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What do you like to read? Currently I am reading a delightful steampunk series. The Bookman Histories is an omnibus of the series and is just delightful. Colorful characters, Royal Lizards, secret government agencies and other equally fun plot elements all combine to create a richly layered fun read. Right now I am so busy that I need good escape reading and this is the perfect ticket!
I'm re-reading the "His Dark Materials"-trilogy. I was feeling the strain of moving, fixing things up in a new house and planning a big trip, all through the darkest months of winter, and I really wanted to re-read my favourite fantasy books. Some of them I couldn't find after the move, some were tattered paperbacks. So I placed an order in Amazon for a nice set of the Narnia books, His Dark Materials and The Dark is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper, and have had happy escapist reading for months :-)
I am reading The Lives of the Women Saints or something like that. Much of it is not fiction at least. Some of the bits are pretty interesting and some are entertaining. There seems to be a lot of repetition too. The most ancient and the most mystical ones make the best stories.
It was free for Kindle on Amazon and is seems like about a billion pages. The saints are listed by date through the year, and I'm only up to the late spring. I might not make it all the way to the end.
Lph - I LOVE that series, good reading!
Malkin, there are several collections of Orthodox women saints and desert mothers that I dip into from time to time, I always bring positive things out of that.
Most of what I read is either relatively heavy contemporary literature or historical nonfiction. I recently started a book club with some coworkers. We had our first meeting yesterday and discussed The History of Love. It went very well and the book made for some great discussion. I'm also just about to finish Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk, which just won the National Book Award for fiction. I'm enjoying it, but it plays to my politics. I'm also reading The Great Bridge by David McCullough. It's about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. Interesting book and subject, but I can only read a bit. It's a good book to mix in with some fiction.
My guilty pleasure over the past year, however, has been The Spellman Series by Lisa Lutz. It's a five-book mystery series about a private investigator and her wacky family and love life. The books are pretty light but are both funny and poignant at times, too.
I misspoke. Billy Lynn was a National Book Award finalist but didn't win. The winner is also in my queue (The Round House), so I'll be eager to see if I agree with the decision (like my opinion matters in this regard!).
I'm more of a nonfiction person as well, but I have enjoyed reading some of the Stephanie Plum novels by Janet Evanovich. They're about a woman who takes a job as a bounty hunter (b/c she really needs a job and she has a relative in the business) and the ridiculous situations she gets into. Really funny, light reading.
I am my mothers daughter- I love mysteries ... but also speculative fiction, alternative history, science fiction, fantasy and also history. I am also reading What It Takes which follows several hopeful Presidential candidates and what they go through as they decide they should be President. Of course only 1 can be, and the book looks at that as well. Very interesting.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jolt
I'm currently reading Downbelow Station, a Hugo award book by CJ Cherryh. She is one of my favorite sci if authors.
Right now I'm reading A Week In Winter, by Maeve Binchy. I like it a lot, it's a little predictable, but good. Set in modern day Ireland, although it feels like the time period is in the 50s. Next on my list is The Paris Wife, a historical fiction book about Hemingway's first wife. The last book I finished was The Comfort of Lies, which is pretty much the story of class differences in the western suburbs of Boston. It's a good story. Even though I'm a former English teacher, I've never been one for reading literature with a capital L. I like realistic fiction, set in various time periods, as well as historical fiction, and biographies. I do a fair share of non fiction reading, too. Going against the trend everywhere, I dislike mystery, fantasy, sic-fi. etc. I can't for the life of me figure out the fascination with vampires, etc.
I really enjoyed A History of Love, but I barely remember it. Probably something I'd enjoy re-reading.
Right now I'm reading "Soft Money" by Ken Wishnia, one of his Filomena Buscarsela mysteries. Did someone say "plays to my politics?" ;) Although it stands alone, I'm pretty sure a reader would get more out of this one if they've already read the first in the series, "23 Shades of Black."
Simultaneously I'm reading some fairly light non-fiction, Alice Walker's "Chicken Chronicles."
I'd like to reread The History of Love, Oak, in an effort to better understand some things that weren't clear in my first reading. But who knows if I'll find the time:Quote:
Originally Posted by OakLeaf
Here's are the books currently in my queue: On the fiction front there's The Round House by Louise Erdrich; Dear Life by Alice Munro; and Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter. These were my Christmas gifts this year. I'll have to read the next book club book, too, but we haven't selected it yet. There's also The Making of the Atomic Bomb: 25th Anniversary Edition by Richard Rhodes and All the Shah's Men by Stephen Kinzer.
All that should keep me busy for a long while.
I have A Week in Winter on my TBR (to be read) list. I've enjoyed some of her other novels. I loved The Paris Wife. If you like that, you might want to read Hemingway's Moveable Feast, and The Sun Also Rises which covers the same period and many of the same characters. In a similar vein, I'd also recommend Amor Towles Rules of Civility.Quote:
Originally Posted by Crankin
I just finished Flight Behavior, by Barbara Kingsolver, about migratory patterns of Monarch butterflies and how the species is affected by global warming. Not sure I'd call it "fun" fiction, but a very good read. My book club just read State of Wonder by Ann Patchett. Again not so much "fun," but a fascinating story. Both these books are extremely well written. Our next book club selection is The Mosquito Coast by Paul Theroux. LOL - two jungle books in a row.
I really only allow myself to read for pleasure when I travel (it makes it easier to look forward to long delays and flights!) so I'm not currently reading anything at the moment. Last book I finished was Wild by Cheryl Strayed on recommendation from my father. He said it reminded him of me and I can see why. Really good story.
Next up on my reading list are the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. Somehow, I never read any of them when everyone else did! I've also got Royal Mistress by Anne Easter Smith on my list for it's release in May.
I am all over the map with my reading. I just finished "The Strawberry Shortcake Murder" and "Moby ****". Hated "Moby" by the way. I am currently reading "Mrs. Dalloway" and "War and Peace". Although my to-be-read pile is a mile high, I was getting excited about spring and was searching for a book that included something to do with cycling. I tend to read magazines for non-fiction. I will pick up a different magazine each time I go to the library and read an article or two. I won't read any modern vampire stuff but I read "Dracula" last summer. I also don't much care for anything that is sci-fi futuristic. Fantasy has to be entertaining. So I listened to "Lord of the Rings" series on audiobooks, I also just finished all the "Harry Potter" books on audiobooks and I am now watching the movies. If there is a good reader I love audiobooks.
****OK that was funny! Never thought that the name of Herman Melville's book would be edited out!
Oak, thanks for mentioning the Alice Walker memoir about her chickens. Right after I read that, I heard from a friend who has chickens herself. I told her about the book and she immediately ordered it.