What are you reading?

[pjpick]

Just finished Amagansett and From Baghdad, with Love. Enjoyed both. Will be starting Middlesex next.

[pjpick]

I'm about 100 pages into Middlesex and am quite enjoying it. So far I've learned a little bit about Greek culture (always like learning about culture). Ande, you might like it--then we might have to read our much avoided Eat, Pray, Love.

[ande]

Ha! Watch, we'll end up loving it.

Ande

[kujo]

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pjpick wrote:

I'm about 100 pages into Middlesex and am quite enjoying it. So far I've learned a little bit about Greek culture (always like learning about culture). Ande, you might like it--then we might have to read our much avoided Eat, Pray, Love.

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Eat, Pray, Love is very tough at the beginning, but once you get past Italy, it's great! I promise!

[Timbuktu1]

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kujo wrote:

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pjpick wrote:

I'm about 100 pages into Middlesex and am quite enjoying it. So far I've learned a little bit about Greek culture (always like learning about culture). Ande, you might like it--then we might have to read our much avoided Eat, Pray, Love.

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Eat, Pray, Love is very tough at the beginning, but once you get past Italy, it's great! I promise!

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I LOVED Italy! Vicarious eating... no calories!

[pjpick]

Just started If Today be Sweet by Thrity Umrigar and only a few pages in. Have never read anything by this author before.

Message Edited by pjpick on 06-30-2008 11:25 PM

[pjpick]

I thik I shall be chucking If Today be Sweet. The writing (in this book of hers at least) is just too cheesy. It goes back to BN today.

[gregs317]

Well I started The Handmaid's Tale, I'm enjoying it very much. So far I am up to chapter 15. Just a couple of quick observations: It's a little confusing with so many categories of characters (angels, guardians, unwives, etc.) So sometimes I have to backtrack and remind myself which one is which, but that's ok. Also I noticed Margaret Atwood seems to use a lot of commas at some points. So while I'm reading I have to ask myself, 'does this sentence read differently if I pause or don't pause?'.

I'm not complaining - it's an excellent book. Just since I like to write myself, I notice these things. I am however, already trying to predict the ending. I'm tempted to peek, haha. Just kidding (sort of). Greg

[ande]

Keep going and enjoy! As for those commas: my copy is long gone -- loaned out a long time ago otherwise I would check.

Ande

[Melissa_W Moderator]

Keep reading!  THT is one of my favorite books (we read it this spring for the Literature by Women group here on BNBC and the threads are still there).  I think once you get to the end you'll understand why the sentences are longer with many commas.

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gregs317 wrote:
Well I started The Handmaid's Tale, I'm enjoying it very much. So far I am up to chapter 15. Just a couple of quick observations: It's a little confusing with so many categories of characters (angels, guardians, unwives, etc.) So sometimes I have to backtrack and remind myself which one is which, but that's ok. Also I noticed Margaret Atwood seems to use a lot of commas at some points. So while I'm reading I have to ask myself, 'does this sentence read differently if I pause or don't pause?'.

I'm not complaining - it's an excellent book. Just since I like to write myself, I notice these things. I am however, already trying to predict the ending. I'm tempted to peek, haha. Just kidding (sort of). Greg

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[pjpick]

Have just finished my first Pete Hamill novel, North River. Now I'm having a hard time finding something to read. I've started about 4 books but I'm not really able to grab on to any of them. It could be my Merry Penopause! affecting me and it is influencing my inability to concentrate so I'm going to try something easy. I'm about 50 pages into The Cowboy and his Elephant by MacPherson which will probably make me cry. Hormones are so much fun.

Message Edited by pjpick on 07-07-2008 11:19 PM

[ande]

I know I am a broken record on this but have you read MONIQUE AND THE MANGO RAINS: TWO YEARS WITH A MIDWIFE IN MALI, by Kris Holloway? You'll cry, but you'll laugh out loud, too. Amazing, wonderful book.

     I'm am about to start The Story of Edgar Sawtelle -- it sounds wonderful.

[Flux]

I have 3 books in my stack on the bedside table at the moment:

1. Dreamwalker by Mary Summer Rain - A friend suggested the 'No Eyes' series would be good for my soul to read. It certainly is an eye opening glimpse into a piece of the the Native American culture.

2. The Wastelands by Stephen King - The 3rd of the Dark tower series. The only books I generally pick up from him because it was back when he scared the pants off of me with out being vulgar and gory.

3. For Shame by James B. Twichell - A book on my school's summer reading list that I am actually finding myself agree with. Those are few and far between...especially when 'GO GREEN' is also on that list...

[thewanderingjew]

i read the wastelands years back and agree with your assessment of stephen king. for me, he is now unreadable. however, the wastelands was great. before he wrote for tv, movies, etc., he could weave a wonderful tale.

has anyone read the boy in the striped pajamas? it was recommended by a friend. i wasn't aware of the fact that it is written for teens or young adults until after i purchased it but i think, like the book thief, it is a great read for any age. you can finish it in one sitting.

it is essentially about two nine years olds and their developing friendship on opposite sides of a "fence". the way they view the world in all their innocence is eye opening. i don't want to write more because it is a tale told simply, that is enormously profound.

i am adding "for shame" to my wish list because after reading the negative review, i think i will also agree with some of it. the kirkus review felt to me like it was written by someone with a decided view that free speech was for the precious few who agree with the reviewer!
twj

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Flux wrote:
I have 3 books in my stack on the bedside table at the moment:

1. Dreamwalker by Mary Summer Rain - A friend suggested the 'No Eyes' series would be good for my soul to read. It certainly is an eye opening glimpse into a piece of the the Native American culture.

2. The Wastelands by Stephen King - The 3rd of the Dark tower series. The only books I generally pick up from him because it was back when he scared the pants off of me with out being vulgar and gory.

3. For Shame by James B. Twichell - A book on my school's summer reading list that I am actually finding myself agree with. Those are few and far between...especially when 'GO GREEN' is also on that list...

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[pjpick]

Finished Stone Creek by V. Lustbader (I was on the fence about that one) and am now halfway into The Rug Merchant by Meg Mullins (I'm enjoying it so far).

[karinlib]

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pedsphleb wrote:

That's interesting - I'm just the opposite.  I like the Pevear (and their other translations as well) because only the Russian is translated.  It feels closer to the original in that there are two languages on the page.

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karinlib wrote:

I know that this sounds like a cliche, but I am reading War and Peace (by Tolstoy).    I have tried to read it several times and I have always put it down at about 50 pages in.  I decided to try it again after reading Anna Karenina translated by Pevear and Volokhonsky.  So, I decided to look at 2 translations: The Pevear and the Maude (Inner Sanctum)   I have found that I like the Maude version better than the Pevear, because Maude translates most of the French right in the text, rather than putting the translations at the bottom of the page. .

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Well,  it is now over a month since I have wrote the post of War and Peace.  I finished the book.  I am so glad I did. it really is a great book, and it may seem odd, but I wish there was sequel. I told myself that I do want to reread it some day.  I was very glad I perservered. 

[thewanderingjew]

hi pj, 

try the space between us by umrigar. you like to read about other cultures and this book is certainly about that. the reviewer below agrees with you about the writing style but the book was still very interesting.

Ligaya Mishan on the staff of the new yorker wrote: Umrigar is a perceptive and often piercing writer, although her prose occasionally tips into flamboyant overstatement.

twj

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pjpick wrote:

I thik I shall be chucking If Today be Sweet. The writing (in this book of hers at least) is just too cheesy. It goes back to BN today.

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[thewanderingjew]

i read the wastelands and thought it was one of the better king novels, not like the written for "mass hollywood audience" books he started to write with topics that turned me off totally. i like science fiction more than horror, i guess. it is part of the dark tower series of which i read several. because of his accident, the series got held up and i lost interest. i have many first edition, signed copies, though, still waiting to be read someday.

where did you get the twitchell book, for shame? i couldn't put it on my wish list at b&n because there are no new copies out there. i wanted to read it also.

twj

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Flux wrote:
I have 3 books in my stack on the bedside table at the moment:

1. Dreamwalker by Mary Summer Rain - A friend suggested the 'No Eyes' series would be good for my soul to read. It certainly is an eye opening glimpse into a piece of the the Native American culture.

2. The Wastelands by Stephen King - The 3rd of the Dark tower series. The only books I generally pick up from him because it was back when he scared the pants off of me with out being vulgar and gory.

3. For Shame by James B. Twichell - A book on my school's summer reading list that I am actually finding myself agree with. Those are few and far between...especially when 'GO GREEN' is also on that list...

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[ande]

karinlib:

I, for one, salute you!

Ande

[thewanderingjew]

i have already posted this on the community room board on the "what book are you currently reading page" but i wanted to post it here as well to see if i would get additional feedback.

"oh wow, dead heat was a tremendous disappointment. the plot was thinly disguised as a political thriller while its main purpose seemed to be to bring non-believers home to Jesus and/or Christianity via the fear of the "end days" scenario. i kept waiting for the plot to truly develop but it never did unless the plot was developed solely for the purpose of leading the reader "to salvation".

the main theme of the book seemed to be the constant threat of not being part of the rapture and then as a non-believer, being left behind to live through the awful prospect of the actual "end days". following the epilogue, rosenberg actually provides websites which ask for contributions and/or "new converts" not in those terms but that is the gist. he is definitely in the business of proselytizing.

did anyone else find this book a disappointment? i suppose it depends on what purpose you have in picking it up. i thought it would be a thriller. keep in mind, i do not object to the message of the book, but to the pretense of the book's purpose. the marketing is duplicitous and i kind of feel that i was duped into buying it."

twj