A Poisoned Season, by Tasha Alexander, historical mystery. Love, death, and antiquities in Victorian London.
Letters for Emily--Camron Wright, contemporary fiction. A dying grandfather leaves his love, advice, and a puzzle to solve for his beloved granddaughter.
The Jewel Trader of Pegu--Jeffrey Hantover, historical fiction. A Jewish jewel trader from Italy arrives in Burma in the year 1598, and grows to love the people and their culture.
Death for a Gentle Lady--MC Beaton, mystery. One of the Hamish Macbeth mystery series, set in Scotland.
Finished Mary, Mary and really liked it. But then I am a fan of James Patterson so...currently reading Little Children by Tom Perrotta...so far, so good. Hoping to finish it tonight and start The Shack I think...not sure yet what is next on the list.
Edited: Umm, losing my mind...read Mary, Mary and then Nights in Rodanthe by Nichols Sparks now Little Children...can't keep up.
I love Tom Perrotta! I just finished reading Little Heathens and Remember Me. I really enjoyed Little Heathens, I like any books about farm life (for some weird reason), Remember Me was harmless fluff, not exactly compelling stuff. Next up: Gods Behaving Badly. I'm a total mythology nut, so I hope it will be funny!
Has anyone read the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon? They were suggested to me by a friend. They did not sound like my type of book at all, but she suggested them so highly that I couldn't resist. I have read the first two so far and have really enjoyed them.
I loved the first 3, especially the first one. After the first 3, I have liked each subsequent book less and less. I'll read the next one, but I won't buy it, Gabaldon has been downgraded to a library check-out, sadly. I have no interest in her Lord John books at all!
I'm reading The Chronicles of Narnia. I'm currently on book #4, Prince Caspian. Its very good so far. I cant wait to see the movie. All the stories have been pretty good. Its too bad they didnt start with the first book for the movie.
Heh, welcome to the great Narnia controversey - what is the correct order? When I read them as a kid, my boxed set started with Magician's Nephew. Now, most boxed sets start with The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. When the books were originally published, they weren't numbered.
Publication order (order they were written by C.S. Lewis):
The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe (1950)
Prince Caspian (1951)
Voyage of the Dawn Treader (1952)
Silver Chair (1953)
Horse & His Boy (1954)
Magician's Nephew (1955)
Last Battle (1956)
Just playing Devil's Advocate (since I greatly prefer the chronological order beginning with The Magician's Nephew) but by many people's standards, they DID begin with the "first" book
Like Lisa Marie, I just finished reading Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner. It was really a wonderful sequel to Good in Bed, one of the best books I've ever read. I also just reread Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to pick up on subtleties I miss during the intial speed read. Today I began A Blessed Event by Jean Reynolds Page.
FrouFrou, I read Little Children about 6 months ago not knowing that it was recently made into a movie. The filmmakers did a good job of matching the tone of book, if not staying completely within the storyline. If you haven't already, check out the film. It's definately worth a watch.
Sissy, I liked Certain Girls too. After that one, I read Size 14 is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot, which is just a fun little chick lit mystery, then Body Surfing by Anita Shreve, which was well written but somewhat boring, then another chick lit -- Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella. Now I'm back to baby and parenting books until my next shipment from Bookswim.
About 2/3 of the way through Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn; then have In Secret Service by Mitch Silver: Ian Fleming's centenary is this month (I only found that out today) and Fleming figures in this story
Does anyone listen to books? How difft is it to actually reading a book? I would prefer reading, but can't find the time, and my book list is growing ever longer...lol
I "read" a lot of books by listening to them on cd. I'm in the car a lot and I usually average a book or so a week just by listening. I also load them onto my ipod and can listen while making dinner or knitting.
Most of the time, it's actors or actresses reading, so they do a very good job differentiating the voices of characters.
Try listening to the audio books of the Harry Potter series. Jim Dale does them and he's AMAZING. He actually set a world record with the recording of book 7, Deathly Hallows, by creating 147 distinct character voices.
Ok so I just finished Jodi Picoult's The Tenth Circle. Man, talk about exciting! Kinda disturbing, but overall, a great book!
Next on my list is James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. I didn't even realize it was on Oprah's book list...but it seems exciting. I start that tomorrow!
Next on my list is James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. I didn't even realize it was on Oprah's book list...but it seems exciting. I start that tomorrow!
I think it WAS on Oprah's book list, heh
Huge controversey - he published it as a memoir and it turned out to have fictional elements. Oprah had endorsed/praised the book when she thought it was fact and really called Frey to the carpet when it turned out to be not 100% true.
It's interesting - if you are writing your own story, where does fact and fiction merge and diverge? To entertain the public and have a better chance of a bestseller, can an author embellish their own story?
I haven't read it, but I definitely found the controversey fascinating.
I did read A Million Little Pieces and the follow-up, I can't remember that title, though. It was a very entertaining book. There were some things that were a bit unbelievable, though. Just like Running with Scissors--there were just a few things that I couldn't imagine were 100% true (and were later disputed by family members). So, yeah, which is better: tell the truth or embellish?
I am currently reading Stephenie Meyer's The Host and Cerulean Sins from Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake Series. I've been on a vampire series kick since reading Stephenie Meyer's Twilight series. Next on my list are the rest of the Anita Blake Series books and the latest Sookie Stackhouse series book by Charlaine Harris. Oh, and I'm eagerly awaiting David Sedaris' next book out in June!
Have you read the Tanya Huff vampire books yet? I'm a huge fan - the first one is Blood Price. If you ever feel like branching into werewolves, Bitten was pretty good.
I have The Host on hold at the library, but I'm like number 50 in the queue.
