What are you reading in Jan of 2014?

[Stella]

The Odyssey for my book club and Leisure: The Basis of Culture by Joseph Pieper.

[Jilly]

There are definitely some not nice people in that novel which made it delicious for me!

Huh. That might change my mind. Good thing I forgot to take it back.

[Florence]

I have 4 books going:
The Empire of Liberty by Gordon S. Wood. It is the second volume in the Oxford History of the United States and covers from the end of the Revolution to the War of 1812. I had no idea what an interesting period it was! In fact we are still arguing the same Hamilton-Jefferson questions.
Countdown by Alan Weisman. Over population.
Mrs. Tim Christie by D.E. Stevenson. Quiet English country life.
Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn by John Maxwell. Motivational. (And I certainly need some motivating these days...)

[Tammy]

My sister is finishing up a PhD in Hebrew bible. Her dissertation has a lot to do with the Book of Enoch. So that's what I'm reading at the moment.

[razz]

I decided to reread Black Beauty for a change. I had bought a number of classics in paperback editions for DGS to read to him and I have discovered once again why they are the classics. Lovely!

[Jilly]

RazZ, I do that, too. I found a copy of Otto of the Silver Hand/Pyle (the Robin Hood guy), in the free box at the library, although I have not begun reading it yet.

[Lainey]

Am in the middle of "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis. It's a little dense, but it's a non-fiction book explaining the securities market crash. He examines the question "Who understood the risk inherent in the assumption of ever-increasing real estate prices, a risk compounded daily by the creation of those arcane, artificial securities loosely based on piles of doubtful mortgages?"

Detailed, and if you're into this sort of thing, reads like a mystery novel.

[AmeliaJane]

Let's see: My ongoing project is reading "The Forsyte Saga," a very long trilogy by John Galsworthy about a wealthy extended family in Victorian London (actually published in the 1920s.) It's really good and surprises me some of the territory it gets into. It will take me most of the year to finish the final 2/3.

Recently started the Lord Peter Wimsey series by Dorothy Sayers, in order. I have always heard her books recommended as classics of detective literature but have never really read her work. I liked "Whose Body?," the first, a lot. The mystery is pretty convoluted, but the book includes a fairly accurate, based on my understanding, depiction of Wimsey's PTSD from WWI. Not what I was expecting from a light Twenties detective fiction.

Also read the first book in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare, City of Bones, after I caught the movie version one day. Again, I was surprised how much I liked it. I am not a huge fan of YA paranormal for the most part, but the characters' sense of humor appealed to me. I am looking forward to reading more, and think I will recommend it to my sister, who liked the Twilight series. I thought this one was much better.

Also various graphic novels and nonfiction for work.

[RCWRTR]

I'm currently reading Take The Cannoli by Sarah Vowell. Next is The Partly Cloudy Patriot by Sarah Vowell. I really enjoy her unique perspective on the various subject matter of her essays. Because I'm a fan of her storytelling on NPR's This American Life, I can almost hear her saying the words in her essays as I read them.

[Mrs. Hermit]

Like Sarah Vowell. Very good writer. Being in grad school, I get to read A LOT, but no time for "fun". So my books are "If These Walls Could Talk" (Lady Worsley) and "The Marketplace of Revolution."