I'm reading Life's That Way by Jim Beaver and the writing is wonderful, but the story is heart wrenching. This book should be sold with a box of tissues.

I started Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kitteredge. I've only read the first of the short stories which are very well written but, as Strout is quoted on this blog (a week or more ago) as saying, Olive Kitteridge is very wearing. I really do want to read the rest of the stories but I feel as though I need to regroup first.

Just finished Basho: The Complete Haiku. Translation by Jane Reichhold.Like standing in the rain of a thousan cherry blossoms while the nightingale sings....also just finished Jack Gilbert's The Dance Most of All:Poems which I did not find as satifying as his last collection Refusing Heaven. ....and working my way through the bio of the fascinating story of Janet Frame, Wrestling with the Angel.

I just started The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. I'm only a few pages in, but I'm definitely enjoying it so far. I have Olive Kitteredge waiting for me as well. I got a bookstore fix in last night and now I'm looking forward to some good reading this weekend when I finally have some time.

"Twilight." I loved the book. I needed something relaxing and fun, and this fit the bill. It's so entertaining and original. Meyer is an excellent storyteller; she's good at constantly moving the story along, as she gradually develops the characters. I thought it was a well-written book, with two exceptions: overuse of a number of different words and then, throughout the book, some extra phrases and sentences that were clearly excess baggage. These minor issues didn't detract from my enjoyment of the book, but I DO think an editor should have picked up on them.

I'm reading Elinor Lipman's delightful new book, The Family Man. I'm totally in love with her character, Henry Archer, a gay man who is reunited with the adopted daughter he lost when his ex-wife divorced him and remarried. He's a wonderful man!

Lesa Holstine
http://lesasbookcritiques.blogspot.com

WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by Sara Gruen

Am almost finished reading Ruth Reichl's "Not Becoming My Mother." Tiny book but very powerful. She describes her mother's unhappy life--her mother was unable to use her abilities and talents in a meaningful way. How fortunate I am to be living now and not 60 years ago. Bought this book because of the good review in The Sun a couple of Sundays ago.

Just finished The Foie Gras Wars: How a 5,000 Year Old Delicacy Started the World's Fiercest Food Fight and enjoyed it very much. Up next: Truth in Comedy, an improv guide.

I just finished SILENT COUNSEL by Ken Isaacson, so I'll be starting BAD TRAFFIC tonight. BAD TRAFFIC was written by Simon Lewis and was nominated for the 2009 L.A. Times Book Prize in the Mystery/Thriller category. I was lucky enough to hear Simon speak at the L.A. Times Festival of Books, so I'm definitely looking forward to this one.

Also Nancy, I heard Michael Pollan speak in March. Very good. Have fun!

I'm reading Lady's Maid by Margaret Forster. It explores the relationship between the poet Elizabeth Barrett, and her servant. It also covers the marriage of Miss Barrett to Robert Browning. It's a deep, dark read. I'm enjoying it very much.

I'm reading Annie's Ghosts by Steve Luxenberg! It's so well written and very interesting- make's you wonder about your own family tree secrets!

I'm reading Charming Billy by Alice McDermott. She just did a pre-publication reading of one her short stories at the library where I work. I had never read any of her books before, and after that I decided I needed to start.

I'm reading an excellent, if somewhat lengthy, novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, The Shadow of the Wind.

I'm reading The Laws of Harmony by Judith Ryan Hendricks and it's awesome. Exactly what I've come to expect from her writing.