I just finished Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. It was our book club selection. The gal who chose the book and hosted the meeting. She had a special guest, a bel canto singer and her piano accompanist. She was amazing.

Write up on Amazon:

In an unnamed South American country, a world-renowned soprano sings at a birthday party in honor of a visiting Japanese industrial titan. His hosts hope that Mr. Hosokawa can be persuaded to build a factory in their Third World backwater. Alas, in the opening sequence, just as the accompanist kisses the soprano, a ragtag band of 18 terrorists enters the vice-presidential mansion through the air conditioning ducts. Their quarry is the president, who has unfortunately stayed home to watch a favorite soap opera. And thus, from the beginning, things go awry.

Among the hostages are not only Hosokawa and Roxane Coss, the American soprano, but an assortment of Russian, Italian, and French diplomatic types. Reuben Iglesias, the diminutive and gracious vice president, quickly gets sideways of the kidnappers, who have no interest in him whatsoever. Meanwhile, a Swiss Red Cross negotiator named Joachim Messner is roped into service while vacationing. He comes and goes, wrangling over terms and demands, and the days stretch into weeks, the weeks into months.

With the omniscience of magic realism, Ann Patchett flits in and out of the hearts and psyches of hostage and terrorist alike, and in doing so reveals a profound, shared humanity. Her voice is suitably lyrical, melodic, full of warmth and compassion. Hearing opera sung live for the first time, a young priest reflects:

Never had he thought, never once, that such a woman existed, one who stood so close to God that God's own voice poured from her. How far she must have gone inside herself to call up that voice. It was as if the voice came from the center part of the earth and by the sheer effort and diligence of her will she had pulled it up through the dirt and rock and through the floorboards of the house, up into her feet, where it pulled through her, reaching, lifting, warmed by her, and then out of the white lily of her throat and straight to God in heaven.

Joined by no common language except music, the 58 international hostages and their captors forge unexpected bonds. Time stands still, priorities rearrange themselves. Ultimately, of course, something has to give, even in a novel so imbued with the rich imaginative potential of magic realism. But in a fractious world, Bel Canto remains a gentle reminder of the transcendence of beauty and love.

I love Sue Grafton's books. You're lucky that you just now are getting into them -- you've got a lot to look forward to. For those of us who "found her" early on, it was really hard to wait until the next book came out each time!

I'm reading It's All About Him by Denise Jackson (Alan Jackson's wife).

A recent post about Ann Rivers Siddons remined me that I hadn't read any of her books for a few years. Got on-line at B&N, and ordered the ones I've missed.

Right now, I'm reading "Sweetwater Creek".

I am behind the times. I am just now reading "Kite Runner"

Jamie - I just read that myself in January. Let me know what you think about it when you're done.

Summer Light by Luanne Rice

I'm listening to "Shop-aholic Ties the Knot". It's really cute. I've seen the shop-aholic books many times and didn't know if I'd care for then. Now, I'll have to read the other ones too.
I also have been listening to Jodi Picoult books. I've enjoyed every one of them. Her books are so well written, I don't know why I haven't been reading them all along. So far I've read/listened to "my sister's keeper", "nineteen minutes", "the pact", and "the tenth circle". I have all the rest of them on my reserve list for when they come in. I truly love my 2 hours a day of driving/book listening time!
Also, I'm reading (not listening) to Duma Key by Stephen King. That is good so far, but I haven't had time to read much of it yet.
My aunt listens to books on cd too, and she told me to start getting the sue Grafton books. I think I'll start on those after I hear all the Jodi Picoult ones and the shop-aholic ones.

Last week I read "Honeymoon in Purdah", wow it was great! I read it in a day. Now I am reading "The Pianist". I just started, not really into it yet.
2 weeks ago I read "The Kite Runner" which I absolutely loved and "Lucky" by Alice Sebold (she wrote "The Lovely Bones", but this is a true story and it was very good).

I just finished our GRINS book club selection for March, Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand.
It is about 2 sisters and a friend who spend the summer at Nantucket. 1 sister has just disgracefully lost her job at a university. The other sister has 2 children and cancer. She is undergoing chemo treatments. The friend just found out her husband is having an affair and that she is finally pregnant. The story tells about their summer with each other and their problems, and about the babysitter they hire to help with the kids. A very good book!

I'm listening to Duma Key by Stephen King in the car.

Enjoying it immensely.

Stuff on the web. I am planning on participating in a bike ride from Missoula Montana to Jasper National park. All tidbits are helpful. ;)

Moni

ah... I just returned form a short vacation...

reads included... (listed in order of persoanl preference)

Seeing Me Naked by Liza Palmer
Good Little Wives by Abby Drake
The Friday NIght Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs
Body Surfing by Anita Shreve
The Adultry Club by Tess Stimson
Summer People by Brian Groh

Each had it's own good and bad points from my perspective... but they were all 'good' reads....

currently I'm reading The Overachievers... the Secret Lives of Driven Kids by Alexandra Robbins... I have one of these kids... who does it to herself... and I keep trying to figure her out and hope this will help me some...

I am curremtly reading Blood Hollow by William Kent Krueger. I have read all his other books and this is the last one. I sure wish another one by hism would come out soon. His books take place in No minn, and there is a lot of Indian lore intwined in the mystery stories. So interesting. Dottie

Two weeks ago Custer and I watched 'The Missing' on television; a western starring Tommy Lee Jones.
The story intriqued me so I googled the movie, found out who wrote the book (Tom Eidson) and ordered two of his novels.

I just pulled my head out of the last one.
LOL

Very very GOOD stories if you like fictional novels about the western United States during the 1800s. 'The Last Ride' is the story loosely portrayed in the movie 'The Missing'. Of course the book is much MUCH better. 'St. Agnes Stand' is great, quite humorous at times but dramatic as well.

Lori

I am reading a non fiction book by a local author, Norm Hammond. The title is Oceano, "Atlantic City of the West."
It is a very interesting history of the little town of Oceano, CA. on the beautiful central coast. I have lived on the central coast for 45 years and know many people mentioned in the book and love looking at the old pictures.

I just finished reading "The Redemption of Sarah Cain" by Beverly Lewis, its one of those you don't want to put down until you finish it. Before that it was "Cormac - The life of a dog gone missing", I was afraid it would be a tear jerker, but it kept me so interested I didn't have time to cry. Now I am reading "1 Dead in Attic" by Chris Rose. Its about New Orleans after Katrina and a very good one too.

I finished reading Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead. It's about the Civil War and it was really good.

I recently read "The Time Travelers Wife," and did not like it much. I just didn't think it was believable, the characters were annoying, and the dialogue was just terribly written. (They said "um" so often it was distracting.) My former bookclub was reading it, and sometimes I read along and send them my response in email. Frankly, it actually gave me a headache.

Then I read "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole. It was a bit strange and funny, quirky, cynical. The characters are misfits and just don't have a good grip on life. I liked it, but it didn't "wow" me. It "wowed" somebody, won a Pulitzer.

I went to the library yesterday and brought home:
"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, a friend recommended this. It's actually in the Young Adult fiction section, but has gotten some great reviews and that is my area for teaching, so I'm looking forward to it. I'm about 40 pages into it.
Also:
"Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
"Desirable Daughters" by Bharati Mukherjee
"Becoming Madame Mao" by Anchee Min

And I've ordered "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri from paperbackswap. Something for foreign writers lately, I guess.

I listened to "The Secret Life of Bees" that Glenda sent me. I read "Break no Bones" by Kathy Reichs and then "The Red Tent" for the book group. I started last night a Ruth Rendall mystery "Shake Hands Forever." I'm almost through w/ it. I've always heard of her, but this is the first book I've read that she wrote, and I'm really enjoying it.

Lol Stephanie in ga.
I had the same thought about "Confederacy of Dunces"
I liked it too but like you, it didn't go onto the 'read again sometime' bookcase. That said, it was entertaining no matter how self destructive the main characters were.

Lori

Stephanie, I too read The Time Traveler's Wife and in retrospect didn't really care for it, though it did keep my attention while I was reading it.

Loved A Confederacy of Dunces. I read it years ago but still to this day want to go to New Orleans and have a Lucky Dog.

I think you'll enjoy The Namesake. There was a movie based on the book and they did a pretty good job.

Jodi-

I loved Interpreter of Maladies and I am looking forward to reading her new book. Has anyone read any of the Miss Julia books? They are hilarious. Just finished Breathing Lessons bu Ann Tyler, another good writer.

My book club read Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, this month. It started off a little slow, but then suddenly I was into the story. Interesting look into how a circus could operate (based in the 1930's-not sure how much is fact?) Kind of funny since we took DD to a circus this month.

Our selection for April is A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I read after Water for Elephants (I figure I'll be BUSY next month with new baby!) It was a wonderful story, but some parts were difficult to read and imagine women's lives being so rough.

Jamie-I'm just now starting The Kite Runner. I wonder if I should read something inbetween, because it's similar to Thousand Suns in setting and character-I don't want to mix myself up.

I love the Sue Grafton series. I think I've read them all 3-4 times. I tend to forget most of the plot once I'm done with a book like that. I just read S and it seemed different then her previous ones? I get sad thinking what will happen when she reaches Z??

There is a site called goodreads.com
A friend sent me a link and got me started. You post any books you read, rate it, leave a review if you want, and make the list available to your friends. They can see what you've read and what you thought of it, what you are reading, what you plan to read. You can compare lists and use their lists to add those books on their list that you have read to your list. I know my friends who have the same taste, and see what they're reading to get some ideas for myself. Just another source for the book-lovers.

It was time consuming at first, but now I just go when I've finished a book to add it, or when a friend sends me a message through the site to see what they've added. I add books as I think of them, or see them come up on a friend's list. I've got over 100 books listed now, and I think I've rated each one but have not written a review for all of them. I'll let you see my list to get the idea.

I cannot tell if this link works, when I click it I get to the site, but I'm told "you can't be friends with yourself, silly!" So, if this doesn't work for you, but you want to see what I'm talking about, send me an email. ;o)

Here is a link that might be useful: Check out my reading list on Goodreads - where you can see what your friends are reading.

I'm reading 3 Cups of Tea.

The authors are speaking at U of Idaho next week, so I would like to get pretty well into the book before I go. It's easy reading.

one i couldn't put down..daddy's girl by lisa scottoline...

I'm almost finished with "Into the Wild"; I'm loving it. I will see the movie when I'm done.

I'm also starting "Atonement" and "The Kite Runner". I'm not sure which on I'll dive into since I've read a couple chapters of each one.

~Susan

I'm almost half way through "Until You Are Dead"a true story based on Steven Truscott a 14 yr old boy from here in Ontario who was sentenced to hang for murdering a classmate back in 1959.
After spending years in prison,he was finally exonerated.He apparently was wrongly convicted and railroaded by an overzealous police force,and lawyers who based their arrest and conviction on half truths at the best and outright lies at the worse.
It really shakes your trust in the justice system to read these kind of stories.

The Twilight Series by Stephanie Myers.. Oh my gosh you will love these books... grace

Bump, is the book by Denise Jackson good?

Monica, I am reading Nora, Nora by Anne Rivers Siddons. It's the first time I've read any of her books. So far I have really enjoyed the book. I have Sweetwater Creek sitting by my bed for the next book!

Wanda - I'll have to read that book. I've read Sand Castles and What Matters Most by Luanne Rice and loved them both. (They sort of are sequels.)

Sheryl

marged, I have read all of the Miss Julia books and recommend them to anyone who will listen. I really like them. She has a new one coming out in a few days if it isn't out already. I also read every thing that Debbie Macomber writes. By the way the Miss Julia books are written by Ann B. Ross.They are best read in order. I can tell the order by checking my library site, KCLS.

Lots of fluff, that's what I'm reading! Mostly chick books with happy endings. I look for colorful trendy book covers in the library. I just want something to drown out my workouts. I just read a book from the Shopaholic series that was cute enough. I read a weird one about a witch, Charmed and Dangerous that wasn't that bad when all was said and done. I put it down once but I finished it when I ran out of other things to read. Oh, I read About A Boy which was good too. I think I might pick up the movie sometime.

I'm in the middle of something called Family Fortune right now.

I just finished "Garlic and Sapphires" by Ruth Reichl. It is a memoir of when she was the food critic for the New York times in the 90's. She wore disguises so the restaurants wouldn't recognize her and give her different food and serive. I really enjoyed it and the food discriptions were incredible. I was constantly hungry.

Just finished a few while I was laid up.....P D James The Murder Room", Anita Shreve's "All He Ever Wanted", Elizabeth George's "Playing for the Ashes", and am reading Annie Proulx's "Postcards" now. All very good, IMO. I read one other one, and can't for the life of me remember author and title.....I lent it to a friend as I thought it was so very good