What are you reading?

You have to say that WH is imaginative.

It certainly is. There are so many complex themes in there. But the way it is written seems chaotic in places, and of course, the antiquated language never helps (and Joseph's nearly unreadable dialect I had to almost completely skip.) But also in JE there is only the main character as narrator, while in WH, you have two narrators, so that makes it a bit more interesting due to the different points of view. I just keep thinking about it since I read it last week, even though I have moved on to another novel, it really stayed with me. It was harder to get into at first, but much more satisfying in the end.

I picked up

Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Cancer Ward & One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

I read a day in the life first and it just left me shattered, I foolishly started Cancer Ward within an hour of finishing it. I'm a couple of chapters into it and it's.. startling and frightening and brilliant and hauntingand very simple yet very raw at the same time.

I've yet to start Blood Meridian.

Reading/to be read shortly:

American Wife-Curtis Sittenfeld (thanks Karrit )
Quantitative Theory of Insanity- Will Self
Teacher Man- Frank McCourt
Small World-Matt Beaumont
Petite Anglaise-Catherine Sanderson
Re-reading Little Women
In Search of the English Eccentric-Henry Hemming

I've been waiting for this day for a long time and I can finally post that I finished The Duchess of Devonshire today! Woot!

Next up is Beyond the Blossoming Fields by Jun'ichi Watanabe.

I also got a library card today and I can't wait to get some of the books people have suggested on here! 

Finished Brave New World and I feel a bit "meh" about it.

Now onto My Lobotomy, which has been waiting in the "to read" stack for far too long 

First trip to the library with my new card! 

I picked up:

While I Was Gone by Sue Miller
The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh ( I saw someone else on here was reading that and I LOVED Brideshead Revisited)

And I got a DVD called Poitín. It's an Irish film from the 70s with English subtitles.

I just finished The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.

Funny, sad, and very sweet.  Just what I needed.

About to start Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah  I know nothing about it, but I liked the look of it on the shelf at Barnes and Nobles last month.

I just read Jose Saramago's Blindness which I really liked, I've been thinking about it a lot since I read it which is always a good thing. I enjoyed the style (similar to the Road) and it was pretty compelling, a couple of chapters made me very tense.

I've been on a Carl Hiaasen jag, so now I'm in search of something gentler.

I recently finished "The Jane Austen Book Club".  Then I rented the movie.  I thought the movie was much better than the book.  Anyone else read / watch recently?  What are your thoughts?

I recently finished "The Jane Austen Book Club".  Then I rented the movie.  I thought the movie was much better than the book.  Anyone else read / watch recently?  What are your thoughts?

I didn't even know there was a movie! But I found the book pretty disappointing. 

I didn't even know there was a movie! But I found the book pretty disappointing. 

The movie came out in 2007, apparantly.  It's formulaic, but cute and funny.  The characters are much more likeable or at least sympathetic in the movie (I found them all annoying in the book).  It's funnier and the parallels between the Austen novels and what's going on in the characters' lives is made much more clear.

I just finished While I was Gone by Sue Miller. Fabulous book! I highly recommend it!

I recently finished "The Jane Austen Book Club".  Then I rented the movie.  I thought the movie was much better than the book.  Anyone else read / watch recently?  What are your thoughts?

I agree.  I enjoyed the movie, but didn't manage to finish the book. 

I just finished a Janet Evanovich Stephanie Plum book - funny as ever and easy reading. Now I'm on to a book called Over by  Margaret Forster. The subject matter is pretty depressing - it's about a couple whose daughter is killed in a sailing accident - but it's beautifully written.