What We're Reading!

When I told you earlier this month what my book club is reading, I mentioned that I have a family full of readers. As if I had already mentioned that once or twice! This month my family has shared with me that they are reading:

• Mini-me is switching between The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles (loved it!) by Haruki Murakami and Dune by Frank Herbert. Happy to have turned him onto Murakami!

• Ms. S, who recently started working for the federal prison system (medical, not enforcement, thank heavens!) is interested in learning more about our prison systems and is reading The Hot House: Life Inside Leavenworth Prison by Pete Earley. She just might be able to pass that along to....

• Miss H, who is studying criminal justice, with a certificate in chemical dependency. She is currently studying the Narcotics Anonymous basic text. 

• The Big Guy is making his way through Paul Theroux's latest, Figures In A Landscape. He's been a fan of Theroux's for a very long time. 

• My dad is enjoying his Father's Day present from my sister, Eunice: The Kennedy Who Changed The World by Eileen McNamara.

• My Rhode Island uncle and aunt have a couple of recommendations, which I'll share in another post, but they are otherwise devouring crime thrillers including those by Jo Nesbo, Kent Anderson, Trudy Nan Boyce, James Lee Burke, Craig Johnson, and Ken Bruen. Australian Garry Disher's books are new discoveries in that vein. They are also looking forward to Jennifer Egan's Manhattan Beach (eagerly awaiting the verdict on this one). 

• My Iowa aunt has picked up Thrity Umrigar's sequel to The Space Between Us, The Secrets Between Us. I can't wait to hear what she thinks of us as Space is one of my all-time faves.

• My Iowa uncle is devouring all of the books, I think - he's been reading (I'm including his comments on the books):

The Restless Wave ~ by John McCain [somewhat interesting; lacking extensive editing I feel that a better title would have been 'The Righteous Wave'] 

Something Wonderful: Rogers and Hammerstein's Broadway revolution ~ by Scott Purdum. [I LOVED it, particularly about how 'South Pacific' and 'Oklahoma' came to be. " All they cared about was the show "]*

I'm presently reading Welty ~ Complete Novels including Eudora Welty's books The Robber Bridegroom; Delta Wedding; The Ponder Heart; Losing Battles; and The Optimist's Daughter. WHY am I reading this? I've long been had the feeling that I ought to give her a try. This Faulkner contemporary was born in 1909 and lived her entire life in her parents house in Jackson, Mississippi. So far 'The Ponder Heart' is the only book that much interests me. In regard to the recent criticism of racist language against Indians in the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, it occurs to me that Eudora (whose novels were written between 1942 and 1953) would be criticized today for Negro racism) 

NEXT up ....thanks to Brother 'Joe' I fell in love with Donna Leon's novels about the Venetian police commissario, Guido Brunetti. I'm almost to the end of the series and am about to read the next-to-last book 'Earthly Remains'

And there you have it, folks! See, I told you I come from a family of readers! How's that for a diverse range of books?

What We're Reading!

So, I know what all of my blogging friends are reading because, well, blogging. But I'm also surrounded by readers, from friends, to coworkers, to most of my family. I seem to forget to ask them, regularly, what they're reading. Starting this week, I'll begin periodically posting a new feature called "What We're Reading," as a reminder for me to ask the question and maybe introduce you to some new books.

This month the members of my book club, who may or may not have read this month's book club selection, have been busy reading other things as well. Here's what they have found interesting lately:

• Prairie Fires: The American Dream of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser (an especially interesting choice given the recent controversy surrounding Ingalls Wilder)
• The Knowledge by Martha Grimes 
• The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (are you as impressed as I am?)
• The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George (the member reading this asks, "Has there ever been an unsatisfactory book about a bookshop?")
• The Women's Hour: The Great Fight To Win The Vote by Elaine Weiss (this one's new to me but definitely getting added to my wish list!)
• Kiss Carlo by Adriana Trigani

I have mentioned that my book club is chock full of smart women who read all kinds of interesting books and read across the spectrum, right?

My funniest response, when I asked the members what there were reading, was this:

"I'm reading Facebook, way too often; on page fifty."

Four days later, I got this update:

"Still reading Facebook, can't find the end..."

And now you know why we spend so much time just laughing at meetings!