What I'm Reading Wednesday: So Many Books!

This week, I finished two books and started a third.

First, I completed reading Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton.  I was mesmerized.  Wharton's writing style was really enjoyable.  Easy to read and full of description.  It is difficult to believe that the whole book is about a man who is thinking about cheating on or leaving his wife.  The plot can be summed up so succinctly, but the book is so much more than that.  Remember this book was recommended by both my sister and a good friend.  I have always trusted my sister's recommendations.  She has led me to many great books and authors, and now I have someone else I can go to for recommendations :)

My second book this week was Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Future by Michael J. Fox. This was an interesting memoir about how Michael received his "college education" in the real world.  There were some interesting anecdotes about his life, and overall it was an enjoyable read.

Finally I have started reading Terry Goodkind's Stone of Tears, the second book in the Sword of Truth series.  I read the first book in this series a number of years ago.  Now that I am returning to the series, I find that Goodkind's writing style is no longer very appealing to me.  It seems stiff and contrived at times.  Hopefully I'm just making an adjustment between this and my last fiction book.  I'm not sure if I will make it through this one.

What are you reading this week?

WOTW: Mien

mien (noun):  a person's look or manner, especially one of a particular kind indicating their character or mood.
Source: New Oxford American Dictionary

Found in Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
"Every one in Starkfield knew him and gave him a greeting tempered to his own grave mien."

What I'm Reading Wednesday (a Day Late)

I have been having a very hard time getting back to my regular posting since the end of the A to Z Challenge, but I think I have worked up a writing schedule that I can work with.

Currently I am reading Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton.

Image Source:  readinginthegarden.blogspot.com

This book comes highly recommended by two separate people: my sister and one of my best friends.  I couldn't resist.  I've just started, so I can't really say how I feel about the book yet, but I do love the language.

Before that, I read A Dance With Dragons by George RR Martin

Image Source:  oregonlive.com

This book is book number five in the Song of Fire and Ice Series, and I am still hooked.

In this book readers get to reconnect with Tyrion Lannister, quite possibly my favorite character.  I have enjoyed his antics since the very beginning of this series.  He's a smart-ass and he always manages to get out of every scrape and difficult situation somehow.  It was good to read about his adventures again.

Daenerys is also a big part of this book.  Her story has always interested me too.  However, in this book, her story was less fascinating, in my opinion.  I got tired of her life in Meereen and the whole slavery problem.  I almost wished the author had just skipped the whole thing.  I am glad that she finally got to ride a dragon, although I still can't decide if it was a good thing or a bad thing.

There were some very surprising deaths at the end of the book.  At one point I almost cried.  I was reading on a break at work, so I managed to hold back my tears :)  It's difficult to imagine the series without this character, but that seems to be a theme since book number one when Ned Stark was killed.

I already cannot wait for the next installment!

What are you reading right now?  Have you read either of these books?  

What did you think of them?