What are you reading?

[Velcro]

That sounds exciting - and hard work, Velcro. But I bet you will have a real sense of achievement when it is finished. What is your book about?

Kathyx

A contemporary romance.  It's a lot harder than I thought.

[Katybarstool]

Is that for real, Joe?

Kathyx

[harrigan]

Hi Kathy - yes, that would be great to meet up!

We are doing a big push on reading for pleasure at school - trying to get teen and older fiction donations to run a book fayre and let our Year 10s choose a book.  Hoping for some good donations so we can run it next week.  I think we will have to brush up on our hard sell tactics! xx Ailsa

[slccom]

Velcro, sign up with Writer's Weekly e-newsletter for inspiration. It is free and they are great on-demand publishers who are honest and not rip-off artists.

Keep on keeping on! And remember, write now. Edit later. And you can't edit what never got written.

Sharon

[quietdynamics]

I pick up used paperbacks and then pass them along.

Just really enjoyed, Think of a Number, by John Verdon.

Love the authors use of language and the way he fleshed out so many different types of characters in the story. Felt as though some of the personalities were ones I have met in life along the way.

Can't wait to hear what DH thinks after he reads it.

[Sleepy In Seattle]

Oooooh in our house we all love, love, LOVE reading!!!! 

I adore well-researched historical fiction - I'd rather read about some other time and place then modern fiction about people just like me. I like to be transported someplace - another time, another place, another kind of life....

Some favorites from the last couple of years:
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (one of my top 5 books of all time) and
Bring Up the Bodies (sequel to Wolf Hall - an there's a third book on the way) - both about the life and times of Thoma Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's advisers and "friends" (if you can call it that!)
Sparta by Roxana Robinson - about a young veteran of the Iraq war - takes place in the town where I grew up.
The Bartender's Tale by Ivan Doig - about a boy's life in a small town in Montana, 1960. I love Doig's books - always a pleasure to read.
Fire in the Hole and Raylan by Elmore Leonard - I have read other Elmore Leonard novels, but hubby and I have become BIG fans of the TV show "Justified" and I had never read these novels - LOVED them. Makes me want to go back and read more of Leonard's early Westerns.
The Crimson Petal and the White by Michel Faber - pure guilty pleasure....bodice-ripping and all! :p
Up In The Old Hotel by Joseph Mitchell - a collection of interconnected short stories/reportage by a writer who was a New Yorker reporter in the 1930's. Amazing prose and a vivid chunk of NY history
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry - a classic book set in India in the late 70's/early 80's - you won't believe how all the threads come together in the end. It's the most compassionate and brutal book ever. This is also in my top 5 ever.

I also love the Harry potter books, and I read a ton of books on horsemanship since that is what I do every day.

I am currently reading Hild by Nicola Griffith. For some reason, I can't really get into it...but I hate to give up on a book too soon, and this is the kind of book I normally really enjoy, so I am staying with it a while longer.
The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt is up next....it's supposed to be quite extraordinary.

Happy reading!!!!

[Winnie]

We have been off for Christmas break and snow so I have read a couple of books so far all by the same author: Stephanie Bond

Our Husband - one man and multiple wives mystery
Finding My Mojo -  vodoo doll mystery set in small town- Mojo
Body Movers (series) - just started it.  It's about a brother and sister whose rich parents skipped bail and the kids raised themselves.  So far it is really good. 

There is a murder and romance involved in each one of these books.

Winnie

[Velcro]

Velcro, sign up with Writer's Weekly e-newsletter for inspiration. It is free and they are great on-demand publishers who are honest and not rip-off artists.

Keep on keeping on! And remember, write now. Edit later. And you can't edit what never got written.

Sharon

Thank you Sharon!  I will do.  I did figure out I was spending way to much time going back and reading what I wrote and editing it after every chapter.  So I did quit doing that and am just trying to write to the end now.

[Katybarstool]

I want to add Alison Weir to my list of must reads. I've just finished reading An Innocent Traitor about the life of Lady Jane Grey, and it kept me in suspense 'til the very last page.

Kathyx

[Carolina]

Hi, Sleepy, I've read almost all of Elmore Leonard.  And now we're watching the series: Justified.  It is based on Fire in the Hole and the executive producer was Elmore Leonard until his death.

He was one of the most talented writers with a unique voice.   The show is excellent!

I'm reading:

The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared [Kindle Edition]
Jonas Jonasson

Just finished:

Sarah's Key [Kindle Edition]
Tatiana de Rosnay

Life After Life: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
Kate Atkinson

Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (Vintage International) [Kindle Edition]
Haruki M

The Testament of Mary [Kindle Edition]
Colm Toibin

Tatiana: An Arkady Renko Novel [Kindle Edition]
Martin Cruz Smith

A Wild Sheep Chase: A Novel (Vintage International) [Kindle Edition]
Haruki Murakami

1Q84 (Vintage International) [Kindle Edition]
Haruki Murakami

Dear Life: Stories [Kindle Edition]
Alice Munro

Hotel Du Lac (Vintage Contemporaries) [Kindle Edition]
Anita Brookner

Just One Evil Act: A Lynley Novel (Inspector Lynley) [Kindle Edition]
Elizabeth George

The Woman in the Dunes (Vintage International) [Kindle Edition]
Kobo Abe

F. Scott Fitzgerald. "The Beautiful and Damned." iBooks.

So many books, so little time.

Hugs, Elaine

[Joe S.]

Yes. It is over 1200 page so I am scanning and do not trust my memory as much as I used to. It is a good reference book that contains western treatments and CAM therapies related to a number of illnesses.

I have just completed the "Divergent" series on Audio CD. - fiction

I have a stack of 8 or more magazines that I subscribe to and read each month also. It is an old habit and is down from my thirties when I had to read trade publications for several industries also.

Sjogren's is now listed as the number 2 auto immune disease from a couple of journals.

[RettaV]

I'm reading "Entering the Castle" by Caroline Myss, sort of a modern spin on Theresa of Avila's writings about enriching and empowering the soul. ShoGirl, I really like the Franciscan's books. I think his name is Richard Rohr. Haven't read Falling Upward, but loved The Immortal Diamond and The Naked Now. Just finished Stitches, by Anne Lamott, who's probably my favorite author. After all the spiritual stuff, and the medical reading/research I've been doing since learning I'm a sjoggie, I'm ready for some escape. What are the best fiction recommendations out there?!

[slccom]

Anything and everything by Mercedes Lackey is wonderful. Go to Wikipedia, look her up, pick a series and get going. Her take on old fairy tales is wonderful and engrossing.

Also, the 1632 series by Eric Flint, Lackey, and lots of other co-authors is wonderful. It is about a modern city, Grantville, WVA, getting moved into another universe's 1632 central Germany, in all its bloody political turmoil.

That should keep you occupied for a year or so.

[bloodless]

Rapture. Angel and demons fighting...all kinds of mayhem. Big sci fi and fantasy geek here.

[slccom]

You are Not Forgotten The Story of a Lost World War II Pilot and a Twenty-First-Century Soldier's Mission to... by Bryan Bender (Oct 29, 2013)

  This really lets us understand a tiny bit of what the men who fought and still fight for us go through, and it was compelling.

Sharon