Five Books

(I did this on FB, but thought it might be fun to do it here too.)

The Book I'm Currently Reading:
The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. I'm reading it for book group and I'm finding it hard to do anything else. I have a busy week, but all I want to do is read read read! It's one of the most gripping books I've read in years.
 
The Last Book I Finished:
An Inheritance by Caro Fraser. Utter rubbish. I wanted something light after reading Christos Tsiolkas's The Slap and Iris Murdoch's The Sea, The Sea back-to-back, but should have found my fluff elsewhere. I don't mind Caro Fraser's Caper Court books, but An Inheritance is one to avoid. Trust me.
 
The Next Book I Want to Read:
Love Virtually by Daniel Glattauer. This is a loan from a friend who said it was readable and pleasant - and that's what I'm after. Something I can sit in the sun with in the garden and thoroughly enjoy. There's good fluff and bad fluff, and this looks like the former.
 
and ...
 
Agatha Christie: An Autobiography. I'm off on a jaunt to see Greenway, Agatha Christie's home, on Friday and this seems like a good tie-in.
 
(Sorry. I know I cheated by including two.)
 
The Last Book I Bought:
The Sack of Bath by Adam Fergusson. A new Persephone to add to my collection. Haven't read it yet.
 
The Last Book I Was Given:
I was just given a World Book Night copy of One Day by David Nicholls. Because there were more people at our local library on WBN who wanted the book than there were copies of it, we devised an elaborate scheme to get it to everyone in turn. And it's my turn.

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Let's hear about your Five Books! 

Oooo I'll bite!

Book I'm Currently Reading:
Re-reading Jane Eyre, as mentioned in the What are you Reading? thread. I'm really enjoying it, since the last time I read it I was 14 and didn't totally understand everything as thoroughly as I do now.

Last Book I Finished:
When the Wind Blows by James Patterson.  I thought it was crap, but it was a quick read and something to fill my time in the waiting room at the GP and on the train.

Next Book I Want to Read
I'm not entirely sure.  I've read through most of the books I got for Christmas, and all of BF's books are boxed up for moving, so I may have to buy something.  Plus, he doesn't have much that I want to read anyway.  Ideally I'd like to read Payment In Blood by Elizabeth George, or World Without End by Ken Follet.

Last Book I Bought
I can't remember! It's been ages since I've bought one for myself.  I think it must have been something for my course, maybe To Have and to Hold: An Intimate History of Collectors and Collecting by Philipp Blom.

The Last Book I Was Given
That would be Man Walks into a Pub: A Sociable History of Beer by Pete Brown, which phatbeetle gave me for our UKY Gift Exchange.  It was great!

I love elaborate book sharing schemes! My students once came up with one that incorporated a fairly complicated matrix that took into account reading speed, free time, and likelyhood of remembering to bring the book back to class in order to share out a few advanced copies of a book I brought back from a conference. Loved it.

The Book I'm Currently Reading: Uh, well, so I tend to have (at minimum) two books going at once. The book I'm currently re-reading is Jasper Fforde's "Lost in a Good Book" as I am re-reading the series. The new book I'm reading is "Memoirs of a Master Forger" by William Heaney (actually Graham Joyce)
The Last Book I Finished: It was a "fluff" book for me as well. Fallen Angel by Kevin Lewis, a rather typical mystery but decent.
The Next Book I Want to Read:
Well, I am impatiently waiting for the next book by PC Hodgell. Who is amazing. Other than that, I am looking forward to Reprobates by John Stubbs. (I love Agatha Christie's autobio! Fond memories of the first time I read that book!)
The Last Book I Bought: Mark Twain's Autiobiography (the first volume). I read the first few pages in Waterstones and fell in love.
The Last Book I was Given: Well, if you count books I get sent for review, The Demon's Surrender which is the 3rd book in a YA series. Quite good, really. Otherwise, people tend not to give me books...mostly because it's tricky finding ones I haven't read...

The Book I'm Currently Reading:
Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime by John Heilemann and Mark Halpernin. It's taking me forever to read (I tend to only read before bed), but I'm really enjoying it!
 
The Last Book I Finished:
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo. My friend was telling me about it, I showed interest, so the next time I saw her she had it there. It was an interesting and quick read if nothing else.
 
The Next Book I Want to Read:
Not sure. I don't have anything lined up and I don't want to get any new books before we move in June. That could be why I'm dragging out my current read! 
 
The Last Book I Bought:
Jane Eyre. They didn't have any copies at the library, so I bought it used.
 
The Last Book I Was Given:
The Game Change book. My friend and I were talking about Sarah Palin and she insisted I read this book!

Book I'm Currently Reading:
The Count of Monte Cristo. Been reading it for months now - it's good, but rather slow going. Finally nearing the end, though.

Last Book I Finished:
Re-read Persuasion, by Jane Austen. I like Pride & Prejudice best, but this one's a close second.

Next Book I Want to Read:
The Swan Kingdom, by Zoe Marriott. YA fiction/fantasy, sounds nice and light after COMC.

Last Book I Bought:
Pegasus, by Robin McKinley. Very good, hoping the sequel comes out next year.

The Last Book I Was Given:
I can't recall the title at work, but it's an encyclopaedia of fantasy/mythical things, given to me by my UKY Secret Santa.

Yay Pegasus!

Book I'm Currently Reading:
The Count of Monte Cristo. Been reading it for months now - it's good, but rather slow going. Finally nearing the end, though.

My very favorite book ever!  It does take ages.

The Book I'm Currently Reading:
Eat My Globe: One Year to Go Everywhere and Eat Everything by Simon Majumdar

The Last Book I Finished:
Well the last book I remember finishing was Home by Marilynne Robinson, but I am sure I read something after that...hmmmm.  This is bad - not being able to remember. 

The Next Book I Want to Read:
Gosh I don't know!  I have so many on my to-be-read pile, shelves, etc...it really just comes down to what mood I'm in when I finish the existing book.  And then sometimes I pick up one, cast it aside after a bit, and then start something else...

The Last Book I Bought:
I bought at Waterstones last time - The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber (because we enjoyed the TV series), Room by Emma Donoghue, and Plain Truth by Jodi Picoult - whom I have never read, I think it's chick-lit, isn't it(?), which I don't usually like...but because the book is in an Amish setting, which is a topic that interests me, so I thought I'd give it a go & hope I don't regret it.

The Last Book I Was Given:
My BIL loaned us Eat My Globe: One Year to Go Everywhere and Eat Everything by Simon Majumdar - so I'm saying that, because I can't remember before that - I got some books at Christmas, but I think those were mostly cookbooks.

Currently reading: The ice princess by Camilla Lackberg.

Last book finished: A question of belief by Donna Leon.

Next book: The girl who kicked the hornet's nest by Stieg Larsson -- or maybe something by Robert Harris, like Pompeii

Last book bought: Ice princess above -- from CVS!

Last book given: Can't remember ...

Chary, nice idea for a thread!  I hadn't seen this before, where was I?  Well, I'll revive now!

The Book I'm Currently Reading
One of a few in a similar vein is:  "The Life You Were Born to Live, A Guide to Finding Your Life Purpose" by Dan Millman.  Sounds much, much better than it really is. 

The Last Book I Finished
"Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin.  It's a portrait of a young woman who emigrates from Ireland to Brooklyn  in the 1950s.  Really good!

The Next Book I Want to Read
"Persuasion" by Jane Austen.  I'll go look in the library today!

The Last Book I Bought
"The Art of Pilgrimage, The Seeker's Guide to Making Travel Sacred" by Phil Cousineau.  It was one of my favorite books I first read six years ago.  I bought it from Amazon to replace the copy I no longer had (ditched 99% of my books when I moved over here).

The Last Book I Was Given
"Carolan, The Life and Times of an Irish Harper".  I got this for Christmas.

I forgot about it too, Andee! I'm going to play again!

The Book I'm Currently Reading
The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell. About Dutch traders in Nagasaki in 1799.

The Last Book I Finished
The Tremor of Forgery by Patricia Highsmith. Suspenseful, unsettling and very good - typical Highsmith.

The Next Book I Want to Read
See the next question.

The Last Book I Bought
The Tenth Gift by Jane Johnson. About Barbary pirates kidnapping people from Penzance and selling them into slavery in the 1600s. I saw Johnson speak at the Penzance Literary Festival the other day and was totally pulled into her story!

The Last Book I Was Given
That answer hasn't changed since I last posted in May! Why aren't people showering me with books?!?!

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The Last Book I Finished
"Brooklyn" by Colm Toibin.  It's a portrait of a young woman who emigrates from Ireland to Brooklyn  in the 1950s.  Really good!

I was really disappointed by Brooklyn, especially after reading Toibin's The Master which was so brilliant. I didn't get much depth from Brooklyn. 

The Book I'm Currently Reading

I just started Cold Earth by Sarah Moss.  It's one of those books where each character gets a chance to speak for a mighty long time, and I'm a bit put off just reading the very first bit so far because the first character (an Englishwoman) has been talking about how annoying are the Americans that she has to work with - she hasn't met them yet, they only just appeared...just stereotypical 'Americans are tiresome because <blah blah blah>' stuff = lazy writing or else the author really wanted to make this character (who otherwise would seem nice enough!) sound like a bigot or something.  

The Last Book I Finished

The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber.  Took me ages (800+ pages) but I stuck to it & still finished it much sooner than I thought I would.  Great book, but I wished I had not seen the BBC series before reading it - because the series stuck so faithfully to the book that there really weren't any surprises in it.  It was still very good though & of course (being the book) had much more character development & nuances of things that you didn't get from the TV show.  And I really ended up liking the Mrs Fox character a whole, whole lot - which I wouldn't have expected to, based on the series alone!

The Next Book I Want to Read
Oh geez - I never decide until the the whim of the moment takes me.  I have so many to get through & it just depends on my mood!  Heh - I think that's what I said before.

The Last Book I Bought
Was a book of walks in the Cotswolds.  I am really making an effort not to buy more books until I've read what we already have!

The Last Book I Was Given
Since I just had my birthday this month, I received several at once!  Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson, and Tipping the Velvet and The Night Watch by Sarah Waters, plus my MIL loaned me Trespass by Rose Tremain - which she received for her birthday & she read immediately within a couple days.

I was really disappointed by Brooklyn, especially after reading Toibin's The Master which was so brilliant. I didn't get much depth from Brooklyn. 

I guess considering I originally thought it was chic-lit it had more depth than I was expecting.
"The Master" sounds good, I may try that one!

The Book I'm currently Reading: Legacy by Susan Kay.  It's a fiction book about Elizabeth the first.  Not really loving it, but not really hating it either.  Most of my unread books are in the UK now, so my choices are dwindling and I don't want to spend a lot on more.

The last book I finished: Papal Sin by Garry Wills.  I was looking for a history books on the Popes, but this turned out to be a criticism of the current state of the Vatican. I'm not Catholic and I don't care much about the church one way or another so I found it to be rather boring.

The next book I want to reread: British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley.  Lets call it research.  I love reading history books!  I think I bought this originally in 2003 when I was in London on a Bunac visa. 

The last book I bought: In the Garden of the Beast by Erik Larson.  It's about one of the families of the US ambassador to Nazi Germany.  Its a historical narrative and very good.  I'll read anything by Erik Larson.

The last book I was given.  My FMiL gave me A Nurse in Time by Evelyn Prentis.  It's a biography by a women who was a nurse in London just before WWII.  I never thought I would like it, but I couldn't put it down.  Luckily she has a few more books coming out posthumously. 


Love this thread!

The Book I'm Currently Reading Sense & Sensibility

The Last Book I Finished  Pride & Prejudice

The Next Book I Want to Read I'd love to do another Austen, since I am on a roll. However I am not allowed to buy any more books before I leave, so it's My Life As A Traitor by Zarah Ghahramani. A memoir of the author's time in a Tehran prison. I've also been really into novels and non fiction set in the middle east. There is some amazing fiction coming out of there right now.

The Last Book I Bought All of the above, from Powell's in Portland, plus The Making of Modern Britain by Andrew Marr. Lets see if I can get through it!

The Last Book I Was Given I haven't been given a book in a great while. No one gives books as gifts as much anymore do they?