What are you reading?

I love getting ideas for books to read from here. Thought we could do a thread on what everyone is reading right now.

I am currently reading The Girls from Ames. So far I like it. The premise kind of struck home for me because it is about a group of friends that still maintain their friendships from their childhood in Ames, Iowa. Some of my closest friends go back to grammar school, jr. high, and high school. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

I'm reading The Collectors by David Baldacci. It's a pretty entertaining book so far. It's the second in a series with the first being The Camel Club.

 

I just finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman it's a really interesting book, with an unusual take on gods and their origins and it has a lot of twists and turns that you just don't see coming.

 

House of Night series...just finished book 3 of 6 (I think there is 6, maybe 7). About vampyres, but not anything like Twilight. I'm also halfway through Catching Fire which is the second book after Hunger Games. Holy Cow, Hunger Games is excitement from beginning until the last page...totally left me hanging. If you haven't read Hungar Games, you should, can't believe it is considered Juvenile fiction. Hunger games..in short..is about kids who are forced to fight to the death against each other. Their gov't makes families give up their kids (chosen by lottery) in order to keep control over them. Really exciting stuff. Catching Fire is the second book and the third is due out in August.

 

I read The Girls from Ames a while ago and enjoyed it.

Right now I'm reading a Jill Mansell "The One You Want". I enjoy her books, Brit Chick Lit basically.

My last book was The Bolter which I liked. It was about woman from an old established family who left her children and took off for Kenya at the end of WW1. She had quite a life.

 

I just finished Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel, a really good read. It's about Thomas Cromwell's rise to power within Henry the 8th's Court. A little hard to get into at first but once it gets off and running, it's good.
I am know reading Thomas Merton's autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain. Always a sucker for biographies and autobiographies.

 

I totally second The Hunger Games and it's sequel, Catching fire. It is a bit violent but a very intense story and wonderfully written. I'm currently reading a book called, SMACK by Melvin Burgess. It's a young adult story about two 14 year old runaways in England who get hooked on heroine. I was told it's a very dark story and will break your heart as a parent. So naturally, I ran to the library to get it. So far so good. Haven't gotten into the drug part yet but it's interesting how he tells the story in a first person point of view through all the different characters. I also started reading City of Bones which has started out well but I put it on hold to read the library book since I have to return it.

 

I am currrently reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I just finished reading Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future by Dr. Andrew Weil (which was amazing - I love him!).

Next up? I Am Ozzy

 

I mostly read light stuff as concentration for the rest is hard. Im in the middle of naked dragon by Annette Blair

 

I just finished "Wife for Hire" by Janet Evanovich. It was one of her earlier books re-released a few years ago. It was okay. I started "The Help" a few weeks ago so now I'll finished that.

 

I've read a few Annette Blair Tabbi. Have you tried any MaryJanice Davidson? She's along the same lines.

I'm having a comfort read weekend. Re-re-re times infinity reading my Helene Hanff Omnibus. I love her.

 

I'm like that, too. Right now, I'm reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels, they're fun. I'm also reading books that I didn't get through for one reason or another, but that I'd like to try again. For instance, I'm reading all the books in the Highlander series; next on my list is the Time-Traveler's Wife. I tried to read "the Lovely Bones" recently, but had to stop (couldn't finish for stopping to catch my breath and hug my kids), so I'm going to try that one again.
A favorite one is a series meant for kids, the first book is called the Secret of the Sirens. It's a wonderful story, with fantasy and the real world linked together closely. I got it out of the library for DS, he hated it (his loss!)I picked it up, and now am on Book four!

 

yep currently listening to her last queen betsy book

Occasionaly I do read something deeper. I read lovely bones when it first came out. I was a Sookie Fan from the beggining before it was cool :laughing:

Other authors i read:
sherrlyn kenyon
laurell k hamilton (though i don't like her as much in the later books)
janet evonavich
anne mccaffery
gena showalter
allyson james
jaye wells
kimberly raye
kelley armstrong
keri arthur
jeanienne frost
rachel vincent
lillith st crow
jd robb
hannah howell
lyndsay sands
lora leigh
katie mcalister
kerrelyn sparks
patricia briggs
jenna maclaine
....this is by no means all. I read at 2-3 a week. If you ever want paranormal romance. I can suggest the best.

 

Right now I am reading Dear John by Nicholas Sparks. I am about half way through it and really like it.

I just got finished reading Good in Bed which I loved! AND.... The Lovely Bones...which I finished, but wasn't so crazy about.

 

I am currently reading "The Lost Constitution" by Martin William. Not sure if I like it.

 

Patience with God. I'm not saying anything more because when I posted about this book/author in The Den, I started a near riot. ardon:

 

Cathy! :lol: Let me know how you like it though. I am interested.

 

Laura, Good in Bed was great! Have you read any of her other books?

 

I just finished fantasy in death by jd robb last night and am starting Come Hell or High Water by Bardsley(can't remember her first name off hand but she's a local writer)

 

I started Between Sisters this weekend. I really like Kristin Hannah's books.

 

I just started Dear John

 

I'm hopping into Shawcross's biography of the Queen Mother. 1000 pages. Granted 30 of those are pictures and 150 are appendix, source notes, index etc....

I just tried Julie Powell's Cleaving and had to toss it in. Whine whine whine. Suck it up princess.

 

Kendra, I so agree with you on Cleaving. What a whiner! I loved Julie & Julia because it was charming but this was just awful. She's received a ton of criticism for this book.

Ozzy's book is entertaining. Reads just like he talks!

Shades of Grey (Jasper Fforde) is waiting for me at the library, Kendra!

 

Right now I am reading "The year of magical thinking" by Joan Didion. I just finished "The Middle Place" by Kelly Corrigan.

 

Okay, it took me 100 pages to realize I already read that other book!! :rofl: I must've read it when I was pregnant.

So, now I am reading another Jen Lancaster book: Pretty in Plaid

For those of you that haven't read her books, they are so funny. This is the fourth one that I've read (she has another due out this spring) and I recommend them to everyone. I started it at the doctor's office yesterday and I am 200 pages in already.

 

re reading jodi picoults the pact

 

I havent read a book in so long since ive been studying non stop, but now that im free for awhile i need to get back into it, The last book i read was The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. Good book Sad but good!!

 

Pretty in Plaid was my lleast favorite of hers, Maureen, but I agree. I love Jen Lancaster!

I see Jodi Picoult has a new book out too. Can't remember the title though.

 

I finally got The Game Change

Talk about drama!

 

I'm reading The Last Olympian. It's the last book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which my oldest and I absolutely loved! I'm not sure what to start next. I'd like to read The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I read an interesting article about his death in Vanity Fair a few months ago.

 

Sadly an employment relations textbook :headbang: :laughing:

 

I'm working through 'The Zookeepers wife' right now. I'm not sure I love it as I'm on page 112 and keep waiting for the story to find momentum and get going.... It's such a fabulous story - the zookeepers of the Polish zoo hide Jewish people in the zoo, right under the noses of the German guards! It has such potential to be an amazing book but the author keeps going off on these tangents about the animals or history right as I start to enjoy the story! It's driving me batty! :lol: I like the author and she's clearly a very talented writer, but I'm not sure that she is the right voice for this (true) story.

 

Was Good in Bed your first Jennifer Weiner novel??? Oh are you in for a treat...In Her Shoes is great, as is the sequel to Good in Bed - Certain Girls.. She also has another book, I can't remember, it's not as good. It's about a murder.

I'm reading Beautiful Boy - a heart-breaking memoir about a parents struggle to save his addicted child..

I finished The Help - which was awesome, I highly recommend it.

 

In Her Shoes was my favorite Jennifer Weiner book. Love her!!

 

You guys probably don't want to know what I'm reading; it's all history books. A Brave Vessel- the true story of the shipwreck of Jamestown settlers which inspired Shakespeare's play The Tempest. I really enjoyed that story. I also recently read a biography on George Washington (His Excellency by Joseph Ellis) and a Pulitzer-Prize winning book from a few years ago about the story of Polio. I also just finished a story about Castro, Kennedy, Krushschev and the Cuban Missile Crisis and am currently reading a book about the construction of the Berlin Wall (although it's not as well-written as some of the other recent history books I've read) and A Time for War, about the beginnings of the Vietnam War.

As I said, a lot of history! I'd recommend Polio for anyone interested in life in America in the 1950s.