Monday, October 25, 2010

It's Monday....what am I reading?

Why, thank you for asking!

My reading is really scattered at the moment.  I'm still working on my Goodreads Fall Challenge (my reading list here).

Books:  I finished The Switch by Sandra Brown.  This was a decent thriller, but unfortunately, I figured out the ending/twist very early on in the book and so I was kind of just working my way through the book to confirm my guess.  I'm not desperate to read anything else by her, but it was okay.  I've now started on The Gin Closet by Leslie Jamison, which is alright, but rather depressing.  Next up is Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross.

Audiobooks:  Finished The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.  Incredible (true) story, well-written and organized, and the audiobook was delicious.  Cassandra Campbell, the main narrator, is wonderful and I'd listen to pretty much anything read by her. The audio version has an interview with Skloot at the end that was definitely worth listening to.  I'm not sure whether it's in the printed version or not.  I'll post a more detailed review of this book soon.  I've just started The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender, and am quite captured by the premise:  that the 9 year-old protagonist can taste the emotions of the person who prepares food.  I am not particularly happy with the audio version....Bender is the narrator and I don't believe that the written word in this book translates well to the audio format.  The printed version of the book is written without punctuation specifying speech (i.e., quotation marks) and so there are a lot of "he said"s and "she said"s in it.  So, if the premise appeals, I'd recommend the written version.

Kindle:  I'm still plodding away on Dorothy Sayer's Clouds of Witness, but just downloaded a couple more.  I'm going to see the Canadian Opera Company's Death in Venice tonight so thought I'd try to breeze through the Thomas Mann novella today.  I also downloaded the Works of Henrik Ibsen to read A Doll's House.  Finally, I got a copy of Mrs. Fry's Diary, supposedly the cause of much pants peeing in the Twitterverse!

These should keep me busy!

4 comments:

Esme said...

Sometimes written books do not translate as well into an audio book-I also believe it helps to have a professional reader-the reader can make a huge difference.

Mari (Bookworm with a View) said...

WOW you have a list of books that you are reading - impressive. I read just one book at a time (sometimes a book and an audio but never more than that). I'm hearing good things only for the lemon cake book. Hope you like it.

Janet Berkman said...

I read different books in different circumstances: the audiobooks are for dog-walking and driving. The kindle books and "regular" books are for home or on transit. I certainly means I get through them more slowly though!

Heather said...

I enjoyed the Henrietta Lacks book.