All About Books discussion

What are your reading plans for February??

Finishing Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines
The Further Tale of Peter Rabbit by Emma Thompson
Graphic Classics Volume 14: Gothic Classics by various authors

Finishing Wolf Hall
Austerlitz
The Waste Land and Other Poems
The Fault in Our Stars (provided I can get it from the library- currently reserved. This is for my recommendation swap)

- The Diary of a Good Neighbour by Doris Lessing
- An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Round House by Louise Erdrich probably

Plans for the month:


Bread & Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table, with Recipes
Near to the Wild Heart
Brideshead Revisited
Nazareth Hill
Burnt Offerings {newest edition not out yet}

Anastasia wrote: "- The Diary of a Good Neighbour by Doris Lessing
- An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Round House by [au..."

I haven't read these particular three books Anastasia, but I've enjoyed other books by all three of these wonderful writers! Enjoy!

No plans yet; I have to finsh some books on my hands anf the I'll think about the future!

To continue-
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design

Group reads-
The Luminaries
Lady Chatterley's Lover
Speak, Memory
To the Lighthouse
Bel-Ami

Black History Month - (one each week from these)
free kindle books
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano: Written by Himself
The Conservation of Races
The Souls of Black Folk

personal bookshelf
The Autobiography of Malcolm X
Soul on Ice
Uncle Tom's Cabin

library
Selected Poems of Langston Hughes
An African Treasury
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

LauraT wrote: "No plans yet; I have to finsh some books on my hands anf the I'll think about the future!"

Yes, I am also unprepared for February! I do know that I will be reading

Yellow Crocus as a readalong with Beth
Bel-Ami as a readalong with Alice & others
In Chancery as part of the Forsyte Saga readalong
Affinity as a readalong with Alannah
The Picture of Dorian Gray (rereading via audiobook) for our Group Classic
and of course several mysteries...

I'll update this as my plans firm up.
later
Wide Sargasso Sea (recommendation swap)
Why Shoot a Butler? {reread} (BoTM for English Mysteries group)
Nightmare in Pink
Appleby's End
Miles Errant
The Souls of Black Folk
personal monthly challenges:
short stories: In a German Pension by Katherine Mansfield
plays: Caesar and Cleopatra by G.B. Shaw & Caesar's Wife: A Comedy in Three Acts by W. Somerset Maugham
poetry: New and Selected Poems by Mary Oliver

Pink wrote: "To continue-
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh..."

Oh Pink, please let me know how you like Speak, Memory! Since I have been reading Nabokov recently, that has been catching my eye.

Leslie, I'll let you know what I think of Speak, Memory.

Also, you've just reminded me that I'll be reading Bel-Ami as well, so I'll update my post above!

I have grand plans for February:

Fiction
Austerlitz
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
The Sly Company of People Who Care
The Alphabet of Birds

Short Stories
The Elephant Vanishes

Nonfiction
Without You, There Is No Us: My Time with the Sons of North Korea's Elite
The Pecking Order: A Bold New Look at How Family and Society Determine Who We Become
Mornings on Horseback

I'll be reading Firefight which will start my February reads then will go from there.

Pink wrote: "To continue-
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design

Group reads-
[book:The ..."

Pink, you have some really good books this month. Both Bel-Ami and Speak Memory I gave five stars to. To the Lighthouse is good too.

I've got a few books I'm hoping to read; I think the list is longer than I'll manage though!

H is for Hawk
I and Thou (audio)
Brigitta
Slaughterhouse-Five
The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
Chronicle in Stone
Skylark

And also part of The Novel: A Biography, a year-long read in another GR group.

Chrissie, good to know you enjoyed those ones so much. I'm looking forward to them all :)

Gill, you have great ones too! I and Thou and Chronicle in Stone, I gave both five stars!

Pink, I I think I love Speak, Memory best.

I will put my books here when I know what I have not yet finished for January. I am still reading.......

Cuurently on the last book I had planned for this month, The Aeneid. Not sure yet, but possibly I'll be reading these:
Doctor Zhivago
Madame Bovary
Revival
Agnes Grey
Jacob's Room
Little Men
Jo's Boys

Planning three from my personal challenge:
Land Of Strangers
A Handful of Dust
Banners of Silk

Bookclub:
The Outlander - not the Diana Gabaldon series

Online BOTM:
Station Eleven - this finally came in on inter library loan
The Martian - waiting on this one from library as well

Pink wrote: "To continue-
The Letters of Nancy Mitford and Evelyn Waugh
The Blind Watchmaker: Why the Evidence of Evolution Reveals a Universe Without Design

Group reads-
The ..."</i>

Pink, I'm greatly enjoying [book:Bel-Ami and I loved Lady Chatterley's Lover.

After Bel Ami, I'll be starting To the Lighthouse :)

Greg wrote: "Anastasia wrote: "- The Diary of a Good Neighbour by Doris Lessing
- An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro
- The Round Hous..."</i>

I've already read [book:The Remains of the Day by Ishiguro and I really loved it! :-D I know I will not be disappointed with this other book.

I planned on reading 6 books next month and just remembered Valentines Day is next month. I work in the floral department and it's our busiest time of the year. Here are the 6 books I planned to read, let's see how it goes.

The First Phone Call from Heaven
The Uncommon Reader
Where She Went
Before I Go To Sleep
The Silver Linings Playbook
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Probabily these, but I'm sure to change my mind going on ...
M.C. Beaton, Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came
Clarissa Pinkola Donne che corrono coi lupi. Il mito della Donna Selvaggia
Wilkie Collins The Queen of Hearts
Francesco Fioretti Il libro segreto di Dante: Il codice nascosto della Divina Commedia
Anne B. Ross Miss Julia Speaks Her Mind
Peter  May L'isola dei cacciatori di uccelli
Gerard Donovan Morte a Dublino
Jonathan Kellerman  Flesh and Blood

Terri, Mornings on Horseback is superb! David McCullough is a very engaging writer of non-fiction. Then if you want more you can start the three books by Edmund Morris, who also writes about Teddy. I was worried this would be too repetitive having already read Mornings on Horseback, but it wasn't at all. The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt is the first and the best of the three by Morris. I liked them so much that I read all three in a row. I guess now I have done Teddy.

Terri, The Pecking Order: A Bold New Look at How Family and Society Determine Who We Become looks very interesting. Could you tell me what you think of it?

Gill wrote: "I've got a few books I'm hoping to read; I think the list is longer than I'll manage though!

H is for Hawk
I and Thou (audio)
Brigitta
Slaughterh..."</i>

Gill I have I and Thou on my radar too. This summer at a book fair I attended I was lucky enough to hear [author:Yann Martel give a talk on the two most important (in his opinion) books ever written, and this was one of them.

I hope to finish all of of Patrica Briggs' Mercy Thompson universe books in feb. There's 9 of them at 300ish pages each.

The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Brethren

The Picture of Dorian Gray
Catch-22

In Feb and Mar:
Launching the Imagination, textbook for school

Amsterdam by Ian McEwan
Perfect by Rachel Joyce
Family Album by Penelope Lively
The History of Love by Nicole Krauss Recommended by Arne Loved it, 4★
The Darlings by Cristina Alger
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons Rec'd by Angela M. Print too small, have to suss out a better copy.
White Noise by Don DeLillo Found on Literary History thread. currently reading.

I will start with these three, having finished everything else in January:

The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt by Eleanor Roosevelt (read 2 stars)
A Partial History of Lost Causes by Jennifer duBois (read 3 stas)
Luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland (Read 4 stars)

See message 39 for more books read this month.

Uhhh, Chrissie, partial history of lost causes seems very interesting! I'll be looking for your review ;)

Evelyn wrote: "Gill wrote: "I've got a few books I'm hoping to read; I think the list is longer than I'll manage though!

H is for Hawk
I and Thou (audio)
Brigitta
[bo..."
That's interesting re Yann Martel, Evelyn. I read [book:I and Thou|551866] a long time ago, and can still remember how interesting I found it. I'm looking forward to listening to it.

Edited to add - I don't know why the book title link didn't work.

Giorgia wrote: "Uhhh, Chrissie, partial history of lost causes seems very interesting! I'll be looking for your review ;)"

I hope it is good, but it certainly looks interesting.

Leslie wrote: "LauraT wrote: "No plans yet; I have to finsh some books on my hands anf the I'll think about the future!"

Yes, I am also unprepared for February! I do know that I will be reading
.."

I loved Wide Sargasso Sea Leslie - curious to see what you think.

Also, Mary Oliver is fantastic!

Evelyn, which was Yann Martel's other most important book? Was it Life of Pi? I loved the movie adaptation by Ang Lee!

I too loved Wide Sargasso Sea and will reread it I'm sure :) I had to abandon Life of Pi though, and that was in the days when I tried to always finish a book! (Now I'm more aware of time being precious ...) I just found it so deeply unpleasant, and wasn't sure I properly understood what was going on. Perhaps it's all metaphorical? I avoided the film, but perhaps that would have made more sense to me?

See message 32 for books already read this month.

I saw this book:
Gora (read 3 stars)
and I simply have to know why so many Indians love the book and its author. So I purchased it. I have to get more books for this month anyhow!

DON'T think, I think a three star book isn't worth reading. This really should be read. Quite an amazing book.

Next book in message 96.

Chrissie wrote: "I saw this book and I simply have to know why so many Indians love the book and the author. So I purchased it: Gora. I have to get more books for this month anyhow!"

I must still read something by Tagore, it's a shame I didn't read him yet. He should be philosophical and spiritual.
Did you know that he has written the Indian anthem? Not only Indians love him, he is very famous also abroad.
If I'm saying something wrong Dhanaraj will correct me!

Dely, I knew nothing about the author of Gora! Thanks for telling me about the anthem. I want to see what he says about Hinduism. Both of us like books with good characterizations. This is supposed to have that too.

Chrissie wrote: "Dely, I knew nothing about the author of Gora! Thanks for telling me about the anthem. I want to see what he says about Hinduism. Both of us like books with good characterizations. This is supposed..."

Practicing yoga since many years I've always heard his name and his books are also linked to the spiritual path people could start practicing yoga. I know him from there.

Alice wrote: "Evelyn, which was Yann Martel's other most important book? Was it Life of Pi? I loved the movie adaptation by Ang Lee!"

Alice it was a book called The Gift by Louis Heidt. Yann Martel did not write I and Thou either. He selected these two books because he feels if everyone in the world lived the ideas in these two books, the world would be unrecognizable, in a good way, from what we are accustomed to. It was a brilliant talk.

Evelyn wrote: "Alice wrote: "Evelyn, which was Yann Martel's other most important book? Was it Life of Pi? I loved the movie adaptation by Ang Lee!"

Alice it was a book called The Gift by Louis Heidt..."

Yann Martel wrote One of my all time favorite short stories...brilliantly creative. Here's what the New York Times said about: The Vita Aeterna Mirror Company: Mirrors to Last Till Kingdom Come.

"The Vita Aeterna Mirror Company: Mirrors to Last Till Kingdom Come," it is as much a dramatist's work as a storyteller's. The pages break down into separate sections representing different voices. One belongs to an old woman who tells the story of her life on the page's left-hand side; occasionally, this disintegrates from actual writing into repeated rows of "blah-blah-blah-blah-." And on the right-hand side, we find the commentary of the bored grandson who is listening to her: "Man, she can go on," "My head will explode soon" and so on.

The title refers to a strange device that the grandmother has: a machine that makes mirrors and runs on memories. Beyond appreciating the charm of this quaint invention, we are headed for the realization that the grandmother - surprise! - was wiser than the young man ever realized."

Readlaongs The Forsyte Saga
Bel-Ami
The Tennis Partner

Non Fiction
A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka: A Memoir reading this one now.
The Last Jews in Berlin
Goebbels
Joan of Arc: A History to be paired with the fictional account
A Fortune-Teller Told Me: Earthbound Travels in the Far East
Midnight in Siberia: A Train Journey Into the Heart of Russia and A Cool and Lonely Courage: The Untold Story of Sister Spies in Occupied Franceand Rocket and Lightship: Essays on Literature and Ideas

Fiction will be decided as I read them.

Jean wrote: "I had to abandon Life of Pi though, and that was in the days when I tried to always finish a book! (Now I'm more aware of time being precious ...) I just found it so deeply unpleasant, and wasn't sure I properly understood what was going on. Perhaps it's all metaphorical? I avoided the film, but perhaps that would have made more sense to me? ..."

The ending does throw open the suggestion that it is all metaphorical & (view spoiler)[each of the animals was actually a person (hide spoiler)]. But if you were not liking it because it was unpleasant I don't think this ending would have helped!

Looking forward to Wide Sargasso Sea, which I will be picking up from the library today.

Diane S. wrote: "Readlaongs The Forsyte Saga
Bel-Ami
The Tennis Partner

Non Fiction
A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka: A Memoir reading this on..."

The Joan of Arc book sounds interesting.

I'll be finishing up Insurgent. Then on to:

Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
Still Life
Maybe The Luminaries if I can get a copy.
Hmm not sure what else, which makes it fun....I can check in on what all my groups are reading and pick one.

Chrissie wrote: "About two years ago I tried yoga. I was told you simply cannot do anything wrong with yoga. Well, I did. It is not good for everyone. Maybe I am the exception but I was told by a doctor to stop. Si..."

Till now I've achieved only positive things but I think you are right. I hear often of people who are more nervous after the yoga lesson or have physical problems and they shouldn't do anything. It depends a lot by the yoga teachers, they should know if a person has problems and which ones so they can decide what they can do and what not. I must say that my lessons are very easy, we don't do strange or dangerous positions.

dely wrote: "Chrissie wrote: "About two years ago I tried yoga. I was told you simply cannot do anything wrong with yoga. Well, I did. It is not good for everyone. Maybe I am the exception but I was told by a d..."

I bought a DVD so I could watch what to do, and they promised it was even for a beginner. Doing it made me dizzy. The dizziness did not go away when I stopped the yoga, it took several weeks to disappear! I wanted to do it so very much. :0(