What Are You Reading in MAY?

Looks like we need this . . .

I've just read and reviewed Astragal by Albertine Sarrazin, the haunting, semi-autobiographical story of a nineteen-year-old French girl who escapes from prison, and To Say Nothing of the Dog, a thoroughly entertaining novel in Connie Willis's time travel series.

i had *no idea* to say nothing of the dog was part of a series and i was planning on reading it (maybe, someday) - do you think it has to be read as part of the series or is it enough of a stand alone?

oh, and right now i'm reading a parenting book written by a woman (sensational kids) but have a few books by men coming up after...

>2 overlycriticalelisa:: You can read To say nothing of the dog without having read Doomsday Book, although the latter was written first. There is a character who appears in both but the plots are entirely unrelated.

I'm reading Tirra lirra by the river, a Miles Franklin award winner by Jessica Anderson.

thanks.

fyi, lt says that it's part of a 5 part series, in case you're looking for more to read. =)

I started The Age of Miracles and I am finding it both eerie and sad. Well written--I think that was the effect that the author was seeking.

Connie Willis's time travel books aren't so much a series as a group of novels sharing a setting and some of the same characters--the only two that need to be read in order (as they're one story told in two books) are Blackout and All Clear.

Reading Madeleine E. Robins' newest Sarah Tolderance mystery, The Sleeping Partner.

I finished up I'd Know You Anywhere by Laura Lippman, which was a gripping read and interesting character study. Provided some food for thought on the prison system and coping with trauma/grief.

Since that was a rather dark book, I turned to something light with The Girls' Guide to Love and Supper Clubs by Dana Bate, a somewhat satirical look at a young professional in the D.C. area who gives up her "perfect" life as a policy wonk to turn to her passion for the culinary arts. It's better than I was expecting for something billed as romance/humor and I'm enjoying it.

This morning started The Burgess Boys, the latest from Elizabeth Strout.

I've finished the compulsively readable but somewhat manipulative Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue.

#10 - Hmmmm. I'm planning to read that one this year. Not now though, 'cause I'm not in the mood for manipulation!

I recently finished First Fruits by Penelope Evans. There are only 29 copies of this book on LT, which surprises me because it was so good. I will definitely look out for more books by this author.

Now I'm reading The House I Loved, by Tatiana de Rosnay and it's so awful. I'm only finishing it because it's short and I'm studying the writing as an example of how not to write.

I just finished Anna Seghers's Transit, which I found absolutely stunning.

I've just started reading A glass of blessings, this month's Virago group read.

> 11 Did you read Sarah's Key, also by Tatiana de Rosnay? Curious to hear your thoughts. Most people I know who read it loved it but I was more iffy on it.

I'm currently reading Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and finding it quite absorbing.

#14 - I was given all three of Tatiana de Rosnay's books. I decided to read The House I Loved because of the setting. I have heard that Sarah's Key is better, but it just doesn't look interesting to me.

I finished The Poisonwood Bible. I will write a review soon.
I just started The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. So far I like it very much. This is the first book of hers that I have read.

> 16 Was a big fan of The Poisonwood Bible when I read it several years back -- although it also came at time where it felt fitting in some ways to what was going on in my life. Will be interested to read your review when it's ready, so please post it here also!

Heard good things about The Namesake and have had it on my wishlist for some time, but I still haven't gotten to it. One of these days ...

I just finished Let's Take the Long Way Home. Unlike Cheryl Strayed's book Wild, which I hated, this book, also thematically centered around grief, was genuinely touching and cathartic.

I just started Tigerlily's Orchids.

I'm reading an ARC of The Bone Season which was given to me by a friend in publishing with rave comments. I'm finding it a bit all over the shop, but am definitely gripped by the plot. Hopefully it'll settle down and become the corker of a read that I was promised. It's YA, kind of dystopian fantasy, but also kind of not. :)

Started Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. I've thought a lot about time travel to the Middle Ages (WAY more than I really have any business doing), and I'd do the bogus science differently.

I was reading some books on children in danger this month starting with The Magic Hour by Kristin Hannah. It had a fascinating story about rehabilitating a feral child but was semi-ruined by 2 heavy romances that really had no business being included. Then I listened to a crime novel called Criminal by Karin Slaughter. Normally I don't like crime novels because they're usually about crimes against women, which this is. Also they often involve considerable torture of women, which this certainly does; but I liked it anyway. She has much to reveal about the sexism and racism of the Atlanta PD in the 1970's. I guess it's the same as we're finding about the armed services. Institutions heavily populated by men can be very violently anti-woman. I'm also reading and enjoying Miss Peregrines Home for Peculiar Children, but I seem to have misplaced my Nook. Very annoying.
I'm about to start The Twelve Tribes of Hattie which seems to have some conflicting reviews, so we'll see.

> 18 I really enjoyed (if "enjoy" is a word you can use with it) Let's Take the Long Way Home when I read a couple of years ago. It was a book club selection and I had my doubts about it at first (wouldn't have picked it myself), but it was touching as you say. It was not what I was expecting, and I was very moved by it.

I've just started reading The Kashmir shawl by Rosie Thomas; it's not something I'd have picked up off the shelf usually, but a friend recommended it when she saw that I'd been to Ladakh earlier this year. The descriptions of Leh and the surrounding landscape and people are excellent, and the story has the potential to be interesting.

>22 sweetiegherkin:. I sort of picked it by default myself. I had read an excellent review, but I didn't put it on my wish list because the subject matter sounded maudlin. Then when I went to the library to pick up something I had ordered that wasn't there, I found Let's Take the Long Way Home sitting there, calling me. I like when that happens and I end up enjoying something that I wouldn't have otherwise.

> 24 Yes, that's why I like book clubs so much. I end up reading things that I would have never picked up on my own -- and sometimes I end up loving them and finding a new author I admire. Other times not so much, but at least then I read some of the bestsellers and know what everyone is talking about (even if I don't understand all the fuss is about myself!).

>25 sweetiegherkin:, I would love to join a book club, but there just isn't any time right now. I have to rely on LT and dumb luck. :>)

Speaking of book clubs, I yesterday finished Girl in Translation for my next club meeting, and then this morning I started A Curtain Falls by Stephanie Pintoff, the second in a historical mystery series.

> 26 Yeah, timing is always an issue. When I first joined my book club, I was concerned about that but if you run out a time a particular month and miss one meeting, no biggie!

But the downside is sometimes you don't have enough time to read the books on your personal wishlist when you're too busy reading the book club selections. I listen to a lot of audio books though, so that definitely helps.

I also like the monthly authors group here on LT (http://www.librarything.com/groups/monthlyauthorreads) because you're not constrained to a specific book but to an author, giving you a little more flexibility. And even though it's supposed to be a monthly thing, as it's an online book group, the timeline is much more fluid.

>28 sweetiegherkin:, thanks for that link. I just joined the group. I really like the time flexibility idea. That's the main reason that I don't often patronize the public library-- I hate deadlines, particularly having to remember to renew or return books. I am one of those who haunt the used bookstores and library book sales and have huge TBR stacks.

I finished The Bone Season and it was a rollicking good YA adventure for older readers. However, it was also poorly edited and I don't think all that well constructed or written. The timeline in particular seemed far too rushed for what was happening. I'll probably happily continue in the series, but after the rave from my friend, I was expecting something better.

It was an advanced proof copy, but that's more about typos than re-writes, isn't it? (There were a number of typos as well, but that's not worth complaining about in a proof copy, IMO.)

Now reading bloke books. Will be back...

> 29 Sure thing! Flexibility is indeed good. :)

I used to worry about the library deadlines also but over time I started using the library more and more. I don't have the money - or space - to keep buying books, even used ones. I save a TON of money by getting everything from the library, especially all the audio books I use. Even if I forget sometimes and have a book out too long, the fines are usually only 10 cents a day so it's definitely a less costly option. My library system is really good at sending out e-mail reminders a few days in advance so you remember when you have to renew/return. They have an online catalog (and a mobile app to use it) so it's super easy to renew pretty much 24/7. For most books, the couple of weeks they give you is sufficient, especially if you do take advantage of the renewal period also. Worse case scenario, if I find I can't get to a book before it's due back - or I don't finish it before it's due back - I just make a note of the title and author (and the page I left off on) before returning it, and then I check it out again a day or two later. But I do understand how sometimes having those deadlines add the pressure of feeling like you have to be done with a book already - almost like it's a homework assignment or something!

>31 sweetiegherkin:. I appreciate the library, and I use it for audiobooks that are WAY too expensive, but I prefer used bookstores and library sales. I don't keep many books; they are traded in at the used book shops after they've made the rounds of my family and friends. I guess that makes it sort of an informal book club. I love to talk about books with a circle of family and friends, and swapping books with them serves two purposes: first, to talk about books, and second to keep in touch with friends whom I might not otherwise.

So I guess that I have reasons for not borrowing from the library in addition to my dislike of deadlines. That dislike is more related to an ocd/anxiety thing that I have. I am an empty inbox sort of person, if that makes sense. Things that must be done constantly prey on my mind until they are done.

I'm reading The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls, a historical fiction debut by Anton DiSclafani (DiSclafani is actually a woman, though the first name is misleading), set in the Depression when protagonist Thea Atwell is sent away from her Florida home to a riding camp/school for girls in North Carolina. I'm not far in but am liking it.

> 32 No, I understand -- I get the same way sometimes about things have *need* to be done, it takes away some of the pleasure of taking your time with a book, etc. I usually try to pass on books once I'm done with them also so they take up less space / to share with friends and family, but I often go overboard at used book stores/sales and buy way more books than I have time to read, so the space issue still comes up. At any rate, of course you're entitled to use or not use the library as you see fit and I don't mean to say you have to use it, but wanted to give some suggestions to alleviate the pressure on the deadlines :)

Also, btw, we were talking about asynchronous book clubs the other day, and then I got an e-mail reminder about Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's book club. I haven't taken part of any of their discussions, but they sound interesting. They picked Half the Sky to read in the past (a book I feel should be required reading for everyone) and now they are going to do Lean In, which has been getting a lot of buzz. Might be something worth checking out!
http://www.offthesidelines.org/act/halfthesky
http://action.kirstengillibrand.com/t/12057/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=613

I finished up The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, a dystopia which I found out engrossing and thought-provoking. When I collect my thoughts a little better, I'll post a full review on LT. I've already put some other Atwood books on my TBR list after finishing this one.

Now I'm about to tackle The Paris Wife by Paula McClain, which is about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife, Hadley Richardson.

>35 sweetiegherkin:: I first read The handmaid's tale about 20 years ago, and it is still one of my favourite books.

35, 36:

One of my favorite books too! I want to read more Margaret Atwood.
I enjoyed The Paris Wife but it gave me a very different feeling about Hemingway. I will be interested to see what you think of it.

35,36,37 - one of my favorite books, too! (second favorite of all time, i think). a book that made me say - i will read anything and everything she ever writes, but i have to say that nothing i've read so far (and i've read most of them) match it. although i usually quite like what i read, just not as much as the handmaid's tale

@ sweetiegherkin:

If you like Atwoodian dystopia, you might like Oryx and Crake and After the Flood. O&C is not quite as ambitious or good as the sequel, and Flood could be read independently from it.

She takes on everything from organized religion, to genetic farming, to the educational system. I thought it was truly a tour de force, and very funny in spots.

I'm also with you on the library. I never go to book stores anymore b/c I spend too much money in there. I buy kindle downloads or use the library (Michigan has a great inter-library loan system). I'm picking out my retirement destination based on its proximity to a old-lady-friendly liberry.

>39 nohrt4me2: the third in the trilogy comes out this aug or sept (i think first week in sept)

Thanks! I didn't know one was in the works.

i should have said - it's called maddaddam

I've hit on a book that many here enjoyed then! I had already put Oryx and Crake (and The Year of the Flood) on hold at my library and did know about the upcoming Maddaddam. I'm hoping to time this right so that when I finish the first two, I won't have to wait very long to get to the third. The same co-worker that lent me The Handmaid's Tale recommended O&C not knowing it's already been on my wishlist since I read The Blind Assassin years ago. I also recently picked up a couple of Atwood's books for children and am interested to see how those are. Atwood is certainly talented - and prolific!

> 37 I've had The Paris Wife on my shelf for a couple of years. My book club picked it as our June read, so I've finally now taken it off the shelf but didn't start it just yet - I plan to begin it over the long weekend and will let you know what I think about it. I've heard good things, so hopefully it will live up to expectations.

> 39 Part of the reason I use my library so much is because we have a great ILL system also. Nearly every library in my county is part of a consortium, making lending between the libraries super easy. I can either stop at the other libraries if I'm near by one and pick up something from their collections or I can request items be sent to my library, which usually happens quickly. We can also ask for more formal ILLs with other libraries in the state, but with 30+ libraries in our system, I can usually find what I'm looking for without needing that! Hope you find a nice retirement spot with a good library system in place when you're ready. :)

I've just started reading Fair play by Tove Jansson.

Finished The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis. Narrative shifting around leads to a lot of unnecessary repetition. Comic relief elements get saturatured and loggy. But some good moments and interesting twists.

Finishing Tenth of December, which is wonderful. Then on to The Raising by Laura Kasischke, crime/ghost story that I heard about on NPR that sounded interesting.

I'm enjoying The Witch of Exmoor by Margaret Drabble.