What are you reading on Mondays? -- April 13

Recent completions:

Atonement by Ian McEwan -- review here

Eleanor of Aquitaine: A Biography by Marion Meade -- review here

Reading this week:

Bella Tuscany: the Sweet Life in Italy by Frances Mayes

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

The Problem of Pain by C. S. Lewis

Up next:

Next weekend (April 18-19) is the semi-annual Dewey's 24 hour Read-a-thon, and although I don't expect to finish all of these, I thought I'd give a sneak peek of what I might be reading then:

The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupèry

The Complete Maus by Art Spiegelman

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

The Rosary: A Journey to the Beloved by Gary Jansen

The Uncommon Reader: A Novella by Alan Bennett

Miscellaneous:

Another week, another dud: I'd picked I've Been Gone Far Too Long: Field Study Fiascoes and Expedition Disasters to read as part of the 999 Challenge. The Amazon review described it as "a compendium of hysterically funny travel crises," which sounded right up my alley. To be kind, let's just say that I was disappointed. I didn't find the stories either funny or arising to the level of crises. My overall feeling was that these were stories that you'd probably hear from friends and acquaintances about their travels in which you'd smile good-naturedly and then diplomatically change the subject. And maybe the stories would be slightly amusing if you had been there or if they had been written by trained humor writers, rather than by scientists. Don't get me wrong, I'm highly appreciative of the work scientists do, but they're not exactly known for their ability to make you guffaw.

It's Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event hosted by J Kaye's Book Blog.