Monday, September 5, 2011

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a bookish meme hosted by Book Journey. It's where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It's a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list. So hop on over via the link above and join in...and leave a comment here so I can check out what you are reading

Books Read (click on titles for review):
The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club by Dorothy L Sayers
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Perelandra by C. S. Lewis

Currently Reading:
Middlemarch by George Eliot: Dorothea Brooke can find no acceptable outlet for her talents or energy and few who share her ideals. As an upper middle-class woman in Victorian England she can't learn Greek or Latin simply for herself; she certainly can't become an architect or have a career; and thus, Dorothea finds herself "Saint Theresa of nothing." Believing she will be happy and fulfilled as "the lampholder" for his great scholarly work, she marries the self-centered intellectual Casaubon, twenty-seven years her senior. Dorothea is not the only character caught by the expectations of British society in this huge, sprawling book. Middlemarch stands above its large and varied fictional community, picking up and examining characters like a jeweler observing stones. There is Lydgate, a struggling young doctor in love with the beautiful but unsuitable Rosamond Vincy; Rosamond's gambling brother Fred and his love, the plain-speaking Mary Garth; Will Ladislaw, Casaubon's attractive cousin, and the ever-curious Mrs. Cadwallader.

The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce: A satirical "reference" book that offers reinterpretations of terms in the English language, lampooning cant and political doublespeak, as well as other aspects of human foolishness and frailty. It was originally published in 1906 as The Cynic's Word Book before being retitled in 1911. Modern "unabridged" versions that include Bierce "definitions" that were for various reasons missed by earlier editions continue to be popular a century later.


Books that spark my interest:

The High Crusade by Poul Anderson
Hide and Seek by Wilkie Collins
Lucky Jim by Kinglsey Amis
Parnassas on Wheels by Christopher Morley
Savage Beauty: The Life of Edna St. Vincent Millay by Nancy Milford
Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice

8 comments:

Anne@HeadFullofBooks said...

I loved Book thief, too. You wrote a very good review of it. Once I talk students into reading it they generally come back and tell me how much they like it. I just finished The Berlin Boxing Club which is on a similar theme and also YA lit. I highly recommend it.

Anne
My Head is Full of Books

Marce said...

I really want to try WilkieC just haven't decided which book to try, any recommendations.

http://teawithmarce.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-im-reading-during-thrill-week.html

Anonymous said...

I have Moonstone (I think?) W. Collins on my shelf. I loved Woman in White. I also would love to read C.S. Lewis Perelandra, loved the Book Thief and, of course, Dorothy Sayers in one of my all time favorites. We read alike!

Yvonne said...

I haven't heard of all those books, but I did like The Book Thief. Have a great week!

Tea said...

I really like Wilkie Collins. Enjoyed Woman in White. Wonderful.

Joy Weese Moll said...

Looks like good reading. I may have to try the Sayers and The Book Thief.

Jesse said...

I have The Book Thief, and I really need to get to it soon! Everyone has great things to say about it!

Here's my Monday: http://elle-lit.blogspot.com/2011/09/september-5-its-monday-what-are-you.html

Rebecca Chapman said...

Some brilliant books there, most of which I am still intending to read :-) The Book Thief is one of my favourite books of all time and I have been meaning to read something by Dorothy Sayers for a very long time. Hope you enjoy Middlemarch