What are you reading right now ?

[qmdqwd]

I am reading Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust, and also listening to the Audio recording of Cranford by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. I love classic literature. Have read quite a bit of it, but am always thirsting for more!

[hazelk]

At the moment I am reading "Once in a house on fire" by Andrea Ashworth, it is a memoir. This little book is a queue jumper, I only purchased it this morning, I am find it a fascinating read.

qmdqwd, I also love the classics.

[dnashby]

I’m just starting Executive Power by Vince Flynn. I’ve read one other novel of his and it was ok. Thought I’d give him a second chance.

[Redlegs]

Finished the Jim Stynes story - a great man whose life was cut too short.

Back to the world of fiction and only my second ever Jane Austen novel - Mansfield Park.

[Fran]

Unusually for me my next read is a factual book - Stasiland by Anna Funder
I read her All that I Am last week and really enjoyed it so when I was in the library & happened to see Stasiland I decided it was a must read. However, given the subject matter I don't expect any laughs.

[Redlegs]

Unusually for me my next read is a factual book - Stasiland by Anna Funder
I read her All that I Am last week and really enjoyed it so when I was in the library & happened to see Stasiland I decided it was a must read. However, given the subject matter I don't expect any laughs.

Hi Fran, I am keen to read All That I Am - how did you find it? I have read Stasiland -it is very compelling, but, you're right, there aren't too many laughs,

-- 15 Dec 2012, 20:03 --

I finished Radclyffe Hall's Well of Loneliness last night. This is a great piece of literature dealing with societal attitudes to lesbianism in the 1920s, which remains relevant to anti-gay attitudes that prevail today. I can't believe that women who preferred other women were referred to as "inverts"! This book was banned simply because the characters in the book did not apologise for their vices and were portrayed with sympathy.
The daily bus book will now be Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel, which pre-dates her more famous recent Booker Prize winning novels. Beyond Black was shortlisted for the 2006 Orange Prize.

[Fran]

@Redlegs
I enjoyed All That I Am but did find the format a bit challenging for the first couple of chapters but then once I got into it I found it compelling reading. While I have read an awful lot on WW1 & WW11, the Nazi era & the Holocaust I haven't read a lot about the Weimar period and IMO those diplomats, artists & intellectuals who correctly anticipated the consequences of Hitler and the Nazi are ill served by posterity. We tend to think of the period between the wars as peace & quiet in Europe with not a lot happening - how wrong we are.
I'd be interested in your opinion of Beyond Black, I haven't read it but Wolf Hall & Bring Up The Bodies are absolutely brilliant. Do yet me know if you recommend adding Beyond Black to the inexhaustible TBR list please.
Not far into Stasiland yet but it reminded me of the movie The Lives of Others ... brilliant movie IMO

[jomarie]

I just started The Seneca Scourge by Carrie Rubin the December book. It grabs you right away. Looking forward to it very much.

[WendyJo67]

I am reading Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

[Geneen Karstens]

I'm about halfway through The Hard Way by Lee Child. Definitely a page-turner. Very good so far.

[Redlegs]

@Redlegs
I enjoyed All That I Am but did find the format a bit challenging for the first couple of chapters but then once I got into it I found it compelling reading. While I have read an awful lot on WW1 & WW11, the Nazi era & the Holocaust I haven't read a lot about the Weimar period and IMO those diplomats, artists & intellectuals who correctly anticipated the consequences of Hitler and the Nazi are ill served by posterity. We tend to think of the period between the wars as peace & quiet in Europe with not a lot happening - how wrong we are.
I'd be interested in your opinion of Beyond Black, I haven't read it but Wolf Hall & Bring Up The Bodies are absolutely brilliant. Do yet me know if you recommend adding Beyond Black to the inexhaustible TBR list please.
Not far into Stasiland yet but it reminded me of the movie The Lives of Others ... brilliant movie IMO

@Fran - I will let you know how it goes with Beyond Black. Early days yet.

[downrivergirl]

Curious Jim by Carry Lada
I purchased it on kindle

[KatieD]

I just finished Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah. It drags a bit the first four chapters and then picks up. I found it to be a very poignant love story with a heroine who endured unimaginable hardship.

[WendyJo67]

Katie,

I have Winter Garden on my list of "to reads". I really like Kristin Hannah. Thanks for your comments on the book.

[Bighuey]

I started History of the British People By Nennius. Interesting so far, I should finish it tomorrow.