Week of 12/2: What are you reading now? What's waiting on your nightstand?

[Caryl]

What are you reading this week? What are you looking forward to reading soon?

You can just list the book or books you're working on, or you can add a few sentences about them, or you can write a short review for us, if you like!

Share your book experiences with us here. :)

[SusanH]

I am still working on Love Medicine and The Birchbark House. I had to take a break from them to read Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett before it was due back at the library. Thief of Time was quite good, as usual.

I also started reading Letters to Alice on first reading Jane Austen by Fay Weldon. It is a series of letters to a fictitious niece explaining the place of Jane Austen and great literature in our modern world. So far I'm enjoying it. I don't agree with all of her thoughts on Austen, but reading a writer's perception of great literature and the importance of reading is very interesting.

Next up: too many things to list, I'll never get through them all. I got a bit carried away at the library. ;)

[Caryl]

Susan, I checked out Letters to Alice... awhile ago at the library, when I was re-reading Pride and Prejudice. It looked really interesting! I decided to wait and read it after I'd read more Austen. (I've got to get going on that!)

Did you see that Terry Pratchett has a new book out that's a mystery, I think? It's called Night Watch. BTW, I've been meaning to tell you I got a kick out of your signature quote. :)

I'm almost done with Love Medicine -- just one chapter left -- and I need to post on the Part Two thread. I adore Louise Erdrich. I am so glad her other books explore these characters further, because I know I'm not going to be able to let them go when I've finished.

I'm also working through Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths of Boyhood by William Pollack. Mary Pipher wrote the forward to this book, and I really liked her Reviving Ophelia.

I just read the first chapter of The Birchbark House last night, and that will be a lovely read. It does have a "Little House" feeling so far.

We were at my parents' for the Thanksgiving holiday, and I started reading two of my dad's books while I was there: The Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Wellstone and Stupid White Men by Michael Moore. I brought the Wellstone one home with me, but I'm going to work on some others in my TBR pile before I get into it further.

Next up: Skipping Christmas! I have two other quick reads I'd like to get through in December, too: a Janet Evanovich mystery and The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald.

[SusanH]

D'oh! I meant to write that I just read Night Watch. Thief of Time was an earlier novel by Pratchett.

[Lisa Jo]

I have just finished re-reading Pride and Prejudice and enjoyed it sooo much more than I did in college. I wish I hadn't waited so long!

Right now I'm a third of the way into Anita Shreve's Sea Glass and it's not particularly grabbing me. Shreve is uneven for me - I enjoyed The Weight of Water and The Last Time They Met (though I didn't think the wonderful story needed the trick ending), but didn't like Pilot's Wife.

Waiting in the nightstand are The Birchbark House and Anna Quindlen's Blessings. I just picked up David Sedaris on tape reading essays from Me Talk Pretty One Day and I am more excited than is really healthy. ;) I've heard him read some of his essays on NPR and his voice really adds to the experience. From the first story about his childhood speech therapy, he describes his voice this way:There was the lisp, course, but more troubling than that was my voice itself, with its excitable tone and high, girlish pitch. :D

[Ursula]

I finally got to the library to get some books, or, rather, my husband did it. Phew!

quickly:

Starting Anna Quindling's (sp?)Blessings but only got 2 pages in as I was very tired last night.

Skipping Christmas is next, but I'm not very hopeful about that one as I'm not, shall we say, a fan of Grisham. But, it seems like a different sort of book for him, so maybe I'll be surprised and be able to join the discussion.

[Lisa Jo]

Ursula, slow down and let me finish Sea Glass (getting more interesting now) so we can read Blessings together! :)

[k-mom]

I ordered Love Medicine as soon as it was decided that it would be our group read, and I just got it yesterday! I think that it was the slowest that I have ever seen Amazon move!

So, I finished Skipping Christmas yesterday and immediately started Love Medicine. (The kids just inherited a playhouse from a friend and they love it. They play away and I get to sit in the sun and read. Not to shabby:) ) Next in line is White Oleander.

[Ursula]

Originally posted by Lisa Jo
Ursula, slow down and let me finish Sea Glass (getting more interesting now) so we can read Blessings together! :)

Oops! I've already read it. Should I re-read it? ;)

[SusanH]

Caryl, I finished Letters to Alice the other day. It really was very interesting and I highly recommend it to you! She does give away the basic plots to several Austen novels, but her discussion is more about Austen as writer than the novels themselves. And of course the plots of Austen novels tend to be foregone conclusions, so you aren't necessarily losing much by reading a one-paragraph description of them. With Austen, I think it's much more about the journey than the destination!

I did often disagree with Weldon's interpretation (fantasy?) of what Austen was thinking or feeling as she wrote what she wrote, and I did catch her in several factual errors, but all in all it was well worth reading. Reading an author's thoughts on writing, reading and the artistic process is always interesting to me. I hadn't realize that she was responsible for the screenplay of a terrible BBC production of P&P in the 80's, but I'll forgive her since I enjoyed this book so much. ;)

[AquariJenn]

Hi all! It has been awhile since I've had the chance to stop by and see what you've all been up to. I don't remember what I was reading when I last posted, but my most recent books include:

* The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien - Both books were good, but I really liked The Lord of the Rings better. I'm waiting to see the next movie before reading the next book...come on December 18th!! :)

* The World I Made for Her by Thomas Moran - This book was on my TBR list and waiting on my bookshelf for a long time. I decided to pick it up after the Tolkien books. It was a bit slow at the beginning but I soon got sucked into the story and finished it in two days! It is about a man who falls in love with his ICU nurse, but is unable to communicate his feelings to her. He dreams of a life where she can be truly happy. Not a happy book, but a great read nonetheless.

[Nicole8]

Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier
My mom brought this one to me at Thanksgiving. She says it is good...so I started it this weekend, seems to be going okay so far. I just found out they are making a movie out of this book, starring Nicole Kidman. I better hurry up and read it before the movie comes out.

I Don't Know How She Does It: The life of Kate Reddy; Working Mother
I started this book this weekend, and it is fantastically fun. I am enjoying it so much. I will probably finish this by the end of the week.

Outlander by Gabaldon
I have gotten half way, and stopped. So it has been sitting on my nightstand for over a month. I need to finish this one.

House of Spirits by Isabel Allende
I purchased this book back when it was on book for the month, and it is still on my nightstand. I have read a few chapters, but just can't seem to sink my teeth into it...still trying.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
I have never read this, and I am looking forward to tackling this one over Christmas

[Caryl]

I love reading these threads. You are all reading wonderful things.

Lisa and Ursula, I want to read Quindlen's Blessings, too. Did you like it, Ursula?

Lisa, I'm glad you enjoyed P&P. I just re-read it this past year, and had so much fun. You must get the A&E version to see, now that it's all fresh in your head! Have you seen it before? And Susan, can you believe that I faithfully sat through all three film versions of P&P after reading it this year? I am so glad they made the A&E one! ;)

Heather, I'm so glad you'll be reading Love Medicine. I can't wait to hear what you think. I'm past due on posting about it. I'll do it soon.

Jenn, it's so good to "see" you. And, oh my goodness, congrats on your pregnancy! Wow! :D Looks like you are reading some neat books, as usual.

Nicole, I loved Jane Eyre. I think you will, too!