What Are You Reading?

[brightskte 18]

Decided to pick up the Sookie Stackhouse books to see what all of the fuss was about. Extremely easy read, but I can't complain. Next I'll have to read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo that Mathew's mom got me for Christmas last year. Tried to read it once before, but just couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll have better luck next time.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Finally finished Shadow of the Silk Road - I've been so busy lately that I've had little time to read more than a few pages a day. What a superb book - I highly recommend it.

I now have a stack of books beside my chair waiting to be read. It doesn't help that Barnes & Noble have their 'used books' on sale for $1 each! There is some great non-American literature there and a number of the volumes waiting to be read are from there.

My Chinese trend continues in the waiting pile but I think I am going to read something nice and light for now. I picked up a book called "The Marriage Bureau for Rich People" by Farahad Zama, Berkley Books, NY, 2009. Hehehe, I've moved southwest to India with this one . It is recommended for those who enjoy the "The No. 1 Ladies Detection Agency" series - which I find absolutely delightful - so I suspect this will fit the bill very nicely.

Edited August 29, 2010 by Kathryn41

[usmcwife 3]

@ Kathryn41: Pride and Prejudiced is my favourite Jane Austen too!

here is my list, it's long because I tend to bond with books. I cannot rate them, and they are from a huge range of categories.

- The Red Tent. Anita Diamant. Not to be read if you are looking for an emotional pick me up. I bawled about halfway through. Very interesting fiction derived from women found in Genesis.

- World War Z - Best post apocalyptic zombie fiction I've found so far. (Also in this category 'Breathers' for creepiness and hilarity factor)

- Ten thousand lovers. Edeet Ravel. (Also good in trilogy: 'Look for me' and 'A wall of light') Really amazing books on living and trying to love and survive in Israel and Palestine.

- Lamb: The gospel according to Biff, Christ's childhood pal. Christopher Moore. If you have a sense of humor this book is for you! about the missing years in Christ's life. I'm not religious and if you are this might not be for you. It is a hilarious view of what shenanigans Biff takes Jesus on. (Biff does most of the shenanigans)

I also recommend pretty much anything by Christopher Moore. Particularly; 'the stupidest Angel' (ZOMBIE SANTA WARNING), 'Bloodsucking fiends', 'A dirty job'

- Time Travellers Wife. Audrey Niffenegger. I found this book a few years ago while on a papermaking tour of Chicago. Several people recommended it to me. Also not a book to be read if lookign for an emotional pick me up. An amazing story though. Skip the movie and read the book.

- Good in bed. Jennifer Weiner. love her books. She also wrote in her shoes, but i liked this one better.

- A Thousand splendid suns. Khaled Hosseini. Really interesting fiction about girls growing up in Afghanistan.

- Ender's Game. Orson Scott Card. One of the best Sci fi books I've ever read. Genetic selection to make super smart children then training them to fight a war with an alien species.

- Stranger in a Strange Land. Robert Heinlein. Another great Sci Fi. Definitly an intersting view on religion and society.

- Stephanie Plum Series. Janet Evanovich. Great light reading. I look forward to each of her new books. The Grandma in the books is hilarious. I've even listened to some of the audiobooks when the paperbacks weren't available at the library and think they're almost better.

- Pride and prejudiced and zombies. Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. If Pride and Prejudiced was my favourite book, and I have a mild obsession with zombies that makes this book the best book of all time! I'm pretty sure this was the beginning of all those rewritings of historical fiction with monsters. I think its the best so far. I am halfway through his new interpretation of Abe lincoln's history as a vampire killer and it's pretty brilliant so far.

- I love the harry potter books. I have a weird phobia of flying and ever since I started reading harry potter 10 years ago, I've had to read one on a plane on every trip. It's gone on so long now that recently I forgot to bring one and had to buy the philosophers stone at the airport. Did everyone know that they called it the Sorcerers stone in the USA? Weird.

(As much as i like harry potter. I do kind of think that the Dark materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman was a bit more well written.)

I'm sure I'm missing so many great books.

[usmcwife 3]

Oh yeah, I forgot about Kelley Armstrongs women of the underworld series. It's definitely a favourite series of mine. She's canadian too and one of her characters is from Toronto. Toronto has been in her books a couple of times and one book is mainly there I think.

[sachinky 465]

Currently reading SKELETON CREW by Stephen King.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

usmc wife, I was reading over your list and was going to post that you should read 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" - and there it was on your list! There are a series of them - Sense and Sensibility and SeaMonsters and the most recent one was Emma and Vampires - or something like that. Someone is having far too much fun with these, ehehehe!

[Krikit 1,164]

I finished a really good book last week and am now drawing a blank as to what it was.

It was The Broker by John Grisham! I couldn't put it down.

I was sad when I finished the last book I have been trying to find a series that is similar but I haven't had no luck yet...

I've just started Harry Potter Year 6 and am very sad I've only got one year left.

There are already movies of the series, though they're in Swedish, which is what the books were originally written in. But yes, they're starting to cast an American version for the trilogy. I'm actually trying to read the last book slowly, because I honestly don't want it to end!

I do that too! I'm going to have to read that book next.

The author originally wrote 7th Son as a nearly-thousand-page thriller novel, then learned in dealing with publishers that no one reads thousand-page thrillers.

I would!

One question that I have that someone may be able to answer: Why do books in America that are fiction often have the words 'a novel' on the cover? Surely it's self-explanatory that it's fiction if that's the section it's in? Maybe that's just me.

I never noticed that! I did notice, however, that they change words and titles when the book has originated in another country. For example, "The Book of Negroes", which is the actual name of the historical document the book originated from, was changed to "Someone Knows My Name" in the US market. Link

[usmcwife 3]

usmc wife, I was reading over your list and was going to post that you should read 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" - and there it was on your list! There are a series of them - Sense and Sensibility and SeaMonsters and the most recent one was Emma and Vampires - or something like that. Someone is having far too much fun with these, ehehehe!

It has definitly spawned a genre of rewritten classics and biographies. I have the seamonsters one but havent started it yet. If its not quite as good as zombies then i will be disappointed. I loved the sisters in Pride and Prejudiced and Zombies being rewritten as zombie hunters trained in asian fighting styles!

[The_Dude 1,142]

Jane Austen is pretentious trite.

I have begun reading Irvine Welsh's collection. I am halfway through Acid House and will read Trainspotting afterwards.

[usmcwife 3]

Jane Austen is pretentious trite.

I have begun reading Irvine Welsh's collection. I am halfway through Acid House and will read Trainspotting afterwards.

Thats rather rude since several people have expressed liking her books.

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Currently reading I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. He's the author of She's Come Undone (one of the greatest books I've ever read, I highly suggest picking it up) .. I was a little intimidated by this one, it's lengthy and there's a lot of detail, however, it's beautiful. Heartbreaking, but so incredibly well written.

Jane Austen is pretentious trite.

Perhaps in your opinion.

Edited September 3, 2010 by Coconuts

[usmcwife 3]

Currently reading I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb. He's the author of She's Come Undone (one of the greatest books I've ever read, I highly suggest picking it up) .. I was a little intimidated by this one, it's lengthy and there's a lot of detail, however, it's beautiful. Heartbreaking, but so incredibly well written.

I really liked 'She's come undone'. I haven't picked up any of his books since then though so I'll have to give 'I know this much is true' a try.

It's funny, there have been several books that I'd already read or picked up without knowing, only to realise later that they were on Oprah's book list. Now i'm not so quick to dismiss a book if I see the Oprah stamp. hehe.

Edited September 3, 2010 by usmcwife

[Penny Lane 8,159]

I really liked 'She's come undone'. I haven't picked up any of his books since then though so I'll have to give 'I know this much is true' a try.

It's funny, there have been several books that I'd already read or picked up without knowing, only to realise later that they were on Oprah's book list. Now i'm not so quick to dismiss a book if I see the Oprah stamp. hehe.

Yeah, the Oprah stamp used to scare me a little bit, too. But it turns out some of my favourites are on her list, so I guess there's a possibility that she knows what she's talking about.

[OBX 51]

I've been collecting suggestions from the thread. So far.....

I've also got Amy Tan's The Kitchen God's Wife waiting to be read. I just love finding used books on line and buying them with the shipping for around $4![/size]

I preferred The Kitchen God's Wife to the Joy Luck Club. It was a darker story line but a better read IMO.

I just started The Spa, by Fay Weldon. Got to love her feminist outlook on life and love!

Just finished the Spa. A break from the Chinese theme I was following. Enjoyed Fay Weldon's sense of humour and take on relationships. I would definitely look for more of her books.

I've just finished Pearl of China by Anchee Min, who is the author of the Empress Orchid novels. I've got her own autobiography Red Azalea on order and I will follow up with the Empress books - they do look very interesting! Min has quite a number of books written and is another very enjoyable author. Her own life story sounds pretty astounding in itself - born during the Cultural Revolution and recruited by Madame Mao to be an actress in propaganda films, then exiled to hard labour before she managed to move west. Anyway, I am looking forward to reading more by her, and thanks again for the recommendations.

I'm now back to China...Anchee Min's "Wild Ginger." I thought I would give this one a try first...mainly because none of the others were in at the library.

I'm currently reading The Slap by Christos Tsiolkas. It's set in Melbourne, Australia. The tagline is "At a suburban barbeque, a man slaps a child that is not his own."

Every chapter is the aftermath faced by each person who attended the barbeque. It details how they feel about what happened and how things changed because of their being witness to it. It's really intense, I can barely put it down.

Also, it won the Commonwealth Writer's Award and was nominated for some other awards. Highly recommend it!

This one really intrigues me so I picked the paperback up at Barnes and Noble.

Finally I also picked up "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" and"The Girl Who Played With Fire".

I'm set for awhile now!

Thanks for all of the recommendations guys.

Edited September 3, 2010 by OBX

[Canadiandggal 49]

I am currently ready a Book "the dead sit round in a ring" by David Lawrence,If the title doesn't give it away Its a mystery,murder novel. I pick up 4-5 books every time I go to the mall, the 4-5 dollar shelf, usually not the from this year, but I have liked all of them so far. My husband has no clue how my grammar sucks when I read so frequently. Guess I can read just not speak.Maybe its my Canadian accent (that I don't think exists) that confuses him.