What are you reading in January, 2015?

I'm starting the year ambitiously with Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century.

Starting the year off with a book about books: The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction, by Alan Jacobs.

Marching Powder, a fascinating read about the La Paz (Bolivia) prison.

I'm finally getting around to Cockroach by Rawi Hage. So far it's challenging because it's not a comfortable read.

I have tried Cockroach a few times and gave up. I think I need to have the right mindset to read it. Curious to know how you find it.

I've just started Sweetland by Michael Crummey, which I got for Christmas.

Smiling and chuckling all morning with Flavia de Luce in As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust

I just finished my first read of the year: Adult Onset by Ann-Marie MacDonald. I've been eagerly awaiting the publication of her next novel, but this was a bit of a disappointment. I liked the characters and the storyline, but thought it in need of a severe editing job-just too long and repetitive for my liking.

oh, dear! Adult Onset is on the TBR shelves!

I've finished the charming The Rosie Project and am onto another love story with La délicatesse.

I just finished reading Tell by Frances Itani. Before I started reading it I didn't realize it was a continuation of sorts of the story in Deafening. It was one of those slow reads that draws you in. I found there were some loose ends though so I hope Itani is planning on doing another book and making it a trilogy.

9. Lynn, it's not a bad read; it's just that I liked the other 2 of her novels so much more that I had really high expectations for this one. Give it a try and see what you think.

Today's read was for my book club meeting this week and I really liked it, though it had a fairly inplausible storyline towards the end. The Gendarme by Mark. T. Mustian.

I will, Ted. I loved Fall on Your Knees so much; her second novel a bit less.

I'm reading The Canterbury Tales, A Retelling by Peter Ackroyd and suffering the disdain of my husband who read them in the original version!

back at post #5, Bucketyell replied to my earlier post with: I have tried Cockroach a few times and gave up. I think I need to have the right mindset to read it. Curious to know how you find it.

In the end, I really enjoyed Cockroach, if one can use enjoyed for a book such as this. I agree with you that you definitely have to be in the right mental space for it--it's very dark, but there is a humour to it, so it's not all bleak. The main character is not at all likeable, and his life is grim, so there were days when I just wasn't in the mood to enter his world. That's what makes it a difficult read. As for the language and writing, it's not a difficult read at all, and it's very clever and multi-leveled, if that makes any sense. There are some gorgeous passages and beautiful imagery and metaphor. What is even more impressive about this--and I learned this tonight when I met the author at an event at SFU--he writes in English, which is his third language. I will definitely read De Niro's Game, which is in my TBR pile, and Carnival, which is now high on my wish list.

And Cockroach and De Niro's Game are back to the top of the pile :)

Bucketyell -- glad I could help.

I'm starting The Beacon by Susan Hill

I'm engrossed in All The Light We Cannot See.

Just finished one in a crime fiction series set in WWI- a series I'm persisting in trying to really enjoy although I dislike the protagonist-the oh so perfect Bess Crawford-very much indeed! This one was A Bitter Truth by Charles Todd.

I'm about to start Landing by Emma Donoghue.

The Beacon was AMAZING!

I am working on The Inklings by Humphrey Carpenter (and really enjoying it) and just started Out of the silent planet by C.S. Lewis.

The Cornish Coast Murder by John Bude is making me really want to go to Cornwall!

I've started The Oil Man and the Sea about the Enbridge Northern Gate project in BC. I also received Library Mashups on how to present information in a multitude of ways - rather technical, but an interesting series of essays.

I've jumped on the bandwagon with The Girl on the Train.

Sticking with the Bess Crawford mystery series this week; finally read the 1st one of the series: A Duty to the Dead byCharles Todd. Not bad-I enjoyed this one more than I've liked subsequent ones in the series.

I am reading short stories for a change with All Saints by K D Miller.

I'm reading The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin

Still reading crime fiction-this one was The Ice Princess by Camilla Lackberg.

I'm taking The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins on vacation with me.

Brighton Rock, by Graham Greene.

I'm reading Les exigences by Olivia Profizi about a young woman who tries to commit suicide after an S&M relationship gone wrong. It feels particularly harrowing after the Ghomeshi scandal and I'm impressed by how the author gives a voice to both parties with incredible emotional fortitude.

Starting the WWI series by Anne Perry: No Graves As Yet. A bit slow, but I enjoyed it.

#32 - That sounds interesting. Is it in English?

#34 - no French. It's a first novel by Profizi who lives in Lille (Northern France). The editor, Actes Sud is very reputable, so maybe she'll find a translator...

The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares by Joyce Carol Oates. Not a great read...

I am a little CS Lewis heavy right now with The Magician's Nephew and The Screwtape Letters.

and I have moved straight onto The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. It is probably pusing 30 years since I last read this one.

I just finished Linden McIntyre's memoir: Causeway: A Passage from Innocence and absolutely loved it. I've read some of his fiction before and enjoyed it, but this was a beautiful book. Probably more meaningful to me because I'm planning a short trip to Nova Scotia this spring (my first) and my daughter, who lives in Halifax, has a trip to Cape Breton planned for us and because I especially miss my late father in January, the month of his birth and his death.

I've just finished reading Elizabeth Gaskell's Cranford, which was very enjoyable, and now have picked up The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North. It's very good so far.

I'm back from a beach vacation, where I got a lot of reading done:

Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
The Emperor of Paris by C.S. Richardson
The Spinoza Problem by Irvin D. Yalom
Che: A Memoir by Fidel Castro; and
Shelby by Pete McCormack.

Lynne -- that sounds like my sort of vacation!

I'm reading Three Souls, a novel set in 1930s China by a Taiwanese-born Canadian author, Janie Chang. It's not the sort of thing I usually pick up, but I'm enjoying it so far.

I finished The Rosie Effect today. As charming and funny as the first one, The Rosie Project. No doubt this is setting out to be a series which will have its formulaic moments, but it's nice to have those books that feel like coming home to a family.

After working my way through Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks series, having a change of pace and starting on The Book of Negroes. I'm reading it at work during breaks and I can't bring it home with me as I would get nothing else done!

>44 HilaryJS: - are you watching the BoN mini-series? CBC has done a pretty good job of it.

I'm finishing The Girl on the Train. I'm hooked. I can't remember the last time I read an entire book in one day. (-34° with the wind chill helps!)

I plowed thru that one, too, Cecilturtle! It kept me guessing and hoping Rachel would get her life in order.

Bucketyell - I'm going to finish the book first, then I might try the TV version. Glad to hear that they've done it justice.