STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

scarlett · Marc Jacobs

RE: What are you reading now? Poll

Seashells · Dooney & Bourke

I just finished Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult. It was a good story. I needed something relatively mindless.

I am now going back to reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

Bastet · Kate Spade

relrel wrote:

just finished this and am debated on buying the hardback of the next in the series or waiting for the paperback or going to the library. 1216 pages! but it goes so freaking fast...knights, princesses, kings, queens, even some dragons and giants. these are, imo, better than tolkien! oh...just in case anybody cares...it's the song of ice and fire series by george r.r. martin and there have been four in the series so far.

relrel, I

George R. R. Martin's books! My hubby got me hooked on them. I bought book 4 ASAP and tore through it, and now I have to wait probably another year for book 5.

I love all of his characters (especially Jaime and Arya), they're all so complicated. And he doesn't care about killing off important characters, which makes his plot really hard to predict.

atlgirl · Gucci

Just finished The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, which was very good. I'm eager to read Interpreter of Maladies (also by her).

I just recently finished 100 Years of Solitude and am now starting Love in the Time of Cholera, both by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Maddie · Coach

I'm almost done with Play It As It Lays by Joan Didion. Next I have both Slouching Towards Bethlehem by her, and The Harafish by Naguib Mahfouz. Most likely I won't read either, but will nap instead.

esquiress · Marc Jacobs

scarlett wrote:

esquiress wrote: halleybird wrote: Just started: The Autobiography of Henry VIII. hb tell me more! I've read that too. It may have been me who you saw mention this book in another thread, because I wrote about it in the one about "The Other Boelyn Girl." I enjoyed "Autobiography" -- it is long, but it goes quickly. That author has a number of historical fiction biographies. Over the weekend I finished "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," and have been reading "A Team of Rivals" since Christmas. It's the new Doris Kearns Goodwin book about Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet. I'm really enjoying it, but haven't been able to devote a ton of time to it.

thanks scarlett, i'm going to pick that up next! also, what did you think of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius? i finished it a couple of months ago but haven't had a chance to talk about it w/ anyone!

valenciana · Dooney & Bourke

scarlett wrote:

Over the weekend I finished "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius,"

love love loooove this book!

after seeing what you ladies are reading, i am embarassed to admit that i am currently reading "Shopaholic and Sister"...i swear i usually read more intellectually stimulating titles than this! i was just in the mood for something mindless and fun.

oh, and i'm totally up for another ST bookclub!

esquiress · Marc Jacobs

valenciana wrote:

scarlett wrote: Over the weekend I finished "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," love love loooove this book! after seeing what you ladies are reading, i am embarassed to admit that i am currently reading "Shopaholic and Sister"...i swear i usually read more intellectually stimulating titles than this! i was just in the mood for something mindless and fun. oh, and i'm totally up for another ST bookclub!

don't be silly! i love the shopaholic series and my best friend just bought shopaholic and sister so i totally plan on reading that asap. i read the way i eat, sometimes it's gourmet, sometimes it's fast food but either way it's filling

oh and i'm so glad you loved A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, the thing i loved best was the utter sincerity of it. like when everyone was up in arms about A Million Little Pieces and whether it was truth/fiction/whatever, i thought of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius because that's a book that actually deserves the accolades wasted on A Million Little Pieces--jmo, of course.

calico · Kenneth Cole

Over the holidays, because I had more time, I read the 4th Harry Potter book (yes, I am nerdy and I am behind! I have two more to read before I'm caught up!) and then I got Memoirs of a Geisha for Christmas and because I had less time once school started, I just finished it. Next up:

I saw the musical "Wicked" this summer which is based on the first book, and loved it... so hopefully this is good. But for right now: I have to read "The Importance of Being Earnest" by Oscar Wilde for English...

kate · BCBG

atlgirl wrote:

Just finished The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri, which was very good. I'm eager to read Interpreter of Maladies (also by her).

atlgirl, interpreter of maladies is one of my favorite collections of short stories! i think she is a really fantastic writer, and i actually liked it a lot better than the namesake (which i also liked).

valenciana · Dooney & Bourke

esquiress wrote:

i read the way i eat, sometimes it's gourmet, sometimes it's fast food but either way it's filling

i completely agree with the above statement. we are totally on the same wavelength today!

and yes, i loved how straightforward "A Heartbreaking Work..." is and how sometimes it's really hilarious and sometimes, well, heartbreaking. and so engrossing.

member · Hermes

valenciana wrote:

after seeing what you ladies are reading, i am embarassed to admit that i am currently reading "Shopaholic and Sister"...i swear i usually read more intellectually stimulating titles than this! i was just in the mood for something mindless and fun. oh, and i'm totally up for another ST bookclub!

Don't be silly - the Shopaholic series are good and sometimes we all need a little chick lit - I'm reading Everyone Worth Knowing right now - total chick lit book!

atlgirl · Gucci

kate wrote:

atlgirl, interpreter of maladies is one of my favorite collections of short stories! i think she is a really fantastic writer, and i actually liked it a lot better than the namesake (which i also liked)

kate, I love short stories. Even more than novels sometimes, because I have a short attention span, and I think good short stories are just great little jewels that you can read in a relatively short period of time.

I think Interpreter of Maladies is the one that one the Pulitzer, right? I can't wait to get my hands on it. *s*

flknight24 · Dooney & Bourke

I just finished The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory (author of The Other Boleyn Girl) and I'm just about to start The Memoirs of Cleopatra, another long one, by Margaret L. George. I was thinking about reading her Autobiography of Henry VIII but I think I need a break from that time period since I just read three of Philippa Gregory's books which were set around the time of Henry VIII.

relrel · Marc Jacobs

Bastet wrote:

relrel wrote: just finished this and am debated on buying the hardback of the next in the series or waiting for the paperback or going to the library. 1216 pages! but it goes so freaking fast...knights, princesses, kings, queens, even some dragons and giants. these are, imo, better than tolkien! oh...just in case anybody cares...it's the song of ice and fire series by george r.r. martin and there have been four in the series so far. relrel, I George R. R. Martin's books! My hubby got me hooked on them. I bought book 4 ASAP and tore through it, and now I have to wait probably another year for book 5. I love all of his characters (especially Jaime and Arya), they're all so complicated. And he doesn't care about killing off important characters, which makes his plot really hard to predict.

that's it, im going to the library tomorrow to get the fourth, i can't wait that long for the paperback. oh, and about the killing off of important characters...the first time he did this, i think with ned stark, i got all confused like "wait, what? isn't he supposed to save the world somewhere?" and geez, killing off of jon's girlfriend ygritte, and of robb stark! garh, i like all these people!

tri_sarah_tops · Marc Jacobs

Seashells wrote:

I just finished Keeping Faith by Jodi Picoult. It was a good story. I needed something relatively mindless.
I am now going back to reading East of Eden by John Steinbeck.

Seashells, East of Eden is my favorite book of all time. I plan on reading it again as soon as I'm finished with what I'm reading now.

boobaby · Kate Spade

altgirl wrote:

kate, I love short stories. Even more than novels sometimes, because I have a short attention span, and I think good short stories are just great little jewels that you can read in a relatively short period of time.

I agree. I really think a good short story can be way more powerful than a novel, because the author literally has to get to the point.

My favorite writers who have excellent short story collections are Bernard Malamud, Francine Prose, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Lorrie Moore. And for essays, David Sedaris.

halleybird · Hermes

scarlett wrote:

esquiress wrote: halleybird wrote: Just started: The Autobiography of Henry VIII. hb tell me more! I've read that too. It may have been me who you saw mention this book in another thread, because I wrote about it in the one about "The Other Boelyn Girl." I enjoyed "Autobiography" -- it is long, but it goes quickly. That author has a number of historical fiction biographies. Over the weekend I finished "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," and have been reading "A Team of Rivals" since Christmas. It's the new Doris Kearns Goodwin book about Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet. I'm really enjoying it, but haven't been able to devote a ton of time to it.

Scarlett, it was you. Thanks!

Esquiress: I really like it so far, though I am only a chapter or 2 into it. It's written like an autobiography with editor's notes, which is cool. I have read 3 books on British royal history recently (The Other Bolelyn Girl, Katherine and Here Be Dragons) and it's really cool to be able to connect the dots, history-wise. I don't feel like I was ever really well-educated about pre-Renaissance Europe, so I find it interesting.

halleybird · Hermes

esquiress wrote:

also, what did you think of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius? i finished it a couple of months ago but haven't had a chance to talk about it w/ anyone!

I loved this book...it's on my all-time top 10 list. I thought it got a little gratuitous/self-promoting sometimes, but it felt very authentic to me.

halleybird · Hermes

flknight24 wrote:

I'm just about to start The Memoirs of Cleopatra, another long one, by Margaret L. George.

Please let me know how you like this! It sounds interesting, and I like Henry VIII so far.