So Many Books, So Little Time (The Reading Thread)

[Prancer]

Carrying on.

I finally forced myself to finish The 7th Victim. The ending was even worse than the rest of the book; a third-rate soap opera writer would be embarrassed to pen that mess. But seeing the four-star rating there on Amazon has depressed me so much that I haven't been able to finish my scathing review.



I picked up Schooled and read it in a few hours, but I now feel guilty for buying it. The author was a teacher at The Dalton School and apparently the characters in the book are so thinly disguised that people in the know recognize them immediately. It's bad enough to do that to adults, but the seventh grade kids she wrote about are still minors in high school this year. After reading the book, I can believe she changed nothing but the names; the teacher in the book is very easily seduced by money and doesn't seem to have a particularly sound set of ethics, even a deeply buried one, even though she clearly wants to think she does.

I'm planning to chug through Stalking Susan and Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back this week, as I expect to be way too busy starting next Monday to read anything except student papers and my own assignments for quite a while.

[PrincessLeppard]

I just finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, which is the sequel to the Hunger Games. It's young adult literature, but a compelling story line. And now I have to wait another year for the last book.

[rfisher]

Any Margaret Atwood fans? I've never read her books. Borders 30% off teacher appreciation days start this week and I'm plotting my purchases. She has a new book but I'm debating buying an older one first.

[PrincessLeppard]

I use the Handmaid's Tail in my Dystopian Literature class. School board got so hung up on the NRA being criticized in another book that they totally overlooked it.

[NeilJLeonard]

I just got "Small Ships" by Jay Benford & the Benford Design Group, the creators of the Florida Bay Coaster line of boats based on island tramp steamers, tug boats, trawlers & 1920s style fantail cruising yachts. A fascinating & illustrated read about one of the more interesting people in the arcane business & art of designing & making small, liveaboard yachts.

NJL

[genevieve]

Any Margaret Atwood fans? I've never read her books. Borders 30% off teacher appreciation days start this week and I'm plotting my purchases. She has a new book but I'm debating buying an older one first.

Handmaid's Tale is a classic, but my favorite of hers is Cat's Eye. I haven't read anything new of hers for years, though.

I'm still reading Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude I'm almost finished - at this point I'm prolonging the end because I enjoy it so much.

[Prancer]

Any Margaret Atwood fans? I've never read her books. Borders 30% off teacher appreciation days start this week and I'm plotting my purchases. She has a new book but I'm debating buying an older one first.

I like Atwood, but she may not be your cup of tea, since you like to read for fun and frolic. She's written a lot of short stories; you might be able to find one or two online to try before you dive into a whole book. Or you might want to check one out of the library and read a bit first, just to see what you think.

[Wyliefan]

Perfect thread title. I think the number of books I'm currently reading is up to at least 25. :blush:

[pollyanna]

The thread title has been my personal motto ever since urchin #1 was born. No, make that ever since the day I got married.

I read Atwood's Lady Oracle years and years ago for one of my literature courses at university. I remember that I enjoyed it, especially its humor, but apparently not enough to read another Atwood novel. But that may be due to the "so many books so little time" issue.

[shells]

I just finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, which is the sequel to the Hunger Games. It's young adult literature, but a compelling story line. And now I have to wait another year for the last book.

My friend was raving about these books to me the other day. After making sure I was never going to read them she told me all about them.

She didn't like Catching Fire as much as The Hunger Games.

[shells]

Any Margaret Atwood fans? I've never read her books. Borders 30% off teacher appreciation days start this week and I'm plotting my purchases. She has a new book but I'm debating buying an older one first.

I understand from my bookstore friends that her new book is a sequel to Oryx and Crake...so if you may want to read that one first.

ETA: The only book of hers I've read is Alias Grace. I enjoyed it, but clearly not enough to read any of her others. I catch all kinds of shit for that too. (don't you know, we're all supposed to read every Canadian author there is!)

[Wyliefan]

I've heard about The Hunger Games. Sounds like an interesting premise.

[star_gazer11]

I'm about 1/3 way through The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Yes, it's charming, but I'm not getting all the hype about it.

I picked up Schooled and read it in a few hours, but I now feel guilty for buying it

I sped through this one too, but I didn't know she based the characters on real students without changing details. Not really a keeper for me either.

I just finished Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, which is the sequel to the Hunger Games. It's young adult literature, but a compelling story line. And now I have to wait another year for the last book.

There's been a lot of good buzz for this series, I think it's going on my wishlist.

[BaileyCatts]

You know what book I really liked and still remember even though I read it like 10+ years ago? LOST MOON. It is the autobiography of Jim Lovell and the book the movie Apollo 13 was based on (which is one of my favorites). The book is about Lovell's life in the beginning and then the Apollo 13 mission. It is written in a third-person narrative style, which was a little strange, but it was fascinating reading how his life progressed and all the quirky and weird coincidences that occured in his life that lead him to the military, NASA, how he was named to that Mission. Not to mention all the weird coincidences that happened in regards to that Mission that lead to the accident, how they resolved the problems; fascinating. I was too young to remember when it happened, but it amazes me to this day those men survived.....and it was friggin' 1970 technology! It's a fascinating read (or did I say that already ).

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Moon-Peri...3682169&sr=8-1

[Japanfan]

Any Margaret Atwood fans? I've never read her books. Borders 30% off teacher appreciation days start this week and I'm plotting my purchases. She has a new book but I'm debating buying an older one first.

I love Margaret Atwood and plan to buy her new post-apocalyptic work 'The Flood' in hard copy as soon as it comes out. But before that I might reread 'Oryx and Crake', which I thought was a masterpiece. Much more terrifying than 'The Handmaid's Tales', which was pretty intense.

At present I'm reading a fantasy series written by Jane Linksold. The protagonist is a woman who has been raised by a large and intelligent class of wolves, then sent back to human society for reasons yet unknown. The structure of human society is similar that to a lot of fantasies: medieval and led by a monarch.

It's not a typical sword and sorcery novel but is nonetheless a page turner, full of romance, suspense and adventure. And a cast of totally engaging characters.

[made_in_canada]

I'm reading The Historian right now... It's completely creeping me out. It's not even the kind of book I would normally read, but it was on the 70% off table at Chapters and the cover was pretty... Probably good to expand my horizons anyway.

[rfisher]

I like Atwood, but she may not be your cup of tea, since you like to read for fun and frolic. She's written a lot of short stories; you might be able to find one or two online to try before you dive into a whole book. Or you might want to check one out of the library and read a bit first, just to see what you think.

I'm making my bi-weekly trip to the library this week to swap audio books.

Diana Gabaldon has already lost her slot in my 5 currently open rotating book list. I hate when she tries to write history. I read the first three chapters last night and probably skipped half the material. Three Bags Full is now back on top. I never thought I'd say Othello and Miss Maple are more entertaining than Jamie and Claire.

[PrincessLeppard]

My friend was raving about these books to me the other day. After making sure I was never going to read them she told me all about them.

She didn't like Catching Fire as much as The Hunger Games.

I read the Hunger Games in one night. Catching Fire starts off veeeerrryy slowly, but once the twist happened, I couldn't put the book down.

[Wyliefan]

You know what book I really liked and still remember even though I read it like 10+ years ago? LOST MOON. It is the autobiography of Jim Lovell and the book the movie Apollo 13 was based on (which is one of my favorites). The book is about Lovell's life in the beginning and then the Apollo 13 mission. It is written in a third-person narrative style, which was a little strange, but it was fascinating reading how his life progressed and all the quirky and weird coincidences that occured in his life that lead him to the military, NASA, how he was named to that Mission. Not to mention all the weird coincidences that happened in regards to that Mission that lead to the accident, how they resolved the problems; fascinating. I was too young to remember when it happened, but it amazes me to this day those men survived.....and it was friggin' 1970 technology! It's a fascinating read (or did I say that already ).

http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Moon-Peri...3682169&sr=8-1

Great book. Jim Lovell came and spoke at my college years ago, and signed my copy. Really neat guy.

[Aimless]

[QUOTE=star_gazer11;2384706]I'm about 1/3 way through The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Yes, it's charming, but I'm not getting all the hype about it.

GLPPPS is grossly overrated. Chicken soup style. Derivative (Pride & Prejudice), predictable, cartoonish characters, and the epistolary style got very strained at times. If it hadn't been for the very interesting and moving historical detail about Guernsey's ordeal during WWII, I'd have put it down. Choice of my book club, what are you going to do.

Our book this time is The Reader. Much chewier.