Kevin Baker's "Striver's Row" which is a piece of historical fiction set in Harlem during WW2 and follows two people--a fictionalized Malcolm Little (who would later becomeMalcolm X) and a preacher named Jonah Dove who can pass as white.

After that, I went back to the library looking to find a Neil Gaiman novel (I think I need to read a few novels to get me back in the habit of reading actual books) and found Ariel Gore's new novel instead. Devoured that in 2 nights (would have been one had I stayed home Friday night)

Back to the library tomorrow for more. Or maybe I'll start in on marcos' "Conversations with Durrito" which a friend lent me last year and I never got around to cracking.

Sometimes paper is the only thing that will listen to you.

which I don't like as much as Kingston's other books. Still,it's amazing that she rewrote an entire book that she lost in a fire.

An Exchange of Gifts, by Anne McCaffrey. Theoretically I was reading it myself, but almost immediately it turned into a read-aloud to F, since she is totally deprived of all siblings this week. (Poor baby.)

Also The Cat Who Dropped A Bombshell, by Lilian Jackson Braun. I keep swearing I'm not going to read another one of her books. I don't mind that they're fluff (I read plenty of fluff) but the last six or eight haven't been very good. Basically no mystery at all -- she telegraphs her villians very early on and Qwilleran doesn't do any sleuth work at all. Big deal. I don't think I'm going to read another one (I may not finish this one) and this time I think I'll stick to it.

Purpose-Driven Life. I've read this actually, but it seems like I need to read this again. :) I'm losing track.

--------------------------------
Hollie Smith
HVAC Home
http://www.hvachome.net
links@hvachome.net
Learn everything you need to know about HVAC.

Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs (A recent fav writer of mine! I loved "Dry")
The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show. Awesome read!
And "Forgive Us our Spins" about Michael Moore by Jesse Larner.

Regina
"Karma is a boomerang"

subtitled "the History of the Chinese in South Africa."

It's the only book I know of dedicated to the Chinese in South Africa. My aunt had a copy of it because her sister-in-law was mentioned as one of the first chinese women to get into a South African medical school (back in 1947!)

Lots of interesting (and horrifying) little tidbits. In 1906, a prison official in Pretoria testified that Chinese prisoners were being scalped after execution and high-ranking officials were claiming their pigtails as trophies.

There's a pretty extensive bibliography in the back of the book. Guess I'll be checking quite a few of those out as well.

So Far From God by Ana Castillo. great great great- supernatural telenovela about a family of women in new mexico. Also, Portuguese Irregular Verbs and The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs by Alexander McCall Smith- which are very funny.

I'm reading Alta, by Mercedes Lackey. It's part of a three-book series. Joust is the first, Sanctuary is the third.

The whole family, except for F, whose reading is really basic right now, got into Joust. Even V took enough time to read it -- she's been dragging it around for three weeks. I thought we were going to wear it out before we got it returned to the library.

Next on the list is The Good Girl's Guide to Bad Girl Sex. B and I are both reading it, with the idea that it might eventually be a useful book to give to V and F. When they get older.

I don't even know what else is in the pile. I've been reading between eight and fifteen books a month this year, but here it is the tenth of August and I'm still on my first for the month. And it's not as though it's a tough book -- it's fluff. Too hot to read.

I just finished rereading "Summerland," a YA novel by Michael Chabon, who also wrote "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay" and "Wonder Boys." K&C is one of my all-time favorite books, and part of why I loved it so is that Chabon managed to make me care about superheroes, a concept that never resonated with me much before.

He did it again in "Summerland," which made me feel much more affectionate towards baseball than ever before. I'd highly recommend it to anyone with baseball-loving kids or a baseball-loving family. I can see it being fun to read aloud at night too.

Highest praise possible: the language, whimsy and wit reminded me of the Phantom Tollbooth, one of my favorite kid-lit books ever.

Hey I'm new but just wanted to post on this chain (since I agree with an earlier post abt TRAVELING DEATH!!). I'm reading THE BIRTH HOUSE by AmiMcKay, about a reluctant midwive in a seaside community. It's an historical novel, and the character is feisty and lives her life against the grain, and of course eventually finds a great man to love and a group of friends to stand by her. I like this book so much I have three copies to share. Email me if you want yours, no strings!

http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780061135859/The_Birth_House/index.aspx

I'm working at camp right now and so I have like, a half hour each night to read as I fall asleep, but it's a half hour that I really need, to disconnect and let my brain relax. and I have nothing to read that I haven't read already, so I've been re-reading Motherless Brooklyn, which I read during a trip to brooklyn back in january and loved then, and am loving now. it's a strange sort of comfort read. it, uh, has nothing to do with parenting...
supercenter
superzine

I just finished, "The Five People You Meet in Heaven" by Mitch Albom. Sweet, well written, clever plot. I was surprised I liked it so much considering it was a last minute pick-up at the library and I thought it would be cheesy. But it wasn't. And "The Finer Points of Sausage Dogs" by Alexander McCall Smith. Very funny- I read all the No 1 Ladies Detective Agency books and liked them. This one is from a different series about a German professor. It's very good and now I am ordering all the rest from that series from the library.

I'm reading The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show. How good is the friend who loaned it to me? She let me have it and she hasn't even had a chance to read it. Now there's friendship.

So far, my favorite quote is, "It's a damned embarrassing time to be a Christian."

Damned embarrassing time, indeed.

Been juggling books and so far this summer, haven't finished a single one. I've been picking up and putting down:

"Fifth Book of Peace" (Maxine Hong Kingston)

"Outlaws on the Border" (Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz)

"Policing the National Body: RAce, Gender & Criminalization"

"Word: On Being a Woman Writer"

I have not finished a single one of these books.

2 nights ago, I started reading Gregory McGuire's "Mirror, Mirror." Finished it in one sitting (well, lying down)--stayed up till 2 am reading and was totally zonked the next day, but you can tell just how good a book is when I, who can't concentrate on the printed word at all these days, will devour a book in one sitting.

The ending (not to give it away) was disappointing. But overall the book was definitely a good, light-hearted read.

I just finished a biography of Isak Dineson. It's hard not to be jealous; she was a successful writer almost right from the beginning. On the other hand, her writing career didn't start until after almost two miserable decades, and she was in constant pain for most of her life.

A friend loaned me The Traveling Death and Resurrection Show -- a friend will loan you her favorite book, and a true friend will loan it to you before she's had a chance to read it herself -- and I'm just getting started on it. It's too early to tell what I think about it.

I also have Dineson's Out of Africa and Shadows on the Grass in one volume, and one other book whose title escapes me. I found some good stuff in the library, too, so I have a big stack of stuff that should keep me amused for a while.

kate bornsteins "Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives to Suicide for Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws"
READ IT!!!!!!!

Sellevision and Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs.
I preferred Magical Thinking.
Regina
"Karma is a boomerang"
http://therealhot100.org/meet_the_2006_winners/meet_the_2006_winners/the_real_hot_100_by_last_name_12.html

Because I'm fantasizing about moving out to the country- which I don't know if it will ever happen or not but I'm enjoying the fantasy life in any case- I've been reading alot of green building books, straw bale and passive solar housing books etc. Also I just read Fifty Acres and a Poodle- a memoir by Jeanne Marie Laskas. Great book. I think she is very funny and very smart too. I just ordered her next one that chronicles the next phase of her life in which she adopts a chinese baby. recommended read-

I just finished Margaret Atwood's new book, The Tent. It's a collection of short, somewhat experimental pieces, very different in some ways from her more traditional novels, but with that gorgeous, elegant style and that wise, wicked humor. Most of them draw on myth, legend, and fairy tale for their subjects. She did the artwork in it too. Definitely a recommended read!

I'm reading Bean Blossom Dreams by Sallyann J. Murphey. It is really very sweet. An account of a woman who moved with her family from Chicago to a farm in Indiana and their struggles to 'make it' in the country. And then at the end of it she includes her favorite recipes as well as other tips. It's good-

oops double post