I just read The Book Thief on your Mom’s recommendation. It was excellent, the best book I’ve read this year.

I just finished reading the chapter on Threads and Processes in “Programming Ruby - The Pragmatic Programmers’ Guide”. Wow, I really need to read something fiction.

Hil-isn’t that the one you gave me last night? I have been really into the Marian Keyes books. She’s a little british, but kinda fun. I am also reading my friend Bill Robinson’s book about the industry “It’s all your Fault.” it’s great. oh and that blondie was soooo great, i tried to save some for aaron, but he’s only getting a bite!! opps

Hi, I read knitting, it was cute. I just finished reading 20 Times a Lady by Karyn Bosnak, very enjoyable. She is the one who wrote the non fiction Saving Karyn (loved it) Oh, and a sappy one, I read Nicholas Sparks new one over the weekend (can not remember the name) and I have to say, I really liked it. My mom loves him and I bought it for her but read it first.

I am just about done with Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly. Good stuff about what it takes to work in a restaurant and be a chef.

Finished ’slouching towards bethlehem’ and ‘the tender bar’ recently. loved the joan didion book - it should be a must-read for anyone who lives in southern california. and the tender bar was great - you can see why it was on all the ‘best of’ lists last year. its a funny and sad and yes, tender, memoir. started ‘middlesex’ recently but haven’t picked it up lately - been in a magazine phase since I couldn’t focus on books while I was in ny. that said, I did get thru 2 issues of the new yorker while I was there so that bodes well for my fears I have ADD.

Great: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See; Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer; The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory.

The Book Thief was also really well done - I didn’t really like it until the end, at which point I thought it was great.

A lot of my friends loved Memory Keeper’s Daughter by Kim Edwards, but I thought that it was just okay.

I love these posts. I guess that’s because I’m an avid reader. Not that I don’t love your other postings — well, except for the tonsil ones because I feel so bad for you about that

I took some recommendations from previous comments and read Tortilla Curtain and My Sister’s Keeper. I loved them both!

The only good things that I’ve read recently are Patron Saint of Liars (by Ann Patchett) which was great, Marley & Me (by John Grogan) which was really sweet, and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs (by Chuck Klosterman) which had its moments.

Julie just ruined Memory Keeper’s Daughter for me — it’s sitting in my ‘to read’ pile …oh well.

Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close by Jonathan Foer (also wrote Everything is Illuminated)

I didn’t think I was going to love it, but it was funny and interesting and touching and I did love it.

I recently read “The Book Thief” and thought it was wonderful as well and the point of view is terrific.
On a completely different note, I just re-read “Good Grief” for the 515645th time and I always recommend it to everyone. It’s such a sweet and poignant book that is told in such a refreshing and not at all mushy and stereotypically way. You’ll know exactly what I’m talking about once you read it.
Now reading: “The Twenty-Seventh City” by Jonathan Franzen, who wrote “The Corrections” which I absolutely loved.

I just read Memory Keeper’s Daughter and really, really enjoyed it…give it a try Dawn.

I’ve also read Snow Flower & The Secret Fan recently and The Other Boleyn girl…both were good. I’m hooked on Phillipa Gregory: I just finished The Queen’s Fool and am now into The Virgin’s Lover. Her books are really interesting.

Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón was great. It took me just a little to get into, but once I got sucked into the mystery I couldn’t put it down.

I also just finished What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller. It’s being made into a movie that comes out next month. It was one of those books that I didn’t enjoy much as I was reading it, but when I was done and thought back on it I could appreciate it a bit more.

SICK. We are clearly in our very own (mental) book club. I hated the Jennifer Weiner one. I didn’t like her one right before that either. I’m thinking she may be a two-hit wonder. We both finished the Lolly Winston - did I tell you I adored it? Couldn’t put it down. And this weekend I gave my fellow library-goers a break and took a book off my shelf to read.

Guess, Hilary. Just guess what book. Knitting Under the Influence. We scare me. I’m liking it. I really liked her first book, Same As it Never Was - have you read that? I may start A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas afterwards, I’ve had it sitting here a week or so.

I’m on page 209 of Knitting. What are we reading next??

Allie–I liked Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, too.

I just finished my old favorite, Fitzgerald’s This Side of Paradise, and spent about two months trudging through The End of the Story by Lydia Davis. I started Forever (Pete Hamill) yesterday, so far so good.

Just added The Book Thief to my To Read list, thanks Caoimhe and Julie!

I’m reading the Celestine Prophecy for the second time, and it’s not nearly as good as I remembered it. : (

oooh -
I read the Tortilla Curtain from someone’s recommendation last time, and thought it was alright.

JAB - I just started to read the Memory Keeper’s Daughter last night from someone else’s recommendation so I’m glad you liked it since we seem to have similar tastes. After reading the other comments I got a bit worried!

Just finished ‘Year of Wonders’ by Geraldine Brooks which I really liked, and also ‘Down and Out in Paris and London’ by George Orwell, which was very good.

Will certainly pick up the book thief for next time!!!

I read _My Sister’s Keeper_ over the summary–addictive and disturbing. I just finished _The Man of My Dreams_ (by Curtis Sittenfeld, author of _Prep_). I liked it, but not as much as her first book. Now I am reading Amy Tan’s _Saving Fish from Drowning_. I haven’t gotten into it yet.

I also read Shadow of the Wind recently. It does take time to get into this story. The book is OK, but it didn’t blow me away. I think something gets lost in the translation. That being said, my wife and I did spend a week in Barcelona for our first anniversary, and it is a fascinating place in a comical sort of way. The book is well-suited to the city, if that makes any sense.

Right now I am reading America’s Queen, a (sympathetic) bio of Jackie Kennedy. Some of it is so much empty puffery about who she spent her time with and when, but there are some mildly interesting insights into the Bouvier and Kennedy families. My son picks out random books for me out of the library (generally in the “new books” section), and that’s what he had grabbed. It keeps me off the Internet sometimes! LOL

Just read “Silent Spring” and “My Sister’s Keeper” for two different book clubs. Great discussions followed for each book. Typically I don’t like books that make me cry - life is tough enough without taking on someone elses pain. Currently reading “The Glass Castle” for one of the book clubs, not sure what I think of it so far. Will probably reread “The Mermaid Chair” for the other book club next. My current obsession is Janet Evanovich, and I am patiently waitng for “Twelve Sharp” (#12 in the Stephanie Plum series) to be available at the library. While it’s not the greatest literature ever, I find the series to be very funny and quite addictive.

I’m re-reading for the third time Capotes “In Cold Blood”.

Love it.

Glad so many of you liked “The Book Thief” and “My Sister’s Keeper.” I am currently reading The Glass Castle. And for relaxation and fluff I also have read ALL of the Janet Evanovich novels. I love her…Twelve Sharp is great. Got Metro Girl in the Wings. For my all time favorite fun, exciting, legal thrillers and mysteries i absolutely LOVE James Patterson.. All his Alex Cross thrillers and I just finished “Judge and Jury” and LOVED it!!!!!!!

Hil’s MOM

I just read “Walking In Circles Before Lying Down” by Merrill Markoe. I’ve liked all of her books, and this one was funny in that odd way that she is funny.

p.s.
Re: fun reads… Carl Hiassen is a very funny author. Enjoy him. And, one of my favorite fun mysteries: anything Harlan Coben writes. His Myron Bolitar, sports agent, is my all time favorite character. They are mysteries, comedy, and, BTW, he writes very, very well. He also includes a lot of Jewish humor. A fun read…any of the above.

MOM

Your mom and i have the same taste too. I just got the new Patterson in the mail today from Amazon and I just lent my mom Judge & Jury. Coben is a great call too! Where do you stand on Stuart Woods, have you ever read his books?

I am behind in reading, and in commenting. I just read Girl, Interrupted, having not see the movie. I liked it more than her other book The Camera my Mother Gave Me. Now I am reading Right Ho, Jeeves from the Jeeves and Wooster series. We are also watching the TV show from NetFlix.