What are you reading?

[Sean D. Schaffer]

Nothing right now. And I'll have to return the library books in another week or so.

 

[Evaine]

Is The Quest one with the Egyptian slave who is so clever and so good at everything that you wonder where he found the time to pick all these things up? I readthe first one of those, and found him very irritating.

I spent yesterday evening finishing The Cure of Souls by Phil Rickman - in a "just one more chapter - oh, my God, is that the time?" kind of way. It's part of a series about Rev Merrily Watkins, diocesan exorcist (or Deliverance minister, as they're called these days) for Herefordshire. Lots of local colour, and I know the area pretty well, living just over the Border. This one had a lot about hop-picking, and I really wanted Lol, the musician character, to get his album together. And there were a couple of fairly gruesome murders that I didn't see coming at all.

 

[Ms. Jem]

That's the one. Taita is a warlock, who has to save mankind. I liked the first book River God, I don't know what happened with this one. Maybe it's my attention span.

Is The Quest one with the Egyptian slave who is so clever and so good at everything that you wonder where he found the time to pick all these things up? I readthe first one of those, and found him very irritating.
quote]

 

[scarletpeaches]

Finally managing to finish off Dorothy Koomson's godawful Marshmallows for Breakfast. It's as sugary as the title, full of telling-not-showing, cardboard characters, labouring the point and unrealistic portrayals of children. Honestly, this is the whiniest MC since Edward Cullen. I have just under 100 pages to go so should finish it this evening but it's taken me weeks to get this far. I'm on the home strait now, though. I think we're supposed to care that she was raped way-back-when, but I just don't. The author spends pages and pages telling you (not showing, mind. Telling you) the main character is sad, depressed, has a traumatic past and you end up thinking, "Oh STFU and show me."

I need something hellagood after this. Any suggestions? Like...a slap in the face with a wet kipper, perhaps?

 

[CaroGirl]

I started Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon on the bus this morning. So far, it's meh. A lot of description, especially given there was an illustration on the next page which destroyed the picture I'd built in my imagination. People here are always, "Chabon this and Chabon that," so I thought I'd gi' it a go. Maybe it'll get better.

 

[oneblindmouse]

I started Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon on the bus this morning. So far, it's meh. A lot of description, especially given there was an illustration on the next page which destroyed the picture I'd built in my imagination. People here are always, "Chabon this and Chabon that," so I thought I'd gi' it a go. Maybe it'll get better.

Interesting. It's on my shelf of books to be read soon, as I, too, have heard rave reviews about this author.

 

[RichardS]

I liked "Kavalier and Clay" by Chabon but didn't really get on with GOTR. I got to the end but it didn't seem to flow like his other writing. It may have been because it was originally serialized in the New York Times and so it was a bit episodic in nature, I'm not sure.

I'd certainly recommend his other work though. His recent collection of essays is good as well.

 

[CaroGirl]

I liked "Kavalier and Clay" by Chabon but didn't really get on with GOTR. I got to the end but it didn't seem to flow like his other writing. It may have been because it was originally serialized in the New York Times and so it was a bit episodic in nature, I'm not sure.

I'd certainly recommend his other work though. His recent collection of essays is good as well.

Ah. Just like me to choose the wrong one. I can't into this at all. The prose is...interminable, the sentences so convoluted I forget the point of them by their end. It is, however, blessedly short so I predict I'll be able to finish it. Unfortunately, I doubt I'll read another.

 

[brokenfingers]

That's funny. I had the same predicament: I'd heard much about this Chabon and wanted to read his work and see for myself. A writing friend recommended the Yiddish Policeman's Union.

It was excellent. I recommend it if you want to see what he's all about.

 

[shakeysix]

after years of renting it looks like i might be a homeowner again. i'm reading up on interior design, basic landscaping. my sofa is a mountain of catalogs and how-to guides--s6

 

[Alpha Echo]

I'm reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks.

It's okay. I'm just realizing that I liked Nicholas Sparks a lot more before I knew all the writing "rules." He breaks them all - backstory, info dumps...and a long list of others. It's depressing and disapointing. I still love his stories and think he has a real gift for love stories that aren't really sappy - but honest and realistic. But every book of his I read gets harder and harder and more and more frustrating.

 

[RichardS]

Ah Yiddish Policeman's Union, I forgot about that one. Excellent, very good, well worth a read.

I'm current reading Pynchon's 'Against the Day'. Only just over a hundred pages to go in this stunning epic. I've never read any Pynchon before but this has been a revelation. Wonderful, wonderful read.

 

[josephwise]

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Awesome book so far. Such nuance!

 

[CheriVixen]

Just finished reading Green Rider by Kristen Britain. I enjoyed it as a quick read and am glad I wont have to wait for sequals to tie up loose ends. True to the endorsements on the back, it reminded me alot of Mercedes Lackey's Herald series. As a writer I find it hard to back off the adjectives but Britain, I thought, was a good example of how to offer just enough description for the readers imagination to fill in the rest.

 

[Inkdaub]

Done with Pillars and moved on to Lustbader's Bourne Sanction.

 

[scarletpeaches]

AND he's Australian!!!

 

[Mud Dauber]

I'm reading Wally Lamb's new book, The Hour I First Believed.

 

[scarletpeaches]

He's got a new book out?!

HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY!!!

 

[Inkyhoof]

I'm reading The Lucky One by Nicholas Sparks.

It's okay. I'm just realizing that I liked Nicholas Sparks a lot more before I knew all the writing "rules." He breaks them all - backstory, info dumps...and a long list of others. It's depressing and disapointing. I still love his stories and think he has a real gift for love stories that aren't really sappy - but honest and realistic. But every book of his I read gets harder and harder and more and more frustrating.

...Is this some new book of his then?

Yeah, I like his stories too, but I agree that his writing does get a bit frustrating after a while. A Walk to Remember was phenomenal, though.

Right now... I'm reading a Terry Pratchett, Pyramids. Just started though, so I can't say if it's good or not yet.

 

[CaroGirl]

I'm reading Wally Lamb's new book, The Hour I First Believed.

I saw it in the bookstore yesterday. Another doorstop from Mr. Lamb. I'll wait til it comes out in paperback so I don't need a forklift to take it on the bus with me.

 

[illiterwrite]

I'm trying to read Atonement for about the 35th time. At least I've gotten as far as the letter this time.

 

[Clio]

I've nipped back into literary again with Anita Shreve's The Weight of Water. Hmm.... a bit of a slog. She has a very annoying habit of having a paragraph or two in present tense, then feeding in back story in past tense, then the even further back story of two historical murders. My head's spinning! It makes for a very fragmentary storyline. It doesn't help that I'm reading it on noisy buses to and from work.

Don't know if anyone else had read this one. It was short-listed for the Orange Prize, I believe, and was given fantastic critical reviews from all our quality newspapers in the UK.

 

[C.J. Rockwell]

I'm currently alternating between two books that have me equally gripped and entertained.

This first is Kenny and the Dragon by Tony DiTerlizzi. I bought it over the summer, and just started reading it. I was both impressed, and frankly a little jealous. I was impressed because his prose is clean, taught, and to the point. At the same time, it had an old-fashioned feel that I really love in stories.

I'm jealous because I wish I could get my novel, Gabriel (aka the novel of endless revisions) to flow this well.

The second book is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by co-authors Mary Ann Schaffer and Annie Barrows.
First of all, it's one of the coolest and quirkest book titles I've heard all year, and it's about fellow book lovers, how could I not love it!

I love books in letter format, and I'm looking forward to finishing it. I started reading it over the summer, but stopped when I had a terrible case of Reader's block.

Now that I'm starting to get over it, I'm glad to return to this fun, quirky, poignant, yet funny world of correspondence.

 

["A" Is For "Agent"]

Front Row: Anna Wintour: What Lies Beneath the Chic Exterior of Vogue's Editor in Chief

 

[Arisa81]

At Home In Mitford by Jan Karon (It is the first in a series)