I’m happy to report that I have been reading quite a bit lately. Not as much as I did in the days before knitting and blogging and working and all but still, more than I have in quite some time. And so, because it’s Thursday, I’m going to share my thoughts on 3 different books – 2 I’ve finished and 1 I’ve just started.
- Salem’s Lot by Stephen King. I haven’t blown through a book of this length so fast in years. Seriously, I could not put it down. It’s a great vampire novel, full of dark shadows and scary houses and things that go bump in the night. But it’s also a great Maine novel, full of descriptions of the seasons and small town living and real life characters. I don’t know how I missed this back in my Stephen King days but I think I’m glad I did because I’m not sure I would have enjoyed or appreciated it as much back then.
- The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. This is a collection of short stories all centered around a single platoon stationed in Vietnam. It is powerful and beautiful and heartbreaking and worth every second I spent reading it. I think it’s also one of those books you can read again and again, always finding something new.
- The Cutting Season by Attica Locke. I’m only about 20% into this one but I’m enjoying it very much. The setting is a Louisiana plantation in the current day and it opens with the discovery of a body on this plantation. I think there are going to be themes of racial tension and Southern history along with a good old-fashioned murder mystery and this one has all the makings of a great story.
And there you have it. What have you been reading lately?
I’m always reading something! Right now, I’m reading A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. And, wow! It’s very good.
I just finished Stephen King’s The Dome. It was really good, and I won’t watch the TV show, that could never live up. I’ve also been picking away at Gone Girl for a couple months. I’m about 1/2 way thorough. I can’t figure out what all the fuss was about, as I just don’t like the characters, so I don’t really care what happenes. Hope that changes because I’m struggling to stick with it.
Three interesting books! I’m currently reading The Cuckoo’s Calling and finding it surprisingly good and Far From the Tree. It’s a huge, well-researched work of nonfiction about how parents deal with exceptional children, but I think it’s relevant to all parents.
I’m in the middle of the Woman Upstairs. It’s very good, but I wish I’d had time to read it all in on sitting. Don’t you just love to do that with a good book? Read, knit, read, knit…there just isn’t enough time!
I just finished ‘Gone Girl’ and loved it … now I’m working on ‘Discovery of Witches’ and can’t stay awake long enough at night to read as much as I’d like before sleep! I’ll have to add ‘Salem’s Lot’ to my list, somehow I never read that one either – loved most of Stephen King’s books, especially ‘Firestarter,’ ‘Under the Dome,’ and ’11/22/63!’
My reading has been ZERO for way too long, but I’ve remedied that by ordering/cracking a book on… being a labor coach and birth assistant. Heh.
Is there something in the air? I too have been reading a lot. Right now it’s Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. Also Selected Letters of Willa Cather. As a native Nebraskan, and an English teacher, I adore Cather! Also just finished Gone Girl–well written and compelling thriller! Love when you and your fellow bloggers post about reading–so many good ideas!
i just finished The Parisian Wife, a fiction work about Hemingway’s first wife Hadley during their time in Paris. And I just started reading A Moveable Feast, written by Hemingway, about their time in Paris. The author of the first used some of the 2nd for her book. So it’s interesting to compare the two.
I read Hemingway as a kid in school but I have to say I never realized how very difficult he is to read, even though his language is simple.
While I have seen the movie Salem’s Lot, I have never read the book. I never even knew it was by Stephen King! I swear I live under a rock.
Haven’t been reading too much lately. I hear Gone Girl is supposed to be a decent book, so once I get finished with that darn 50 Shades trilogy I’ll move onto that.
I just finished the YA novel, Winger. Well written, funny, and yet heartbreaking. This is more of a guy book, though girls will enjoy it. Definitely for 8th graders and older readers. Starting This Dark Endeavor, another YA novel. Summer is when I gear up for the school year.
Glad you enjoyed the first two books. I have “The Things They Carried” on tape and it was powerful listening. I’m picking up the Cutting Season @ the library today. should be an interesting read.
I just finished People of the Book. It was so good! I’d never even heard of it. It was in a stack of books my mom gave me that she was never going to read. Such a find!
I haven’t read Gone Girl, but I love the other Gillian Flynn books, so I’m sure I’ll like it. I’m just finishing up The Chaperone. It’s certainly interesting. Its an audiobook read by Elizabeth McGovern, and set in the 1920’s. So, it’s as close as I can get to Downton Abbey until the next season!
I’m currently reading The Orchardist (I scan Kym and Margene’s sidebars) and am almost done. It was a great read! I’m only good for 3-5 books a year these days but I’m trying to up my game!
I recently finished Where’d You Go, Bernadette? which was a fun, light read by Maria Semple. I recommend it. Now started The Curiosity by Stephen Kiernan, a thriller-ish sort.
I’m reading more now than I can ever remember (as a grown up). Partially explains my lack of knitting productivity. Recent loves include A Prayer for Owen Meany and short stories (especially Neil Gaiman and Flannery O’Connor). Currently obsessed with Cloud Atlas and about to dive into the Orphan Master’s Son.
I just finished Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore, which I adored. I also recently finished A Wolf at the Door by J. Damask and Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. Highly recommend both.
I just read The Orchardist, which I thought was very well written and an interesting story. Used to be a voracious reader but knitting has lately been taking all of my time.
The Buddha in the Closet was a quick read but very different and very powerful.
Knitting books I’ve recently gotten: Ann Budd’s Top Down Sweater book is so helpful; Knitting with Icelandic Wool is interesting; and Mary Jane Mucklestone’s book of 200 Fair Isle Patterns is going to be very useful.
We are taking a few days off from the world this weekend. Tomorrow, I’ll start Dinner with Churchill. It was passed on to me by one of our pastors who is both a foodie and a history buff. Should be good.
OOOOH, The Cutting Season is on my list- I need to get to that STAT:)