How can it already be the first week of October? Around here the leaves are changing, there are mushrooms popping up everywhere and we have never seen so many acorns, ever!
The first Challenge of every month is simple: tell The Books for Walls Project what you are reading --whether a newspaper, a magazine, a book-on-tape.
So, What are you Reading Right Now?
So, What are you Reading Right Now?
We are on to the second book in the trilogy by Isabelle Allende -Kingdom of the Golden Dragon.
ReplyDeleteSo far so good, again there are some topics that are a little old for the girls, but we talk about them as they come up. The Mom LOVES that the book has us discussing Buddhism and life in the Himalayas
We even got inspired to try to make torches, like they use in the book, but since we don't have any Yak butter handy --we used cow butter and it seemed to work...
In honor of National Reading Group month (we'll post more about that soon) I am reading book club and reading group suggestions. I've never read book club books (on purpose) before and I am really enjoying it... it puts a pressure on to finish them quickly!
ReplyDeleteJust finished Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, from Oprah's Book Club.
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell -TC Reads 2010 selection. I think that my new favorite genre is historical fiction. This is a scrumptiously written book, I read a passage aloud to the girls and they LOVED IT! I am only 1/3 of the way through but have a feeling I will finish it tonight!
I'm finishing Hummingbirds (so-so) and getting ready to start Freedom. Hope it lives up to the hype!!
ReplyDeleteIf you like historical novels, have you read March? by Geraldine Brooks (I think) Fictional account of Little Women's father and his experience in Civil War -great! Also, Sandra Dallas writes some nice historical novels about the west. The Diary of Mattie Spenser is one of my favorites.
Just last night I started Lydia Davis's glorious "new" translation of Swann's Way, the first book in Marcel Proust's great novel Remembrance of Things Past. I put "new" in quotes because the translation came out 3-4 years ago, and it's been sitting on my shelf since then. I read the entire novel with a book group over 20 years ago in the then-best Kilmartin and Moncreiff translation. At the first meeting of that group we had perhaps 40-50 people in the room. By the time we finished the novel (three years later), we had dwindled to a hard core of 8-10. I thought I got a lot out of the novel back then, but how much deeper I am immersing in it now. Perhaps it's the translation, but a more important factor likely is that I'm a more sophisticated reader now. On a side note, Lydia Davis just completed a new translation of Madame Bovary. I'm sure it will be splendid.
ReplyDeleteAbsolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth, Alice Walker.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite collections of Walker's work, I have read & re-read most of these poems again & again. Deciding that I need some soul-inspiration to help waylay the rampant negativity in the news & on the airways, I sought Walker's poetry & was reminded of more beauty than I know how to retype here. This prompt reminds me I have to replenish my library book stack, for we dropped them off & I have not rescheduled some library browsing time! OY!
I am currently book seeking but my daughter Eva asked me to post what she was reading. She just finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. How did she like it? "I LOVED it! It was just so good and the pictures were funny. It was way better than the movie because the movie left lots of stuff out."
ReplyDeleteNow we are on the hunt for more Henry Huggins/Ribsy books by Beverly Clearly. We just can't get enough their funny capers. Did you know Ribsy even has his very own book?
What I'm reading right now is: The Gift of Years - Growing Older Gracefully - by Joan Chittister, one of my favorite spiritual writers. It's very real. She identifies things I feel and am unable to express, opens them up to examination, reflection, and suggestion. It's a healing book that reaches out and looks forward. And for those who are not yet "growing older", it gives insight into what your older friends and acquaintances may be going through and are also unable to express.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading Neil Giaman's American Gods, so far so good at page 100. I have been doing a lot of physical labor lately and have been only able to read a few pages at a time before the hard cover knocks me on the forehead w/ a reminder that I should just go to sleep because I'm to tired to remember what I am reading anyhow.
ReplyDeleteI'm engrossed in the Little Britches Series (Ralph Moody). Ralph Moody wrote these books from his own life. He rides and falls off horses in a way that makes me feel like a paranoid wimp, and takes on cowboy jobs at the ripe age of 10 or 11, but his Dad dies and he has to combine his responsibility as the man of the family and his sense of adventure. His stories of how he tackles the task of survival, from becoming a champion cherry picker to gathering railroad ties for firewood seem simple, could be mundane, but are miraculous in his words.
ReplyDeleteUpdate...Eva and I are now reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
ReplyDeleteIt has been so long since I read this as a girl that it seems like the first time again. Eva and I have both been left intensely hungry by the amazing descriptions of the food Almanzo's mother prepared. We love how rich a picture her writing paints and it takes all our resolve to put the book down when it is time for bed.
"Cutting for Stone" by Abraham Verghese is this month's choice for the book club which I joined recently. It is a challenging (for me with over 650 pages)multi-cultural family saga filled vivid images, medical insights, and a whole host of emotions. I am almost halfway through this epic(set so far in Ethiopia)!
ReplyDeleteAnd Becca... March by Geraldine Brooks was an amazing read! Another of her historical fictions, People of the Book, is incredible too.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great collection of books! "Mom" did you like the ending to Dreamers of the Day? I so enjoyed the book but felt somehow not quite content with the final chapters and can't put my finger on it. Looking forward to hearing her speak next week! I'm not a good book club reader, but our school club somehow aligned with a book that's been waiting on my nightstand, War Dances by Sherman Alexie. So satisfying to pick up a mix of short stories and poetry, its been awhile. The kids are in the midst of racing through The Lost Hero, and just finished the new Cornelia Funke book, Reckless. In both cases they've been debating the merits of discovering a series after its all written versus being pulled along with it a year at a time :)
ReplyDeleteBecca, March is on my "short list" hope to read it this winter!
ReplyDeleteDawn, Anela and Paul --I (the Mom) have 15 pages of Dreamers to go... will let you know! I hoped to go to see Mary Doria Russell speak, but The Bean is planning to go and since she is my mom, it's like being there :)! We'd love a full report!
So many good books! We cannot wait for the cold of January and February to cozy us into our little house for days and days and days of reading!
I recently read Three Cups of Tea. Super inspring (Makes me seriously ponder how can I do my part to make this world better?). Current reading Abundant Community (from my boys' dad) and Bellu du Seigneur (my hubby's favorite from his younger years). :) Not as fast-reading and exciting of reads as other books I've recently read, but enjoyable.
ReplyDeleteHave we told you wonderful readers lately how happy that you are here? Well we are!
ReplyDeleteThank you for making the project so much fun!!!
I've been enjoying a book of short stories called Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, by David Sedaris. His writing style is very descriptive. Reading short stories in the summer and novels in the winter is usually what I like to do.
ReplyDeleteI also like to designate a book for different spaces of my life. For example, the book I am reading during my lunch breaks at work is Earth, A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race, by Jon Stewart. In my bedroom, whether in bed or in my favorite rocker, I am engrossed in Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates, by Tom Robbins. In the kitchen I am eating up a book of ethnic tales and recipes specific to immigration into Michigan. The living room doesn't currently have a book attached to it. I have been saving that space for music playing, sewing and painting.
This is fun. Thank you for creating this great reading and sharing site!
Thanks Dances with Smiles! LOVE the idea designating a book to rooms... we need to get right on this!
ReplyDeleteWe'll look forward to hearing more from you!
I'll second Kathy, March was amazing. Thanks Becca.
ReplyDeleteGeraldine Brooks has come up a few times. I dove into March after Becca’s recommendation…and finished in a few short days. Then, I wanted to see how the book compared the man. He really was pals with Thoreau and Emerson. I thought at first that they were thrown in because they happened to exist during the same time period. A freebee if you will. Little did I know Amos was quite the man. Or was it his women that made the man?