Group Reading Log: May 2009

This morning I read Zero Girl: Full Circle, one of two comic trade paperbacks I'm giving away for Free Comic Book Day tomorrow. It was a bit of a letdown after the excellent first volume.

otherwise I'm still reading Conjugal Rites which continues to be great fun.

I've finished reading The Black Death by Philip Ziegler. It would be difficult to find a more thorough plague history. Drawing on both contemporary data and modern studies he creates a compelling picture of the outbreak, spread and long-term effects of the 'Black Plague', a pandemic of (it is currently believed) a combination of bubonic, pneumonic and septicaemic plague which tore through the world in the fourteenth century.

My only quibble with this book is the author's annoying habit of using French phrases without providing translations. We are not all bi-lingual, and when the author tells us that 'Froissart wrote appreciatively of "le pays gras et plentureux de toutes choses...le maisons pleines de toutes richessus..."', we are left unable to understand the reference or why he has chosen to include this quote in the text. Even worse is when he uses phrases himself as part of the text, as in this example, in reference to Edward III: 'He managed to combine the charismatic appeal of a beau chavalier sans peur et sans reproche with the ruthlessness and lack of scruple which every medieval monarch needed if he were to enjoy a reasonable tenure of his throne.' Such instances distract from the flow of the text as those of us who don't speak French try to fathom what it means and if it is important to know. Perhaps future editions could include translations for us lay people?

Aside from that, though, this was a comprehensive and easy to follow study and I would recommend it to students of medieval history or those who are simply interested in this troubled period.

I am now reading When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS by James Cross Giblin.

Oh dear fairy-whispers!

That is some fairly bleak reading you've got there. Perhaps you can tell me after reading the Ziegler book, whether it is true that common panadol will cure the bubonic plague? I can't remember where I heard that, but I did think it was interesting.

And I would suggest babel fish to you for translating - if you get stuck. It means that you have to type the whole sentence, etc, in, but once you hit the translate button, at least you can read the translation!

Apparently: le pays gras et plentureux de toutes choses...le maisons pleines de toutes richessus..

means: fatty and plentureux country of all things… houses full with all richessus. Does that make sense to you? Clearly the program only translates the words, and does not alter the syntax (which is different to English).

While:beau chavalier sans peur et sans reproche

Means: beautiful chavalier without fear and reproach

And what is a chavalier? I don't know.... but apparently a 'chevalier' is a noun. A member of certain male orders of knighthood or merit, such as the Legion of Honour in France - according to answers.com

I do like to copy and paste.

As for myself, when not reading emails and group reading logs, I've been reading Someone knows my name by Lawrence Hill. It was the Commonwealth winner last year, and is not my usual choice of book, but it isn't too difficult to read.

Our little baby boy konked out at 6:50pm, giving me a bit of reading time. Yay! But, as he stinks right now, I'd better be off.

Thank you for reminding me about Free Comic Book Day tomorrow Freelunch. I'm off to do a bit of manga shopping for work while collecting a few comics to share with my vertically challenged friends! Apparently there will be a big sale on Tokyopop at a particular store in Sydney too.

Oh dear fairy-whispers!

That is some fairly bleak reading you've got there. Perhaps you can tell me after reading the Ziegler book, whether it is true that common panadol will cure the bubonic plague? I can't remember where I heard that, but I did think it was interesting.

And I would suggest babel fish to you for translating - if you get stuck. It means that you have to type the whole sentence, etc, in, but once you hit the translate button, at least you can read the translation!

Apparently: le pays gras et plentureux de toutes choses...le maisons pleines de toutes richessus..

means: fatty and plentureux country of all things… houses full with all richessus. Does that make sense to you? Clearly the program only translates the words, and does not alter the syntax (which is different to English).

While:beau chavalier sans peur et sans reproche

Means: beautiful chavalier without fear and reproach

And what is a chavalier? I don't know.... but apparently a 'chevalier' is a noun. A member of certain male orders of knighthood or merit, such as the Legion of Honour in France - according to answers.com

I do like to copy and paste.

As for myself, when not reading emails and group reading logs, I've been reading Someone knows my name by Lawrence Hill. It was the Commonwealth winner last year, and is not my usual choice of book, but it isn't too difficult to read.

Our little baby boy konked out at 6:50pm, giving me a bit of reading time. Yay! But, as he stinks right now, I'd better be off.

Thank you for reminding me about Free Comic Book Day tomorrow Freelunch. I'm off to do a bit of manga shopping for work while collecting a few comics to share with my vertically challenged friends! Apparently there will be a big sale on TokyoPop at a particular store in Sydney too.

I have just finished reading Dead Beat by Val McDermid which I enjoyed but it was a little Agatha Christie-ish in that the person who had the least motive turned out to be the killer and information was not forthcoming to help with educated guesses.

It was first published in 1992 as far as I can work out and described how letters could be sent from one computer to another via telephone lines. Hmmmmm ...

Finished The Player of Games late last night (or early this morning, I guess) and it was excellent dense meaty sci-fi. One of my favourite types of books!

Was supposed to start Someone Knows My Name for the same bookgroup as Jubby and jeniwren, but ended up with lifts to and from work, so no reading time. Maybe tonight, if I don't fall asleep after dinner. (Mmmm, pasta... *snore*)

pinkozcat, "Dead Beat" sounds rather funny. It is amusing some times watching story tellers try to keep up with cutting/bleeding edge technology. Speaking of which, one of my favourite William Gibson novels from a few years back, Pattern Recognition, was all about bleeding edge technology, so I approached it with some fear when I went to re-read it a couple of years ago. Much to my delight, he was vague enough about the details that it was still a brilliant read. Obviously some people can make the jump without too much of a disaster. (To be fair, he is the father of cyberpunk, so one would expect him to make the leap better than a crime writer.)

Last night I finished Devil's Waltz by Jonathan Kellerman. It is an Dr Alex Delaware book in which he has to solve a Munchausen's by Proxy case.

I guessed who was doing it but not why. It was a very enjoyable book, all 517 pages of it.

Conjugal Rites was very good, less episodic then the first two 'Brenda & Effie' books, though it does adopt an annoying four-or-less-pages-per-chapter format which I didn't notice in the first two books.

I also read (inspired by free-comic-book-day yesterday) Unnatural Instinct, the fifth volume in Marvel's Exiles series.

next for me, continuing the comic/superhero theme, is Violent Tendencies - a Wolverine novel, sequel to Weapon X which I read and enjoyed last month.

I have ordered all three of the Brenda & Effie books from Amazon so I hope that they are as good as everyone is saying. I'm looking forward to reading them when they arrive.

And yes, I tried to get them here but couldn't get all three anywhere I tried, and didn't want to have to go on a wait list for the first two.

I'm well into Someone Knows My Name and it's a good, compelling read, if rather bleak at time. (Well, it is about slavery.)

But last night I did get rather distracted by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains." I kid thee not. The integration of the dialogue regarding zombies is rather fun, but any lengthy passages that are new do rather show up as lifeless next to Ms Austen's writing. But I'm hardly reading this for high literature. :) I had to pause, disturb Mr TQD (who was just reading Harry Dresden #8) and read him out bits. He's never read Austen, but has sat through enough screenings of "Lost in Austen" and various adaptations to know it well enough to not look too blank when I quote things out of context. He rather liked Lizzie wanting to take Mr Darcy out for those rude comments at the assembly hall as well (and she would have, if it wasn't for that zombie attack).

Back from my travels and read two books on the 4 hour flight back to Darwin The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber - lovely chick lit read. I also read Who killed Marilyn Monroe by Liz Evans - a cozyish mystery. Both were bookcrossing books.

I have one VBB book to get off too - didn't get around to it before I flew out.

sally906, I loved Who Killed Marilyn Monroe. I found it on a remainders table which was a pity - it deserved better.

I have just finished I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton. I have probably read it before but I certainly can't remember and I never read them in order so it is highly possible that I missed some of them. Anyway, it is a great book and I enjoyed it.

One thing I noticed is that in those days the well dressed PI didn't have a mobile phone and Kinsey had to go back to her office to pick up with her phone messages.

>12 pinkozcat: Hehee, there are many great works that the mobile phone would have killed off. Imagine Romeo and Juliet if Friar Lawrence had been able to call Romeo and say "Just giving you the heads up..." ;)

I've finished How Proust Can Change Your Life and what a little gem it was. I highly recommend Alain de Botton, and that's saying something because I'm usually a miserable reader of non-fiction. He just has this sweet lightness of touch that reminds me I'm a human being, not a human doing :)

Next up in the ring is crimson-tide, so I'll restrain the urge to quote little snippets here. It's going to be my 198th registered book... almost time to pay up!

My next read was started in the dentist's waiting room today: The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Now that was so stressful I need to go have some chocolate...

Jubby >>> Thank you so much for your translations, and for the website. Ziegler mentioned treatment using anti-biotics but he mostly concentrated on the specific outbreak called 'The Black Death' which occurred in the 14th century.

Browsing the web, I gather that specific anti-biotics are required very early in the gestation to treat bubonic plague, so I think that theory about panadol is probably a myth. I certainly wouldn't want to rely on it myself.

Just for interest sake, I found the following at http://www.william-shakespeare.info/bubonic-black-plague-modern-day.htm :

"There are three types of the plague or the Black Death...

*

The Bubonic Plague is by the bacillus yersinia pestis (this is where the word pestilence is derived) carried by fleas and transmitted normally by rodents. The bacillus is extremely virulent. Laboratory mice die after being infected with just three bacilli – and fleas can disgorge up to 24,000 in one bite. Whilst rats were the most common carriers in medieval times other rodents, such as squirrels , have transmitted the disease in advanced Western countries, such as the USA in recent years. The plague is transmitted by the rodent buy the flea. The disease, when caught this way, travels through the lymph system causing the lymph glands to swell the lymph nodes and discolour and turn a black color - hence the descriptive name Black Death. The areas normally affected are the armpits and the groin. Modern antibiotics have a good chance of combating the disease but there is still a high mortality rate unless treated early. It has a 1-15% mortality rate in treated cases and a 40-60% mortality rate in untreated cases.
*

The Septicemic Plague : This is in fact the same disease but when infected the patient gets the bacilli in the bloodstream as opposed to the lymph system. When this occurs it is nearly always fatal causing massive damage to the blood and the circulation system. The result is that parts of the body, normally the extremities, lose the blood supply, become gangrenous and go black. Septicemic plague (primary or secondary) has a 40% mortality rate in treated cases and 100% mortality in untreated cases.
*

The Pneumonic Plague : Yet again this is the same disease but in this instance is caught by breathing the disease from a contaminated animal or human. It rapidly damages the lungs and results in nearly a 100% mortality rate, even with today's medical knowledge, if not treated
within the first 24 hours of infection. "

I enjoyed Violent Tendencies more than Weapon X, chiefly because Logan spent more time as a coherent human character rather than the crazed beast he was in much of the first book.. I also liked the supporting cast more this time 'round, though the story itself which had Wolverine facing off against a succession of genetically modified freaks was a little weak.

next up for me: Love Without Hope

I, too, enjoyed Liz Evans' Who Killed Marilyn Monroe?, which I read in January. I enjoyed Grace, December Drysdale and his donkeys. I think I may have one other of her books kicking around - it'll turn up one day.

I have just finished reading Blue Genes by Val McDermid. A good book and well written.

However (and I had a little rant yesterday but deleted it for fear of offending people) I am about to add her to Rendell and Cornwall as authors whom I am wary of reading, and especially buying. A pity, I generally like her books.

I finished Love without Hope this morning. I'm glad I stuck with it despite its irritatingly excessive alliteration which almost led me to abandon it several times yesterday.

I have another award-nominated bookring book waiting to be read, but I think I need something simpler to let my brain recover so I'm going with Love is a Mix Tape next.

>19 anxovert: freelunch - you always pick the best titles: Love is a Mix Tape sounds great!

I've finished the third book of ten in my SIY challenge this quarter (April to June), which would sound good if not for the fact that it was the shortest one of the lot, and only 88 pages - Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. I quite enjoyed it, but it's a pity, in a way, that it's so well known... there's no mystery any more about this strange degenerate, Mr Hyde, who holds the virtuous citizen Dr Jekyll in his blackmailing thrall!

There were quite a few parallels with Frankenstein, which I was just teaching not that long ago, but it was interesting to contrast Jekyll's motivations for his scientific endeavours, with Frankenstein's. But I realise it would be a spoiler to say any more, so if anyone belongs to the BC 1001 library & wants a read, let me know!

Next up: The Lord of the Flies (a very embarrassing omission in this English teacher's repertoire!)

Hi guys! *waves* I thought you were all being incredibly quiet until I realised it is now May - and May's posts do NOT go under April's topic! Duh . . . it only took me a whole week to wake up to it!!! Perhaps my brain has been taken over by a zombie without me knowing? ;)

Anyway, during the week I finished Embers, which was a reasonable read but the General did go on a bit too long in his monologue and it became a bit repetitive I thought. This morning I finished Ironside, a ya urban fantasy and the sequel to Tithe. I found myself enjoying it more than Tithe, but can't exactly pin down why. Perhaps the characters are more real and believable on the second meeting . . .

Next up is Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri. Short stories and a Pulitzer prize winner.

crimson-tide, I can't believe we're in May yet either! (And Miss Boo's fourth birthday today! We took her out for a birthday babycino, and said "make it as over-the-top as you can". More chocolate than milk in her cup!) I hope you like Interpreter of Maladies, I thought it was simply marvellous.

Miss-Owl, I'm not sure if I'd be worried about never reading The Lord of the Flies. I had to read it at school, and I think I'm still scarred.

pinkozcat, I was wondering what that deleted message was about. :) I can't say I'm bothering to buy/read any more Patricia Cornwall either, which is a shame because the early Dr Kay Scarpetta novels were great (if gruesome) reads.

Finished Someone Knows My Name last night (thanks to a loooong trip home due to Sydney Buses being few and far between, sigh). It was a great read, a fascinating bit of history, and a few tears were shed by the end. If you've never heard of it (I hadn't, I only picked it up for the ANZLitLovers group) it's about a young girl (Aminata Diallo) who is stolen from her village in Africa in the mid 18th century and shipped out to Carolina to work in the indigo fields as a slave. Aminata (or Meena as she is called because all the whiteys can't pronounce her name correctly) is a great character, full of intelligence and life. While bits of the book are depressing (hey, it's about slavery, it's not going to be a barrel of laughs), it's not the shock fest that Beloved was for me, and was on occasion even uplifting and joyous. Recommended, if historical literature is your bent. (The author has many pages of Further Reading and bibliography at the back!)

Happy Birthday to Miss Boo! :)

>11 sally906: sally906, I have absolutely no idea how you can read two books in four hours! I'm off tomorrow to Brisbane to my sister's wedding and hopefully will get some serious reading time in on the flight and train etc. Trouble is I'm a slow(ish) reader at the best of times.

#22 - wookiebender, my rant was along these lines:

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/7166485

but much more rantish because it was the next Val McDermid book I read - two in a row and the Kate Brannigan books are usually pretty straight.

I didn't get much chance to read today, but what I have read of Love is a Mix Tape has been fabulous!

Ultimately the book will deal with the death of the author's wife (not a spoiler, it is mentioned on the back cover and in the first couple of pages) but at the point I'm at now I want to be Rob Sheffield the way I want to be "William Miller" in Almost Famous :D

wookiebender >>>> Happy Birthday to Miss Boo :-)

pinkozcat >>>> I can't speak for others, of course, but I am very difficult to offend. No need to delete on my account :-)

I have finished reading When Plague Strikes: The Black Death, Smallpox, AIDS by James Cross Giblin. This is a great basic guide to get early teens started in the study of diseases in history. It is not as in-depth as Ziegler's The Black Death but this is not it's intention. This book is very easy to read and comprehend without sacrificing relevant facts and histories. The author covers his subjects in a calm, clear manner and relates facts without passing judgement. An advantage this book holds over Ziegler's The Black Death is the understandable style of the writing (Ziegler constantly refers to statistics and uses large, scholarly language unsuitable for beginners) and the coverage of two other major epidemic diseases, namely smallpox and AIDS. I enjoyed reading this book and did not have to constantly stop and look up words the way I did with Ziegler.

Forgot to say, I am now reading Needful Things by Stephen King.

wookiebender>>>>Happy Birthday to miss boo.

fairy-whispers>>>>> All those plague reads look very interesting :-)

I'm still on Great Expectations sometimes only reading 3 pages a night....it seems to be my Anna Karina type of read. It is taking me sooo long to get through it. I dont think I'll try that russian novel for quite a few years yet, since it has only taken Great Expectations to get me bogged down!
Only less then a hundred pages to go and it seems to have picked up a little, maybe I'll finish it next week!!!
I really want to read Jack Maggs next !

I'm off to click on all those touchstones of what your reading :-)

crimson-tide: have a great time at your sister's wedding. Sounds exciting! You should have Monsieur Proust waiting for you when you get home.

pinkozcat: I loved that review! More please... no need to delete for me either!

KimB: all the best with Great Expectations... if it's anything like my reading of Ms Karenina than the pride you will feel when finishing is enormous :) Btw, have you read Mister Pip?

wookiebender: more happy birthday wishes for Miss Boo :) Oh, and speaking of high school reading, my Lord of the Flies is an "educational edition". Not sure exactly how it differs from other editions... it's more detailed about how to blow a conch or stick a pig, maybe?

I always think of Lord of the Flies as being one of two perennial Year 10 novels - the other being good ol' To Kill a Mockingbird, of course. In the battle of the novels, I always seem to end up with good ol' "Tequila".

Miss-Owl I loved Mister Pip. I know the Great Expectations story, from various TV series, but the language of Dicken's time generally lulls me to sleep. Though, every now and again a passage of writing really grabs my attention. I find it much easier to read if I can read a little during the day.

Regarding Charles Dickens, the only one I've ever read successfully was A Christmas Carol, which I heartily enjoyed. (I do also recommend "A Muppet Christmas Carol", wonderful puppetry, silly Henson stuff, and Michael Caine. Great Xmas televisual viewing.) I did try The Old Curiosity Shop a couple of years ago, reading one chapter a night. The characters were fabulous, but I couldn't get through it fast enough before I had to return it. The sentimentality was not my cup of tea, but I was surprised at the humour, I wasn't expecting it.

Miss Boo says thank you to all of you, I'm sure. :) She had a great b'day, although I think she might think she got shortchanged on ponies, with only one turning up. (I got her a pony that can be coloured in, and then washed clean again. She's going through a BIG art phase, so I thought it would be rather good, and she does like her "Picasso Pony", even if she can't pronounce "Picasso" and drew a castle on it instead. Being my Mini-Me, there was a large stack of book presents from friends, and we got through three tonight - first time I've been home before they've been asleep all week. I do have to say Neil Gaiman's Blueberry Girl was just lovely, although probably a bit old for her yet. But the illustrations were wonderful, and I do hope she grows into it!)

I loved To Kill a Mockingbird, it's one of the few school texts I've been tempted to revisit. (I re-read Emma while pregnant - my Mum craved poetry while pregnant, I revisited the classics - and I really do want to re-read Rebecca, Mockingbird, and The Great Gatsby.)

And pinkozcat, a great review. I thought maybe the dog could be a lesbian trapped in a (male) dog's body...? ;) I do have a friend who would go book shopping with me and determinedly ferret out all the lesbian crime fiction she could find, because she thought it was a genre worth supporting. I hope she also enjoyed them, because I'd never buy books just because it was a genre worth supporting. I wonder if her support worked, and if the genre ever took off...

crimson-tide, enjoy your sister's wedding! I still have fond memories of my (big) sister's wedding, just over 10 years ago now. A great night.

Hi all,

Goodness, I must drop in more often. I didn't know Almost Famous was a book! I love the film! I have to get it -- the book, not the film. I have the film.
The books people have mentioned recently (To Kill a Mocking Bird, Emma, Rebecca) are my literary version of comfort food. I don't know how many times I've read each of them.
I loved Mister Pip too, and it almost had me re-reading Great Expectations which was one of the books I studied in English Lit, but I didn't. Too many other books I haven't read yet.
I've just read three books that I've recently passed on to freelunch, and I can't remember a name of one of them at the moment. Oh, yes. Love Without Hope was one of them. I surprised myself by being drawn into it.
I used to read books by Patricia Cornwell, Sue Grafton and Val McDermid voraciously, but I've really gone off that genre.
The two books I've read this week were a real disappointment. One was a sequel to Pride and Prejudice called Pemberly, which I knew would be awful, and it was. Sequels of books invariably are. Whoever wrote the sequel to Gone with the Wind (another comfort book) should never have been let near a publisher. And I'm nearly finished The Constant Gardener which, although not being a genre I like, I read because I enjoyed the film. My memory of the film may be faulty, but I'm thoroughly confused by the book. I can't follow it at all. Too many characters, too many countries, too many words.
I've used enough words now.

livrecache, book sequels are all so wrong, because you know they're only written to make a buck for the publisher. (One exception: the sequel to Peter Pan, because that was written to make a buck for the children's hospital in London - Greater Ormond or something? So I might buy that one, but I don't expect it to be anything as charming/wonderful/brilliant as the original.)

I'm rather enjoying Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but it's not a sequel. The initial proposal scene between Darcy and Elizabeth was quite amusing, with her so incensed she tries to behead him with a fire poker. (She is the top zombie slayer in the district.)

Definitely not for anyone with a firm love of the original. I ain't passing this one on to my family once I'm finished. :)

LOL, wookiebender - where can I get Pride and Prejudice and the Zombies?? Is it a new release? In the touchstones it is listed as having been written by Jane Austen but I seriously doubt that. I shall search Amazon.co.uk.

I have just finished reading Dust to Dust by Tami Hoag. I found the plot a bit confusing - I kept losing track of the nasties as the goodies investigated several possible suicide/accident/murders; a real 'if-dunnit'.

... and guess what !!! It was about gay cops ...

I think that I am going to have to change my book buying habits.

pinkozcat, P&P&Z is on Galaxy Bookshop's best seller list (www.galaxybooks.com.au, I believe), and my local bookshop ordered it in without me having to bring it to their attention first, and sold out, and I got one reserved on their second order. So it is available in Australia, but I don't know how widespread it is, Galaxy is of course sci-fi/horror/fantasy (so you'd expect them to have it) and my local bookshop does tend to ferret out some great little titles.

The "co-author" is Seth Graham-Smith. And the cover art is deeply disturbing (the classic Penguin cover, showing blood and guts and bones of the usual lady in a white empire line dress), so I'm keeping it hidden from the kids.

I saw Pride and Prejudice and the Zombies at Angus & Robertson yesterday (I'm not sure if they're Australia-wide - they're probably the biggest chain in QLD) but at $28 it was too expensive so I'll be getting mine from The Book Depository

As we speak, Pride and Prejudice and the Zombies is winging its way from amazon.co.uk, as are the Brenda and Effie books.

Ummm - Brenda and Effie are not, um ... ?
Are they?

pinkozcat: No need to delete your opinions for me either! We are all grown ups and have different opinions - I think we know each other well enough now to be able to speak freely :)

We have A&R in Sydney (franchises all over the place). They put a lot of bookish noses out of joint last year by demanding that smaller publishers pay for their books to be sold be A&R. (Note that the franchises weren't involved in this, it was the flagship stores in the city. Apparently they're currently being run by one of those mega-businesses that own zillions of businesses, and know nothing about publishing/bookselling.) Being a fan of smaller businesses (yay for little Australian publishers giving small authors a go!), I've never stepped inside an A&R since.

And my local shop had Pride and Prejudice and Zombies for $25, as does Galaxy (http://www.galaxybooks.com.au/items.asp?id=232151).

Oh, Mr TQD is also reading zombie literature this weekend, with a re-read of the fabulous World War Z by Max Brooks (son of Mel). An excellent genre read.

He also managed to snaffle a copy of the DVD "The Dresden Files" based on the books by Jim Butcher about our (other) favourite wizard called Harry, Harry Dresden. The TV show isn't supposed to be half as good as the books, but I am curious, and hopefully will get a chance to break out the popcorn and check it out this weekend.

***wookiebender*** I loved the TV series. I was very disappointed when the series wasn't continued. Actor, Paul Blackthorne, is who I 'see' now when I read the book - he is yummy. He can put his slippers next to my bed anytime - as long as he leaves the creepy magic monsters outside :)

pinkozcat, Brenda and Effie are not.

on zombies: I've had Brian Keene's The Rising & City Of The Dead moaning from beneath my TBRs for a while now, along with World War Z.. but I'm not going to get to them soon enough to jump on this particular bandwagon.

World War Z is on my wishlist already - I'll get there eventually lol.

So, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is worth reading then? I haven't read it yet, because I wasn't too sure...

Love is a Mix Tape was brilliant but probably too sad to want to read again anytime soon - highly recommended to anyone with a love of popular music.

The author selects a "mix tape" (mostly made by himself or his wife) for each chapter and uses the songs to trigger memories of the period of his life when the mix was made, along with his thoughts on the music itself. I probably know about half the songs he wrote about (nineties indie/grunge isn't my favourite musical oeuvre, but he covers a fairly broad range besides)

next up for me is City of Bones, a book my (still Twilight-obsessed) daughter wants to read. I ordered it for her only to discover "Funny, dark and sexy" splashed on the front of the UK edition, so I feel I need to check it out for age-appropriateness before passing it on to her.

Very interested to know how you go with City of bones and if you think it would be appropriate for a 13 year old girl. My daughter is also obsessed by Twilight. She is still working her way through the books.

> #37, #41 Hehee!

Speaking of Twilight & offending people - as we have been, but not at the same time - I inadvertently got stuck into a guy I met at a Christmas party last year... he was in his mid-thirties and I thought he was speaking ironically - I didn't realise he had come to *praise* Twilight, not to bury it! Oops. Even the most obsessed of my Year 10 girls agree that it's adolescent fiction at best. He good-naturedly defended it, but we agreed to disagree :)

Finished Lord of the Flies last night and actually really enjoyed it. I'm not sure 'enjoyed' is the right terminology, but it was a gripping, visceral, brutal read - I guess I enjoyed it in the same way I 'enjoyed' A Clockwork Orange, if that makes any sense.

Next up: White Teeth - for some reason the opening reminds me of The Corrections, so I'm hoping it will be equally, er, enjoyable :)

wookiebender>> Pride and Prejudice and Zombies sounds great!

Yeah, I've just ordered Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

I read White Teeth a while a go, and I've been picking up and putting down The Corrections. I see what you mean.

Like you, Miss-Owl, I'd put A Clockwork Orange and The Lord of the Flies in the same way. My 17-year-old daughter has just read them both, followed by L'Etranger (which she read in French) and she's just done a brilliant essay, drawing them all together.

I've just finished reading The Conspiracy Club by Jonathan Kellerman. This book is about a Clinical Psychologist, but not Dr Alex Delaware (for Kellerman non-fans Dr Delaware is the hero of most of his books). The book was really a treasure hunt with the prize the exposure of a serial killer.

Not much chance of guessing who dunnit; I don't think that was the object of the book although, looking back, there were a couple of clues - but that was in hindsight.

However, it was written with Kellerman's usual skill - readable, enjoyable and with nothing too scary to promote nightmares.

>46 Miss-Owl: Miss-Owl I think I would have made the same initial assumption as you did with the 30 something man and Twilight. I'm glad my 13 year old is enjoying it but I've got no wish to go there myself. I'm tempted to pick up White Teeth now that you've said you've started it but I might stick to my plan. I've finally finished Great Expectations! Now reading Jack Maggs and I'm afraid I'm enjoying it more than the original story. I should finish it soon and I'll offer it up as another one of my 1001 list bookrings. After that I'm thinking of starting a Patrick White novel. I dont have Voss, it is another that I'm thinking of but there is a Voss Journey in Canberra this weekend run by the National Film and Sound Archives, I might try to get to some of the events. I dont think I will manage the dinner at old parliament house, amongst other things, they are serving "parrot pie" :-)

>>>48 pinkozcat: Pinkozcat, I dont read many crime fictions but I like what you said about The Conspiracy Club. I watch The Bill, Ms Marple, Midsomer Murders etc and I love it when the clues are subtle. I cant stand some of the series where they spoon feed you and the culprit is obvious halfway through.

I had yesterday off sick (coff, hack, wheeze) and polished off Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The best bits about it were the Jane Austen penned bits (naturally) and it reminded me of how slack I've been, relying on the TV adaptations and not the book over the past few years. How much I'd forgotten!! But it was a fun, very silly take, on a wonderful old book. Oh, and the back of the book had some great po-faced bookclub questions, most about the zombies and silly changes, but one of which was "7. Does Mrs Bennett have any redeeming qualities whatsoever?". I'd have to say "no", although I did like her re-working in "Lost in Austen" very much.

And then I polished off The Sittaford Mystery by Agatha Christie. (What else is one expected to do on a sick day?) A fun little classic whodunnit, filled with obvious clues with neon lights going "CLUE! CLUE! CLUE!" so not really in the class of Kellerman, but I enjoyed myself. I guessed whodunnit too, but then again, I guessed that *everyone* had dunnit at one stage or another, so I don't think much of my achievement. :)

And today I'll be starting on Silas Marner which is owed to freepages/KimB as part of a bookring, and one of my "Set It Yourself" challenge books, which I've been very slack on lately. Time to pull my socks up.

I have just finished reading A Thousand Lies by Laura Wilson and ... wow!!

This is a brilliant book about a very unpleasant subject - domestic violence of the most extreme sort.

The blurb is here:

http://www.bookcrossing.com/journal/7168388

... but that doesn't tell the half of it. I couldn't put it down until bedtime last night and finished it this morning.

This is a book which I would award 20 out of 10 - a must-read ...

livrecache>>> your 17 year old daughter sounds amazing! I'm in awe. Re White Teeth - it's quite startling reading contemporary fiction again, after a stint in the nineteenth century with Anna Karenina and Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (I'm also currently teaching Wuthering Heights and Hamlet which just exacerbates the sense of culture shock). I think what makes me think of The Corrections is that slightly flippant, ironic tone, swinging from the macabre to the irreverent with the flick of a clause.

KimB>>> Congrats on finishing Great Expectations! - a very speedy read compared to my long trawl through Anna Karenina. I read Dickens' novel back in first year uni, and got Mister Pip for Christmas two years ago... it's now stuck in Mt Toobie somewhere.

pinkozcat>>> Wow. I feel drained just reading your blurb - intense!

Wow, A Thousand Lies looks like an intense read. On to my wishlist it goes.

I have just finished rerading Needful Things by Stephen King. This is the final 'Castle Rock' book. Like many of King's work, this book is a little slow to kick off, but it is worth persevering. There are no monsters jumping out of closets or ghostly presences in this novel - the fear is much more subtle than that. Instead, King utilises the undercurrent of petty jealousies and rivalries that is present in even the smallest of towns, adds a seemingly kindly old man and builds a bonfire that is slow to kindle but explodes with deadly force. Definitely worth reading.

Next up for me is The Amityville Horror by Jay Anson.

Has anyone ever read Notes from Underground? I'm currently doing something very atypical of me - reading two books at once (White Teeth before bed, Notes from Underground via DailyLit) - but I'm really enjoying my obligatory Russian for this SIY quarter.

I just wanted to share this quote from the caustic, self-deprecating, paranoically earnest narrator:

"I want now to tell you, gentlemen, whether you care to hear it or not, why I could not even become an insect. I tell you solemnly, that I have many times tried to become an insect. But I was not equal even to that."

(!)

I wonder whether it inspired Kafka's Metamorphosis at all.

Have found it hard to settle on anything in the last week - but I have just finished a paranormal mystery called Something from the Nightside by Simon R Green. Sort of Harry Dresden meets Dick Tracy. Not a bad read at all - a bit ikky in a couple of parts - but the humour sort of took the tension away :)

Miss-Owl, Anna Karenina was the first Russian I'd ever read. Not quite up to Dostoevsky yet. :) Hope I spelt his name right...

Worked back late (again) last night, then had nightmares about zombies (turns out it was the cat snoring), then got woken up earlier than usual to help get the kids ready earlier than usual so they could walk to school this morning. Since I'm still coughing up half a lung and sound like I'm smoking a pack of ciggies a day, as soon as I waved them goodbye, I went back to bed and finished Julie and Julia before getting ready for work. (Turns out I can go from pajamas-and-bed-hair to dressed-and-in-the-car in five minutes.)

I really enjoyed J&J. It helps that I know *exactly* where my mother's copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking is (could probably find it blindfolded), and have handwritten copies of many of her recipes from Mum. And Julie Powell had a similar sense of humour to me.

Arrived back from Brisbane last night after a week away. Unfortunately babysitting the (almost) four year old niece (who doesn't go to bed early) for three days following the wedding didn't allow for all that much reading time!

I got through most of Interpreter of Maladies on the flight over, despite a baby three rows behind screaming non stop for the first two and a half hours. Wonderful book. The writing is just beautiful and the situations and emotions of those in the stories are described with great compassion.

Also finished The creature in the Case by Garth Nix, a novella set six months after the completion of the Sabriel Trilogy (involving Nicholas Sayre) and Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson. That was another glorious Winterson read: passionate, poignant, lyrical, gut wrenching.

Now I'm half way through Falling Man by Don DeLillo and about to start Ian McEwan's book, Saturday.

>57 crimson-tide: Your really working your way through some interesting reading crimson-tide, more from the 1001 list to I see :-)
I thought Saturday was one of the best written novels I've read, look forward to hearing what you think about it.
I finished Jack Maggs a fun read after reading Great Expectations just loved the characters.
Now half-way through the Boy in the striped Pyjamas a very good YA lit read, the movie is also doing the rounds in the cinemas now.

I'll be interested to read what you think of Falling Man, crimson-tide. (And I will write to you soon; I found out here that you were roaming the country.)
I've got Saturday back after its being on a bookring tour, but although I started it, I haven't quite finished it yet. Starts well. I admire the research Ian McEwan does.
I've started reading Steve Toltz's book A Fraction of the Whole. I haven't got far with it yet, but with him being jubby's partner's cousin, I feel that we have this intensely close connection. (Ooh, what if I don't like it?)

I'll be interested to read what you think of Falling Man, crimson-tide. (And I will write to you soon; I found out here that you were roaming the country.)
I've got Saturday back after its being on a bookring tour, but although I started it, I haven't quite finished it yet. Starts well. I admire the research Ian McEwan does.
I've started reading Steve Toltz's book A Fraction of the Whole. I haven't got far with it yet, but with him being jubby's partner's cousin, I feel that we have this intensely close connection. (Ooh, what if I don't like it?)

Yes, I wondered if Steve Toltz was any relation to jubby, but keep forgetting to ask. It's not a particularly common name. So now I know. :)

My other sister was reading A Fraction of the Whole while we were both in Brisbane. Her comment when about 3/4 through was "he's obviously a genius, but there is just too much all stuffed into the book." When she finished it she said it was probably "the weirdest book she's ever read". And she reads a lot - much more than I do. I know nothing about the book so can't comment myself, just acting as the relay.

edited for a typo

wookiebender>>> Anna Karenina was my first Russian too, so maybe you should give Dostoyevsky a try after all. Notes from Underground is not scary at all! (I'm trying one Russian per SIY challenge to keep myself going.)

crimson-tide>>> You're back already! Time flies... I'll get How Proust can change your life off to you in the coming week.

I admire your fortitude in keeping on reading on that difficult flight! I'd also like to hear what you thought of Falling Man - it was my first Don DeLillo and I read it about eighteen months ago.

Oh, all these books that I've already got on Mt TBR! Falling Man often floats up towards the top, but keeps on getting pipped at the post by bookrings (I thought his Underworld rather magnificent), Jack Maggs and Great Expectations are both on the bookcrossed TBR piles, and A Fraction of the Whole is taking up a sizeable proportion of Mt TBR. It's one of my Set It Yourself challenge reads, so hopefully will be started soon.

Speaking of which, I probably should have started one of my Set it Yourself challenge books last night, rather than The Unscratchables by Anthony O'Neill, a favourite Aussie author of mine. Each one of his books has been completely different, and this one is hard-boiled crime, with dogs and cats being the characters. I'm not convinced by the concept, and wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't already read and loved his previous books. And it got a good review in the Sydney Morning Herald. The first 70 or so pages were very good though - silly puns, interesting plot, well written, so hurrah!

I liked McEwan's Saturday but it is a slightly strange one.

I have finished The Amityville Horror. This is the purportedly true story (since disputed as fraud) of the terrifying haunting of a Long Island home. Many of us will have seen one of the various movies, but the book is quite different. Reading about the phenomena that terrorised the Lutz family without all the Hollywood hype and exaggeration is certainly a far more chilling experience. Whether you believe the Lutz's story or subscribe to the theory fraud, this book is an interesting and absorbing read. It is worth noting here that, although 'haunted' houses and spiritual activity associated with a particular place or person is far more common than most people realise (or care to admit), this level of malignancy is decidedly rare.

Next up for me is The Annunciate by Severna Park.

I enjoyed City Of Bones which I guess makes it better than Twilight (abandoned halfway) in my opinion. I'm passing it on to my thirteen-year-old daughter today.

I should tackle another bookring next, but instead I'm going to read Angels and Demons so I can release it while the film adaptation is still in cinemas. I know nobody is supposed to like Dan Brown but I enjoyed The Da Vinci Code so I expect I'll like this one well enough.

I'm also reading Bonk but I have to do so "on the sly" (and therefore slowly) as I don't wish to discuss the cover art with my kids (who regularly check out the book I'm reading)

Everyone seems to be reading Russian novels or books shortlisted for prizes ... and I am reading about zombies. :(

My three Brenda and Effie books arrived yesterday and I have just started reading Never the Bride.

I started The Alibi Man byTami Hoag but couldn't relate to it at all so I have put it aside and will perhaps get back to it when Mother of God gets too much for me.

Freelunch, as regards Bonk, I have just had a look at the reviews and will check Amazon for a copy. One of the reviews mentioned Masters & Johnston, the archetypal researchers into the subject. I once borrowed - from the local library, would you believe, a book written by them called Abnormal Sex. I found it most enlightening as regards the creativity of human beings. It was very funny in places, especially with regard to Wellington boots and sheep, about which they waxed lyric ...

I don't know much about Masters & Johnson (before I started reading Bonk I didn't even know they were a couple) but I enjoyed The Inner Circle (T.C. Boyle's bio-fictional account of Alfred Kinsey's work) which contained many enlightening anecdotes, presumably taken from Kinsey's actual research.

I used to have a copy of Kinsey's Report on Women's Sexuality.

I'm not sure what I did with it - I might have wild released it. I'd better check on that; I can't imagine that I left it on a park bench.

I thoroughly enjoyed Stiff, also by Mary Roach. Have you read that one freelunch?

If Bonk is written in a similar style (and I imagine that it probably is), then it should be not only a very informative read but an amusing one (in parts) too.

Stiff is SO good – except I think you may have to be really interested in cadavers to read it. I am.
I acquired Kate Atkinson's When Will There Be Good News? Have you read that Wookie-bender?
I'll look out for Bonk. My favourite bookstore didn't have Pride and Prejudice and the Zombies. I was most disappointed. They should have it early next week though.

I have both Stiff and Spook in my TBRs but they're buried in one of the many plastic crates of unread books stacked around my house waiting on new shelving. Bonk was easier to find as it only arrived this week :)

livrecache, I have seen When Will There Be Good News? in the shops, and if I had more time/money/shelf space, I would have bought it then and there. As it is, I'm being *good* (and it's a bloody effort, let me tell you) and am resisting it, as it's the third in a (loose sort of) series, and I don't actually own the first two. (I'm a completist.) In my dreams, I will suddenly come into some money, and buy the whole series.

I, too, loved Stiff, but was less impressed with her Spook about scientific research into the afterlife. Bonk sounds like a great one, I am looking forward to it. And, freelunch, I hid Pride and Prejudice and Zombies from the kids because the cover art is a little disturbing.

Halfway through The Unscratchables (neither Russian nor a prize winner!) and it is good fun, I can see why they called it a satire now, it's quite scathing about politics. (If I'd read Animal Farm maybe I could see some parallels there, but that one is, of course, buried in Mt TBR.)

This is, of course, Eurovision weekend, so my spare time is spent glued to the television screen. It's my big cheesy tv indulgence for the year...

I have just finished reading Never the Bride. I'm not quite sure if I enjoyed it or not - I'm not really into ghoulie books - but it was a quick, easy read for a Sunday Afternoon.

Now I am off to start reading Something Borrowed, also by Paul Magrs. (That is for the benefit of the touchstones which think that Emily Giffin wrote Something Borrowed.)

I have finished reading The Annunciate. I'm finding this book very difficult to describe or compartmentalise. At times, I felt I was really enjoying it, at other times I was not. At times I knew exactly what was going on, at other times I was completely lost. Some parts were reminiscent of The Matrix, others of religious mania. About the only thing I can say for certain, is that you will be left pondering the nature of good and evil and the fine line between salvation and damnation.

Next up for me is Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. I read this in school, of course, but I decided it is high time I re-read through adult eyes.

Finished The Unscratchables late last night, and it was most excellent. A very daft concept, but very well executed and some great comments on modern society and politics. Anthony O'Neill continues to amaze me the way each book is nothing like his previous books, yet all are extremely readable, entertaining, and well done.

Haven't decided what to pick up next - I should continue with a bookring or something, but I'm still feeling like death warmed over gently, so might just grab the nearest trashy fun novel.

I've just finished Saturday and enjoyed it immensely. It is a bit of a strange one in the way it's constructed around an almost minute by minute (sometimes breath by breath) retelling of "a day in the life..." But it's intelligent and definitely well written. McEwan certainly does do his research extensively and well, but occasionally I found myself thinking that he was writing in certain facts because he'd researched the subject so well and learned them, that it was a waste not to use them. And sort of showing off in the process. There was one thing that happened towards the end that I thought was totally unrealistic though - can't really say what without making it a huge spoiler.

It's been interesting reading Saturday and Falling Man at the same time. It wasn't planned that way. The event of 9/11 that centres Falling Man is also the event that is responsible for much of Henry's musings and fears about the changed world situation in Saturday, and of course also all the discussion, thoughts, arguments etc about whether to go to war against Iraq, and the demonstration against the war.

I'm now about two thirds the way through Falling Man and unfortunately not enjoying it nearly as much. In fact I'm bored by it most of the time. I'm not reading it though - it's an audiobook. It's unabridged, so I'm not missing any of it in terms of words or meaning, but perhaps it still makes a difference?? I wonder whether having the narrator's voice there all the time and not being able to put voice to the characters myself, and also having to go at his pace and not my own makes it less enjoyable. Or is it just a boring book? What do others think?

Next up for me is a reread of Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. I very rarely reread books, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this soon after it was first published, and as I've since had about four copies go through my hands at various stages thought I'd read it again before releasing this one. Having also read a number of her later books, it will be interesting to go back to this one, being the first.

>77 crimson-tide: I agree Saturday is very intelligent and very well written and eventhough it's a breath by breath account it held my interest far better than On Chesil beach did. I think the ending is a bit out-there, but I think there had to be a climax in the book and that was just the one that McEwan came up with.
It's a coincidence that I've just started reading Falling Man and immediately started thinking about Saturday it has the same contempory feel and the writing is also well done. I'm only 50 pages into it, so just going with the flow as it seems to jump around the characters. The first chapter was so well done, really felt like I was there.
Before starting on the 1001 list these are books I wouldnt have even thought of looking at, since I like historical fiction so much, I wouldnt have touched a contempory novel.

Ah, KimB, I'm a fan of the modern contemporary novel, so for me the joy of the 1001 list is finding older authors that I'd sometimes never even heard of.

Picked up Tomaree last night, by Debbie Robson. (Hmmm, touchstones don't seem to be working. Possibly because there's only one copy of her book registered on LT, and that's the copy I'm reading now! http://www.librarything.com/work/book/45398949) Debbie is of course a bookcrosser, and this is her first novel. The language was a bit clunky at times (could have done with a tighter edit, I think) but the story has suckered me in and I'm almost halfway through already. It's set in two times - 1972 and 1942(ish). In 1972 Peggy returns to Newcastle (north of Sydney, not the UK one!) to deal with her mother's death. Back in 1942, Peggy was only 17 and had just met the rather gorgeous Tom, an American soldier stationed in Newcastle. (It's not as soppy as that makes it sound! Obviously I should never write the blurb on the back of books!)

I finished reading Something Borrowed last night. It was OK, I guess but I have come to the conclusion that the trilogy is 'young teens' stuff without the Harry Potter magic touch and when I have finished Conjugal Rights I'll return, probably thankfully, to reading about Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary which, so far ... I have read 12 pages ... seems to be a work of fiction with Mary being given to the temple at aged three and on reaching puberty, being handed over to 'an older' man who rejected her when he found that she was pregnant only to HAVE A DREAM!!!

I don't recall any of that in the Bible so I am not sure where that information came from.

I'm sorry to hear Brenda & Effie aren't doing it for you pinkozcat. I've enjoyed them so far - for what its worth I think Conjugal Rites is probably the best of the three but the basic formula doesn't change much.

I didn't read them with teens in mind, but I think the attitude to sex (which doesn't happen in the books, but it is thought about/alluded to now and then) would prevent me passing them on to my 13yo daughter.

then again, with Rainbow Party carrying a recommended reading age of 14 on Amazon.com I could be accused of over-censoring...

*grin* sadly, freelunch, I suspect that young teens know as much, if not more, about sex than I do. I have just been reading about 'baby Maisie' who was said to be fathered by a 12-year-old boy but it now turns out that the father was a 15-year-old boy.

freelunch, I reckon you have to tailor the books to the family and the child. Some people might feel Brenda & Effie are perfectly fine for their children, but you don't, which is also perfectly valid.

I'll have all these decisions coming up one day too! At the moment, the worst "adult concept" I've got is trying to explain the whole "bad vs. good" which is a mainstay of so much kids' programming. But which is a HUGE concept for Mr Bear, who wants to know why people are bad, and why we are allowed to then laugh at/punish them. He's kinda getting the hang of it now, but it's taken a long while, and I'm still not 100% happy with some of my explanations. Oh well.

Finished Tomaree. It's a shame it didn't have a tighter edit/proof read, because a number of typos (etc) jarred when I was reading, and distracted me from the perfectly fine plot & characterisation.

And then picked up The Honorary Consul, a Graham Greene novel. Love his stuff.

>77 crimson-tide: re: Falling Man I finished the book last night and it is not one that I think I could follow on audio. I did really need to go at my own pace and it is so fragmented. It is an interesting treatment of significant subject. It is one that I would recommend but by the same token I dont think it is for everybody. I'll be looking out for more of DeLillo's works.
And now for something completely different, One Hundred Years of Solitude another one from the 1001 list.

I finished reading Conjugal Rites last night, much to my relief; I kept on thinking of things which I'd far rather do.

I hate to rain on everyone's parade but it was a pretty dreadful book. But then I am not into books about vampires and zombies unless they are written by Terry Pratchett.

Having said all that ... does anyone want my Brenda and Effie trilogy?? The books don't stand alone and need to go together.

PM me via:
http://www.bookcrossing.com/sendmessage/pinkozcat

... if you would like the books. I'll ring or ray them if there are two or more people looking to read them, otherwise they will go to whoever wants them.

I have finished Brave New World. Aldous Huxley first published this in the 1930's but the major themes of giving up freedoms through fear, the ethics of test-tube babies and other scientific advances, government control, and thought programming are just as relevant today.

At first glance Huxley's London seems a Utopia. A world without war. A world without violence. No rape, no jealousy, no street crime, murder, domestic violence, abuse. No conflict. The virtual elimination of disease. No unemployment or poverty. No aging. Universal happiness, peace, contentment. Is this not what we all strive for?

Yet the introduction of our 'noble savage' to civilised London shows us just how high a price is paid for this 'perfect' society. For, while all the negative aspects of modern society are absent, so, too, are the positives.

I am definitely glad I re-read the book.

Next up for me is A Fortunate Life by A.B. Facey. I'm looking forward to this as I have read good things in the Bookcrossing world :-)

*edited to add my touchstone brackets :-)

The Brenda & Effie books have been claimed and are all going to a new home where they will certainly be appreciated more than they are here.

I'm sorry you didn't like them :( fortunately there are a lot more books out there to choose from :)

Finished Oranges are not the Only Fruit and found it just as good the second time around. It has a strong autobiographical element and is a humorous and quirky account of her very unusual upbringing and the struggles she had being true to herself. Highly recommended . . . with a caution attached for pinkozcat. :D

Next for me is A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines.

I enjoyed Angels and Demons despite at least one big plot hole and a couple of predictable twists. I guess I'm easily pleased :)

next up I'm back on the bookring trail with The Time We Have Taken, a book I'm not terribly excited about it as I borrowed The Art Of The Engine Driver from my local public library a few months ago and couldn't get into it at all - maybe I'll have more luck this time...

freelunch, I wouldn't worry if you don't get into The Time We Have Taken, it is *exceedingly* slow. I thought it had a lot of strong points, but pageturnability wasn't one of them. :)

crimson-tide, good to hear that Oranges are not the Only Fruit is just as good on a re-read. I loved it when I first got it. And fairy-whispers, I've got Brave New World on Mt TBR, I'm looking forward to it!

I have started reading Mother of God: a History of the Virgin Mary by Miri Rubin. It is written from a historical, rather than a religious, point of view and so far it describes how, from virtually no clues at all, the early Christians developed a family history for Mary in order to give her credence as the mother of God, although she gets only very few mentions in the bible.

Just finished White Teeth as part of my slow trek through the 1001 ranges, and book number 5 of 10 of my SIY challenge. (I just might squeeze through, this time!) As a modern read after so many C19th and C20th classics, I actually didn't enjoy it all that much. The story was entertaining but I felt the characters were too manipulable, caricatured, and not quite believable. There's a certain flavour of postmodern irony in a lot of contemporary literature, I find, that doesn't take anything seriously, or flattens all events to the same level of significance (wartime killing, suicide attempt, fathering a child) - that makes me not care very much about the characters.

I'm considering The Fern Tattoo next. This was one of your SIY reads, wasn't it, wookiebender? Are you reading it any time soon?

My alternative is The Spy Who Came in from the Cold.

Oh, I did love White Teeth when it came out, I thought it was quite marvellous. I can see what you mean by the "flattening", though.

The Fern Tattoo is going to be read soon, but KLL has requested The Master and Margarita to be read quickly (if at all possible) so she can take it overseas and post it to suedo from the UK. But I can't see me managing it (it's supposed to be quite dense, and my trips to the PO have been few & far between lately), unfortunately, so I'll probably do Fern Tattoo and then M&M. Have to finish Silas Marner and The Honorary Consul first.

Co-incidentally, Group Reads: Literature is discussing which book to read next, and M&M and The Woman in White (both books in my SIY challenge!) are doing well. But I don't think I'll finish the challenge this time - two ~1000 page books still to go! (A Fraction of the Whole and Darkmans.) Meep.

Don't worry too much about Silas Marner wookiebender. I think he's enjoying his stay at your place. ;)

>97 crimson-tide: Ditto, wookiebender.
I'm sure Silas is enjoying a stay and is in no rush. I'm loving One Hundred Years of Solitude and dont want it to end.

Hi there - have finished a few books all at once - which is quite normal for me:

The Bad Policeman by Helen Hodgman
Finding Darcy by Sue Lawson
A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, and the best of the bunch:
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - an excellent, excellent - really truly super YA book

Oh, I *loved* One Hundred Years of Solitude too! My first taste of magical realism, and it was wonderful. (My mum thought it was weird, she doesn't really cope with anything that isn't based in some form of reality. We can agree on so much, but still have quite different book tastes. :)

I'm not stressing about not finishing Silas Marner in a reasonable timeframe - I've only read the first few pages, and found it difficult to get into (after Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I kept on expecting zombies to pop up or something), and then the whole 12 hour work days/chest infection put an end to my public transport reading time (& my ability to read anything remotely challenging). But I *do* want to read it, because Dad has recently discovered George Eliot and he raved.

{proud parent interlude}

my ten-year-old son has really taken to reading this year. I set up a librarything account for him where he is recording and rating the books he reads, so far he's up to 37 books read since we registered his account on 1.1.09

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/liamdast

{/proud parent interlude}

I'm finding The Time We Have Taken surprisingly engaging for a book in which not much happens. I'm also still reading Bonk which is very amusing if a little bizarre at times :)

#101 Very impressive freelunch, looks like he might be a chip off the ol' block with those Doctor Who books.
He might like some of the ones on my sons library
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ShaneA
I did it for him, because I was that sort of overbearing mum a couple of years ago and I got carried away with the whole cataloging thing ;-)
My son was 12 at the time and there is stuff that there that is probably too young now for your son. He now reads much more adult novels loves all that Mathew Reilly stuff, I delve into that myself now and again, but he still re-reads all the Eragon, Artemis Fowl and quite a few of the others.
I'm still working on my kids to turn them into BCers and LTers but it's a shame, they dont seem that keen. :-(

Regarding children's reading, I've been thinking about adding some of my favourite kids books from the past few years to my LT collection. When they leave home, they are not taking my Grinch, for one! And Mr Bear asked for an old favourite this evening - Who's Hiding which has very few words, just lots of great pictures. And Miss Boo is still somewhat obsessed with Emily and the Dragon. And I think they're just wonderful books too.

Just finished The Honorary Consul with Mr Bear asleep on one arm. (Ow, the pins and needles! Luckily it wasn't my reading arm. ;) Another great Greene novel, with morally ambiguous characters, lots of Catholicism, and a cracking pace.

And I think I'll start Novel About My Wife now. Er, no, not a SIY challenge book, or anything that I owe elsewhere, I bought it ages ago on the basis of a good review and am now seeing it in the shops again (new format) and it's jogged my memory.

#102, Doctor Who is somewhat ubiquitous in these parts :)

my daughter (now 13) never really took to LT but she has a bookcrossing ID - only tonight she registered a couple of her books to give to a friend whose birthday it is tomorrow - I'd much rather they exchange used books than feel the need to buy (non-party) gifts at this age. and she's been nagging me for another Matthew Reilly since I gave her Contest to read last year.

#103, I don't have any "junior fiction" books in my LT library, but I have registered a bunch of YA books I've bought in recent years. I usually delete them if I pass them onto my kids without reading them myself which is happening fairly regularly now.

I've just finished a re-read of Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett which is one of my favourites.

I am getting in the mood to read through my Pratchett collection again, something I do every so often. It is a crying shame that he won't be writing any more books ...

Just finished A Lesson Before Dying. It's a very powerful, incredibly moving story; full of dignity and compassion, and with a wonderful sense of place.

Next up is Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata.

I just finished The Time We Have Taken, very enjoyable despite its slow pace and I think I'll have to track down some of Steven Carroll's earlier work in the near future.

next up for me: Flashforward

freelunch, glad you liked The Time We Have Taken! I'm really looking forward to his new one, can't remember the title, but it's about TS Eliot.

I did actually start Novel About My Wife last night, and it's really quite good. Only the review I read did mention that they were impressed that a female writer had gotten into the head of a male narrator so well, so now that's foremost in my mind. And I'm finding that thought distracting. But the writing is good, we're being fed skerricks and snippets of plot, I'm very intrigued, and I want to be home reading it right now! And it turns out the author, Emily Perkins is a Kiwi, and I was just thinking the other day that I don't think I'd ever read any books from NZ. (This one is set in London, anyhow.)

I didn't start on The Fern Tattoo after all - felt like a nice Cold War spy thriller instead: The Spy Who Came In From The Cold. I'm enjoying my first Le Carre - it's quite Graham Greene-ish, a writer I do enjoy.

I've just abandoned The Double Tongue by William Golding. Having just re-read his first book, the ubiquitous Lord of the Flies, I was intrigued to find I had his last book, which was unfinished and published posthumously on my TBR. It's about the oracle at Delphi, and quite interesting, but I got frustrated by 'part of manuscript missing' at points where I'd just got really involved.

Now I'm prompted to go into an ancient civilisations phase. Pompeii by Robert Harris caught my eye this evening, and when I've finished yet another book about King Henry VIII's unfortunate wives (this is a trashy one, and not worth naming), I'll read it.

I've got one episode to watch of the Dexter series, based on the book, Dexter Darkly Dreaming. Anyone read it? My son is dropping hints that I should get it, but I know my reading would be coloured by the series (of which I only saw two of the three series, but it wasn't too hard to get the hang of). The climax is good though. I thought I'd got out of my thriller genre reading . . .

I've read the first two Dexter novels (and seen the first season; I own the second season but haven't watched it yet). I find the TV series more palatable - I'm far too aware that he's a monster in the books, and I find that hard to read. And by the second book, I was worried he was slipping into parody already (kill person, pithy bon mot, puzzled view of normal society, kill person, etc). They were definitely interesting reads, but I'm not going out of my way for the rest of the series. I think it was more a great idea, than a great book. (But I know others do like them.)

Really enjoying Novel About My Wifeand what with that and the PS2 Lego Indiana Jones game, sleep is getting short shrift. I will be starting Fern Tattoo next, so maybe about the same time you finish the Le Carre, miss-owl! (I think I have that book on Mt TBR as well...)

Lego games are EVIL!

I've also read the first two Dexter novels, and I've seen the first two seasons of the TV adaptation.. and I love both. the first season is loosely based on the first book (though there are major differences in the endings) but Book Two and Season Two are completely different.

I'm presently waiting on bookrings for Books Three & Four. I know Book Three breaks from the routine established in the first two books, but to say how might be considered a spoiler (I wish I didn't know before starting the book)

Wookiebender you crack me up!
PS2 Lego Indiana Jones game! Do they have a giant Lego boulder like this one ?
Just got Sea of Poppies ring. Did I jump the queue or what?!!
Looking forward to it.

I can't get to YouTube at work (well, maybe I can, but I don't want to cheese off the Sysadmin Powers That Be), but, yes, there is a giant boulder. The PS2 Lego games are really great fun, lots of problem solving, and you're Lego characters ("mini-figs" is the correct term, I have been informed) and it's all far too cute for words. Mr Bear and several of his friends are all totally addicted, so much so that one of his friends' mum has instigated the "No Lego Star Wars Talk In The Car!" rule. We must follow it, because otherwise you're driving and being pestered all the time with "did you know that Indy can do a double jump, but Marian can't, and have you seen the skeletons, and you know where the gold balls are? well, you put each one of them into the eye sockets and did you see the character I built? Daddy's character is called 'Professor Daddy' and who can jump the furthest, Anakin or Short Round? etc" and **nothing** will stop the endless stream of consciousness about Lego/Star Wars/Indiana Jones.

Except maybe an interjection from Miss Boo, who currently wants to be called Professor Princess Pink Pony.

. . . Miss Boo, who currently wants to be called Professor Princess Pink Pony. I love it! :)

I've read the first three Dexter books and will be reading the fourth soon. The first was good (new idea), the second also good but pretty much more of the same, the third went off on a tangent somewhat and didn't match up. I've heard the fourth is back to the usual standard though. I read them before having seen any of the TV adaptation. Then a few months back WIN TV started to show the first series. I saw about four episodes and then thought they'd pulled it, but have only just now discovered that they changed the night! grrrr..... It's the ONLY programme I watched on that channel so how was I to know? Yes, I know . . . lots of ways dumb old me could have found out. Anyway, personally I enjoyed the first book more than the TV episodes I did see - maybe because I read it first? Somehow many of the characters in the TV series just didn't seem 'right'.

crimson-tide beat me to it, but yeah... P.P.P.P... how cute :)

wookiebender - I'd better get a move on with Spy, then... you're a much faster reader than I am!

I am still reading Mother of God in small lots; it is making me very angry at the moment. Those pompous men back in the 4th century decided that neither God the father nor God the son could possibly have been in contact with Mary's 'unclean' parts so Jesus was conceived through Mary's ear and after a two month pregnancy the baby floated down from heaven into her arms. Grrrrrrr!

"Jesus was conceived through Mary's ear".

Ow.

pinkozcat >>> Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary sounds like it could be interesting.

Sally906 >>> The Hunger Games is currently sitting in Mt TBR. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to reading it when I get there.

Miss-Owl >>> I found The Spy Who Came in from the Cold both boring and a little confusing. I'm glad you are enjoying it more than I did.

Re: Dexter >>> I read, and immensely enjoyed Darkly Dreaming Dexter and I also loved the tv series. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten around to the next book or the next series lol.

I have finished reading A Fortunate Life. This is a first hand account of events that most of us have only read about in history books. Albert Facey has lived the kind of life that would have broken a lesser man. From the time he lost his father to Typhoid on the goldfields, through his time as an illiterate child working for horse thieves, the Depression and both World Wars, Albert has had more than his fair share of tragedy. Yet all through this book he downplays his negative experiences, focusing on the positive and relaying his life in a fresh, humorous style that is both pleasant to read and hard to put down.. This is a uniquely Australian piece of literature and I found myself disappointed when I came to the end.

Next up for me is Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron.

Just finished Novel About My Wife and I thought it was pretty darned good. Almost a psychological thriller, but more literary. Written in a slightly rambling style, it's a discussion of the relationship between Tom and his wife Ann, who is rather damaged (to put it mildly) but whom he loves passionately. It's all told as one big flashback, so you sort of know where it's heading (no Ann, Tom left holding the baby), but the tension created as we head towards the inevitable end was gripping and it was quite the pageturner. Emily Perkins has quite the turn of phrase, giving Tom a very dry sense of humour (of course, I can't find the quote I wanted to copy now!). And the preparation Tom & Ann go through while expecting the baby was all too real at times. Although I never threw a parenting book on the fire, but I know where she was coming from.

Oooh, the luxury of choice for the next book!

I love Professor PPP too! What a sense of alliteration. Give her a cube of sugar for me.

Still waiting to see the last episode of Dexter. (Can't get both kids at home at the same time, despite the younger one having glandular fever – in year 12. Angst all round.) However, I do now know what to get her brother for his birthday: the Dexter series of books. Anything that comes in multiples seems to be good. (He hasn't moved very far from his infatuation with Lego. We have thousands of dollars worth, but he won't sell his childhood. Besides, I've checked. Not worth much on e-bay. He (at 21) is still into Indiana Jones Lego. But I expect we have the vintage edition.)

I'm going to treat myself tomorrow. I saw Novel About My Wife remaindered, and I'm desperate to read some more Kate Atkinson. A positive thing about being a football widow is that I get to read a lot.

livrecache, DON'T get rid of the Lego! Mr TQD has been carting boxes and boxes of it ever since we moved together (I didn't think to ask what was in the boxes, probably hoping he'd turn a blind eye to the number of wine boxes filled with books). Most of Mr Bear's collection is based on that 40 year old Lego (it originally belonged to his significantly older brothers), and it still works. All the old bricks still fit into the new Lego bricks. Brilliantly engineered toys, worth every penny. We've only lost a few bits to snappage. And we'll probably be maintaining the collection for the next generation.

I hope you like Novel About My Wife! It was a good solid read. I could do with a new Kate Atkinson too, but No New Books Until Car Rego Is Paid And I Get Some Of The Backlog Read.

In terms of series books, if he doesn't mind going into "genre" I'd also recommend the Dresden Case Files by Jim Butcher (Mr TQD is now up to #10 and still totally engrossed; I found #5 down the back of a pile of books - *sigh* - and will be starting it rsn) about a wizard named Harry, sort of crime crossed with fantasy and a lot of energy. And the Joe Pitt series by Charlie Huston - vampire gangs in New York. I've been pushing these on all my friends who love genre books, they're wonderfully readable. (Pushing them less on people who don't like genre. If you're going to read your first vampire novel, Joe Pitt is not where one would start. :)

Speaking of backlog (yes, I was, a paragraph ago or so), got to bed last night and realised I'd left Silas Marner in my backpack downstairs. Too lazytired to go downstairs, so plucked Rebecca off the top of the pile. Haven't read it since high school! Totally gripped, I have Joan Fontaine's voice going through my head. "Last night, I dreamed I went to Manderley again."

Which reminded me (yes, I will go and do some parenting and stop chatting rsn) - Miss-Owl, when you were looking for modern gothic novels last year, did I recommend Gormenghast? Modern, gothic. Huge though, you'd need to focus on just one of the trilogy, I'd say.

livrecache >>> I second wookiebender. Definitely do not get rid of that leggo. You wouldn't beleive how hard it is to buy a box of general leggo these days - it's all 'build a leggo plane' or 'build a leggo rocket' and that kind of thing.

I'm finished reading Dewey. This is, in essence, a biography of a cat. Not just any cat, of course, but the most famous library cat in the world. Anyone who has ever befriended or enslaved themselves to a cat will relate to the antics of Dewey. The author tells us that he was charismatic and caring, and one only has to look into his eyes (pictured on the cover) to know that this is no mere exaggeration. The love Vicki feels for this amazing cat (dare I call him a hero?) is evident in every word, and by the end of the book you will love him too. You'll laugh, you'll groan and you'll weep, but one thing you will not do is forget this book, or it's subject - and what more can author hope for?

I am now reading two books - both inter-library loans and, therefore, unable to be renewed. They are Splinter by Adam Roberts (a little weird so far, but we'll see how it goes) and An Obedient Father by Akhil Sharma.

A few days ago I finished Devil Bones by Kathy Reichs. It was an OK book in which, for a change, the heroine didn't go rushing headlong into danger. Naturally, danger caught up with her but, of course, she survived to feature in another book.

I am now reading The Exodus Quest by Will Adams. It is a sort of sequel (ie the same main characters feature in it) to The Alexander Cipher which was a good book if you like archaeological swashbuckle.

This one is the same genre and at the moment our hero is escaping from the Egyptian Police who suspect him of murder. He has a twisted knee and a shonky ankle but he can still outrun them, out swim them and is faster than a speeding bullet.

I know that he will eventually prevail because there is one good policeman who is inclined to believe in him because the policeman's wife thinks that he "looks nice".

Enough said; I am enjoying it.

Flashforward was a fun, light read with a disappointing ending reminiscent the (terrible) climax of Kubrick's film adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Today I also read Mark Millar's Wanted (the basis for the recent Angelina Jolie/James McAvoy movie) and it was good, though very dark and violent.

next up, back to bookrings with Landscape of Farewell

Well as the sun sets on May I am currently reading Death wore White by Jim Kelly and Real Vampires Have Curves by Gerry Bartlett.

Coming up next are The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards and The Tale of Hill Top Farm by Susan Wittig Albert

I finished The Exodus Quest today. It is a very readable, if totally improbable, book and as with The Alexander Cipher the ending leaves the reader up in the air because the books deal with historical facts so, as you can't suddenly locate Alexander the Great's body in a fictional book, it is impossible to know the truth of the theory that the Jewish nation was based on an exodus of the followers of Akhenaten, the monotheist pharaoh.

Anyway, the heroine ended up in hospital and the hero managed to hobble to her bedside despite a gammy knee, a sprained ankle and numerous cuts and bruises, hopefully all healed up before the next book.

The book is great fun ...

Finished One Hundred Years of Solitude tonight, just wonderful. Goes up there with The Poisonwood Bible as best books so far this year. Ahh, it was a good way to finish May. I cant believe it's Just about June, the year is going to fast!
Now enjoying The Women in Black.

sally906, I have to say "Real Vampires Have Curves" might be the best book title I've heard of for a while. :)

Had a Night Out last night: basically just an excuse to get the grandparents to take the kids to bed while we get a chance to chat (over burgers) and Mr TQD heard my theory that just as broken cookies have no calories, second hand books don't need to be counted in the budget and take up no shelf space.

I don't think he accepted my theory, but he didn't flinch when I bought Cold Comfort Farm and Gilgamesh by Joan London mere minutes later. And, of course, no other books to hand this morning, and the opening chapters of "Cold Comfort Farm" are quite delightful.

Argh, why can't I focus on one book for a while!!

#105 >> It is a crying shame that he won't be writing any more books ...

It certainly makes me want to cry!

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