What Are You Reading Right Now?, I'm curious . . .

I know some of you read several books at once. Me too. But please keep it to no more than two.

Right now I'm reading Jodi Picoult's new book, Handle With Care. It's about a family who has a child with brittle-bone disease (osteogenesis imperfecta) who sues the obstetrician (who happens to be the mother's best friend) for wrongful birth. It brings up a lot of issues, right-to-life, the ethics involved with lying in court--saying you wish your child had never been born in order to get a settlement that will enable you to pay for the child's special needs, bulimia and cutting, and the relationship between the parents when one wants to sue and one doesn't. Jodi always tackles huge issues with lots of family drama, but she also writes beautifully. Each book is a treat to read.

Before I went to the library, I started reading The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood. I've had it for years and haven't gotten around to reading it. It's silly because Margaret Atwood is another one of my favorite authors. I'm only about 10 pages into it, so I'm not really sure what it's about, except that there's a story within the story, a manuscript found after the main character's sister dies. I hope it's good, because it's rather long and it would be a shame to spend a lot of time on it if it wasn't good.

I am reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. It's about a boy named Huck Finn and a runaway slave named Jim and the adventures they have on the Mississippi River. But I'm pretty sure everyone knew that already. It took me a while to get into it, but now that I'm almost to the end, I can't get enough of it. It's very interesting!

I can't read more than one book at a time because I'm not good at devoting my attention to more than one thing at a time. :oops:

I am reading

First Test, it's by Tamora Pierce and it's about a girl who is in training to become a knight, she is undergoing a probationary trial because she is a girl. It's pretty good, there isn't really anything bad in it, the only bad thing that I will note is that they use their gods names in vain.

Forever Richard, by Sue Dent. It's the continuing story of Never Ceese. It's supposed to be good, but reading the back cover would kinda give away things (which I found out by reading the back cover). It's a vampire werewolf story, but it's got good morals to it.

Valient, by Holly Black. Side note, this is the kind of book that I read that I would not suggest other people to read. It has swear words up and down every single page. It kinda annoys me. Not to mention some of Holly Black's writings are creepy, not to mention she promotes gay people in the two books that surround Valient (Tithe and I forget the other one). So no, I wouldn't suggest it to other people. It has a good plot and I really like the main character, but the cursing and the other things in it (drugs, liquor, etc) make it so that I wouldn't suggest this book to other people.

That's pretty much it.

I just finished a delightful book called 100 Cupboards by N.D. Wilson. It's a YA, "aimed" at 8-12 year olds. I picked it up because it sounded fun and it was cheap (and I needed something to read that wouldn't cost over $9 :P).

It's a tale about a boy, Henry, who goes to stay with relatives in a tiny town called Henry, Kansas. In his attic room, he soon discovers a wall covered in small cupboards, each one looking unique. Then, he finds out these cupboards aren't for holding clothes or anything, but they are doorways to other worlds.

It's the start of a new series. Wilson is a great writer--he doesn't write down, he does use amazing description, and he keeps the story full of tension and drama an wonder. It's a lovely mix of all our favorite real world fantasy, like Narnia and Harry Potter.

I can't wait to get the second book in the series. And I went to his website today and found out he's a pretty fun guy. He has some great tips on writing that I'm going to set up in an article!

Right now, I'm reading Pride and Prejudice, in part because I wanted to read more Austen after enjoying Northanger Abbey (thanks, CP! :D ) and also because it was one of the books I could choose for my summer reading. :P Always nice to kill two birds with one stone.

I'm also sort of stuck in the middle of a couple of other books, including As I Lay Dying and a history book called Seven Ages of Paris. I started both books pretty enthusiastically, and enjoyed them both, but history books are always a challenge, no matter how fascinating they are, and recent events made me lay Faulkner's novel aside, at least until the pain of losing a loved one passes.

I should also give Anthem a quick re-read so I can join the discussion. :oops: Any word on what next month's book will be? :6:

I am still reading Dante's Inferno. Yep. and...Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which is a zombie story spoof of P&P...

I've heard of that one! Do you like it? It sounds quite humorous, in a dark, twisted sort of way. :)

It is rather morbidly funny. But I'm not even a Jane Austen fan and I miss the original characters of Elizabeth and Darcy. :oops: But it's fun to have on the bookshelf all the same. Also rather frustrating that it has its crude points which attributes to making me miss the original P&P all the more.

I just finished Hunters of Dune and am about to start Sandworms of Dune, both by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson--the story is from Frank Herbert's outline for the seventh Dune book, but split into two volumes because the outline was so long. HoD was very engrossing, and it's definitely the best of the books BH and KJA wrote for the Dune universe. I was kind of worried about what they might do to Dune 7, but after reading HoD I am fully relieved.

Regarding books mention above that I have read:

Huck Finn was one of my good childhood memories--just the mention takes me back.

I really liked First Test, though it wasn't my favorite of Pierce's (the Trickster books are my favorites at the moment, but it changes depending on my mood). It's an interesting follow-up to The Song of the Lionness quartet, showing how the culture tried to adapt after Alanna broke the mold.

I adored Valiant, and I think that even though it had the drugs, they were definitely portrayed as negative, with all the related dangers. (The third book is Ironside.)

They were portraited as negative, if I remember correctly, I'll remember more later.

Another one to add to the list is Vampire Academy, my stepmom got them for me to read :P. Since she and my stepsis liked them so they figured that I would like them.

I might or might not add the Host to that list as well. Not sure yet, but it's my favorite scifi :D

Yeah, First Test was ok (it was the first book by Tamora Pierce that I ever read). My favorites are the song of the lioness books, especially Woman who Rides like a Man. Immortals was ok, but I had to rush through them all :oops: because that was back when mom was living with us and I couldn't read anything :oops: Protector of the small and Song of the lioness toed the line of what I could and couldn't read :6: :P

anyway

I saw Vampire Academy at the $5 bookstore but it didn't really look interesting. :oops: what's it about?

no idea yet. But if it's anything like the other books Sheila's been having me read. . . .

Hey, I told you Vampire Academy is not that bad, Rasi. :P It has its parts that I don't approve of, but good overall, I'd say. Not amazing though.

What is amazing: The Three Musketeers!!! :D Read it. :P It cracks me up, it's exciting, interesting, and it really engages your brain, but it's not hard to read at all.

I'm also reading Oathbreaker: Assassin's Apprentice, which is also proving to be good. :D

ok so my reading list right now is:

Vampire Academy

Valient

The Host

Winter's Tale, by Mark Helprin--Sort of interesting but replete with descriptive passages. Beautifully written descriptive passages, but still . . . It's sort of slow going. I don't know how I feel about it. The back of the book says it's set in New York in the Belle Epoque (whatever/whenever that is), and it's about a thief who falls in love with a consumptive young woman living in a mansion he burglarizes. After an entrancing opening scene in which the thief escapes his pursuers on a runaway horse, the rest of it so far has been lengthy flashbacks of the thief's WEIRD childhood and how he came to Manhattan. It doesn't even feel like the real Manhattan. It feels like an otherworldy one. Odd.

The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell--Um, hello! Where has this book been all my life? Seriously. I just got it from the library around 3:30 today, and I've already read a hundred pages. It is a-freaking-mazing. In a nutshell, it's about a Jesuit priest who is the sole survivor of an expedition to another planet. Technically, it's sci-fi, but it doesn't read like sci-fi. There are no spaceships (not in the first hundred pages, anyway), no wordy scientific explanations, no aliens who look remarkably like humans and speak flawless English. :P Okay, I'm picking on sci-fi. But really, this is so well-written that it feels like a literary, award-winning, critically-acclaimed novel. Not something I'd find in the sci-fi section.