March 2014 - What Are You Reading?

Haven't seen one for March yet, so I thought I'd post it.

I've /just/ finished From Sawdust to Stardust. Haven't even returned it to the library yet.

I spent most of the last 24 hours reading The Bear by Claire Cameron. Really liked it; a gripping read.

I'm about to start I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen by Sylvie Simmons

Just finished The Dinner... (deep breath). Now I am reading the second Louise Penny Dead Cold (or A Fatal Grace)

I am currently reading "Service Station Angel" by Lisa J. Schuster.

Been reading Underground by June Hutton all week and stayed late in bed this morning to finish it. Lovely writing and also gave me a little knowledge of the Canadian involvement in the Spanish Civil War. Highly recommended.

ted, I really liked Underground, too.

I'm now enjoying The Town that Drowned by Riel Nason, set in New Brunswick.

Not feeling well lately; so got 2 books finished in the past few days: The Point of Rescue by Sophie Hannah, which is a psychological thriller by a British writer I've only discovered in the last year or so, and Where the Moon Isn't by Nathan Filer, a disturbing novel about families, love and mental illness. Both good reads though.

I recently finished Milk Fever by Lissa Cowan, a woman-soaked and rather bookish historical novel set in pre-revolutionary France. It's her first novel and reminds me of books by Mary Novik and Pauline Holdstock

And now I'm well into Deryn Collier's Confined Space. I hadn't heard of her until recently, but I am wholly enjoying this mystery set in small-town BC and revolving around a brewery there.

I'm reading Our Man in Havana by Graham Greene. Very funny so far!

Hoping to finish An April Shroud this evening. My copy suffered a minor injury on the bus home -- it leapt out of my hands and landed front-cover-down on the floor of the bus, which was coated in melted snow and slush thanks to today's snowstorm. Fortunately it was not there long enough to sustain much damage, but I have no idea how that even happened.

Just finished a book belonging to my favourite Nordic crime series: Eva's Eye by Karin Fossum. Her books are always so well written and contain thoughtful analyses of the characters, a welcome change from all the dysfunctional detectives there are out there in crime fiction.

I'm reading Paikin and the Premiers by Steve Paikin

I thought I was going to be reading a "guilty pleasure" novel-a combined murder mystery/ghost story, but was very pleasantly surprised to find it wasn't really either one of those. Instead, a very engrossing, well written tale of families, lies and truth, coming of age, and more. I thoroughly enjoyed Help for the Haunted by John Searles.

I'm reading a book I was given last week: The Redemption of Oscar Wolf by James Bartleman

Finished with Oscar, and am about to start Road Ends by Mary Lawson

My latest novel read is Mother, Mother by Koren Zailckas. Pretty good story, written from the perspectives of two of the children of a very disturbed nasty mother.

I've nearly finished An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield.

I'm now reading Wretched Writing by Kathryn Petras and Ross Petras and laughing or cringing with my morning tea.

That was a quick read, and now (supper time), I'm going to start Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

@18--Lynn, I really, really liked Life After Life. Hope you enjoy it too.

The Forever Girl by Alexander McCall Smith. I generally enjoy his novels, but this was definitely in the "too good to be true" category and just too soppy and unrealistic for me. I didn't hate it, but I definitely prefer the gentle, kind humour found in the Ladies Detective Agency and the 44 Scotland Street series. This one seemed totally lacking in humour to me.

I'm so behind it's not funny, but I've read Eventide and Plainsong by Kent Haruf. Loved them both. Spare, hard but grace filled prose. I am currently reading Benediction by Ken Haruf . I did not read them all in order. I've also read A Corpse in the Koryo by James Church , a spy / mystery novel that takes place in North Korea. Was okay but a little slow. Also read a Canadian debut novel, For Today I am a Boy by Kim Fu. Really excellent insight into the life of person with sexual dysphoria. Read and very much enjoyed The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches by Alan Bradley, Canadian writer of the Flavia de Luce series. Loved it!

Just finished The Orenda. Not the easiest of reads with the extreme violence spread throughout. I wish there was an additional voice in the book that explored some of the more positive aspects of Huron existence as the violence got more air time than was needed. Still a very good book if you can stomach it.

My weekend reads were very different from each other:

1) The Troop by Nick Cutter. An extremely gross story, although it is gripping and suspenseful. I had to skip through many paragraphs, especially when there were descriptions of animal torture.

2) An autobiography that I think should be mandatory reading in all Canadian Social Studies classrooms: They Called Me Number One by Bev Sellars.

I'm reading Jane Austen's Persuasion for a book club, though I'm not really as Austen fan.

I'm also reading Who I'm Not by Ted Staunton

On March 27: I've just finished Northwest Passage by Stan Rogers, which was stunning. And I've just started Duffy: Stardom to Senate to Scandal by Dan Leger.

i began reading the lowland by jhumpa lahiri last night. her writing is lovely.

Just finished The Tie That Binds by Ken Haruf. I am loving his books - spare prose, sorrow filled and very everyday. He's a wonderful writer.

deb, I've got Plainsong on my TBR shelves.

I'm about to start Hooks by Julie Oakes.

27 LynnB - do give Plainsong a try when you get a chance. That is the one that I started with and then I was hooked by his fiction.

I've just begun Longbourn by Jo Baker. Just wanted a change of pace.

After an exhausting work week, I finished a "comfort" read today, one from one of my old favourite series: Body Work by Sara Paretsky

Just finished The Orenda. Not the easiest of reads with the extreme violence spread throughout. I wish there was an additional voice in the book that explored some of the more positive aspects of Huron existence as the violence got more air time than was needed. Still a very good book if you can stomach it.

I read The Orenda just before CanadaReads . . . I think I gave it 2 stars, all because of the relentless violence. However, a month later, my memories of the book are much more positive and I'm remembering its merits. I may go back and revise my review and ratings. When I finished it I had strong negative feelings for it, but now they are already fading.

I'm reading Sense and Sensibility with the tutored group read going on over at the 75 books group. It's a reread for me, but one of the Austens I have a problem with, so I thought this might be fun and enlightening. Anyone can join in--despite the high number of posts, it's not too late to join us.

I was listening to Fingersmith by Sarah Waters on audiobook, but my app crashed so I bought the paper copy--haven't gotten back to it yet. It was excellent so far.

nickelini, it's funny that we are both reading Jane Austen novels for group reads at the same time!

i am about to begin reading a house in the sky by amanda lindhout and sara corbett. this read is also for a book club. :)

last night i did finish reading the lowland by jhumpa lahiri. her writing is very good. i am having mixed feelings about the book, so haven't quite settled on my rating yet, and i am trying to figure out my review. i am in a bit of a grumpy/melancholy mood. and the novel is melancholy. so one fed into the other.

I'm going to start The Smartest Guys in the Room by Bethany McLean. I saw a play about Enron recently and it has sparked a desire to know more.

I just pulled a book off my shelf that's been there for awhile. It's called *Northern Lights - Outstanding Canadian Women*. It's a collection of short bios of Canadian women fro various walks of life. Published n 2004, it really does run the gamut. There are some I here I've never heard of, but others include Julie Payette, Doris Anderson, Neve Campbell, Rosemary Brown, Colleen Jones, Louise Pitre, Mary Walsh, among others. The bios are short, about 2-3 pages, at most but they are interesting.

Quick read and enjoyable

Longbourn by Jo Baker was very enjoyable, if a bit overlong towards the end. I'm not quite certain what my next read is as yet.

Just finishing Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery. I have really enjoyed it. It is clever and funny and some great observations and great thoughts by the characters in Barbery's story.

mdoris, I agree with your comment. But, I also found that the "voice" of the two main characters were too similar.

#41 Ted, thanks for reminding me about Galore. It's on my list TBR. I suggested graphic novels for my book club for May as it is a fairly new area of reading for me and my book pals. WOW!!! Have I been having a great time reading some amazing books. This category seems to be exploding. There's some great art and personal stories on the library book shelves.

re: #38 & #41 - ted74ca

how did you find 'marigold', ted? and how was the meeting? i read this last year...and it was, for me, a rare occurrence in which the film adaptation was better than the book. oops! :)

LOVE galore!! it's one of my most favourite novels. michael crummy has a new book coming to and i can't wait -- it's called 'sweet land': http://www.mcdermidagency.com/bookInfo.cfm?bookId=310&userID=6&Auth=35

I'm just starting Life of Pi. I knew Yann Martel was Canadian, but I didn't realize there is an actual Canadian component to this book.

re: #43

My book club members were nearly all in agreement with me, everyone who had seen the movie version much preferred that over the novel. Having seen the movie 1st probably soured most of us on the book, but I think there was no doubt the novel was merely a light, easy read, and was only occasionally funny.