Current Reads

Carrie Ann wrote:

Hmm, Shadowlass, that bums me out a bit. Is there an actual plot though, at some point? Right now, I'm at the point where

Spoiler:

I mean, OK, but it's really not that fascinating, and none of the characters are particularly sympathetic, so I don't have much to hold onto at this point.

A very leisurely "plot" develops.

Spoiler:

Speaking of really big books, I've been waiting for Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy to come out as an ebook. I really want to read it but it's over a thousand pages and it's really heavy and I have small hands. The only way I managed to read Order of the Phoenix in one long session was to put it on the floor and stretch out on the couch so I didn't have to actually hold it.

Just finished Mindy Kaling's book. If anyone's looking for me, I will be in Hollywood trying to become BFFs with Mindy Kaling.

Instant Monkeys wrote:Just finished Mindy Kaling's book. If anyone's looking for me, I will be in Hollywood trying to become BFFs with Mindy Kaling.

I loved her book, and I also want to be her BFF. She did a reading at the Harvard Book Store a few months ago, and my friend from home kept badgering me to go and stalk her convince her to hang out with us.

Yesterday I bought The Night Circus based on the rave reviews you guys have given it. I'm looking forward to reading it this coming week while we're away on holiday!

I hope you enjoy it, eventide!

I'm reading How To Be A Woman, by Caitlin Moran. It's a memoir of sorts; as a 13-year old she wrote a to-do list for becoming a woman, and she writes a series of chapters on these things that supposedly 'make' a woman. It's kind of a more accessible take on Simon de Beauvoir's assertion that a woman is made, not born. And by "more accessible", I mean laugh out loud hilarious. She's awesome, and I highly recommend this book.

mokey75 wrote:I'm about a third of the way through We Need to Talk About Kevin, and sweet baby jeebus, this book is gutting me.

Based on my ratings and recommendations, one of my friends is reading this book alongside Columbine with her work book club. I thought both books were very good, but wow, that's a LOT of heavy material to digest at once.

eventide82 wrote:Yesterday I bought The Night Circus based on the rave reviews you guys have given it. I'm looking forward to reading it this coming week while we're away on holiday!

My digital copy is finally available from the library, so I'm trying to burn through the rest of We Need to Talk about Kevin today/tomorrow, so that I can dive into it.
Speaking of, I just got to the part where

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and people, I am worried. Seriously worried.

OH MY GOD, mokey, OH MY GOD. Oh my God I don't understand how you put the book down at that point. KEEP GOING AND THEN TELL US YOUR REACTIONS.

I'm super excited that I got Faithful Place from the library the other day! I'm reading On the Farm, Stevie Cameron's book about the Pickton murders in Vancouver, but since it's like 700 pages long in a gigantic hardback, it may take me a while to get through it. Also I need to get through some non-killing-related books once in a while so I got Bloody Valentine by Anthony Bourdain from the library as well, thankfully.

You know, I watch a lot of tv about serial killers and murderers and that story, the pig farm one, is by far the most horrifying and scary thing ever. It's so very disturbing.

LoS, I took the bus as far as I could, I promise! And, in fact, my husband met me for lunch, but I was trying to dissuade him all morning so that I could keep reading.

So I'm finally reading The Devil in the White City...so full of interesting things! I didn't know I had the Chicago World's Fair to blame for PBR.

OH MY GOD PEOPLE! Why did no one tell me how good The Hunger Games trilogy was??!?!!!!11

I just finished Catching Fire. Good thing I only have to wait until the library coughs up Mockingjay. If I had to wait for it to be written and published, I might asplode.

And yes, I know there's a thread for the series, but I didn't want to get any more spoiled than I already am. Because OH MY GOD.

How To Be A Woman is fab. So much fun, and really thought-provoking. I love Caitlin Moran.

I'm nearing the end of the Steve Jobs bio. It was fine...but repetitive. Seriously, I get that he was both a genius and an a-hole. I GET IT.

I'm also reading Remembering Anne Frank by Miep Gies, the woman who worked for Otto Frank and helped the family while they were in hiding. It is really good. It's so fascinating to see Anne and her family from someone else's perspective. Of course there's an incredible sadness overlaying all of it, but it's still a great book thus far.

I am reading Stephen King's 11/22/63 and LOVING IT. I adore time-travel stories, and this is pretty much exactly what I needed to read right now. I started yesterday and am more than halfway through. I, um, may have skipped the Superbowl in part to read.

I'm slogging through A History of the World in 100 Objects from the staff at the British Museum. I'm loving it because of all the trivia and guesswork about people's lives, but it's deep. I read about 5 objects and I'm out.

So, to balance that, I'm reading fluffy romance novels, like Eleven Scandals to Start to Win a Duke's Heart (which was hard to get into because it'd been a while since I'd read the first in the series and hadn't read the second, so I had a tough time figuring out all the relationships) and I've started on the Pink Carnation series, which is excellent. I've also got Catching Fire to start this week.

Auroura76 wrote:I am reading Stephen King's 11/22/63 and LOVING IT. I adore time-travel stories, and this is pretty much exactly what I needed to read right now. I started yesterday and am more than halfway through. I, um, may have skipped the Superbowl in part to read.

Me too! That's quite a doorstop, isn't it? And as a switch, I am mostly confused by time-travel stories, and I can't put it down.

Putli Bai wrote:

Auroura76 wrote:I am reading Stephen King's 11/22/63 and LOVING IT. I adore time-travel stories, and this is pretty much exactly what I needed to read right now. I started yesterday and am more than halfway through. I, um, may have skipped the Superbowl in part to read.

Me too! That's quite a doorstop, isn't it? And as a switch, I am mostly confused by time-travel stories, and I can't put it down.

I just finished it yesterday! I'd love to chat about it when you guys are done.

Menshevixen wrote:So I'm finally reading The Devil in the White City...so full of interesting things! I didn't know I had the Chicago World's Fair to blame for PBR.

AHHH I loved this book! So creepy. SO CREEPY.

I've read so much on my Kindle lately. I've been reading Stephen King's Bag of Bones and IT for comfort reading and I just finished Mindy Kaling's book. I liked it, but ultimately, it made me want Amy Poehler to write a book. She comes across so WELL in Mindy's book and in Tina's that I would read anything by her.

I got The Enchantment Emporium by Tanya Huff in the mail from Paperback Swap today. I'm only about 100 pages in, but it's great already! I really like the main character's huge, wacky family and I'm intrigued by the mystery.

gannetguts wrote:I've read so much on my Kindle lately. I've been reading Stephen King's Bag of Bones and IT for comfort reading and I just finished Mindy Kaling's book. I liked it, but ultimately, it made me want Amy Poehler to write a book. She comes across so WELL in Mindy's book and in Tina's that I would read anything by her.

So I take it that you like to pee your pants for comfort? I can't imagine anyone counting King's work as "comfort reading" because I've only read Carrie and The Shining, and though I knew what would happen in the former, it still terrified me a bit. The latter jut plain scared the shit out of me, to be real frank. You're a much braver person than I, gannetguts!

hahahaha! I think it's because it reminds me of that delicious feeling of being scared, but a safe scare, like a roller coaster. Makes me remember when I first read it. I will admit, last night, while reading Bag of Bones, I did jump a mile in the air when my cat pounced on my foot during a particularly eerie part.

I was thinking the same thing. If IT is your comfort reading, what on earth do you read if you want to be creeped out?

I'm yet to find a book that really scares me! Well, unless you count 120 Days of Sodom. I could not finish that -- but I wasn't scared so much as disgusted. And was sort of eye-rolly at American Psycho (I read this before I was 18 and had to actually get PERMISSION to from the local library).