CindyDavid, how does the Captain Alatriste series compare with other Perez-Reverte? I know I bought Captain Alatriste last year but haven't been able to find it to read and refuse to buy another copy. I may break down soon, because I love his work.

I've been reading a lot of gardening books. The Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques by Tracy DiSabato-Aust that I got from you all has been giving me courage to do some serious and much needed pruning and transplanting come spring.

Currently I am reading aloud to my children "Peter and the Starcatchers". Its a wonderful book about how Peter (and Tinkerbell and Cap'n Hook) of Neverland fame came into Being. It will, I'm told, also explain about the 'lost boys'. Very enjoyable to read out loud. (Just love using my pirate voice! aarrgh!)

For myself I am re-reading my Harry Potter books, currently at the very end of Order of the Phoenix. For Christmas I was the lucky recipient of the British publications of the books so I'm re-reading. Not much of a difference, but neat all the same. After this I'm on to "Me" by Katherine Heburn.

I just started reading Saving Fish From Drowning the lastest Amy Tan. It seems to be different from her other books-too soon to tell if I will enjoy it or not. It is a library book so I can always return it unfinished without feeling guilty.

Pat

Sherwood, I read Saving Fish from Drowning last week. I'll be anxious to see what you thought of it.

Right now I'm reading Something Blue by Emily Giffin. It's a sequel to Something Borrowed. It's alright, nothing special.
Sherwood and Carolynlouky - my husband gave me Saving Fish from Drowning for Christmas. I haven't started it yet. I do know it is a change of pace from Amy Tan's other books.

Pat & Carolyn & Lizny,

I read Saving Fish from Drowning in December - I'll be looking forward to hearing your comments too.

>CindyDavid, how does the Captain Alatriste series compare with other Perez-Reverte

Chris, Captain book was the first I had read by the author. Loved it and immediately went on a binge of his other works. Of the ones I read, I liked Club Dumas best (I cried at the part where the book collector each night had to choose which one of his dwindling book treasures he was going to have to sell). Enjoyed Swordmaster, but did not like Nautical Chart at all. They all are similar with mysteries, and swashbuckling of course. Swordmaster tho is much closer to Captain than the others. But while I liked those two, I still liked the Captain best. Your mileage may vary, of course :)

I am finding myself bored with the second one, but I am in a reading slump in general so it may strike me later (in the meantime, I am studying my Spanish and catching up on magazine subscriptions)

Does that help?

I enjoyed The Nautical Chart well enough, perhaps because I took it with me to read while cruising the high seas. I'm also kind of geeky and loved the discussion of the Prime Meridian. (Sobel's Longitude is on my TBR list.) Perez-Reverte always teaches me something I didn't know.

I haven't located Mrs G yet, but am almost done with Three Gardens by noted British garden expert Graham Stuart Thomas. It is part biography, part garden journal. I'm noticing some writing style characteristics. Along with the impersonal "one" where an American would say "you" (which I expected), he also uses it for "I" anytime an opinion is given. I had not expected such self-effacement. It seems odd to me. I also notice a much heavier use of the passive voice than I would expect from an American writer, and recalled that I was surprised by this is Tolkien's work, too. Was this a characteristic of British writers of a certain age? I'm guessing that GST would be very roughly a contemporary of Tolkien's.

I have just had the divine pleasure of finally completing David Sedaris's 'Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim'. It was the most brilliant contemporary piece that I've read in a long time. I couldn't put it down. If eloquent humor is a masterpiece, then David Sedaris is most definately a literary Da Vinci. 'Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim' is indisputably one of the best page-turners of this decade.

I fear I'm still in a bit of a reading slump but finally finished a book called Weird Christmas . It contains trivia and customs associated with the holiday.

I'll be curious to also hear the comments on Tan's book.

I finished up "The Known World" and ended up liking it. As crazydogs aptly pointed out, he jumps around with his characters' thoughts and the time frames which is confusing and there are so many characters that it was sometimes tough to keep them straight..but was ultimately engaging though the end was a train wreck for sure. Given the subject, though, how could it not be? I didn't like the author's penchant for writing as if he were presenting a fact--like "in 17xx, there were 7x freed Africans in Manchester Co, VA and of those, x owned at least one slave" and so on.

Also re-read, for bookclub, "Back When We Were Grown Ups" by Baltimore's own Anne Tyler. I'd read this one several years ago and liked it; found it laugh out loud funny this time around probably because I am older and can relate to the main character a bit more. Gotta love those middle-aged women, mothers and caretakers to all, trying to figure out what's next. To paraphrase, the only true life we have is the one we are living right now, not the life we thought we'd lead or want to lead but just haven't been able to yet.

Amy Wilensky is an author who also has Tourette's syndrome. I have her book entitled "Passing for Normal" on order; it is her account of growing up with Tourette's. In the meantime, I read her book "The Weight of It" in which she writes, quite well, about her sister's obesity and eventual gastric bypass surgery.

I finally finished Saving Fish From Drowning and although some parts were really interesting-overall I have to say it was my least favorite of Tan's books.

I am working my way through the political thrillers by Vince Flynn and am now reading Separation of Power-very timely 'stuff' so far and all written before 9/11......

Pat

Tan is in the same boat for me as Anne Tyler and Irving - they started out great. Then they all reach a point when each story was just like the last. Ive stopped reading all of them for a while now.

Just started The Accidental, by Ali Smith. Like her previous Hotel World, she has such a way of language, and showing characters who are unable to connect with each other. A fast read, which I needed right now. I am also going to be re-reading Time of our Singing for a book group. Hope they like it as much as I did....

I just finished Small Island by Andrea Levy for the February discussion. It was excellent and I enjoyed it very much. Now I'm starting on Birds Without Wings for the historical fiction discussion.

While reading the "discussion" books takes time away from reading the books in my TBR room, I've found that the ones I've been able to read have been such wonderful books, most of which I would not have read otherwise, it is time very well spent.

I've been in a bit of a reading slump too. I have managed to re-read some old favorites, but not much new. I did finish Flirting With Pride & Prejudice, edited by Jennifer Crusie. The premise is that Jane Austen is the forerunner of chick-lit. Several contemporary chick-lit authors write their perspectives on Jane Austen, Pride & Prejudice and their favorite characters. Although I didn't care for the premise, some of the essays were interesting.

I'm currently trying to listen to Umberto Eco's The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana. I'm in the middle of the fourth tape and wondering if I'd be better off taking the book out to read instead of listen. The narrator is good, but I'm not finding myself drawn particularly to the main character. Has anyone here read this? Is it worth finishing this?

The Jane Austen Book club is my latest book - all about very civilized people who never tell each other the truth. Well enough written but not stellar.

Rouan, I liked that Eco well enough, but I had to work at it. I think Eco should be read rather than heard. One needs to speed through some of it.

I set aside "Undaunted Courage" to begin "Birds Without Wings." Now, I'm almost finished the latter and will return to the westward trek of Lewis & Clark. Both have completely held my interest, in quite different ways. In between, I managed to read Joan Didion's "Year of Magical Thinking."

Finished up "The Giant's House" by Elizabeth McCracken which was good at the beginning, boring in the middle and then good at the end. Now on to "The Children's Blizzard" by David Laskin about the blizzard of 1888 that killed some children (and lots of other people) up in Dakota Territory... Interesting so far...

I have been working hard to try to empty some of my TBR shelves, but went to the library today "just to drop some books off" and, of course, came out with two more. I am so weak!!!

Lemonhead, would that have been the time that Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in The Long Winter? I read that one year just before giving it to my daughter for Christmas and nearly froze to death.

Chris in the valley,

Thanks for the info, I'm going to try listening to one more tape before giving up (I'm on #4 out of 11). IF this doesn't keep my interest, I'll take out the book to read. It'll go a lot faster that way!

carolynlouky Laura's blizzard and the children's blizzard are one and the same. I read the Long Winter every winter. Eventually I'll get to the Children's Blizzard to get the bigger picture on Laura's story.

Just finished Scott TurowÂs Ordinary Heroes, which was okay but about 2/3 of the way I found myself struggling through it so I skipped to the end. IÂm currently halfway through and enjoying my first Jonathan Kellerman book, When the Bough Breaks. IÂll have to find more of this series.

Next up will be Memory In Death, my twice yearly Eve/Roarke fix from J.D. Robb, and then Charlie HustonÂs Already Dead. ItÂs going to be a good month for reading!

Finished Accidental. Its an interesting book - I loved the voices of the five characters, especially of the two children. And her use of language is so astonding sometimes. But I wasn't sure about that ending. Be interested what others thought

About 1/3 into Small Island and am loving it.

I am enjoying A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka about the family kefuffle that ensues when an elderly Ukrainian widower is besotted with a 'blonde bombshell' from the old country. Both witty and touching.

I read the Children's Blizzard but never connected it with Laura Ingalls Wilder's book. Neat tidbit.

I did some research about Wilder's "The Long Winter" and Laskin's "The Children's Blizzard" and found out that Wilder was actually writing about the tough winter of 1980-81 while Laskin was writing about 1888. Easy to get confused though... The blizzard was just such an anamoly meterologically speaking. People died in minutes out in the snow.

Just finished A Jealous Ghost by A.N. Wilson. A short (only 180 pages), but good, page-turner written around the Henry James novel The Turn of the Screw, set in modern day.

Recommended.

Rouan,

I read Eco's MFOQL last year and found it a real struggle... not my thing at all.

Jane
UK

> am enjoying A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka

Hee, I've never met anyone else before who read this book. I found it tucked away in some box at a yard sale, thought the title interesting, and it turned out to be a very fun read!

I'm about 100 pages into The Time Traveler's Wife. I've wanted to read this novel for quite some time, but hadn't gotten around to it. When my book club decided to read it for our next meeting, I was quite excited.

Finished up "Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction" by Sue Townsend. The usual funny stuff, although poignant in places. It sounds like that is the end of the Adrian Mole diaries unless Ms. Townsend has something else in store for us....

What to read next... the eternal dilemma.

I just finished Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series. It was quite profound and no matter what side of the religious fence you sit on, I think the books are worth reading, if only for the same reasons you would read Milton's Paradise Lost. I'm sort of feeling drained, though... not sure what to read next. I do have Cold Comfort Farm in the pile, though. I'm trying to decide whether to read that or fit in one other book.

I've spent the week with Jeeves and Wooster in The Mating Game. Delightful way to spend days of weather alerts.

lizzie, there is another thread about that book here, you might want to check it out when you finish. Heck, you might even bring some of the comments with you. I did that with Timothy Findley's Pilgrim - we discussed it extensively online, and I brought some of the comments to the RL group reading it - really helped some of the folks get a handle on the book.

So far this month I've finished
Atonement by Ian McEwan
Song of Years by Bess Streeter Aldrich
The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Beloved by Toni Morrison
Spring Came on Forever by Beth Streeter Aldrich
Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood
Light in August by William Faulkner
A White Bird Flying by Bess Streeter Aldrich
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood (my favorite for the month)
I am just finishing The Plains of Passage by Jean Auel.

I'm working on John Kelly's The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death. Kelly puts a lot of effort into a 'you are there' approach to justify his subtitle. It makes for an entertaining, novelistic style, but it can get annoying when he goes into unverifiable detail. For example, Kelly begins his discussion of the plague in Florence by describing how the author of his source material sat down to write his history of events, making statements such as "..on the walk home, [Villani] had composed a first sentence..."; "Pausing, Villani examined his sentence. What to write next?"; and "As Villani wrote, the gray afternoon light in the window behind him faded..." Kelly always goes on to a good solid discussion full of details backed up by quotes from various sources, so I just skim these occasional flights of fancy & move on to the real history.

cheryl

Suspect by Michael Robothan (sp)-great mystery. I know his 2nd book Lost is coming in hardcover this week. Hopefully a start to a new mystery series. I was reading Small Island for the discussion but gave up. Although the book is extremely well written I just can't get into the subject. I'm having better luck with Birds Without Wings, but it's a book I need to read slowly to catch everything that's happening.

I hereby nominate muttmeister 88 as the RP Reader of the Month, sponsored by Visine. Wow! and the month hasn't even ended yet.

I was in the mood for some speculative fiction. I'm currently reading Doris Lessing's "Mara and Dann".

Finished The Sweetest Dream by Doris Lessing. I haven't read anything by her before, and although I found it a bit long, and somewhat depressing (that could just be January), I still couldn't say that I didn't enjoy it.

Decided to follow that with something lighter so read, Parnassus on Wheels and The Haunted Bookshop by Christopher Morley. "Parnassus.." was particularly charming, I didn't enjoy the sequel quite as much.

I liked both, but I do agree that they are different from each other. The first was a bookish romance, and indeed charming. The latter was bookish, with a bit of mystery. I did enjoy all of the literary references in the second one, tho I did have to look up about half of them....

Am now reading AD 999 on a friends recommendation. Started out liking it and then...I keep thinking I'd rather read Good Omen again. .Anyone read this one? Comments?

Just in time to post here for January, I have finished two of the four (!) books I was reading.
The latest installment of the Morland Dynasty from Cynthia Harrod-Eagles, The White Road, covers the beginning of the Great War, and is very good.
I also finished the most recent book of essays from Clive James, called The Meaning of Recognition. Although I didn't read all of them from beginning to end, I enjoyed his work as I always seem to.

Wow, looks like RPers read a bunch in January.

Fahrenheit 451 was a re-read but I enjoyed it more the second time around. I also had the opportunity to see the DVD over Christmas and was disapointed in how the movie lacked detail.

Since October, I've been reading nothing but fantasy. After my umpteenth re-reading of Harry Potter, I've read fantasy series by George R.R. Martin, Robert Jordan, Dan Simmons, and Christopher Paolini. I finished the prequel to the "Wheel of Time" series, New Spring, just yesterday, and I've run out of easy-to-read books. All that's left in my TBR bookcase are challenging books. Well, right now, I don't want to be challenged. I want to lose myself in another world. I don't know what to read next. Just to have something to run my eyes over, I'm reading The Cambridge Companion to Nietzsche, but I'm not getting much out of it. I have to find some new fantasy. Perhaps a trip to Barnes and Noble is in order: I received $100 in gift cards for there for Christmas.

Just finished "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" by Fannie Flagg - loved it and hadn't read it in years. Thoroughly enjoyed that. Now reading a book I found in the library called "Lizzie's War" by Tim Farrington about the Vietname War and how it affects this one family. Good reading so far....

Joseph -- Why don't you pick up Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles? It's not fantasy but historical fiction and is extremely well done. Easy to immerse yourself in that world and there are five or six books in that series. I think you'd like them.

Thanks, Janalyn. I'll keep an eye out for them when I go to B&N.

Joseph, a couple more suggestions to check out during your B&N trip: Elizabeth Moon's Deed of Paksenarrion (originally published as 3 books, beginning with Sheepfarmer's Daughter), and Meredith Ann Pierce's Darkangel Trilogy. These are both fantasy but with some individuality - Moon has a mercenary soldier as her protagonist, and Pierce's setting is the Moon terraformed. If you like Moon, you can try her SF - her Serrano/Suiza series is 6 or 7 books.

Having finished the Kelly book on the Black Death, I was about to start Octavia Butler's Fledgling, but my Amazon box arrived with Margaret Frazer's second book from her new Joliffe series and McKillip's Od Magic. What to choose?! :)

cheryl

Finished "Lizzie's War" by Tim Farrington about how a family is affected by the Vietnam War/Conflict which was interesting and well written. Never heard of it before so it was just a random pick off the library book shelves, but it was a good 'un.

Now reading "My Antonia" by Willa Cather....

And going to watch "Fried Green Tomatoes" on DVD tonight to compare with the book...

I finally started Small Island yesterday and so far it has really pulled me in. I'm glad the discussion was delayed a little bit as I've not had much time to read lately.

My first Anita Shreve, All He Ever Wanted, approached reluctantly for a book group, and read enthusiastically in one afternoon. Still, I'm not ready to put Shreve into the regular rotation. This was good, but not magnificent. Which has never stopped me before, but I'm looking these days for books which resonate for me.