I'm reading The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Wow, not very far into it and already wondering how she survived childhood and came out relatively normal! Well written.

The Glass Castle is a great read. I have started We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson this week.

>2, Yay, WHALITC is one of my favorite books. I hope you enjoy it. I just finished a book that was sort of written by a female author - Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, a collection of first-person narratives from survivors of the incident collected by a Belarussian journalist Svetlana Alexievich. Otherwise, I am still working slowly through Joyce Carol Oates' High Lonesome: New and Selected Stories 1966-2006 and I need to read and review One Foot Wrong by Sofie Laguna for an upcoming issue of Belletrista.

Reading several books, but only one by a woman: The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lipsector. It's quite intriguing, as is the author.

I recently finished Wuthering Heights, which I had never read before. I almost hate to admit it, but I only thought it was okay.

In my queue are The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim (Monthly Author Reads group) and The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector (for The Salon, if I get up the courage to stop lurking and actually join up!)

>5, Tracy, please join the Salon! Its being infiltrated by Club Read, so we expect you to be there!

For what its worth, I also thought WH was just ok. I think it is a hard book to read when one is an adult and cynical. All I could see was the cruelty and f-ed up-edness of the characters. Nothing struck me as even remotely romantic in that book.

Talbin/Tracy--Please, come join the Salon!

Re: Wuthering Heights "cruelty and f-ed up-edness of the characters. Nothing struck me as even remotely romantic in that book." I think you've pegged it. A romance it is not. From a bit of reading, I gather that Little Emily was a whole other fish from Charlotte. That book is shocking in many ways.

OK, I'll bite: What's the Salon?

And add me to the list of lovers of We Have Always Lived in the Castle which I just read last week. And also of The Enchanted April.

I think it is a hard book to read when one is an adult and cynical. All I could see was the cruelty and f-ed up-edness of the characters.

I read it as an adult and loved it . . . it was so twisted and dysfunctional. I didn't expect it to be romantic so I wasn't disappointed when it wasn't.

OK, I'll bite: What's the Salon?

Yeah, what are you talking about?

In my reading world, I'm halfway through Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto and it's really, really weird.

The Salon is here (and all are welcome--or seem to be): http://www.librarything.com/groups/thequ...

#9--"I read it as an adult and loved it." Me, too.

Žinutė pakeista jos autoriaus, Lapkričio 3, 2009, 11:41am.

Okay, first, the Salon: http://www.librarything.com/groups/thequ.... I'm a mere Watcher right now, so I'm not sure of the protocol for actually inviting people to join . . . . However, they're going to be reading Les Miserables starting in December, which is what is drawing me in.

Second - We Have Always Lived in the Castle has been added to my wishlist. I'm also really looking forward to The Enchanted April because I've heard such good things.

Third - Wuthering Heights. I wasn't really expecting a romance, I don't think, but there were several things in the book that either didn't set well with me or were sort of creepy. Heathcliff was a fascinating character, as was Nelly Dean, but the rest were either cruel, soft or both. There weren't a lot of nuances - I think, probably, because Emily was pretty young when she wrote the book. The children were all pretty childish (everyone under about age 25), and the adults weren't very well fleshed-out. This would be okay if they were meant more as types, but I don't think they were. And I think the fact that Cathy the younger married two first cousins - albeit one was forced - was a bit creepy, I thought.

And the ending - it was not in keeping with the novel. If the final words about Heathcliff seeming to be at rest were a foreshadowing of the possibility of evil erupting in that world again, then it would seem that Bronte would have dropped a few more hints that way in the last part of the book. And if Bronte meant the reverse - that some sort of "normality" was returned to their world - then I find that to be a poor ending, not in keeping with the novel.

What I do think is that Wuthering Heights is a pretty great first novel, and it would have been something to see what Emily Bronte could have done if she didn't die so early in life.

What I do think is that Wuthering Heights is a pretty great first novel, and it would have been something to see what Emily Bronte could have done if she didn't die so early in life.

Yes! I never thought of that, but it's a great observation. Wuthering Heights is terribly flawed, but there's just something about it that I love. It would have been great to see what else she could have come up with.

And I think the fact that Cathy the younger married two first cousins - albeit one was forced - was a bit creepy, I thought.

Totally creepy--but I think that's our modern sensibility talking. 19th century literature is full of cousins getting married, so I suspect people then didn't think much of it.

>9 - "I didn't expect it to be romantic so I wasn't disappointed when it wasn't."

It is not so much that I was disappointed by the lack of romance - shocked it more like it. I think part of one's response to any book is conditioned by our pre-existing ideas about it. WH has the unfortunate lot of being filtered into pop culture as a "terribly romantic" book when I don't think it really is. Or at least Heathcliff and Cathy are not the great romantic leads pop culture makes them out to be. So when I read it, part of my response was horror that their utterly screwed up relationship was what people were describing as so romantic.

Enchanted April is my 'February' book. It goes with peppermint tea and fleecy socks.

Wuthering Heights is more rain on the window and mulled wine. And I agree, it read much better when I was seventeen. It's 'romantic' in the literary sense which can admittedly be confusing.

At the moment I'm going In the Woods with Tana French and we won't all be coming out....

Žinutė pakeista jos autoriaus, Lapkričio 3, 2009, 7:03pm.

I'm reading The Diary of a Provincial Lady by E. M. Delafield and I'm really enjoying it - very easy to read in small doses, and funny.

I think one of the telling aspects about Wuthering Heights is the contrast between the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff and Catherine and Hareton. So much of the novel is oddly about abused children and the cycle of abuse. Catherine and Hareton break the cycle and manage to forge a loving relationship. The last part of the book is crucial to the arc of understanding.

>15: That's such a fun book ... enjoy!

I'm looking for a nice new copy of Wuthering Heights because I haven't read it since I was a teenager and saw one in the bookshop the other day. With a sticker on it saying "Bella and Edward's Favourite Book".

Needless to say, I'm still looking for a nice new copy.

Currently reading Elizabeth Peters' The Last Camel Died at Noon, which is the sixth Amelia Peabody murder mystery. And I'll be reading an Elizabeth von Arnim at some stage this month too!

>16 janeajones - I never thought of it that way - a very interesting interpretation. I wonder if Emily was conscious of it, or if she wrote about it without really knowing? That also helps explain the ending.

I'm going to have to read Wuthering Heights again. I too haven't read it since I was a teenager, and I think I would view it differently now. Or should I retain my romantic, but flawed, notions?

Of course, I could save myself the trouble by referring to One Hundred Great Books in Haiku. (Thanks jubby) To quote:

Wild. Strange. A bit damp.
Heathcliff waits for Cathy's ghost.
Women. Always late.

I had no idea. Just placed an order for a copy of One Hundred Great Books in Haiku - think of the shelf space I'll save!

And the time!

And here I was depending on Reader's Digest condensed books.

Actually I did order the book - that's a witty summary.

It's a great book! The only thing with it is that it makes you appreciate it more if you're familiar with the original books (or tomes).

I want that haiku book too--the example is fabulous. I'm going to have to look up Wuthering Heights on the One Minute Classics website. I'll report back.

Okay, I went to Book-A-Minute Classics and found their version of Wuthering Heights. Definitely not one of their better efforts, and not as good as the haiku, but for what it's worth:

Lockwood:
I think I'll stay here. Tell me a story, woman.

Nelly Dean:
I'm no gossip, mind you, but this guy Heathcliff got adopted, everyone hated him, and his love Catherine died.

Heathcliff:
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (dies)

Lockwood: I'll be on my way.

THE END

They have better ones. My favourite is the Collected Works of Virginia Woolf. Check them out at: http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/cla...

I've got a copy of One Hundred Great Books in Haiku and really enjoyed it too. (And Sebastian Faulks' Pistache, while we're here.)

And I saw in the shop the other day Twitterature - The World's Greatest Books in Twenty Tweets or Less. Almost died laughing at Oedipus which was on the back blurb. Thanks to Google: "PARTY IN THEBES!!! Nobody cares I killed that old dude, plus this woman is all over me. Total MILF."

Love. It.

Damn it, none of these are written by women!

This month I'm planning on Gilead and The Shipping News .

Just finished and loved The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. I preferred it to Oryx and Crake primarily, I think, because it is focused on women/girls and the relationships they forge which suits Atwood and me better. . .

I was wondering about The Year of the Flood. I really felt alienated by Oryx and Crake, and it's one of the few Atwood book I haven't held onto. Now I feel reassured about her latest book. Thanks.

#3--Fanny--What did you think of Voices From Chernobyl? I read it several years ago, and it has really stuck with me.

My first "girlybook" of November is a Virago Modern Classic, Antonia White's autobiographical novel The Sugar House. I'm really liking it so far.

I am reading His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik. It was given to me and is not really my taste. It's like a Patrick O'Brian novel, but with dragons. The story is interesting, but the language is very stilted. I'm sticking with it for now.

I've just finished Gentlemen and Players by Joanne Harris, who has been one of my favourite authors. (She still is, but there are some of her books that don't appeal.) I'm finding that her voice remains much the same, despite distributing the points of view among more than one character, as she did in The Lollipop Shoes.

#32 I totally agree. I read anything she writes, and even more I 'want' to like her. (Rather Austenish, that feeling of falling in love with an author's voice.)

I couldn't manage to finish Lollipop Shoes - perhaps it was too dark for my mood. There was that feeling of an axe about to fall....

Speaking of dark, I'm still In the Woods - where everyone seems to need a little healthy sunshine. Machete, anyone?

If any of you like police procedurals and haven't read Tana French, you might want to give her a look. Major talent and lovely style.

>29, aruba - Fantastic book, so horrible and so important. I hope to collect my thoughts and post a real review of it at some point, but now I'm off to a baby shower (not mine).

Currently reading a VMC Fraulein Schmidt and Mr Andstruther by Elizabeth von Arnim for Monthly Author Read. I am thoroughly enjoying her books. This one is in the form of letters from Fraulein Schmidt to her fiance Mr Anstruther. Loving it.

I'm just starting The Disappeared, by Kim Echlin. It's a nominee for this year's Giller Prize.

I finished The Sugar House, and liked it a lot. I'm now reading Offshore, by Penelope Fitzgerald. It has an interesting premise: people who make their home in barges on the banks of the Thames. And it won the Booker Prize. But I don't know, it's just kinda meh at this point. Fortunately it's also only 140 pages.

I just started Libba Bray's Going Bovine, a novel in which a 16-year-old boy with Mad Cow Disease is sent on a mission to find a cure and save the world, accompanied by a video-gaming dwarf and a lawn gnome who believes he's the Norse god Thor. A bit of a departure from the Gemma Doyle trilogy, but I'm quite enjoying it so far.

Finished The diary of a Provincial Lady and really, really enjoyed it. It reminded me a lot of Mrs Miniver. I'm saving the other 3 books in the omnibus for a rainy day.

I'm reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks for the 50 Book Challenge group read now, and don't want to put it down because the plot is great, but at the same time don't like her writing as much as I'd expected to. Anyone who spells "siege" wrong needs a new editor!

#37 Laura, I have the Sugar House saved up for another rainy day... loved the first two

I started on Cherie Priest's "Eden Moore" trilogy at the end of last month (as a Halloween read) and finished it up a couple days ago. (It starts with Four and Twenty Blackbirds.)

I'm reading the Spare Rib Reader which is a collection of pieces from the first 100 issues of the magazine. Wow - it's brilliant - I was too young / isolated in a village to get the mag at this time, and the articles take me back to my early years of feminism. It's amazing how far we've come and how different are our preoccupations... and now similar issues are today and how our preoccupations are the same!

I just started the newest C.S. Harris Sebastian St.Cyr mystery, What Remains of Heaven.

C.S. Harris is actually Candace Proctor, author of Women, Equality, and the French Revolution. Anyone looking for a scholarly tome on French women's rights might want to give it a look.

And if you're longing for a well-researched early nineteenth century light mystery, don't start with this one. Begin at the beginning, because these characters do change with each episode, and you don't want to spoil the surprises.

My daughter and I read this series together, so I must hie on back and read so I can post it on to Knoxville, Land of the Orange.

I'm halfway through Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat.

So many good books here, and loved the chat about WH and the Lit short-cuts. I did think One Hundred Great Books in Haiku was a hoot when I read it. Must look out for Twitterature.

As for my reading, I'm now more than halfway through The Children's Book and enjoying every minute of it.

Reading Selected Cronicas by Clarice Lispector. Her The Hour of the Star was amazing.

Dianaleez, I'm also a fan of C.S. Harris, but I've yet to read her latest.

Recently completed Raising My Voice by Malalai Joya an author featured in the latest Belletrista. I am now reading lighter material Suffragette Girl by Margaret Dickinson with Herta Muller's The Land of Green Plums lined up for my next read.

Žinutė pakeista jos autoriaus, Lapkričio 11, 2009, 2:23pm.

Just realized it has been a while since I last posed in this group. Recent reads have included Last Night in Montreal by Emily St. John Mandel and The Voluptuous Delights of Peanut Butter and Jam by Lauren Liebenburg - both great stories that I would recommend. I am currently reading People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks for the group read and look forward to diving back into it for the second week's reading.

I needed something to put on my iPod for my walk this morning and found Villette by Charlotte Bronte. I'm not sure what I think of it yet, though I do love the language of 19th century literature.

Good find Joyce - it was beautiful - I listened to it on BBC Radio 7 - it is full of ambience!

Just finished The Optimist's Daughter by Eudora Welty. Next is High Water by Lynn Hightower. In the car, I'm listening to Blood on Flowers. All good books and all by women. It's a good week!

Went to the movies to see the The Time Traveler's Wife tonight. I was curious as to how they'd do it. I went with my daughter who has not read the book and she found it fairly ho-hum. As did I (and Eric Bana looked the same age ALL the time so it didn't help) but now I'll have to flick through the book again and compare.

(It's not like I don't have a whole heap of books by other people that I should be reading . . .)

#45 What Remains of Heaven was a pleasant surprise. I wasn't too happy with the way things were going in the last Harris book, but things have heated up even more. Do we really have to wait a year to see what happens next?

I'm starting Wolf Hall today. Expectations are high.

I am reading Elizabeth and Her German Garden by "Author of the Month" Elizabeth von Armin and it is wonderful. I just finished Geraldine Brooks's People of the Book and thought it very nicely done.
belva

Žinutė pakeista jos autoriaus, Lapkričio 12, 2009, 9:20pm.

Just finished, The Children's Book, thought it was wonderful, a huge number of topics of the time were covered in a very vivid way.
About to start Fingersmith, I've been really looking forward to it.
>53 I also really enjoyed People of the Book, and I'm so tempted to read Elizabeth and Her German Garden, it's sitting amongst my other Viragos on the shelf.
>51 I thought that the movie was more enjoyable than the book, there was something about the book that I didn't like, but I read it a while ago, and I just can't put my finger on what I didn't like. Maybe, I was able to suspend disbelief with the movie more than the book. hmmmm, not sure.

#54 We need another thread to talk about movie versions of books we like that have been turned into films. Conversely, if I've seen the film first, my opinions tend to be driven by that. I am so pathetic.

Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice. I do not usually read vampire books but my son asked me to read this one. It was very good.

Talking about movies, my son has this one but a friend of his says that there are a lot of things in the book which are omitted in the film. Shall watch it to compare.

I'm reading The Passport by Herta Müller (downstairs book) and Day by A.L. Kennedy (upstairs book).

I am continuing with The People of the Book for the group read - belva, I look forward to joining the thread for week 3 when I finish! - and I plan to start the 2009 Orange Prize shortlist for Fiction Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden later today.

In the past month, I've read Wolf Hall and A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson, and am looking forward to reading more books by both these authors. Also just picked up Alice Munro's latest collection, Too Much Happiness.

I'm about to read The White Queen. Philippa Gregory's research is good; she's not in the Georgette Heyer mould. Ooh, I do feel like a snob. I'd rather be reading Wolf Hall but that will come later.

I have started to read The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim.

I'm busy with Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel's style is perfect for the subject.

Today I read Cromwell's visit to Thomas More's family, and the comparison with Vanora Bennett's Portrait of an Unknown Woman was unavoidable.

Looks like I'm going to have to re-read the Bennett.
(And run by Amazon to see if she has anything new coming soon.)

Reading is so nice! How lucky we are.

Žinutė pakeista jos autoriaus, Lapkričio 17, 2009, 9:07pm.

Starting The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson -- hard to put down.

>62 dianaleez -- Reading is so nice! How lucky we are.
What a great thing to say! It's true. Yet there seems to be so much angst about books and reading here on LT -- reading too much, not enough, buying too many books.... so your comment was refreshing! Maybe just the sentiment I need to get me out of my reading slump.

Now reading Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Simultaneously reading When Everything Changed by Gail Collins, Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private Life by Sissela Bok, and Alison Lurie's The Truth About Lorin Jones (this last a great sendup on feminism). I finally got a break from real time book clubs and able to read as I please!

Read The Caravaners by Elizabeth von Arnim. This novel is full of von Arnim's acid wit. The Baron is an arrogant and prejudiced MCP, whose character comes across wonderfully in this narration of a caravaning holiday in England with his long-suffering wife and others.
Great stuff although I had to wince at his views on wives and the Jewish people. A thought provoking read. Very good.

Unchained Melanie by Judy Astley. Chick Lit story of Melanie who after years of marriage is looking forward to an unfettered life after divorce. OK.

Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford - loving it!

On to The Adventures of Elizabeth in Rugen by Elizabeth von Arnim as I continue my Author of the Month reads. And of course am still on my gentlemen written group reads.
belva

Oh, when my vertigo was so bad and I was bed ridden yesterday and unable to read, I took to bed with me the more than lovely book, The Red Rose Girls. It has such beautiful photos, paintings, sketches, and drawings. I was able to at least look at those without throwing up.

The Pastor's Wife by Elizabeth von Arnim. Ingeborg escapes the bondage of being a Bishop's daughter by becoming a Pastor's wife and moving from England to Germany. She is frustrated by the conventions of marriage and motherhood. A very good story of the plight of women in a world dominated by men.

Belva, hope you are feeling better today.

I'm very much enjoying Elizabeth and Her German Garden but having a hard time settling down to read for some reason. I've been like this all month. Have two other books half read. Ah well, this too shall pass.

I've been like that too, teelgee. I start books that I know I'll like, but I just can't settle, As you say, this too shall pass.
To keep on topic, one of the books that I've started is The White Queen, which has begun promisingly but I've abandoned because I have the concentration span of a goldfish just now.
(And Elizabeth and her German Garden was a book that I foolishly passed on before I'd read it. The first page didn't engage me but the person I sent it to ((12,000 miles away)) was totally thrilled. I must be an idiot.)

Perhaps Elizabeth and her garden will find their way back to you.

Elizabeth and her German Garden, I've already got that lined up for next years reading, it's part of my budding Virago collection.

I'm going to start on The House of the Spirits tonight, I haven't read an Allende for a while and I'm looking forward to it. A number of years ago I read Daughter of Fortune and Portrait in Sepia and was quite taken with the tales.

I loved The House of the Spirits and its magical realism, but nothing else she's written, that I've read, has affected in quite the same way. That's not to say that I don't think her other books are good. I just found that one to be the best.

Žinutė pakeista jos autoriaus, Lapkričio 21, 2009, 5:20am.

#72 Moi aussi! Completed two completely contrasting and delightful reads Raising My Voice by Malalai Joya and Suffragette Girl by Margaret Dickinson.

I am now in a slump with Herta Muller's The Land of Green Plums. Methinks I need to return it to the library and begin something new. Just thankful I have such choice and that I love reading so much.

Ah, a semi-official reading slump! Makes me afraid to finish Wolf Hall. I seem to be spending a lot of time looking up bios and portraits of the characters.

I keep finding promising new books that Amazon assures me will be released in 2010. March seems to be an especially promising month. Can we make through the holidays and February to get there?

Žinutė pakeista jos autoriaus, Lapkričio 21, 2009, 2:01pm.

I started A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian yesterday morning. It's a quick read so I'm nearly halfway through now. This book was quite popular on LT some time ago, but I'm just now getting around to it. It's suffering by comparison to my previous read, which was a wonderful 5-star classic (the male-authored Angle of Repose).

I'm reading The Glassblower of Murano by Marina Fiorato which I received as an Early Reviewer book -- not spectacularly written, but lots of intriguing information about Venice in the 17th c. Hopefully, I'll have it reviewed by the end of the week.

#79 Laura, I gave up on Tractors last year!

I've just finished my first Donna Leon, Death at La Fenice, and will be looking for the rest pronto. I loved all the description of life in Venice and Commissario Brunetti's family life.

#79 Lindsad - I just read your review of Angle of Repose - so well written. If the book's as good as the review, I'm sold!

#80 I got The Glassblower of Murano as an Amazon Vine (early reviewer) book; I enjoyed it too - what's not to like about Venice plus history and romance? It's not bad, not great, but free helps. I think she has a new book coming out early in 2010.

#81 Brunetti! Lucky you to be starting the series. I sometimes think about the great meals Mrs. B whips up during her lunch break as I nuke my Lean Cuisine....

I'm delving into something a little bit trashy with Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking.

>82: thank you Diana!

I have finished People of the Book with the group read - overall it was quite good and I look forward to picking up another of Brooks' books - and Molly Fox's Birthday which was an alright read, written as one would expect with the rambling thoughts and events of an individual over the course of their day being presented as a bit of a jumbled mess in my opinion (no chapters to the book, just the odd extra spacing here and there to designate a change in focus/thought process of the main character).

I will probably have my current read finished later tonight and then I plan on starting When I Forgot by Elina Hirvonen.

Sadly, I've finished Wolf Hall and must move on. But I did purchase A Place of Greater Safety for my husband's Christmas - surely he'll share?

So I've moved reluctantly on to a book recommended by a friend - Monica Fairview's The Other Mr. Darcy. It's supposed to have laugh aloud moments, but so far I'm having major problems seeing Caroline Bingley as a sympathetic character. This should test Ms Fairview's mettle.

I see that Elizabeth Kostova's The Swan Thieves is coming out January 10. Has anyone snagged a review copy? I so want this book to be good.

Ah well, it's laundry day here in Alabama....

Just finished Christopher and Columbus. Full of Elizabeth von Arnim's humour, but also showing the disadvantages of being half-German during wartime in England and America. The Twinkler twins are delightful characters.

Finished A Short History of Tractors .. and in the end, didn't care for it much. It annoyed me. Next I'll be reading The Emperor's Children. Hope to start tonight.

I picked up at lunchtime today Wolf Hall. It's a bookcrossed book that needs to be passed along to other readers, so I'm dumping everything else for this for the time being.

Oh dear me, twist my arm, oh the pain the pain, how ever will I cope. (Rather well, I think. Wheee!)

Vera by Elizabeth von Arnim. Rather a disturbing story of Lucy who falls in love with Wemyss whose wife, Vera, had died in mysterious circumstances. Very good.

>89: ooh you lucky girl! Enjoy!
>90: Is Vera anything like Rebecca?

There are definitely some similarities between Vera and Rebecca. The wife who died under mysterious circumstances, the big house which contains the previous wife's belongings, the new wife's adoration of her husband. Vera was not like Rebecca and Max is not like Wemyss. I won't elucidate as it may spoil the stories for others.

>92: I won't elucidate as it may spoil the stories for others. Oh, of course not! I was just intrigued by your short synopsis in #90. Thanks!

I've read the first story and I'm halfway through the second in The Matisse Stories by A.S. Byatt. The first one about how a woman's relationship with her hairdresser relates to her feelings about aging knocked my socks off. The second is quieter so far but still very good. This is my first Byatt as I've always been nervous about the poetry aspect of Possession.

Edited to put in an absent word

Žinutė pakeista jos autoriaus, Lapkričio 25, 2009, 9:42am.

#94> Nancy, PLEASE do try Possession, it is a marvelous book. You will love it, I promise you!

I'm just starting Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. It's my 5th Austen on my Austen-a-year journey (by Dec next year I'll have read all her books)

Žinutė pakeista jos autoriaus, Lapkričio 25, 2009, 10:46am.

#96> I envy you because you still have not read them all.

Well . . . that does sound nice on paper, but I feel like I've already read them because I've seen all the films. I'm saving Pride and Prejudice for last, but I've own the BBC mini-series, seen the Kiera Knightly version, Bride & Prejudice, Lost in Austen, & Bridget Jones's Diary (and read that book). There's not a whole lot of discovery going on, but it's a fun exercise all the same.

Just finished Ann Tyler's Dinner at the Homesick restaurant It is among her best, & all her books are good.

#95 Given how much I'm enjoying this, I think I will try Possession soon (I do own it already)

#99 Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant was my first book by Tyler, and I have such fond memories of it. I like pretty much all of them too.

The Other Mr. Darcy was about as good as expected....nothing to rush out for. But now that Caroline Bingley has snared a Darcy of her own (surely not a spoiler) I've moved on to Anne Tyler's fellow Baltimorian Laura Lippman.

I just started In a Strange City and so far I'm enjoying it.

Any fans of 'The Wire' here? We're watching Season I for the second go round and I saw Bunk reading a Lippman book and it roused my interest.

Time to head back to the kitchen. I just made pecan pie at 600 calories/slice. Be happy to send you some. Gotta move that pie....

I've just finished Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffnegger. I've read all sorts of mixed reviews of this book and think I agree with them all! There were so many wonderful touches to the book and I was really enjoying it until about three quarters of the way through. Then the storyline takes a very weird turn which might have worked if handled differently but the ending felt rushed and clumsy. So a disappointing ending to what had been an enjoyable, quirky read.

But now I really want to visit Highgate cemetery!

#94 and 95 Please may I second the positive comment regarding Possession ?

Have had to return Land of Green Plums by Herta Muller to the library, unifnished .... spent too long trying to settle into it, maybe another time.
Now I am going for something completely different The Cruel Way by Ella Maillart. It is a Virago Traveller and I am loving it already. Beginning in Switzerland in 1939 two ladies set off on travels in a Ford car. The prose is beautiful and the characters are becoming my companions as I journey on with them. I know from the blurb that this true account sees the ladies in Afghanistan.

>101 - Bunk reading a book? Written by a woman?? Now I love him even more!

I'm reading Stretto by L. Timmel Duchamp, the fifth and final book of a female-focussed sci-fi/speculative fiction series that tackles issues of power, oppression and freedom. It hasn't been as instantly enjoyable as some of the others in the series, but I'm slowly getting into it.

Just finished Maeve Binchy's This Year It Will Be Different (not up to her usual standard) and Miranda Innes Cinnamon City, a lovely account of renovating a house in Marrakech. Currently reading The Girl Next Door by Elizabeth Noble - having a bit of a chick-litty phase for me, due to feeling a bit stressed, I think. Am reading a fairly dry trade union book by a MAN at mealtimes so needed a balance too!

The Enchanted April by Elizabeth von Arnim. Loved this story about four women who rent a house in Italy for a holiday. They each have different reasons for wanting to escape their normal lives and after a month in Italy each of their lives is transformed.

More Shirley Jackson -- The Lottery and Other Stories -- and more Hilary Mantel -- Beyond Black.

I started Karen Essex's Stealing Athena last night but my eyes grew heavy....looks good though.

I am reading Hippolyte's Island by Barbara Hodgson--VERY FUN book!

I loved Hippolyte's Island--it's so unique.

Love by Elizabeth von Arnim. A bittersweet story of love between a middle-aged women and a much younger man.

Taking what I hope will be a brief break from Wolf Hall for Elizabeth and her German Garden.

I've detoured from The House of the Spirits to Passing to The Lost Book of Salem. Finished The Lost Book of Salem which was not a taxing read and just what I needed for the weekend, I found it quite fun. Now back to Passing, I think, unless I have another flight of fancy ;-)

Mr Skeffington by Elizabeth von Arnim. Another good one from this author about a woman approaching her fiftieth birthday coming to terms with the fact that she is no longer young and beautiful. Very good.

A Virago Traveller - The Cruel Way by Ella Maillart set in 1939 as she and her friend travel from Switzerland to Afghanistan and beyond. Anyone else read it here?

I just finished Jane Eyre for the first time. So glad I finally read it.

I think I may read Mansfield Park next, just to see why Charlotte wrote of Ms. Austen: "What sees keenly, speaks aptly, moves flexibly, it suits her to study; but what throbs fast and full, though hidden, what the blood rushes through, what is the unseen seat of life and the sentient target of death - this Miss Austen ignores." I haven't read Mansfield Park - the heroine Fanny Price, like Jane Eyre, is a poor relation trying to make it in the world. I hope it will make for a good comparison.

Hmmm ... interesting, Talbin. Have you read any of Austen's other books, or will MP be your first? I confess it's my least favorite of her books. My favorite is Persuasion. I wouldn't necessarily agree with Charlotte. Jane doesn't ignore "what the blood rushes through" but it is addressed in a very understated way which I have always attributed to the time period. It's an interesting comment!

That is an interesting quote. I believe that's the first time I've seen it. I've yet to read Mansfield Park or Emma--an oversight which I hope to correct in the coming year.

Those who are or who will be in the NYC area between now and March 14 might want to visit the Morgan Library and Museum's current exhibit titled "A Woman's Wit: Jane Austen's Life and Legacy http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/exh...

Here's the NY Times' review: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/07/arts/d...

Žinutė pakeista jos autoriaus, Lapkričio 29, 2009, 3:47pm.

>117/118 - Yes, I really thought that quote was interesting. It came from a letter from Charlotte to Elizabeth Gaskell (who wrote a biography of Charlotte). I found the quote in the introduction to my edition of Jane Eyre. Yes, I've read other Austen books, but I haven't read Mansfield Park, so I thought this would be a good opportunity to do so. And I don't agree with Charlotte, either - Jane and Charlotte were trying to do different things in their novels.

And I just wish I was going to be in NYC in the next few months so I could see that exhibit!

:o I MUST see that exhibit! Thanks for posting about it!

Mansfield Park is . . . interesting. What I would give to know what Jane Austen was thinking or intending when she wrote it. I understand why many people don't care for it in comparison to her other work, but I myself find it terribly intriguing for that very reason.

I read about that exhibit a few weeks back and would love to get there, perhaps over the Xmas holidays. Thanks for the link to the review.

I just started Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen by Susan Gregg Gilmore, my book club's next read.

>109 and 110: I read Hippolyte's Island several years ago and also loved it. Yes, very unique and fun and interesting.

I'm reading Kingsolver's new novel, The Lacuna and liking it so far, just 50 pages in.

Want to Play (Monkeewrench)by P.J. Tracy. A very good murder mystery.