What are you reading?

Conversations with a Fat Girl

totally different than what I expected - feel like I could have nearly written it!
(another great 'gift'!)

I'm ashamed to say that I've been so busy, that just last night I finished a book I must have been reading for almost 8 months. It's such a relief to have finished it! It was:

The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski

I have to say it was incredibly dry, but also incredibly fascinating. So... definitely worth a read, but only if you're into reading dry non-fiction.

I'm reading Mansfield Park next!

Funny, I didn't realize the author was female.  Her name is Curtis, so I just thought she was a he.

I about halfway through We Need to Talk About Kevin before I realised Lionel Shriver was a woman! 

Conversations with a Fat Girl

I just looked this up on Amazon. It sounds really good!

The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski

I bought that on someone's recommendation ... was it you Someday? Anyway, I still haven't started it. The Book on the Bookshelf is still just a book on my bookshelf. 

I'm reading Mansfield Park next!

LOVELY!!!! YAYE!!! 

I bought that on someone's recommendation ... was it you Someday? Anyway, I still haven't started it. The Book on the Bookshelf is still just a book on my bookshelf. 

Yes actually, I think you did. I know I recommended it months ago when I started it. It really is interesting, but it's not *exciting* so it can make it a bit text-bookish in places. It's definitely worth a read though. They even have a special part about the Reading Room at the BM, the new British Library, and the Bodleian Library at Oxford. The first half or so is about the origins of books (scrolls, leaves of manuscripts) and how they were stored, and then how storage changed when binding became more popular. The second half is more about the modern day shelf and how they moved from ornate, wooden shelves to iron, practical ones. He even goes into how moving stacks were established. Pretty cool. I can't imagine how much research he did. Just looking at the appendix and the bibliography is mind-numbing!

Conversations with a Fat Girl

totally different than what I expected - feel like I could have nearly written it!
(another great 'gift'!)

I was just going to say, hey, I think I read that

I about halfway through We Need to Talk About Kevin before I realised Lionel Shriver was a woman! 

Oh wow, now I would never have thought that!

Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende. I have read a few of her novels so hoping this one is just as good as the others. 

Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende. I have read a few of her novels so hoping this one is just as good as the others. 

That's the only one of hers I've read, but I thoroughly enjoyed it!

The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen.  it's about a small logging town in Washington State in 1917.  The town was founded on socialist principles and it has those severely tested during the flu epidemic.  It decides to quarantine itself to keep the flu out but that decision has repercussions that nobody had thought of.  It's a very good read and it's about an event that I've always found fascinating and have never understood why it's not deeply imprinted in our psyche, millions of young people wiped out by this dreadful disease.  Our history books have far more about the Black Death than this recent plague!

Im reading the Series, Wheel of Time by RObert Jordan.  Im currently on the second book, The Great Hunt.  If you like a little bit of fantasy and a LOT of adventure , these books are real page turners!  Best in the genre since TOlkien imo.

The Fortnight in September by R.C. Sherriff, a lovely 1931 novel about a family going on holiday to Bognor Regis.

Check this out

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2007/06/06/orange-prize-win.html

Karen Connelly just won the Orange for best new novelist.  She is from my home province and I've been following her writing career from the time she was 18.  She is an absolutely amazing writer - so so gifted.  I'm so proud of her!!  Check out her books.  Touch the Dragon is totally worth the read.  I loved it. 

Check this out

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2007/06/06/orange-prize-win.html

Karen Connelly just won the Orange for best new novelist.  She is from my home province and I've been following her writing career from the time she was 18.  She is an absolutely amazing writer - so so gifted.  I'm so proud of her!!  Check out her books.  Touch the Dragon is totally worth the read.  I loved it. 

Go Team Canada!  OK, OK, I couldn't help myself.....I'll stop now.....

But another good book is Larry's Party by Carol Shields: it has always made me want to go to Hampton Court maze.

I just finished "The Interpretation Of Murder" By Jed Rubenfeld and I have to say it is one of the best books I have read in a long while.  It took me a while to read because I only read at night and I have been occupied with other things lately but it is definitely an excellent book.  Like every good mystery novel, you don't really know who dunnit until the very end.  Think Agatha Christie....this guy is just as good. 

June

Darwin and Intelligent Design

I'm on a Colin Watson kick. I just finished Coffin, Scarcely Used and am now reading Bump in the Night.