Old books covered in blue.
Missing pages, torn covers.
In French.
Old French at that.
I must confess I am not reading them word by word.
What are you reading?
Let's pretend I am reading this:
NO. 11
Collection General des Loix
Tome VI
1741 – 1753
What are you Reading?
Comments
47 responses to “What are you Reading?”
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Hello Dear Corey,
I am reading , FROM THE LAND OF THE MOON
by Milena Angus. It is incredible.
Far too much time has passed since we last corresponded;yet I think of you so often,with warmth in my heart.
XX
MaryBEth -
Currently I am reading “Starorzecza” by Antoni Kroch, a memoir of a family from 1700’s to the current time with a rich historical background of what has happened in Poland during those centuries and also many known historical figures appearing. Excellent, too bad it’s only in Polish.
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I am reading “Tinkers” by Paul Harding. It is astonishing.
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Corey, Corey, Wake up! I know that book has put you to sleep and fallen to dust in your lap. I just finished reading The Uncoupled by Meg Wolitzer. I’m going to start The Proper Care of Maintenance and Friendship as soon as I finish grading papers this morning. Have a fun Sunday
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My currant main read is Jetta Carleton’s “The Moonflower Vine”:
http://www.amazon.com/Moonflower-Vine-Jetta-Carleton/dp/B000F4ODLS
So far, after 60 pages, it keeps its promise of a perfect summer read. -
Paulita,
I would bet Corey went to the brocante early this morning, leaving us in the dust of that book we are supposed to think she is reading! 😉 -
Just finished “Away” by Amy Bloom, loved it, utterly.
And recently, “How to Allow,” which I am currently giving away on my blog 🙂 -
Merisa is right, Corey is at the brocante looking for more books to read. I would have a difficult time reading a book like that, but they do look pretty sitting on the table. I am reading a murder mystery by Nora Roberts. Not one of my favorites, but I will soon be on to new adventures.
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I just finished reading, “13 rue Thérèse”, by Elena Mauli Shapiro. Very interesting and well written. I’m reading (in fits and starts), Ina Caro’s new book, “Paris to the Past”.
It’s always a pleasure to drop by and see what you’re writing about, Corey.
Judith -
I’m reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett
Yesterday I went to a wedding that used old tattered, yellowed, vintage, books in the decorations! The bride has been collecting them and she placed them on the tables as centerpieces along with the flowers. She glued photos and thank you notes to guests inside on the pages. It was very charming and a bit different 🙂
Have a wonderful day Corey!
XOXOXO -
Corey I’m so glad you asked!!!! YOU will love these two books and I bet you may have already read them. ABUNDANCE by Sena Jeter Naslund… Historical fiction about the life of Marie Antonette and MADAME TUSSAUD by Michelle Moran, also a historical novel about this famous wax sculptress with great insights into the French Revolution. Great Reads!! Naslund also wrote Ahab”s Wife ( spose to captain Ahab of Mobey Dick fame) one of my all time favs.
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I just finished reading SARAH’S SECRET. I heard it is required reading in French schools. (?) I know it was just made into a movie. Now, I am reading
CUTTING FOR STONE, by Abraham Verghese…very good!
I will look back at these comments to see which book
I will pick up next. Love the entries.
MaryLou/Texas -
Just finished PattI Smiths “Just Kids” about her life with Robert Mapplethorpe. One of the best books Ive read in a long time. Very touching.
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Well, I can’t believe you posted about these beautiful, antiquarian books today. Last night, I dreamt about perusing exactly such tomes – redolent of history and worn by loving, studious hands – at a brocante. It was my first ever brocante dream, by the way. I feel I have passed some sort of initiation ceremony…
Loved seeing what everyone else is reading! Currently I am at chapter three of Dance by Judy Cuevas (better known as Judith Ivory), a lovely, literate romance set in Belle Epoque Paris. The heroine’s work in the silent film industry is partially based on that of a pioneering Frenchwoman, Alice Guy, “the only female film director of her time in France”. -
Interestingly, I’m reading At Home in France: Tales of an American and Her House Abroad! Picked it up for 50 cents at a thrift store. It’s an older book (1996) but the kind that’s always current. I’ll bet you’ve read it, Corey. Also slogging through Inventing the Rest of Our Lives…to help me decide what’s the next thing I want to be when I grow up. 😎
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LOVED “Just Kids” too! Not a huge fan of Mapplethorpes work and didn’t really know her music, but I was hooked on this story. The sense of time and place and their relationship was so eloquently written.
Now reading “Cutting for Stone”-excellent. -
This summer I have been reading some old standards. I just reread Rebecca and Goodbye Mr. Chips. A more recent book that I enjoyed is The Search for God and Guinness.
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Does this mean you have finished reading the bundle of letters from WWII, and we will soon be reading about it here?
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I read The Help last weekend. Will finally start reading a Jeeves book by P.G. Wodehouse that has been on our bookshelf for two years. Next trip to the bookstore I want to buy Deborah Mitford’s biography-she is the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. She had a fascinating interview on NPR. Also maybe Jennifer Grant’s book about growing up with Cary Grant(her father).
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I am reading “Just Kids” by Patti Smith and it’s fantastic. Highly recommend.
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I just finished Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. Enjoyed it and off to the next in the series. Perfect for summer – frothy, light fare. Yum.
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Grrr… The Internet seems to have eaten my earlier post 🙁
Since returning from France I bought David McCullough’s book “The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris” re 19th-century ex-pats, but keep not finding time to read it because I’m still translating a novel and am about to start translating a book of essays as well (talk about reading closely!).
I’ve read interesting news stories online as well. Of possible interest to T-I-C followers, just this week, there was an article about (arguably) France’s most famous gap-year student in the US:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/christine-lagarde-stirs-wistful-memories-for-friends-in-holton-arms-class-of-74/2011/07/25/gIQAR8ldhI_story.html
And lunch with a certain movie star who must not be named (although her initials are an A followed by a J), in an article subtitled “A lesson in how to avoid attracting attention in public”:
http://www.slate.com/id/2300431 -
“The Red Tent”
I love it. -
I read “The Help” and “Sarah’s Key” earlier this summer and am currently reading “Portrait of a Spy” by Daniel Silva — all are excellent! I think The Help and Sarah’s Key are also movies now.
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I am a mystery book reader…I am reading “Dirty Works” by Stuart Woods…a Stone Barrington novel…a cop-turned-lawyer mystery…
I love the look of the old books too…
I may look into reading Jackie’s book “Tinkers” by Paul Harding…It isn’t often I see “astonishing” associated with many books…interesting.. -
I’m on an old gardening book kick. I just finished Katherine White’s Onward and Upward in the Garden. Now I’m waiting for my used copy of the out-of-print Gardening on Main Street by Mrs. Buckner Hollingsworth (it was the 50s – no first names, apparently!)
These are perfect books to read while avoiding weeding an actual garden! -
I’m reading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. SUch great books. 🙂
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Hi Corey,
I just finished The Bostonians by Henry James, and started Hard Times by Charles Dickens. -
I’m reading you 🙂
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The Dirty Life – A Memoir of Farming, Food and Love
Bel Canto
Extraordinary Chickens – not really a read, mostly images of exotic foul that I’m sketching from and then adding watercolor and ink….fun stuff -
If I could read and understand French better, I would read everyone of those books, just because I could. Just because. Just to have them on my nightstand with a bookmark in them. Yes.
But…instead I’m reading “Bella Tuscany” by Frances Mayes, “La Seduction” by Elaine Sciolino and “Catherine de Medici” by Leonie Frieda (I was an English major and I’ve never gotten over the need to read more than one major thing at once).
AND I just finished “The Sisters Brothers” by Patrick DeWitt for the book club my neighbors and I are starting. (It’s a “book club with wine,” so we all have to be within walking distance of each other!) -
Just found your blog and love it. I visited Paris once and fell in love. Cheri
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If you haven’t read The Help, please do, it is excellent! I am currently reading Ann Hood’s Places to Stay the Night, an autobiography of John Adams and Cutting for Stone is next up. Usually have a few going at once, one next to the bed, one in my purse and one in the car. Ouvrez le livres Madame Corey!!!!
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Hi Kieren,
Isn’t The Red Tent excellent!
C -
Hi Bramble
Cutting for Stone is on my bedside, my cousins recommended it to me. The Help was made into a movie right?
C -
Hi Jody
Sarah’s Keys! Oh my was that ever a good book.
C -
Hi Kathleen
The WWII letters, I must write about them again. Thanks for reminding me.
C -
I faithfully read my local newspaper, the Patriot Ledger, based in Quincy, Mass which by the way, is pronounced as a z and not as a c. It is also the birthplace of our second and sixth presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams. I get very disturbed when it is not delivered on time. I also have to do the crossword puzzles.
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Just finished “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” by Lisa See. The description of foot binding is just very difficult. It is a beautiful story about friendship I want to see the movie. I have just started: The Long Song by Andrea Levy, the story of two women living in jamaica one is a slave the other is the sister of the slave owner. Good start.
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Um Corey dear, I can think of some other books you might enjoy reading as well ;-)))))
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I’m reading a nice summer read called “The Island” by Ellin Hillerbrand. I finished “My Life in Paris” , by Julia Child before that. Interesting life, not exactly what I expected. I’ll have to follow-up with some of the other readers’ suggestions. I tried to read the Red Tent, but couldn’t get into it, I’ll have to try again. I like this what are you reading segment. Perhaps next what are you cooking or where are you traveling to next?
Thanks Corey! -
Just finished Cutting for Stone. Great read.
Now reading Molokai. -
Loved Sarah’s Key. On my nightstand is Look Again by Lisa Scottolini.
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Hello Corey,
I am currently “flipping through” my old french textbook from college. I have recently finished, Vanity Fair, Tess of the D’Ubervilles and Anna Karenina. Now that I have finished my “literary vegetables”, I think it is time for some dessert. “The Help” is perhaps next on my list. Thank you to all your kind readers for the wonderful suggestions.
Have a lovely day! -
Currently readin several but really enjoying Mark Twain (Sam Clements’) autobiography…. just published at his request on the hundredth anniversary of his death. So damn funny. And brilliantly insightful.
Just finished “The Serpent and The Moon”. Biography of Diane de Poitier and Catherine de Medici’s battle for the love of Henry. Fascinating! Diane was so groovy and centuries ahead of her time. Catherine cunning and wise if not very likable. Great French history lessons, too!
Highly recommend both. -
Corey,
Do you sell these lovely books in blue on your brocante site? I’d love one or two. I also love to read. I’m reading The Passage by Justin Cronin. I have read The Help and Sarah’s Key, both are coming soon in the movie theater. Excellent reads! -
‘Dry’, by Augusten Burroughs…I wish he would write faster than I can read. Excellent!
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