What are we all reading at the moment?

[Happygoin]

Mez, I've thought the same thing from time to time...that it would have been interesting to have kept a record of all the books I've read. My father, who was severely limited due to illness, always told me that he saw the world by reading. I suppose I got my love of books from him.

One of my greatest fears is that I'll get hit by a bus while I'm in the middle of a great book. I'll spend eternity tossing and turning!

[terezacz]

I was looking for some books about Provence and ... fell in love with Peter Mayle! shame I didn´t know about him I read Forever Provence and A Good Year in 4 days! Now I realized that A year in Provence is sold out at all book stores But I´m not giving up!

[trechic]

I am currently reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by the author of The Kite Runner! The Kite Runner was one of my favorite books of the last year along with Middlesex. I also have the Pillars of the Earth, which I hope to start as soon as I finish ATSS.

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Cybee, the second "Year in the Merde" book (known in the US as "In the Merde for Love," although released in the UK under a different title) has been out for some time -- if you check Amazon and link to the used and discounted seller options, you probably can pick it up cheaper than a new paperback version (it was also quite funny).

[cybee]

Thanks, Becky! Good to know! Yes, I will check Amazon about that! Actually, right now I am reading "Water for Elephants" which got totally drenched when I dropped it accidentally in the lake as I was floating about on an innertube on the Fourth of July! So now it is all wavy and fat! (oh, dear!).
Oh, my daughter suggested I keep track of the books I read as she would ask me if I had read this or that..and sometimes I could not recall if I had even read it or if I did recall, sometimes I could not really give a review as I had read it so long ago! Well, so she got me this fine little lined journal, and now I write the book title, author, date finished and a brief review of it! It is rather satisfying to do! (and now I can go back and give a "fresh" review if asked!)
Looking back now even, (I have only had this journal a couple years) I can see I have read (as to Paris related books) "Sixty Million Frenchmen Can't be Wrong", "Almost French"; "Into a Paris Quartier"; "C'est la Vie"; "Suite Francais";"Shakespeare and Co."; "American Vertigo" (actually not a Paris book);"Time was Soft There"; "Paris, The Secret History". I would have forgotten to write half of those just now if I did not have my jouranl to confer, I fear!

[susanb]

Annette; I truly loved the book Rebecca as well as the movies in all its versions. Everytime that I was feeling a little melancholy I'd get it out. It was so mysterious and brooding.

How can you read a book and not know what the title means? A Life in the Merde.....

Right now I'm reading decorating a pile of decorating books, they keep me very happy and occupied is another world.

[cybee]

Susanb,
I recall reading "Rebecca" also long years ago and being absorbed in the haunting , mysterious atmosphere of the book! An excellent read that still stands out in my memory to this day!
I have a pile of books to read....now I am pondering my next choice!

[cybee]

Ooh...I just became a "Senior Member"! I hope that doesn't mean I will get "Senior Moments", eh? Maybe this stage should be called "Esteemed Member" and then I can have "Esteemed Moments" ! ha!

[annettecinca]

Holger, I have "French by Heart" in my beach bag waiting for Hawaii next week I'll let you know how I like it.

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Mez, if you like thrillers, etc., have you tried any of the Michael Connelly books? They are set in LA (helps if you kind of know the area, because you can picture it better), with continuing characteres in most. I particularly enjoyed "The Concrete Blond," "Angels Flight" and "The Lincoln Lawyer" (the last is not the same continuing characters, but really liked it a lot).

[Darcy]

cybee, my sister in law recommended Water for Elephants to me the other day. I'll have to go check it out, thanks for the reminder.

[Shoesy]

I started reading "A Year in the Merde" on my flight back to Israel, but I became too restless to continue. I kept getting up to stretch my legs and drink water, and I tried to sleep as much as possible so that the flight would seem shorter. I think El Al has made the seats more uncomfortable that they used to be in the past........either that or I've grown considerably. ;D

[Becky (Berkeleytravelers)]

Shoesy - I think you have to be "in the mood" for that book - so, hopefully you will be up for it the next time you pick it up (sorry but I couldn't put it down because I was laughing so hard, although the funny thing is, I also learned some thing about getting by as a foreigner in France).

[aude]

Several times I've gone to the book store, bought a paperback, come home and read fifty pages or so and thought, "Hmmmmm....this is starting to sound familiar!" Then I realize that brilliant me read the book several years ago. That's why I should keep a list! But then I probably wouldn't be able to find the list. I do the same thing at Blockbuster. I'll bring home a movie and my family will say, "Ahm, Mom, hello......we've watched that." I console myself by believing that only happens to mindless sorts of books and movies that are sheer junky sort of entertainment, and that I remember the really good ones.

Trechic, I thought that both The Kite Runner and Middlesex were really good.

I'm currently reading The Emporor's Children by Claire Messud. It's a NYT "best book of the year" and it's very enjoyable, about three friends in New York. (And I'm confident that I've never read it before!)

[jpcat]

Did some marathon reading on vacation. Aude, I enjoyed The Emperor's Children. Loved "A Thousand Splendid Suns'. What a terrific story teller Housseini is.

Has anyone read the French author Michel Houellebecq? I just finished the translated version of 'The Elementary Particles'. Didn't quite 'get' it. Guess I'm not intellectual enough!

There is an amusing and well-written memmoir by Elizabeth Gilbert called 'Eat, Pray Love'. It's about the pleasures of travel and self-discovery. I heartily recommend it, particularly for you brave women who travel solo.

[Darcy]

The best book I've read in a long time is The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad. It's billed as a novel but it's really a true story of a family that she lived with in Kabul. I learned so much about the history of Afghanistan, I have about 20 post it notes marking pages that I knew I would want to refer to again.

The most interesting aspect of the book, for me, was the detailed descriptions of the lives of the women of the multigenerational household and what they endure on a daily basis and how their lives have changed, or not, over the last 20 years. An amazing book!

I always recycle my books (otherwise I'd need to build another room to house them!), but I'm hanging on to this one.

"The most intimate description of an Afghan household ever produced by a Western journalist." New York Times Book Review

[geordy]

I'm about to start reading Total Chaos by Jean-Claude Izzo..the first of the Marseilles Trilogy. Ordered the other two today on Amazon..gift card from Christmas!!

Has anyone read these?

[greyghost1]

Geordy...Is that Marseilles, as in Marsilles, France? What are they about?
I just found "The First Men In, U.S. Paratroopers and the fight to save D-Day" by Ed Ruggero, at a library sale. I thought it would be interesting since we visited Normandy this past March, for the first time.

[jpcat]

Darcy, you are so right about The Bookseller of Kabul. Have you tried The Swallows of Kabul? Devastating but wonderful at the same time. It sort of foreshadows the story in A Thousand Splendid Suns.

[Darcy]

I haven't read it, jp, but I'm going to check it out right now. Thanks!! ;D