OFF Bookworms: What have you been/are you reading?

A whole month already, can you believe it? 

Hope everyone's enjoyed the book/s they read and look forward to hearing a little about them!

Right now, I'm about halfway through Everything She Ever Wanted by Ann Rule.  She writes true crime books and I think I remember hearing about this one when it all happened.  So far it's good, but then all of her books are.

This month I read:

The Given Day by Dennis Lehane.  Set in Boston at the end of World War I, the book follows two families before, during and after the police strike that devastated parts of the city.  Lehane's always done a great job with characterization and plot.  I liked Mystic River better though.  Haven't read Shutter Island yet.

I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is one I'd never read before believe it or not but always wanted to!  To be honest, I don't understand why it ended up on banned-book lists.  Angelou's recounting of a traumatic event in her life wasn't so mind blowing that it called for being banned in my opinion and the value of her story far outweighs everything else.

Vinegar Hill  by A. Manette Ansay was very depressing--at least for me.  This is what I wrote on my reading blog:  "Ellen Grier and her family are forced (because of financial cir****tances) to move in with her husband's parents. Was there ever a grimmer, more dysfunctional couple? I might say Frank and Marie Barone from TV's Everybody Loves Raymond but at least that couple was darkly funny. This couple made me want to run screaming in horror from the room whenever they entered the scene."  I finished the book but I can't say I enjoyed it.

Nightmare House by Douglas Clegg was a good old fashioned ghost story!  As for the house, think of The Overlook from The Shining or even Collinwood from the old Gothic series Dark Shadows.

The Widow's War by Sally Gunning was a fine historical fiction novel.  Set in colonial New England, it tells the story of a strong woman named Lydie Berry who is widowed when her whaler husband is killed at sea.  In those times, a woman had little control of her life.  Well, a widow has even less and is at the mercy of her nearest male relation.  I was totally hooked on the book.

I was thinking about starting a book group for OH but I wondered if it was a good idea.  It seems like folks would rather go to a forum than fool with a group, do you think?  Or should I go for it?  I would still post the monthly thread but the group would allow for more book reviews and discussion.  ???

I just picked up James Patterson's 8th Women's Murder Club book. I am saving it to read during chemo. Before that it was a Linda Leal Miller romance. I like stuff I can get lost in while getting my proceedure. I'm not fond of westerns, but I'll pretty much read anything from Tuesdays With Maury, to Time Traveler's Wife, to Eragon and the Twilight series.

I just purchased this one and waiting for it's arrival.
Celtic Lore: The History of the Druids and Their Timeless Traditions

I'm trying to find time to read again.  I bought The Shack and want to get into it.  I've heard good things about it.  I'm also going to find Ken Follett's books in large print.  I know they're long, and large print is so easy to read now.  I'm showing my age!
I think a monthly post is good, Cassie.  You're right about the groups.  I try to hit my forums each day, but when you get into groups, there's just too much time involved.
Jan

Jani - Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth (1200 cathedral town in England) and World Without End
(the sequel 1400 same cathedral town) were absolutely wonderful books.  I got one thru my library in large print  and then I renewed it.   I got the other via Amazon.com - used - large print - hardcover for about $3 plus $3.50 shipping well worth it.  Very good shape.  They're over a thousand pages each.

Good luck!

Katherine B

I was just at the library this afternoon.  I checked for them both in the large print section, and they had neither.  They had both of them in regular print, but for a book that long, I'd really like the large print.  I may go on-line and see if the library here carries them in large print.  If not, maybe I'll check out Amazon.  I think the longest book I've ever read was years and years ago, Michners HAWAII.  That was when I was young and my sight was good!  Might behouve me to purchase them on Amazon so I wouldn't have to rush to get them read.  I picked up Janet Evanovich's Finger Lickin Fifteen, and just some other book that looked pretty good.  Can't even remember the author now.

I've heard Ken Follett's two books you mentioned above are wonderful wonderful...  I'll have to try it.

Jan

Hey Cassie and bookworms,

I'm reading Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. It's about a man who purchases a ghost/suit off of the Internet, it's pretty good. I'm just about finished.

I also read Sweet Heart by Chelsea Cain. It picked up toward the end, but a slow read for me. I have the next two books that follow this, but I took a break before starting.

Thanks for posting. I really enjoy this thread.

i really cant remember the last one i read , i have two whole shelves of books from my book club that i havent read. and they are all in large print so not much excuse except that my total reading these days is taken up in looking at and reading my plant and seed catalogs . wishing and dreaming for spring...have a list made out to two of them that i have to cut down shorter since there is no way i can afford all that i have written down lol...

the next book on my shelf that i will attemp to read this spring and summer when i take breaks is David Baldiccis Stone Cold....love takeing breaks outside in the shade with a nice glass of icewater and a good book ....

I'm reading David Gibbins Atlantis.... since I've already finished the 2nd and 3rd book in the series... LOL  I hear tell there's a 4th due out too... so that's next on my list.....

I loved the Anita Blake, vampire killer series by Laurell K Hamilton, until book 8 or 9.... then it just got old.....

I agree with what you said about the Anita Blake series. I haven't read one of her books in ages.
I just took a break from reaing Sherryl Woods' Sweet Magnolia series and am reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. Its about the end of the world, done in a tongue in cheek version. Pretty funny in a strange way.