What are You Reading?

Like lots of you, I'm always reading more than one book at once -- some in hard copy or paperback (lately these are ones from book signings and events) and some on the Kindle, which will probably be replaced soon with a tablet or at least a new version that's backlit... but that's another story.

But in case you were wondering, here's what I'm currently reading:

On my nightstand: 

• Maggie Stiefvater's SCORPIO RACES. I adore Maggie's writing. She is a brilliant wordsmith and her artist's eye makes her writing a sensory delight. SCORPIO RACES is not as fast a read as RAVEN BOYS for me. But I am loving it just as much.
• Raymond Chandler's THE LONG GOODBYE. I needed to read a classic LA noir. This is it. The language. The sentences. Again -- brilliant. brilliant. brilliant.

On my Kindle:

• Natalie Staniford's HOW TO SAY GOODBYE IN ROBOT. Just started this. I am in huge love with this book and with Staniford's writing. Full disclosure, Natalie plays bass in Tiger Beat with my adorable Soho Press editor Dan Ehrenhaft (and my other literary crush, Libba Bray). This alone would be reason to read  her work. But it is stunningly wonderful.
• Stasia Ward Keho's AUDITION. Finished this the other day, but I'm skimming it over studying the style. Novel in verse. About a girl who leaves her small town home in Vermont to study at the Jersey Ballet and go to private school. She is lonely. She is not immediately a prima ballerina. She falls into the bed of the 22 year old choreographer. Much angst ensues. This one grew on me. My first thoughts were that it was too angsty. But then I came to see it as a very painfully honest story of a girl who is lost and insecure and who clings to a destructive relationship because it is seductively easier than facing the fact that she may have to change her dreams.
• Jami Attenberg's THE MIDDLESTEINS: A NOVEL. Started. Stopped. Started. Makes me depressed. I will get back to it. 
• Miranda Kenneally's STEALING PARKER. A good, quick read. Like AUDITION, I'm finished but re-reading sections and mulling. Parker lives in a small Tennessee town. Her parents divorced when her mother came out as a lesbian and left the dad for another woman. Her dad is sad and clueless. Her brother is hiding his pain in drugs. And Parker is hiding her pain by losing 20 pounds, skirting the edges of an eating disorder (not that this is mentioned, but that's how it reads to me), quitting the softball team, and making out with every boy in reach to prove to her judgmental small town classmates that she is not her mother. And then she is convinced by gay best friend Drew to become the manager of the baseball team. Where she falls hard for the 22 year old (two books in a row with 22 year old skeeze balls who seduce younger girls! Is this a trend?) new baseball coach, who is his own shades of confused and happily starts hooking up with her in his truck. But of course there's also Will (aka Corndog) who is who Parker should really be with, if only she will wake up and figure it out before it's too late.  I do not know if I feel 100% hopeful for Parker at the end. I think she is still quite naive about life and religion and how insulated she is in this small town. And interestingly -- perhaps this is the former classroom teacher in me -- it's the adults who most disappoint me in this story. Neither of Parker's parents seem to find Brian, the coach, despicable.  Parker's mom is too busy telling her to follow her heart. Parker's dad is too busy denying. "My daughter is a good Christian girl."As though saying that is all it takes to keep his daughter safe. Honestly, I wanted to shake the man. I was glad to see Parker find her way again, more or less, at the end!

What are you reading? Comment and let me know!