What are we reading in November?

Thought I'd start a thread since a few of us are still working on 999.

Yesterday I finished Alder's The Measure of All Things which I did enjoy although it took me a while to get into. The early days of the French Revolution were a bit confusing for someone with only a very superficial knowledge of that piece of history. Alder went into great detail about both the politics in Paris and the trials and tribulations of the two expeditions to measure the meridian of Paris. (Put some comments in the review space in my catalog.)

My next challenge book is Trilobite! by Fortey which I'm finding an easier (but not necessarily better) read.

I am almost halfway through Brideshead Revisited. Next I plan to read Dances with Wolves.
--BJ

I just finished The Moonstone and now right into Kate Grenville's The Secret River. Both are the last books in their categories so I'm still on target to finish by year's end. I've also started The Art of Travel.

I'm reading a book called Namako : Sea Cucumber. Funny title, eh? It's the story of a 10 year old girl who is taken to Japan with her family because her mom is upset that the girl's father is having an affair. This was meant to "fix" tha problem.

This is the debut work of Linda Wantanabe McFerrin. I love the writing and am finding it a wonderful book so far. It's kind of sad, though, at the point where I am right now.

Finished Trilobite! which I really enjoyed and am starting Harry Potter and Philosophy edited by Baggett and Klein.

Finally got a non-fiction book done! I read On the Line by Serena Williams. I love tennis and love watching her play. The book was just ok. Didn't make me like her more as a person!

I am reading an ER history about a queen I had never heard of: Joanna I of Naples, of the 14th century. Well and amusingly written and interesting. Next up in the challenge is a personal memoir about one of the islands in the Chesapeake Bay, Kent Island: The Land that Once was Eden. That looks wonderful too, with old historical and family photographs included.

I am not on schedule to complete my 999 challenge. But that's OK. I have radically altered my reading habits for the better and had a great time doing it.

In between essays in Harry Potter and Philosophy I was sidetracked by another challenge book, The Treasure of Our Tongue by Lincoln Barnett. It immediately caught me and I zoomed through the book. While fairly old (c.1964) it was very readable and I found it quite interesting.

Now back to my regularly scheduled reading.

Still going on The Art of Travel and have started Penelope Fitzgerald's A House of Air.

I am reading (slowly!) Crossing to Safety. I'm enjoying, but not loving it. And I'm in no rush to finish either. Then I've been reading some old mysteries around here too.

I've started Case Histories by Kate Atkinson and am enjoying it so far.

I've now started Forests of the Vampire from the Myth and Mankind series. It's interesting but I'll probably end up liking the one on North American Indian lore better.

#7, NeverStopTrying, please let me know what you think of the Kent Island book - I travel across it quite frequently en route to my lab, and I'm interested in local history.

The last couple books I've read I haven't quite figured out how to include in my 999 challenge. I'm reading the Song of the Lioness Quartet aloud to my wife and we just finished the third book last night. But I haven't quite yet finished my own reading as I had planned to.

Oh, and I reread Howl's Moving Castle. I love Dianna Wynne Jones. She is so creative. Always something entirely new.

I have been wanting to read Howl's Moving Castle. I'm glad to hear it's good.

Bfertig - re: Kent Island. I will post a review and let you know. I think it should happen some time next week as I am still chewing my way through a medieval history this week. I have been reading a number of books about the Chesapeake area this year. Even though it is a YA coming of age book, I can strongly recommend Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson for a look at island life and crabbing as it used to be lived and the culture of the people who lived it.

Typo corrected.

I read Crossing to Safety earlier this year and I think I felt the same way. Very enjoyable book, but not necessarily a life changing book. Which is fine. They can't all be. I think for me it was just a relief to read a book in which decent, intelligent people were treating each other with respect and affection. My previous several books had all involved the Soviet Gulag, Stalin and the very basement of how badly people can treat each other. I hope you continue to enjoy it.

Thanks for the encouragement, Tony. It is one where I like the characters and I'm interested to see what happens next. I will finish, but it's not the sort of pageturner some of my other books have been.