Reading for the new year
 

I have been spending a ton of time reading this fall and winter. We used to have a book thread, and I couldn't find it. So let's start a new one!

I just finished a very quick and excelled read called "The Jane Austen Book Club" by Karen Joy Fowler. I definately recommend it. I enjoyed it and have never even read any Jane Austen.

Another quick read was "Party Monster" by James St. James, better than the movie and entertaining if nothing else. A scary time to be around though, I can't imagine doing as many drugs as those kids did. And I was a partier. Ugh!

I completed all of Orson Scott Card's "Ender" books and loved each of them. I don't usually enjoy Sci-Fi but it was amazing, and seemed more a social commentary than anything. I enjoyed it greatly.

I have just started Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" which I have always wanted to read. What I've read so far, I am enjoying and his theme seems more pertinent today than it did when it was written.

What is everyone else reading these days?

I just finished "The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien. It was really good but also heavy.

I am currently reading "Rabbit Proof Fence", which is interesting so far.

I also have an Orson Scott Card book next - "Enchantment". I haven't read any of his stuff yet. The boy picked it up while stuck at the airport. He enjoyed it and thought I would. When he was done he gave it to me.

I'm reading Killing the Buddha, A Heretic's Bible, by Peter Manseau and Jeff Sharlet. REALLY enjoying it!
And Noam Chomsky's, Hegemony or Survival. (nothing much in there I hadn't already surmised, but I do like to read his stuff)

I'm a Sci-fi/fantasy reader for the most part, aside from cookbooks. I love to read cookbooks! Right now I'm perusing one about tofu cookery around the world, next in line is a book on Turkish culture and cuisine. Looks interesting.

For fun I'm re-reading for the umpteenth time Anne McCaffery's dragonrider series, and I just finished Terry Pratchett's Going Postal. His fiction is more comedy than Sci-fi; seriously laugh-out-loud stuff. I think in line after that is a re-read of the Harry Potter series.

I'm blessed/cursed with a short memory, so I can usually read a book again a year later and have it be fresh all over again. Except, for some reason, Tolkein. I re-read that most years anyway, but I always remember it.

Everyone has been talking about Orson Scott Card on this thread, so I'll have to check the library for him!

SolarM

Right now I am on a Henry James kick, so I am reading The American. I just finished Washington Square, and if I am not sick of it I am going to read The Bostonians next. I tend to read authors in clumps for some reason.

I also just finished Take the Canolli by Sara Vowell. It was a good bus/doctors office/waiting at a coffee shop type book because it is all short essays.

Love Orson Scott Card books, especially the Ender stuff.

Solar - definately check out ender's game. I also have the entire Alvin Maker series, but Ender is much better in my opinon. I haven't checked out Enchantment yet, I thought it was a colaboration piece with someone else for some reason. But once I find an author I love I stick with 'em and if you like sci-fi I think you'll enjoy it. I don't even like sci-fi really (well, it's growing on my, i'm just too embarassed to admit it *L*) and it is like my favorite book.
I am happy to see other people just re-read the same stuff. Really, I have like a handfull of favorite books that I just re-read over and over, and it makes me happy to do so. I read Juliet Marrillier's Sevenwaters trilogy every year and love it. Another one I recommend if you like fantasy at all.
After Walden (which i'm disappointed to say i'm having a hard time reading) comes Emma by Jane Austen. I'm trying to catch up on classics. I want to feel a little more well read, so I'm branching out in genres. Any suggetions?

I always read classic lit just because I never read enough of it in school & I really enjoy it. I picked up cold mountain & vanity fair from Borders for 8 dollars (Holiday sale) and they're nice copies, too. So I don't get tired, I usually read a 'me' book & a classic. I think too much of anything fries your brain & its just not as good (books, movies, food). Notice how the 12th oreo just isn't nearly as good as the first 2. :o)

One of my favorite "classics" is "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens.

Kellibee- I like your idea of rotating a classic with a "me" book.

Right now I am rading Glamourama by Brett Easton Ellis. I also read American Psycho by the same author and really enjoyed it.

I will have to pick up the latest Terry Pratchett novel - I love his Discworld books but can read them on the bus as they make me laugh out loud and then everyone on the bus looks at you like you are a whacko! :rofl:

Mauv - I've found that while riding the bus.. people thinking you're a whacko can actually be to your advantage. :)
I ride the bus every day. I actually had a drunk pass out into my hair last week. I almost burst into flames. *shudder* but it's usually not that bad.
And speaking of laughing out loud, when we went to watch American Psycho my hubby and I were the only ones in the theater laughing. I guess we were the only ones that got it. :)

I like that idea too, reading a me book and then a classic. I have the Jungle waiting for me too, which is my classic and "Living to tell the tale" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - my me book. My favourite author ever, I can't wait to read his auto bio.

For classics - I am a Shakespeare geek. I also like the classic horror novels - Dracula, Frankenstien, etc.

And while not exactly a classic - I recommend reading the Vagina Monologues, if you haven't read it.

Well, I am not as intellectual or literary as you learned ladies, however i enjoy reading when I have the time. I am currently reading my third James Patterson novel, Pop Goes the Weasel. I love his style of writing, (leisure reading) I am also reading Just Enough Light for the Next Step I'm On by Stormie Omartian, (spiritual reading)
and for my poetic side, Moon Loves Its Light by a local author Marilyn Lerch. Fantastic!

Lizziness- DH and I were laughing at some parts of the movie when no one else was. We figured either we were the only ones that got it or we both have a warped sense of humour :lol:

I burst out laughing when Christian Bale was running down the hall wearing only his running shoes and a chainsaw - :rofl:

Mmm... Christian Bale. :) And that's all I have to say about that. I should read the book. And I think we are the right ones, it's supposed to be funny.

I have been enjoying a woman's spiritualist writer Sarah Ban Breathnach, she does a series called "simple abundance" and I have two of her books. They are nice, and not specific to a religion which some can appreciate.

I was so excited to read 100 years of solitude by Marquez but I could only get thru half of it and that was a struggle. The story was beautiful, but I was lost in the writing style, it seemed so dry to me, but that may just be lost in the translation. Also, to have everyone in the book be named the same 2 or 3 names killed me. I didn't know who was doing what. Although I understand the whole family names thing. I'm italian and the name angela (& its many forms) is used in every female's name in my family.

100 years of Solitude is a hard read. I was lucky to have a book that contained a family tree in the front of it. I had to read it for a class on magical realism and we discussed all the "magical" things that occurred that everyone treated as everyday things.

Anyway, I just finished The Fat Girl's Guide to Life by Wendy Shanker. It was awesome!!! She writes in this "tell it like it is" style that I can relate to. She is very blunt and sarcastic about life and love and the weight-loss industry...I highly recommend the book.

Kellibee - 100 years is my favorite book. It took me three attempts to read it before i could get through it though. it is a tough read, and i kept having to go back to the family tree myself. But in the end it is worth it. I really do find it to be an amazing book. Perhaps you should try "Love in the time of Cholera" I loved it too and it was a much easier read.

I am ashamed to say I have discovered romance. After years of teasing my mum and her Mills and Boon collection (now Georgette Heyer's Regency romances) and the fun of my brother swiping the book form her and chasing her around the garden quoting bits from the book ...! Well I am very into Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark hunter series - they hunt down daemons etc and there is raunchy romance on offer too. She has pix of models on her website of what the guys are supposed to look like - OOOOOOH!

Well, in my defence I am very into vampires etc etc.

My reading club were reading Precious Bane over the holiday. I quite like it. We read the Joy Luck Club before that. I recently picked up The Good WOmen of China which I already think will be very good - about a lady who had a radio programme in China and all these women opened up to her over the air.

I also love reading crime stuff especially Ian Rankine's stuff. I love his character, Rebus.

Oh yes and that Curious Incident of the dog in the night was very good I thought.

I also read the Da Vinci code but wasn't that impressed with it.

Kellibee... I'm with you. I usually have a couple of "heady" books on the go, but at the same time, I'll read a cozy mystery or even some of my old childrens books. :lol:
I loved Vanity Fair.

Squeak, The Vagina Monologues is great! Ruth gave me a copy when she was acting in it last year. I need to get her to sign it... it may be worth big money some day. :lol3:

Virginia, are you still writing poetry?

Peahen, I read the Joy Luck Club this summer... it wasn't as good as I was expecting it to be. :shrug: Did you like it?
Last year I read Wild Swans, Three Daughters of China, by Jung Chang, which I may have been comparing Joy Luck to in my mind (for some stupid reason). It was a fantastic book.

I write everyonce in a while
when something gets into my head
I should have pen and paper at my nightstand
because it usually comes to me while in bed.

A man can lay his head down
and dreamland comes right away
a woman tends to think of everything
that has happened thoughout her day

My poetry can not be compared to Shakespeare
They are not literary works of art
Its simply tidbits of my life
Spoken from my heart

You don't have to look for a deeper meaning
Or what I am trying to say
It's out there for all to see
Just as plain as day

Thanks for asking Ellis, I have'nt actually written anything since before Christmas!
Challenge to all who like to write.
Maybe I will copy this and open a new thread!!
Virginia

Virginia, you're amazing! :grouphug:
Yes, open a new thread with it, please!

Thanks so much Ellis, you make me feel good about myself!
Go and give it a try in the new thread, its really not hard
Virginia

Good one Virginia! :cp:

Peahen - Georgette Heyer's books are wonderful! My mum brought her collection over when she moved to Canada in 1965- still has some of them but has gradually replaced them over the last five years whenever she finds a copy in better shape than hers. A couple of my favorites are "These Old Shades" "Faro's Daughter" and "The Black Moth".
I just love historical novels :)

Hmmm I am resisting them Mauv - I am already fast turning in to my Mum!!! A friend of mine also recommended them but I don't really like historial romances. At the moment I am into Vampires/were hunter etc. Obviously not grown up yet!!! No I read all sorts. I recently read Kitchen COnfidential by Anthony Bourdain. He is a chef and it is a warts and all book about the world of the chef, kitchens etc. Quite fascinating!

:lol: Peahen, I must have read those Georgette Heyer's when I was 12! So don't worry about not being grown up yet - I'm not there yet either! I like vampire novels a long as they are well written. I quite like Nancy Collins. Use to read Anne Rice but got bored after The Tale of the Body Thief. Did not like Pandora at all... I haven't found anything that interesting lately.

Orson Scott Card did a vampire trilogy which I read some time ago but can't remember what they were called....

Oh Thanks Mauv-

I went to check up on Amazon UK for a list of Nancy Collins books and I see I have already read Sunglasses after dark (long ago from the library) so that will be a re-read and I wil devour her other books as well!


Cheers!