a march round up

Have been neglectful of my book watching recently. Partly accounted for by increased walking to work.

Though I have noticed a couple of brave souls walking while they read. Stieg Larssen  is the constant companion on one walker spotted  a couple of days in a row.

On buses and trams in the last couple of weeks

• Cate Hennedy’s The World Beneath
• Orwell’’s Ninety Eighty Four
• A hardback John Grisham
• The sublime Ramson by David Maloud
• Harry Potter and the something.. ( one of those adult cover versions)
• The one percent doctrine by Ron Suskind, which looks like a fascinating book about America’s hunt for terrorists post September 11.

I am reading Orhan Pamuk’s Snow. It’s a dense read, at times funny commentary on the dilemma of modern Turkey. Can’t see myself finishing it any time soon…

A literary tram and help needed

A very literary tram indeed yesterday evening.

Two students ( I think ) discussing Carson McCullers member of the Wedding and Remains of the Day by  Kazuo Ishiguro. An erudite and entertaining discussion to listen in to while the tram trundled along.

Also spotted the last week:

On the train to Mordialloc

Sophie Kinsella  Twenties Girl

Maeve binchey Tara Road

Imogene clark Saving Jessie

On the 112 and in the inner north

What philosophers think ( a collection of interviews)

A Judy Dench biography

The collector by John Fowles

Ayn Rand The fountainhead

Gabrielle Lord Baby did a bad thing

Dali: Genius, Obsession and Lust by Ralf Schiebler  and Jacqueline Guigui-Stolberg

Spotted by a friend in Coburg, a walking woman reading one of the Terry Pratchett Discworld series…

I need help. I have just finished reading Dead Europe and am in urgent need of someone with whom to discuss it. Please get in touch if you have read it!

is there such a thing as a mini zeitgeist?

Between having a cold and walking to work I have not had much time on our trams or trains.

Over the last week I have noticed a bit of a Annie E  Proulx explosion though with both The Shipping News and That Old Ace in the hole being read on my tram. Then I found a co worker reading the Shipping news at lunchtime…like  a mini zeitgeist!

Mary Renault’s The Persian Boy

Alice in Wonderland

Herbal remedies

Several sightings of the Girl in the Hornet’s nest trilogy

Ballet news

I am reading Dead Europe, having picked it up for a song and been inspired to read it by a conversation with the bookseller. I was always under the impression that it was a bit hard going and I would find it a bit sombre but so far so good. It’s not a rollicking laugh by any means but it is beautifully written and has some interesting observations about family, friendship anti Semitism, long held prejudice, belonging and tribes and distance.

unsafe reading

Steig Larssen wins most dedicated reader award this week. Spotted crossing Collins st,  whilst reading , a young woman enthralled by one of the Girl with the dragon tattoo series. Dedicated but not very safe!

Other more sedate readers this week were reading

• Dead Europe by Christos Tsiolaks, hopefully the massive success of The Slap will bring him some new readers
• The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
• Club Dead, the third book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, have not read but love True Blood the TV series based on the books.

 

Inspired by last weeks commuters at a sweet secondhand bookshop in Northcote ( Brown and Bunting) last night I bought Neil Gaiman’s American Gods for myself and a Robin Hobb for my son.

memories and waiting

Caught a tram home yesterday with seats to spare and room to move. Alleluia!

A very eclectic collection indeed: put my Age guide to the Melbourne Food and Wine festival to shame. Not literature I know but a gal’s got to eat and the festival is always a highlight of the year for me..the food tours in dandenong look great.

• Carl Jung’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections
• Hilary Mantell’s stunning Wolf Hall
• more Steig Larsson
• Richard Flanagan’s Waiting
• a slim Roald Dahl with a cover I did not recognise..
• A very well loved Michael Crichton, title unseen

For some reason, despite being  a huge Flanagan fan I have not yet read Waiting, sure I will get around to it this year. Can’t promise that for the Jung.

I have nearly collected all my books for friends and family and have enjoyed putting them up on shelves, I have unearthed the glorious Beverly Farmer Home Time. She writes beautiful short stories and has always been a favourite of mine. Little read these days though…

not robin hood, robin hobb

It’s been hard to see anything on the tram recently. The 112 has been jam packed nearly every trip. This morning saw some debacle that meant 28 minutes between trams at 8.10 am so no chance of a leisurely read for anyone.

Spotted over the past week though

• Robin Hobb, who though I have never heard of her appears to be a  best selling author of fantasy fiction ( might check her out for my 14 year old son)
• The Steig Larssen books are now well and truly off their shelves. Most tram trips have at least one volume being read
• The Readings catalogue
• Doris Lessing’s The Good Terrorist
• A few textbooks also sneaking in : Company accounting and a nursing text book seen yesterday

 

I have just finished Andrew McGahan’s Wonders in a Godless world and was struck by how compelling the narrative was but am still processing how it left me feeling. Big, bold, strange, certainly worth a read.

Eternal life and stockmarket metdown

Another eclectic mix on the 112 tram this week, a mix of the old and the new.

Shantaram, massive tome by Gregory David Roberts

the timeless Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

A good hanging, a collection of short stories by Ian Rankin

Meltdown, apparently a free market look at the stockmarket by Thomas Woods

Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck

a couple of Mills and Boon looking novels

Alex Millers masterpiece,  Journey to the stone country

Quite a few s0dudku books in evidence this week too.

Where do underpants come from?

The return of many to work has seen a real mix of reading material out and about

Spotted on trams over last couple of days:

Where Underpants come from, about global trade and China, http://www.joebennett.co.nz/books/underpants.asp

Orwells, Nineteen Eighty Four

American Gods by Neil gaiman

The amazing Madame Bovary

A dennis Lehane ( could not catch title as it seemed to be in smaller print than his name!)

A thousand splendid suns by Kaled Hosseini

Learned Optimism by Martin Seligman, part of  new Year’s resolution program perhaps?

New Scientist

A few herald Suns

I am reading John Banville’s The Infinities and have to admit I am finding it very amusing, first time I have ever laughed out loud whilst reading John Banville…the gods are hilarious

new year’s resolutions…read more?

Lots to see today. Maybe a common New Year’s resolution is to read more. I should probably read less, I’d get a lot more done!

Certainly more books out after Christmas than before.

• Jodi Picoult The Pact, I have never read her but lots of people I think quite highly of rave about her, say she is “thought provoking”
• Marching Powder by Rusty Young, about a jail in San Pedro where families live with the inmates and tourists pay for guided tours:  http://www.marchingpowder.com/
• Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna , first time I’ve seen it off a shelf , must admit I thought it would be getting a good airing judging by the number of people I know who got it as a gift at Christmas
• Mao’s Last dancer by Li Cunxin
• Holy Cow by  former JJJ presenter Sarah McDonald
• Lily Brett’s  You gotta have balls

I was listening to a new find, New Yorker magazine podcasts  in which they ask a writer to read and discuss a short piece of fiction from the new Yorker archives. I listened to Richard Ford read and talk about a John Cheever short story, reunion, which was terrific. Find them at iTunes for free or at http://www.newyorker.com/online/podcasts/podcasts

While talking about podcasting: does anyone know how I can podcast the Radio National daily book reading?

down by the seashore

A few days down at gorgeous sleepy Somers has yielded lots of book sightings and the trip in on tram this morning was also chock a block with readers. Too many to look at in nay detail though.

On the beach over the weekend

• At least 3 Twilight saga books, one being read by intended audience ( 12 year old girl), one by a middle aged woman and another by a dashing fellow in his mid 30s. All frantically turning pages, compelled by the story to shun the waves. I did overhear a conversation about the authenticity of the voice of the narrator,  quickly segueing into how much money Stephanie Meyer was making!

 

• Blackwater Rising by Attica Locke. A very thick, handsome hardcover, which looked to have  a library sticker. It sounds quite fascinating and looked to be keeping the reader’s attention, http://www.amazon.com/Black-Water-Rising-Attica-Locke/dp/0061735868

 

• A couple of the  Steig Larsonn trilogy also spotted. One looked as if t had been passed around many friends and was well loved.
• I was reading The Big Sleep and still loving it and my friends were reading, The Drowning man by Michael Robotham ( a crime mystery I think) and a very impressive looking A history of Christianity.  
• The juniors were reading The complete Sherlock Holmes and the third in the Twilight saga..

 

On the tram this morning too many to spot but  I did observe

• Eat, Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert which I know has been hugely popular
• The Italian Billionaires Christmas Miracle, appears to be Romance
• The Solid mandala by Patrick white
• And Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood

 

Congratulations go to Karin Derkley for her thorough book spotting!