What are you reading?

williemeikle

The force is strong in this one.
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Heart Shaped Box - Joe Hill

50 pages in and its got me gripped. This lad can write - takes after his Dad in more ways than just looks.
 

DamaNegra

Mexican on the loose!
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Whew, I finally finished Doña Perfecta. Well... not much to say about that book, really. It's an interesting read but not a GREAT read. Still, it's a very good portrait of XIX century Spain, and a little disturbing, too.
 

A. Hamilton

here for a minute...catch me?
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I've been on a short story and middle grade reading kick lately (it's the instant gratification thing ;) ) but last night I started The Hour I First Believed, by Wally Lamb.
not the first book I've read by him, and 70 pages in, this looks very promising.
 

Zipotes

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Just finished Fade (sequel to Wake). It's YA. I found the characters/dialogue to be very believable and I enjoyed it.

Now I'm officially starting Hunger Games.
 

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue
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Just finished "Basketball Jones" by E. Lynn Harris. It was very much not what I usually read (it's about a closeted gay NBA player in the south, and his wife, and his boyfriend), but I enjoyed it a lot. Fun and compulsive reading. I want to check out more books by him. I also found out he got started by self-publishing his novel, then he was picked up by a major publisher based on success from the self-pubbed book :)
 

DamaNegra

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Whew! Just finished Red and Black. It's a great novel! I highly recommend it. It's not really fast-paced, but it is interesting enough to captivate the attention, and really gets going at the end. Also, the narrative is surprisingly accessible. I'd recommend it to anyone ;)

Now, onwards to next week's books: Madame Bovary, by Flaubert; and La Regenta, by Clarín.

*looks at the size of the books and dies*
 

Prozyan

Are you one, Herbert?
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Heart Shaped Box - Joe Hill

50 pages in and its got me gripped. This lad can write - takes after his Dad in more ways than just looks.

IMO, he's inherited his Dad's natural narrative voice, which I think is the strongest point of SK's writing.

Excellent book ;)
 

DamaNegra

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Whoa. I've just been noticed that I also need to read an 800 page book for next Friday (Los Maias, by Joé María EÇa de Queirós)... in addition to Madame Bovary and La Regenta.... so the books I'm reading for pleasure are going to take a veeeeeeeeeeeery long step back and wait for me to be done with this madnes...

Never mind that whooshing sound, it was my brain fleeing from my skull.
 

DamaNegra

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You can read an 800-page novel by then?!

It's not even a question of whether I can or cannot (btw, it's not for this Friday, but next Friday, so don't get so scared), because I have to. It's just 800 pages, so I only have to read about 100 pages a day to make it. I once read 500 pages in one day. The caveat? The book was written in medieval Spanish, which totally counts as another language. (yeah, that time I could feel my eyes grating every time I moved them... not a pleasant sensation, I wasn't able to read anything for a whole day after that)

The problem is... can I read that fast and still be able to make a coherent presentation about the literary merits of the novel? That's what really scares me.
 
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Heart Shaped Box - Joe Hill

50 pages in and its got me gripped. This lad can write - takes after his Dad in more ways than just looks.

I read that when it first came out in paperback here, while I was working in a Dept Store. On the bus to and from work, and during my lunch break. It was oh-so-menacing up to a point, then the ending fell flat for me.

But I'm glad I bought it as opposed to borrowing from the library as I'll likely read it again some day.
 
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I looked back through this thread and made the same comment months ago. Heh. Thought I had a sense of deja vu... ;)

I'm not reading anything too challenging at the moment as I'm brewing another migraine so another few pages of Do You Want to Know a Secret? by Claudia Carroll then I'm off to bed.

Yes.

I read chicklit.

I feel dirty.

I promise once I'm feeling better I'll get back to Bernhard Schlink's Homecoming.
 

oneblindmouse

The new me
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I just finished Firmin by Sam Savage, and am halfway through Obama's The audacity of hope.
 

MargoWest

the chart is not the sea
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I'm reading Too Great a Lady (on Emma Hamilton) by Amanda Elyot and trying not to dawdle so I can get a review of it up soon. However, work is hindering that goal somehow.
 

Delhomeboy

Stalking Jennifer Aniston!
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Reading F. Scott's "Tender is the Night" right now, next up is Toni Morrison's "Beloved", although that one is for my Intro to Lit Criticism class.
 

Vandal

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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

I've heard it's a series...
 

brainstorm77

practical experience, FTW
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Currently of course I'm reading another romance but I think I am going to read the Anne of Green Gables series :) I need a change.
 

Zipotes

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I just finished Hunger Games and I really enjoyed it, but will need the sequel asap (not sure when that's coming out though).

I've started Poison Study now.
 

Leukman

Pernicious...n'stuff.
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Swan Song, Robert McCammon
 

CaroGirl

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I just started The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz. I was tempted by the discussions I read on here and I occasionally like the challenge of reading something off the "Express" shelf at the library (which means I have only a week to finish it, two weeks with one renewal).