Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 Broken by Karin Slaughter. This book brings together characters from Slaughter's Grant County series - cop Lena Adams and former coroner Sara Linton, and her Atlanta series - detective Will Trent from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Sara returns to her hometown of Heartsdale, after a long absence Spoiler: spoiler for previous books following the murder of her police chief husband, Jeffrey, in Heartsdale four years previously and finds herself involved in the investigation of the murder of a young woman whose body was dragged from a nearby lake. The main suspect, a teenage boy with a quite severe mental disability was arrested and Sara suspects Lena Adams of coercing him into a confession. She also holds Lena responsible for the young man's suicide in jail. Sara despises Lena Spoiler: spoiler for previous books she blames her for Jeffrey's death and is determined to take her down. So she calls in the GBI and Will Trent to investigate. Meanwhile, Lena has her own problems, she longs to escape from the deeply corrupt Grant County police force, but previous fuck ups and mistakes she has made in both her professional and personal life cause problems for her. She also has her suspicions about the true guilt of the dead suspect, and guilt over her responsibility in his suicide. Will Trent, too, has his own problems to deal with, the close-mouthed hostility of a small town, his attraction to Sarah, his dyslexia and his extremely tough childhod. As with all of Slaughter's books, the characters, plot and setting are all brilliant. Lots of darkness and rain and simmering tensions etc. Also reading The Black Tower by P.D. James. Recovering from a dangerous illness, Commander Adam Dalgliesh receives a letter from an old friend who is now a chaplain at a home for the disabled, Toynton Grange. When he arrives, the priest is dead and one of the patients has (apparantly) killed himself. As Dalgliesh reluctantly investigates further, he begins to suspect that the Grange, is not quite the caring community it seems, and it's inhabitants, the disabled patients, the assorted carers, the head of the home etc, are not what they seem. Very good so far. What I like best is the portrayal of the disabled patients. They're not portrayed as saints, nor as victims of a cruel society, just as people who are as capable of the same things as anyone else, and that includes petty viciousness, outright malice, and possibly even murder. The setting - on a clifftop on the Dorset coast, in a Gothic-y house inhabited by a group of weirdos (patients and carers alike are all odd, and it has nothing to do with whether they happen to be in a wheelchair or not, and they all seem to have something to hide), is fantastic too, there's a real sense of creeping menace. I also love the character of Dalgliesh.
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 i have it on my kindle to get around to one of these days (i have about 50 "to do" books in my kindle, plus 2 piles on a bookshelf, plus a wardrobe full, oops)... i just finished "god's little acre" by erskine caldwell, it was really good, although i think i preferred " tobacco road". "gla" was less funny and more tragic, although it did still have humorous bits...
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 Just finished 'Broken' and I really enjoyed it. I love Will Trent. Slaughter does a very good job of exploring and developing the relationship between him and Sara. Poor Will, he's so utterly messed up.
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 well i am going to start a novel called "The Lord of the Rings" by JRR Tolkein. Don't know about it. Just going to read it. Let's see..
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 ^ is this a bazinga situation? i hate when i can't tell if something's sarcstic or not!
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson. It's good so far. On audio, I'm listening to The Untold War by Nancy Sherman. It's a study, from a psychological/philosophical POV about the psychological side of war and being a soldier, as well as the connections between ancient philosophers and war and soldiering. For example, issues of learning to kill and the effect this has on soldiers, issues of survivor guilt, issues of torture/interrogation during wars etc. It's really interesting, especially the whole issue of soldiers being taught to kill and the effect this has on them psychologically. The book isn't pro or anti-war, it's purely about soldiers who fight them.
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 ^ i like the sound of that... i'm reading *ugh* libération and figaro newspapers so that i can analyse/compare two articles about sarkozy for an essay (i don't give a crap about bloody sarkozy!) also *still* madame bovary, my reading in french, at least for literature, is ridiculously slow. news articles are ok, but literature often has so many different styles and stuff it's a bit more complicated. i'm also re-reading baudelaire's les fleurs du mal for a presentation i have to do in a couple of weeks although thankfully (a) it's poetry so i can dip in and out and (b) i know it pretty well already as i did an essay on it last year. plus i'm about to start reading rimbaud's illuminations as once we've done bovary we'll be doing that. i'm also reading (well, struggling through) a couple of very hefty texts on neurolinguistics as well as dozens of research papers - although at least those are in english, if not necessarily a language i can understand (so much technical jargon!) - can you tell it's essay season?! for "fun" i'm reading the terrorism trap by, er, i forget. it's basically a critical analysis of american foreign policy leading up to and since 9/11. it's pretty much a marxist text, which is fine by me, and it's nothing i didn't already know (war = big business profiteering & exploitation of the working man, america is just as guilty of terrorist activity as any of the so called rogue nations etc, wow, hold the front page, i had no idea although, sadly, and i guess this is the point, many many people really do have no idea, given what a fine propaganda job the us media does...) - even so, it's interesting and it's always nice to read a good old leftist diatribe. i have to add tho, it is in no way anti-american or pro-terrorism (nor for that matter am i), the guy that wrote it is a teacher in the states, and is american himself, it's just, well, an alternative angle.
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 I'm still reading The Girl who Played with Fire, it's getting pretty good! On audio I'm listening to Dark Matter by Michelle Paver. It's set in 1937. Jack is a middle class guy down on his luck and unhappy with his life. He jumps at the chance to join an Arctic expedition to Gruhuken as wireless operator. Almost from the beginning of the expedition things start to go wrong. One of the men breaks his leg, the captain of the ship is reluctant to go to Gruhuken at all..Once they arrive, they soon find themselves facing the endless night of the Arctic as tensions begin to simmer in the group. Jack soon finds himself alone on the ice, but soon begins to suspect he may not be alone after all... It's pretty good and creepy so far.
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire, it was great. I'm now reading a CSI:NY book, Deluge. It's good so far. There are three cases -Mac and Flack are investigating two murders which seem to be connected, a woman who managed an apartment building and a man who works as an auditor, both stabbed to death after having their genitals mutilated and letters carved in their thighs. Stella and Hawkes investigate a suspicious fire/explosion at a bar, and Hawkes ends up falling through the floor into a basement with a guy who is not quite right, and has a gunshot wound he won't explain. Danny and Lindsay are investigating the murder of a popular teacher at an elite private school. On audio I'm listening to Soldier: The Life of Colin Powell, it's very interesting.
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 At home, I'm reading one called The Unit. It's about a family who survives the end of the world, and how they work together to keep going. It bounces point of view between the four family members as well as a few others. At school (I'm a 4th grade teacher) I have a contest going with my students to see who can read the most words. We use a program called Accelerated Reader, where the kids read and then take a quiz on the computer. My contest is between myself and all of my students. Right now, they're beating me by about 3,000 words. I'm nearly done reading Nancy Drew: Mystery of Shadow Ranch. I should be done with it on Monday, then I'll quiz on it.
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 Rainack, I did AR when I was in lower school! I remember that. It was much better than Accelerated Math Well, I'm going to start up Les Mis again. I haven't had time with school, but Christmas break is soon so I'm going to start it up again especially because I'm going to Colorado so I will have a lot of time on my hands. Also, I'm trying out for the musical so I need to finish reading the book eventually (even though I've seen one of the movies like seven times and seen the musical once so I know the story.)
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 persevere with it, you won't regret it! it's a bit more complex than either the various movies or the musicals allow for - i love at least one movie and the musical but the book is sooooooooooo much better. one of my all time favourites
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 I'm still listening to the Colin Powell book on audio, it just keeps getting better. Powell is an interesting guy, and as well as his story there's quite a bit about black history, the Vietnam War etc. I'm reading The Boat by Lothar-Gunther Bucheim right now. It's the book the film Das Boot was based on, it's about a German U-Boat crew in WW2. It's v. good, the claustrophobia and fear of life on a U-boat and how the Germans were no different to the Allies, they had the same fears, desires, flaws etc is really well conveyed.
Re: What Are You Reading?-#3 I'm reading The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson which is the last book in the Millenium trilogy. OK so far. On audio I'm listening to 'Fever of the Bone' by Val McDermid. It's a part of the Dr Tony Hill series. A young girl is found murdered and her murder may be connected to an online predator.