alicedrinkwater

I didn't know Ian Fleming wrote Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Cool!

I hope I enjoy all three, too. Which Murakami do you have? If you have Kafka on the Shore, read it. It's excellent! Nineteen Minutes will be my next Jodi Picoult read, later this year as well. See above. No. I have heard that Dance Dance Dance is a sequel to that one, but I just finished it and I had no trouble following the book, so I guess it's not necessary to read A Wild Sheep Chase first. Maybe all three of us could read Nineteen Minutes at the same time. In other news, I finished Dance Dance Dance by Murakami and will be starting on Godbody by Theodore Sturgeon very soon.

Don't worry about not guessing the twist. I only got it because of a certain movie with a similar twist that I completely missed and told myself that will never happen again. I liked some of her newer books that I've read like House Rules and Lone Wolf, so I'm guessing that some are just better than others for me.

I purchased three books today. They were buy two, get the third one FREE from Books-A-Million so I couldn't resist. Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki by Haruki Murakami The Enchanted by Rene Denfeld Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult (I didn't already have this one for some reason) I am already a fan of Haruki Murakami and Jodi Picoult (even though Leaving Time wasn't a favorite), so of course I had to pick up their books. I don't know anything about Rene Denfeld but the book looks fascinating.

I really want to read some more Philippa Gregory soon, but I also have so many other books I want to read. I wish I could read 5 books simultaneously.

I haven't been feeling too well the last week or so. I'm worried it's Graves disease, which I was diagnosed with a year and a half ago. I was on anti-thyroid meds for quite a while. The dosage was slowly reduced, and last month I was completely taken off the meds. The goal is remission. I hope they are willing to put me back on the anti-thyroid meds if the Graves has returned. They are all too eager to destroy the thyroid with radioactive iodine in this country. My preference is to live with hyperthyroidism rather than live without a thyroid, but my wishes don't matter much when I am limited in which doctors I can go to.

Hmmm, this seems to be an old thread, but I'll try to get a response. Has anyone read The Enchanted by Rene Denfield? I'm picking up a few books this week, and I am considering this one. The synopsis looks very interesting: "This is an enchanted place. Others don't see it, but I do." The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison, viewed through the eyes of a death row inmate who finds escape in his books and in re-imagining life around him, weaving a fantastical story of the people he observes and the world he inhabits. Fearful and reclusive, he senses what others cannot. Though bars confine him every minute of every day, he marries magical visions of golden horses running beneath the prison, heat flowing like molten metal from their backs, with the devastating violence of prison life. Two outsiders venture here: a fallen priest, and the Lady, an investigator who searches for buried information from prisoners' pasts that can save those soon-to-be-executed. Digging into the background of a killer named York, she uncovers wrenching truths that challenge familiar notions of victim and criminal, innocence and guilt, honor and corruption-ultimately revealing shocking secrets of her own. Beautiful and transcendent, The Enchanted reminds us of how our humanity connects us all, and how beauty and love exist even amidst the most nightmarish reality.

I'm almost half through Dance Dance Dance already and LOVING it! This is the third Murakami novel I have read, and so far it's my favorite!

Yeah, I sometimes finish books that I can't stand and I am not sure why. Maybe it's so I can have a chance to rant about how much I hated it. And yes, that is what Jodi Picoult did with Leaving Time. It was a mess. She could have written the same exact plot and left elephants out of it. The only problem is the elephants were what made the book interesting. I never thought about elephants until reading this book, and I am now quite interested in them. They are beautiful, intelligent, compassionate individuals. And thanks for the welcome, poppyshake! I am still reading Dance Dance Dance and will post a review soon. I have changed what my next few reads will be. (I know, I'm terrible!) The next three should be Godbody by Theodore Sturgeon, The Fire Rose by Mercedes Lackey, and An Evil Guest by Gene Wolfe.

Finished Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult. My thoughts are posted in my blog. I just started Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami.

I have tried to read David Mitchell a few times, but something about his style does not draw me in. I'm glad you enjoyed it, though.

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed The Forgotten Garden. I loved that book.

I only read half of Endangered Species (short stories) so I won't review until I read all of it. Yeah, I decided to read that instead of The Book of the New Sun, which is a read that will require my full attention. Finished Leaving Time. I have mixed emotions about it. Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult My rating: *** My Thoughts: Oh, dear. The best parts of this book were observations of elephant behavior. That was fascinating and kept me reading. I think Jodi Picoult did an excellent job of researching this topic. Unfortunately, the actual story was tough to get into. The characters did not feel or act like flesh and blood human beings. Therefore, I didn't care that much what happened to them. A spunky teenage girl (Jenna), a facts and figures detective (forgot his name), and a psychic (Serenity) who has lost her powers work together to solve the mystery of the disappearance of Jenna's mother (Alice). Sounds somewhat intriguing, and it might have been, if I didn't feel as if the author created the characters as an after-thought to the story she wanted to tell. The story should fit the characters, not the other way around. It really felt like Jodi wanted to talk about elephants in this story. Well, then write a book about elephants! Get inside their heads. That could have been an excellent novel if done well. The twist ending was rushed (it wasn't even a twist, I figured out what was going on halfway through the book), and I was disappointed because I wanted to know more about Maura (the elephant). Also, I found Alice to be an unsympathetic character. She rushed into relationships, but it was never fully explained why she did so. Some of her actions pissed me off. A modern woman should have more intelligence or at least the author should give a full explanation as to why she made the poor choices she did. Ugh! However, there were a few moving sections to the book, so it was not a complete waste of my time. As I said, I loved the elephants and the stories about them moved me to tears quite often. I am currently reading Dance, Dance, Dance by Haruki Murakami. I loved After Dark and Kafka on the Shore by the same author. I hope I will enjoy this one.

I did read half of the short stories in Endangered Species by Gene Wolfe, and they were excellent, but you have to take his short stories in small doses, as they and his novels are always puzzles to be solved. Almost done reading Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult. It's not one of my favorites. She has done much better, although I do find elephants fascinating.

Yes, I would call it whimsical. I'm a sucker for this type of novel, but maybe it wouldn't work for you?

Thank you, chesilbeach!

Love this! I will definitely be getting a copy when it comes out in paperback.

Still reading Endangered Species by Gene Wolfe. These short stories are mostly gems, and I'm really beginning to understand HOW to read Mr. Wolfe.

In answer to the original question...yes, my TBR pile is too big. I'll probably die before I read everything. Also, I have started to go through my pile and donate books that don't interest me as much as others to charity. With the amount I want to read (and many I want to re-read), I just can't waste time on the books that I'm not that sure on. I'm in my mid 40s, and the clock's a'ticking.

Not only does it take place in a library, it's about a book thief that is better than The Book Thief (in my opinion), and it has beautiful poetic prose. Here is a quote: Do you love to read? I'm talking about nestling in a pool of lamplight and cradling a book like a baby in your lap and nudging the corner upward with your thumb, the whorls snagging the grain of the paper, and hearing the soft sizzle as the page turns. Do you love to read?

No, I haven't read those yet. I read the Wideacre trilogy, Earthly Joys two book series, Fallen Skies, and the first few from the Tudor Series. I do own all of the The Cousin's War/White Queen series, though. I'm saving those for last.

That edition is gorgeous! I definitely don't have that one. Funny, though. The copy I did have I replaced after reading the book, as I wanted a more pleasing cover. The first copy I owned had a picture from the movie, and I thought it was awful .

I don't generally like historical fiction, either, but I LOVE Philippa Gregory. I have all of her adult novels. I didn't expect to like her work, either, but so far I have not been disappointed by anything I have read by her. You have been warned.

Best reads so far this year: At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald Frenchman's Creek by Daphne DuMaurier The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke Worst reads: Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon Ulysses by James Joyce (I flipped through it, tried to read some pages out loud with an Irish accent, thought it was amusing but not worth the time it would take to read. I'm too old for this and have too many other things to get done!)

I liked Anthem and Atlas Shrugged, even though that last section is a long speech, it still was interesting, and I happen to agree with a lot, but not all, of her philosophy. I couldn't get through The Fountainhead, though.