soleil's reads

i have finished Play: Journal of Plays for the challenge. almost all of the plays were really good. my review is here. and tonight i finished re-reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince just in time for the book release friday which has accomplished the personal goal of re-reading all of them before the 21st, although i did not include them on my challenge list.

The Fall after The Wall - Seven Lies - James Lasdun

An East German boy, Stefan, falls in love with a beautiful actress. He has a history of posing as a poet in order to gain acceptance. He did so to gain the approval of his mother's arty friends and does so again to gain the love of the actress. They escape to New York prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1980s New York, he trades stocks and his life falls apart and he wants to commit suicide (you will find most of this out in the first 20 pages of James Lasdun's Seven Lies, so I don't think I'm spoiling anything).

All in all, I was taken enough by the story to keep reading, even though the style of the writing held me at a frustrating distance. You can read my full thoughts here.

Ted's List

Well, it's not that I'm not making good progress - but, having looked over The Unconsoled, there is just no way I'm
a) in the mood and
b) going to finish it before the new Harry Potter arrives.

Priorities.

So I've substituted Seven Lies by James Lasdun for Unconsoled and if Mr. Potter gets here soon enough. I may add it!

A Country called literature ( The Author of Himself, The Life of Marcel Reich-Ranicki)

Polish born in 1920, Marcel Reich-Ranicki was raised and educated in Germany. The Nazis deported him back to Poland just prior to the 1938 invasion. There, although his parents and brother were murdered, he and his wife survived the war, first in the Warsaw Ghetto and later, sheltered by some decent Poles who felt it was the small way they could defy Hitler and the Germans. Out of loyalty to the Russian army who liberated them, Reich-Ranicki lived in Communist Poland, first doing intelligence work and then writing literary criticism on German literature. In the late 1950s he once again left nearly everything behind, defecting to Germany where he built a career as a powerful, popular reviewer of German literature in the leading German magazines, newspapers, and later on television. He is now serving the role of an elder statesman of letters.

Ranicki writes how when he was denied by everyplace he could have called home, it was literature that helped him survive. This is a memoir of an impressive life and the role literature played in it. You can read my complete thoughts here.

Week 6 - Laura

I've just read my last two books for this challenge: Janet Evanovich's High Five and Hot Six. I'm participating in several challenges so I only read three books for this one, all from the Stephanie Plum series. I enjoyed them all and found them perfect summer reading.

Here's my review of these last two. Best of luck to everyone in completing this challenge!

Only one more book to go!

I am very excited to have one book left for this challenge: Billy Bathgate by E.L. Doctorow (which I am reading now for this challenge and the Book Awards Reading Challenge).

Last week, I read Ladder of Years by Anne Tyler. Overall, I was disappointed with this book. You're welcome to read my review if you're interested.

Have a great week!
Jill
http://mrstreme.livejournal.com

Week 6 - Athena

For week 6, I reread Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (spoilers therein) and read Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. Going to reread HP6 this week, and possibly Beowulf and reread Twelth Night. I'm getting busier in real life, but my SR list is going along well.

Pheelya - week 6

I've fallen a little behind on my reading. I am currently working on The Demon Awakes but I also checked out The Thirteenth Tale from the library and got so engrossed in that one! Oh, So many books so little time!!

1. The Poe Shadow - Matthew Pearl
2. Danse Macabre - Laurell K. Hamilton
3. The Double Bind - Chris Bohjalian
4. Twilight - Stephanie Meyer
5. A Killer Stitch - Maggie Sefton
6. Mistreal's Kiss - Laurell K. Hamilton
7. Rain Village - Carolyon Turgeon
8. Black Moon Rising - Damien Ashton
9. The Demon Awakes - R.A. Salvatore **up next
10. Disobedience - Naomi Alderman
11. Ophelia - Lisa Klein
12. Voodoo Season - Jewell Parker Rhodes
13. Wild Women's Weekend - Lynne Kaufman

Added:Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee **added after list was created

Week 6 - Wendy

I've completed my 3rd book for this challenge - Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. A classic - simple yet tragic. To read my review of this book you may go here.

I rated it 5/5 (or 10/10 depending on the rating scale you prefer).

Next up for me, and my final book for this challenge is: Birds Without Wings, by Louis De Bernieres.

Benjie's Bonus Book

As promised, I've finished a bonus book--Bill Engvall's Just a Guy. I've reviewed it here, and would recommend it for a good laugh especially to those "guys" out there.



Up next: Skin.

Week 6 - Kelly

I finished up The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and posted a review yesterday. I was very impressed. This is probably one of my favorite books of all time.

Week 6

For Becky's Book Reviews:

All I Really Need to Know I Learned from Star Trek by Dave Marinaccio
Beige by Cecil Castellucci
Broken Moon by Kim Antieau
Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Dadblamed Union Army Cow by Susan Fletcher
Hitler's Canary by Sandi Toksvig
The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt
The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary by Candace Fleming

For Becky's Christian Reviews:

Bittersweet
by Cathy Marie Hake
What Is A Healthy Church by Mark Dever
Sarah My Beloved by Sharlene MacLaren

week 6

i finally finished reading Many Waters by Madeleine L'Engle. The review is here.

i will be re-reading The Half-Blood Prince in anticipation of book seven releasing next week and some more plays for week 6.

Playing Catch-Up

Catching up from vacation, and not sure which week we're on right now? Five or six? I'll tag both, I guess.

*Wishing on Dandelions by Mary E. De Muth. Excellent book, difficult subject matter (teen recovering from child abuse)

*The Plight of Mattie Gordon by Jeanne Marie Leach. A Christian historical western.

*The Starter Wife by Gigi Levangie Grazer. Hollywood a la Sex and the City

*Straight Up by Lisa Samson. Just amazing. I can't even begin to describe.

*How Elizabeth Barrett Browning Saved My Life by Mameve Medwed. This was a great read, from the B&N summer clearance shelf. Intellectual chick lit, if there is such a thing.

*The Yada Yada Prayer Group and The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Down, by Neta Jackson. I'm planning to read all six in the series in the next couple of weeks, thanks to PaperbackSwap.com and the local library.

Week 5 catch-up / Start of Week 6

Last Friday I finished Aphrodite by Russell Andrews, a good biomedical thriller.

My current challenge reads:

• The Cloud Sketcher by Richard Rayner
• Fool on the Hill by Matt Ruff
  

Week One thru Nine

Hello SRC Round Two Challengers!

Week One Label
When you prepare to talk about your reading for week one of SRC round two please use the "week 1" label so other readers can find what everyone was reading in the first week.

Week two Label
When you prepare to talk about your reading for week two of SRC round two please use the "week 2" label so other readers can find what everyone was reading in the second week.

Week three Label
When you prepare to talk about your reading for week three of SRC round two please use the "week 3" label so other readers can find what everyone was reading in the third week.

Week four Label
When you prepare to talk about your reading for week four of SRC round two please use the "week 4" label so other readers can find what everyone was reading in the fourth week.


Week five Label
When you prepare to talk about your reading for week five of SRC round two please use the "week 5" label so other readers can find what everyone was reading in the fifth week.

Week six Label
When you prepare to talk about your reading for week six of SRC round two please use the "week 6" label so other readers can find what everyone was reading in the sixth week.

Week seven Label
When you prepare to talk about your reading for week seven of SRC round two please use the "week 7" label so other readers can find what everyone was reading in the seventh week.

Week eight Label
When you prepare to talk about your reading for week eight of SRC round two please use the "week 8" label so other readers can find what everyone was reading in the eighth week.

Week nine Label
When you prepare to talk about your reading for week nine of SRC round two please use the "week 9" label so other readers can find what everyone was reading in the ninth week.

Completed Challenge Summary Label
When you prepare to talk about your completed reading challenges of SRC round two please use the "challenge complete" label so other readers can find what everyone finished.

Happy Reading
Amanda