Monday, July 22, 2013

What Are You Reading Today?


What I'm Reading Now

By the time you are reading this post, I will be out in Alpine in far West Texas for our second vacation (sounds like a hobbit's second breakfast, doesn't it, in a greedy sort of way). I've only got pages to go in both Cloud Atlas and East of Eden, and I can see that The Night of the Comet is going to be one of those stories that I'll be up late, late finishing. The Society of Timid Souls, or How to Be Brave just arrived and I'm so intrigued with the premise (author Polly Morland investigates how to become a courageous person) that I couldn't seem to stop myself from jumping right in. So that's it from here, right now. 

What are you reading right now? Anything you'd recommend? 



Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell


From Amazon:   "David Mitchell combines flat-out adventure, a Nabokovian love of puzzles, a keen eye for character, and a taste for mind-bending philosophical and scientific speculation in the tradition of Haruki Murakami, Umberto Eco, and Philip K. Dick."






East of Eden
by John Steinbeck
From Amazon:  "California's fertile Salinas Valley is home to two families are fruitfully and fatally intertwined. Over the generations, between the beginning of the twentieth century and the end of the First World War, the Trasks and the Hamiltons will helplessly replay the fall of Adam and Eve and the murderous rivalry of Cain and Abel."







The Night of the Comet 
by George Bishop
From Amazon:  "For his fourteenth birthday, Alan Broussard, Jr., receives a telescope from his father, a science teacher at the local high school who's anxiously awaiting what he promises will be the astronomical event of the century: the coming of Comet Kohoutek. For Alan Broussard, Sr.--frustrated in his job, remote from his family--the comet is a connection to his past and a bridge to his son, with whom he's eager to share his love for the stars."





The Society of Timid Souls, or How to Be Brave
by Polly Morland
"With The Society of Timid Soulsor How To Be Brave, documentary filmmaker Polly Morland sets out to investigate bravery, a quality that she has always felt she lacked.  The book takes inspiration from a vividly eccentric, and radical, self-help group for stage-frightened performers in 1940s Manhattan, which coincided with the terrifying height of World War II and was called The Society of Timid Souls.  Seventy years later, as anxiety about everything from terrorism to economic meltdown continues, Morland argues that courage has become a virtue in crisis.  We are, she says, all Timid Souls now."






It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is where we share what we read this past week, what we hope to read this week…. and anything in between!  This is a great way to plan out your reading week and see what others are currently reading as well… you never know where that next “must read” book will come from! I love being a part of this and I hope you do too! As part of this weekly meme Book Journey loves to encourage you all to go and visit the others participating in this meme. 

28 comments:

  1. Nice! Haven't read any of these but hope you enjoy them all!

    Here's my Monday Wrapup

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower :)

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  2. Nice. I've got Cloud Atlas on my Kindle but haven't tackled it yet. East of Eden I have started and can't seem to find where I laid the book down. Hmmmm, well, I'm in the middle of Beautiful Day by Elin Hilderbrand, Bad Monkey by Carl Hiaasen, and Married Lovers by Jackie Collins...yes, I know it is a wide array of stuff but that's how I roll!Have a good day.

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  3. I am finding my current read quite intriguing. It's about a girl who goes missing while on holiday!

    I hope your holiday will be less dangerous LOL

    Shelleyrae @ Bookd Out

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  4. I'm with you, Jill. I like to have a lot of books going at once.

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  5. You've made me curious, Shelley. Off to find out more about what you are reading and to visit a few blogs this morning.

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  6. I've read East of Eden a few times and do find that to be one of Steinbeck's better novels (I am not a Steinbeck fan). I've been eyeballing Cloud Atlas for a while now but have not yet managed to commit to it.

    Enjoy your second vacation!

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  7. Hi Deb! Such a good variety of books. Cloud Atlas, i once had a copy from the library but found it difficult to stay with it. Looking forward to your reading notes. Have a great reading week~

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  8. It is probably just me, but I wasn't overly keen on either East of Eden and Cloud Atlas (I'm finished with both of them.) I need to work on my reviews for these soon. Disappointing, but maybe I expected too much.

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  9. Dorothee, I found Cloud Atlas difficult to stick with, too. I made my way through the book with cheat notes by my side. I admired it, but I didn't love it.

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  10. I've wanted to read East of Eden FOREVER - it's been sitting on my shelf for years. One of these days...

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  11. It took me forever to get through East of Eden. And I'm not sure it was worth it. At least for me. I'm crossing it off my list, but what else am I taking away from it?

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  12. Interesting variety of books. Come see what I did last week here. Happy reading this week!

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  13. The Timid Souls is an odd little cookie of a book. The author is a documentary film maker and she's looking at courage. The book reads like a documentary. I like it.

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  14. Love the look of The Society of Timid Souls...

    Enjoy your week!

    Here's MY MONDAY READING POST

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  15. Ha! Glad to see someone else reading many many books at a time! Interesting books, too; I've never read Cloud Atlas or East of Eden but definitely want to. Hope you enjoy them all!

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  16. I hope you enjoy all the books you read, and enjoy your second holiday!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog & kind regards,

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  17. Yes, Timid Souls reminds me, in some ways, of Quiet, Laurel.

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  18. Kay, I'm really not sure if I'd recommend CA or EE.

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  19. Enjoy your vacation.

    THANKS for stopping by my blog. You have some nice books here.

    Elizabeth
    Silver's Reviews
    My It's Monday, What Are You Reading

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  20. How to Be Brave sounds like my kind of book. If you enjoy it, I know I will too. I'm currently reading Skim by Mariko Tamaki and Jillian Tamaki (cousins).

    I hope you're enjoying the start of your vacation.

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  21. East of Eden is one of my faves. Hope you have a wonderful vacation!!

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  22. Haven't read any of these, but the choices are super.I had to stop and say so :)
    -Reshama @ StackingBooks.com

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  23. I'm having a great vacation. I'm at a writing retreat and I'm learning from an amazing journalist. It's like a college class squeezed into a week.

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  24. Second breakfast and second vacation are good things! Hope it's a good one.

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  25. Yes, second vacation, but it does sound a bit greedy, I think.

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