Sounds fun, Kara! What's The Other about?

I finished the Deborah Tannen lectures. They were awesome! I'm hoping DH will listen to them so he can get some ideas.

I'm about to start another audio book: Grace by Richard Paul Evans. Sounds like just the treacly Christmas story I need right now!

I read Fraud by David Rakoff for my book club. Though it was a little disorienting since it was written almost 10 years ago, I really enjoyed his writing and look forward to trying his newer book.

I'm delving in to one of two new books I couldn't resist taking home from the library the other day (when I was supposed to be looking for cookbooks): The Distance Between Two Women by Kris Radish. I really adore her style and this story sounds really fun and intriguing! The second book is called The Day The Falls Stopped and looks amazing!

_The Other_, so far (I'm about 2/3 finished) is about a friendship between two guys and how it developed over the years. The one guy came from money but decided to give it all up and live in the woods and the other guy came from humble beginnings and ended up being a teacher. They met in high school and the story has been following their friendship through the years. It's written in the first person (from the perspective of the teacher guy). I really like David Guterson because he writes about the Seattle area, which we love. Have you read any of his other books? _Snow Falling on Cedars_ and _East of the Mountains_ were both so good. I think I might reread them next.

Oh, wow, Kara! No, I haven't read his other books, though I do remember hearing good things about Snow Falling on Cedars. I love Seattle, so they sound right up my alley. I'll have to check them out!

I found out that the second book I mentioned earlier is actually The Day The Falls Stood Still.

Just bumping up...

I finished Grace, which had a surprising and odd ending.

I'm now listening to an audio book I may have read before: Shepherds Abiding by Jan Karon. It's a collection of Mitford Christmas stories.

What are you reading?

I love Jan Karon's books! I always wanted to meet Father Tim. Warm fuzzies.

I have just not been in a reading mood for a while. I've got a stack of To Be Read, but I've picked up a couple (The Kite Runner, The Beautiful and the Damned, Luncheon of the Boating Party) and read a few pages, and just did not get hooked. So, in the meantime I'm re-reading some of Lovely Bones and Outlander. It's sad, I've got about 20 credits on Paperback Swap and I keep browsing and just seeing nothing. Well, wintertime is good reading time!

I just finished Ian MacEwen's "Amsterdam" (10 years after it was a bestseller;I have a stack of unread books and that was one of them.) I liked it a lot. It's about a very competitive friendship between two men who meet at a mutual former girlfriend's funeral. They're interesting men, and it's beautifully written.

I've been reading and very much enjoying The Bride Quartet series by Nora Roberts. It's about 4 childhood friends who together become the founders of Vows, one of Connecticut's premiere wedding planning companies. Nora Roberts is one of my favorite authors, and she hasn't let me down yet.

I just read "The Shack" and it was awesome! It made me cry, laugh, and really makes you think of how you look at the world.

Next on my list, U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton...cant wait!

mmm, LeslieLou, you have great taste! I loved The Shack as well, and am looking forward to breaking my "never-reread" rule for it--I think it must take 3 or 4 readings to really absorb all the amazing insights in that book! I love Sue Grafton! I read all the alphabet books up to a point, where I had to wait for the next one. By the time it came out and I could get a copy at the library, I'd forgotten so much that I didn't get it. I need to pick up and get back in it again. I'm sure I've gone through at least half of them, and I love her books, especially since Kinsey sometimes travels into my former hometown of Simi Valley.

Schmoodle, I'm so sorry you're feeling listless with reading right now. Do you celebrate a holiday at this time of year? Maybe you can read a book related to the holiday? If you haven't read it yet, I highly, highly recommend the book The Help. It's phenomenal, and many diverse readers have said so--I think you'd be blown away. It's hard to put down, too. The ones you mentioned are in your TBR pile are a bit more meaty and harder to get into, IMHO.

Cottage, I love Nora Roberts! I just listened to an audio book that reminded me of her writing: Simply Perfect.

Xan, did McEwan write Atonement? His name sounds familiar...

No changes for me...I've been so busy I haven't had much time to read. But I did pick up a copy of A Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas, one of the holiday books recommended by Michael Dirda. I put a couple more on hold at the library. I also have South of Broad by Pat Conroy and Wally Lamb's new one, The Hour I First Believed, to read for my book club meetings in January. Both are HUGE, so I have a lot of holiday reading to do!

beachgal...I agree .....I think it will take a few times of reading The Shack to fully appreciate it but the first read was awesome! I have re-read some of Sue Grafton's books to remind me where Kinsey was before starting the new one. I just love that series! Right now I'm reading Nora Roberts, The Villa...great book!

Laurie, good memory! Yes, he wrote "Atonement," and I bought several other books by him at the time, and they've been sitting around waiting to be read. I'm hoping to do a lot of reading over Christmas.