What are you reading in August 2013?

I'm about to finish Nervous conditions, the coming-of-age story of a girl in 1960s Rhodesia. It is excellent. Then I will be starting on my All Virago-All August stack!

I'm reading High Sobriety: My Year Without Booze, a non fiction account of journalist Jill Stark's year of being sober after being a fairly heavy binge drinker for most of her life. A good examination of Australia's drinking culture as well, where you're suspicious if you're not drinking.

I've just finished two Georgette Heyers and will be embarking on a Virago / Persephone fest for the rest of the month ...

Recently picked up Mrs. Woolf and the Servants by Alison Light on a Kindle deal. Wonderful! Also have We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler to enjoy during my September term break.

still reading allende's the infinite plan and really liking it. one of the best (of her fictions) that i think i've read. taking me forever, but that's no reflection of the book. great language and writing, interesting story.

#1 I loved Nervous Conditions!

Edith Wharton's The Custom of the Country - so, so good!

>6 rebeccanyc:: Finished it, and I love it too! Now reading The lying days by Nadine Gordimer for a white girl's experiences in South Africa.

>7 LyzzyBee:: That's probably my favourite Wharton! Undine is a deliciously awful character.

Half way through a short book by Alice Hoffman entitled Local Girls. This book was lent to me by a friend and I was expecting Hoffman's trademark magical realism. There is mostly realism and very little magic in this book, except of course for Hoffman's writing itself. I think this is better than anything else that I have read by her.

Well, Local Girls was a quick read. Now I am reading On Gold Mountain. I have enjoyed Lisa See's fiction quite a bit--this book is a non-fiction family history.

The Voyage Out by Virginia Woolfe, a side track, which I thought would be interesting to take after Alison Light's Mrs. Woolf and the Servants.

I'm reading light and local novels. Just finished Campaign Ruby and now onto Ruby Blues. Both written by the current Australian Prime Minister's daughter, Jessica Rudd. Very entertaining light political fiction, especially seeing as we are currently going through election fever in Australia.

I've borrowed both as e-books from the local library at a touch of a couple of buttons on my sony e-reader. Both are such page-turners it's an ideal way to read them.

I'm reading Dragon keeper by Robin Hobb for fun, and A particular place by Mary Hocking for All Virago-All August.

Long a fan of Karen Joy Fowler, and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves does not disappoint. What seems to be breezy chick-lit plumbs not what it means to be a Young Woman of Today as much as what it means to be human, and to explore it with imagination and compassion. Saying anything else would be a spoiler.

I finished Sigrid Unset's marvelous trilogy, Kristin Lavransdatter, several days ago, after being absorbed in medieval Norway for over a month.

15, that's a wonderful story! I envy anyone encountering it for the first time.

On to The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Not sure I really like this type of book, but my students recommended it.

The author certainly is having fun designing the circus.

In tone something like the movie, "The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus," only more coherent and, sadly, without Tom Waits.

I just started Caleb's Crossing. I've enjoyed everything else by Brooks, so I hope that I will enjoy this too.

All Virago All August continues - this weekend I read Trooper to the southern cross by Angela Thirkell, in which she convincingly channels the voice of an Australian army doctor on a nightmare voyage from England to Australia, and am now reading The Misses Mallett. Trooper was a lot of fun to read, and Misses Mallett has started very well too.

>17 nohrt4me2:: I liked The night circus a lot, but the love story was rather cliched and I found Marcus to be insufferable. The circus itself is gorgeous.

Started A Hundred Summers by Beatriz Williams.

I've finished and reviewed Andrea Barrett's latest collection of stories, Archangel: Fiction, which as usual portrays characters who are involved in various kinds of scientific activity.

The Misses Mallett was an excellent read. I thought all the characters were very well-drawn and interesting, as was the depiction of social life in a small English town. I wasn't happy with one of the character's final decisions, but that didn't diminish my enjoyment of the novel.

I'm now trying to finish The people with the dogs, which I started earlier this month and did not get on with.

I've started Just Kids. A little late to the party, I know, but I finally found it on a library book cart.

I loved Just Kids!

I recently finished Where'd You Go Bernadette?. I'd been put off by the cover, but several LTers recommended it and I found it clever and entertaining, although I felt a little like I'd eaten a big bowl of candy when I finished, instead of a nutritious meal!

>#24. I scored Where'd You Go Bernadette? off a library cart for $2 on Saturday. I'll put it on the top of the pile! Thanks.

I think Maria Semple ("Bernadette" author) was a Saturday Night Live writer. It's not as funny as SNL, and the end was a bit ridiculous, but I liked Bernadette's "acting out" of her rage and anger and the way the women you thought might get demonized weren't.

I agree that the end was ridiculous. I enjoyed the beginning a lot more, as well as the characters of Bernadette and Bee (and, sort of, Audrey), and the satire. It isn't my usual fare, but it was a fun break. (I haven't watched SNL in years -- too late for me!)

I'm almost finished Offshore, by Penelope Fitzgerald (she won the Booker prize with this one), and am listening to Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot on audiobook.

I managed to finish The people with the dogs, which ended better than it started but was still a bit of a disappointment. I've just started The group, which seems as though it will be more engaging.

Wow! I was just thinking of re-reading "The Group" the other day. I loved that book in college.

>30 nohrt4me2:: I'm enjoying it so far, though the very explicit yet clinical descriptions of sex in chapter 2 reminded me rather of Forever by Judy Blume!

This morning I started The Engagements, my first read by J. Courtney Sullivan.

I just finished the heartbreakingly beautiful tale of four generations of Guadeloupean women, The Bridge of Beyond by Simone Schwarz-Bart.

I finished The group, which was a very good read. I liked that none of the women were completely likeable or dislikeable, and also that there were no neat and tidy endings. On the other hand, it was a bit frustrating when major events happened off-screen and we only found out about them through an off-hand comment in the dialogue. Very interesting all round though.

Now I'm reading Our spoons came from Woolworths, my last book for All Virago-All August, and I think it will be a good one. I love Barbara Comyns' novels.