*** October - What are you reading?

This is Halloween, everybody make a scene
Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright
It's our town, everybody scream
In this town of Halloween

---

The month of ghouls and goblins and ghosts and gnastiness.

Hauntify this thread for the month of Octoberrrrrrr!

I'm (still) reading Unclay by T.S. Powys. Love it so far. It's a perfect book to read for Halloween!

I'm reading The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2011, edited by Mary Roach. So, not exactly a spooky Halloween read, although the article about how a staggering number of medical studies turn out to be incorrect was pretty scary.

After finishing and loving To the Lighthouse, I thought I'd give The Hours by Michael Cunningham a try.

I've just started Fighting for Life, a recently published New York Review Books reprint of the 1939 autobiography of the physician and public health crusader S. Josephine Baker, who in her role as the director of the Bureau of Child Hygiene in New York City in the early 20th century instituted numerous reforms and programs that directly led to a dramatic decrease in childhood mortality and improvement in the well being of young children and their mothers. Many of the plans she put into place were widely adopted throughout the US and the world, and they are credited with saving the lives of 90,000 NYC children during her career and millions more since then. She was also known for chasing down and capturing the notorious "Typhoid Mary" Mallon on two occasions, once sitting on top of her in an ambulance to keep her from escaping from it.

I'm still picking my way through Night and Day by Virginia Woolf (only because I'm a Woolf completist) and I'm also reading a Pied Piper retelling called After Hamelin by Bill Richardson (of CBC Radio and Bachelor Brothers' Bed and Breakfast fame. This second book was inspired by all the fairly tale talk in the Children's Book.

I'm still reading Freud by Jonathan Lear, based on an LT recommendation, and have added in La Reine Margot by Dumas, which almost made me miss my subway stop this morning, and The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos, the just-published third installment of Patrick Leigh Fermor's youthful journey from England to Turkey. And, when I have a chance, I'll write a review of the last book I finished, Case Closed by Patrik Ourednik.

I am reading Instructions for writing History or Trips to the moon by Lucian of Samosata. Written in AD 130, there are claims for it to be an early science fiction novel. No science fiction yet but I have not got to the moon story.

I wish I could find my first two volumes by Patrick Leigh Fermor about his trek. It would follow what I've been reading well. Instead I have tossed The Old Ways at my pillow possibly to start when I go to bed. I'll know more tonight.

Robert

I'm early in The Story of the Human Body: Evolution, Health, and Disease by Daniel Lieberman, which explores the seven transformations (five physical; two cultural) through which we evolved to be human and their effects on our health. I'm on the first: becoming upright bipeds.

Planning on joining a RL book group through my Synagogue, I've just started The DoveKeepers by Alice Hoffman. Not terribly impressed so far...although I'm only 40 pages in. (I think I would rather be trying Patrick Leigh Fermor). Anyway, if all goes well I may follow this up with a few nonfiction books on Masada.

In the mean time I've put all other books aside, temporarily, except the new one I'm listening to, Bomb by Steve Sheinkin, which is tagged as young adult. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

Reading Taming the Infinite - which is a return to my roots (I almost went for Maths major). Not for the popular public - it has a lot of Maths - but if someone is up for a challenge, it still can work even for people that never had anything besides high school Math. Plus the story around the graphics and formulas probably work without them as well - I just love the mix of both things.

More comments when I read more of it :)

I finished Fighting for Life by S. Josephine Baker this afternoon, which was superb, and I've just started a novella by the Chilean author Alejandro Zambra entitled Ways of Going Home, which is set during the regime of General Augusto Pinochet.

I am reading Rabelais a critical study in Prose fiction by Dorothy Gabe Coleman

I've finished The Indiscreet Jewels by Denis Diderot, and am now reading Memory of Fire by Eduardo Galeano.

Annie - not sure I could read and understand Taming the Infinite, but sounds fascinating. Did you catch my somewhat hidden thanks to you for inspiring me to read The Clockwork Universe? Anyway, thanks, one of my favorite books this year.

Dan,

Nope - missed it - had not been paying my attention lately. But you are welcome - I am glad you liked it :)
I am still not sure how deep the Taming will go - will post a full report when I read it. But it is not literary as the Clockwork Universe - that's for sure.

I've just reviewed Case Closed by Patrik Ouředník which I found fun but mystifying. I finished it almost a week ago abut have been too busy to review it until now, and now will attempt to catch up with all your threads too.

Finished Unclay this morning. It was one of the strangest books I've ever read so of course, I loved it. :) Going to come back to the real world and read One Doctor: Close Calls, Cold Cases and the Mysteries of Medicine by Brendan Reilly that NielsenGW reviewed on his thread.

Where did you get Unclay?

Robert

Mr. Durick,
A friend of mine found it on eBay and sent it to me. Last year dmsteyn mentioned that the Sundial Press would be a possible place to get a copy.

Here's a link to the website: http://www.sundialpress.co.uk/The%20Sundial%20Press%20-%20About%20Us.html

Eureka. I think that they may also have been mentioned on The Chapel of the Abyss, but when I went back to place my order I couldn't find the reference. Thank you.

Robert

I'm currently reading Thanksgiving, by Ellen Cooney.

Now listening to Midnight Rising : John Brown and Raid that Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz, and scanning through The Elements: The New Guide to the Building Blocks of Our Universe by Jack Challoner. Still reading The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman, it hasn't gotten any better.

Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World's Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin was short and very entertaining.

Just finished The bell by iris Murdoch and I think I'll start Silas Marner now.

I've finally started Never Let Me Go -- don't know much about it going in and am loving Ishiguro's slow reveal. All I want to do is read more.

I've been getting a lot of reading done lately, although it's mainly short stuff. I've recently finished re-reading childhood favorite Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, as well as the strange and funny Installing Linux on a Dead Badger by Lucy A. Snyder, the mostly just strange 1960s SF novel Thorns by Robert Silverberg, and the moving Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel. And I'm now about 60 pages into Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending, which so far is excellent.

I have just finished A Book Of Silence, a memoir/meditation by Sara Maitland on something which she feels is sadly lacking in the modern world - and which turns out to be surprisingly complex. Now onto Coda by Thea Astley.

Two books came to mind as I finished The Old Ways: Dersu the Trapper and The Box. The latter was higher in the stack and was bigger, so I took it back to bed with me. Seventy five pages in I'm finding it very interesting and pretty lively. The kind of containerized shipping that globalized the globe started in my adolescent years, so it is something of a contemporary character for me.

The picture that led to the suggestion that I might read this book.

Robert

I am about to start Triplanetry by E E 'Doc' Smith. It is the first book in a science fiction series described as "The greatest of the early golden age space opera" in Anatomy of Wonder I am not expecting overmuch in literary content.

Last night I started reading Seven Gothic Tales by Isak Dinesen, but after a brilliant first few pages, it soon turned very boring, so that one is going back on the shelf. Now I'm going to try Fear and Trembling--the one by Amelie Nothomb, not Soren Kierkegaard.

I thoroughly enjoyed my introduction to the adventurous and intrigue-filled world of Alexandre Dumas with La Reine Margot, and have reviewed it and the second of Denise Mina's Garnethill trilogy, Exile, on my thread and on the book pages.

I've got a scant start on Dersu the Trapper. It shows no signs of not being readable, but a couple of dozen pages in I am not yet enthralled. It is interesting that these trekkers don't have packages mailed to them along the way and don't cook over white gas stoves.

Robert

I finished One Doctor: Close Calls, Cold Cases and the Mysteries of Medicine by Brendan Reilly yesterday. Stephen King's Misery is waiting for me at the local library. It will be my first time reading a Stephen King novel. A friend of mine read it years ago and said it was really good.

I'm reading There but for the by Ali Smith and Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky.

#33 I think if you read more you will understand why they couldn't have packages mailed to them -- there is one point where they hope to rendezvous with a ship carrying supplies. Not sure about gas and its transportability at that time, either.

I've recently finished and just reviewed Oil on Water by Helon Habila and The Broken Road: From the Iron Gates to Mount Athos by Patrick Leigh Fermor.

I am away from the internet for a few days and have taken with me Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical Progress upon Human life and Thought by H G Wells - This sounds a little pretentious.

The Wars of the Roses; England's first Civil war I got this after reading a StevenTX review.

Rebecca, I had hoped that I was making a joke. Walking the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail is a mighty undertaking, but with conveniences that would likely have been thought unreal to a real wilderness trekker of the very early twentieth century a few miles inland from the Pacific coast of Russia. I do see, however, as I start reading the story of the third expedition that they have sent caches forward to use as they progress.

Robert

Sorry, Robert. Sometimes I don't get jokes on the internet -- can't always tell when someone is joking! Thanks for explaining and being patient with my denseness.

I have survived reading The Dovekeepers, and still have some brain activity. Bad in frustrating ways. Still, I'm following up with Masada : Herod's fortress and the Zealots' last stand, 1966 publication by archeologist Yigael Yadin. It seems lacking in normal scientific skepticism, but entertaining enough nonetheless.

I've finished TransAtlantic by Colum McCann, which was excellent. Now, back to In Europe by Geert Mak and Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda for light reading.

The organization I work for is shut down at the moment, since we're reliant on funding from the US government that we're not getting while it's closed for business. Me, I'm on the skeleton crew, required to be in to keep an eye on the equipment, but forbidden from doing much in the way of actual work. So I'm getting one hell of a lot of reading done. In the past week, I've finished: The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan, the first in a YA series set generations into the zombie apocalypse; Lost at Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries by Jon Ronson, a collection of articles about odd and interesting (and sometimes quite disturbing) people and events; The Sisters Brothers by Patrick DeWitt, a novel about hired killers in the 1800s; The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which has made thoroughly paranoid about the Ebola virus; and Science: Ruining Everything since 1543 by Zach Weinersmith, a collection of cartoons from the webcomic Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. And I'm now reading my latest ER book, USA Noir: Best of the Akashic Noir Series, which is really good, but has slowed me down a little, being on the thick side and perhaps best not inhaled all at once.

The Hot Zone by Richard Preston, which has made thoroughly paranoid about the Ebola virus;

I have fond memories of reading that book--back in the day when I used to select books from the Book of the Month Club. The day it arrived I took it to the gym and spent waaay more time on the stair climber than I would have with my usual Glamor magazine. Book of the Month Club, Gym, stair climber, , hmmm--that must have been the 90s. Good times. Anyway, it trickles out at the end, but I really enjoyed The Hot Zone.

Okay, this is weird . . . my 16 yr old daughter interrupted my typing this message to tell me about a guy in Uganda who stole an Ebola patient's cell phone and then contracted Ebola. What an odd coincidence (old story, but new to me: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ugandan-thief-contracts-ebola-virus-swiped...

>43 Nickelini:: It sounds a little odd to say one "enjoyed" The Hot Zone, but it is, in its own horrific way, a thoroughly enjoyable book. And hey, sounds like it was good for your health!

And, wow, that is quiet a coincidence. And quite a story! I'd say the thief got what was coming to him, except that, man, nobody deserves Ebola.

except that, man, nobody deserves Ebola.

Indeed!

I'm pretty sure I read The Hot Zone in 1996. At the time I thought it would be pretty throwaway, but since I can remember where I was when I read it, it must have been memorable after all!

bragan - I'm in a similar boat. I'm military, so I'm still getting paid thank goodness and I'm still going to work, but many of our commitments have been cancelled. I'm really hoping they can get this all sorted out soon. I don't mind the extra reading time, but I don't like it if it's for this reason!

>47 japaul22:: Yes, same here! Sitting around doing nothing but reading all night may sound like my dream job, but I'd much, much rather we were doing science like we're supposed to be.

I was in London. I found myself in a bookstore (surprise, surprise). It's October - which lends itself nicely to slightly dark, fantasy, alt universe reading...

Un Lun Dun seemed, then, a perfect choice all around, and I started it on Sunday. Plus, given that it's ostensibly a YA read, it shouldn't leave me as unsettled as Perdido Street Station did.

Last night I read the introduction to Plutocrats by Chrystia Freeland in anticipation of reading it through. I'm beginning to feel that I should pick up one of the heftier backlog tomes.

Robert

New audio book. I finished Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz (which was only OK) and started How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill

>51 dchaikin: Sorry to hear that the Horwitz book was "only OK." I've been interested in that one for a while. Look forward to reading your take on it.

I'm reading The Death and Life of American Journalism: The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again by Robert W. Chesney & Nichols. I've also started the library's copy of V for Vendetta by Alan Moore. It's simple happy accident that those two books ended up in my world at the same time.

My trip to Maine didn't give me as much reading time as I had expected. Three grandchildren, long nature walks, rushing to get ferries are my big excuses. I had a lovely time. I did finish the audio version of Henning Mankell's 8th Kurt Wallender mystery, Firewall, and I am reading Penmarric by Susan Howatch. It is a very long historical fiction/family saga, so I will be busy with that for the rest of the week.

#52 Susie - I like Horwitz, and the book isn't exactly flawed in any way I can identify. I think I just found John Brown's personal story less interesting then I thought I might.

Finished Yigael Yadin's Masada. Apparently I was right about the unscientific aspect as Yadin is getting bashed in my current book, Sacrificing Truth : Archaeology and the Myth of Masada by Nachman Ben-Yehuda

I finished and reviewed A Dead Man's Memoir (A Theatrical Novel) by Mikhail Bulgakov, a satiric look at the Moscow Art Theater and the difficulties of staging a new play based on a novel.

I am currently reading The Stand by Stephen King and Mariana by Susanna Kearsley.

The Stand is SCARY!!!

>57 TheGrandWorldofBooks:: Oh, man, try reading The Stand during a really bad flu season... In fact, my experience with that book was probably the creepiest reading experience of my life: While I was still on the early chapters, I took it into work with me on a night shift, only to discover a note from the guy on the shift before me saying he'd gone home sick. For some reason I now forget, there was also no one scheduled to relieve me, and no one working on the other side of the room, where there was usually somebody all night. I saw not one human being the entire shift. The whole building was eerily deserted. And, I had a bad cough. Now, that will freak you out!

(Unfortunately, much of the rest of the book was not nearly as effective for me. But I will never, ever forget that experience.)

For myself, well, speaking of my job, we're back in business, so my reading is slowing down, but I did finish A Slave No More by David W. Blight, featuring a couple of first-hand narratives by men who escaped from slavery during the American Civil War, with a lot of historical commentary. I'm now reading the humorous SF novel Year Zero by Rob Reid, which is reasonably amusing, but not as nearly good as I'd heard. Next up: Ray Bradbury's short story collection The October Country, which seemed appropriate.

I loved The October Country stories when I read them 40- years ago.

I am starting The Outsider by Colin Wilson which has been described as "The classic study of alienation, creativity & The Mind of Modern Man.

I have also a couple of books to read for my next book club meeting:

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini which I am not looking forward to
The Trumpet Major by Thomas Hardy which I hope is not too depressing.

>59 baswood:: I'm definitely finding the stories in The October Country very effective.

>58 bragan: My most atmospheric read was In Cold Blood while working the night shift at a Circle K (a gas station/convenience store) one summer during college.

>61 RidgewayGirl: Kay, In Cold Blood was so well done, and the fact that it was non-fiction made it even creepier.

>61 RidgewayGirl: What? Working the night shift at a convenience story wasn't scary enough?!?!

It had it's moments. The worst part was the jerks (always men) who felt compelled to tell me how wrong it was for a young woman to be working the night shift alone. Bet they never told a guy that. I got pretty good at handling drunk people, which is a Useful Life Skill.

>58 bragan: I can imagine that would be totally freaky!! I'd have been scared half out of my wits, I'm sure! As it is, every time myself or someone else coughs, it DEFINITELY crosses my mind... lol

I think I'm mostly past the scary part now, and for myself, I must admit, I'm relieved. It was almost TOO scary, and I almost quit reading at one point, because of how badly it was scaring me. But I'm glad now that I kept reading. :)

Just finished Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro. I liked this one more than the previous two books by her I've read (which I liked but didn't love).

Having somehow lost my way to The Green House, I found myself immersed in Old Filth. Luckily Vivienne mentioned a sequel. Sometime I will find the house.

It's easy to lose your way in The Green House, but when you have time (and are in the mood) to concentrate on it, it's a great book. I think it took me two tries to get into it.

Bas - my advice is to call in sick on those thousand suns.

I finished Plutocrats last night and picked up Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver in anticipation of our church book group's discussion in November. After 16 pages, an hour and a half before my turn off the light time, I decided that I would rather toss and turn in the dark than read on. I hope that I can get back to it and participate in the discussion.

Robert

Finishing up Lives of Girls and Women by Alice Munro and starting Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, an author I've heard many good things about but have never read.

Greatly enjoying Is that a fish in your ear?, a book about translation, languages and words.

>72 wandering_star: What a great title!

I've got that book on my TBR, wandering; thanks for reminding me about it!

rebecca, thankfully I didn't lose my way in The Green House; I was really enjoying it. I actually lost the book! I know it's somewhere in the house, but I've been engaged in several non LT projects that require vast amounts of mess (that's my take at any rate), so somehow it got buried. It will be interesting to see how well I pick up the story again when I find it.

>72 wandering_star:, 73

And the book is pretty good (with a few weird points here and there). Happy reading :)

New audio book. Finished How the Irish Saved Civilization and started The Year 1000.

Having finished MaddAddam, Margaret Atwood's latest, I have returned to That Deadman Dance by Kim Scott, an historical novel set in an early colony in Western Australia. I'm also trying to finish up Hitting Trees with Sticks, a collection of short stories by Jane Rogers, which I have been carrying around in the car---for reading emergencies.

I finished The Ghost Road by Pat Barker last night, and as usual scrambled to figure out what to read next. At the end of August, I read Marilyn by Gloria Steinem, and my daughter had suggested Joyce Carol Oates' Blonde as a follow-up, so I will be starting that one today.

I finished V for Vendetta a few days ago and am half-way through Stephen King's Misery.

I have started Orlando Furioso; described as one of the greatest works of the Italian renaissance. It is spread over two books in the Barbara Reynold's translation in penguin Classics.

I finished Un Lun Dun. I looked at the bookshelves and a slight panic set in - nothing was jumping out at me.

Back from the library and feeling better: The Call of Cthulhu... by H. P. Lovecraft. A bit of a deficit in my reading past is soon to be rectified...

I read Help for the Haunted by John Searles and thoroughly enjoyed it; it was a bit creepy, but mostly is a mystery and reminds me of Tana French's books. I did not want to put it down.

Now I am reading Dissident Gardens which is something completely different.

I have a bunch of different books going, but the one I'm spending the most time with is the Dutch best seller, The Dinner. I don't know what I think of it yet. In some ways reminds me of The Slap--some pretty bad behavior by some not very likeable people.

>84 Nickelini: Didn't they make The Dinner into a film?

I finished Misery this morning and will start (again) The Death and Life of American Journalism.

Didn't they make The Dinner into a film?

I don't know--I actually knew nothing about this book going into it. So I will go check the trusty old IMDB.com. . . . . yes, there is, but it's in Dutch. The reviewer from the National Post compared the book to a Roman Polanski film titled Carnage, which I've never heard of either.

Just finished the delightful Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter, a Vargas Llosa that's been on my shelves for 30 years but that I never read until now.

I recently read A Modest Proposal and Other Satirical Work by Jonathan Swift. And I'm now reading Stephen King's 11/22/63... and am already thinking it's way longer than it really ought to be.

As many did, I picked up one of Alice Munro's books as soon as she was awarded the Nobel Prize, and I just finished Lives of Girls and Women.

In addition to the Kim Scott mentioned back in #78, I'm now finishing up a collection of short stories, Yellowcake, by Margo Lanagan.

New audio book. I finished The Year 1000 and started Inventing a Nation by Gore Vidal. I also finished three regular books: Sacrificing Truth : Archaeology and the Myth of Masada by Nachman Ben-Yehuda, Vermilion Sea : A Naturalist's Journey in Baja California by John Janovy, Jr. & A Theory of Flight by Andrew X Pham. The first should have been interesting based on the topic, but was painful to read, the second turned out very nice, and the last was very very thin, not much there. Now, finally, I will try going back to Religion and the Decline of Magic.

oh, The Year 1000 was terrific.

Find myself reading a collection of short stories perfect for the Halloween season. Otsuichi's ZOO. (Touchstone goes to the English translation but I am reading the original Japanese version.)

I've just finished and reviewed The African by J.-M. G. Le Clézio, a haunting, perceptive, and of course beautifully written memoir mostly about his father's African experiences.