I want to get the new Patti Smith! I loved "Just Kids."

I'm nearing the end of Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" which is sort of an old sci-fi/cyberpunk classic. I used to rarely read sci-fi, but I'm now enjoying some of it quite a bit. Loved the Hugh Howey series that was recommended here!

The last book I read before that was "Burial Rites" by Hannah Kent, based on the true story of the last woman convicted and executed under the death penalty in Iceland. Not cheery, but worth reading.

Up next, I'm FINALLY going to read Stephen King's "11/23/63."

I re-read "A Walk in the Woods" , too, when I heard that it now has a movie adaptation. The book is from 1997, no wonder some parts feel dated. I love Bill Bryson, though.

Janet, I think we have the same reading tastes. I LOVED "Just Kids," and am planning to get the new one. "Burial Rites" was -- I don't know the right word to describe it, but I couldn't put it down. A beautifully-written book, and an unforgettable story. "11/23/63" is a real thriller, a work of great imagination, and another page-turner. Wish I could write like that!

The End of Your Life Book Club was great - touching but not sappy, and a great meditation on the influence of our parents on our lives, and the influence of literature.

I finished Rewire, yay, and one of the Wild series from Christina Lauren. I have to say that I'm getting kinda tired of excessively explicit sex scenes in romance. Not for reasons of prudishness, but it always seems to come at the sacrifice of characterization.

I got The Luminaries from the library, so maybe I'll start that next.

I hope you'll enjoy The Luminaries as much as I did. It's really unique and enthralling.

Earlier this fall I read Life after Life by Kate Atkinson....what a fascinating novel! I'm waiting for the sequel (A God in Ruins) to come out in paperback. I also highly recommend Euphoria (Lily King).

Right now I'm reading The Story Hour (Thrity Umrigar) and plan to read Spartina (John Casey) and The Invention of Wings (Sue Monk Kidd) next.

I'm looking forward to Patti Smith's new book, too, Janet. I really loved Just Kids.

Hi. Haven't gotten to the previous comments yet but I am looking forward to them.

I recently read, almost back to back, the four-part Naples trilogy by Elena Ferrante and was completely mesmerized by it, with the feeling of having truly witnessed a complicated friendship and the unfolding of a life.

Since then, I've vowed to get much more back to reading, which I'd gotten away from in recent years. I attended some talks at the Boston Book Festival last weekend and am now reading one of the authors' books. Courtney Maum's first novel on a painter trying to win back his wife (after he causes major damage to their marriage with an affair): I'm Having So Much Fun Here Without You. I'm liking it a whole lot, really great truths about love and human relations and some not fussy but sensual and beautiful language.

Another author on a panel has a new book that intrigues me, based on the excerpt she read for the audience. The panel topic was "Apocalyptic Fiction" and she wrote about a troupe of actors who tour around the U.S. twenty years after an epidemic has wiped out most of the world population. Station 11, by Emily St. John Mandel.

I also just read a novel from the early 90's, After Moondog by Jane Shapiro. The writing was sharp but it's kind of New Yorker-y fiction that is a lot of little moments and observations but not sure what I'm left with afterwards.

Can't wait to see what you all are reading!

Mochi, I enjoyed Station Eleven. Mandel has a great voice and it's an engaging story, for all that it's post-apocalyptic. I was a little confused why it became such a big crossover hit outside of scifi, but happy for her success nonetheless because I think she's a good and thoughtful writer.

I just finished (and really enjoyed) Circling the Sun by Paula McLain. I've also been working my way slowly through the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. Love the series.

I recently reread Watership Down after many many years and enjoyed it more than the first read.

I am partway through the newly released collection of stories and essays from Shirley Jackson, including a 'new' story which no one knew existed, which I am really enjoying. Also just started Francine Prose's Lovers at the Chameleon Club.

Great thread ! Thank you Laura. I wasn't reading too much for a couple of months and then decided that I really missed it. I am also going to bookmark this page. I have a really long reading list right now. I decided in September to start reading fiction. Especially noteworthy pieces that I didn't read in high school. So I read Tom Sawyer and Hucckleberry Finn along with To Kill a Mockingbird recently. Then Murder on the Orient Express. I am about to start Pygmalion.

Within the last month, I read The Pleasurs and Sorrows of Work by Alain De Botton. He is a modern day philospher and I just love all his work. I also read two French comedies ( in French ) in an effort to not lose my French. They are both by Moliere : L'Ecole des Femmes and Le Malade Imagaire.
The Women's School and the Imaginary Sick Person. Very funny !

I recently downloaded a biography on Cleopatra and one on ALexander the Great.

I had never heard of the Donners...I am going to Google them . Sounds great !

I enjoy de Botton's work - his one about being a philosopher in residence at Heathrow was strangely absorbing.

Oh, I love these threads! Thank you for starting it, Laura.

Janet, I really enjoyed Stephen King's 11/22/63. Couldn't put it down.

Joy, what a coincidence. I am also rereading Watership Down. It's a favorite.

Mochi, I picked up the first book in the Elena Ferrante series a few weeks ago and it's next up to read. I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the series. Looking forward to starting it.

Laura, I love Shirley Jackson! We Have Always Lived in the Castle is one of my all time favorites. My gosh, Merricat Blackwood is a character that's not easily forgotten!

My recent trip to Quebec inspired me to read all of the books in the Inspector Gamache series by Canadian author Louise Penny. I was hooked and polished them off, one right after the other.

Another recent read was Shaman by Kim Stanley Robinson. An excellent tale set 30,000 years ago in the Ice Age. I was transported back in time and hated to see it end.

A few other recent reads:
Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
The Secret Place by Tana French
Dead Wake by Erik Larson
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doer

Happy reading!

@Laura, I LOVED the philosopher in residence at Heathrow. : )

I looked up information on the Donner Party. How tragic !! I read Alive when I was a teenager. That involved the plane crash in the Andes where the survivors turned to cannibalism as people died. It was so upsetting to me that I am not sure that I can read about something like that again. Yet I want to read more about the Donner Reid Party.

This is why I just LOVE YLF. I learn so much.

Getting back to this thread to say that I enjoyed Death comes to Pemberley, thanks to this thread. I'm planning on requesting some more of everyone's recommendations.

I rather like Ben Elton's books and was quite taken with Two Brothers, which I read this month, about twin brothers (one adopted) in a Jewish family during the interwar and Nazi period in Germany.

Since I first heard the song Starry Starry Night, I have been fascinated by Vincent van Gogh. So I am rereading his biography. An absolutely amazing read, but it is a slow read because of all the detailed information. So in between the intense reading I have gotten into the author Janet Evanovich and have just finished reading 3 of her Stephanie Plum series. An easy read, interesting protagonist, and, for lack of a better way to explain it, somewhat unrealistic (but in today's world could be probable) circumstances revolving around a female bounty hunter.