What are you reading?

[Critical]

I finished The Given Day last night and all I can say is WOW. Did I use the words tour de force before? It was incredible. Reading it, you know that Lehane must have done copious amounts of research, but the story flows so seamlessly that you don't feel it. Definitely

Last night, I started Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It's about a professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard who develops early-onset Alzheimer's. It's so compelling and SO heartbreaking to follow the progression of the disease and how it manifests itself. Alzheimer's is about my biggest fear with respect to my parents, so this book is freaking me out a bit. Still, it's really touching. The author has a PhD in neuroscience, so I'm sure she's depicting things very accurately.

[Wind Dancer]

I am at page 140 in "The White Queen" by Philippa Gregory. Made msyelf keep reading out of my respect for Gregory's other books. It finally did start to get interesting about page 100.

I figured out what the problem was--there was so much historical material to give that the author did much of he first 100 pages in narrative instead of in the much more involving dialogue between characters.

I hope she doesn't do that very much from now on in the book. Once we got to the important do-or-die battles scenes with the queen's husband in danger of losing his throen--and his life--things really started to look up.

______________________________ ______________________________ ______________

Britannia-hi. Your post mentions one of an author's biggest fears--that a book will go to press with incorrect info in it. I had that happen to me--on a much smaller issue than the one you describe--and it is tormenting to have to hear readers mention the problem again and again.

The publishing business is a lot different than it used to be. Most publishers no longer have copy editors to read and find problem areas in factal info etc. So if the author does not pick it up for her/himself then it does not get fixed.

An author can read their work dozens--even hundreds--of times and STILL miss such problems. It is not a writer's finest hour. But it is a human error.

I try not to judge other writers too harshly, knowing that I too have made egregious and preventable errors.

[prhoshay]

Wind, can you list any book titles that you've done for which we might look? Nothing like supporting one of our own!

[norealityhere]

Finished The Help and I'd definitely recommend it.
My only qualm is that the characters are overly stereotypical.
Still, a very good novel on a very sad and shameful chapter in American life.

[donnah fe]

i'm starting..narnia....series.... .

[obsession57]

I finished The Given Day last night and all I can say is WOW. Did I use the words tour de force before? It was incredible. Reading it, you know that Lehane must have done copious amounts of research, but the story flows so seamlessly that you don't feel it. Definitely

Last night, I started Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It's about a professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard who develops early-onset Alzheimer's. It's so compelling and SO heartbreaking to follow the progression of the disease and how it manifests itself. Alzheimer's is about my biggest fear with respect to my parents, so this book is freaking me out a bit. Still, it's really touching. The author has a PhD in neuroscience, so I'm sure she's depicting things very accurately.

Still Alice is an amazing book--my book group had a great discussion about it, especially since nearly everyone had a parent affected by dementia or Alzheimer's. Then I passed it around my office and several people read it and had some great water cooler discussions. Highly recommend it.

[elk]

Last night, I started Still Alice by Lisa Genova. It's about a professor of cognitive psychology at Harvard who develops early-onset Alzheimer's. It's so compelling and SO heartbreaking to follow the progression of the disease and how it manifests itself. Alzheimer's is about my biggest fear with respect to my parents, so this book is freaking me out a bit. Still, it's really touching. The author has a PhD in neuroscience, so I'm sure she's depicting things very accurately.

I also started Still Alice last night and am so completely caught up in the story and the 'realness' of the characters. Right off the bat, you see their flaws; but those flaws do not make them evil (as in many other books), they just make them human!

Critical, please let me know what you think when you are done.

Next up is Catching Fire. Looking forward to going in a totally different direction with that one.

[Critical]

I also started Still Alice last night and am so completely caught up in the story and the 'realness' of the characters. Right off the bat, you see their flaws; but those flaws do not make them evil (as in many other books), they just make them human!

Critical, please let me know what you think when you are done.

I finished it last night. I can't say I LOVED it, because it's not the kind of book that I want to read again and again. I did think it was very well written and, based on the author's background, probably very accurate. I found it completely heartbreaking, but I couldn't put it down. I think it should probably be required reading for anyone who has a loved one with Alzheimer's

I just started The Four Seasons by Lauren Corona. It's set in 18th century Venice and Antonio Vivaldi is a character in the story. He's one of my favorite composers and anything about Venice is a must-read.

[Duxxy]

I just started The Other Queen by Phillipa Gregory and I have The White Queen on reserve at the library. I just finished A Crowning Mercy by Susannah Kells and Bernard Cornwell - I'm really liking historical fiction, I love it when these women (men's chattel) manage to come out on top.

[Britannia]

[QUOTE Britannia-hi. Your post mentions one of an author's biggest fears--that a book will go to press with incorrect info in it. I had that happen to me--on a much smaller issue than the one you describe--and it is tormenting to have to hear readers mention the problem again and again.

The publishing business is a lot different than it used to be. Most publishers no longer have copy editors to read and find problem areas in factal info etc. So if the author does not pick it up for her/himself then it does not get fixed.

An author can read their work dozens--even hundreds--of times and STILL miss such problems. It is not a writer's finest hour. But it is a human error.

I try not to judge other writers too harshly, knowing that I too have made egregious and preventable errors.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for your take on it as an author The book is still good, just the errors interrupted the flow for me. For anyone who doesn't live in Albany, I'm sure that it is just as enjoyable. Good to hear the process from one who is in the business