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Book A Week in 2009 *Week 39 Book 40*


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Today is the start of Week 39 in the quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks and starting book # 40. Guess what? We have 13 weeks left.

 

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Happy October - I've designated this spookacular month and going to read several interesting books such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Dracula - The Undead by Dacre Stoker (a sequel), From a Whisper to a Scream by Charles De-Lint and The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. Read all about on 52 books or mytwoblessings blog.

 

What are you all reading this week?

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Hey there, Robin and everyone,

 

Last week I listened to Dan Brown's Lost Symbol while I finished crocheting an afghan for my ds. It is a mixed bag of a book. I enjoy how the delving into the symbolism of art and the roots of language move the story -- I had to google the painting on the Capitol Rotunda ceiling for instance because I was so intrigued by it in the story. But I had to stop the story a few times because of how STUPID the beautiful science girl was. All in all, not as good as Da Vinci Code. The rest of my family, after listening to me groan about parts of it, now can't decide whether they want to read it or not! I keep saying it would be a fine listen for a long airplane trip.

 

I started Robert Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy, and am enjoying that. My ds and I are about to launch into the Iliad, the Fagles translation. And I picked up the latest Oprah book yesterday, Say You're One of the Them, not because of her book club sticker but because of an interview I read with the author, Uwem Akpan.

 

There is an interesting book blog that has just started at the website for the magazine Entertainment Weekly. I really like many of the writers at EW as they are an intelligent and well read bunch who are also pop culture fans, and this blog has the same flavor. Some of you may enjoy it as well http://shelf-life.ew.com/

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Happy October - I've designated this spookacular month and going to read several interesting books such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Dracula - The Undead by Dacre Stoker (a sequel)

 

I, too, want to read Frankenstein. I read Dracula last October & will have to look up The Undead -- could be a fun follow-up. (Have you read The Historian? It's another take on the Dracula stories & is very well-done. I really enjoyed it.)

 

Just finished:

The Book Thief (great book)

The Alchemist (didn't really care for it)

 

Currently reading:

Marco Polo: from Venice to Xanadu

The Help

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing

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I just finished Outlander by Gabaldon. It was the 5th 'romance' novel I've read in the last 3 1/2 weeks from the suggestions I received here on the boards. I blogged reviews here.

 

I also read The Invention of Hugo Cabret and started Chasing Vermeer and The Shakespeare Stealer. Apparently I'm now on a YA fiction kick. :)

 

Speaker for the Dead is up next. I'm happy to be back into my book stack, but it seems to be taking its toll on my house and children....

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I just finished The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing tonight. Very good book & I recommend it even for adults. (It is listed as a 'young adult' title.) I think this would also be a great book for high schoolers studying colonial/Revolutionary War times. It is definitely a book that would be a great conversation starter.

 

I just requested that my library order the second volume so I can read it, lol.

 

(excerpts from the BookList review on amazon.com):

"...

The plot focuses on Octavian, a young black boy who recounts his youth in a Boston household of scientists and philosophers (The Novanglian College of Lucidity). The Collegians believe so thoroughly in the Age of Reason's principles that they address one another as numbers. Octavian soon learns that he and his mother are objects of one of the Collegians' experiments to learn whether Africans are "a separate and distinct species." Octavian receives an education "equal to any of the princes in Europe," until financial strains shatter Octavian's sheltered life of intellectual pursuits and the illusion that he is a free member of a utopian society. As political unrest in the colonies grows, Octavian experiences the increasing horrors of what it means to be a slave.

...

Anderson's book is both chaotic and highly accomplished, and, like Aidan Chambers' recent This Is All (2006), it demands rereading. Teens need not understand all the historical and literary allusions to connect with Octavian's torment or to debate the novel's questions, present in our country's founding documents, which move into today's urgent arguments about intellectual life; individual action; the influence of power and money, racism and privilege; and what patriotism, freedom, and citizenship mean."

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[ Happy October - I've designated this spookacular month and going to read several interesting books such as Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Dracula - The Undead by Dacre Stoker (a sequel), From a Whisper to a Scream by Charles De-Lint and The Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. Read all about on 52 books or mytwoblessings blog.

 

What are you all reading this week?

[/font]

 

 

I read Frankenstein a few months ago. I loved it! This book caused me to really think about the themes.

 

I had surgery earlier this week so I am doing lots of reading while I am recovering. :D I finished Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins--excellent book, can't wait to get my hands on the next one in the series.

 

Book #40 is A Royal Pain by Rhys Bowen. This is a fluff mystery series but I really enjoy it.

 

Just started The Actor and the Housewife by Shannon Hale. I am not too sure about this book. So far, I am not sold on it.

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Running list:

The Bell at Sealey Head

Alphabet of Thorn

Od Magic

In the Forests of Serre

Coffe, Tea, and Me

The Tower at Stony Wood

Music of the Dolphin

My Blue Castle

The Eye of the Heron

Fools Run

Learning to Bow

Mansfield Park

What Shamu Taught Me About Love and Marriage

A Wind in Cairo

Silver Pigs

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

The Chosen

Dealing with Dragons

Don't Shoot the Dog

The Chosen

Boy

Going Solo

Gaudy Night

Wild Magic

Sheiks and Adders

(and all our Berenstein Bear books)

a Dolciani algebra book

Busman's Honeymoon

The Fairy Reel

The Mysterious Comission

Double Contact

Honeybath's Haven

The second and third in the Wild Magic series (can't remember their titles)

The Accusers

Scandal Takes a Holiday

Alexandria

and one other Lindsey Davis whose name I can't

Lady Susan

Emma

 

Most recently:

Sense and Sensibility - Comfort food

Money from Holme - Dragged on rather in the middle but I liked the ending

 

-Nan

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Oh, my! So many books, so little time!

 

I'm on a travel kick lately, so I'm currently reading Tim Cahill's Hold the Enlightenment, after finishing his Jaguars Ripped My Flesh. On someone's recommendation on this forum, I also recently read Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

 

Wendi

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Ah, I was away on Friday and have just found the thread. I didn't do much reading last week because I was driving (:hurray:for road trips!:hurray:) but I did read my new Jewish cookbook! And looked through Mangoes and Curry Leaves, and another book on South Western Native American cooking. It was a foodie week :)

 

Rosie

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