What are you reading right now...

[Sprezzatura]

I'm new to these forums, so this seemed like a good thread to start with. Someone was just telling me I should read something by Edith Pargeter the other day, given the additional recommendation here, maybe I'll look it up.

I've just recently re-read Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest to teach, and have been reflecting on what a truly funny and marvelous play it is. I'm also slowly but surely closing in on the end of War and Peace, which I've been reading sporadically in spare moments since January and enjoying thoroughly. It ropes you in like a soap opera and then hits these really fantasically moving and thoughtful moments all the way through. Worth the read, and completely possible to read across a long extended period off and on like this. I must confess, I only got around to it at long last because I got a kindle for Christmas. No toting around an enormous volume, and the kindle lets me know what percentage I've read, so I know that I'm 81% of the way through right now.

[anthem1]

I just finished War and Peace last month and absolutely loved it. I am working through it a second time taking notes. I have been a huge fan of Anna Karenina since I was in high school. War and Peace was recommended by a literature professor in college, but I found it a bit daunting. Unfortunately I do not yet have a kindle, so I have been toting around the massive tome.

I also enjoy Oscar Wilde and have been reading some of his short stories such as "Lord Arthur Saville's Crime." I agree they are amusing and enjoyable as is his play.

Let me know if you decided to read Pargeter and what you think of her.

[Sprezzatura]

Hi anthem--I can see the temptation to read War and Peace over again, partly because it is so long. There are so many points where I realized I wanted to think about what I was reading in terms of an earlier scene and wished I had taken more careful note of when that was so that I could find it again. I must say that's one drawback to a kindle. Much harder to thumb through and find things than a regular book. Since you're reading it again, do you have a favorite character or scene? I just read the scene in which Natasha finds Prince Andrew again, and thought it was fantastic. Many of those descriptions of the battles, the way he shows the gradual development of the various men in the way they view war, are so moving too. Occurs to me that since at least one other person has read it recently, I might start a thread up here to discuss War and Peace and/or Tolstoy in general. Would you be interested?

Anyway, I think I may put Pargeter on my summer reading list. I'll let you know when I start reading her. I just realized when looking up the kindle edition that Pargeter is another pseudonym for Ellis Peters, whose mysteries I've enjoyed in the past.

[spoonwood]

I have bookmarked Betty Friedan's "The Feminine Mystique" about half way through to read George R. R. Martin's "A Game of Thrones" which was very good; I'm eager to read the second book of the series. I'm almost done with Steven Erikson's "Gardens of the Moon". It was quite complicated and confusing for the first half but becomes more clear after that. I'm on a sort of epic fantasy binge right now, plan on reading the remaining books of "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. Out of "The Feminine Mystique" (of what I've read so far), I enjoyed the chapter that discusses the first wave of feminism and some early history on women's rights. I didn't know anything about Lucy Stone; I will probably get a book that discusses this topic further. I enjoyed reading about Freud and the Victorian Era, however, I could care less if I ever read about "penis envy" again.
Also on my nightstand awaiting to be read is "Animal Farm"!

[Aqueda_Veronica]

Recently I reread The Moomins series and it was lovely and sweet
At the moment I'm almost done with "The Blind Assassin" by M. Atwood. I absolutely loved the story inside of a story concept!
Next in line: "The Adventure of the Powder Room" by Eduardo Mendoza.

[Azrael]

"Jesus Inquest" by Charles Foster....a great book!

[lindad_amato]

I just finished, In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson. It tells the story of the Nazi takeover of Germany through the eyes of the American ambassador, William E. Dodd. The story unfolds from his personal and governmental writings and those of his family. The political drama is the backdrop to his personal experiences.

I am now engrossed in A Bloodsmoor Romance by Joyce Carol Oates. It is an amazingly ironic fictional account of a family living in upstate New York during the latter half of the nineteenth century. Ms Oates narrative, told by an undisclosed third party, is worthy of Dickens.

[Suzanne]

Wow Lindad, you have certainly created a new interest in me to read more Oates. Trip to the library tomorrow!

I really love your suggestion of "The Falls" for the next fiction discussion BTW

[Kevin]

Two short stories by John Steinbeck - The Pearl and The Red Pony. I didn't care much for The Pearl at first but it's been improving every page.

[lindad_amato]

Recently I reread The Moomins series and it was lovely and sweet
At the moment I'm almost done with "The Blind Assassin" by M. Atwood. I absolutely loved the story inside of a story concept!
Next in line: "The Adventure of the Powder Room" by Eduardo Mendoza.

Please let me know what you think of the Mendoza book. I haven't read any of his.

I really enjoyed "The Blind Assassin" and became an Atwood reader because of it.