Virgin: The Untouched History by Hanne Blank

Just started. Combines historical and medical facts with social analysis to sort out what's really known about virgins and virginity.

Just finished 11/23/63, Stephen King. SOOOO good. I think it's my favorite ever of his.

Also just finished, for my book club, Beautiful Ruins. It got wonderful reviews. None of us could understand. Hated it on many levels.

Now reading, again for my book club, The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin.[ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Orchardist-A-Novel-P-S/dp/0062188518"]The Orchardist: A Novel (P.S.): Amanda Coplin: 9780062188519: Amazon.com: Books[/ame] It's intense, really intense. Very raw.

Then I need to add in a whole bunch of pre-reading/reviewing to plan for my daughter's curriculum next year. 9th grade! I plan to do a lot of historic fiction with her this year, which we both love. She also wants to read more on time travel so I'm going to re-read Octavia Butler's Kindred to refresh my memory before passing that on for her to chew on.

Just started reading the newest book published by Alfred A. Knopf publishers (Vintage):

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

by Cheryl Strayed (March 26th, 2013)

Hailed as the best non-fiction book of 2012 by The Boston Globe and Book of the Year by NPR, St. Louis Dispatch and Vogue, at twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and she would do it alone. Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her (a brief introduction to Strayed's book provided by Amazon).



http://www.zinzin.com/wp-content/upl...rayed-wild.jpg

I'm reading book 1 in the "Game of Thrones" series.

I like it a lot, great writing, it's very evocative and it keeps moving ... but my god is it long.

I might need to put it aside for awhile so I can actually read a few other books I have queued up for this summer.

Question for those that have read the "Game of Thrones" series, is it worth it?

I know that is a subjective question.

It's a just such a huge time investment. I haven't had more than an hour a day, to read, for a couple of weeks; I don't feel I'm making a lot of progress with the book, I'm only 50% through book 1 after 2 weeks of reading. For the first time ever I'm tempted to skip the books and watch the television show. But I *know* I will get much more out of the book. I just can't decide if its worth it yet. :|

I have truly enjoyed the series, both in the book form and the t.v. show.
I read the books first and found like any other book series that has been turned into a t.v. show that there are things that seem to be forgotten.
I have not seen this season yet but I will probably go back and reread them just to refresh my mind.
Enjoy and happy reading...

I read Sum It Up, Pat Summitt's memoir and the last book in the Sookie Stackhouse series. Both were fine. I am shocked that people got all up in arms about Sookie ending up with Sam. He was not my favorite character, but certainly it was a predictable outcome.

A Cold Case of Murder by Jean Marcy

The Fourth Meg Darcy Mystery I just began reading this book about an unsolved murder.

Return to the Caffe Cino

A collection of plays and memoirs edited by Steve Susoyev and George Birimisa

...getting ready for a new project next year and selecting plays. This is exciting stuff. :)

I really enjoyed this book. Let me know what you thought of it... :)

I was describing gist of the memoir to a friend the other day as we talked about some of the logistical planning that goes into a long hike. There were several bits in the book that were eye-opening.

I just started reading The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Welles. I needed a fluffy...and short...book after the uber cerebral biography....and I did love the movie...

Your book sounds intriguing (you'll have to tell us more about it, when you're ready) and I sense your excitement concerning new projects and plays for the up and coming season!

I chose Cheryl Strayed's book because.... her story is poignant and her journey took place in the Pacific Northwest, a place that is dear to my heart - the Pacific Crest Trail. Also, I'm reading her memoir rather slowly as I am, like I do so much of the time about anything, analysing tragedy in my own life and revisiting choices I've made over my lifetime. Interestingly enough, I feel a kindred spirit with Strayed's story. I imagine this book was terribly interesting to you Fancy, given your experience with hiking and gps/logistics. :)

For certain, I want to purchase a copy of the book (I borrowed it from the library downtown).

Map of Dreams by M Rickert:

From Publishers Weekly

Sorrows, anguish and bitter might-have-beens dominate Rickert's fitfully brilliant collection of fantasy fiction, whose title novella, according to Gordon Van Gelder's afterword, reveals a love of the natural world that wonderfully imbues the author's often enigmatic fiction. Rickert's nature is less illumined by golden daffodils than "red in tooth and claw," rife with the fierce necessary complements of birth and death, reality and dream, sanity and madness. Rickert acknowledges her "magical realism" owes a literary debt to Gabriel García Marquez, but her most powerful passages, like "Moorina of the Seals," a startling ecological hymn, and "Many Voices," the horrific exposé of a women's prison, draw on woman's strengths and weaknesses as maiden, matron and crone. "Leda" and her other subtle retellings of myth, couched in the deceptively prosaic dialogue of America's underprivileged, achieve resonances that plumb the darkest depths of human love and loneliness, and occasionally rise to "the song that both connects, and disconnects us, shared, but never owned, life."
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I wasn't sure what I was going to read next...and then....I went to the post office and found I had a package. :) I am now reading...

On the Beaten Path: An Appalachian Pilgrimage by Robert Alden Rubin

It details the travels of a man hiking the Appalachian Trail....

I finished The Silver Linings Playbook by Matthew Quick a few weeks ago. I haven't seen the movie, so I can't compare...but I'm guessing the movie must be much better. The book was okay, even good in some places. But when it was *finally* time for the Big Reveal, I was a bit disappointed.

After that, I read Castle Waiting, a graphic novel by Linda Medley. It doesn't deviate much from the fairy-tale formula, but it's a good read. I think i picked up some Neil Gaiman influences, which might be why I liked it.

I just downloaded Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison by Piper Kerman. I just finished episode 8 of the TV show, am completely hooked, and had to get the book to feed my obsession.