Book a Week in 2013 - week thirteen

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday, my dears! Today is the start of week 13 in our quest to read 52 books in 52 weeks. Welcome back to all our readers, to all those who are just joining in and to all who are following our progress. Mr. Linky is all set up on the 52 Books blog to link to your reviews. The link is below in my signature.

 

52 Books Blog - Chinua Achebe: On March 21st, Nigerian author Chinua Achebe, seen by many as the father of African literature, passed away at the age of 82. He is most well known for his novel Things Fall Apart, a book I've had on my wishlist and have been meaning to read for quite a while ever since I read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. A few years back I took a film versus literature course in which one of the books we compared was Conrad's book with the movie Apocalypse Now. Included in the book were several essays including one written by Achebe called An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness. It was a reprisal of a lecture he had given in 1975 tackling the racism portrayed in the story. Achebe believed that not only were the ideas in the book racist, but reflected the author's personal beliefs. Having read Heart of Darkness I can totally understand his point of view and why I wanted to read Things Fall Apart. The book is now winging it way to me (thank you Amazon) and I'll probably be reading it sooner than later. Will I be rereading Heart of Darkness since it's been 3 or 4 years since I read it? I don't know - It is a short novella that packs a punch and stays with you for a very long time.

 

In honor of Chinua Achebe, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is sometime this year read and compare Heart of Darkness with Things Fall Apart, then watch Apocalypse now. Check out his other books here.

 

 

April readalong - still planning on 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami: We'll start April 7 which will give those reading Hopscotch time to finish and absorb before diving into this chunkster.

 

Book news: Stumbled across this a bit late, but better late than never I always say. It is the 10th Anniversary of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and it is available for free in ebook format through the end of today, march 24. If you haven't read it yet, here's your chance. I read it twice and enjoyed it both times. Forget all the hoopla. Just like Harry Potter, it is fiction after all.

 

What are you reading this week?

 

 

 

 

Link to week 12

[Remudamom]

Magicians' Nephew here. I bought the Narnia books for my Kindle when they were on sale last week. Fun to re-read them.

[Robin M]

Finished Angelopolis by Danielle Trussoni. Wasn't an impressed as I was with Angelology. Disappointing sequel. Good story but too many continuity issues for me which things suddenly changing in a scene and me wondering what just happened and why weren't they following through.

 

Also read Cherry Adair's newest action adventure/romance Relentless, the next book in her Lodestone series which was excellent. The author really knows how to put her characters through the emotional and physical wringer. Just exhausted reading what they went through, same as with Hush. Vintage Cherry. So much better than Ice Cold which was her first self publishing attempt.

 

Moving on to From the Dead by Mark Billingham: "It has been a decade since Alan Langford's charred remains were discovered in his burnt-out car. His wife Donna was found guilty of conspiracy to murder her husband and served ten years in prison. But just before she is released, Donna receives a nasty shock: an anonymous letter containing a photo of her husband. The man she hates with every fibre of her being - the man she paid to have murdered - seems very much alive and well. How is it possible that her husband is still alive? Where is he? Who sent the photo, and why? DI Tom Thorne becomes involved in a case where nothing and no one are what they seem. It will take him much further from his London beat than he has ever been before - and closer to a killer who will do anything to protect his new life."

 

Currently listening to Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs: "A demon-riding vampire has gone on a killing spree unlike any the Tri- Cities has ever seen-and the undead and werewolves sent to stop him haven't returned. A coyote is no match for a demon, but shapeshifting mechanic Mercy Thompson is immune to many vampiric powers-and those are her friends who are missing, including the two werewolves circling around her heart."

[Onceuponatime]

I read The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale this week and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm currently 3/4 of the way through Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene by Bart Ehrman.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

.

[Jane in NC]

Robin, I have previously recommended your Chinua Achebe challenge in this thread and on the high school board. A book that has been on my "to read" list for some time now is another by Achebe, The Education of a British Protected Child, as well as the book King Leopold's Ghost. Perhaps I will read one of these as our continental challenge when we hop to Africa.

 

Still slogging away on Lucretius and an archaeology text book.

 

I started rereading the first book in Dorothy Dunnett's House of Nicolo series, Nicolo Rising. I picked up this used copy a decade ago in an Oxfam store somewhere in Britain. I read it on trains and in the evenings in B&Bs or hostels. I have not read the rest of the series but it seemed best to start in the beginning before launching on the other seven books.

 

I needed an entertainment this week and found it in Das Kapital: A Novel of Love and Money Markets by Viken Berberian. Thumbs down to the ending but overall I really enjoyed this story of a love triangle between an investment banker who bets on falling markets and disasters, an architecture student, and an ecoterrorist.. (Note: this book was published in 2007 before the latest economic hiccup which Berberian seems to predict.)

 

Wayne, the Wall Street trader, lives his life by numbers and trends. His thoughts and conversations are dominated by the numbers--as is his life as his Blackberry buzzes to report on the latest figures. Then he falls in love with Alix, the architecture student who lives in gritty Marseille. Does Wayne change?

 

Hours later, as he left the office, he bumped into a homeless man with a scraggly beard. The man held him from his shoulders and politely asked for twenty dollars. What chutzpah, Wayne thought. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a hundred. He did not share this incident with anyone. So much of history is unwritten, a lost continuum of unspoken moments, a contradiction to all that has been said about him: trader without a heart, rapacious swindler, penny-pinching predator, timorous scumbag, murderer. Rumors. Do not believe them. They are there to be denied, or, if the market is open,to be traded on.

 

Das Kapital is Berberian's second novel. I plan on reading his first, The Cyclist, a tale of food and terrorism (as opposed to money markets and terrorism). Would others like his work? I don't know. It is a little quirky.

[Negin]

I read:

The Cat's Table - 2 Stars

The Peach Keeper - 3 Stars

 

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad.

[Storm Bay]

Since my last post, I read Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews, which is a cozy mystery (2.5 stars) that added another state to my US states challenge from Robin's page for our challenges here.

 

Right now I'm reading a well written novel by an author some have said is as good as Chinua Achebe (not sure if they write similarly or not as I haven't read Achebe) that will probably get 4 or 5 stars once I'm done,

[Robin M]

Robin, I have previously recommended your Chinua Achebe challenge in this thread and on the high school board. A book that has been on my "to read" list for some time now is another by Achebe, The Education of a British Protected Child, as well as the book King Leopold's Ghost. Perhaps I will read one of these as our continental challenge when we hop to Africa.

 

 

Yes, thank you. I bow down before your greatness and give you the credit entirely for the idea. :cheers2: It think you mentioned it last year too. I hadn't figure out where we'd be going after South America but looking at the map, it makes sense to sail across the south Atlantic and travel up through Africa next. We'll probably be hopping to Africa in May.

[Jane in NC]

 

Yes, thank you. I bow down before your greatness and give you the credit entirely for the idea. :cheers2: It think you mentioned it last year too. I hadn't figure out where we'd be going after South America but looking at the map, it makes sense to sail across the south Atlantic and travel up through Africa next. We'll probably be hopping to Africa in May.

 

 

Oh gosh--I did not mean to sound like a jerk, Robin. I just wanted to echo a thumbs up for Achebe challenge!

[Robin M]

Since my last post, I read Murder with Peacocks by Donna Andrews, which is a cozy mystery (2.5 stars) that added another state to my US states challenge from Robin's page for our challenges here.

 

Right now I'm reading a well written novel by an author some have said is as good as Chinua Achebe (not sure if they write similarly or not as I haven't read Achebe) that will probably get 4 or 5 stars once I'm done,

 

 

If you haven't watched her TED talk yet, here's the link. It's excellent. She's on my wishlist as well.

[Storm Bay]

 

 

If you haven't watched her TED talk yet, here's the link. It's excellent. She's on my wishlist as well.

Thanks! I'd never even head of her (or missed it) until I chose her book to fill a couple of challenges. I'm so pleased to have found her as she writes well. However, given the sadness of the time she writes about, I won't be reading another one of hers right away.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

. 

 

[Kareni]

Last night I finished Cover Me (Elite Force: That Others May Live) by Catherine Mann. I enjoyed the book even though parts of the plotline strained credulity. But, hey, it's fiction!

 

"It should have been a simple mission...

 

Pararescueman Wade Rocha fast ropes from the back of a helicopter into a blizzard to save a climber stranded on an Aleutian Island, but Sunny Foster insists she can take care of herself just fine...

 

But when it comes to passion, nothing is ever simple...

 

With the snowstorm kicking into overdrive, Sunny and Wade hunker down in a cave and barely resist the urge to keep each other warm... until they discover the frozen remains of a horrific crime... Unable to trust the local police force, Sunny and Wade investigate, while their irresistible passion for each other gets them more and more dangerously entangled..."

 

I've read others in the same series (all romantic suspense) and enjoyed them, too.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Jane in NC]

 

 

I read King Leopold's Ghost two years ago for the 52 Books Challenge. It was very well-written history, but there were parts of it that were quite disturbing to me (particularly regarding treatment of native children). Looting and genocide on a grand scale :crying:

That is why it has been on my "to be read" list for years. I have not had the stomach...

[LostSurprise]

The only thing I've finished is The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Danielewski (House of Leaves). Its a bizarre mixture of campfire ghost story and performance art. The back flap says it was released in a limited handmade edition at first (the illustrations are sewing or embroidary) and that its performed on Halloween night with shadow puppets. Purposely poetic (double edged sword ;)). I thought there were a lot of unfinished and unused aspects of the story which was frustrating. It was a story though, I could feel the narrative winding through it, even some of the creepiness (which usually doesn't affect me much). I would really be interested in seeing what someone else thinks. Danielewski wrote the very meta House of Leaves we talked about a bit last year.

 

Still working on everything else, although very slowly. I should probably just flush some stuff and move on. I picked up Odd Forever, the next Odd Thomas novel. Not as well written as the first, but okay so far.

 

Top Ten *

Best of the Year **

24. The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Danielewski~horror, storytelling, sewing, performance art.

23. Dough: a Memoir by Mort Zachter~New York, immigrants, family. (Dewey Decimal challenge: 300s)

22. Sandman: Preludes & Nocturnes by Neil Gaiman~graphic novel, sleep, quest. (Fiction genre challenge: graphic novels)

21. Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz~supernatural thriller, ghosts *

20. The Story of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang~science fiction, short stories (Fiction genre challenge: short stories) **

19. Down the Garden Path by Beverley Nichols~memoir, gardening, humor (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 600s)

18. D'Aulaire's Book of Norse Myths by the D'Aulaires~Norse myths (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 200s)

17. Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout~fiction, short stories, aging. *

16. Philosophy: a Discovery in Comics by Margreet de Heer~nonfiction, philosophy, comics (Dewey Decimal challenge, 100s)

15. Concrete Island by JG Ballard~fiction, isolation, survival

14. The Queen's Gambit by Walter Tevis~fiction, coming of age, chess **

13. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine l'Engle~children's fiction, fantasy, coming of age

12. Way Station by Clifford Simak~science fiction, aliens, atomic age (Fiction genre challenge: Science Fiction)

11. Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish~autobiography, Depression, family (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 900s) *

10. Changeless by Gail Carriger~fiction, steampunk, series, werewolves/vampire, Victoriana.

9. The Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman~fiction, family drama, Australia, miscarriage. (Continental Challenge: Australia) *

8. Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card~fantasy, alternative early America, witchcraft/magic.

7. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson~satire, American dream, drug trip. (Dewey Decimal Challenge, 000s)

6. Soulless by Gail Carriger~steampunk, vampires, werewolves, Victoriana. (Fiction genre challenge: Fantasy)

5. Away by Jane Urquhart~Ireland, Canada, emigration, magical realism, family saga. (Continental Challenge: North America/Canada) *

4. Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim~autobiography, Germany pre-WWI, gardening, women's roles

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer~fiction, WWII, letters, humor

2. The Little Book by Seldon Edwards~fiction, Vienna, time travel (Fiction genre challenge: General Fiction)

1. Mad Mary Lamb by Susan Tyler Hitchcock~biography, 19th century, women's roles, mental illness (Finally Finished challenge)

 

 

Working:

The House by the Sea (Sarton)

Swallows and Amazons (Ransome)

Book of Imaginary Beings (Borges)

Odd Forever (Koontz)

[Stacia]

I posted last night in last week's post, but I'll cut & paste here...

------------------

Well, I think I just have to set Hopscotch aside for the foreseeable future. I feel like I've been wading through it forever & still have a long way to go. I'm just not into it anymore (at least at this point)....

 

A few thoughts...

 

Reading it in the 'normal' order: It's a dense read w/ many references that probably whizzed right past me. Parts were good, the prose is gorgeous (sometimes), & I loved the few ending chapters. But, overall, I didn't like any of the characters & didn't really care for the story (not really much of a plot). It has a rather pessimistic view on life, imo. I'm so-so on the novel in that version.

 

Reading it in the 'hopscotch' order: It's still a dense read, but more interesting w/ the extra chapters interspersed. I can really appreciate the talent needed to create a book that can be read in various orders & still have some semblance (?) of sense. It reminds me of all the little details in a surrealist painting by Dali -- so many little pieces & touches to make it one picture or a different one depending on how you view it. Really it takes a massive amount of skill, dare I say genius, to pull it off correctly. So, I see the beauty of the structure. I love the beauty of the structure. I also like that flipping to the various chapters in the hopscotch order actually interrupts your reading flow enough that you have a few extra seconds to mull over what you just read while you're searching for the next section. The slight mental breaks work wonderfully within this framework. However, I still don't like the characters & I still don't like the story. And, really, why does it bug me that these folks are in their 40s & behaving these ways? I don't know, but it does; it seems like they're acting like 'intellectual' & pretentious 20-somethings, but it gives me a different view to find that at least some of them are in their 40s during this story. So, though I love the structure, the framework, it's just not enough to keep me compelled to read. Total between both readings (the completed 'normal' order & partially completed 'hopscotch' order), I've probably read over 500 pages. I feel like I have a lot invested in the book but that I'm not getting much in return at this point. Shrug. Must stop it for now & move on to something that will make me happy to read....

 

So, I'll have to call it a partial success with very cool execution, but not a story that I like.

--------------------------

I guess that means Hopscotch is the book I finished this week.

 

In the meantime, I started one I originally heard about on the Bob Edwards show: Nick & Jake: An Epistolary Novel by Jonathan Richards and Tad Richards.

http://www.amazon.co...rds=nick & jake

 

In the comic tradition of Catch-22, the protagonists of Hemingway and Fitzgerald return.

 

America in 1953 seems hell-bent on squandering the flood tide of international goodwill earned in WWII. Senator Joe McCarthy is on a red-hunting rampage in Washington, and the fledgling CIA under Allen Dulles is starting to dabble in nation-building.

 

Into this moment of history wander Nick Carraway and Jake Barnes, refugees from Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby and Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises. They begin a correspondence that leads to a close friendship, and widens to include a bizarre cast of characters. From the classic fiction of the period come Larry Darrell (The Razor's Edge), Alden Pyle (The Quiet American), Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn (The Sun Also Rises), and from real life, Roy Cohn (Robert's nephew) and his pal Davey Schine, Roy's boss Joe McCarthy, the Dulles brothers, the Weavers, French intellectuals Sartre and De Beauvoir, Iranian premier Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh, novelist Jackie Susann, music moguls Jerry Wexler and Ahmed Ertegun, and sex-change pioneer Christine Jorgensen. Jake discovers a CIA plot to cause a coup in France, and Nick and Jake must do their best to save their country from itself while affairs of the heart change both of their lives and teach them lessons about life and love. Nick & Jake finds the uproarious comic potential in a chilling period of American history that has alarming echoes in our own.

 

So far, it's pretty funny.

 

--------------------------

My Goodreads Page

My PaperbackSwap Page

Working on Robin's Dusty &/or Chunky Book Challenge.

Working on Robin's Continental Challenge.

Working on LostSurprise's Dewey Decimal Challenge. Complete Dewey Decimal Classification List here.

 

My rating system:

5 = Love; 4 = Pretty awesome; 3 = Decently good; 2 = Ok; 1 = Don't bother (I shouldn't have any 1s on my list as I would ditch them before finishing)...

 

2013 Books Read:

01. Women of the Klondike by Frances Backhouse (3 stars). Challenges: Dusty; Continental – North America (Canada); Dewey Decimal – 900s.

02. Equator by Miguel Sousa Tavares (3 stars). Challenges: Dusty; Continental – Europe (Portugal) & Africa (São Tomé and Príncipe).

03. UFOs, JFK, & Elvis by Richard Belzer (2 stars). Challenge: Dewey Decimal – 000s.

04. The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – North America (USA).

05. The Twelve Rooms of the Nile by Enid Shomer (3.5 stars). Challenge: Continental – Africa (Egypt).

06. The Hard Way by Lee Child (2 stars).

07. The Dud Avocado by Elaine Dundy (3 stars).

08. Daughters of Copper Woman by Anne Cameron (3.5 stars). Challenge: Continental – North America (Canada).

09. A High Wind in Jamaica by Richard Hughes (3.5 stars).

10. The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye by A.S. Byatt (4 stars).

 

11. Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Asia (Pakistan).

12. Crazy Sexy Diet by Kris Carr (4 stars). Challenge: Dewey Decimal – 600s.

13. The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Europe (Sweden).

14. A Case of Exploding Mangoes by Mohammed Hanif (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – Asia (Pakistan).

15. Speaking from Among the Bones by Alan Bradley (4 stars).

16. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (2.5 stars). Challenge: Dewey Decimal – 900s.

17. Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote (4 stars). Challenge: Continental – North America (USA).

18. Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar (3 stars). Challenges: Dusty & Chunky; Continental – South America (Argentina).

[Lady Florida.]

 

April readalong - still planning on 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami: We'll start April 7 which will give those reading Hopscotch time to finish and absorb before diving into this chunkster.

 

 

Thank you, Robin. I was going to ask when we'll start because I don't want to get it from the library too early. I'm looking forward to my first read-along with this group.

[Stacia]

Book news: Stumbled across this a bit late, but better late than never I always say. It is the 10th Anniversary of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and it is available for free in ebook format through the end of today, march 24. If you haven't read it yet, here's your chance. I read it twice and enjoyed it both times. Forget all the hoopla. Just like Harry Potter, it is fiction after all.

 

I agree. It has been years since I read it, but I remember enjoying it (& the movie too). Fun.

 

I read:

The Cat's Table - 2 Stars

 

Aw. Sorry you didn't enjoy it more. It was one of my favorite books last year.

 

Right now I'm reading a well written novel by an author some have said is as good as Chinua Achebe (not sure if they write similarly or not as I haven't read Achebe) that will probably get 4 or 5 stars once I'm done

 

I've had this on my to-read list ever since Rosie mentioned it a long time ago. Maybe I will finally get around to reading it once we start our African challenge.

 

Yes, thank you. I bow down before your greatness and give you the credit entirely for the idea. http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/cheers2.gif It think you mentioned it last year too. I hadn't figure out where we'd be going after South America but looking at the map, it makes sense to sail across the south Atlantic and travel up through Africa next. We'll probably be hopping to Africa in May.

 

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/thumbup1.gif

 

Oh gosh--I did not mean to sound like a jerk, Robin. I just wanted to echo a thumbs up for Achebe challenge!

 

Jane, I don't think you sounded like a jerk. Always a great sign when two readers I admire (you & Robin) give a thumbs up to a reading challenge, a book, ....

 

The only thing I've finished is The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Danielewski (House of Leaves). Its a bizarre mixture of campfire ghost story and performance art. The back flap says it was released in a limited handmade edition at first (the illustrations are sewing or embroidary) and that its performed on Halloween night with shadow puppets. Purposely poetic (double edged sword http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/public/style_emoticons/#EMO_DIR#/wink.gif). I thought there were a lot of unfinished and unused aspects of the story which was frustrating. It was a story though, I could feel the narrative winding through it, even some of the creepiness (which usually doesn't affect me much). I would really be interested in seeing what someone else thinks. Danielewski wrote the very meta House of Leaves we talked about a bit last year.

 

Well that sounds neat & like the type of book I would enjoy -- esp. the handmade edition. (I think.) I was too chicken (twice) to read House of Leaves, so I'm not sure if I could make it through The Fifty Year Sword or not. Depends on the creepiness level....

[Laura Corin]

Well, I'm a bit behind, but I'm close to finishing a book. These are my books so far:

 

1: Mr Briggs' Hat

2: Busman's Honeymoon (re-read) - Dorothy Sayers

3: Notwithstanding (re-read for book group) - Louis de Bernieres

4: Bad Pharma - Ben Goldacre

5: The Pages - Murray Bail

6: Great Tales From English History.

7: Unnatural Causes - PD James (re-read)

8: Behind the Scenes at the Museum - Kate Atkinson (re-read)

9: Jack Maggs - Peter Carey

10: Why - Everyday Answers to Scientific Questions - Joel Levy

11: Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh

12: Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead - Paula Byrne

 

I have almost finished Evelina, by Frances Burney. I am listening to To The Lighthouse, but it's slow going, as I find my mind wanders and I have to listen to most chapters a second time.

 

Laura

[mlbuchina]

This week flew by! I didn't get as far along in John Dies at the End as I thought I would. I'm at 70% according to my Kindle. I can't decide if I like it or not. It isn't quite what I was expecting, but I'm not sure what I was expecting either. I am also still working on Much Ado About Nothing. We began reading A Single Shard as a read aloud during our lessons, and we have Little House in the Big Woods going as an audio in the car.

 

Lots of reading going on around here. I love it!

 

In progress:

John Dies at the End

A Single Shard ~ read aloud

Much Ado About Nothing

Little House in the Big Woods ~ audio book

The Republic of Pirates ~ audio book

 

So far this year:

17. Hooked

16. Anne of the Island

15. Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen

14. Anne of Avonlea

13. Anne of Green Gables

12. The Invention of Hugo Cabret

11. The Swiss Family Robinson

10. Little Women

9. How We Get Fat

8. The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye

7. Outlander

6. The New Atkins for a New You

5. A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows

4. Liberty and Tyranny

3. Corelli's Mandolin

2. The Neverending Story

1. The Hobbit

[cathmom]

I just finished Carolina Moon by Nora Roberts and really enjoyed it, although I wish I hadn't known who the culprit was. I saw the movie of it last weekend when I was sick and decided to read it. I had never read any of hers before, but I'm running out of Danielle Steel novels to read when I just need to relax and be absorbed in a story, so I doubt it will be the last. That was my 23rd book.

[melmichigan]

Last week was busy. I finished up the Kresley Cole series that is available, I'll be waiting for the next book. I also finished up the last JD Robb in Death book. It's interesting to think back on how the series has progressed over the years. I've been reading it since the first book released in 1995. I also realized that there are a few anthologies that I might have missed that I need to take another look at.

 

I haven't yet finished The Odyssey, that is first up this week. Then I am going to read Resurrecting Midnight as part of The Continental-South America. I am trying to wrap things up for Ancient Greeks this week because I am impatient for Lover at Last: A Novel of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, and Twice Tempted: A Night Prince Novel, both releasing March 26. Thrill Ride (Black Knights Inc), and Blood Trade: A Jane Yellowrock Novel will release on April 2.

 

Week 12

63. The Iliad by Homer (translated by Robert Fitzgerald).

64. Lothaire (Immortals After Dark) by Kresley Cole.

65. Warlord Wants Forever by Kresley Cole.

66. Shadow's Claim: Immortals After Dark by Kresley Cole.

67. Calculated in Death by JD Robb.

[Murmer]

Finished: Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, The Last April Dancers by Jean Thesman, Lucy Doesn't Wear Pink by Nancy Rue, and Remembering Manzanar by Michael L. Cooper

 

Currently Working On:

Downstairs: Teaching Montessori in the Home The Preschool Years by Elizabeth G. Hainstock

Upstairs: Maggie Adams, Dancer by Karen Strickler Dean

Kindle: Curious Folks Ask: 162 Real Answers on Amazing Inventions, Fascinating Products, and Medical Mysteries by Seethaler, Sherry

IPhone: A Flower Blooms in Charlotte by Milam McGraw Propst

Sweet Boy Read Aloud: The Yellow Fairy Book

Angel Girl Read Aloud: The Wind In The Willows

WTM: Don Quixote

IPad: Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock (for Canada)

 

Total Finished in 2013: 25

[JennW in SoCal]

 

I thought it might be fun to add some action shots of our weekly reading from time to time. I've been playing with file sizes and jpg quality but can't seem to upload a bigger photo. Any tips would be appreciated! In the meantime, here I am reading Playing With Fire, one of the DI Banks mysteries Paisley and I are hooked on. I know many of you are dealing with late spring snow, so perhaps you can vicariously enjoy a Southern California spring evening with Ruby the dog and me sitting in the backyard (my glass of wine is out of frame) one recent evening.

 

I'm being pokey in my reading of Evening in the Palace of Reason, but it is because I keep stopping to watch youtube videos of certain Bach pieces, or I'm reading related articles on music on the internet. I'm reading another music book, a wonderfully readable memoir by the 1st violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet called Indivisible by Four. This is also causing me to head down many rabbit trails, stopping to listen or review scores of Beethoven quartets, but I'm reading bigger chunks at a time because it is so enjoyable. The author, violinist Arnold Steinhardt, is able to describe the things I feel, that I can barely grasp at, in playing and performing. (I'm a good amateur/semi-professional violinist.) This is from the first chapter:

 

"But it is on the concert stage where the moments of true intimacy occur. When a performance is in progress, all four of us together enter a zone of magic somewhere between our music stands and become a conduit, messenger and missionary. In playing, say, the cavatina of Opus 130, we join hands to enter Beethoven's world, vividly aware of each other and our objective performance responsibilities, and yet, almost like sleepwalkers, we allow ourselves to slip into the music's spiritual realm."

[LostSurprise]

I've had this on my to-read list ever since Rosie mentioned it a long time ago. Maybe I will finally get around to reading it once we start our African challenge.

 

Me too.

 

 

Well that sounds neat & like the type of book I would enjoy -- esp. the handmade edition. (I think.) I was too chicken (twice) to read House of Leaves, so I'm not sure if I could make it through The Fifty Year Sword or not. Depends on the creepiness level....

 

I didn't see the handmade version. This is a publishers paper reprint. Its very short. Much easier to read than House of Leaves...and definitely not too creepy. I think you should see if your library has it.

 

 

I was sorry to see that Achebe passed away. Things Fall Apart was one of those books (like The Good Earth) which had an incredible influence on how I saw the world . I read it as a senior in high school (along with Heart of Darkness). I didn't read his essay on Heart of Darkness until my mid-20s. Also worth reading, whether you completely agree with him or not.

 

King Leopold's Ghost is a heartbreaking book, but an important one. We all know that colonialism was bad, but I don't think we understand how Europeans viewed Africans. Its a foreign concept.

[Just Robyn]

Not much to say this week. I spent more time than usual writing and catching up on Coursera lectures. I'm still slowly getting through Hopscotch. I'm on chapter 27. I also started Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell and The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury.

[Just Robyn]

Right now I'm reading a well written novel by an author some have said is as good as Chinua Achebe (not sure if they write similarly or not as I haven't read Achebe) that will probably get 4 or 5 stars once I'm done,

In the meantime, I started one I originally heard about on the Bob Edwards show: Nick & Jake: An Epistolary Novel by Jonathan Richards and Tad Richards.

http://www.amazon.co...rds=nick & jake

 

Gah! Two more books my library doesn't have.

[BigMamaBird]

Stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill stuck on Catch-22. It. Is. Killing. Me. I'm just beating my head against the wall over here. I even broke my rule about reading the book before seeing any movies and watched a bunch of clips on YouTube to try to get some idea of what it was trying to get across.

 

Blurgh. Still blurgh.

 

 

1 - All the King's Men – Robert Penn Warren

2 - A Stranger in a Strange Land – Robert Heinlein

3 - A Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood

4 - Catcher in the Rye – J.D. Salinger

5 - Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

6 - The Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck

7 – Murder on the Orient Express – Agatha Christie

8 – The Illustrated Man – Ray Bradbury

9 – The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald

10 – The Hiding Place – Corrie Ten Boom

11 – The Square Foot Garden – Mel Bartholomew

[joannqn]

I finished my 11th book, Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys. I really enjoyed this WWII novel about Stalin's deportation of a Lithuanian family to Siberia. Lots of a good themes in it, too.

[Joanne]

Just popping in to say that I am on hiatus while I read and study this:

 

 

 

http://www.amazon.com/MFT-Licensure-Exam-Preparation-Manual/dp/B008XJT6B4/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1345131803&sr=8-13&keywords=family+therapy+license

 

Until May 20. :hurray: :huh: :laugh:

[Stacia]

Read a South American novella this evening... The Tenth Circle by Mempo Giardinelli, an Argentinian author. I noticed it on the shelf at the library because the spine included a label "Latin American".

 

http://www.amazon.co...mpo giardinelli

 

A brutal novella of a murderous couple. Perhaps an Argentinian form of "Natural Born Killers"? One extreme act is just the beginning of the descent. Oddly compelling.

[mlbuchina]

Finished up John Dies at the End. Still not sure what I think of it. I have the second book, This Book is Full of Spiders, from the library, but I think I need a book of happy or two before starting it. While they are supposed to be funny, and there are funny parts, over all this one was dark and almost over my comfort zone for horror. To be honest, I didn't realize these were categorized as being horror at all. I probably wouldn't have read them if I had known it from the beginning.

 

I have to say, though, I love David and Amy. :)

[Negin]

Aw. Sorry you didn't enjoy it more. It was one of my favorite books last year.

Stacia, I liked it a lot at the beginning. It just dragged on for me a bit in the second half or so. I think that I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't had quite as many distractions.

[Giraffe]

Still plodding through Herodotus. On Book Six and I just want to throttle the man.

 

I'm channeling Dory: "just keep swimming, just keep swimming."

 

Nothing else read.

 

Grrrrrrr.......

[Jane in NC]

Still plodding through Herodotus. On Book Six and I just want to throttle the man.

 

I'm channeling Dory: "just keep swimming, just keep swimming."

 

Nothing else read.

 

Grrrrrrr.......

 

Sending you good thoughts.

 

I suspect that I may eventually have the same regard for Lucretius...

[Giraffe]

 

Sending you good thoughts.

 

I suspect that I may eventually have the same regard for Lucretius...

 

 

Thanks!

 

Please don't say that about Lucretius. I live for the chance to read an Ancient author who doesn't drive me insane!

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

Sigh, I am a little behind, but I did just finish The Bee Keeper's Apprentice.

I had seen this book when it was first published and never even bothered to look at the description, figured it was some coming of age story. Then I saw a display at the library last week with "I cannot remember the title but I know it was a mystery" and the book was on the display. Naturally my curiosity got the better of me and I am glad I looked. I had no idea this book was a mystery AND that it was a Sherlock Holmes book. He is older and a supporting character but still a good read. I am reading the next one in the series now.

[Lizzie in Ma]

Actually getting a little reading done after these last few weeks of insanity.

Reading The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone

Read the Duck Dynasty bio and the Iron Hunt.

[Paisley Hedgehog]

. 

 

[trinchick]

Had a great reading week; both books were so engaging!

 

Finished This Week:

 

The Good House by Ann Leary - Set in a fictitious Massachusetts North Shore town, this story follows a middle-aged woman flirting with alcoholism as she becomes embroiled in the affairs of members of her community. This was a great story, balancing well both the external events that drive the plot and the narrator's internal processing of them.

 

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (audio) - This is the story of a Pakistani-born Princeton graduate who is initiated to the world of New York finance on the eve of September 11. Following the WTC bombings, he is forced to evaluate the US's role in the Middle East, specifically in its choice not to become involved with the growing tension between Pakistan and India. The format of the novel is an interesting monologue in which the narrator is telling his dinner companion (addressed as "you" although you don't know who "you" is, but you get clues) about the events leading to his current situation living in Lahore. Loved listening to this as an audiobook, as the reader's lilting Pakistani accent helped me to immerse myself in the construct of the dinner monologue.

 

A Spiderweb for Two by Elizabeth Enright (Read Aloud) - The last of the Melendy Quartet. DD was really sad to say goodbye to these characters, but I'm looking forward to moving on to something else.

 

Finished this Year:

29. The Good House by Ann Leary

28. The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (audio)

27. A Spiderweb for Two by Elizabeth Enright (Read Aloud)

26. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Audio)

25. Wheat Belly by William Davis (gave up wheat 3/11/13; 3.5 pounds lost to date)

24. As Husbands Go by Susan Isaacs (audio)

23. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

22. UnWholly by Neal Shusterman

21. Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright (Read Aloud)

20. Heartburn by Nora Ephron (Food book challenge)

19. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

18. A Tale of Two Cities (Audio; Dickens challenge)

17. Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick

16. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion

15. Money Secrets of the Amish by Lorilee Craker

14. Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

13. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch by Alison Arngrim

12. The Old Man and the Sea (Audio)

11. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Audio)

10. Forgotten Bookmarks by Michael Popek

9. An Invisible Thread by Laura Schroff

8. Breaking Night by Liz Murray

7. The Four Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright (Read aloud)

6. The Autobiography of an Execution by David Dow

5. A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews (Canada)

4. The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren (Read aloud)

3. The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright (Read aloud)

2. Lullabies for Little Criminals by Heather O'Neill (Canada)

1. A Walk Across the Sun by Corban Addison

[Mom-ninja.]

I've been seing Cussler everywhere and wondered if he was any good. Tell me about him...

 

 

 

Action packed, bad guy being chased by good guy, good guy is of course attractive and woman magnet, can do anything, is intelligent, fits into any crowd, and saves the world...or at least lots of people. Women are all beautiful and intelligent having advanced degrees and positions of high regard yet find themselves as damsels in distress which the good guy rescues. :p

[aggieamy]

I read The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale this week and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm currently 3/4 of the way through Peter, Paul, and Mary Magdalene by Bart Ehrman.

 

DD finished that book last week and has started on the second in the series. She loves them so much that I think I might add them to my to-read list, particularly now that I see you enjoyed it also. Sigh. When I was a young mom I had every intention of pre-reading all the books she was going to read. Ha. Kid reads too much for me to do that.

 

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie – For book club this month and a reread for me. Loved it as I do with almost all Agatha Christie books.

 

I’m also a complete failure at challenges this year. I intended to do the chunkster challenge, Canadian author challenge, Book vs Movie, and Catholic books. So far I’ve only done one chunkster and that’s it. I should have been realistic and agreed to Agatha Christie a month challenge along with Brit Lit. That I could have done.

 

In Progress:

 

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino

A Broken Vessel by Kate Ross

Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie (audiobook) (What??? No way. Another AC book! Everyone is so surprised!)

Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery (read aloud)

 

2013 finished books:

 

29. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (****)

28. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry (****)

27. Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie (****)

26. The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman (**)

25. Mrs. McGinty’s Dead by Agatha Christie (****)

24. Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt (***)

23. EntreLeadership by Dave Ramsey (***)

22. The Children of Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren (*****)

21. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien (*****)

 

Amy's Rating System:

 

***** - Fantastic, couldn't put it down

**** - Very good

*** - Enjoyable but nothing special

** - Not recommended

* - Horrible

[Paisley Hedgehog]

. 

 

[mumto2]

Just finished the last of my 5/5/5 dusty from my BF category. Does that help motivate you? Of course they are the only ones for the 5/5/5 that I have read! ;)

 

52) What Angels Fear by C.S. Harris. Really good. This was the first one in the series set in early 1800's England. Former British spy with a title set up as a murderer. Lots of atmospheric intrigue. I will definately be reading more of these! Sebastian St. Cyr great main character. This was a BF dusty.

 

53)Changing Habits by Debbie Macomber. I enjoyed it. Follows three girls on their jury to becoming nun, as nuns, and then their lives when they leave their order. Fictional.

 

54)The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. It happens to be a Dewey Decimal 400. So I accidentally completed one for that challege! Also the last of my BF dusty. I enjoyed it. It traces the history of english dictionaries and describes the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary in great detail. The efforts were led by Professor Murray who discovered that in answer to a public appeal for literary quotes using words in different ways one of his main contributors was actually a man incarcerated at Broadmoor. Dr. Minor, an American doctor and Civil War veteran, spent the majority of his life as a patient at Broadmoor after committing murder in London. Mentally ill but brilliant. A good book but includes some self mutilation that is uncomfortable so dd will not be reading it. I enjoyed it but disturbing in places. What needed to be done to create the dictionary was fascinating.

 

 

[Mom-ninja.]

 

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (audio) - This is the story of a Pakistani-born Princeton graduate who is initiated to the world of New York finance on the eve of September 11. Following the WTC bombings, he is forced to evaluate the US's role in the Middle East, specifically in its choice not to become involved with the growing tension between Pakistan and India. The format of the novel is an interesting monologue in which the narrator is telling his dinner companion (addressed as "you" although you don't know who "you" is, but you get clues) about the events leading to his current situation living in Lahore. Loved listening to this as an audiobook, as the reader's lilting Pakistani accent helped me to immerse myself in the construct of the dinner monologue.

 

 

 

I heard his interview on NPR. I'd like to read the book after I'm done with the one I'm reading now.

[trinchick]

I heard his interview on NPR. I'd like to read the book after I'm done with the one I'm reading now.

 

 

I heard the interview, too, which is what made me look him up. This isn't actually the book Hamid's currently promoting, but the library had it available on audio and I was looking for a book to listen to in the car.

 

This is Hamid's current book, which I think I'll give a try because I thought the writing was really good - maybe when we get to Asia for the continents challenge: How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia: A Novel

[Stacia]

Two Latin American poets:

 

Selected poems of Cesar Vallejo and Song from the Heart: Selected Poems of Ramon Lopez Velarde

Vallejo was fascinating and stretched me a little; the Velarde I didn't care for at all (and I found the illustrations repulsive).

 

 

I may have to try Vallejo (even though I'm not generally a fan of poetry)....

 

 

perhaps you can vicariously enjoy a Southern California spring evening with Ruby the dog and me sitting in the backyard (my glass of wine is out of frame) one recent evening.

 

 

Love the photo!

 

I didn't see the handmade version. This is a publishers paper reprint. Its very short. Much easier to read than House of Leaves...and definitely not too creepy. I think you should see if your library has it.

 

 

Yep, they have a copy. I'll see if I'm brave enough. :tongue_smilie:

 

Stiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiill stuck on Catch-22. It. Is. Killing. Me.

 

 

Why are you continuing to read it? (Just curious....)

 

Just popping in to say that I am on hiatus while I read and study this:

 

http://www.amazon.co...therapy license

 

Until May 20. :hurray: :huh: :laugh:

 

 

Yay!

 

Finished up John Dies at the End. Still not sure what I think of it. I have the second book, This Book is Full of Spiders, from the library, but I think I need a book of happy or two before starting it. While they are supposed to be funny, and there are funny parts, over all this one was dark and almost over my comfort zone for horror. To be honest, I didn't realize these were categorized as being horror at all. I probably wouldn't have read them if I had known it from the beginning.

 

I have to say, though, I love David and Amy. :)

 

 

Oops. I thought you knew it was a horror/comedy! I thought it was hilarious, but I was in the mood for something weird, creepy, and funny. I can see how it might be a shock if you didn't realize you were delving into a 'horror' book.... (Normally, I don't read horror, but I do try to read creepy/scary/horror type books during the month of October, which is when I found & read this one....)

 

Stacia, I liked it a lot at the beginning. It just dragged on for me a bit in the second half or so. I think that I might have enjoyed it more if I hadn't had quite as many distractions.

 

 

:grouphug: Hope life is getting smoother!

 

Still plodding through Herodotus. On Book Six and I just want to throttle the man.

 

 

Herodotus & you... ;)

 

 

Sigh, I am a little behind, but I did just finish The Bee Keeper's Apprentice.

I had seen this book when it was first published and never even bothered to look at the description, figured it was some coming of age story. Then I saw a display at the library last week with "I cannot remember the title but I know it was a mystery" and the book was on the display. Naturally my curiosity got the better of me and I am glad I looked. I had no idea this book was a mystery AND that it was a Sherlock Holmes book. He is older and a supporting character but still a good read. I am reading the next one in the series now.

 

 

I really enjoyed that one. I keep meaning to read the others in the series....

[Stacia]

Reading The Untold History of the United States by Oliver Stone

 

 

Let me know what you think of this one....

 

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

 

 

I've heard this is good. Yet another one to add to my to-read list....

 

54)The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester. It happens to be a Dewey Decimal 400. So I accidentally completed one for that challege! Also the last of my BF dusty. I enjoyed it. It traces the history of english dictionaries and describes the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary in great detail. The efforts were led by Professor Murray who discovered that in answer to a public appeal for literary quotes using words in different ways one of his main contributors was actually a man incarcerated at Broadmoor. Dr. Minor, an American doctor and Civil War veteran, spent the majority of his life as a patient at Broadmoor after committing murder in London. Mentally ill but brilliant. A good book but includes some self mutilation that is uncomfortable so dd will not be reading it. I enjoyed it but disturbing in places. What needed to be done to create the dictionary was fascinating.

 

 

I really enjoyed that one when I read it.

[Giraffe]

 

 

I'm not doing so great at challenges either. Next week marks the end of first quarter, so perhaps Robin could prompt everyone to post their progress on their personal challenges in our Week 14 thread? Maybe that would motivate all of us slackers to get a move on ;)

 

 

Noooooooooo!!!!! :leaving: