The Fall Edition of "Whatcha Reading?"

Deciding to turn over a new leaf and shed myself of my romance books, I have ventured into the real book section.

I just finished reading:

The Nanny Diaries

and am reading, and thoroughly enjoying: About a Boy by Nick Hornby.

Reading *Lord Jim *by Conrad. The dude could turn a phrase, but am I really expected to buy this narration device? Anyway, never been able to get all the way through it; this is probly my third try. Intend to keep plugging.

I just re-read Pearl Buck’s “The Good Earth” (haven’t read it in since high school). It falls apart a tiny bit at the end, but I still love it.

I think I’m going to continue the nostalgia and read “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” next.

A trilogy of novels about the Civil War – The Three Days, By Antietam Creek, and The River and the Wilderness – by Don Robertson, a wonderful writer who (IIRC) won a Pulitzer for Paradise Falls.

And whenever my daughter finishes it, The Dark Tower by Stephen King.

I just finished Jenna Jameson’s autobiography. I was… um… interesting.

I went to Half Price Books today and stocked up. This afternoon I started on the biography of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire. I also bought:

Ian Pears’ The Dream of Scipio. His An Instance of the Fingerpost bored me to tears, but hopefully this will be better.

I’ve been wanting to re-read Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, so I picked that up, too. I loved Alias Grace and The Blind Assassin.

I also got a history book on Doctor Johnson’s London, a mystery called The Inquisitor and Gregory Maguire’s Lost. If you haven’t read Maguire’s Wicked, I highly recommend it.

A New Approach to Latin, by E.G. Macnaughton and T.W. McDougall. in preparation for the latin courses I’ll be taking next year;

and Yours to Reason Why: Decision in Battle, by William Seymour. Amazing book. A review, from ebay:

JayElle - is Jenna Jameson’s book worth picking up? I am a great fan of her other work but am not too sure of her writing prowess.

I am taking a break from George Takei’s autobiography while cooking dinner at the moment. Good book.

A trip to the Neue Galerie (repository of Austrian and German art, 5th Avenue and 86th Street) bookshop yielded a new edition of the short works of Arthur Schnitzler from the British publisher Angel Classics.

Also enjoying G.K. Chesterton’s short biography of St. Francis of Assisi.

And the Old Farmer’s Almanac for 2005. “Boil old toothbrushes for four minutes and use them for cleaning golf clubs, bird feeders, and fish tanks…or for getting the last bits of corn silk off fresh ears.”

I just got done with The Road to Wellville by TC Boyle and am now reading Coming Up For Air by George Orwell.

The Great Hunt

The second book in the “Wheel of Time” series by Robert Jordan

Ulysses.

Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks. She definitely writes the most graphic descriptions of plague victims I’ve ever read in a novel. And it’s loosely based on events that occured in an actual village in England.

Maisy

Well, it’s obviously written with some help from co-author Neil Strauss. I don’t htink it was worth the full hardcover price ($27.95 USD) but there are tons of beautiful photos.

I’m halfway through The Years of Rice and Salt, recommended in an alternative history thread here a year or two ago.

It’s excellent!

A Short History of Japan, by Ian Nish. My entire alleged education included perhaps one week dedicated to Japan, so this was intended to fill a gap in my knowledge. It’s readable though unfortunately it was written before the idea of cultural history really took hold.

Just started The Glorious Cause by Jeff Shaara, second of his two historical novels about the Revolutionary War.

I’m blasting through the C.J. Box books, which someone here recommended in a mystery thread not long ago. All the books are set in Wyoming, where I lived for a time, so it’s sort of like going back for a visit – well, except for the murders and exploding cows and so on. Box’s characterizations of Wyoming folk are dead on and his stories are harrowing, funny and addicting. I just finished Winterkill, so I have one more to go (and 25 people ahead of me at the library).

Next up, King Solomon’s Carpet by Barbara Vine.

I’m reading:

Laurie R. King’s The Game
Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory’s The Outstretched Shadow
and Sharon Duncan’s The Dead Wives’ Society

Just read Miriam Toews’ A Complicated Kindness- best book I’ve read all year! It’s about a teenage girl living in a Canadian Mennonite community. I highly recommend it, especially to anyone looking for a book for their non-reading teenage kids. Also recently finished Dave Eggers’ You Shall Know our Velocity! which I enjoyed more than A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Very sad, though. And, as ever, Eggers glides in and out of conventional and postmodernist methods of storytelling- with ease. Haven’t got another read lined up- that’s why I’m here.