - What are you reading?

It's already February across the ocean. What are you reading now?

I'm still on the same books I was on before (both tomes) so I'm expecting a good update come mid-February or so. Starting work after two years of unemployment has made me incredibly tired come time to read so I haven't read in about two weeks. Once my internal schedule adjusts though, I'll be back to reading.

I'm now reading Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Who. liking it a lot. Original voice with a lot of energy. only 50 pages into it, and I can't simply put it down. Hope to write about the book in my blog

Not quite February here, but I know that I will still be reading Anna Karenina for a while. Loving it so far. I think I would have been much further along, however, my daughter pointed me to LT and Club Read - I can get distracted very easily.

I am also listening to The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto.

I just started The Possessed this afternoon. I'm about 15 pages into it.

I'm still undecided for this month. I'll working through Steve Jobs, but it's easy reading so I'll save it for when I need that kind of reading. Also Parable Hunter by Ricardo Pau-Llosa...but I'm down to about a poem a sitting for the last week or so. (They aren't all clicking, but when they do, they seem somehow very consuming. So I'm either reading the same thing over and over again with crossed eyes, or reading the same thing over again thinking "wow".) I intend to read 1 Chronicles. I want one or two others going. Could be Hamlet, could be something about Toni Morrison, could be A Memory of Light...or...?

I finished up The Walking Dead Chronicles: The Official Companion Book in the waning hours of January, figuring I'd get it in before the TV series comes back from hiatus. And now I've just started The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson.

>6 bragan: I read "The Lottery" in an anthology, and didn't find it as shocking as I expected. Perhaps it's because I've become desensitised to violence. I look forward to your thoughts.

I'm enjoying Last Year's Jesus by Ellen Slezak, my current book of short stories, and Infinite Jest is beginning to grow on me, maybe because we are spending so much time together. I've just started The Collector by John Fowles.

>7 dmsteyn:: I think I actually read "The Lottery" when I was a young teenager, but despite frequently seeing it described as "unforgettable," I seem to have mostly forgotten it. We'll see how it (and the other stuff in the collection) strikes me now.

The Summons is turning out to be a quick, easy read so when it's finished I plan on reading The Autobiography of Malcom X and/or Team of Rivals that I found at the library today. TOR is quite a doorstopper, though! YIKES! But I saw the movie Lincoln a few weeks ago and loved it and simply could not leave the library without it.

Last night I started Anthill by E.O. Wilson in reasonable expectation of finishing it for discussion on Wednesday evening. I got through only the first chapter, and the writing was not promising, so I may be overly optimistic.

Robert

I am now reading The Moon and Sixpence

I am reading The Beauty And The Sorrow (history, about ordinary people's lives in different parts of the first world war) on my Kindle, The Sword Cabinet (fiction) as my real book.

I am reading The Crime of Father Amaro by Eca de Queiros and The Golovlyov Family by Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin. I don't usually read more than one book at the same time, but for some reason I find myself alternating between these two.

I've finished with Shirley Jackson, and am now reading an ER book, Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures by Virginia Morell. I've only read the introduction so far, but it seems promising.

While I was on vacation, I finished and reviewed Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel and Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, both at least partly historical but very different. I hope to catch up with everyone's threads and post a review of the other book I finished tomorrow.

I just finished The Unspeakable by Tessa Stockton and posted my review on LT. I'm starting Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Hopefully, I will like this Morrison novel better than Jazz.

Marion

I've finished The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, a very interesting psychology book that won a Pulitzer Prize in 1974. I'll start with The Major Works by Sir Thomas Browne tonight. I started with it last year, but left off for some or other reason.

I'm reading Girlfriend in a Coma by Douglas Coupland. Not his best, but a meh Coupland is better than most of what you find at the bookstore.

I am reading Billy Budd, Sailor and Selected Tales by Herman Melville. Finished the first story today Bartleby, the Scrivener which was definitely not life affirming.

Kammbia1 - I'm thinking of reading Song of Solomon in the near future - maybe this month or maybe march...I might read Jazz too some time this year.

I am about to start Blue Earth by Jules Hardy, this is after lots of cast aways!! I hope this one will fill the bill, 435 pages!! a big read for me.

Finishing Drifting House by Krys Lee - which is very good so far (and with only one story left, I doubt that I will change my mind).

Finshed and reviewed The Pencil and now I've started Frankenstien and will resume In the Hands of the Great Spirit: The 20,000-Year History of American Indians

I've now reviewed the third book I read while I was away, the fascinating Explosion in a Cathedral by Alejo Carpentier, exploring the impact of the French Revolution in the Caribbean.

And now I'm all caught up! I've finished and reviewed another Zola, The Ladies' Paradise, a fascinating look at the beginning of department stores but not his best from a story-telling perspective.

dchaikin,

I will post a review of Song of Solomon on my blog (I will place a link on LT) after I finish it.

Marion (kammbia1)

I read the first chapter of The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson last night for discussion in the The 2013 Science, Religion, and History group read discussion thread in the 75 Books Challenge group rather than the first chapter in Spring Snow from the Sea of Fertility tetralogy by Yukio Mishima for discussion in the Mishima, tetralogy, by god, the whole fucking thing! thread in the Le Salon... group. I'll get to the Mishima perhaps even as I read the history, but the history sounded interesting in the first bits.

Robert

I've made my way quickly through The Curse of the Blue Figurine, another fun kids' book by John Bellairs, and Stephen Colbert's very funny America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren't, and am now about to start my latest ER book, The Resurrectionist. Or what they sent of The Resurrectionist, anyway. I've gotten ARCs with illustrations missing before, but never one with a full third of the pages left blank! I'm not entirely sure why they even bothered, but I guess I'll review what I've got...

# 29 bragan who is the author of The Resurrectionist ? if it was James Bradley it was for me a fascinating read.

I finished two books yesterday, In the House of the Interpreter by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, his latest memoir, which covers his high school years in Kenya during the Kenyan Emergency (highly recommended), and Bill Veeck's Crosstown Classic, a free e-book from the University of Chicago Press that was excerpted from Veeck's autiobiography Veeck--As In Wreck (don't bother). I'm now reading Stone Upon Stone by Wiesław Myśliwski, a story of postwar Poland narrated by an impoverished farmer, which won the Best Translated Book Award last year.

>30 hazeljune:: No, E.B. Hudspeth. No relation to the James Bradley novel.

Blizzard reading: another Susan Hill crime novel (#3, the title isn't coming to mind at the moment) continuing with some essays if in the mood.

I'm really enjoying Black Dahlia & White Rose. None of stories feel the slightest bit repetitive, despite me reading several at one go. I'm reassessing my assessment of Joyce Carol Oates. I like her short stories.

The Collector by John Fowles has reached the point where I am unwilling to put it down in order to make daily life easier. I am not reading while I drive, however.

I've started Leo Perutz's The Marquis of Bolibar, which I'm enjoying. Also started Eric Hobsbawm's The Age of Revolution:Europe 1789-1848, which I expect will take me some time to finish. Still reading Anatoly Rybakov's The Children of Arbat.

I'm reading The Invisible Man by H G Eells

Finished I Shall Wear Midnight by Sir Terry Pratchett. Enjoyable as always, yet surprisingly serious.

I'm starting The Complete Cosmicomics by Calvino today. I look forward to his usual imaginative fireworks.

I've just finished The Boy Next Door by Irene Sabatini. A love story set in Zimbabwe, really enjoyable. Next up, something completely different: The G-string Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee

Finished The Risk of Darkness by Susan Hill, 3rd in her crime series. Not your usual crime novel ---lots of angst. I've started a small collection of stories, "All My Friends" by Marie NDiaye (no touchstone yet).

I'm almost done with Holmes and Watson by June Thomson, a "fictional biography" of the famous characters. Next up is The Hour Before Morning by Arwen Spicer. I'm kind of nervous about that one. I know the author online, and she asked me if I'd like to read and review the book. I said yes, but I'm worried that, despite the fact that I think she's a pretty good writer, I'm somehow going to end up hating it. It doesn't help that it's a self-published book, and I've developed something of an allergy to those after a few bad experiences. Here's hoping my worry is for nothing, and I'll be able to honestly tell her I loved it!

Just started 334 by Thomas M. Disch. Enjoying it!

I've read and reviewed Old Man Goriot by Balzac, a portrait of life in post-revolutionary Paris as well as of a man who sacrifices himself for his ungrateful daughters.

I'm stalled...or maybe just becoming unstalled. I finally began 1 Chronicles yesterday. I have yet to begin Hamlet, but I've read two intros...I have yet to commit to a book about Toni Morrison, but I've skimmed through several. Somewhere in the background I'm still reading Steve Jobs and Parable Hunter. Also, Friday I read Stickman Odyssey : An Epic Doodle : Book One by Christopher Ford...an hour or two of fun that helped me feel like I'm accomplishing something, reading-wise.

Yesterday I finished Stone Upon Stone by Wiesław Myśliwski, a sweeping epic of a 20th century Polish village narrated by a remarkable but flawed man. Today I'll finish reading The Other City by Michal Ajvaz, a Borgesian look into modern day Prague, and, since today is Mardi Gras, I'll continue reading The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell, a history of the Crescent City from its founding to 1812.

Oh, I'll be interested in your review of Stone upon Stone, Darryl; I've had it on the TBR for years.

I'm reading a small short fiction collection by French author Marie Ndaiye.

I'm reading NW by Zadie Smith, and while I'm not loving it, she writes well enough for me to keep going.

I've read the first four chapters of Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima hoping to get caught up with the discussion in Le Salon.... So far the writing seems eloquent, but it all seems to be background.

Robert

As a 'side-book' I started in Last night in Twisted River John Irving. The story seems straight forward enough but all descriptions feel so larger-than-life; it's slightly off-putting.

My son had time to kill at the local college a few weeks ago so he went to the college library (where I used to work!) and checked out Michael Jackson, The Man in the Music for me. It's a chronological musical biography of Michael Jackson. I've never read a book like this but I like the idea of bio-ing an artist through their albums/songs.

I'm now reading Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, which is astonishingly good. Next up is The Man Who Lied to His Laptop: What Machines Teach Us About Human Relationships by Clifford Nass.

I have started The Fears of Henry IV: The life of England's self-made King by Ian Mortimer. Another historical biography in Mortimer's series on the Plantagenet kings

I've just finished and reviewed the fascinating Young Stalin; the first in Montefiore's two-volume biography making use of recently opened Soviet and Georgian/Caucasian archives, it reveals how "Soso" Djugashvili became Stalin.

I am currently finishing up Greygallows by Barbara Michaels. Many moons ago when I was a kid, my grandmother worked at the local library and brought home this gothic romance. I read it and loved the creepy atmosphere, so recently had the urge to re-read it. It's a nice, quick read before jumping into something bigger.

I have just finished The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino, a collection of short stories that gave me immense pleasure.

Will start reading Evelyn Waugh's The Loved One tomorrow.

I'm just starting The Beginning of Spring by Penelope Fitzgerald, which is fitting since my crocuses started blooming today.

I've just finished and reviewed The City Builder by George Konrad, a difficult to read and understand but beautifully written novel set in an unnamed still-communist Hungarian city.

I am starting England in the Age of Wycliffe by G M Trevelyan. It was written originally in 1899 and has served as a text book; I suppose right up to the 1960's. I will be interested compare it with more recently published books that I have read on this period of history.

I've moved from The G-string Murders world of 1940s New York Burlesque to the more gentile surroundings of 1770s London with Frances Burney's Evelina.

Thanks for mentioning The G-String murders. I always found that time period interesting and have to add this one to my list.

Firmly attached the Joan Didion band wagon and over weekend bought and read Salvador. Now I'm reading The Housekeeper and the Professor

I'm still reading Spring Snow for discussion in Le Salon..., but I've also started Will in the World for discussion in my church's book group. I don't know that I will read the successors in Mishima's tetralogy; his hero is a schmuck and an uninteresting one at that.

Robert

I'm still pretty much stalled, but did finished Parable Hunter by Ricardo Pau-Llosa, a poetry collection.

Among the books I've started this month:

The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion by Michael Mosley & John Lynch - associated with a BBC TV series. Bought it used this weekend.
The Ancient Near East : An Anthology of Texts and Pictures by James B. Pritchard - Reading bits. I might read Gilgamesh from here before I have to return it to the library
The Trophies of Time : English Antiquarians of the Seventeenth Century by Graham Parry - been on the shelf about 3 years.
1 Chronicles
Toni Morrison's Beloved : a Casebook edited by William L. Andrews & Nellie Y. McKay - a bit of slog, sigh

...

no fiction...

I'm currently reading Pirate Freedom by Gene Wolfe. Wolfe is considered science-fiction most literate writer and I've been wanting to read him for years.

Pirate Freedom is the story of a young Catholic priest who returns to his past where he was a pirate. Pretty interesting so far.

I have finished The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh, which is hilarious, if a bit morbid.

Started reading The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen. I'm enjoying it more than Freedom, which I think was over-hyped (not that The Corrections wasn't also hyped).

>65 dmsteyn: The Corrections was an ok book; I think over-hyped is way too generous to describe Freedom.

I was about to pull a new book from the stack when I was caught without physical book and started reading Kinder- und Hausmärchen on my phone. Since the tales are short this looks to be a nice filler in between. I'm continuing spring snow and now also picked up science as seen through the development of scientific instruments.

I'm reading " A feast for Crows" by George R.R Martin ( Book four of the "Song For Ice and Fire" series).
I also have "The Bell Jar",by Sylvia Plath, "How to be good" and "about the boy" by Nick Hornby, and "How Many Miles to Babylon" by Jennifer Johnston on the list to read for February/ March.

I just finished The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoevsky last night. I just checked out Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison and The Stranger by Albert Camus from the library. I will probably read the Ellison novel first for no particular reason. I will start this afternoon.

#67..I adore Jennifer Johnston's small novels, and have read almost all, you have picked an especially good one in How Many Miles to Babylon the ending is very moving.

Your posting is the first mention of Jennifer Johnston that I have seen on this forum, she is a wonderful Irish writer.

I am reading First men in the Moon by H G Wells

Not doing much reading these days. I've only managed to finish 2 books so far this month. I've started Orlando Figes's A People's Tragedy and Vladmir Voinovich's The Life and Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin.

I'm reading Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian. Which has been rather slow going, although the more of it I read, the better I like it. I'm hoping to finish it up soon.

I've finished the bleak, but lyrically written The Death of Sweet Mister by Daniel Woodrell and am now reading ian McEwan's Sweet Tooth, which was indifferently reviewed here at Club Read.

I have picked up Spoon River Anthology by Edgar Lee Masters. It's a revisit ti a book much-loved by my college roommate eons ago and great for reading in small bits of time.

I'm about halfway through Brave New World; I had the idea I read this in high school, but come to find out I did not. I think I must've confused it with 1984...!

I am reading A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle.

I am reading https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BJM9YN2 Love, Hurt and Loss a collection of poetry By Helen Ingram

Lisa, I will be interested in your thoughts on Brave New World because I have just started it as well

Lisa - I'm entertained by your confusion.

On my handwritten book log that I started in high school (and still have around here somewhere, I hope), Brave New World is the first book, read in December 1990.

I'm reading The Forsyte Saga and Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire.

I am reading The Letter Killers Club by Sigizmund Krzhizhanovsky which is weird but somehow keeps my attention.

Just finished a few other books so we will see what's next. With the Nebula Nominees announced, I think it will be a few of them for me in the next weeks.

I have started today Giotto to Durer: Early Renaissance Painting in the national Gallery

I finally finished Master and Commander, breezed through the cute cartoons in Simon's Cat in Kitten Chaos by Simon Tofield, and have now started Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. (And is it just me, or does that name sound like it really belongs on a cheesy action hero, rather than a writer?)

bragan, I'm thinking that he's using his pirate name.

I've finished Sweet Tooth and I think I liked Ian McEwan's latest novel more than the other CR readers. Will try to put my thoughts down about it soon. I've started The Liars' Club by Mary Karr and Seven Days in the Art World by Sarah Thornton.

Reviewed Kings on my thread. Read an abridged version of Gilgamesh in The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and Pictures. Finished Toni Morrison's Beloved : a Casebook.

I looked at my pile of books in progress... and opened an old issue of RE:AL...and also read the first few pages of Hamlet...and Song of Solomon is calling.

#84 Kay - I'm very curious about The Liars Club...

novel about a young girl who was rescued by a rich older man , when two guys were trying to rape her .. While he was coming in his carriage he heard a scream , he stopped and saw them trying to harm this young girl .. Then when he rescued her before he leaves he gave her a necklace that opens .. Instantly the young girl fall in love with this older man ! Then this man makes charity beacause he was important in his community so he send this poor girl to a boarding school for girls in london !! It was christmas holiday and all th girls where on the train station going back to their homes when suddenly this girl saw the rich man walking immediately she left her friends and started to follow him , she felt that he was drunk then he stopped at a place that looked like slang bar venue for sensual pleasure, he charged up the long stairs and entered it ! She followed him directly and also entered the place ! Another man looks like a procurer approached the rich man and they were talking!! Their she was standing inside this bar looking at him when he chose her to go with him to his room without any conflict she followed him to his room , he was very drunk , she couldnt believe that she is in the same room with him after this time ! He was taking his clothes off when she realize what place is that , she was thinking what she will do but she stayed with him the night before he woke up she cleans herself and leaves later when he was up he realize that the girl was a virgin and shes not from this place because the owner of this place didnt recognize her and admit that shes not from his girls. Please help i dont know the author name nor the title

>84 RidgewayGirl:: It does sound like an awesome pirate name!

And I'm glad someone likes Sweet Tooth, as it is already sitting on my TBR Pile.

Contrast: Just finished “The Abundance” by Amit Majmudar, an Early Reviewer book, and now I'm starting "The Hopkins Manuscript," an oldie by R. C. Sherriff I found buried in a corner of the living room with other overflow books. (Wish me luck!)

# 84 bragan..I found The Liar's Club a very entertaining read, it is a memoir and has been described as "darkly hilarious", enjoy.

#85 dchaikin..I loved Song of Solomon a good follow up I will suggest is The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers.

87 Tamtamz. You might want to try this request in the Name That Book! group.

#90 Hello hazeljune. I have had that (The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter) in mind for a few years...no clue what it's about. As for Morrison, I just might read through her novels this year...

#92 Hi dchaikin, A wonderful little read from Toni Morrison is Home, if I need info on any novel I just google in -good reads- it is a great site.

dchaikin,

I tried reading Song of Solomon and didn't like it. I got to 140 pages and it got a little bizarre. I know her reputation is well deserved. But this is my second Morrison novel and her writing doesn't connect to me for some reason.

Hopefully, you will have better success when you read her work.

Marion

Marion, you are only encouraging me. Now I want to find out what is so bizarre.

hazeljune, Thanks. Been avoiding Good Reads...busy enough here...just in this one group. I'll keep your comment on Home in mind.

While I was away, I finished Jonathan Wild, a satirical and semi-fictional look at the notorious 18th century London thief.

I just finished A Star Called Henry. Next up Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell, followed by The Princess Bride by William Goldman. I think that will be a good book for my flight to Florida next Thursday. I will probably need another quick one before that.

To complement my reading of Will in the World I have started Titus Andronicus & Timon of Athens. I have read the introduction and most of the Titus Andronicus part. I have heard and read that Titus Andronicus is bloody; wow, is it ever! I'd like to see it performed and may look for a DVD.

Robert

For the 20 something time..... mans search for meaning

http://www.librarything.com/groups/holocaustauthors