Just finished the Kindle book "Water for Elephants." Great book and it has fueled my obsession with the traveling circus life in the early 1900's. I despise the barbaric nature of this form of entertainment (both to animals and people) and learn as much as I can about it every chance I get. Great read if you want to know more about this topic!

I am reading one of my favorite books in forever....not rushing through it, I just want to enjoy every morsel of it.  It is so beautifully written!  It is called, The Tender Bar.

Just finished Sarah's Key by Titiana deRosnay ..it is fiction but based on the

Vel"d'HIV in France during WW II I thought in school we got most of the picture of the Holocaust but this French roundup was never known to me till I read the book..well written and fast moving..I would recommend it to anyone and also think it would make a good book group book for those of you who belong to one..

Now I am heading for a light read next ..... 

Not long ago, I started a blog  about books I own but have yet to read. My first list of must read books I created from books within reach of my prone body in bed ... those particular books, it would appear, I bestowed with more intention of reading than books in my book cases that have unturned pages. My first list has 13 books ... easy reading with the intention set "to read" and "to blog" ... right? UGH! So so wrong! Unfortunate for me and unfortunate for my little blog of little following the number 1 book on my list is a book that I find so boring I have an abnormal urge to hurl the book out a window! But, I said I would read my unread books. I made the public announcement. I blogged it. (another UGH!)

Anyone else ever read Byron Katie's book Loving What Is? Am I missing something between the pages that I've yet to discover? What was the hook that snagged you?

 

M

Never read her book, Maryanne. I was recently introduced to her work through my coach and did one of her exercises on line which I found to be somewhat helpful. I personally got more out of Tony Robbins work. Right now, I'm reading At A Journal Workshop by Progoff. Getting ready to go do the actually 6-day intensive workshop.

Hope you enJoy your reads!

I buy books for many reasons which can vary from intense interest to support for research. This particular book was a gift from my life coach. And, I can't deny that I set up the blog and the list and the intention of reading books I own but have not read so I am really trying to stick to my "intentions" here .... but ...... anyway, thank you LIllian and Nancy for your feedback! Soon, the pain will be over and the next book on that list looks more promising, especially since it is a book that I myself bought :-)

(now there is another book lurking in my near future ... At A Journal Workshop ... the title is like bait for me.)

I look forward to this groups interactions about and recommendations of books so I can put more on my list!

M

After knee replacement surgery I found that good fiction was the way for me to go.....

Good that the next book on your list sounds better to you..and hope whatever pain issues are they will be taken care of...

If a book is interesting but slow, I will often pick up a second book and switch between the two.  And I only read before sleeping, so it usually takes me a while to finish a book unless it's REALLY good.  Haven't found one of those in some time...

However, I just finished Heidi W Durrow's The Girl Who Fell From The Sky - fictional tale of a young black girl who comes to live with her grandmother after a family tragedy.  It was interesting, but slow and seemed to plod in places.  Not something I'd recommend unless you check it out from the library or find it at half-price.  Prior to that I read Katie Morton's debut novel "The House At Riverton" - British, WWI, country estate with serving staff, written from the housemaid's POV.  Again, a bit slow in places and downright boring here and there, but an ok read to fill that hour before your eyes slam shut.  Hardly the "stunning debut" it was touted to be.

And now I am reading Robert Hicks' "A Separate Country"  which is VERY well written and quite interesting.  Hicks is capable of writing in a woman's voice so much better than some women writers I've read!!  And John Bell Hood is a subject I've always had an interest in.  Sad man, savage soldier, and apparently an able lover in spite of the deformities left him by the war!!

And lastly, I'll suggest Where The River Ends by Charles Martin.  Loaned to me by Elle (I need to send it back!!) as a "must read" and she was right!!  Cancer, devoted married couple, demanding high-profile father-in-law, a river, a last wish, a chance to think about what you'd do for the one person you love most.  GREAT read!!

I'd struggled to find a good "page-turner" for a while. I ended up going to my local library with the intention of picking up a random book that my hands just happened to fall onto. However, whilst strolling along the shelves I noticed "The Hours" by Michael Cunningham. This book was turned into a movie starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore, which happens to be one of my favourite films. I knew I had to read it.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through, and I've really enjoyed it so far. The movie actually does it great justice. The author does an amazing job of writing in different styles for the three different main characters. I don't know why, but I find it even more impressive that a male writer can write female characters so well. I'd certainly recommend it to others.

singer songwriter Dana Cooper just gave me permission to share this quote of his:

Saw the movie, listened to the book on tape, now have read the book "At Play in the Fields of the Lord" by Peter Matthiessen. What an incredible read. Haunting, compassionate exploration of morality, spirituality and cultural struggle in the South American rain forest.

a good article for anyone interested...the 20 most anticipated books of this summer...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/summer-books_b_891906.ht...

and this is the amazon description of "State of Wonder" by Ann Patchett:

In State of Wonder, pharmaceutical researcher Dr. Marina Singh sets off into the Amazon jungle to find the remains and effects of a colleague who recently died under somewhat mysterious circumstances. But first she must locate Dr. Anneck Swenson, a renowned gynecologist who has spent years looking at the reproductive habits of a local tribe where women can conceive well into their middle ages and beyond. Eccentric and notoriously tough, Swenson is paid to find the key to this longstanding childbearing ability by the same company for which Dr. Singh works. Yet that isn’t their only connection: both have an overlapping professional past that Dr. Singh has long tried to forget. In finding her former mentor, Dr. Singh must face her own disappointments and regrets, along with the jungle’s unforgiving humidity and insects, making State of Wonder a multi-layered atmospheric novel that is hard to put down. Indeed, Patchett solidifies her well-deserved place as one of today’s master storytellers. Emotional, vivid, and a work of literature that will surely resonate with readers in the weeks and months to come, State of Wonder truly is a thing of beauty and mystery, much like the Amazon jungle itself. --Jessica Schein

I just started "Sarah's Key", which just came out in the theaters(and I wanted to read the book first). Fictional story set during a true event, the herding of Jews in 1942 to the "Velodrome d'Hiver" in Paris. From the book jacket:

"Paris 1942: Sarah, a 10 year old girl, is taken with her parents by the French police as they go door-to-door arresting Jewish families in the middle of the night. Desperate to protect her younger brother, Sarah locks him in a bedroom cupboard--their secret hiding place--and promises to come back for him as soon as they are released.

Sixty years later: Sarah's story intertwines with that of Julia Jarmond, an American journalist investigating the roundup. In her research, Julia stumbles on a trail of secrets that link her to Sarah, and questions about her own romantic future". Pretty intense stuff, and they haven't even made it to Auschwitz yet.

I read so much so fast it seems like by the time I get over here to recomend any I am way into another book...

Just finished Falling Angels by Tracy Chevalier..if you read and liked Girl with a Pearl earring..you will like this one ...the story is told by several of the characters in it so you get several views of what is happening...

Also read the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri......about a family who comes to US from India...I like her style of writing and found the book to be a good read...

thanks so much for your posting, nancy. i really like the idea of keeping this group alive, because i love to hear what books other folks are reading, and i think everyone else does to. it inspires me to have another one on the list! :-)

yes it was better by far then the mini series...it has been years so maybe when I run out of books at hand I will re read it...Just started Hello I must be going by Christie Hodgen  so far it is sad and funny ..will try to check back after I finish to let folks know what I think...

I am one of those wander through the books and grab so I get a good variety...that so many books so little time saying is so true...

Nancy!  I get that same anxious panic when I start to get low on books.  Last night I started 11/22/63 by Stephen King.  It is his take on time travel about a man who attempts to prevent the assassination of Kennedy.  I am always interested in how authors tackle the "rules" that apply to travelling to the past.

so how was the stephen king book, margaret???

Out of work and back in school at way too old an age (long story) so I didn't get anywhere near my normal amount of reading done this fall.  So when winter break started, I dove into my book shelves.  With the result that school starts back Monday and I am now reading four different books.  In four different formats.  The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, best by far of the Millennium trilogy.  (Audio - in the car.)  By The Time You Read This, Giles Blunt, Canadian mystery - mass market paperback.  The Hanging Shed, Gordon Ferris, post WWII mystery set in Glasgow - Kindle.  The Drop, Michael Connolly, the latest Harry Bosch mystery - Nook on my phone.

thanks so much for this, julie! as usual i'm working on several books at the same time and often not having time to finish them. the rest of you will have to comment on the fiction, because i haven't had time for much fiction lately. although i do want to read "the help" now that i've loved the movie. i'm working on a book about madness and leadership, and some really good books about different styles of intelligences. howard gardner being among them. ...more to come!