Based on a couple of people's recommendations I picked up One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I started reading it last Friday on my bus ride to and from work and I am at the last chapter today - I am really enjoying it, can't seem to put it down and I will be looking for other books by this author. I didn't realise it but I had read another one of his books ages ago - Love in the Time of Cholera- and I am glad that I rediscovered this author

ellis - I will lend it to you when I am done

Mauv- GOOD CHOICE! He's my favorite author ever. I think I liked Love in the Time of Cholera a little better than One Hundred Years of Solitude. Maybe because it was a little easier read.

I am currently reading "Living to tell the tale" which is the first volume of his life story. It's very interesting and it's fun to see how he got so many ideas for his books from his real life. His writing is like poetry, and I just love it.

Thanks, Mauvais!

I'm currently reading Iris Murdoch's, Existentialists and Mystics (Writings on Philosophy and Literature). Geez, it's a hard go. Now if I went off my meds, I'd have an easier time comprehending it!
I'm enjoying parts of it, though, and am underlining as I go.

I am about to start reading The Lovely Bones...anyone read this yet?

I have decided to put aside a few hours each week to devote completely to reading since I seem to have gotten out of the habit over the past year. A cup of tea and the phone turned off + curled up with a good book = bliss

I spent most of Sunday afternoon reading the Lovely Bones - great book! Sad but insightful too.

I am now trying to read Glamourama by Brett Easton Ellis...

So far it has been a difficult read because of the disjointed language and peppering of song lyrics in the speech of one of the characters (which is really annoying) and constant name dropping of celebrities but I am now halfway through and wondering what the **** the story is leading up to...

Glamourama

I finished reading this book and here is my review: 1st half of book is boring, following the misadventures of a sort-of-famous male model as he tries to open a nightclub. Plenty of celebrity name dropping (which got annoying after awhile) but I kept reading hoping it was going to get better.

2nd half of book takes on a weird spy/political manipulation/terrorist theme which sounds way more interesting than it actually is...I kept reading hoping it would get better...it never did.

And the ending is irritating....

Lot's of profane language, explicit sex and lurid descriptions of blown up and dismembered body parts and an improbable plot.

I would not recommend this book to anyone. Again I say "" !
Which is too bad because I enjoyed Brett Easton Ellis' "Less Than Zero" and "American Psycho"

Moving onto "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden....I read the 1st chapter on the bus ride to work this morning, it has piqued my interest - so far so good

What is everyone else reading these days?

Mauvais, you will find "Geisha" very interesting. It is strange to read something written by a man that seems to be so inside a woman's brain. I read it when it first came out and it's on my list to be revisited.

"The Lovely Bones" was great! It was sad but certainly had moments of humour. You might enjoy "The Island Walkers" too. I have it if you'd like to borrow it.

At the moment, I am re-"reading" Carol Shield's "The Stone Diaries" as a book on tape. Carol herself is reading the book and it's so strange to hear her voice now that she's gone. She lived in Ottawa at one time and my sister knew her pretty well.

Next on my reading pile is to re-read Leonard Cohen's "Beautiful Losers".

I would love to borrow that book Ruth! Thanks for the offer

I read Beautiful Losers years ago too - maybe it is time for a re-read...

I bar myself from chicklit bc I'm afraid once hooked, I will never read real lit. But I did buy the book P.S. I Love you, by Cecelia Ahern, Ireland's Prime Minister's daughter. It is very charming & touching & I would definantly recommend it. Its gotten many awards. I'm also going to take part in a reading group on Barnes & Noble.com for Jane Austen's Emma, which I loved Pride & Prejudice & they say Emma was her finest work. I'm looking forward to it.

Oh, I've been looking for a reading group. I am glad you mentioned that, Kelli. I'm going to have to check it out. Plus - I bought Emma in a big book buying spree and I haven't read it yet.

I'm with you, usually I avoid that fluffy stuff. But ocassionally it's good to read something that's not so serious, not so thought provoking, for entertainment. Kinda like giving in and watching a Hugh Grant movie, or Kung-Fu or something. Can't be serious all the time.

Speaking of an entertainment read, Kelli, I read a book called "The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler. It was really good, a very quick read, and walked the line of meaningful and entertaining. I enjoyed it very much, and was through it within a weekend. It does have a lot of Jane Austen spoilers though and some references I didn't know because I hadn't read her work. So it may be better to read her works first, but it's definately not necessary.

Emma is great... I loved it. It's quite humorous.

Hey, some "Chick Lit" isn't so bad Although I am not a fan of typical romance novels, Danielle Steele/Jackie Collins type stuff. It is okay to go literary slumming once in a while just for fun!

Just finished my Geisha book - terrific read! They (Geisha) always look so glamourous and mysterious and it was interesting and kind of sad to read about what their lives were like.

Another book that I read that isn't my usual type but that I really enjoyed was "The Color Purple" . It was funny, sad and very poingnant. Hmmm...maybe I should revisit that one too....

I am reading "The Know-it-all: one man's humble quest to become thye smartest person in the world" and it is one of the funniest things that I have read in a long time. It is a memoir of someone who is reading the entire excyclopedia Britannica, which sounds a bit dry, but I have actually had a couple of laughing-till-tears-stream-down-my-face moments, and I am only three chapters in.

The last thing I read was Runners World magazine, how sad is that???? I loved the Lovely Bones. Alice Sebold's first book, Lucky, which is autobiographical is stunning, and you can see where a lot of Lovely Bones comes from. Even my partner Colin loved it!

I have been reading a lot of Faye Kellerman recently I really enjoy her books. I haven't read a good chick lit for ages!