Books on the Nightstand discussion

Happy December!

I'm reading my favorite mystery writer Carol O'Connell's newest Blind Sight and continuing with Taylor Caldwell's Glory and the Lightning. I'm listening to Louise Erdrich's newest book LaRose on my iPad and my very first (but I can tell, not my last) David Mitchell's Slade House.

AND, I've got 27 books to go for my 2016 challenge. Good thing I've got 3 weeks off.

Two books carried over from last month which I plan on finishing this month
Happy Are the Merciful
Heir of Tower House (which I am reading on the computer)
And then I have pulled up some seasonal stuff for this month
Canadian Christmas Traditions
A Christmas Tale
Best of DC No. 4: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The Carl Barks Library of 1940s Donald Duck Christmas Giveaways
The Carl Barks Library of Donald Duck Adventures in Color No. 23

Finished by Kurt Vonnegut-- 4 Stars.

Parody of how absurd war is-- mixed in with aliens, time travel, and sarcasm. A classic worth reading.

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Finished Blind Sight ***** then started The Daily Show: An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests

I just started reading The Nix for a book club (fun!) and listening to Doc for eyestrain relief (awesome!), and on the back burner I've been sporadically reading 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus and Her Smoke Rose Up Forever for months - not because I don't like them, but because other books keep getting in the way.

After I finished Before the Fall and began The Underground Railroad, I read -- an in-between, lightweight read -- necessary between these two heavies!

Finished by Ivy Pochoda- 2 Stars.

Meh~ My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Well the wie managed to muck up my plans by getting two mysteries from the library which I have to read.
Cancelled by Murder and
Digging Up the Dirt.
Started reading the first one last night and was reading it today bot now can't ind it.

A Life In Parts. by Bryan Cranston.

Finished Doc by Mary Doria Russell. 5 super stars.
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Just began Toni Morrison's A Mercy. And also a lighthearted book for book group this month, Kitchens of the Great Midwest. I finished rereading a trilogy of short memoirs by Capote, A Christmas Memory, One Christmas, & The Thanksgiving Visitor - a favorite this time of year!

finished The Daily Show: An Oral History as Told by Jon Stewart, the Correspondents, Staff and Guests and now finishing American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst. I started the latter on audio but the loan time ended and I hadn't finished the book, so now I have the book and will finish it.

Two books actively ongoing, both of which I have mentioned earlier
and after that we shall see.

Finished by James Patterson-- 3 Stars.

Oh my! A wild ride with an amazing narrator (Jay Snyder) with a few far fetched plot lines.

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I started listening to A Life in Parts and I'll be reading Lady Cop Makes Trouble

Started reading Wycliffe and the Three-Toed Pussy but only because I couldn't find the book I usually take to the kids' bowling.

Just started and have ready for reserve pickup at my local library! A full month of reading, so far!

I'm reading The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics. I'd heard it was good and so far it's an interesting look at the time period.

Boys in the Boat is excellent and very good as an audio book also.

FINALLY finished The Sellout. It was great, but relentless, and just took a looong time to get through.

Still sort of slogging through the audio of A Gentleman in Moscow.

Have been in a super slump since November 8th!

Maina

Two new listens: Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis and A Christmas Story

I am listening to in the car: The Book of Speculation

I am reading for my bookclub: The Night Circus
I've read it before but I loved it so much I don't mind rereading. I might even try it on audio.

I have Hag-Seed out of the library and want to read The Tempest first. I am really enjoying the modern Shakespeare retellings.

Finished by Alexander Chee-- 4 Stars.

A saga telling the story of one Lillian Berne- a famous soprano with the Paris Opera. Dense, Startling, and gorgeous- lightly based on an actual soprano gave this a non-fiction feel.

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Listening to Smoke

I was lucky enough to have a beach vacation and read Elena Ferrante's Naples Quadrilogy (I had to google what do you call a series of 4 books). I was totally immersed in her world of friendship and troubles and fascists and communists. Loved them! I also read The Crossing by Cormac McCarthy and I now see it is part 2 of a trilogy. I'm going to have to read all 3.
Also for Kindle owners, The Nest is on sale for $3.99...Christmas Day only.
Merry Christmas to you all!

I'm reading A Rule Against Murder by Louise Penny. It's the fourth in the Chief Inspector Armand Gammache mystery series.
I've also been re-visiting the Dark Tower series by Stephen King via Audible. I'm on The Wasteland. (I read them all years ago).

Finished by J.M. Barrie-- 3 Stars

The original story that inspired multiple takes on this beloved character and his story.

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Starting to listen to The Gunning of America: Business and the Making of American Gun Culture

^^^^^^ I won't get into that .

Finished my last couple of books for 2016!

by Anna Quindlen- 4 Stars

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

by Kim Izzo- 4 Stars

My Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...