What are you reading the week of September 11, 2011?

[DUgosh]

Bite Me - A Love Story by Christopher Moore

[Lint Head]

1. Mark Twain's biography.

[ChazII]

2. The Red Queen

Historical fiction - House of Lancaster.

[murielm99]

3. Sacred Hearts, by Sarah Dunant.

Did you know that by the second half of the 16th Century, dowry inflation was so bad in Catholic Europe that half of the noblewomen in the great towns and city-states of Italy were stuffed into convents?

It is not as though they were all in convents willingly.

Interesting stuff.

[applegrove]

4. "1491" by Charles C. Mann

[sueh]

5. "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens.

I'm a huge Dickens fan, but there are a few I haven't read, yet.

[pitohui]

18. "2 cities" is an unusual one not to have read

have you read "our mutual friend"? (the one about money?)

that's not a well known one and i think you will really like it

[fadedrose]

6. TEN SECOND STAIRCASE by Christopher Fowler

Fourth book in Fowler's "Peculiar Crimes Unit" series about two old London detectives, Bryant and May, in their 80's. Kinda addictive.

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R - thanks DUgosh...

[fadedrose]

27. Non-American Writers

Since I started reading Fowler, Penney, and Bradley, I've begun to notice that American writers write much simpler books, at least as far as fiction is concerned.

I struggle through English/French names, places and phrases that I'm not familiar with and have come to enjoy the struggle.

There are books I've read recently by my "favorite" American authors that now seem too easy. I wonder if any of you are share my opinion.

This book was good, by the way.

I liked it better than Seventy-Seven Clocks only because the only copy I could get through E-Loan was a battered yellow paperback....

[LWolf]

7. A Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

sequel to "The Name of The Wind."

[Onceuponalife]

8. Just finished Armistead Maupin's "Further Tales of the City"

The third book in Maupin's beloved Tales of the City series set in 70s/80s San Francisco. I love returning periodically to 28 Barbary Lane!

Just started David Wroblewski's "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle". A must read for any dog lover. And Oprah's Book Club hasn't steered me wrong yet.

Also just started "Life" by Keith Richards. I bought this for my brother-in-law. He passed it around to his friends after he was done with it and now I'm finally getting a turn!

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. Franz Kafka collected stories

I needed a change, and this is it!

[pscot]

22. Kafka is a wonder

Stories like The Burrow and In the Penal Colony haave stayed with me for 50 years

[Sisaruus]

10. The Communist Manifesto

[Hayabusa]

11. A Storm of Swords

by George R.R. Martin. About 200 pages into it, where a normal fantasy novel would be half done, but this books are like bricks, LOL. It's good so far, and I'm glad I was able to find A Feast For Crows at the library book sale (along with the hardcover of this book, too).

[MountainLaurel]

12. Frederick Pohl's Chernobyl n/t

[pitohui]

17. i did not know that pohl was still alive!!!

i have a great many of his books from back in the day, he used to be a great favorite and i had just pulled a few to re-read

he must be 112!!!

[MountainLaurel]

21. This is an old one

But apparently he is still alive -- 91 years young.

[SheilaT]

25. He's something like 91.

And he has looked ghastly for at least the last fifteen years. I first met him in 1994, and he looked terrible then. The last time I saw him, about four years ago, he was not walking on his own, but getting around in one of the scooter things. His mind was as sharp as ever.

[ellie]

13. "The Ghost Writer" by Philip Roth

[MaineDem]

14. "Echo Burning" by Lee Child n/t

[fadedrose]

15. This was one of my favs....nt

[MaineDem]

16. Glad to hear it

I'm enjoying it.

[pitohui]

19. the peter hamilton void trilogy

it is too long but still a great achievement

[AlexW52]

20. (S) Mythology by Jeremy Tarr

I'm reading a book by an author that I'm working with called (S)Mythology by Jeremy Tarr. It's a modern day fairy tale that is wry and whimsical, and tackles life...death...and the Underworld. The book is super cute and has illustrations by artist Katy Smail, which really bring the main character Sophie to life. It's almost like a graphic novel in that way. Sophie has really fantastical adventures meeting really wild characters and explores religion in a really interesting way. I'm really enjoying it thus far.

If you want to check it out, you can read the first three chapters and see the illustrations at www.smythology.co.uk. Also, the book is new to paperback and available here: http://amzn.to/SmythPB.

[Odin2005]

23. "Fortune's Favorites" by Colleen McCoullough, the 3rd book in her "Masters of Rome" series.

I am still in the first part of the book, which is about Lucius Cornelius Sulla's 2nd march on Rome. It is (IIRC) 3 years since the end of the second book when the old and senile war hero Gaius Marius dies of a 3rd stroke, ending his violent purge. The 23yo Pompey is a narcissistic boor who already called himself "Pompeius Magnus", Pompey The Great.

As for Sulla, he is portrayed as suffering from severe type-2 diabetes and constantly complains about not being about to eat the sweets he likes.

[pscot]

24. The Chalk Circle Man

by Fred Vargas. I read one of hers last week too. She's very big in the old country.

[japple]

26. Just finished Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks--loved it.

She has become one of my favorite writers. The amount of research she has done for each book she's written is amazing.

Now off to Hemingway, For Whom the Bell Tolls for my book club.

[fadedrose]

28. RELIQUARY by Lincoln Child & Douglas Preston

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