*** What Are You Reading Now? - Part 1

With 2018 starting very soon, time for the first of those threads.

I hope everyone had an awesome holiday season. How do you start your 2018 readwise? Do you have any big plans for this year's reading?

Welcome to the club to the new members and nice to see everyone else back :)

Hi everybody!
I'll be starting the year with The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens. This is the first book to cross off my TBR list in 2018.

I am starting the year with Michael Connelly's The Poet. :)

I'll be starting the year off with Doctor Who: The Vault by Marcus Hearn. Because I have to pass the time until the next season starts somehow.

I'm making my final push to finish Proust's In Remembrance of Things Past which I started a year ago. I'm almost done with volume 6 and then plan to head straight into the last volume - no detours!

I have two giant books on the go: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, and Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. I'm hoping to finish both this week.

I loved The Luminaries! I had a hard time getting into the story at first but then- I couldn't put it down. I just finished Bad Rabbi and Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press by Eddy Portnoy.

>7 torontoc: I'm glad that you also loved The Luminaries, Cyrel! I look forward to Eleanor Catton's next book.

I have three books that I started reading but didn't finish last week. The first is Red Star Over Russia, the catalogue for the current museum exhibition of the same name that I saw at Tate Modern in London in November, in which works of Russian art from 1905-55 collected by the late graphic designer David King were displayed. I'll finish it today.

I'm also reading The Impostor by Javier Cercas, a novel that is based on the author's analysis of the life of Enric Marco, a fellow Spaniard who gained fame and fortune by claiming that he was a decorated soldier during the Spanish Civil War (mostly true) and a survivor of a German concentration camp during World War II (blatantly false), who was exposed as a fraud in 2005, just prior to a 60th year ceremony in Germany in which he was to be honored as one of the few Spanish survivors of these camps. Cercas decided to contact him, in order to write about his life, was initially repelled by him, and, several years later, took up the task again of interviewing him, investigating his claims to check their accuracy, and analyzing why Marco became a habitual liar, and why the Spanish media and public fell for his ruses for decades.

My third book is Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America by James Forman, Jr., a professor at Yale Law School, former public defendant, and son of the acclaimed civil rights activist James Forman. This book, which was longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award for Non-Fiction, was inspired by Michelle Alexander's influential book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, which also discusses the wide disparities in incarceration by race in the United States (African Americans make up 12% of the country's population, but 50% of all imprisoned citizens), but in addition it examines the role that prominent African Americans such as former Washington mayor Marion Barry and former Attorney General Eric Holder played in increasing the number of people, mainly African American males, who were given long prison sentences after being convicted of crimes, and the disproportionate effect that these policies had on poor and working class African American communities throughout the country.

Tchaikovsky's Ballets by Roland John WIley
The Count of Monte Cristo on Audible
The Secrets She Keeps by Michael Robotham
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley by Hannah Tinti

I'm hoping to get through the first before the ILL is due - it's pretty technical but very informative.

H is for Hawk and The Return of the Native. The latter is lovely but very, very slow. I'm not sure I'm up to it.

Happy New Year everyone! Still on Dubliners by James Joyce - enjoying it but not getting much reading time. Not sure why the touchstones aren't working - they must have been partying too hard last night.

I'm reading a few books right now; The Idiot by Elif Batuman which is about a woman in her freshman year at Harvard and the summer after where she volunteers as an English teacher in a Hungarian village, So Much Blue by Percival Everett, which is centered on a successful artist. The voice in So Much Blue is compelling. And I'm finishing up a collection of letters and diary entries by Hans and Sophie Scholl in At the Heart of the White Rose.

I recently finished a YA novel by Dick Lehr, who worked as a journalist on the Spotlight team at The Boston Globe. Trell is a well-realized fictionalized account of the exoneration of a man imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit.

I am reading Belange by Patrick Cauvin, it is in French and after 3 months I am at the half way mark.

Tonight I picked English Music by Peter Ackroyd off my shelf - I will start it tomorrow

I’m off to a good start with Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi.

I’m working on two books at the moment: Why I Killed My Best Friend by Amanda Michalopoulou (I enjoyed a collection of hers a few years ago titled: I’d Like. This is translated from the Greek. Also reading Jeanne's Road by Jocelyn Saucier (Canadian, translated from the French)

I'm primarily reading Stamped From The Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America & so far finding it fascinating and eye-opening. More in depth thoughts and ranting in my thread here.

Today I started Omeros by Derek Walcott, which might finish my Homeric themed reads for a bit. And I started the Book of Esther with Deuterocanonical additions.

Continuing from last year I have, on audio, Miss Burma by Charmaine Craig. It felt like it was dissolving into pulp when I stopped a week ago. It started well though, and I'll continue again tomorrow and see how it goes.

I finished The Luminaries tonight, and I am about to start Glass Houses, the latest Chief Inspector Gamache book by Louise Penny. Still listening to Anna Karenina.

Starting the year where I left off: reading The Chosen by Chaim Potok.

Finished Kamila Shamsie's Home Fire and have started with Dracula. I intend to make this a diverse reading-year.

I'm starting off reading the books of the years of my life with The Moon and Bonfires by Cesare Pavese, published in 1950.

Finished The Poet (review in my thread and in the book); started A Symphony of Echoes - I needed something less violent and dark. Of course, Taylor's series have enough darkness and whatsnot but it also keeps the tone light enough to make it seem lighter.

I started The Widow last night.

I have two books going from the end of last year - The Burning Stone by Kate Elliott third in a fantasy series I'm enjoying and Blueprint for Disaster by D. Bradford Hunt about the collapse of public housing in Chicago.

I am really enjoying my read of Minds of Winter by Ed O'Loughlin

Yesterday I read Molly's Game by Molly Bloom, and the first story in Wilderness Tips by Margaret Atwood, which I'll continue today.

I finished a book, all 15 pages. Finished The Book of Esther with Deuterocanonical (or Apocryphal, or ??) additions. I'm now moving on to the next biblical book - The Wisdom of Solomon (or The Book of Wisdom)

On audio, I finished Miss Burma. I had some issues with it, which I'll try to explain in my review when I get there. Not sure what's next. Waiting for a book at the library to come free.

I had to discard the first book I started this year, Secret Passages In A Hillside Town, because I was so annoyed by the manic pixie dream girl character (a childhood sweetheart who comes back into the life of the main character, disrupting his marriage).

However, I've been able to make up for that with Tinderbox by Megan Dunn, a very enjoyable memoir-cum-essay which reminded me of Ali Smith's Artful.

Now up: How to be a Kosovan Bride by Naomi Hamill, which has started very well (only one chapter in though).

I've just finished Sourdough by Robin Sloan, which I had mixed feelings about, and am now reading Astray by Emma Donoghue, which so far is fine, but unexciting.

Reading Fire & Fury.

I am reading Walking in the Shade which is part 2 of Doris Lessing's autobiography and I am loving it so far.

I just finished reading Little Fires Everywhere. I almost gave up on it--too much teen angst and silliness for me. But it took a turn about halfway through that kept me going to the end. 4 stars. I post reviews on the books' pages and also here on my Club Read thread.

I started Fire and Fury on audio, and I'm reading Mrs. Osmond and Birdcage Walk on my kindle.

>29 bragan: I really liked some of the stories in Astray. Hope it picks up for you.

>20 Trifolia: Home Fire is my favorite by Kamila Shamsie. Really interesting take on "home-grown" terrorism.

>11 AlisonY: I have an awesome audio version of Dubliners that I listen to at least once/year. The readers are all well-known Irish actors and writers (Frank McCourt, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson, etc.).

Still working in Stamped From the Beginning. Also listening to Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, read by Neil deGrasse Tyson, who I always enjoy. Finally, picking away at the stories in Silver Birch, Blood Moon, a collection of retold/reimagined fairy tales.

Finished A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor(as funny as the first one) and The Paris Librarian by Mark Pryor which was one of the weakest in its series but still readable.

Now reading The Great Passage by Shion Miura.

Someone pass me a damp flannel - I've finally got to the end of The Dubliners (right book, wrong reader, or wrongly timed reader in any case).

Hold the flannel - I just remembered I got a new McEwan in last Friday's book haul. Pass me Solar instead!

>35 AlisonY: oh dear, and just as Cariola and I have been promoting audio versions!

I finished H is for Hawk late this afternoon. Looks like I'll begin My Life as a Dog this evening. I loved the film and was really happy to find the book second hand.

I'm reading the first of the list of books I shared with RebeccaNYC, Fasting, Feasting by Anita Desai.

A lazy Sunday allowed me to finish Shion Miura's love letter to the art of making dictionaries The Great Passage. A highly recommended novel - review in my thread and in the work.

Now back to Nero Wolfe with Stout's Too Many Women.

>32 Cariola:, >36 ipsoivan: no, I'm still with you on the audio version of Dubliners. I think it would be great. My head was simply not in the right place to take the time to properly enjoy this collection.

I finished an actual book, Young Torless, and have started Old Devils.

>36 ipsoivan: I actually think about the film My Life as a Dog quite a bit, for me it was video store rental in the late 1990's. Hope you enjoyed H is for Hawk.

I've finished In Search of Lost Time.

Since I'm certainly expecting a "book hangover" after Proust, I'm going to try a book from my shelves that I have very low expectations for, but that I expect to be a fast and easy read - Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. Also, it's really cold here and it's partially set on the coast of Italy, so that sounds appealing.

>42 japaul22: Congratulations on finishing such a quest.

Starting the year sick has very seriously reduced my reading time, but I've finally been able to start not one but two books!

The time traveller's almanac is a huge collection of short-stories related to time travel. I expect it to keep me company for most of the year. The ones I've read so far are excellent.

I've started yesterday All our wrong todays by Elan Mastai, which is also about time travel but is a novel.

Finished Too Many Women (weakest novel in the Nero Wolfe series so far or I missed the charm of it somehow). And started Daniel Silva's The Confessor - which so far is as good as the previous Silva books.

I seem to have been averaging a book a day so far this year(!), including a couple of fairly hefty Victorians (Phineas Redux and The hand of Ethelberta). Obviously I should get out more, and I'm sure I shall now that I'm no longer staying with a couple of octogenarians!

I've just started Alvaro Enrigue's tennis-with-Caravaggio novel Muerte súbita, which I came across via SassyLassy's thread.

>40 ELiz_M: Nice segue!

>46 thorold: I'm slightly tempted to start a chain -- next read a book with Angels in the title and then find an opposite word from the title of that book to find the next.....

>47 ELiz_M: sounds like an idea for a List Five Books thread :-)
I could always follow Muerte súbita with Prolonged Labour...

My next book is The Triumph of woman: A Christmas Story by Charles Rowcroft - just too late for Christmas.

Finished Silva's The Confessor and really liked it. Another very strong entry in the series. Next is Paper Doll by Robert B. Parker - the next one in yet another series.

I've finally started reading The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton and I'm enjoying it, which is good because I'll be reading it for some time. It's simply too large to slip into a bag and carry around with me.

I'm also reading Refuge by Dina Nayeri, which is about a woman who was smuggled out of Iran as a child and her troubled relationship with her father, who remained behind. The parts about what it's like to live as a refugee in the Netherlands is fascinating, as is how having once been a refugee affects the main character decades later.

I'm finishing up Roddy Doyle's Smile as well. What an assured writer he is. There's not an unnecessary word or superfluous scene.

I've started at least five promising books, but can't seem to settle with the exception of anOliver Harris crime novel at bedtime. I have a theory that it's because I haven't finished reviewing the 2017 books. Just a few more to go, then we'll see if the theory was valid. All other theories welcome.

I'm finishing up Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter which is surprising me in a good way.

I've just started Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari which is fascinating and very readable. And I will start A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles for fiction.

I'm about half-way through Pelle the Conqueror for fiction and Histoire mondiale de la France for non-fiction.

>51 RidgewayGirl: I have all three of those in my TBR stacks. Love Roddy Doyle.

I am really tempted to put aside everything I'm reading and start Winter by Ali Smith.

Over halfway through Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters, which is better than I was expecting (though do we really need more white men writing "slavery never ended" books?). Also just started Roots by Alex Haley and The End of American Childhood: A History of Parenting from Life on the Frontier to the Managed Child.

I am really enjoying Jenny Erpenbeck's The End of Days.

I'm reading some of David Cay Johnson's It's Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration is Doing to America. It's only 250 pages plus notes. Probably won't read it cover to cover, but will read most of it.

>32 Cariola: How is Mrs. Osmond? I listen to Portrait of a Lady before I go to bed at night. One of my favorites.

I finished Muerte súbita without managing to make sense of the rules of real tennis in Spanish (for once, Wikipedia is no real help), but otherwise enjoyed it very much. Moved on from that to yet another Ali Smith, There but for the, which is fun. After that, I think I’ll have to put in some serious work on digging into the dusty corners of the TBR suite.

>57 wandering_star: I enjoyed that a lot too - but it made me want to re-read Joseph Roth...

>59 nohrt4me2: Much as I admire Henry James, I can’t imagine that I’d even get as far as the first full stop if I tried to listen to him at bedtime!

>59 nohrt4me2: I'm about halfway through Mrs. Osmond--got sidetracked by a few library downloads that I needed to finish before they were due. It's a little slow, but perhaps intentionally so. The first section, about Isabel in England, was more interesting than the second, which centers around Osmond on the family's Italian estate.

I'm reading Numbers in the Dark by Italo Calvino and Who Will Write Our History? Rediscovering a Hidden Archive from the Warsaw Ghetto by Samuel D. Kassow

>60 thorold: I don't think I have read any Joseph Roth although I believe I have one or two of his books somewhere deep in the pile. Linking it to the Erpenbeck makes me want to dig them out!

I’m enjoying The Tobacconist by Robert Seethaler. I want to rush to the end, whilst simultaneously not wanting it to finish.

I'm reading Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, in which a recently retired professor from Humboldt University in the former East Berlin seeks to learn more about a group of African asylum seekers who were on a hunger strike, by spending time with them in the former nursing home that is their temporary residence. Erpenbeck appeared at the Edinburgh International Book Festival last August, and I attended her talk, in which she spoke about this book alongside Jason Donald, whose novel Dalila also concerns an African refugee in Europe, in this case London. I purchased both books while I was there, and I'll read Dalila later this year.

ETA: I just noticed that the Kindle version of Go, Went, Gone is currently on sale for $2.99 in the US. Its average rating on LT is 4.4 stars, and I suspect that I'll give it no less than 4 stars.

>61 Cariola: Deborah, I'll be interested to hear what you think about the ending. and yes, I think it is intentionally slow.

>65 kidzdoc: Thanks for the tip--just downloaded Go, Went, Gone.

>66 avaland: Will definitely post a review when I finish. As to the slowness, well, Henry James, you know--love him or hate him.

I finished Anna Karenina this morning - finally! - and I'm in the middle of Sarah Waters' Affinity.

I'm starting my third book of the year. Maybe I'll finish one some day!

The belly of Paris by Émile Zola is so far superbly written.

>68 Cait86:

I'm in the middle one of Anna Karenina right now. I only read it on my commute and lately the weather is so nice I've been just staring at the blue skies out the window but I am enjoying it.

>69 chlorine:

Yes, such a good Zola! I still remember itheamazing description of the cheeses in the cheese shop!

>70 lilisin: I haven't gotten to the cheese yet but was very impressed already by the delicatessen (if that is the correct translation of charcuterie). :)

>41 dchaikin: I did enjoy H is for Hawk, Dan. I got a bit sidetracked on My Life as a Dog, feeling like I really needed to read a couple of mysteries when I read the mystery thread here. Sometimes you just need to scratch that itch...

So I've gobbled a couple down, Karin Fossum's Don't Look Back and Tana French's The Secret Place. Both wonderful.

Soon I will return to My Life as a Dog, which is very close to the movie version. Lovely -- funny and very sad.

I am doing some background reading before tackling The Shepheardes Calender by Edmund Spenser.

Starting The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin.

>32 Cariola: Astray definitely did pick up for me! I liked it much better by the time I was done with it than I did at the beginning.

Since then, I've read The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande and Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki, and am now most of the way through The Regional Office Is Under Attack! by Manuel Gonzales. All-in-all, not too bad a start to the the year.

>65 kidzdoc: Thanks for the Go, Went, Gone tip. Seems to fit in with my theme of reading books about people in old(er) age. Plus a $3 book!

I just finished Autumn by Ali Smith- great storyteller and great language!

I'm starting my fourth book of the year, though I have yet to finish one.
This seemed like a right time for me to start Full catastrophe Living, which has been on my radar for some time, as starting meditation again for the last ten days has had very good effects on me.

The very noir Black Wings Has My Angel.

Reading Joseph Roth's The Hotel Years and balancing it with La Reine Margot. Worlds apart.

>65 kidzdoc: I'm also reading Go, Went, Gone, and the writing is fantastic. Kudos to the translator. It deals with a retired German classics professor becoming aware of the immigrants in his neighborhood. The first hundred pages are outstanding.

After many nudges from all the Zola fans in CR, I've started a re-read (well, I only ever read about half of them, and it was more than 20 years ago, so the "re-" is mostly decorative) with La fortune des Rougon. Lets see how far I get...

Zola and Dumas on the same day! I feel like someone should be reading Victor Hugo, for good measure.
I've started Swing Time by Zadie Smith.

>82 thorold: Great, welcome to the Zola club!
I'm also going for a read of the 20 books (on the long run). La fortune des Rougon is atypical because it tends to jump from story to story. But it introduces almost the whole cast of the series, which I loved because I had already read several books from the series and was delighted to be reintroduced to them!

>83 Dilara86: Goblin_investor is currently reading Hugo. :)

>78 chlorine: I really liked this book. I started doing some meditation after my dad passed away unexpectedly and I had a lot of anxiety. I really love the app called "Calm". It has really helped me with a meditation practice.

>85 japaul22: Thanks for your feedback!
I'm just starting with the book and I'm wondering if I'm going to follow the exact program it describes or not: my regular meditation schedule is 20 minutes each day, and the book proposes 45 minutes per day, which seems daunting. Then before I started meditating I would have thought it unconceivable that I would be able to take 20 minutes each day! :)

I'll check out Calm. I use insight timer myself, which has a convenient timer and a lot of free to listen to guided meditations. It also have a feature that lets you track how many day in a row you meditated, how much time, etc. Admittedly this is not very helpful but it helps me to keep going! ;)

Finished Omeros. No clue how to review. And I started two books recently, Collected Stories of Gabriel García Márquez, and on audio Frankenstein, which is surprisingly entertaining (I finally figured out is the second version, from 1831).

I am completely caught up in Across the China Sea by Gaute Heivoll, having downloaded a sample as soon as I read avaland's recent comments on it, and bought the full e-book as soon as I got to the end of the sample. I can't wait to get back to it.

I'm finishing up Frogkisser! by Garth Nix and just starting Letters to a Young Muslim.

Having finished The Old Curiosity Shop, I just started The Miniaturist.

I finished Mrs. Osmond and am about to start Lincoln in the Bardo. Last summer I tried listening to it on audio, but I thought it was too confusing in that format--too many characters and events. But I knew I would give it another try. This time I'm reading it on the kindle.

>86 chlorine: The calm app sounds very similar to insight, so I would stick with the one you already like. I didn't try the program in the book, I used it more for inspiration and learning about meditation in general. I've kept the book though, so that I could try the program at some point. I really don't have time to do 45 minutes of meditation each day right now - 10-20 is the most I can fit it. I feel it's been beneficial though.

>92 japaul22: I've decided to try and follow the program, at least for the beginning, since while I'm recovering I really have the time to do the 45 minutes sessions. Then when I'm fully recovered I'll decide whether I want to keep with it or go back to 20 minutes sessions.
Anyway I guess this will be a nice complement to my usual practice as I never do body scans, and hardly ever any yoga.

Finally broke through the fiction log jam and am now h(a)ppily enjoying Nichola Barker's H(A)PPY. It's a wonderfully clever, funny, satirical utopia...(at least that's what I'm calling it now)

I am just starting Out in the Open, which is described as a "searing dystopian vision of a boy's flight through an unnamed, savaged country..." It was a best seller in Spain; I'm reading the English translation.

I just started Les disparus du Clairdelune by Christelle Dabos, second book in the series started with Les fiancés de l'hiver.

I am reading Narbonus by Austen Sacker - no touchstone

I am a good way into Underworld by Don DeLillo. There is something about the way he writes that I love.

Finished listening The Sign of the Four, second book in Sherlock Holmes adventures. Review in my thread (Marcus Readings 2018). Looking forward to The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes.

Finished up Blueprint for Disaster: The Unraveling of Chicago Public Housing which was slow going but very informative. Now starting Anarchist's Guide to Historic House Museums and trying to decide on a fiction to pick up.

>95 BLBera: intrigued by Out in the Open, which had passed me by until now. I've just downloaded a sample.

I'm really enjoying The Unit by Swedish writer Ninni Holmqvist, set in a not-too-distant dystopian future in which 'dispensable' members of society (people who read books often fall into this category, apparently) are sent to live in a luxurious, but sinister, unit...

>101 rachbxl: I'm making a note of The Unit as I'm a fan of dystopia.

I'm reading Lincoln in the Bardo with breaks for Her Body and Other Parties.

Working on The Man Who Designed the Future: Norman Bel Geddes and the Invention of Twentieth-Century America and Until We Are Free: My Fight for Human Rights in Iran

I’m busy with Stephen Gill’s William Wordsworth: a life, which is very interesting, but of course keeps diverting me into reading the Wordsworth texts he’s talking about, so progress is slow. I’ll probably pause it after another chapter or two and read a novel.

>101 rachbxl: Thanks Rachel. I've added The Unit to the list. I'm teaching a course on dystopian fiction next fall, so am busily trying to read as many as I can by then. Although I do have to space them out. :)

I just started Dara Horn's new novel Eternal Life. The World to Come is one of my favorites.

Finally caught up on my reviews for the books I've read since my last update above - Parker's Paper Doll (#20 in the Spenser series - still going strong), Steve Hamilton's Night Work (a pretty good standalone novel), Baldacci's Memory Man (the start of yet another of his series that seems to work for me), the third Martin Beck novel The Man on the Balcony, the latest Hugo Marston one The Sorbonne Affair, the start of the new series by Arnaldur Indriðason The Shadow District and the second John Wells novel The Ghost War.

Now reading something totally different: The Book of Emma Reyes. So far, not bad at all.

The Book of Emma Reyes was depressing but worth reading.

Next - the latest in a series set in rural Texas: An Unsettling Crime for Samuel Craddock (well, apparently the next one came out a few days ago so not the latest anymore). :)

I finished The Chosen by Chaim Potok and am now reading the sequel, The Promise.

>101 rachbxl: The Unit is one of my favorite books across any genre. It's beautifully written, as good as any "literary fiction." Just heart-breaking. Especially if you're a woman over 50.

I am reading Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing

>110 nohrt4me2: I finished it today, and have been thinking about it all afternoon.

Finished the Collected Stories of Gabriel Garcia Márquez. Toying with a some different books, but will likely move on to Ben Sira (or Sirach or about five other names), the next Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical book.

Finished another McEwan marvel (Solar). On to Lionel Shriver's The Post-Birthday World.

Finished Noam Chomsk’s book Optimism over Despair. Review in my thread. Reading now On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder.

I just finished listening to The Unexpected Mrs Polifax by Dorothy Gilman, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat, which was unexpectedly delightful. I also finished reading Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None.

Next up on audio, Romeo and Juliet: A Novel by David Hewson, narrated by Richard Armitage. (If this is as good as the previous books, Macbeth: A Novel read by Alan Cummings, and Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: A Novel read by Richard Armitage, I will be very happy.)

Next up in print, Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie.

I’ve gone on to The Sunlight Pilgrims by Jenni Fagan. I’m 50 pages in and enjoying it.

Finished On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, by Timothy Snyder. Review in my thread. Short book, great reading!

Last night I finished the wonderful Lincoln in the Bardo, and I'm looking forward to starting Winter by Ali Smith later this evening.

I've started Cristallisation secrète by Yôko Ogawa. A bok chosen almost only for its title, from the January ebook selection in my library.

Just finished Amatka by Karin Tidbeck, which I loved. Also nearing the end of The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt.

I found myself making some progress on Like Water for Chocolate, which is fun. And I started listening to The Book of Joan. Will see how it goes. First 30 minutes were entertaining.

Finished The Sparsholt Affair last night (predictably excellent), started Freya Stark's Alexander's path from the TBR, and still plugging through Gill's William Wordsworth : a life.

>122 dchaikin: Are you cooking along as you go?

>123 thorold:, well, I’m thinking a lot about food, a lot about food.

I just squeezed in Wonder. I'm not quite finished with The Miniaturist, but I like it a lot so far (about half way in).

Finished listening to Counting by 7s last night, and I enjoyed it. Still trying to decide what I will listen to next. On the non audio front, I am still reading Whose Body? (ebook) and The Introvert's Way (a reread), and I am slowly making my way through Salt Fat Acid Heat. There is, no pun intended, a lot to digest in that cookbook.

>126 shadrach_anki:, Ooh Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat is on my Mt. TBR. I recently finished The Open Doorby Latifa Zayyat and a re-read of My friend Madame Zora by Jane Duncan.

Nutshell by Ian McEwan

I am reading Homegoing and the third book by Elena Ferrante- Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay

>129 torontoc: ooh, I look forward to seeing what you make of Homegoing. It was the first book I read this year, and I loved it.

I’m devouring A Death in the Family, the first volume of Karl Ove Knausgaard’s My Struggle, at a great rate. I’m completely hooked.

>130 rachbxl:

What a coincidence, I just ditched volumes 1, 2 and 4 last night after giving #4 a go--about first 50 pages, then skimming through the three volumes, looking for a "hook" (mainly I was drawn to the bits where books and music were mentioned, but not a single of dozens of instances I looked at rendered anything I thought interesting.)

To me he sounds like such a trite bro-man, I just don't get the appeal. (And now I'm really pissed off by the callously chosen resonance with Hitler's "masterpiece". Was willing to overlook it in case of some grand and eye-opening intellectual adventure, but not for an immature Kerouac/Bukowski-swilling chump.)

Just managed to finish The Grapes of Wrath last night around midnight to make it my lone book of January. But I really enjoyed it.

Have just started Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler and The Last Ballad by Wiley Cash.

>132 lilisin: I was reading Grapes for a book group and I was having a hard time getting through it so I got an audio of it. The narrator was dramatic/expressive and I got really depressed listening to it. I think that was my one and only audiobook. I think I'd prefer a monotone narrator.

>131 LolaWalser: I have to admit that I've just ignored all the hype about this one and have avoided it so far. It just sounds so awfully self-indulgent.

>135 Cariola:

Yeah, I'm afraid I'd agree. Not that I'd mind self-indulgence per se (would there even BE books without it? ;)), it's just in this case I couldn't find anything to justify it and no promise that there'd be payoff if I kept reading.

As a man and a personality, Knausgaard struck me as generic. And as a writer, unfortunately, he doesn't strike me as anything at all.

>135 Cariola:, >136 LolaWalser: I’ve avoided it until now because I too had assumed it would be self-indulgent (though I think Lola’s right that there would be fewer books without self-indulgence(, but when I saw it in the library the other day I thought I would give it a go, and to my surprise that’s not what I’m finding at all. Yes, it’s about him, and in great detail at that, but it’s been a long time since I read anything that did such a good job of reminding me EXACTLY how certain things made me feel as a child/teenager. I took a great risk (admittedly hardly of the life-or-death variety, but people here will understand) in coming away on a work trip with only this one book, as I was prejudiced against it and really prepared to hate it, but at least this way I would read on and not toss it aside at the first opportunity (though I really thought I’d end up reading e-books on my phone), and it’s been a pleasant surprise. I doubt that it’ll be among my favourites for the year, but I’m enjoying reading it.

I just started Halsey Street

Finishing up Anarchist's Guide to Historic House Museums and just started The Help (one I'm unsure about) this morning. After that I'm moving on to Evicted.

Since I last checked in here, I've read Rocket Girl: The Story of Mary Sherman Morgan, America's First Female Rocket Scientist by George D. Morgan, a book whose intent I respect but whose execution was a little unsatisfying; The Matchstick Castle by Kier Graff, a decent but not super-memorable kids' novel; The Witch Who Came in from the Cold by Lindsay Smith, Max Gladstone, et al., which had a fun premise but didn't really live up to it; and On the Road with Charles Kuralt by Charles Kuralt, which seemed like it should have been charming but mostly felt too slight and entirely too corny.

Hmm. A bit of a so-so ending to January, now that I look at it. Well, now I'm starting February with Monstress, Volume 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takada, a comics compliation/graphic novel that is absolutely gorgeous, although the worldbuilding is so dense that I'm finding it surprisingly slow going.

I've finished both Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran and Savage Theories by Pola Oloixarac, both of which requires effort to finish, although for very different reasons. But I've only got five more books to read for the upcoming Tournament of Books, and the remainder mostly look interesting.

I'm continuing with The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton, which I have been meaning to read since it was published. It's more than living up to my expectations.

I'm also reading Riot Days, a memoir by Maria Alyokhina, who is a member of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot and who was imprisoned as a result of their performance in a Moscow cathedral.

And I'm starting White Tears by Hari Kunzru and Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward, also for the Tournament of Books and I'm excited about both of these.

I just started Breathmoss, a novella by Ian R. MacLeod.

>100 janemarieprice:, Blueprint for Disaster: The Unraveling of Chicago Public Housing sounds really interesting. When I lived in Chicago, I was always driving past Cabrini Green for some reason. Having previously worked for affordable housing development investors, who I swear worked on a Cabrini redevelopment, it was always disturbing to me to see the conditions. I'll definitely have to check this one out.

>118 MarcusBastos:, I have this one on my kindle. Great to hear it's enjoyable, if that's the right word.

>143 fannyprice: I should get to a review of it today. It was very informative though a bit academic.

I finished Murder on the Orient Express, which I had read before. My next print book is David Copperfield by Charles Dickens.

I'm reading A House Full of Females which is Laurel Thatcher Ulrich's latest book about women in the early days of Mormonism. I'm not super interested in the topic, but I'll read anything she writes!

I'm also reading The Siege of Krishnapur by J.G. Farrell.

>131 LolaWalser: I loved volumes 1-3 of Knausgaard. Volume 4 I've started but set to the side for a while. I know in the right reading mood I'll get really into it, but if you've not read the other volumes first I don't think it's a good one to start with.

For me the appeal of Knausgaard is that it's truly like climbing into someone else's head. I've not seen another author achieve that to the same level. There's nothing especially out of the ordinary about his life that he writes about, but he definitely manages to get into the recesses of all those thoughts we often have from time to time, many of which most of us would never dare articulate.

I finished (in 'do not disturb' mode) Lionel Shriver's The Post-Birthday World. I think I'll pick up one of two possible Updike's next - either The Witches of Eastwick or Couples.

I have just finished The Miniaturist and started Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad.

Finished Freya Stark's Alexander's Path and Wolf Soyinka's The Interpreters from my TBR pile - the former very interesting, the latter had some impressive writing in it but is possibly a few decades past its "read by" date. Also had a first dip into Donna Leon's crime stories with Death at La Fenice.
Next up is probably more Zola - La curée (The Kill).

I just finished The Origin of Others, a series of lectures by Toni Morrison. She talks about her work and some others, and now I want to reread some of her work.

I am still reading Halsey Street and loving it.

>147 AlisonY:

I started reading #4 because #1 left an even worse impression, the first few pages, that is. Since I had three volumes, I wanted to see whether any of them could hook me.

I can only say I found this terminally banal and obtuse. Then again, I'm not a straight woman and perhaps they have more of an interest in such a dudebro; besides, at this point I've spent a reader's lifetime in the heads of such men. (Although most were, in my estimation, better writers than Knausgaard.)

Finished listening The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle. Review in my thread. Such a smart “Consulting Detective”!

Having finished the first volume of My Struggle, which I enjoyed immensely, I have moved on to The Enchanted April, which is, well, enchanting.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Hg is an enjoyable read so far.

>153 rachbxl: oh, you're on a roll there. Loved The Enchanted April as well.

Work's pretty tough at the moment so I don't think I'm in the mood for Updike's adultery. Going to kick off next with Tove Jansson's The Summer Book instead.

I'm reading The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds, a book set I the Revelation Space universe. I love Reynolds' world building and I'm looking forward to discover what happens in this book!

Sometimes it feels like I am starting a passel of new books without really finishing anything, even though I know that is not exactly the case. At any rate, I'm currently rereading The Introvert's Way by Sophia Dembling (it is interesting to see how things have shifted in the years since this was first published); The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde; and Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (read by Jenny Sterlin). And I am still reading everything I mentioned back in my last post as currently reading.

Finally caught up with logging all my past reading. Still working on Stamped From The Beginning -- I've been going with some light fiction for a while since work has been busy and I'm tired. Reading Electoral System Design: The New International IDEA Handbook for work -- it's awesome, I love it, I'm geeking out big-time.

Also listening to Stuff Matters: Exploring the Marvelous Materials That Shape Our Man-Made World, which I actually started reading several years ago and just recently downloaded the audio counterpart for.

>155 AlisonY: I am indeed! And I loved The Summer Book - it should be the perfect antidote to your stress at work.

I just finished Winter by Ali Smith, which was quite wonderful. Last night I started The Golden Legend by Nadeem Aslam. (Touchstone is wrong, but I don't see one for this book in the list, just lots of "lives of the saints" stuff.)

I’m a third of the way through Nunca pasa nada by José Ovejero.

Finished the wonderful The Summer Book by Tove Jansson. Sigh. What a glorious hug of a book.

Think I'll start Fred and Edie by Jill Dawson next which I've been wanting to get to for a few years now.

I am reading What It Means When a Man Falls from the SKy, a collection of stories. The first two were great.

I loved Halsey Street, hard to believe it's a first novel.

Finished reading my second book of the year last night: Station Eleven. I very much enjoyed looking forward to coming home from work to open up its pages again.

I'm about one third into The Bright Hour. Beautifully written.

I am reading A Bold and Dangerous Family by Caroline Moorehead

Have finished the fabulous H(A)PPY by Nichola Barker, a not-for-everyone sort of book.

Have also finished Natacha Appanah's latest book to be translated, Waiting for Tomorrow. Excellent. Will eventually review both.

Two great books in a row...a tough act to follow for any book (having a bit of trouble getting into the next book).

Just finished my first ever reading of Fahrenheit 451 and it was excellent.

>168 lilisin: I thought I was the only person who hadn't read it! It's on my list for this year! :)

Just started The Naturalist.

Finished listening Ethics: A History of Moral Thought, by Peter Kreeft. Review in my thread.

Finished La curée and The woman next door over the weekend. The first magnificently over the top, Zola on top form; the second interesting but a little bit disappointing. Started William Heinesen's The good hope, another leftover from the Nordic theme-read.

>168 lilisin: >169 MsNick: Well, it's more than 40 years since I read it, so I almost qualify as well...!

>172 thorold: Let's read (er...reread) it & compare notes! :)

I'm still reading The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton and enjoying it very much.

I'm almost finished Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward and it deserves the National Book Award and all the attention it's receiving. Likewise, I just finished White Tears by Hari Kunzru and was astonished by how very good it was.

I'm also reading Riot Days, Maria Alyokhina's memoir of her protests as part of the punk band, Pussy Riot, and her subsequent imprisonment.

I'm reading Parable of the Sower and loving it so far.

I just finished The Underground Railroad, which I liked a lot, and started A Game of Thrones.

Finished reading Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth Century America, by Richard Rorty. Review in my thread.

Nearly through Paul Yoon's wonderful collection of stories, The Mountain.

I am reading Hans Christian Andersen eighty fairy tales

I've recently finished Dog On It by Spencer Quinn, a detective story told from the POV of the detective's dog (a gimmick that works better than I honestly expected it would); actor Bryan Cranston's memoir A Life in Parts, which I enjoyed; and Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders, which was strange and sad and amazing.

And I'm now reading Artemis by Andy Weir of The Martian fame.

Finished Sitting At The Feet of Rabbi Jesus by Ann Spangler and am half-way through The Promise. It was just a happy coincidence I was reading those two books at the same time but the Spangler book actually has helped me understand Reuven & Danny's Jewish world a lot better. :)

>180 bragan: Loved The Martian! Can't wait to see what you think of Artemis.

>181 avidmom: Just finished Artemis. I thought it was entertaining, in a light sort of way, but not as good as The Martian.

>179 baswood: I never knew Andersen had written so many tales!
I hope for your sake that not all are as sad as The little mermaid or The girl who sells matches (I'm not sure of the English title for this one). If they are maybe space them out with some lighter reads or you'll wind up seriously depressed! ;)

Jokes apart, I love the little mermaid and I cry every time I read it.

I enjoyed Fred and Edie, and have moved on to Academy Street by Mary Costello.

>183 chlorine: I have never read any before and was surprised as to how depressing and bloodthirsty most of them are, but I am hooked.

>185 baswood: ooh, in a way I'm jealous that you are able to discover The little Mermaid now. I've had Andersens's collected tales on my e-reader since I first bought one but never really read any except the two I knew. Maybe it's time to go through them.
I'm looking forward to your review.