What We’re Reading

Or, In Which The Rest Of Us Make a Concerted Effort To Counter Tjeerd’s All-Encompassing Literary Gluttony.

Before We Met - Lucie WhitehouseNo Name Lane - Howard LinskeyThe Folded Clock - Heidi JulavitsThe Bell Jar - Sylvia PlathMy Documents - Alejandro Zambra

The Murders in the Rue Morgue and Other Tales - Edgar Allan PoeFoucault's Pendulum - Umberto EcoEx Machina - Alex GarlandBetween the Assassinations - Aravind AdigaDrums of Autumn - Diana Gabaldon

The Sugar Book - Damon GameauThe Journalist and the Murderer - Janet MalcolmLiving with a Wild God - Barbara EhrenreichVillette - Charlotte BronteSabbath's Theater - Philip Roth

The Martini Shot - George PelecanosMe Before You - Jojo MoyesThree Weeks of Lady X - Eloisa JamesH is for Hawk - Helen MacdonaldThe Traitor Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson

Seveneves - Neal StephensonDe oase van Matisse catalogusThe Glass Castle - Jeannette WallsThe Best of McSweeneysSlaap zacht, Johnny Idaho - Auke Hulst

V for Vendetta - Alan Moore et alThe Book of Unknown Americans - Cristina HenriquezThe Lord of the Rings - J. R. R. Tolkien

Pleun: Before We Met – Lucie Whitehouse (ebook)

PeterL:  No Name Lane – Howard Linskey (ebook).  “A novel that takes police procedural, serial killer, whodunnit and thriller and melds them together into a wholly satisfying concoction”  It’s an enjoyable book. (-:

Renate: The Folded Clock – Heidi Julavits.  Really Good. Also, The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath (ebook).  Can’t wait to read My Documents, the new Alejandro Zambra.

Jesse: Because of the March 26 Bookbits, the ‘bit’ about the treasure hunt, I’m now reading “The Gold Bug” by Edgar Allan Poe, which I had in my bookcase in a short story collection (ebook).  Also reading Foucault’s Pendulum – Umberto Eco (ebook).

Nicki: Just finished Ex Machina by Alex Garland.  I thought I was buying a novel (it was late and an ebook), but it isn’t, it’s the screenplay. No need to see the movie now (coming out this month). Interesting plot. I’m also reading Aravind Adiga’s Between the Assassinations (ebook). I loved his writing style in the first book, and this one is already “sounding” good.  I’m only at 1% though (I’m an ereader fan, as well as physical books. Someone noted, a while back, that the book is the content, not what it’s presented in. I’ve not read as many books as I have since starting with the ereader – I guess I could use an “old book scent” candle to enhance the experience). Still on the Gabaldon Outlander series (had to find out “what next” after the TV series stopped mid-story), which is nuts and somewhat drenched in coincidences, but fun to read and the conversations and character reactions are regularly good for a giggle. I’m on book 4 now, Drums of Autumn (ebook).  Also just finished That Sugar Book by Damon Gameau.  It’s funny and interesting! He puts complicated things into a language easy to remember and re-tell. Makes 100% sense too.

Tjeerd: The Journalist and the Murderer – Janet Malcolm (ebook), Living with a Wild God – Barbara Ehrenreich (ebook), Villette – Charlotte Brontë (ebook), Sabbath’s Theater – Philip Roth (ebook), My Documents – Alejandro Zambra, The Martini Shot: A Novella and Stories – George Pelecanos (ebook)

Lilia:  Me Before You – Jojo Moyes (ebook). Really beautiful! Now reading something of a no-brainer: Three Weeks with Lady X – Eloisa James (ebook). Good for a giggle. We need those too. 😉  And after that I will read H is for Hawk – Helen Macdonald (ebook).

Tiemen:  Reading the ARC for The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson.  Best political fantasy novel of 2015 and it’s not even published yet. Has the same epic quality as Dune, written with the touch of a poet. After that I’m reading the new Neal Stephenson Seveneves.

Daria: The catalogue for ‘De oase van Matisse’ (current exhibition at Stedelijk Museum).  Go see it, people, it’s a joy to behold and a balm for the soul!

Karin: The Glass Castle – Jeannette Walls (ebook) …and loving it… Amazing autobiographical coming-of-age story.

JeroenW: The Best of McSweeney’s

Maarten: I’m not an intellectual like Tjeerd, but I do, sometimes, read fiction: Slaap zacht, Johnny Idaho – Auke Hulst.

The Lord of the Rings, Sophie's copySophie: V for Vendetta – Alan Moore et al.  This book would have blown me away twenty years ago. Also just finished The Book of Unknown Americans – Cristina Henriquez (ebook). A novel about legal and illegal Central and South American immigrants in the US.  Gently told, easy to read.  Both are upcoming books for my book club.  Currently I’m re-reading my most treasured book: a taped-together, much-worn, dog-eared, soft-at-the-edges copy op The Lord of the Rings.  Just holding it fills me with love and memories and happiness.

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