What books are you reading?

What - nobody is reading anything?

I have borrowed several books on spices from the library which I've been poring over - some contained things I'd never heard of, like jaggery, nigella seeds (they're just onion seeds), Indian bay leaves... So I found an Indian store and bought a bunch of spices and herbs which I'm looking forward to using.

I have such poor eyesight that I rarely undertake to read whole books anymore.

reading Later, by Stephen King...

I'm reading an old edition of "The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe". Interestingly, I'd no sooner cracked the book when this article came to my attention:

Is Poe the most influential American writer? A new book offers evidence.

Just read a summary of it - are you liking it?

I can't read him because he gives me nightmares. Tried a few pages of IT but I don't like to be terrified before I go to sleep.

That's a real shame. Do you do audiobooks?

I have to pay for it if I want it - I rely on things like the library and amazon prime - there are certain books I can get on my kindle for free. I have been spoiled when I think that paying $7 is too much.

Will it keep me up at night because it is scary - if so it might be worth the $7

the horror aspect is the thing i like least about King.

what has been keeping me coming back for more since the 70's is masterful story telling and character development.

i highly recommend anything he's written, including the many collections of short stories...

I like the more psychological horror not the blood and guts sort of thing. Like as in Misery.

Also like the character development some that I like that is not scary … Stand by Me and Shawshank Redemption … movies as well as the short stories. But even his “horror” ones tend to have deep characters like in IT.

just about everything he writes has some blood and guts -- that is, after all, his genre...

I think I'll do a little research and give him a try. I like great story-telling and characters. That's why I liked The Bookseller of Florence so much. And The Gown. Both historically true, as well.

I never liked Margaret Atwood but one year my husband bought me The Blind Assassin for Christmas. As soon as I opened it, I wanted to throw it out (or at him). But... I started reading it and found it to be completely unlike her other books. I loved it. Then I started reading The Edible Woman and remembered why I hated reading her so much. Also saw the latter at the theatre and a more-mangled, confusing performance I have never witnessed. Not her fault, perhaps, but it did mark me for life

So, you never know. There are literary surprises out there.

Thanks for the reminder - I haven't read much of him, but I'll see what our library has.

A Year in the World by Frances Mayes

travel reading since I can't go anywhere -- and her descriptions of food are amazing

Steinbeck's The Pearl—teaching it for the first time next year.
Hawaii: first time since 1977 when I absolutely fell in love with it.

Just started both. Will check back in.

Love this thread.

Youtube has free audiobooks that you might want to try.

The Pearl I loved and hated that book. So depressing.

My ability to listen is also limited.

The Pearl reminds me of the moral of the story in Guy de Maupassant's The Necklace. I read Hawaii about then, too. Then Chesapeake, then Poland.

On a related note, Lash, have you read anything by Edward Rutherfurd? He wrote the same type of books. Sarum, London, Princes of Ireland, etc.

When I saw "The Pearl" in your post, I immediately thought of Pearl S. Buck. I devoured her books in my teens and early 20's. Have you read her?

I’ll have to look up Rutherfurd, but the titles you mentioned don’t ring a bell.

I *really* enjoyed Buck’s The Good Earth a loooong time ago. I think that’s the only one, but (laughing) going to check titles on both authors now. Thanks for tips.