Hello Everyone, Good morning. (It's morning here on the West Coast anyway...) I got to bed before midnight last night, which is very rare for me!
I wanted to update the English Muse book list on Amazon, created after the last time we talked about books. You all had such wonderful suggestions!
So, what are you reading now? I just started "I Was Told There'd Be Cake," by Sloane Crosley. So far it's very funny. (And I couldn't resist a book with that title. I'm always hoping for cake.)
Previous book posts with your comments:
Got Books?
Reading...
Also:
The English Muse book list on Amazon.
UPDATE. The photo (above) was taken outside the Libreria bookstore in Amsterdam. It's by MorBCN and is posted {here} on flickr!
I found it via the Tumblr blog Talk Nerdy To Me.
110 comments:
i found you via "blogs of note" (congrats on that!) and i just read a few good books in march:
-beautiful boy by david sheff
-a thousand splendid suns by khaled hosseini
and i just started the story of edgar sawtelle by david wroblewski.
happy reading!
Hi! Thank you! Welcome to the English Muse. So happy you found me...
i'm reading the graphic novel French Milk--and loving it! it's about a girl's six-week trip to paris with her mom. i'm living vicariously :)
Hi
I have been listening to Dickens collected works after I heard a Goethe audio book.
Great books would really recommend them.
Love,
Herrad
I like read novel of movie story...
such as: P.S. I Love you by Cecelia Ahern.
I decide to buy Hunting & Gathering by Anna Gavalda.
thank you for your sharing.
I love fitzgeralds short stories.
i literally just bought "i was told there'd be cake" last night.
i just finished Happens Every Day by Isabel Gillies (not unbelievably well written, but lovely just the same and a quick read at that) and have just begun The Emperor's Children.
I'm reading Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street series and I highly recommend them (I just finished book 2 of 4). Of course, his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series (now an HBO series) is a classic.
Also...I love just about every book Christopher Moore makes. Admittedly not high brow, they're the best vacation books. Pack them in multiples.
Oh, these all sound fantastic!
I also found you through Blogs of Note - love your blog already!
Here are a few that I've read recently that I just loved:
Child of my Heart by Alice McDermontt
The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb
Water For Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Girls by Lori Lansens
Happy Reading!
Hi there!
Oh I love titles with cakes, pastries and stuff too. I'm not even a good cook, I don't even know anything about cooking but I just love thinking about foods. Anyway, WHATEVER LOL.
I'm currently reading Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Much Love,
English Muse, I am so grateful to have found your blog via blogs of note! Congratulations on that! You are adorable and I am now a follower. :)
I am currently reading A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn...which is much more serious than the things I usually read. But it's very interesting, and I love it.
Also, to Averill: I laughed out loud when I read your comment, because that is precisely what I read last summer! 44 Scotland Street and Christopher Moore. What coincidence!
Howard Zinn is fantastic!! They're making a documentary about his work! That reminds me...
"The History of Love" is absolutely amazing... a New York Times Bestseller... I highly recommend it :)
I'm going through a phase of rereading books I loved. I've started with "Of Human Bondage" (which I first read at 15) and then on to "To the Lighthouse."
Hello P.,
That's a good idea. I was thinking about digging out some of my Graham Greenes
I loved The Guernsey Literary Potato Peel Pie Society (I absolutely adore the title, too), I'm just reading The Revolutionary Road, but am a bit bummed out about it. The book is phenomenal but the emotions are so raw, sometimes it's too much to take. I also just read The Graveyard Boo by Neil Gaiman (of Coraline fame) - and totally flipped out about it. It's a book for kids, sort of, for Goth kids, and I do consider myself to still be very much a Goth kid.
P.S. I just realised that your blog is the first think I check out in the morning! And, yes, gulp, it's 9.30 and I only just woke up!
xoxo
I read that last month ("I was told there'd be cake")! Last weekend I read "The God of Small Things" which was heartbreaking but beautifully written.
Seems I hardly have time to read anything besides blogs, but I am reading E.H. Gombrich's The Story of Art. My hub recommended it.
I LOVED I Was Told There'd Be Cake, I hope you do too. I just read Revolutionary Road and I'm in the middle of Ten Bad Dates with De Niro. And I have Street Gang (about the history of Sesame Street), Once Upon A Time in England, Whatever Happened to Anna K, and Seven Days in the Art World in a pile beside my bed... I don't quite know which one I'll start next.
That's true!! I can't live without my google blog reader now...
Hi, Tina! I'm Happy Chick, my blog is www.findthehappy.blogspot.com. I try to leave a bit of happy for my readers every day.
I'm a fan of your blog...just recently joined. :)
I'm currently reading "The Temptation of the Night Jasmine" (part of the Pink Carnation series)...love it.
My guilty pleasure is also young adult fantasy (yes, Potter & Twilight, but I'm currently reading Artemis Fowl).
My last current read--a new book called The Lexical Funk--I found out about it on goodreads.com---my new favorite website!
Hi
I am reading L'Etranger by Albert Camus, the last time I read it was some 15 years ago... a really good book for anyone looking into reflection and a relaxing read.
Nice Blog !
hello missey!
at the moment i am reading
-the penguin history of jazz
and
-dorothy parker's collected works
. . . . soooo awesome! xxx
Very nice habit reading of books. intellectual books are good for the people who want to improve knowledge.olympic reporting
i'm rereading the fountainhead by ayn rand and the bonesetter's daughter by amy tan. i'd love to get my hands on the turtle catcher by nicole helget
tina! i still have some books to send you...just can't seem to get to the post office! i'll have to check out the new one you're reading...it sounds fun. i'm finally back in a book club & i so enjoy having smart girlfriends to discuss books with...don't you?
I'm reading Mary Gaitskill's new collection of short stories, "Don't Cry" and a new literary biography "The Women In Faulkner's Life", all about the four great loves who influenced his art. . .fascinating and romantic.
Hello Happy Chick and N! Thank you for joining!
Artemis Fowl Sounds fantastic! Young adult fiction has come a long way since Judy Bloom (although I loved everything she wrote. I still have a copy of Forever somewhere.)
Cute profile pic, N!
The only time I get to read is before I crash at night and at best, get in a couple of pages. My nightstand currently has The Shack. Great pic, btw!
Hi Gina!
I still have obama goodies to send to you from the inauguration. i must get to the post office!!!!
i need to join a book club in LA. I miss that. I also need to re-up on the Janeite Society.
Hello boylerpf,
I read at night too. which means it takes me six months to finish a book! ha...
I'm glad you like the picture.
It's like a little lantern with books inside!
I am reading Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs. Then I am on to reading Possible Side Effects by the same author.
First off I LOVE that photo! Fantastic.
Second - I'm reading Love Walked In right now - cute
And also The Tipping Point - fascinating.
Love the photo - so tres chic :)
I'm reading New Moon by Stephanie Meyer right now ... it's the 2nd time around but I can't find anything else to read. Until I saw your book list, that is!
I'm reading Pretty is What Changes, by Jessica Queller and Intern by Sandeep Jauhar.
Also still making my way through Autisms False Prophets by Paul Offit.
Recently read It Sucked and Then I Cried by Heather B. Armstrong. If you like her blog Dooce, you will enjoy the book.
Last month I read Someday my Prince Will Come by Jerramy Fine and Shoe Addicts Anonymous by Beth Harbison. Both cute books and easy reads.
Hey, I found uor blog thrtru blogs of note, Wd like to dig in thru to knw abt the thots strollin thru an american columnist..!!
buks readin rite nw,
re-readin man's search for meaning by Frankl. and Argumentative Indian by Nobel laureate Amartya Sen.
Chek out my ramblings at
www.santoreeves.blogspot.com
On the nightstand at the moment:
"The Winthrop Woman" by Anya Seton
"Pencil Dancing" by Mari Messer
"Create the Space You Deserve" by Jill Butler
also, for work, "Social Media Marketing" by Dave Evans
I adore "Fingersmith" and "Affinity" by Sarah Waters (who has a book "The Little Stranger" coming out April 30) and everything by Edith Wharton, but especially "The Buccaneers" and "House of Mirth".
I am reading Obama's dreams from my father
I just finished up Shantaram, it is a roman à clef, pretty good. Also, sounds like you might enjoy David Sedaris, I've enjoyed Naked and Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Also, Paulo Coelho's Eleven Minutes is an ALL TIME favorite of mine!
I recently finished Life of Pi by Yann Martel. Great book!
I also like Stranger in a Strange Land very much.
Congrats of Blog of Note!
My absolute favorite book of all time (ok, there are a lot...) is...
The Eyre Affair- Jasper Fforde.
Don't judge the name. Go to the local library, or bookstore, or amazon.com and order it. Don't think, just do!
i'm readying Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott :)
i'm going to see her speak in a couple weeks and I'm so excited!
i LOVED "I Was Told There'd Be Cake"!
Just finished "Daughter of Fortune." Gets reeeeally good in the second half.
And have been reading "People's History" for an embarrassingly long time now...
I'm working my way through Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" -- it's pretty relevant, even after 50 years
also, PJ O'Rourke's "Give War a Chance" ... O'Rourke is a comedic genius
I am planning a trip to Paris and am reading...
The Patisseries of Paris by Jamie Cahill and The Markets of Paris by Dixon and Ruthanne Long
I also just finished re-reading A Moveable Feast by Hemingway.
I am planning to eat a lot of pastries, visit a lot of flea markets and people watch while drinking my morning cafe' au lait while I am there.
Anybody have any great suggestions for books based in Paris?
Cynthia
ashimmyinmyspirit.com
I've just finished "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert, which I loved, and am moving on to "Reason for Hope: a Spiritual Journey" by Jane Goodall.
...I guess I've been searching for something latey :)
I'm currently reading Atonement by Ian McEwan. Love it so far! Can't wait to have more time to finish it!
goodness me, if you ever make it through all these hundreds of comments to mine...
i'm reading "The Mitfords: Letters between six sisters" which is completely wonderful, they led such interesting lives!
also if you've never read "a time of gifts" by patrick leigh fermor, then i recommend putting it on your list, it's my favourite ever book (and that's saying something - i read 2 or 3 a week!) x
I'm reading Steve Martin's autobiography. It's very relaxing. It's almost as if you can hear his voice saying everything.
Stay gold,
John Ryan Gallagher
I'm reading "Lost Recipe for a Happiness" - it's light and airy, has food related aspects and didn't make me cry. I've sworn off books that make me cry for a while.
How awesome is that bookshop!
I've got a massive pile of library books next to my bed (won't list them all here - got a list on my blog). But I'm a diehard for crime and mystery novels with a supernatural twist, and anything set in Victorian England. Halfway through John Connolly's The Reapers - love it
joan didion's "play it as it lays"
absolutely lovely blog, look forward to coming back, and hope you want mind if I add you to my list of "must reads"
j
amazon is my bff and I will certainly check you out on there.
oh yes!! please add me to your list!! thank you!!! will add you to mine!
Gosh, you certainly are a popular lass! I found you through daydream lily a few days ago, lovely blog!
I have recently read "90-Day Geisha" by Chelsea Haywood, an account of international geishas in Japan. Very interesting.
"Biting the Big Apple" by Bella Vendramini kicked me into proactivity!
This post has given me some great suggestions for future reading, thanks!
Just finished Les Miserables by Victor Hugo....amazingly insightful writing.
Sheryl
I recently reviewed Sloane Crosleys book on my site! Its great!
I am reading The Physick Book of Deliverace Dane. I got it from Barnes and Noble First Look book club.
thanks for the lovely comments
I am reading the crazy ass memoir of a Jonestown survivor, "Seductive Poison".
For some reason have been devouring cult-memoirs.
(love that bookstore).
I am reading/studying several books... These have been the top 3:
"Aspects in Astrology" by Sue Tompkins, "Chiron and the Healing Journey" by Melanie Reinhart and "The New International Ephemerides". It may sound boring but it's quite the opposite! They're great! :-)*
This isn't a new book, but Memoirs of a Geisha is addictive.
I was actually a little disappointed with I was Told There Would be Cake. I guess it's because the book set unreasonably high expectation with comparing her to Sedaris on the cover. I'm actually rereading him right now. Beside that, just aesthetics related stuff for my philosophy class :)
Also, I second the Memoirs of a Geisha recommendation; SOOOO much better than the movie.
Love your blog! Discover you on Blogs of Note - COngratulations!
I've just read "A Year in the Merde" by Stephen Clarke ( pretty hilarious!) and "ALmost French, a new life in Paris" by Sarah Turnbull.
Wish I could visit Paris someday!
Now I'm reading "Sputnik Sweetheart" by Haruki Murakanmi. ( Not too bad but not as engaging as his "Norwegian Wood" though)
"I Was Told Tere's Be Cake" sounds interesting. I love cakes too! Thanks for sharing!
oh, thank you, momokopeaches. "A year in the merde" sounds fantastic. i could use the comic break!!
I just found your blog via Lian Dolan's site. I'm currently reading "The Amnesiac," "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime," and "Then We Came To The End." Just finished "The Straw Men" and "The Killer Inside Me". And "Duma Key", which was long and yet, meh.
just added your link to my blog roll. love the photo--for some reason the movie 84 CHARING CROSS ROAD is now on my mind.
I am reading:
"The Go Giver"
A goooooood book!
~A.Hope
I have just finished "whos that girl?" by Alexandra Potter... I did wonder if it was going to be any good, but it turned out to be a lovely story and got me thinking about my own life
The photograph of the bicycle outside the bookstore is truly beautiful.
I recently loved The Confessions of Max Tivoli, Water for Elephants, The Historian (a vampire book for the literati!), and The Likeness by Tana French.
And I have to agree with the man who is navigating the vast seas of Atlas Shrugged. I revisited that fabulous novel a couple of years ago and was invigorated and inspired. Interestingly, people are shocked that I like that book. "But...you're not a capitalist?" they say, in horror.
Ayn Rand is about quality, craftsmanship, spine, and uncompromising standards, more than anything else. And those things I do believe in.
The Fountainhead says it without the overly-alarming capitalist overtones.
I love all books by John Irving, particularly "The World According to Garp". I am currently reading "My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult. Very good :)
Oh,i am reading a collection of plays by Oscar Wilde. This fellow was a literary genius and these plays just are such an excellent show of his thoughts and ideas .It definately is a good read.
Where is this bookstore?
i'm not sure. i'm going to investigate!
Brilliant, wonderful writing by one of Sweden's most famous authors, "The Price of Water in Finistère" by Bodil Malmsten
Incredibly funny - but serious reading nonetheless, about identity (Swedish woman who moves to small village in France), agreeing to disagree, and - well, you have to read it.
♥ visit me at www.afiori.com ♥
I just finished The Great Gatsby for the first time and can't believe what I missed out on all these years! I'm also reading a lot of Shakespeare for class and I'm thinking of joining this etsy gang: http://www.etsy.com/storque/events/etsy-book-club-walden-3721/
and reading Walden!
Trust me...if you have to read a book read " A thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini....this book is the best i have ever read.This writer is best at bringing out emotions.Everything is written so aestheticaly that you just cannot stop praising the author. The set up is in Afghanistan and the story of two women who fight for love ,freedom and justice and on their way find true friendship.
Excellent Book!
This may sound strange but I'm reading a book called The Secrets of Voodoo by Milo Rigaud.
It's very interesting. I'd recommend it.
Finished The Steep Approach to Garbadale (Iain Banks)last week and now I'm half way through Sons and Lovers (D.H. Lawrence) and desperately yearning for a particularly annoying character to fall off a cliff. Once I've finished this I plan to raid the food budget and try to get hold of Jamie Ford's best-selling debut novel from America which has yet to be published in England - come on publishers - sort yourselves out!
Rebecca
In between reading the harry potter series I've read The Time Travelers Wife, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and I'm about to finish Me Talk Pretty One Day. All of which I loved.
On my to read list are:
The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Night-time
History of Love
Water For Elephants
French Milk
btw-I adore your blog!
Makes me want to check out the nearest bookstore.
http://oldsoulcharlot.blogspot.com/
Right now I'm reading the collected works of William Blake (absoloutely amazing, he was a genius!) as well as the collected works of Oscar Wilde (done with Portrait of Dorian Gray and Lord Arthur Saville's Crime and am almost through with the Canterville Ghost) and am also rereading The Witching Hour by Anne Rice.
Dunno why I bothered to tell everyone what I was reading, but whatever, I did haha
You're blog is pretty cool, definately one I'll keep an ye on :)
Currently reading 'A History of Love' by Nicole Krauss. Would highly recommend it to anyone -the title doesn't do it justice.
I love books about and by Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette - she is one of my heroes. Also "Shadows on the Grass" by Isak Dinesen - a lesser known work than Out of Africa. She wrote it 30 years after returning to Denmark, she demonstrates such a love and respect for the Kikuyu people and the land, through a loving and unclouded lens. Very beautiful.
Laurie Klaue
astory on etsy
the motorcycle diaries by ernesto che guevara (the movie is incredibly wonderful as well)
Sloane Crosley's brilliant! You will love love love I WAS TOLD THERE'D BE CAKE. It'swonderfully quirk.
Also: Curious Incident of The Dog in the Nighttime, I just read and was very charmed.
Being one who comes from a family of lighthouse keepers, I tend to be drawn to books about the sea, it's lighthouses, and it's keepers. At the present, I am half way through reading the book Stargazing, by Peter Hill. It is an account of a hippie turned lighthouse keeper during his summer break from college.
Really an interesting read.
I am reading
Edith Wharton
Summer
The Age Of Innocence
Ethan Frome
Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights
Stephenie Meyer
Twilight
Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead
The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner, but I just lost the book, gosh darn it all
Currently reading "The Shape of Water" by Anne Spollen
Only at the third chapter but it's interesting so far!
Hello! Tina~ I'm planning to read On Love And Death and The Double Bass by Patrick Suskind. I've read Perfume by the same writer long ago and love it a lot. Although the murderer seems less innocent but eviler than he was in the movie, the phylosophy is still fascinating.
There's another book recommended by my friend, The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. We are both attracted by its Chinese name "The Stranger In The Lahore Cafe"...seems like totally different stories, right?~
Hope I can get rid of these work and start reading soon...
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
and I love most of Jodi Picoult's books. currently reading The Tenth Circle which is brilliant.
Wallowing in Water Ghosts by Shawna Yang Ryan---check it out---brilliant read about the best and worst feelings known to human...and there's a beautiful slant of good-ol California history...
One of my favorite reads lately is "Savage Beauty" by Nancy Milford, the life of Edna St. Vincent Millay...Very interesting
Currently reading James Lipton's Inside Inside about the teacher/moderater of the show, Inside the Actor's Studio.
Yes, definitely 'The History of Love'. I've only just begun, and I'm addicted to it.
'The Time Traveler's Wife' - I read it last year and I recommend it to all of my friends.
'Portrait of Dorian Grey' by Oscar Wilde is one of my favorites too. (My blog title: Illusion is the First of All Pleasures - is actually a Wilde quote!
Garrison Keillor - Lake Wobegon Summer of 1956. Found it in a used bookshop. Don't blink, it shouldn't take long to complete!
Favourite book of all time 'Like Water for Chocolate' by Laura Esquivel.
I am reading the Soloist by Steve Lopez in anticipation for the movie.
Just finished A Book of Negroes by Lawrence Hill (that's the Canadian title)...AMAZING.
I recently read 2666 by Roberto Bolano based on it being in a few different top 10 lists for 2008 (something that is typically out of character for me). It was challenging, amusing, dark, and, at many points, starkly beautiful.
i just finished reading "I Know This Much is True" by Wally Lamb - it's one of those books you look forward to reading each night. so good!
Hello...
I'm currently reading "Playing with Water A story of a garden" by Kate Llewellyn
and "They F*** You Up how to survive family life" by Oliver James
best wishes ribbon :-)
Further to my earlier comment on this post, I got hold of Jamie's book - Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet - someone sent it to me from America. Customs stopped it and sent it back but the second time it got through. I may be the first person in England to read it!
Just started reading it and it is a treat from the first page. Well worth its place on the New York Times Best Sellers List. Also, Jamie's a sweetheart. Everyone should buy this.
Rebecca
I just finished reading City of Thieves by David Benioff. The story takes place in Russia during WWII. I found it hard to put down. When I finished the book I was sad that I could not read more. It has humor. lust, devastation and history mixed to perfection. Bravo!
Anything by David Sedaris...Me Talk Pretty One Day!! You will not be dissapppointed :)
I am a little late, but I am reading "American Wife" by Curtis Sittenfeld, who I think is just completely hilarious & charming!
Thanks for this post...I am furiously scribbling down all of these great future reads!
Hullo there - I'm reading "Slouching Towards Bethleham" by Joan Didion - it's so .. perfect. Your reading list is going to be enormous!
"....Cake"
is what saved our book club!
Sarcastically sweet and a simple treat served in small doses of no particular order.
I recently started reading The List of Seven. A delightfully creepy tale for this time of year with a Sherlock Holmes twist!
Lots of great suggestions posted here!
I read books like I flip channels on the TV, I am always in the middle of 3 or 4. Just finished 'A Moveable Feast'(Hemingway) and 'The Girl Who Played With Fire'(Larsson) last week. In the middle of 'Origins'(Hall), 'The Beautiful Cigar Girl'(Stashower) and getting ready to start 'Nurture Shock'(Bronson/Merryman) and reread 'Revolutionary Road'(Yates)
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