What are you reading the week of November 8, 2009?

[DUgosh]

North of Havana by Randy Wayne White

[frazzled]

1. The Education of Augie March, by Saul Bellow

Something I'd never gotten around to reading. It took me the first 200 pages to get into it (that's a record!), but am enjoying it thoroughly now.
Augie's such a lovable screw up.

[bluethruandthru]

5. Just finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and now I'm going

to start on the sequel The Girl Who Played With Fire.

[aquart]

2. Marguerite de Valois by Alexandre Dumas pere

[pscot]

7. Where did you find that?

Has it been reissued recently?

[hippywife]

3. Lamb in Love by Carrie Brown

It's the last one, not that she's written, it's her second novel, but I've read all the others, so it is my last.

[azmouse]

4. Nixonland by Rick Perlstein

It's an amazing book.

[pscot]

6. DEMOCRACY by Henry Adams

A romantic satire writtn in 1880. It was a big hit in its time. The language is a tad Jamesian, but it's still a pretty good read. Also GOOD OMENS, a novel of Armageddon, by Pratchett and Gaiman.

[paparush]

8. "Glasshouse" by Charlie Stross and "American Tabloid" by James Ellroy

[benld74]

9. Altered Carbon

SciFi future detective whodunit. Tech allows people to clone themselves(sleeves) and then transfer their conscience into the sleeves, thereby extending their lives countless times over. The detective is an Ex-Envoy, who makes a regular Marine look like a Brownie Scout by comparison, by utilizing special tech imbedded in his 'sleeve' he is able to barely stay ahead of the baduns.

[hippywife]

10. Two books at the moment.

I don't like to do that but... I am reading Carlin's When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops and Gaiman's The Graveyard Book.

[Jim__]

11. IIRC, I laughed all the way through Carlin's book. - n/t

[hippywife]

12. I have been a Carlin fan

since I was a teenager but I've found little to laugh at and I'm almost all the way through it. To me it's an equal opportunity to piss everyone off.

[Jim__]

13. I may have been thinking of another of his books. - n/t

[hippywife]

14. Well, he does have a few.

Not having cable, I've not had the opportunity to see him very much the last decade. This book makes me realize it's been for the best. Granted he had an excellent sense of logic and command of the spoken word, and at times I think he's used it well to make people think about some of the idiocy and hypocrisy of life, but I can't laugh at some of the things he crucifies, such as global warming, peace, the handicapped, etc. And I know some of it was meant to be plain nonsense but he did push the envelope a little too far in this book, and sometimes a lot too far.

[qwertyMike]

15. The Magus - John Fowles

2nd time after 20+ years

[hippywife]

16. Finished the other two

Carlin's and Gaiman's, and started Spoonhandle by Ruth Moore last night, as recommended by posters in my thread about uplifting fiction.

Let me tell you about this book...the physical book itself. LOL It is hardback, very old, with yellowing pages and some of them falling out. The librarian told me that I will probably be the last person to check it out. The last time before me was 2001, and prior to that 1998. It came out of storage, not even on the shelves, at the large central library in our system.

So far, at page 60-something, I'm enjoying it.

I liked Gaiman's The Graveyard Book, even thought it's young adult. I would also feel odd about recommending to to a young adult as it starts out with not just a murder, but the murder of a small child, her parents, and almost the baby. That kinda bothered me about it being young adult, that it started so violently, even though not terribly graphic.

[thelastwaltz]

17. My boyfriend's been reading "Terra Nostra," by Carlos Fuentes.

I am just wondering if anyone else has read it. He really loves it but it's long (over 700 pages!) and we have to bring it back to the library.

[LWolf]

18. These:

Reading with different groups of students:

"Tangerine" by Edward Bloor

"The Book Thief" by Zusak

"Touching Spirit Bear"

"The Breadwinner"

"Samir and Yonatan"

And a biography of James Madison.

I have a stack of stuff to read at home, but haven't started anything new, since keeping up with the above is enough.

[hippywife]

19. I would think so! LOL

I've read The Book Thief a few years ago and enjoyed it, even though it was a very sad story. What are your students thinking of it?

I mentioned in another post that I'd just finished Gaiman's The Graveyard Book and was concerned about recommending it for young readers because of how it started. Have you read it?

[LWolf]

20. I haven't read The Graveyard book.

I'm sure I'll get to it, though.

My students are completely engrossed. It's worthy in itself, of course, but that group just finished another holocaust-related book from a different perspective which set them up for this one.