Books on the Nightstand discussion

Happy 2015.

I spent January 1 completely off electronics and read, read, read. I finished my book for my Postal Book Group that should have been in the mail yesterday. Tomorrow.

I started The Pearl when I got finished with the Postal book.
I'm also actively reading Jesus before Christianity.
I'm listening to Crazy Rich: Power, Scandal, and Tragedy Inside the Johnson & Johnson Dynasty on my iPad and South of Broad in the car where I've hardly been for the past 2 weeks.

Happy new year and happy reading, all!

I started Peyton Place & I hope to get to A Sudden Light & Leaving Time

I'm about halfway through A Woman in the Polar Night, which I am enjoying slowly for its quiet beauty.

I'm still working my way through two essay collections: Bad Feminist: Essays and This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. There were so many well received essay collections last year. I enjoy them, but they take me awhile to get through.

In the car, I just started listening to Defending Jacob.

I want to get some of these tied up before I plunge into my main fiction read for the month: The Book of Strange New Things.

I'm hoping to finish The Goldfinch & get through some of the books I got for Christmas:

After a horrible second half of 2014 I and finally finishing I am returning to . At only nine hours its short compared to the huge Alienist. My New Years Resolution is keep it short for a while.

I started the goldfinch yesterday --it will probably take me all of January to finish! Next up is Willa Cather's O Pioneers.

Yesterday I finished reading The Miniaturist. I am starting on The Rosie Effect tonight.

Just started The Weight of Blood by Laura McHugh.

I just started reading The Book of Strange New Things and it reminds me of The Sparrow so far.

Billy Joel This was going to be my next book and then I discovered a Billy Joel special (receiving the Gershwin Prize) on PBS.

I think the first concert my now husband and I went to on a date was Billy Joel. His music is still good in the nose bleed section.

I just finished Station Eleven today, very good, now I'm deciding what to pick up next

I'm reading a few in January. Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage Fear For Me: A Novel of the Bayou Butcher Still Alice The House on Mango Street and Saga, Volume 3

I just finished reading The Perfume Collector & I am 80 pages into All The Light We Cannot See and loving it.

Currently reading "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy" and planning to start "The Snow Child".

I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up right at the end of 2014 and then immediately started Rumble by Ellen Hopkins.

I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up right at the end of 2014 and then immediately started Rumble by Ellen Hopkins.

I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up right at the end of 2014 and then immediately started Rumble by Ellen Hopkins.

I finished Divergent January 1st and immediately started Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story which I have been wanting to read for awhile. I'm also listening to Enemy of God.

I'm about a third of the way through "Lila" by Marilynne Robinson (so good) and will then move on to "My Brilliant Friend" by Elena Ferrante (for the Slate Audio Book Club) and then "The Rosie Effect" by Graeme Simsion (pure enjoyment!) Am a bit overwhelmed by the lists of upcoming Spring releases. Trying to keep my focus on preparing for the Tournament of Books. Hopefully, the brackets will be released soon!

Karen-- I love the slate audio book club! I meant to read the January selection but forgot over the holidays!

I just finished The Opposite of Loneliness, I couldn't put it down.

Reading
And listening in the car:

Jumana wrote: "Reading
And listening in the car:"

You've got two really great books there, Jumana!

Jumana wrote: "Reading
And listening in the car:"

Jumana- are you enjoying the audio version of Rebecca? I bought the book years ago but have a feeling I'm never going to actually read it.

Hi Sheila
It's not bad,the reader is doing a good job. I don't know if I would get into it either if I was just reading it.

Linda wrote: "Billy Joel This was going to be my next book and then I discovered a Billy Joel special (receiving the Gershwin Prize) on PBS.

I think the first concert my now husband and I went t..."

Love Billy Joel! I've seen him in concert quite a few times -- the latest just this past November at Madison Square Garden. The show was -- as usual with Billy! -- excellent, with surprise appearances by John Mellencamp and Sting, who each performed a song with Billy. The best part? The fact that a college friend whom I hadn't seen in 20 years flew out from California to go to the concert with me!

I have the biography on my TBR list, Linda. Let me know if you enjoy it!

Jumana wrote: "Hi Sheila
It's not bad,the reader is doing a good job. I don't know if I would get into it either if I was just reading it."

Thanks! I just put it on hold at the library. Can't wait to start listening to it.

My first concert was THE BEACH BOYS and CHICAGO at MSG. Does that count. Any books? lol

Gerald wrote: "My first concert was THE BEACH BOYS and CHICAGO at MSG. Does that count. Any books? lol"

Not that I can think of, Gerald. Perhaps a generic book about the history of Rock and Roll?

Sue wrote: "I'm about halfway through A Woman in the Polar Night, which I am enjoying slowly for its quiet beauty.

I'm still working my way through two essay collections: [book:Bad Feminist: E..."

For me, essay collections are hard to read quickly. I tend to read a bit, set it back down, read something else, and then come back to it. I loved Bad Feminist and am trekking through ...Happy Marriage as well.

Amanda wrote: "Yesterday I finished reading The Miniaturist. I am starting on The Rosie Effect tonight."

I really disliked The Rosie Effect. Let me know what you think of it -- just took a different turn than the first novel, and I wasn't as happy the second time around.

I am nearly done with Smoke Gets in Your Eyes: And Other Lessons from the Crematory and I am also listening to No Humans Involved.

I just finished Me Before You and absolutely loved it. Started reading Station Eleven and so far, so good, even though I generally avoid apocalypse type stories. Listening to Everything I Never Told You in the car.

I just finished We Were Liars on my IPad, I'm still ploughing through Excellent Sheep , also an ebook. I'm listening to The Once and Future King and still haven't finished The Other which I'm reading in paperback, mostly in the bath..

Finished Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption and Fourth of July Creek and just started Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story by Rick Bragg.

just finished The King's Curse and reading The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration now.

I'm currently reading Moon over Soho (#2 in the Peter Grant series by Ben Aaronivitch) and Dust by Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, which I read a review of in the New York Times sometime last summer. Also listening to In the Kingdom of Iceby Hampton Sides on Ann's recommendation. :)

I am currently reading Orchid Fever by Eric Hansen. His writing style is easy and intelligent and the topic is fascinating.

I started A Discovery of Witches but I find myself wondering if it gets any better.

I just finished - a perfect cold weather book! I just started and . So far both are very interesting.

Just finished Those Who Wish Me Dead on audio. Some of the creepiest villains I've heard in a long time.

In the audio queue:
1) The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change
2) The Girl on the Train
3) Astoria: John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Story of Wealth, Ambition, and Survival

On my nightstand:
1) American Sniper
2) Huck Finn's America: Mark Twain and the Era That Shaped His Masterpiece
3) Bred To Kill

Just finished last night. Always a pleasure to listen to a well written story. I understand Sam Mendes has bought the rights to the Bradley stories and will do them for a British TV series.

Gerald wrote: "Just finished last night. Always a pleasure to listen to a well written story. I understand Sam Mendes has bought the rights to the Bradle..."

Oh, I'd love to see Flavia brought to life.

I was home sick this week so I finished , The Woman in White which I loved. I am continuing , Any human Heart which I am also loving. 2015 is off to a great reading start!

Linda wrote: "Gerald wrote: "Just finished last night. Always a pleasure to listen to a well written story. I understand Sam Mendes has bought the right..."

From what I understand Bradley didn't want them made in Hollywood. Just like Rowling.

This week I finished One Thousand White Women for book club and thought it was a great story. We had a very lively discussion about it being factual or fiction. (It is fictional although the author's note is at the end of the ebook instead of at the front as in the paperback.

I finished Jacqueline Winspear's A Lesson in Secrets this morning. It is the 8th book in the Maisie Dobbs series, which I love.

Yesterday I was browsing in the local bookstore and found Everything I Need to Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book. I had to purchase it because it was absolutely perfect. If you ever read Golden books as a child or to your children this is a must read! Very cute.

I am reading for the Tournament of Books. Redeployment and The Bone Clocks

I subscribe to the London review of books because they offered a special price. The articles are usually way over my head but I did read about The Days of Abandonment by Elena Ferrante (it has been translated from Italian). I really enjoyed it. She describes perfectly the thoughts and feelings of a woman who is abandoned by her husband. Even thought it was many years ago and I am happily remarried, I could relate!

I will be reading through The Novel: A Biography all year. I am also currently reading The Great Gatsby on paper and Marmee and Louisa: The Untold Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Mother on audio this month.

Just started listening . My only problem is that they went to an British narrator. I just think that the last narrator might have been a little bland. At least I have a better idea of what I am dealing with.