<p>I had to select all, then copy, then paste into a Word doc to read ignatius’s posts. It was almost as much fun as using my old Monster Pen from the Super Sugar Crisp cereal box: <a href=“http://farm9.static.■■■■■■■■■■/8455/7884025100_4831210ae8.jpg”>http://farm9.static.■■■■■■■■■■/8455/7884025100_4831210ae8.jpg</a></p>
<p>Here’s what we have (minus the nixed Interpreter of Maladies):</p>
<p>Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami
The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell
The Round House by Louise Erdrich
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez
Mr. Mercedes by Stephen King
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle and The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz (duet)
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf</p>
<p>David Mitchell and Stephen King would be repeat authors for us, but I don’t care if you don’t care. Should any of the above titles be removed from consideration? Remember, anyone can exercise veto power.</p>
<p>If you are content with the selection, go ahead and list your top three.</p>
<p>I’d love to read To the Lighthouse. I’ve been trying to read a lot of classics recently; I’ve been finding it very rewarding.</p>
<ol>
<li>Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami.</li>
<li>To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.</li>
<li>The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle and The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz (duet).</li>
</ol>
<p>Actually, I would be okay with any of the books on the list this time, but I’ll admit that I’m not very interested in the ones by Doerr and Henriquez.</p>
<p>Absolutely no preferences (or dispreferences) whatsoever. You guys pick and I’ll join in.</p>
<p>Before we quit this discussion, take a minute and let me know what you’re reading now or plan to read next (or even if you’ve read anything good lately). I always find it interesting.</p>
<ol>
<li>To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf.</li>
<li>The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle and The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz (duet).</li>
<li>Murakami - but I’d rather read one of the older ones that I can check out of the library.</li>
</ol>
<p>Ignatius, I’m reading * The Day of the Scorpion*.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The Round House by Louise Erdrich
I like NJTheatreMOM’s idea of following up a 19th century cowboy-focused book with a 20th century Native American focus.</p></li>
<li><p>The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle and The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz (duet)
This combo keeps bouncing back onto our short list and October is manageable for a duet. You know we won’t even consider it for December.</p></li>
<li><p>The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henriquez
New titles often draw more readers and/or generate a little excitement, and this one looked interesting.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>That said, I’ll read anything! </p>
<p>ignatius, I just finished Open Range by Lauran Paine. I would not recommend it—it’s a pulp western and written in such a way that I can understand how Mr. Paine managed to write 1,000 books in his lifetime without ever rewriting a word (see post #10 in this thread). Still…he knows his cowboys (that was his thing). There is one line in the book that reminded me of Lonesome Dove: After a violent and unpredictable series of events, one character says to another, “In this life, Mister Waite, if it ain’t happenin’, it’s fixin’ to.” </p>
<p>The movie (with Robert Duvall, Kevin Costner and Annette Bening) is much richer and more interesting than the book. Kudos to those actors for adding a lot of layers to a simple story.</p>
<p>But now I’m done with cowboys for a while. In a last ditch, desperate attempt to understand my inscrutable 16-year old, I read whatever she puts into my hands. This week, it’s Eleanor and Park.</p>
<p>True about October being good for a duet - or longer book. Last October we read War of the Worlds and Ender’s Game. We choose short for the December 1 discussion book - taking Thanksgiving and holiday preparations into consideration. No ranking from me though. I’m easy this time around.</p>
<p>I’m currently reading Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver - sequel to The Bean Trees. I read The Bean Trees for one of my other book clubs and liked it, so moved onto the sequel.</p>
<p>I’m also reading a romantic suspense - The Collector by Nora Roberts.</p>
<p>Upcoming - two books for my other book club. I am getting the first one through interlibrary loan. I’d tell you the title but promptly wiped it from my mind after placing the order. I remember neither title or author. This may be a good indicator that I’m in one book club too many. :"> The other book is Rage Against the Dying: A Thriller by Becky Masterman. I’ve already read and liked it. The protagonist is a 59-year-old ex-FBI agent named Brigid Quinn. She’s newly married (first time) but gets pulled back into one of her unsolved cases. The NYT has a good review: <a href=“‘Rage Against the Dying,’ by Becky Masterman - The New York Times”>‘Rage Against the Dying,’ by Becky Masterman - The New York Times;
<p>In between all this I still plan to continue working my way through The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. I’ve finished The Thief and have The Queen of Attolia waiting for me.</p>
<p>Too many books at the moment … but still looking forward to see what gets chosen here. </p>
<p>I have a top two -
The Round House
The Book of Unknown Americans
…but I am willing to read whatever is picked. The duet doesn’t jump out at me, but I will give it a try if it is the most popular.</p>
<p>ignatius, I am reading the last book (#6) in the Wilderness series by Sara Donati. I have enjoyed the series.</p>
<p>Oh if anyone wants to know what’s on my bedside table:
The Martian - Andy Weir. Man gets left behind when there’s an emergency evacuation of an early Mars mission. (Was self published then picked up by a real publisher.)
Side Jobs - Jim Butcher. A collection of short stories in the Dresden Files series. (Urban fantasy.)
Life - Keith Richards. I’ve been reading this forever. It’s enjoyable, but really easy to put down.</p>
<p>I think it’s about time for Margaret Whalen Turner to write a new book. :-)</p>
<p>I’m thrilled that Mary13 let us know her top three this time…doesn’t always happen. :)</p>
<p>I’m also very pleased that both Mary and Caraid put The Round House as their top choice. </p>
<p>Since the Murakami and the Virgina Woolf seem unlikely to be selected, I hereby REVISE my top three list:</p>
<ol>
<li>The Round House by Louise Erdrich.</li>
<li>The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle and The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz (duet)</li>
<li>Any of the others, but I’d favor Murakami, Woolf, MItchell, or King over Doerr or Henriquez.</li>
</ol>
<p>Ignatius, right now I’m reading The Possessed by Dostoevsky. I picked it up partly because of an admiring post by a person on the “best book” thread, partly because I had never before read much of anything by Russian authors, and partly because a Dostoevsky-literate friend agreed to read it along with me.</p>
<p>I had no idea what to expect of The Possessed, but I am liking it very much! </p>
<p>NJTM: I picked up a book you had just finished reading either last time or the time before - The Quick</p>
<p>mathmom Supposed to be two more in The Queen’s Thief series:</p>
<p>
</a></p>
<p>It was a great Masterpiece Theater many eons ago when I was in high school. Unfortunately it never seems to have been released.</p>
<p>I’d be perfectly happy to read The Round House.</p>
<p>Yeah, ignatius, I read The Quick because I wanted to see what reading and reviewing a pre-release copy of a book would be like.</p>
<p>It wasn’t the best thing I ever read, but it was more than okay.</p>
<p>That was back before I got involved with my other book club that does “big reads” for some of its selections. A recent one was Pickwick Papers. The upcoming one is The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope.</p>
<p>You do know that if we choose to discuss The Round House, I’ll have to read Plague of Doves first:</p>
<p>
I’m a little obsessive compulsive about series, in case you haven’t noticed. Not saying I won’t do it, just saying it has to be done. It does not a bit of good telling me it doesn’t matter. The only reason I read Lonesome Dove before its prequels is because I had already read it before its prequels existed.</p>
<p>Plague of Doves is kind of a confusing book. I liked it much less than The Round House. The Round House is more linear, and the story is easier to follow.</p>
<p>Unless you have an obsession like ignatius’s, I wouldn’t worry about not being able to understand The Round House without reading Plague of Doves. Different generations and relatives of characters throughout Erdrich’s novels range through many of her books, but each book can stand on its own two feet.</p>
<p><a href=“In%20%5Bi%5DPlague%20of%20Doves%5B/i%5D”>quote</a>, Ms. Erdrich uses several characters to narrate alternating chapters (the same technique pioneered by Faulkner in “As I Lay Dying”), giving us a choral story that unfolds from multiple perspectives. Only gradually are the relationships between these characters and their ancestors revealed, resulting in an elliptical, jigsaw puzzle of a narrative.
[/quote]
</p>
<p><a href=“Louise Erdrich’s Novel ‘The Plague of Doves’ Looks at the Tangled Roots of a Town’s Family Trees - The New York Times”>Louise Erdrich’s Novel ‘The Plague of Doves’ Looks at the Tangled Roots of a Town’s Family Trees - The New York Times;
<p>My favorites would be:
- Murakami
- Round House
- To the Lighthouse (never read it!)</p>
<p>But there’s nothing on the list I’d object to, so the others would be fine, too. </p>
<p>Next on my reading list is the new Amy Bloom novel, Lucky Us. Her book, Away, is one of my favorites. Also up, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, by Roz Chast.</p>
<p>^^^ I’m on the wait list at my library (#26 to be exact ) for Lucky Us. I won’t get it for a while which is a good thing as I need to clear up some of my other books first.</p>
<p>Have been wanting to read The. Round House …
Mary13 and nj TheaterMom --I agree this is nice follow up…!!!
- The Round House by Louise Erdrich
I like NJTheatreMOM’s idea of following up a 19th century cowboy-focused book with a 20th century Native American focus.</p>
<p>Ahhhh The Bean Trees, offered to son’s girlfriend as beach read, ( she read it in high school ) , Ignatius, I might have to read Pigs in Heaven, think I tried years ago.</p>