Book Buying Addicts Anonymous discussion

Three books that I definitely plan to read for the month January:
"On The Line" by Donna Hill
"Gotta Keep Tryin" by Virginia DeBerry & Donna Grant
"Sweet Georgia Brown" by Cheryl Robinson
...and if I can squeeze in a few more before the month ends...all the better...because I still have plenty books I want to read...
Happy Reading :-)

I just picked up "Ishi; biography of Norht America's Last Wild Indian" and eventually i would like to get to "The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt" and "A Peoples History of the United States" and i should throw in a Joe Picket mystery for something light.

I am just finishing up "Germ" by Robert Liparulo (probably tonight) and then will be starting "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. I have 3 books on their way through the library, as well, so will have to read them this month: "Water For Elephants" by Sara Gruen, "Identical strangers: A Memoir Of Twins Separated And Reunited" by Elise Schein, and "When The Morning Comes" by Cindy Woodsmall.

And I have 8 other books I bought last month at the bookstore, so I've got PLENTY to read this month...well, probably will keep me going for a few months, lol!

Trying to finish up The Kite Runner right now.... why does everyone insist on bothering me while I am reading?????

Then I have....

The Lovely Bones
Marley and Me
Rhett Butler's People
The Book Thief
Double Cross

Bree, what did you think of Germ? I bought that when it came out as hardcover... But i probably should have waited till it was cheaper. It was a good medical thriller book, like 5th vial, but not THATTTTTT good.... The opening scene was a little gross, thats what hooked me.

Ive recently read Lamb by Christopher Moore and also read Post Office by Charles Bukowski. Combined, they both took me three days to finish. Now I am onto Earth Abides. (And heading to the bookstore after I drop my kids off at school... for two new books!!!)

Trying to finish this month:

The Roots of Desire
I Am Legend
Hitman

If I manage that and have time left for the month I'll likely start into Mister B. Gone or A Fine Balance... haven't decided yet which one will be first. I might save Mister B. for the last... as a treat to savour after getting through the rest of my Christmas stack. ;)

I am currently reading Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (the complete and unabridged version).

I plan to read:

*If On a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
*The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck
and
*an undetermined novel that I will purchase during the month (as per my New Year's resolution to buy and read one new book every month this year).

I think I have a book buying addiction. Now that i am trying to be good about what i buy (a semi-new-years resolution), I go to borders when i get a coupon so I can save 3 or 4 bucks on a book, but everytime you buy, you get another coupon... to be used by the next week. So i Have A Plan. I will only buy one book a week, unless my reading pace leaves me empty handed... Which it very well may. I just read two books in one week and have started a third. (gulp)

However, I am three books ahead right now. My shopping trip this morning (with a 30% off coupon) found me purchasing The Princess Bride -- I have been putting this off for ages, I love the movie and dont want the book to ruin it for me!!! But ive read so many great reviews that now I feel as if I am missing out on something. I also purchased Factotum by Charles Bukowski. And I still have A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore from my last splurge...

I think I can be good and use the coupons and buy only one book a week for at least a little while :P

The Lovely Bones is such a good book, enjoy!

Right now I'm trying to finish Sarum by Edward Rutherford, then delving into my Golden Compass trilogy. Sweet!

My list for January includes:
The Missing- Chris Mooney
I Am Legend- Richard Matheson
One Thousand White Women- Jim Furgus
The Other Mother- Gwendolyn Gross
An Absolute Gentleman-R.M. Kinder
Mans Search For Meaning- Victor Frankl
Songs Without Words- Ann Packer

So far it's JA Jance's Dead Wrong, and Patterson's Cross or is that double cross... oh well one of them. Don't know what will be next on the agenda.

Out of the way thus far is Piercing by Ryu Murakami.

Intended for reading over the next few weeks:

The Pilgrim Hawk , Glenway Wescott
Fatelessness , Imre Kertesz
In The Wake , Per Petterson
The Grass Is Singing , Doris Lessing
The White Castle , Orhan Pamuk
The Poorhouse Fair , John Updike
Gentlemen , Klas Ostergren
Wings , Mikhail Kuzmin
Alphabet Of The Night , Jean Euphele-Milce
To A God Unknown , John Steinbeck

All them if I get lucky, which I doubt.

Hi Kat,
You will LOVE the Book Thief. It's one of my faves from 2006.

I'm starting off the new year with Eric Clapton's bio. My honey got it for me for Christmas.

So far for 2008 I'm going with "Catch-22" Heller, "Heart of Darkness" Conrad and I'm finishing up "Mrs. Dalloway" Woolf

Reading: The Raw Shark Texts, Steven Hall
One Good Turn, Kate Atkinson
Split Second, David Baldacci

Started and (and planning to finish this month):

The Memory of Running, Ron McLarty
Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance by Barack Obama
Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks by Christopher Brookmyre

And anything else I may decide to pull off the shelves!

I am the coordinator of the East Bay Mystery Readers' Group (EBMRG), now starting its 15th year. So I know I shall be reading the three books selected for discussion on February 5th:

The Water Clock - Jim Kelly
Home Fires - Margaret Maron
City of the Absent - Robert W. Walker

I've no idea what other books I'll read during January.

I'm almost done I Am Legend. I've really enjoyed most of the book. Some of it was like 'huh?' but overall the stories have been really great :D

I'm reading "The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2004". It's a collection of wonderful, thought-provoking short stories and essays. This is a great series, and I hope to continue with subsequent collections.

I started Songs Without Words by Ann Packer. After that, I have no idea what I will read.

I'm finishing "The Amber Spyglass". After that, perhaps I'll get back into "Bury Me Standing" or I'll go buy "Ptolemy's Gate" and finish the Bartimeus Trilogy or I'll force myself to finish "David Copperfield" or do some fluffy reading in "Bergdorf Blondes". I just have way too many books to choose from and I stare at them until one of them jumps off the shelf at me as it were.

This month is the month of 'classics' for me. I have these to read:
- To Kill a Mockingbird
- Catcher in the Rye
- Lady Chatterley's Lover

And then there is my general assortment of Terry Pratchett.

I just finished Ann Rules "Smoke, Mirrors and Murder, and other True Cases". I am going to start Janet Evanovich's "Metro Girl" tonight. I have plenty of books on my list that I am trying to read, so I am never in need of a book. (for now :) )

I have an extremely hectic schedule right now so I haven't been as active with this group and haven't had nearly enough time to read as I usually do, but here's my wish list of January "to-reads": The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett, New England White by Stephen Carter and (if there's time) The Kite Runner.

I am reading Stephen J. Cannell's new mystery Three Shirt Deal. Rather than tell you about it or go into a long explanation, here is the video book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XYUhY...

January books:
Visions In Death - J.D. Robb
Between, Georgia - Joshilyn Jackson
Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen (finish)

Don't have much time to read right now.

I have heard of a lot of these books mentioned previously, and some I refuse to read (like I could never get into The Lovely Bones)! However, I am reading in Jan.:

The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog--Elizabeth Peters
Water for Elephants-Sara Gruen
Into the Wild-Jon Krakauer
starting: East of Eden-Steinbeck (wish me luck)

So Far I've read The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Boleyn Inheritance by Philippa Gregory, and Who Moved my Cheese? by Spencer Johnson, M.D. I'm currently in the middle of Perils of Prosperity, 1914-1932 by William E. Leuchtenburg and Bridget Jones' Diary on audiobook.

Just finished the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris (the series was VERY addictive) and am now striving to finishing up:
Lean Mean Thirteen
The Devil in the White City
A Million Little Pieces
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I also picked up the newly released Plum Lucky the other day. I'm a big Janet Evanovich fan.

For 2008 I have so far read 3 books and am on my 4th with trying to read 2 others at the same time...
Nothing: Something to Believe In
In the words of our enemies
The Year I got everything wanted

and am now reading:
Everything Must Change
The day Donny Herbert Woke Up

and trying to get back to finishing up
The Way the Crow Flys

naked came the phoenix is waiting for me. A Fern Michaels titled Kentucky Rich, and a John La Carrie, Absolute Friends. I'm writing a new one as well, my usual shoot 'em up style, as yet no title, but I'm considering: Mad Dog and McDonald, or Mad Dog Unleashed.

I am almost finished with James Patterson's Double Cross and for anyone that likes Patterson's books...this is a great one!!!

I don't have a January list but do have a large pile for this year. I read 25 books last year and my goal is to read more than that this year. Some books next on my pile are ...Eat, Pray, Love.....The Diving Bell and Butterfly... The Candy Girl... You've Been Warned and To the Nines.

My big focus at the moment is Roots. I recently finished A Clockwork Orange, Huge, and Amandine.
Also hoping to read The Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test.
Roots is a pretty darn thick, so of course I'll have tons of filler books in between.

Hey Ola, did you pass through a time warp or what?

"Also hoping to read The Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test."

I read this for my 60s class in college (which, incidentally, was taught by a guy who looked just like Sonny Bono). I absolutely hated it, sadly enough, since I'd been looking forward to reading it after all the hype.


I'm always reading several books at a time, but the one I can't wait to finish because it's such a good page-turner is Laura Lippman's "What the dead know.'

My January list is:
Reading Lolita in Tehran (work in progress)
Strange Candy (finished)
Out of Order (Harlequin Romance)
Le Mariage
Le Divorce

My goal for 2008 is 52 books. Last year and the year before I tried 104 books, but fell short both years (83 last year, 96 in 2006). With an active 5 year old and a newborn in the house, I don't think I'll be getting much reading done. (But that's okay, I really like my kids.)

Did I pass through a time warp...Yeah, pretty much. I've been in a very "classic" literature mood lately.
That's a shame about Kool-Aid Test. Beyond disappointing when a book doesn't live up to its hype.

I'm still working on some I started back in Dec. 2007: The Sari Shop, The Red Carpet: Bangalore Stories, and some I started this summer.

The first two are library books so they take priority over the ones I own.

Work has been very busy this month and I'm looking forward to a lull so I can have more time to read. :-)

I just finished The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, a riveting book about the naval battle off Samar in the Leyte Gulf in World War II. I'm now reading The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill, by Ron Susskind. Also reading Arranged Marriage, short stories by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, and The History and Conquests of Ancient Rome by Nigel Rodgers.
There's nothing on this list that I can't recommend.

"Also reading Arranged Marriage, short stories by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni"

oh, I hope you like that one! It's one of my favorites.

I am reading a great new mystery by Stephen J. Cannell, Three Shirt Deal. It's the latest in his Shane Scully mysteries, but also a good starting point if you're a newbie: http://www.cannell.com/

I am reading "Thud" by Terry Pratchett - I've just started back to school (online classes) and I needed something light.

Currently reading A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore, less than 100 pages to go, and loving every second of it. After that, not sure which to read, but i have Stolen Child, Bloodsucking Fiends (C Moore) and Factotum (C Bukowski) sitting on shelf waiting to be picked up.

I started off the year with Deep Survival by Laurence Gonzales and have moved on to The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Not sure what's up next -- I'm thinking I'll dive back into fiction with The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki.

hhmmmmm... I hadn't really started of with a book in the begining of the year, but now I'm currently reading 4 books. In the past 5 days, I've read 'Twilight' and 'new moon' and now I'm reading 'Eclipse', 'Fall of the templar' the sight' and 'prisoner of the iron tower'. all great books, and all of them are at different reading levels. the higher up the levels are, the faster I seem to read them O.o

Mont'ster, I just picked up Thud with an X-Mas gift card to Borders. I had read 2 other Pratchett's over the past few years and have been wanting to read another. I'd be interested to know what you think about the book. I find Terry Pratchett to be the perfect combination of comedy and satire and it is all disguised in a "light" fantastical world.

I just finished "The Great Santini" (Pat Conroy) and "The Sunset Express" (James Lee Burke). I'm definitely getting to both "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and "City of Falling Angels"(John Berendt) next.

I finished out Philip Pullman's Dark Materials Trilogy with "The Amber Spyglass", just finished "The Moment She Was Gone" by Evan Hunter and I'm about 50 pgs in the first book of Angie Sage's Septimus Heap trilogy "Magyk". Spyglass was amazing, as were the other 2. Magyk is really good so far. Gone not so much.

So far, I've read Clapton by Eric Clapton and The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy. Now I'm about half way through The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. Not sure what next one will be, whatever I'm in the mood for after this; probably something a little more light hearted.

So far:

Boomsday - Christopher Buckley
Northanger Abby - Jane Austen

Next up:
The Inner Circle - TC Boyle
or maybe
Oil! - Upton Sinclair (have to read the book before seeing the movie: am I right?)