Hey what is everyone READING ?

[nikkinaz]

What are you currently reading ?

I just finished a book which I enjoyed thoroughly, it is full of family life a real warm story with so many human touches. I have never read an Anne Tyler book although she features in many reviews. This one I highly recommend.

Digging to America by Anne Tyler

It was Friday, August 15th, 1997. The night the girls arrived. Two tiny Korean babies are delivered to Baltimore to two families who have no more in common than this. First, there are the Donaldsons, decent Brad and homespun, tenacious Bitsy (with her 'more organic than thou' airs, who believes fervently that life can always be improved), two full sets of grandparents and a host of big-boned, confident relatives, taking delivery with characteristic American razzmatazz. Then there are the Yazdans, pretty, nervous Ziba (her family 'only one generation removed from the bazaar') and carefully assimilated Sami, with his elegant, elusive Iranian-born widowed mother Maryam, the grandmother-to-be, receiving their little bundle with wondering discretion. Every year, on the anniversary of 'Arrival Day', their two extended families celebrate together, with more and more elaborately competitive parties, as tiny, delicate Susan, wholesome, stocky Jin-ho, and later, her new little sister Xiu-Mei, take roots, become American... While Maryam, the optimistic pessimist, confident that if things go wrong - as well they may - she will manage as she has before, contrarily preserves her 'outsider' status, as if to prove that, despite her passport, she is only a guest in this bewildering country. Full of achingly hilarious moments (Xiu-Mei's 'pacifier' party is worthy of 'The Simpsons') and toe-curling misunderstandings, "Digging to America" is a novel with a deceptively small domestic canvas, and subtly large themes - it's about belonging and otherness, about insiders and outsiders, pride and prejudice, young love and unexpected old love, families and the impossibility of ever getting it right, and about striving for connection and goodness against all the odds... And, the end catches you by the throat, ambushes your emotions when you least expect it, as only Tyler can.

[TheDuck]

The Testament by John Grisham

I have really enjoyed the Grisham novels and have been fortunate enough to receive another two, with the Testament being one of them.

I enoy his style of writing and I note he is an author who does not need to use sex to sell. His books always have good plots and sub plots and provide good entertainment.

On completion I shall attempt a report back

:donald:

quack

:woof:

[sooibrand]

Just finished Memoirs of a Geisha

[Pronkertjie]

Just finished Memoirs of a Geisha

I loved that - read it when I was in SA.

I just finished a delightful book "Over Hill and Dale" from Gervase Phinn the School Inspector.


:bookclub:

[Strawbs]

To be honest, I am finding it to hot to read, I read a few pages and fall asleep :haha: I haven't read a book cover to cover in weeks......

[Spacegirl]

my Open University tutorial... ok, so I just cannot seem to get it to read right! giggle

in terms of recreational books... I have started to read Tom Holt again... Nothing but blue skies... bit of synopsis from the back cover...

There are very many reasons why British summers are either non-existent or, alternatively, held on a Thursday. Many of these reasons are either scientific, mad, or both - but all of them are wrong, especially the scientific ones. The real reason why it rains perpetually from January 1st to December 31st (incl) is, of course, irritable Chinese water dragons.

Karen is one such legendary creature. Ancient, noble, near-indestructible and, for a number of wildly improbable reasons, working as an estate-agent, Karen is irritable quite a lot of the time. Hence Wimbledon. She becomes positively incesed, however when she discovers that her father, the Adjutant General to the Dragon King of the North-west, has been kidnapped by a mob of livid weathermen. :rainy:


giggle... I love it! it is to quote the front - uniquely twisted!

Possible inclusion to the :bookclub: ???

[Bushbaby]

The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt. Am totally engrossed by this book. The opening chapter is so vividly written it left me with tears in my eyes.

I would suggest that this book be considered for the next book club read, it is well worth the effort.

A brief synopsis of the book:

The air still smelled of charcoal when I arrived in Venice three days after the fire...'

John Berendt arrived in February 1996 for a prolonged spell in the city that had captivated him on his first visit. His intention was simply to see it without the obscuring overlay of tourists, but he quickly realised that his arrival had coincided with an extraordinary moment.

Using the fire that destroyed the Fenice Theatre as his starting point, Berendt takes us on a unique tour of the city and its inhabitants. It is a tour that few are priviledged to enjoy. For behind the exquisite facade of the world's most beautiful historic city, scandal, corruption and venality are rampant, and Berendt is a master at seeking them out.

Millionaire art collector Peggy Guggenheim, Ezra Pound's mistress Olga Rudge, Alistair and Romilly McAlpine, are some of the high profile residents (or former residents): but no less fascinating are lesser-known eccentric Venetians such as Plant Man Adriano Delon, Massimo Donadon the Rat Man of Treviso, or Mario Moro - self-styled carabiniere, fireman, soldier or airman, depending on the day of the week.

Perfectly poised to gain access to private and unapproachable people and persuade them to talk frankly, Berendt weaves an elegantly captivating narrative that is mischievous, witty and utterly compelling.

[TracyW]

A Child Called It. Very sad. As I am off on holiday I am hopeing to cram lots of reading in. Believe it or not the next book is Jeremy Clarkson.