veer, I'm so glad you read Old Filth. Gardam is an excellent writer, have you read her before? My fav is Queen of the Tambourine, but she also wrote Flight of Maidens and Faith Fox. The latter wasn't as good as her others, but still worth reading.

I've stopped reading Mosse's Labyrinth 3/4 way through. (Too many tangled story skeins, past and present -- don't know if I will finish or not.)

Meanwhile, I am reading for the first time: "Nickel and Dimed (on not getting by in America)" by Barbara Ehrenreich. Written ca. 2000, and even more timely, today.

I am having some eye problems, which I hope will be resolved soon. Wish me luck....

Mary - Good Luck with the eye problems, I have been dealing with them on & off for several years, in fact just got back from the Opthalmologist where I was told I now have Iritis!

I am slowly reading All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve.

Pat

Iritis, eh? I had one of those, but the wheel fell off.

Reading Nice Work by David Lodge. Entertaining - written and set in 1984, it's a story about a young woman English & Women's Studies University Lecturer, who has to "shadow" the MD of a medium-sized Engineering company...quite entertaining so far.

books4joy: "nu" is one of those words that isn't really able to be translated...it means, "so", "aren't I right", do you agree", "Yes?" It's kind of a punctuation word.

I finished Julia Glass's The Whole World Over and really liked it, despite not being able to connect to her female main character, Greenie, at all (I didn't like the Fern character in Three Junes either. A bit OT, IMHO Glass writes gay men SO very much better than she writes straight women, in her books I find them much more understandable, sympathetic and logical than any of her female characters). Glass writes so incredibly beautifully, though, each description is like a small piece of jewelry that makes the story glimmer.

I'm currently half way through Robert Hellenga's The Sixteen Pleasures and his writing style is so completely opposite that of TWWO that it was jarring and hard to get into at first, but now I'm enjoying the story. This combination of books would fit nicely into the 'Ideas or Wordcraft?' thread, TSP for the former, TWWO for the latter.

Not sure what will be next, but I'm waiting for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and The Stolen Child (both recommended here) to come in at the library and I'm eager to get to them.

>What does nu mean?

Hee, missed this. Its Yiddish. While I'm not sure I'd call it a punctuation word Veronica is right. However, nowadays its often used tongue in cheek with a wink or a nod. But it does mean 'but of course I'm right, don't you agree?'.

BTW one of my favorite books on language was The Joy of Yiddish by Leo Rosten. Not only is it a good resource for Yiddish words, but most of the definitions are followed by hilarious examples of how they are used.

martin, I loved David Lodge for a long time, until the books started sounding alike. Small World, Changing Places, and British Museum are my favs.

sheri, I hope you are not too disappointed with the Hellenga novel. Actually, I thought his "The Fall of a Sparrow" (also set in Italy) was much better, in terms of both ideas and writing style. I'll try to find the new Glass book.

Woodnymph, no, I'm not disappointed at all. The shift in styles from Glass to Hellenga was just abrupt, that's all, though I do admit I don't find his heroine to be very -- for lack of a better descriptive word -- feminine. Her attitude and perspective seem to me to be very male. The book conservation, the convent with its 'sacred feminine' ideas, and art restoration are all very interesting, and I knew next to nothing about the 1969 flood. I'm glad I picked it up.

You can now read the first chapter of Chris Tusa's new novel, Dirty Little Angels, at his website:

http://christusa.net

Hope you enjoy!

Here is a link that might be useful: Chris Tusa's New Novel

oh dear.

Skipping the last post entirely-

I picked up The Sixteen Pleasures yesterday at the lib-as soon as I finish the latest Imogene Guy mystery I'll start in on that. Travelling done, now time for a reading binge.
I'm interested in your opinion of The Stolen Child.

Pat and Mary, I wish you both luck in resolving your eye problems happily and soon.

Paula

just finished to read "A Confederacy of Dunces" by J.K. Toole a funny and grotesque book for sure in my opinion, also if in a few traits the story seems to be a meaningless hotchpotch of facts, where everybody is alone with his world view. Ignatius the main charachter, lost in his personal war against the west decay with a medieval rethoric and always ending in a blind corner, from which he always raises with new hopes e new enemies to fight.. Mr Levy without any bit of interest about his trade, his wife, Mrs Levy, which only worry is to fight her husband and to help, in a misleading way, Mrs Trixie whom only desire is to retire from work serenely, Gonzalez, the Loyal "Levy Pants"'s clerk too dull to notice that the factory is about to collapse, Jones the underpaid negro, Mancuso the misused police man, Ignatius' s mother who can't believe who she has raised , and several other characthers. Untill the climax seems to reach his conclusion and blows out, instead....

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...instead each little piece and each characthers find his own right place. May be the final is a little far-fetched and weak. Besides I read that the author, who killed himself at 32 wouldn't have written the final, but it would be write by someone else in order to show the book at the editors

grelobe

I am now reading Twelve Sharp the latest Evanovich-almost a complete opposite type of book to the slow-paced All He Ever Wanted by Shreve which I enjoyed.

Pat

Quit Monster of the Madidi after reading about 1/4 of the book...the author is entirely too whiney. Too bad he didn't get eaten by a croc along the way.

Now reading Miss Julia Takes a Ride...so far so good...but it seems as if Miss Julia is always in the midst of some dramatic scheme that she must solve all by herself....often with great risk.

Finished Mockingbird by Charles Shields, a biography of Harper Lee, and The Painted Drum by Louise Erdrich

Reading An Ordinary Man, the autobiography of Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of the Hotel des Milles Collines in Rwanda, who saved 1268 people in his hotel during the genocide. It's written very simply, and it's quite clear from his account that this was a failure of the world.

just started "The Fall of a Sparrow" by Rober Hellenga, signalled by woodnymph2 .
I was intrigued by the fact that it is set partly in Italy, and it is always interesting to see how a foreigner looks at your country, and by the fact that regards, always in part, one of our worse period, what that we call "the lead years" (anni di piombo) the terrorism years, for almost a decade almost every day a student was killed , one day he/she was a left student the next one, for revenge or else was a right one. There used to be hundreds of groups: Autonomy for the workers (autonomia operaia) power to the workers (potere operaio) and others for the left; ordine nuovo (new order) Forza Nuova (New power) and others for the right, the fascist. Besides there were terrorists who acted in clandestinity, B.R. Brigate Rosse , Armed forces for comunism (partito armato per il comunismo) and fascist-clandestine groups, that made acts of terrorism and slaughters
For us , back then, in the 70's, was normal to be stopped and asked for documents once or twice a day by the police.
Sometimes our TV broadcasts documentary about those year, and I can' t believe to how many violence we went through
grelobe

As much as I enjoyed Sixteen Pleasures, Fall of the Sparrow was a much better book for me. I remember hearing about the violence but knew little about it. This brought it home for me. BTW, your last comment is one that I heard an Israeli friend say of the 70s. They lived their lives as they could, but looking back it was an incredibly violent and scary era (haven't seen her in a while, wonder what she thinks of the latest - more of the same or worse?)

>it's quite clear from his account that this was a failure of the world.

Incredibly so. I remember laying in bed listening to Morning Edition report about the massacre. Each day I thought - oh the international community is going to get involved in that any time now. And each day I was sadder and more disgusted with the human race. How we (or the govts) could allow such to happen...BTW did you see the movie about him Hotel Rwanda? Very good, very sobering.

Now finished Nice Work. Quite a satisfying ending, and altogether a good book.

Very annoyingly, I came out this morning without a book to read, and there's not enough to interest me in the paper on a Friday - it's all the film and music and fashion review stuff....so listening to music instead. Doesn't seem right, somehow.

I stayed up late last night to finish reading Miracles on the Water by Tom Nagorski. It's the story of the sinking of the SS City of Benares, a liner carrying (along with other passengers) 90 refugee children on their way to Canada to escape the blitzkrieg of London. It was a fascinating read. The author is the great nephew of one of the passengers who survived the ordeal. I couldn't put it down until I had finished it.

I picked up several books from the library and now have to choose which one to start with first. My supposed to be bedside reading is the biography of John Adams by David McCullough. I had put it aside so I could finish Miracles.

Thanks to whomever recommended Jane Langton's Homer Kelly series. I listened to the first one, The Transcendental Murder, last week and am now listening to the next one in the series. It's out in my car so I don't have the title in front of me, something about a murder on Nantucket.

I just love it when I have several to books to decide between!

I have just finished a thriller from Stephen Leather called Cold Kill. I enjoyed it very much and have ordered his previous two books to check them out too.

I just finished Orson Scott Card's Hart's Hope and I am deeply disturbed. The storytelling is up to Card's usual standard; it is his ideas and themes that bother me. In this novel a young man is given to understand that his god wants him to unseat the evil king. In doing so he decides to solidify his position by raping the old king's young virginal daughter in a public ritual. The rest of the story is the daughter's revenge on the new king and his ba$tard son's coming to his rescue with the guidance of the god.

Having recently read Under the Banner of Heaven I can only see this tale as an ghastly version of extreme Mormon practice. We've all read about some of these breakaway Mormon sects where 12 year old girls are forced to marry the much older leaders of those sects - under divine direction. Perhaps it is the times, but just now I cannot abide any killing and raping for the sake of any god. There are just too many parallels between Mormon extremism and this novel for comfort.

The theme is older than that-women of the defeated ruling house were often raped or forced to marry the victor in order to legitimatize the claim to the crown...and to pass on the old line to the children of the new king. I vaguely remember reading a history of Scotland in which the victor had the dead king's queen brought to the battlefield, where he had the priest marry them, then raped her to assure that he could claim any child she might be carrying, and it would be considered legitimate.

The month is almost over!

For all of those fans of "Ship of Gold", my apologies. I threw it across the room unfinished. I got so bored I couldn't continue. My eyes started to glaze over and I was fantasizing about all of the other books I could be reading instead and well, I closed the cover gently and gave it a toss. It landed on the floor and skidded to a stop next to the sofa. No harm done and I felt so much better.

I read the $64 Tomato. I didn't know people gardened that way. I didn't know you had a landscaper plan it and had sprinklers installed and so on and so forth. I am of the old school where if you want a garden, you plot it out with the garden hose and start digging up your grass. I was AMAZED at the money he went through and how the smallest little things set him running for expensive solutions. It was great fun, but I was mostly shaking my head in the wonder and expense of it all... no wonder his tomatoes were $64 each. Or maybe I am just cheap...errrr, frugal, rather.

So then I picked up Joyce Carol Oates "Man Crazy" and read that. It's about a girl who has never had a strong, stable, father figure in her life for any amount of time and how she craved love. So I finished that... can't recommend it. In my opinion, it was dark, so dark.

I needed something kind and cozy after the JCO book so I read a nice cute mystery by Hazel Holt called Mrs. Malory Wonders Why which made me feel warm and safe again.

PAM

I am reading Beach Music by Pat Conroy and really enjoying it. I can't believe it has sat unread on the shelf for so long-and it took being chosen for a book group discussion for me to blow off the dust!
It is a big book filled with larger than life characters and I have barely scratched the surface LOL!

Pat

CC, You are right of course. It's the modern echoes of the traditions I find disturbing. Here we have it in the guise of fantasy fiction by an author whose extreme co-religionists take to wife girl children.

It is with great relief I find myself on the final pages of Mosse's "Labyrinth." I made a serendipitous find yesterday at our local library and came home with Mitchell's "Black Swan Green."

I didn't like "Labyrinth" but at the same time could not put it down until I found out how the loose ends tied up, past and present....

Read Noa Noa, by Paul Gauguin, his travel diary from his time in Tahiti.

Still on Innocents Abroad, it's not really gripping me, but it's fine to fall asleep on.

Ellen Kushner is coming out with a new Riverside novel tomorrow, can't wait, it'll be my official beach read for when I go on vacation in a few weeks.

Woodnymph2, you summed up my reaction to Labyrinth very well. I didn't particularly like it either (and don't really recommend it to anyone), but I couldn't put it down once I reached a certain point because I needed closure.

I have finished New Grub Street and really liked it. Thanks to all of you who recommended Gissing. Strange to have the two least likeable characters have the happiest ending.

Then I read the newest Laura Childs tea book. Boy, does she need an editor (or at least spell check). In one paragraph dessert is spelled both correctly and with one "s." The word couple is used without of following it in numerous places; e.g., a couple apples. I see this fairly often now. Is it becoming common usage, or is it just ignorance? Or am I just a hopeless old fogey? There were a few other glaring errors, enough to put me off her books, which are not terrific mysteries in the first place.

I'm zipping through the newest Nora Roberts, Angel Falls, and though she's getting predictable (this is, after all, something like her 107th book), I really love her stories and this one has pulled me in and been fun to read.

I've also been dipping into Ancient Inventions by Peter James and Nick Thorpe. This is a great overview of ancient technology and I find it amazing what existed, was forgotten, and was re-invented again.

I'm getting ready to go on vacation and my next dilemma will be which books to take and how many. This will probably take me longer to sort out than it will take to pack everything else, lol.

Another disappointment, which I described on the thread above. I found the Brit. slang in "Black Swan Green" incomprehensible, so am taking it back, unread. I am casting around for what next.....

I've been on a GRRM marathon, having finished the first three books of his A Song of Ice and Fire series. So far, I love this series, but I'll probably wait for A Feast for Crows to come out in paperback before I read it (not long to wait; comes out in Sept). It was hard to decide what to read next, but I've picked up Alma Alexander's The Secrets of Jin-Shei which is another fantasy offering that was in my TBR pile. This is about the friendship of eight very different girls in a mythical Chinese kingdom. The premise seems interesting. Hopefully, the book will live up to the premise.

OKAY my 2006 summer reading list-
Edgar Allen Poe-His life and Legacy-Jeffrey Meyers
Literacy and Longing in LA-J.Kaufman and Karen Mack-about women who read to much:.)
The proper care and feeding of Husbands-Schlessinger
American Bee -james Maguire
Three Junes--Julia Glass
Watership Down-Richard Adams

I finished Winkie by Clifford Chase and enjoyed it immensely. ItÂs the story of a teddy bear that is accused of terrorism and thrown in jail. I believe itÂs supposed to be an allegory to what is happening at Guantanamo Bay. Very well done, and very thought provoking (no kidding). The SWAT "take-down" of Winkie had me in hysterics, but later parts where he is reflecting on the family he once belonged to and how he was outgrown was sad. The trial itself veered a little out of hand, IMO.

I also just finished polishing off EvanovichÂs Twelve Sharp, which I enjoyed more than usual because there was so much of Ranger in this one. (Yum!)

Next up is Once Upon a Day by Lisa Tucker. I read the first chapter previewed online and was hooked. I think it will be a real heartbreaker. IÂd be interested to know if anyone else has read this.

Just got back from vacation, bought many books, read a few:

Nothing Sacred by Lewis Black (warning, if you are easily offended, this is not for you) The comedian talks about his life and what caused him to be the cynical curmudgeon he is now. Funny, yet very interesting as well.

Traveler's Tales: San Francisco Sometimes this series gets a bit twee for my taste, but when it gets things right, its a marvelous read. This is one collection that I probably will go back to again and again. Wonderful stories about those who love the Bay, filled with historical and cultural references that even frequent visitors might not know about.

>It's the story of the sinking of the SS City of Benares, a liner carrying (along with other passengers) 90 refugee children on their way to Canada to escape the blitzkrieg of London.

This is a book I should read but I don't think my heart could take it.

Thanks to RP-ers for mentioning John Dunning.

I just finished his mystery "Booked To Die" and what a wonderful blend of mystery and the book world! Dunning shot right up to the top of my favorite mystery writers list.

PAM

Amidst lingering eye issues, I've been reading "Forbidden Faith: The Gnostic Legacy" by Richard Smoley.

I've also been reading about Lady Jane Grey, the "reluctant Queen" of only 9 days. Surely this is one of the saddest chapters in English history. Jane Dudley was barely 16, never sought the Crown, was forced to it by political maneuvering of powerful men, in the tumultous time of Catholic and Protestant sparring, and was beheaded, at the end -- for nothing.

Just finished Song of Susannah which is Book 6 of the Black Tower series. (Anyone seen Rayma recently?) Now waiting for Book 7 - the last one. It's out, but I have to get it in paperback so that it'll match the other six in the series.

Now just about to start Teacher Man by Frank McCourt.

Martin, I enjoyed Teacher Man. Not so much difference between kids in New York or the UK. I just wonder if all his lessons were as interesting as he describes.

Have just finished Digging to America by Anne Tyler. I enjoyed her unusual 'theme' . . . didn't someone here say it had a sad ending? I found it quite uplifting!

Sea Music by Sara MacDonald, an author I was unfamiliar with, but a surprisingly rewarding read. Very 'English' for those of you who enjoy these sort of stories, and set in Cornwall (what is it about that county that makes it such a popular choice for authors?). Characters look back on the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust while others deal with the up-to-date similarity of the war in Bosnia.
Highly recommended.

Am reading We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families, stories from Rwanda. I watched Shake hands with the devil on DVD last night, and will probably read the book soon, which I have been wanting to do for some time but lacked the courage, but now is the time, I believe.

After I am relatively well versed in this subject I want to find out more about Darfur and Sudan, of which I keep hearing about but have only the vaguest idea what is going on there, apart from that it is quite terrible.

PAM, I've put a hold on Booked to Die at my library - it's always great to find a new mystery writer.

My July reading:

Christopher and Columbus by Elizabeth von Arnim -light, amusing, but too long.

Who Will Cry When You Die? Life Lessons from the Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin S. Sharma -quickly read inspirational book recommended by a fellow book club member

The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi - I smiled all the way through this collection of delightful anecdotes about a village priest and his rival, the communist mayor. Even Christ on the cross above the church altar has a speaking part. Set in post-war Italy the book is charming and I couldn't help liking both these rivals who in many ways are alike in spite of their religious and political differences.

A Girl Named Disaster by Nancy Farmer - award-winning young adult book about a resourceful Shona girl who encounters many challenges travelling from Mozambique to Zimbabwe in search of her father's family.

La Petite Poule DÂEau by Gabrielle Roy - charming and gentle book about a woman raising a large family on an isolated ranch in northern Manitoba during the thirties. Almost every year she had to make a long rugged trip to town to give birth. I found it quite poignant in later years when she was the one staying home and the children were leaving. Available in translation as Where Nests the Waterhen

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer - tragic account of a young man who left family and friends behind to go live in the wild in Alaska and died of starvation. Krakauer attempts to understand what drove this young man. Interesting, but not gripping like Into Thin Air

I've just started The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier. so far it looks very promising.

Mumby, I loved The Brief History of the Dead. It was one of those books I continued to think about days after I finished it, I guess because the premise intrigued me.

Started reading Night Watch by Sarah Waters. Its ok - it doesn't have the tension and dark foreboding that Fingersmith had. But I'm liking it.

Also started a book I think was recommended here - the Hemmingway Book Club of Kosovo. Sometimes books like this are more about the author (see Reading Lolita in Tehran). But this isn't - very good so far.

Cindydavid14 -- my apologies to your husband for starting the "August Reading" thread a little early. (As a fellow Leo, I hope his August 1st birthday is wonderful.)

I just wanted to alert any short-story lovers before the August issue of "Gourmet" magazine (with the amazing supplement booklet) was sold out in their area. Once it's gone, it's gone. Nu?

I have enjoyed reading everyone's book choices and reviews for July. You have all inspired me to do more reading during the next two weeks before my vacation is over. Thanks for the encouragement!

Ah petal - I am a big joker, and was joking then! No harm, no foul. And please, call me Cindy. The site wouldn't let me use my name for some reason....I have a friend who is going to love that article so I am glad you mentioned it.

I was ultimately disappointed by Hemingway's Book Club of Kosovo. The author and her husband are heroes in my book - amazing people who show that anyone can touch lives, can make a difference. The stories of her students and others were heartrending. However - I know those stories, and repeating them didn't help me understand how this all happened in the first place. I wanted to know more background. What was Kosovo like before the Ottoman Empire, before Tito? What politics and history was behind the animosity between the peoples of that region? And for heaven sake get a decent map in the book! Part of the problem was that I saw Jason Elliots blurb (he wrote a wonderful book about Afghanistan called Unexpected Light) so I had higher expectations then I should of. Its a good book. Just not what I wanted.

Siobhan.....how was "Boston Marathon - The History of the World's Premier Running Event" by Tom Derderian. It sounds like a good gift for my friend who is a runner. Are you a runner?

I loved "My Life in France", which is Julia Child's memoir, written a few months before she died. (When she arrived in Paris in 1948, she did not even know how to cook!) The biography is well-written and entertaining; I hung on to every word.

Sorry, this was supposed to go on the food book thread!