I'm a guest poster!

  I am very honored to have been asked to contribute to Susan Gregg Gilmore's celebration of book clubs on her blog.  I had the pleasure of meeting Susan at the Books on the Nightstand Readers' Retreat (best weekend ever) and she is a lovely person in addition to a great writer.

  Be sure to check out her books Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen and The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove.  She is doing some great things with book clubs to tie in with the paperback release of Bezellia -- if you have a book group it is a great opportunity.

  Now off to rest my swollen head....

July's Reading List

It seems like July is going to be a "light" reading month for me, in that I don't have a lot of reading I "have" to do so I can see about tackling the massive Mount TBR on my bookshelves.

I am still working on Ulysses this month as my project book -- it's slow going, but I am impressed with my progress, though I still think it will be on the currently-reading shelf for a while yet.  It's one of those books where I need to isolate myself and concentrate.

For my reading groups:
    The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
    The Stranger by Albert Camus
    Both of these are re-reads

For thelittlereader's readalong:
    Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

I did just sign up for The Canadian Book Challenge 4 to celebrate the literature of my homeland, so I'll go through Mount TBR and see what books I already have before I make my shopping list for when I visit next month  (This is as good an excuse as any to pick up some books!)

Also in July I am eagerly anticipating the release of Jennifer Weiner's new novel, Fly Away Home, which I already pre-ordered at my local indie.  She is one of my favorite writers, so I'll likely start reading this as soon as I pick it up.

What will you be reading this month?

It's Monday - What are you Reading?

  It's Monday - What are you Reading?  is a weekly meme hosted by Sheila at bookjourney to allow us to share with others in the book-loving cyberworld what is on our reading plates.

  It looks like I had a slow week last week as I only finished one book - A Long Long Time Ago & Essentially True by Brigid Pasulka - but it was worth it.  I'm trying to put my thoughts together about it so I can write a post about it -- in the meantime, check it out, you will be glad you did.

 Books that I've started last week and carry into this week:

•  Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac - for my Classics reading group meeting on Wednesday
• Driftless by David Rhodes - for my book group meeting next Monday
• Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - for thelittlereader's June/July readalong
• I'll Mature When I'm Dead by Dave Barry - because I needed some levity in my reading and Dave Barry is hilarious

This week, I begin my insane quest to read Ulysses - watch for my first post on Wednesday (aka Bloomsday, June 16th); and if I am able I'd also like to start on The Story of My Life by Helen Keller, which is for a non-fiction reading group at my library that I think I will finally be able to attend.

Before I forget, I'd like to thank Christina at chrisbookarama who generously sent me a copy of The Awakening by Kate Chopin.  I am a mail geek as much as I am a book geek, so seeing the package in my mailbox was a doubly pleasant surprise.

What are you reading this week?

June's Reading List and Extended Giveaway

Ok, in my attempt to get slightly more organized with my reading and blogging habits I am going to post my monthly "required" reading (for book groups, challenges etc) so that I can be held publicly accountable for what I've committed to read!

My big "project" for June (and July, August, probably September....) is to read Ulysses by James Joyce, beginning on Bloomsday (June 16th).  I am going to read a little bit (at least 20 pages) every day and blog about my progress each week.  If anyone is crazy enough interested in joining me please do!  If I can figure out how one of those linky things work I will put one up on my first post; otherwise I'll just look forward to your comments on the posts. 

Here is the rest of June's reading list:

For Book Groups

The God of Animals by Aryn Kyle
Driftless by David Rhodes
Pere Goriot by Honore de Balzac

For littlereader's Readalong

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

I also am trying to find a book for June's World Party but this month's stop is in Liberia and the pickings are slim.  Any suggestions?

Of course I have several (hundred) books on my shelves to choose from in between all of these ones.

Now if I can only figure out a way to read while at my desk at work .....

Extended Giveaway
   In my post reviewing The Knife Sharpener's Bell (here), I offered to give away my copy of the book to a random commenter.  I kind of forgot that with BEA and the Memorial Day holiday those people with lives were not hovering around their computer so I am extending my offer to a random commenter to this or the original post (please include e-mail address) until June 7. 
  I was very excited to see that the lone commenter to the review post was the author herself so I did not feel too neglected .....

Library Loot -- April 21-27, 2010

Library Loot is hosted by Marg and Eva and lets us sneak a peek at what gems other people have found at their local library.

I was at the library last night for my classics book group discussion of Crime & Punishment, which was very stimulating even though there were only four of us.  I didn't have much time to browse, but here is what I picked up:

Shades of Grey is the first of a new series by Jasper Fforde, the author of the Thursday Next series.  I read a few of the Thursday Next books (The Eyre Affair was the first, and in my opinion, the best of the series) and enjoyed the clever and original storyline he developed.  I'm interested to see how Shades compares, as color seems to be the key element of the story, as opposed to books.

I have had This Book is Overdue:  How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save us All on hold for quite a while (maybe a month?) and I received an e-mail notification from the library the other day that I had a hold waiting for pickup; however because they are doing a system conversion this week the message did not tell me what book it was nor could I check it on the library's website.  When I got to the checkout desk I felt like a kid at Christmas waiting to find out what book I was getting! (I will admit, though, I held out a small glimmer of hope that it would have been The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, but I wouldn't want to get the library into any kind of trouble!)

The Painted Veil is our the next book my classics group will be discussing.  One of the things I enjoy about this classics group is that we are reading books that I don't think I ever would have selected on my own, and this one is an example.  It looks like one I will enjoy.

What did you pick up at the library this week?

It's Monday -- What are you Reading

I'm on a meme roll ....

This is my first post for What are You Reading -  hosted by Sheila - an opportunity to let everyone (or, at least those who are reading my blog!) know what I've read in the past week and what is on tap for the coming week.
This is my book club week, where I have two of my three groups meeting on Monday and Wednesday.  Although I might not be able to make it to tonight's discussion because I'm a bit under the weather, I did finish a re-read of After You've Gone by Jeffrey Lent last week.  Wednesday's book group is a classics group and we will be discussing Crime and Punishment; I still have about eighty pages left so I'll be working on this in between coughing and sneezing attacks.

Other books I finished last week were:
       The Widow Clicquot:  The Story of a Champagne Empire and the Woman Who Ruled It, by Tilar J. Mazzeo
       All Other Nights, by Dara Horn

Other books I am reading this week:
       Small Island by Andrea Levy - a re-read
       The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie - another re-read for an upcoming post on the Classics Circuit's Golden Age of Detective Fiction Tour
        Tinkers by Paul Harding

What are you reading this week?

Short books

  In my last post I questioned myself on whether I might read too much since at that time I had read 20 books so far in 2010.  A few days later, I finished two books probably within the span of 12 hours (and that included a good night's sleep) -- very short ones, but extremely strong stories.
  The first book was The Patience Stone by Atiq Rahimi which was mentioned by Ann Kingman on a recent Books on the Nightstand podcast.  In what seems to be Afghanistan, a young woman cares for her husband who lies in the middle of a room badly injured from a gunshot wound to his neck.  He cannot speak, and as she tends to him she talks to him about things she would never dream of sharing with him if he were well.   He in some ways becomes her patience stone - sang-e-saboor in Persian - a stone believed to take in the hurt and anguish of those who confide in it and which will one day explode with all of the pain it has absorbed.  Beautiful is not quite the word to describe it, but because the novel is short the language used is concise yet extremely vivid.  If you enjoyed The Kite Runner, you will also enjoy this book (in fact, Khaled Hosseini wrote an introduction to the English translation).
  The second book was Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, which is the March selection for my Classics reading group.  I had read a few of Wharton's other novels - The Age of Innocence and The House of Mirth - and was surprised at how different this one was.  It explores a completely different "class" of people in a very different setting.  I'm not sure how I feel about it after reading it, but I think it will prompt an interesting discussion.

Have you read any good short books lately?

On re-reading

I have so many books on my to-read pile and on my list of what I want to read that I do not normally go back and re-read anything, however one of my book groups will be seeing the movie version of The Lovely Bones this week and then discussing the book afterwards. I read this book several years ago – possibly when it first came out – and I remember liking it, but since it has been a while a thought I’d re-read it so that I can better compare the two versions and intelligently participate in our discussion.

I was blown away.

Of course the story told in this novel is wonderful, but the writing! How could I have forgotten how beautiful it is? This time around, I became involved in the story, to the point of literally not putting it down all day until the last page, and just felt for most of the characters in a way that I don’t remember feeling the last time I read it.

So I began to wonder why I had such a change in perception. I suppose that because I am older now with young nieces and nephews I was more affected by this particular story and how I want to keep them as safe as possible; I have to think that certain books would have different meanings to people depending on what stage of life they are in when they read them. Also, I believe that I read this time around with more focus, paying attention to what was happening rather than quickly reading it to get on to the next book; I did read it fairly quickly this time, too, but I seemed to get so much more out of it because I was thinking about what I read as I was reading it.

It would be so interesting to re-visit some other books I’ve read in the past to see how I feel about them now, but alas, there are just not enough hours in the day.

Have you re-read any books that you enjoyed the second time around? Have there been any re-reads you disliked?

Books and Movies

I recently joined a new book group in my area, and the next book up for discussion is The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. However, before we discuss the book we are also going to see the movie and then discuss how it compares. I read this book when it first came out several years ago, but I'm going to read it again to refresh my memory.
As I was sitting at my desk at the office totally unmotivated to work I started thinking about other books I've read that have been made into movies. I prefer to read a book before I see the movie adaptation because I like to have my own idea of the setting and of the characters; however there have been some instances where I have seen a movie first and then was inspired to read the book upon which it was based.
Most movie adaptations I've seen haven't been too bad, but in almost every case I have preferred the book. A few of my favorite movies based on books:
Schindler's List
The Pianist
- I saw both of these movies first then read the books. The movies themselves were excellent, and reading the books added to the power of these stories.
The Green Mile
- I'm not much of a Stephen King fan but I loved this book and the movie was just as good
Atonement
- It took me a couple of attempts to finish this book but I was rewarded. The film was beautifully done and captured the mood of the book.
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
- Have a tissue handy with both versions. Even though I knew how the story would end when I saw the movie, I still shed some tears.
The Reader
- The movie was very good, however it omitted at least two scenes from the book that I felt were important to the storyline.
Julie and Julia
- Also based on Julia Child's My Life in France, I wish they would have included more from this memoir, but the movie was still a lot of fun.
The Pursuit of Happyness
- This is one instance where I preferred the movie to the book. I read the book after seeing the movie, and while the story was just as inspirational, I found Chris Gardiner to be less likeable in the book.

Incidentally, at my book group's discussion of The Lace Reader this week, several of us agreed that it would make an interesting film.

What are your favorite film adaptations of books?
Do you ever think about what a movie of the book would look like as you are reading?