Post Punk Kitchen Forum

The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson. It's about North Korea.

I loved it.

I've seriously got this terrible habit of reading too many books at once. Right now, I'm in the middle of The House of the Seven Gables, Hex, Beware the Cat, and The Urban Homestead. If only I had the time to finish them.

Skippy Dies, and I'm not really a huge fan of it at this point. What's all this nonsense about it supposedly being hilarious? I'm finding the dialogue/events to be a bit of a stretch as far as believability goes. And no, I don't expect every book I read to be plausible in real life, but unless it's toted as a fantasy, I expect to find SOMEthing conceivable. The writing in general is disappointing. Way, way, way too many similes for my taste. Blech.

Just finished this, and after a slow start I really enjoyed it.

Next up is Dracula and then As You Like It, both of which I need to read in preparation for teaching them in September.

I'm reading The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende. It's really good so far!

I am reading The Orphanmaster by Jean Zimmerman, but I doubt it's about your guy's daddy. It's actually about New Amsterdam, in the pre-New York days. Very good, but sometimes I stop reading because it gets to a point where I don't want to face what is coming next.

Plus the two main characters drive me batty, but it's a good book nonetheless.

Oh, I really liked this! Let us know what you think when you've finished!

That sounds really good!

I'm reading The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. So far, I'm really enjoying it and would definitely recommend it to YA fiction fans.

Finished Racism Without Racists! Very very good read I'd recommend, particularly to my white friends. There were two things I didn't like, number one was that one of the whites that was interviewed identified as transexual and had a female name, but male pronouns were used. It could very well be that male pronouns were preferred for this person, but one time the author referred to the trans* person as a "transvestite", and its like, those words aren't interchangable, at all! I think I'm going to email the author and ask him about it, and if it can be amended in another edition. LGBTQ issues were left out of the book, which was sad too because people of colour experience homophobic/transphobic violence a lot more than white people do. I also didn't really care for the chapter about how race relations will look like in the future, mostly just because its speculation and could easily go another way (like he thinks some racial groups will "become white" like the Irish and Italians did, but I don't agree about who, like he suggested urban aboriginals as a candidate and while white passing aboriginals may be assimilated, an aboriginal does not have to live on a reserve to experience racism.)

Those complaints aside, it was otherwise really really good, had a lot of information I didn't know or even realize (like how much whites segregate themselves from PoC), and the interview results were reaaaaaaaally surprising, I didn't realize so many people oppose interracial marriage still (and this is where the title comes into play, most people will say things like "Oh, interracial marriage is fine! Buuuuuut...the children will get picked on, so the couple should really consider who they're affecting before they do such a thing." "I'm not against it, but I wouldn't do it." Most white people now still hold some racist views but phrase it in such a way so in their mind, its not racist.) and I know people who shouldn't be racist (feminists, LGBTQ peeps) very often are, but it still surprises me when people you'd think could sympathize (like the aforementioned trans* person) is pretty racist.

There's a lot I can say about it, but mostly its just one of those books that gives you a lot to think about.

I'm late to the Austen party and reading Pride and Prejudice!

Oh I am excited for you! I wish I was reading it for the first time.

Finally started "We have always lived in the castle". First chapter was ok!

Making a Killing by Bob Torres.

I just finished it! I feel like I need to read it again, I got too busy and stagger-read it and don't have a strong impression of the story because I took it in in bits over, like, a month, but I love Shirley's style, whatever she's written!

Rereading the Shardlake series by CJ Sansom. Loved them first time round and am loving them again. Tudor England is fascinating anyway and to combine that with brilliant story telling makes a gripping read.

I've not heard of these. I've read a lot of Tudor based stuff and really enjoyed it, so will put them on my list. I'm trying to resist Bring up the Bodies until it comes out in paperback, but I don't know if I can wait till February!

ETA - Just read the summary of the first one on Amazon, sounds right up my street.

Pass it, already!

I'm finally reading Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

I just finished Killing Floor, the first Jack Reacher novel. I read about it on Criminal Element, which Vantine pointed out to me when I asked about crime-type novels. It took me a while to get in to it, but I think I might look for the next one. The reason I got it in the first place is because there was a story on the site about the movie being made with the character (I'm not sure if it's a movie of the first book) with Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher. Even reading the first 20-odd pages, I knew that was the worst casting decision in the history of making books into films (Jack Reacher is over 6' tall, for one thing).

But now that I've finished all my library books, I get to bust out my Kindle again! I'm moving on to the new Tana French novel mentioned upthread. Woot! I hope it doesn't disappoint.

Finished it! Honestly I wasn't taken. The writing style was really good, but I didn't care for the story. But it was the same with "The haunting of Hill House", and also with other books where the main character/ narrator has some kind of metal illness. I don't get sympathetic enough to really be involved. I almost disliked "The curious incident of the dog at the night-time" or whatever the title was.

Now, off to Shadow of Night!

Kenneth Slawenski's biography of J.D. Salinger. My cousin and her husband named their daughter Esme after one of his short stories and I'm really excited for when she'll be old enough to appreciate reading him.

I am almost done with the Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. I'm really digging the first book! I think I just love dragons a lot! The only annoying thing is that the author uses SO MANY SEMICOLONS; she really over does it with them.

But it's really good, and I'm psyched to keep reading the series.

The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern....my friend told me he loved it & sent me a copy!

In the Woods. I really love it so far!

This is awesome! One of my favourite books!