What BOOK are you reading right now?

Coconuts for Xmas - what a present

Paintings that Changed the World

Vanity Fair

Lil K
I've just dragged out "Three men..." and started to read it again.

Great fun!

Littlek, I just found your thread and would love to have a book group.
The last book I read was Birdsong. It provided a fascinating look at WWI with an examination of the alienation caused by living with the horrors of war for so long that returning home seemed impossible. I couldn't put it down.

do we have anyone with experience in an on-line book club?

ehBethie, no, I don't, but ....

I was going to PM you just now but then ran across this board and figgered it's a good place to ask. Have you by chance read your fellow Torontian, Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams and his new one, just published this month (at least down here) The Navigator of New York

I've just started to read 'em both. They look good ... might repay a gander, if you haven't already come across 'em.

I've heard of the first, not the second. Will look 'em up. One of my favourite little (4 small stores in cool neighbourhoods) local book chains has a very good section of local authors (usually have them signed, which is a nice treat).

off to try and find some kind of guide to online book clubs (well, I'll take the dogs for a walk in the snow first - now that i've found my snow boots!)

Littlek, ebeth suggested using short stories, and several others seemed to like that idea. I for one would go for that. We could all buy the same anthology, or we could work from an online source. Personally, I go for the anthology. A suggestion might be "Best Short Stories of the Century" edited by John Updike. These are all stories picked from the "Best short Stories of the Year" series. If we did that book, there would be the added bonus of getting an overview of the literature, at least the short story, as it developed over the century.

I've been trying to worm my way into this thread for days but I have started to post and then don't do it.

I keep wondering what to say.

I could carry on about the best books I've read this year. Or even lots of the less-than-best but really good books.

Then you are all talking about a book club. I don't know how to do that. I have been in one, and left. I find that I will read a book that is outstanding, or even just very good, and I want to tell a friend about it, and I do so. But I don't want to sit down and discuss it to death with other people. I must be in the minority here. So I will listen in and see what you decide to do.

I read one extraordinary book this past year and then a few other good ones. The first was Jamie O'Neill's At Swim Two Boys. This book was a steep learning experience for me. But it was among the best books I've ever read.

Since then, I've done some non-fiction -- of the likes of Karen Armstrong's The Battle for God -- and I've dipped into her The History of God. I am reading a book now -- Geek Love -- which I may or may not finish.

Do any of you come to a point in your life when you pick up book after book and find no desire to finish one or the other or the next? I am there now. I am waiting to find the next book I will read.

I have Russo's Empire Falls. Has anyone read it? I may begin this next.

I have two books in my car, unread.
Went out and bought a book that sits on the self, unread.
Borrowed interesting and insightful books, unread.
I figure sooner or later...Ill start to read like crazy again, perhaps I just need a breather.

I'm reading The Best American Mystery Stories. 2002

Ed by James Ellroy

"The Night Listener" by Armistad Maupin, author of "Tales of the City."

Lightwizard, how is that one? I loved Tales of the City.

I'm reading Smoke Jumper by Nicholas Evans, author of The Horse Whisperer.

I'm about a quarter into the book and it's engrossing -- will let you know when I finish. It's about a night radio show commentator who makes a phone contact with a boy who is terminally ill. Has some autobiographical content as usual.

finished "White Oleander" yesterday.... it gets a two-thumbs-up from me. The book is about a young girl who moves from foster home to foster home in L.A. Makes you feel glad that you can provide a safe stable home for your children. The characters were very real and believable. I can see why they wanted to create a movie and I can see why an actor would love to get into one of those characters. I'm anxious to see the movie now....

macsm, I loved 'The Horse Whisperer'. The book was 10 times better than the movie. I enjoyed listening to 'The Loop' (by the same author) on an audio book, while driving back and forth to work. How is 'Smoke Jumper'?

Smoke Jumper is excellent. My only complaint is that the plot frequently jumps forward by months or years, and though the author identifies the time for you, he chooses to skip major events and sort of summarize them after the fact.

I really like this idea and hope we get going on it. Somebody on Abuzz tried to do this -- maybe Shebears? -- and it just fizzled into nothingness, despite a lot of interest.

Best American short stories for 2002!

"Straight Man" by Richard Russo. Since someone on an Abuzz thread recommended him, I've been reading everything of Russo's I can find.

What If 2? - R. Cowler (ed)