Tuesday Book Club
Still working on my same three books from last week. Yeah, I know I could finish them if I’d just concentrate on one at a time, but tra-la, I don’t care. I like what I’m doing right now.
I know a LOT of you participated in Mother Reader’s 48-Hour Book Challenge this past weekend, so I’m just going to get out of your way and let you report your brains out. (And even if you didn’t participate, or were a dropout like me, but you still have a book or two from last week to talk about, let’s hear it!)
Go!
Technorati Tags: Tuesday Book Club, Reading, Books, Book Clubs, Book Recommendations, Book Reviews, 48-Hour Book Challenge, 48-Hour Reading Challenge
June 12th, 2007 at 5:57 am
The best book I read during the 48HBC was Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher.
I think I’ll read Ruby in the Smoke today.
June 12th, 2007 at 6:41 am
I didn’t read much, because of my daughter’s graduation, but I’m back to American Gods this week.
It’s not the kind of book that pushes you along…it’s more like you wander with the main character, Shadow. But the writing is satisfying, as in: (describing Shadow’s approach to a city) “Chicago happened slowly, like a migraine.”
And I like the interesting premise. Makes me think about which gods I worship on a daily basis. And it helps me fulfill one of those summer goals you made me write: read more from the “adult” side of the literature world.
June 12th, 2007 at 6:54 am
I read The Taste of Night by Vicki Pettersson. Love, love, love her books.
June 12th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Well, this weekend I knocked out Sir Thursday (first time) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (sixth time), and Sunday night (eh…Monday morning) I stayed up far too late to finish New Moon.
I have to say the beginning of the latter was torture since A. I’ve never liked Jacob and B. I have this alarming tendency to take on the…subconscious persona or something of the main character of whatever I’m reading, especially if it’s the first read (I’ve mentioned the sociophobic episode from Among the Hidden, haven’t I?), so…let’s just say, not a happy camper Sunday afternoon. But as soon as Alice showed up, I loved it.
June 12th, 2007 at 7:09 am
I had an excellent reading week!
First I listened to Dean Koontz’s Odd Thomas. It was pretty good… until the end. The end made me cry and I wasn’t really expecting it. Oh well.
Then I finished Omar Tyree’s Flyy Girl. We had this long conversation about Urban Street Lit at my library a few weeks ago, so I figured I should give it a try and see what everyone was talking about. The book was really good!
After that I kicked through two romances. The first was Ann Major’s The Girl with the Golden Gun. It was okay. I thought the “hero” had too many issues, though. Then I read Parlor Games. Ye-ahhhh! That was a fun and fast read!!
Oh, and right now I’m listening to the Series of Unfortunate Events on audio. Guess who does the narration? Tim Curry! It’s awesome! =)
June 12th, 2007 at 7:11 am
I know it probably doesn’t count, but as I race to finish a quilt, I’ve been listening to the “Atlas Shrugged” audiobook. I’m on hour 7 of 52, LOL. I never would have guessed that I could process an audiobook as well as I do — even if I’m concentrating, I hear things and absorb them. In fact, I’m hearing things I never noticed before, and I’ve read that book probably five times!
June 12th, 2007 at 7:31 am
Katie, audio books totally count. I’ve read Atlas Shrugged a few times myself, too, and I can’t imagine having it read to me–it’s so dense! Can’t wait for you to get to that final endless John Galt diatribe. Yow.
Christen, speaking of audio books, I’ll bet Tim Curry is fabulous!
Miri, I hear that about Jacob. Not my favorite, either. But yeah, once Alice is there, rock. Can’t wait to read Eclipse, which comes out Aug. 7!
Heather, I need to read one of hers. You’ve mentioned her a couple of times here, and I’m interested. Which should I start with?
Sara, love that quote! And I know what you mean about needing to read more adult lit. But then sometimes I think, “Why????” Harry Potter, Inkheart, Eclipse–I’ll be set for the next several weeks. But scout out some good adult books for me and I’ll get to them in the fall.
Little Willow, don’t be shy–what was your final tally on Mother Reader’s challenge? I know it must have been huge. Come on–inspire us!
June 12th, 2007 at 7:51 am
Katie… I love audio books! I’ve read all the Harry Potters a few times, but I just listened to them all on audio over the past few months to refresh my memory! Jim Dale is wonderful! He makes the story come alive!
And Tim is fantabulous! He is the perfect choice to narrate this series!
June 12th, 2007 at 8:04 am
The Scent of Shadows. It’s her debut, and the prose is so vivid. It’s a dark urban fantasy, so there are definitely moments not for the faint of heart, but it’s a very moving novel.
June 12th, 2007 at 8:18 am
Hey, this is off-topic (a bit) but anybody ever hear of BookSwim? It’s a book rental site like Netflix. I’m trying to decide if this is a good thing, or if it somehow will trash an author’s sales. I wouldn’t think so, as it seems like a library, but seeing “FREE rental” next to a copyrighted book is a little unnerving.
But then I started wondering, how many books can I read for 23.99 a month?
June 12th, 2007 at 10:01 am
End of the term and helping my daughter paint & fix up her 1946 bungalow. I would have loved to read instead of painting all weekend.
I did manage to finish Undead & Uneasy by MaryJanice Davidson. I am reading Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. It is a Young Reader’s Choice book for next year. (I have taken it home to read because I won’t finish it in class this year.) It is part of a series & our librarian says the girls really love it.
June 12th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Sara, I just blogged about BookSwim the other day. The owner seems really nice (he invited me up to take a tour of the facility). I thought it was a cool concept, especially because I sometimes like kind of obscure romance novels… but all the books that I wanted weren’t offered. Maybe if they increase their selection I’ll buy a membership!
(P.S. I was just offered a job!!! I am officially a children’s librarian now!)
June 12th, 2007 at 10:30 am
Christen, CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR JOB!!! That’s terrific! YAY!!!!!!
Readerdiane, I have Uglies on my TBR pile. Looking forward to you saying I must read it next!
June 12th, 2007 at 11:04 am
I finished Stray, an excellent read, I’ll be reading the next in the series!
I also just finished Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. The Starship Troopers comparison is accurate. Another excellent read.
June 12th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
I’m nearly finished with Maia;I’m on chapter 94 and should be completed before tommorrow. Nice to reread a good long book,it strengthens your concentration muscles nicely.
Congrats,Christen-you’ll be an asset to that library,I just know it:)
Sara,there’s another book lending program out there called Booksfree,which(for a small monthly fee)allows you to borrow paperback books and audiobooks similar to NetFlix. I found them thru another blog and it’s been a great program. They even let you trade in some of your old paperbacks(as long as they’re in good condition) to reduce the cost.
June 12th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Thanks Robin and Lady T!!! =)
June 12th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
I finished The Husband by Dean Koontz. This was another suspenseful thriller with a lot of twists and turns, though a little different than most of his I’ve read previously. Great book!
June 12th, 2007 at 1:53 pm
Piping up for Uglies here - it’s a stunning book. Same for Pretties and Specials. They’re amazing. Cool, creepy, thoroughly enjoyable.
This has been a public service announcement from your friendly nieghborhood book nag.
June 12th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Lady T, that’s one long book! And I thought Inkheart had some pages!
Kimmy, I’ve really enjoyed Koontz’s stuff, but a few years ago my husband and I listened to one of his audio books while on a road trip, and we were so tense and freaked out we had to stop listening or we were going to be a danger on the highway. Man, that guy can get to you!
Miri, nag away. I’m very happy with Inkheart, thanks to you.
June 12th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
In the last week or so I have:
- finished Flying for the Fatherland: The Century’s Greatest Pilot, a biography of Hanna Reitsch, by Judy Lomax;
- read The Tale of Despereaux, a children’s fantasy by Kate DiCamillo;
- read Shiloh, a children’s book by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor (the last two as part of my programme to read all of the Newbery Medal winners);
- read The All-of-a-Kind Family, a children’s book (third in a series) by Sydney Taylor; and
- started rereading, for the severalth time, The Dreaming Suburb, by R F Delderfield.
June 12th, 2007 at 6:47 pm
There used to be a theoretical limit to the speed at which a pulsar, or Neutron star if you will, would spin at. Although theoretically possible to spin at 3000 times per second, the fastest recorded was only spinning at 642 times per second and so it was theorized that 700 times was the limit and anything faster would just fly apart in gravity waves.
Until now. A new high speed has been found. A full on 716 rotations per second.
I know.
Amazing. Who’da thunk it?
Almost as interesting as matter moving at 99.9997% the speed of light. And no, that matter was not my car.
June 12th, 2007 at 7:26 pm
I’m participating the Philip Pullman anthology, so this week, I re-read THE SUBTLE KNIFE. Great book. Even better than the first one, though I miss Iorek terribly. Hester is my favorite character in TSK — interesting, isn’t it, that I like Hester more than Lee?
ODD THOMAS is my favorite Dean Koontz book, Christen. Love it. And I will definitely be checking out Series as read by tim Curry. LOVE him.
readerdiane, UGLIES is one of my favorite books of the last five years. Blew me away. I went on a total Westerfeld reading binge after that — read everything he ever wrote, and made everyone I know read him, too.
This means you, Robin. I will happily send you a copy. You need to read him like, yesterday. especially given your interest in screenwriting. I find his books very cinematic. No accident so many of them have been optioned for film.
June 12th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
All right, RM! Very nice showing! I really like your program of reading all the Newbery winners. I think you’re onto something there.
Patrick, thank you for making up for the “I’m not wearing pants” comment with some solid science. You are a mysterious man.
Diana, I agree–The Subtle Knife was my favorite in the trilogy, and I truly loved the trilogy. The Subtle Knife was just so mind-blowingly imaginative. I don’t know how someone gets those particular brain cells to be able to write something like that.
And D, thanks for the offer to furnish me with Uglies, but it’s right here on my shelf beckoning to me. I really, really need to work through my TBR pile this summer, for my own happy sake. So many great books need to be read!
June 12th, 2007 at 8:43 pm
UGLIES is brilliant. Pretties and Specials, the second and third books, are as well. Extras, the companion, is due out later this year.
HIS DARK MATERIALS is brilliant AND masterful. I love it so much that I waited years before reading another Pullman novel. I’ve since read CLOCKWORK and SCARECROW.
The Sally Lockhart trilogy by Pullman is one of (rather, three of) those books that I’ve wanted to read for quite some time but, for some reason, knew would come my way when the time was right. So far, I’m liking RUBY. I saw the Masterpiece Theatre telefilm earlier this year and was disappointed in it because I was overly eager for it.
I really hope the film version of THE GOLDEN COMPASS does the book justice. The same for the movies that follow.
Little Willow, Pantalaimon fan
June 12th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
Robin: Sixteen books completed + first half of another book = 3380 pages read in approximately twenty hours
June 12th, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Little Willow!!! AAAAAA!!! I love that you can read so many books in a 48-hour period! I bow to your brain.
Have you seen the trailer for The Golden Compass? It makes me feel just like I did about Lord of the Rings: that I’m so grateful we live in a time when movie technology can do justice to these fantasy books. I think it’s going to be great.
June 12th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
Thanks!
I also managed to have somewhat of a life this weekend, attending events for and with friends, which was nice.
I have seen various versions of the trailer, and admittedly replayed the morphing scene with the daemons.
June 13th, 2007 at 7:57 am
We won’t finish Uglies in class but I told them they could check it out from the Public Library and some of them looked at my like I had 2 heads. Others said they would get it from the school library in the Fall.
I do love the descriptions in the book and the heroine is very well drawn. I have to finish it before Friday.
June 13th, 2007 at 9:42 am
Update: as of last night,I have finished Maia(woo hoo!) and will be able to focus more on Keeping The House as well as start a much shorter book,Swim To Me by Betsy Carter.
Speaking of the Golden Compass trailer,I just finished my post for the day and have embedded it there. It does look awesome. Between the trailer and the huge promo flipbook that I picked up at BEA,I’m getting pumped up for this movie.
June 13th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Congratulations, Lady T! I know that was a big, long book. You owe yourself some short ones
June 13th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Okay, y’all talked me into it. I spotted Uglies in a display at the library this afternoon, so I grabbed it (along with the four books I’d already picked out). I’ll read it right after Dobry, the 1935 Newbery winner.
June 13th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Cool, RM! Since you checked it out from the library, I’ll bet you get to it before I do. Enjoy!