What I'm Reading-April/May

Update on last "What I'm Reading" post:

The Last Tuesday Book Club (LTBC) finished "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. It was an interesting read, a unique style of writing, very visceral. If I had read it believing that it was an accurate memoir, I would have been horrified by the poor man's experiences. Knowing that it was largely fiction made it a little easier to take. You have to give the guy credit for elaboration and creating suspense--good fiction writing qualities. I guess the story is that no publisher would buy it as fiction, only when it was packaged as memoir was it able to be published.

LTBC is not reading a book for May, but going to see "The Da Vinci Code" movie. We read that book soon after it came out, and have been waiting impatiently to see what Ron Howard does with the story. Will report back early next month.

The book for June is "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden.

I joined a newly formed book club, now unofficially named the "WMD Bookclub"--(WMD= Wednesday Morning Docents). We read "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" by Dai Sijie.
It is about 2 boys in China who get sent to a remote mountain village for reeducation during the Cultural Revolution. It is a wonderful story, with a surprise ending. It is also available on DVD, directed by the author, and so follows the book very well.

The next book for the WMDs is "Gift From The Sea" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh. This book was written over 50 years ago, but is amazingly relevant today. Especially for women of a certain age (my age). Rereading it this week I was surprised that it resonated deeply.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through "Wild Swans-Three Daughters of China." Fascinating history of the 20th century in China through the eyes of one family.

I've started "Inventing the Rest of Our Lives" by Susanne Braun Levine. More later on that.

I finished "Lost in A Good Book" by Thursday Next. Really funny and absorbing. You have to know literature and history to get a lot of the jokes. I know I'm missing a lot of the humor...

Also enjoyed the excerpt from Anderson Cooper's memoir of Hurricane Katrina and coming to terms with his brother's death that was in "Vanity Fair" this month. I don't think Anderson is ever photographed with a smile on his face. Too bad.

What are you all reading out there in the blogosphere?