Sunday, June 10, 2012

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

Book Journey hosts this weekly meme.  As she says, "This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next 'must read' book will come from!"

Still reading A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth and probably will be for quite some time.  It's a chunkster, but a good one.  Bloodlands:  Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder is more than halfway finished;  tremendously interesting and sobering.  

I've started two new books since my last "It's Monday!" post.  Geheimnis Am... Holunderweg by Enid Blyton is my current German-language reading.  After toiling through Die Verwandlung, I needed a bit of a mental rest, and this one is really much more my speed.  It's a YA mystery from about 1970, and I'm quite enjoying it, partly for the nostalgia value and partly because I don't need the dictionary to read it!

The other new book (well, new to me) is Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down.  Recommended to me as a funny book about suicide, it is witty and sarcastic, not at all sentimental, but not mean-spirited either.  Highly improbable but totally believable, and I'm hooked.

28 comments:

  1. Sounds like some good reading! Enjoy the books this week!

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  2. I haven't read Nick Hornby yet, but he is one of those authors I am really looking forward to!

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    1. I was completely unfamiliar with him also. I'm liking this one enough to try some of his others in the future.

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  3. A Long Way Down was my first Nick Hornby book, and it was amusing - not at all what I expected from a book about suicide. I think you'll enjoy it.

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    1. It's amusing, but also gets you feeling for the characters without sentimentalizing them one little bit. I love that.

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  4. Highly improbable but totally believable :) Love that!

    Happy reading this week and good luck with your german text! What are YOU reading @ the Brunette Librarian??

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  5. I haven't heard of those books previously, but I hope you enjoy them all :-)

    Tanya
    Girlxoxo.com

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  6. I grew up reading Enid Blyton's books. They are all still on my shelf at home. Hope you enjoy!

    Here's my Weekly Review. Stop by if you get a chance.

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    1. Yep, it's the kind of thing I read a lot of growing up, so it's fun.

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  7. Enjoy your mental break with Enid Blyton. My favorite read last week was Swahili for the Broken Hearted by Peter Moore. Please come see what else I'm reading.

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    1. Now that's an interesting title. I love these memes; they always send me to Amazon looking up new potential reads.

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  8. I love that you are reading Enid Blyton in German!

    Wishing you a great reading week!

    Shelleyrae @ Book'd Out

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  9. I haven't heard of these books...will have to check them out.

    Have a great week!
    Kristin @ Always With a Book

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    1. Yep--love the what-are-you-reading memes!

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  10. I've enjoyed Nick Hornby's books too. The movie versions even tend to be pretty good.

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    1. Yes, so rarely are both book and movie really worthwhile!

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  11. Inspiring that you are reading in German. Happy Reading!
    Rebecca @ The Key to the Gate

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    1. Thanks; I'm not that good and it's very difficult for me, but I do enjoy it and I really want to get better.

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    2. That's till a tremendous accomplishment! I have never been able to read in another language (aside from posters and simple instructions *LOL*) I tried reading a few novels in French, when I was in college, and I found it too difficult.

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  13. A Suitable Boy sounds fascinating, and I've been wanting to read some of Nick Hornby's books for a while. Have a great week. :-)

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  14. Not even a day has passed since climbing aboard the "It's Monday!" boat and my TBR list is already growing...

    Nick Hornby is someone I've been meaning to read. Fever Pitch is staring at me from the shelf, waiting, and now A Long Way Down will be joining The Polysyllabic Spree on my wish list.

    Happy Reading!
    ~ Katherine @ KatenRead

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  15. Hornby's a new discovery for me, too, and I think I'll be reading more of him. The TBR list never seems to get any smaller.

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  16. I've used Enid Blyton to practice a foreign language, although I went with a Secret Seven book because I'm not that good at a second language.

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