# What are you reading?



## Chrispian

I tend to read too many technical books. Right now though, I'm readint the Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan). I recently read Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn, which was awesome. I'm going to pick up his new series soon. 

What is everyone else reading right now?


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## Mazet

I'm reading Salmon of Doubt and Little Birds

Usually, I have a few more going at a time, but I just finished a book about directing film and The Terminal Man.


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## Anonymous

Mazet said:
			
		

> I'm reading Salmon of Doubt and Little Birds
> 
> Usually, I have a few more going at a time, but I just finished a book about directing film and The Terminal Man.


I'm currently reading Peter F. Hamilton's series,  James Clemens' series, Jordan's, Goodkind's, Rowling's.  Too many to keep track of.  The important books, the ones you absolutely must read, are Kafka, Edgar Allan Poe, C.S. Friedman, and Storm Constantine.  Their words is pretty.


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## Anonymous

Must reads:
Everything by Tolkien, HG Wells, Wilde, Shaw, Dumas, F.S. Fitzgerald, Hemingway, H. Rider Haggard, GK Chesterton

Kafka scared me half to death with The Metamorphosis.

Currently, I want to read and finish reading, as opposed to can actually afford the time to read: Tom Jones, Faust, and The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay


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## Anonymous

I am actually reading many things at once right now.

-The enchantments of Flesh and Spirit, Storm Constantine
-Kushiel's Chosen, Jacqueline Carey
-Weaveworld, Clive Barker

There are also many things on my shelf that one day I will hopefully get around to.

-Dras


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## Washer

Excellent!  Someone else is reading Storm Constantine.  Also, Furius, if you ever read this post again, I'd reccomend reading In The Penal Colony by Kafka.  It's just one of the best short stories I've ever read, period.  Again, I'm terrible at describing literary elements, but he used so many my head spun.  And if you're into odd sci-fi, check out Gene Wolfe.  I can't tell what he's trying to get across, but it's just so weird you'll be mulling it over for eternity.


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## False Dawn

I've just finished Only Human by Tom Holt. Good comedy


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## Mendicant98

I'm currently reading Walden by Thoreau, but also recently read works by H.G. Wells. Terry Pratchett I also enjoy - a great satirist. And of course, J.R.R. Tolkien along with Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time - but in my opinion Jordan's series loses something after Book Threee. He even said so himself that he is only dragging it out so long because TOR Fantasy has him in a contract and is making him pump out new books for the same series. In my opinion, Wheel of Time could have been wrapped up in three books. He does make some neat new plots, but honestly, how much can someone read about women whispering behind the backs' of men, plotting some sort of way to control them? I found the books much more entertaining back in Book 1, 2, and 3. All just opinion, of course.


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## Bartleby

Mendicant98 said:
			
		

> ...in my opinion Jordan's series loses something after Book Three...



I'd have to agree with you there. I began to loose interest around book 4 or so, and never even bothered to finish the last one. How the mighty have fallen..sigh. But there are a few modern fantasies out there that kick Mr. Jordan in the seat of his pants. I have a post in the Fantasy thread if you wanna check out. Isabo and myself are enjoying the conversation so far.


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## Bartleby

To stay on topic I'm currently reading "Dust to Dust" by Tami Hoag, and anxiously awaiting a ton of other new releases. On a side note Jeffery Deaver's "The Vanished Man" was an excellent addition to the Lincoln Rhyme series. Lets just hope James Patterson's next Alex Cross book is as god.


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## Scott

Where do I start. My reading has become my school for writing.

Cold Mountain - Charles frazier (How can a person not repeat themselves when every paragraph has numerous metaphors and similies) I read some where that classics are remembered for their charachters and location, not their story. what a great example!!!

All The Pretty Horses - Cormac Mc Carthy. sentences that go on forever. Relationships that are envied-country and personal.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Facory - Roald Dahl. Say no more. What a hero!

Ned Kelly - Peter Carey. He's definatley a mentor.

The Silver Brumby series-Evelyn mitchell. Children's books with wonderful grammer and punctuation - heart of Australia.

The Writers reader - A guide to writing fiction and poetry - Brenda Walker. This book has become my bible. So many great ideas and suggestions.

The Wind Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami. Only 100 pages in. Have been told he is a master. Such simple english. Can't wait for the experience.

In my pile of "to read" books are 

Catch 22

Kings in Grass Castles - Mary Durak

Four Fires - Bryce Courtney

Harry potter

ets etc ets


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## False Dawn

Catch 22 is a very good, very funny book. I recommend it greatly.


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## yad4u

I just recently finished "The Stand," by Stephen King, and "The Talisman" (for the 6th time) by him also. The wheel of time is a great series. i kind of liked having to read them all over again when the next book came out last (fall?) 
I highly suggest "The Talisman," it's my favorite book. 

Anyone have any suggestions for my first book of the summer?
Brandon Day


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## free_mind_7

*what im reading*

hey chrispian,
       i see there is now a section for the reading population. thanx a lot man.  as to what im reading, i was discussing this with ur friend matt the other day (bartleby). as of now it looks like this.....

Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower IV) - Stephen King

then....

K2 Triumph and Tragedy - Jim Curran

and the next planned book.....

Hitler: A Study in Tyrrany - Alan Bullock

after that i dont have anything planned to read.  i foresse another SK piece seeing as i have about ten more of his books that i havent yet read.


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## Kimberly Bird

I'm right now reading The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception by; Michael Baigent & Richard Leigh, and a biography on Lord Byron.


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## aubie84

*Here are mine!*

1. The History of Civilization by Will Durant (Currently on the volume on the Renaissance).

2. Fay by Larry Brown.

3. Yonder Stands Your Orphan by Barry Hannah.

4. The Name of the World by Denis Johnson.


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## mattquarterstein

I'm reading "The Waste Makers" by Vance Packard.

It's a book about American economics in the 1960s, and things corporations did (and still do) to make sure people consume and waste more. It's quite interesting, if you're into that kind of thing.


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## Csira

I'm reading :

'In the Forests of the Night'
'Demon In My View'

Both by the astounding teen writer, Amelia Atwater-Rhodes. They belong to the fantasy genre, and are about vampires. Although the first may be simply good, the second is the better of the two. 

Also, I am reading: 'Lord of the Flies' by William Golding.


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## SamIAm

I just got finished with _1984_ by George Orwell, and am almost done with _Brave New World_ by Aldous Huxley.  There's a big difference in the descriptions of negative-utiopias before and after WWII.


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## Anonymous

Revisiting The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins.


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## mattquarterstein

SamIAm said:
			
		

> I just got finished with _1984_ by George Orwell, and am almost done with _Brave New World_ by Aldous Huxley.  There's a big difference in the descriptions of negative-utiopias before and after WWII.



What about before WWI? Isn't that where all the disillusionment started?


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## TDX

Obssesion by Jhon Douglas

i'm on a true crime kick right now. after i finish another book by douglas i'll be looking for more(True Crime) any sugestions?-TDX


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## rcallaci

I'm currently reading:

The Structure of Evoltionary Theory, By Stephen Jay Gould ( one of the giants)

A New Kind of Science, by Stephen Wolfram

The Silmarillion, a re re re read, by J.R.R. Tolkien

Regards to All
Bob


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## tissue

I'm currently reading:
The Gospel of Luke.
The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict.
Misc. Max Lucado books.


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## modified7

I am reading Guy De Maupassant right now, a collection of short stories mostly.
Since the book fairs are alive and well right now I've got enough for a couple years.
I have read and enjoy many, the ones with the biggest influence....

Stephen King.......enjoyed "The Shining" and "The Dead Zone" probably the most but have read many of his.
Raymond Chandler.......all his old mysteries/detective stories are the best in my opinion.
Ernest Hemingway....... probably as big an influence on my writing as any author I've read, and I'm saving some of his best for last.  Even when he gets kind of "twisted" in his short stories I think he was brilliant.
I gotta say, however, when young the Hardy Boys and the 3 investigators series probably is what got me hooked on reading, the the required Poe stories in school, and Dickens of course.

I'm new to this site, so I'm glad I finally scrolled down the whole forums page to find this section as I wondered why it wouldn't be there, and I think it might be one of the most interesting areas.......


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## amie

"Indian Country" by Philip Caputo...I'm actually re-reading this for a comparative paper I'm planning on writing. It's a post-Vietnam war novel...one of many I've recently come to appreciate.
"Stories and Poems for Extremely Intelligent Children of all Ages" by Harold Bloom...This guy's really a fantastic critic, and he's written on EVERYTHING (just type his name in at bn.com, and you'll see what I mean). Pick up any one of his books and you will not be disappointed.

- amie -


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## Csira

Just finished reading "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". Not as dark as I expected, but eh..this coming from a girl who expects blood, gore in her novels. ^^;


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## modified7

*Raymond Chandler*

I read "The Lady in the Lake" this week......another great detective novel by Raymond Chandler ......any of you ever read his books?  Keith


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## Bartleby

Chandler is excellent, as is Raymond Carver and Raymond Feist. I wonder if it's the name? lol


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## lame_o_rama

i'm reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and Hamlet.


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## Bartleby

I'm currently reading Tad Williams new stand alone fantasy novel "The War of Flowers" excellent so far.. I'll let you guys know how it turns out if anyone's interested.


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## kinetickyle

In addition to a slew of dreadfully boring textbooks and books I'm using for research on my own book, I've been reading "Generation of Swine" by Hunter S. Thompson.  I just finished "Siddhartha" by Hermann Hesse.  Despite its short length, I found it to be a very good read.


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## lemon

I just finished Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, American Gods and Stardust by Neil Gaiman.

I am currently reading the Oddesey for school, and The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury, for my insatiable sci-fi pallatte.  There are several books that are on my "to read" list, the fifth Harry Potter book being one of them.


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## Delgesu

Liar, by Stephen Fry. That man knows how to make a sentence more of an rollercoaster ride than anyone. Except perhaps Heller's Catch 22. For the same reason


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## modified7

Another Raymond Chandler titled "Killer in the Rain".... Keith


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## Aubrey

Currently reading several things: 1. Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran, 2. The Hobbit, by Tolkien (been a long time since I read it), and 3. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein (never read him, but there's always a first time!)


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## Washer

Wait.  Somewhere back here someone mentioned that Robert Jordan was writing kinda against his will.  Is there anywhere where it mentions this?


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## Anonymous

As of the moment i am reading pergatory again, i just can't seem to get enough of it after i saw seven. i'm having a difficult time getting through a book called "none the less" about a man in his early thirties that lost his whife to a car accident...it's good, but i wish i knew who wrote it. it's used and the book cover is ripped right where the athor is acknowlaged. it is also lacking for a bio... oh well, such is life.


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## Beowulf_mc0

good christ, now i have crowned myself king of the asses, that last post was me....


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## Beowulf_mc0

and to quickly add to the string of kevin smith quotes "Do you go on spraying everyone that comes into you apartment with flame retardent chemicals? no wonder your single..." ~The meditron


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## faraway

Well - I like to read just about anything, but especially Terry Pratchett and JRR Tolkien...
I've read quite a few other books by authors I cannot for the life of me remember, but were good...


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## Csira

Just finished reading _Mister Monday_ by Garth Nix, book 1 of a seven-part series. Very original plot, involving betrayers named after the days of the week and their accomplices: Dawn, Noon, and Dusk. And the hero is an asthmatic boy granted a key (a minute hand) that saved his life and must find the other half (an hour hand) to stop the first betrayer, Mister Monday. Can't wait for in December, the next book comes out, _Grim Tuesday_! I like Garth Nix and dark fantasy especially. ^.^


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## MarkS

I'm currently reading The Invisible Man (H.G. Wells). After that, it's on to War and Peace.


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## Hazel

I just got finished reading Wizard and Glass by Stephen King and Watership Down by Richard Adams. Anyone who hasn't read Watership Down I pity you. This book is incredible, pick yourself up a copy.



*On a minor note this will be my 5th or 6th time reading each of the previously mentioned books. that's how good they are.


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## Kitten Courna

**has honestly just now noticed this bit**

Well, isn't that embarrassing.  You're all reading excellent books though.

Lesse...I have a tendency to read...sporadically, though with dedication, so these just might be technical reads:

(I believe Bartleby mentioned Tad Williams-Otherworld
Homer-The Illiad(starting to Odyssey next)
Plato-Meno
The Confessions of St. Augustine
Steven Brust-The Paths of the Dead
Dante-The Purgatorio(though I've been reading that a looong while)
and Piers Anthony(d'oh*sigh*)-Castle Roogna.

If you haven't acquainted yourself with Steven Brust, you should.

-Kitten


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## allen770

*Slainte, everyone!*

I just finished Anne Lamott's _Blue Shoe _and absolutely _loved _it! I'm off on a Jonathan Franzen kick, now, finally getting 'round to _The Corrections _and his essays, _How to Be Alone_.

I also read Joyce and assorted Tarot and magickial texts, daily, due to list memberships, reference, &c.

_Cheerio_!


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## CopyMaster

Just finished reading "Survivor" and "Lullaby" by Chuck Palahniuk

Currently re-re-re-reading "The Gift" by Patrick O'Leary 

Will soon be reading "The Wasteland" by T.S. Eliot


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## lame_o_rama

I'm reading _One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest _by Ken Kesey.  I'm going to start _Beowolf_ pretty soon; as soon as I go out and buy it.  I'm also reading _A Widow For One Year _by John Irving (a fantastic author, really).

Does anyone have any good suggestions for a girl who enjoys reading non-fiction and has an interest in Psychology?

~Krysten
 :lol:


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## Washer

I stopped reading Druids a little while ago -  it's a DREADFULLY boring nonfiction.  Seriously, don't read it unless you're a Celtic historian on a refresher course.  I couldn't even finish it.

Now I'm reading War of the Flowers, by Tad Williams.  It's good.  I like Tad Williams.  This book is a definite change of style for him, and though I don't entirely appreciate it, it's still good readin'.


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## Sub

I'm reading Game Over by David Sheff.  Very interesting book about Nintendo's history.  This is the fourth time I've read it.
I'm also reading LOTR for the fourth time.  I'm in the middle of Two Towers.


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## Archer of the Night

Lame O Rama, have you read Reviving Ophelia yet? I'm reading it right now and it's wonderful. It's by a psychologist and she recounts tales of various clients who are adolescent girls. And she talks about various struggles of staying true to yourself.


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## Lily

Laurie R. King's _The Beekeeper's Apprentice_ for the second time . . . I love her characters SO much! :mrgreen:

Next I'll be reading _Breakfast at Tiffany's_.


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## AdamR

I know, I'm 'past' the age 'limit', but I have made a decision that I am going to _fully_ read the Harry Potter Series (starting tomorrow) as there is so much hype about them...even in the older teen age-group.


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## Nightwraith

I'm reading Robert Jordan's _Wheel of Time_right now.. You can either be obsessed with it or hate it.. I'm obsessed with it. 
I'm going to read Jacqueline Carey soon.. And Terry Brooks maybe. And I just finished Charles deLint's _Dreams Underfoot_. A wonderful book.
Anyone has any advice on evil, black and gore fantasy??


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## Fantasia

Neil Gaiman's "Neverwhere".  I'm in my Neil Gaiman raid now.    

I just finished raiding Jennifer Roberson's Cheysuli series (8 books.  Before that 3 others from her list as well.)


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## Farror

At the moment, I'm rereading the Robert Jordan series for about the fifth time. I have no life!


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## Prometheus

Lately I've been absorbing _Orlando_, by Virginia Woolf.  It's one of the most imaginative and intuitive books I've ever read.  I've found that her words linger in my memory long after I've put the book down and I find myself reciting passages that visit me at odd hours uninvited.  

Also reading,
_The Virtue of Selfishness_, by Ayn Rand
_The Girl Who Gave Birth to Rabbits_, by Clifford Pickover [who can say no?]

Next,
_House of Leaves_, by Mark Danielewski [the council of the grape vine has convened, summoned and demanded I read this for circulation's sake, not that I object, for the grape-vine is as wise as it is long]
_Bible_, by X authors
_Ivanhoe_, by Sir Walter Scott


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## Fantasia

Farror said:
			
		

> I have no life!


Having a life? You mean there's such a thing?  I must explore this phenomenon...


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## Rage2Fury

AdamR said:
			
		

> I know, I'm 'past' the age 'limit', but I have made a decision that I am going to _fully_ read the Harry Potter Series (starting tomorrow) as there is so much hype about them...even in the older teen age-group.



You are going to love them all.  The books are just so fantastic and imaginative!  

Here is my record:

(1)_One-day_ for the First Book
(2)_One-day_ for the Second Book
(3)_One-day_ for the Third Book
(4)_One-and-a-half-days_ for the Fourth Book
(5)_Two-days_ for the Fifth Book

Have fun!


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## AdamR

Rage2Fury said:
			
		

> Here is my record:
> 
> Have fun!



I'll attempt that fast...don't know if I'll make it.


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## Lily

The Harry Potter books are extremely fast reads- I took about as long as Rage2Fury did to read them, but I read the fourth book in one night (I was at a really boring dinner party my parents had dragged me to!)

Right now, I'm working through Chaim Potok's _The Promise_, which is the sequel to _The Chosen_. I think I like the first book a lot better so far . . .


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## Cigol712

Well, I don't see many books beating The Chosen anyway. A very good read, I must say.


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## Rage2Fury

Yeah see I took the Fourth Book to my grandparents and I was hanging out with my uncle and aunt.  I didn't get to read much.  And when I was reading it I put it down for a little bit and then read some more.  Oh well...


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## Lily

Teehee no need to excuse yourself, Rage2Fury! I just enjoy showing off :mrgreen:

I finished _The Promise_ in three hours . . . it's like reading a screen play. I have to say, I was kind of disappointed . . . it wasn't nearly as deep as _The Chosen_ . . . it was more like . . . more like . . . a story book, I guess. I don't know . . . I need to reread it again. I mean, I remember most of the stuff, but I can't figure out why I'm disappointed. Eh. Maybe I should start _My Name is Asher Lev_ or something.


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## Rage2Fury

Neverheard of any of those, but ok...*smiles*


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## Lily

*jabs finger at Rage* read! now!! 

:geek:


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## Rage2Fury

Haha... I was going to put a line in there about me going to find those books and reading them.  Maybe I will sometime in the future!


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## Phoenix

Im reading the Switcher trilogy at the moment. _Switchers, Midnights Choice and Wild Blood._ I'm on the last book, Wild Blood. Its quite cool. There only about one hundred and fifty pages each so it doesn't take long to read them. One of my favourite series was the _Dragon Rider_ series by _Anne Mccaffary._ Very good.


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## Farror

Right now I'm reading the (first name) Covenant the Unbeliever series, they're ok I guess. I also just finnished the newest Anne Mcaffrey book. Woo hoo I love those books.


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## Tertulian

That would be _The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliver_ by Stephen R. Donaldson. There are actually six books--in two series: _The First_ and _The Second Chronicles_. I read all six when I was in the Hospital. Maybe it was the drugs they were giving me, but I thought they were excellent. 
That was a couple of years ago...but they are among the few books good enough to permanently grace my shelves.
I read and then discard (sell to used bookstores) what I think is crap. The rest may stay on the shelf until I run out of room, or I change my mind and start believing they are crap.


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## Lord Alexandre

Has anyone read the book Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton? Currently I am up and about The Three Muskateers by Alexandre Dumas; a glamour in full view.

~The Lord


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## Lily

Ethan Frome was required reading for my American Lit class last year . . . I thought it wasn't bad, but I didn't particularly like it.

Currently, I am awaiting three books from Amazon.com


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## DesignerJim

Say, for those reading Gaiman's 'Neverwhere' and 'American Gods' - any good? And are you Sandman fans?

I'm just about finished with The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. Really fascinating subject matter - the Knights Templar, secret conspiracies, etc. - but the characters and plot are just drek. Is it just me, or does it seem these days that 'Best Seller' means 'plots written for stupid people'. Ugh.

About to dive into Grant Morrison's Animal Man series - I'm a huge fan of the Invisibles, and rather enjoyed The Filth, so a friend has lent me all his Animal Man books, and the Doom Patrol is next!


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## AdamR

Rage2Fury said:
			
		

> You are going to love them all.  The books are just so fantastic and imaginative!



Well, I just finished the fifth book yesterday. They are fantastic. Can't wait for the sixth.

I didn't pickup the first book at the library until about the 20th. I finished it in one day. The second one I got on the 25th and I finished it in one day. Third one I finished on the 26th, and the forth I finished on the 1st (in one day, because I didn't get it until then.)

Then some school tests hit me, and I was postponed until just recently to start on the fifth book, whith I finished in 2 1/2 days.

They were very fast reads...simply because you couldn't put the thing down.


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## Lily

I just finished reading Bryce Courtenay's _Power of One_ and now I'm starting on Peter Ackroyd's _The Life of Thomas More_. It's pretty dry reading so far, but it's not bad, since Ackroyd is a novelist, so he can make things seem pretty interesting.


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## The Admiral

I'm reading _Mostly Harmless_, the fifth and final book in the _Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ series.  I'm going to read _Dune_ soon after I finish that.


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## Melter

Almost halfway through Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. A rather large novel bursting with dark fantasy and bizarre characters.


> Say, for those reading Gaiman's 'Neverwhere' and 'American Gods' - any good? And are you Sandman fans?


Read Stardust, numerous short stories, and all but one of the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. Excellent writer and if you've not checked out Sandman yet then you don't know what you're missing.


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## Farror

Right now I'm reading a series of books by Wilbur Smith. The first is called "River God" and the second "Warlock" I find them rather good, if a bit too... graphic at times.


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## Sneaky

The newest sequel to the Deryni Series "In the Kings Service" and Eregion.


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## claire_marie

ah im reading isabel allendes "daughter of fortune". very good, teaches a lot about racism and prejudice.


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## Seth.H

Mendicant98 said:
			
		

> ... Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time - but in my opinion Jordan's series loses something after Book Threee. He even said so himself that he is only dragging it out so long because TOR Fantasy has him in a contract and is making him pump out new books for the same series...


I'm actually re-reading the series -- I am a Jordan fan, without a doubt.  But TOR Fantasy ticks me off with that level of control in the contract.  But hey, not like I know the details eh?  Might be just as much R. Jordan's fault as anyone elses (he did sign it, after all).  Nonetheless, I'm going to be faithful to him and buy/read everything he has published.


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## Lily

I just finished Robert Ludlum's _The Bourne Identity_. I was very impressed with his descriptions and writing style. The plot I didn't like so much because I'm not a fan of adventure novels . . . but Ludlum is certainly a talented writer!

Now I'm working on Tolkien's _Silmarillion _and getting horribly confused . . .


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## Seth.H

_Silmarillion_ is an interesting read, but yeah... most people that I know find it confusing at least in part.  I know I did my first attempt through it, but the second time around it made much more sense to me.


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## Lily

I've been told that in order to understand it, one has to draw out all the family trees and take notes while reading! I don't know . . . it seems rather excessive. Maybe I'll do that during my spring holidays ('holidays' sounds so much cooler than 'vacation'- eek! I'm becoming an Anglophile! :joker

Anyway, now I'm also reading Arundhati Roy's _The God of Small Things_ for English class. It's a pretty good book- brilliant as a debut novel, that is, but I can't stand the sentence and time fragments- you'll know what I'm talking about if you've read it.


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## Farror

Right now I'm reading the Seeing Stone, by Whatsit Whatshisface. I just finnished a really good Agatha Christy book, "Cat Among the Pigeons".


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## strangedaze

In the last few months I've read the following:

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen - I'm sure I would have enjoyed it more if I could stand 19th century manners and Regency England. Bah, it was a good read just the same.

The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka - Read it for the umpteenth time for an essay I am doing. Loved it the first time, still lovin' it. 'Nuff said.

Bartleby the Scrivener by Herman Melville - Shorter work (twenty-some odd pages). Very ambiguous, but those are the sort of tales I salivate over. A good read if you don't mind scratching your head a lil' bit after reading it.

Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell - My first taste of Orwell's novels. I am familiar with a few of his essays, and I am happy to say that now I am familiar with his novels as well. Wow. I love this guy, can't get enough. 1984 left me with the Clockwork Orange shivers. 

Great Expectations by Charles Dickens - Enjoyable, to a degree. I find Dickens to be a little tedious to read at times, but overall I am glad I read it.

I read a few people mentioning Dune a while back. I did the trilogy for my American Lit. class last year. Tough read! I loved it, but WOW! You need a Dunese dictionary for those bad boys! 

On the chopping block for the future:

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf - Watched The Hours, am intrigued.

Lady Oracle by Margaret Atwood - Might as well give a fellow Canadian a try.

Pilgrim by Timothy Findley - I can't get enough of Jungian psychology, and I'm told this one's a real treat.

Life of Pi by Yan Martel - Any book that claims to be able to make you believe in God has to be worth something, right?

Jeez, my posts take up  lot of space! Sorry 'bout that...


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## Lily

I actually hated _Life of Pi_ . . . but that was mainly because of the way it was written and . . . yeah. I didn't think there was much to it. However, it _did_ get me into religion. Or, at least, interested in it. It's definitely worth a read through, but it's also not the best book in the world. At least in my opinion. A book that's similar to _Life of Pi_ in writing style is Arundahti Roy's _The God of Small Things_. I still can't decide whether I like that book or hate it.


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## StoneGarden

With school just beginning again, I'm back to reading text books...but I have a number of books floating around right now.

I'm currently finishing up Tanya Huff's _Valor's Choice_


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## Fantasia

Right now it's David Baldacci's "Last Man Standing".

Pretty interesting alpha male stuff. ^_^  Makes me wonder whether they shoot women in Quantico just for being there.


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## Farror

I'm reading The Spellsong Series by something Modestit Jr. or some such. I also just read I am David by another author whose name I cannot recall.


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## godisthyname

Cat's Cradle: Kurt Vonnegut.  I'm always a bit weary of books that are so easy to read.


----------



## Lily

Currently reading (when not studying): Stephen King's _On Writing_. Truly marvelous book. Is it true that he didn't write the second half? Anyway, after the Stephen King book I'll be reading _Against Love_, a book by Laura Kipnis about why love is illogical and outdated or something like that. My English teacher recommended it to the class, and apparently he's trying his darndest to avoid commitment or something, so I'll read it, see what she has to say, and if I think it's complete nonsense I'm going to tell him so. Anyway, that's about it. I'm leaving now.


----------



## Jukeboxhero

I've just finished "Vernon God Little"
An absolutly MUST read.


----------



## Fantasia

I finished Lisa Scottoline's "Dead Ringer" and enjoyed it.  It's intelligent and it's about as light as that series "Columbo".  Like Allie McBeal, but with murders.  I was kind of surprised to find out that it's--like, the 5th in a series. :lol:  No wonder some characters and events sounded like I should've known them.  The book was able to stand alone, though. ^_^   Oh well, I think I'll go and read the ones that came before it.

Right now I'm back to my favorite genre: Fantasy.  I'm reading "Dhampir" by Barb and J.C. Hendee.  It's captivating.


----------



## speculative

Lily said:
			
		

> I actually hated _Life of Pi_A book that's similar to _Life of Pi_ in writing style is Arundahti Roy's _The God of Small Things_. I still can't decide whether I like that book or hate it.



We had to read that in lit class; one of the most overrated books I have read.

Currently, I'm towards the end of Tad William's "City of Golden Shadow" in the Otherlands series.  I'm also 1/3 of the way through Storm Constantine's Wraeththu series.  I don't like it.  But, every now and then, I think it's good to read something you don't like, just to see why people think it's good, or how it is put together.

-speculative


----------



## Lily

Which book did you have to read, _Life of Pi_, or _God of Small Things_?


----------



## Fantasia

Now I'm reading Gregory Macguire's "Mirror, Mirror."  

So far it's good.  He likes putting in a lot of gobbledegook, but since I tend to do that with my writing most times, I'll forgive him. X'D


----------



## speculative

Lily said:
			
		

> Which book did you have to read, _Life of Pi_, or _God of Small Things_?



Sorry, read that again and from the quote it wasn't clear.  We had to read "God of Small Things."

-speculative


----------



## Farror

Right now I'm reading "Ender's Shadow" by Orsonj Scott Card. I've already read Ender's Game and speaker for the dead and I fin these books to be a fantastic series. I would recommend you read them unless you already have.


----------



## obiwanjabroni

I just finished re-reading The Pearl, by Steinbeck (still a great read, short, to the point, and beautiful).  It was one of those breaks that I take in the middle of long reads.  I just recently finished Angels and Demons by Dan Brown.

Currently, I'm hacking away at:

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder
The Beast by Tracy Thompson

I'm really looking for a good love story right now because, well, I mean, it is nearing Valentine's Day, n'est pas?


----------



## strangedaze

In the last two months I've read:

- The the Lighthouse - by Virginia Woolf
- "In the Penal Colony" by Franz Kafka
- The Trial by Franz Kafka


Right now I am fairly close to finising Joyce's "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man", and I am a quarter of the way through Graham Swift's "Waterland". Some books that are on the horizen are Margaret Atwood's "Lady Oracle", Oscar Wilde's "Picture of Dorian Gray", and, time permitting in the next little bit, something small by Kafka.


----------



## Lily

I'm reading _Brideshead Revisited_ by Evelyn Waugh at the moment. Excellent book.


----------



## Farror

Everything by Orson Scott Card at the moment.


----------



## Zachary Glass

I read a couple books a week.  Currently I'm re-reading Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony.  I just finished re-reading Michael Chabon's Wonder Boys and Ethan Hawke's Ash Wednesday.  I read Tobias Wolff's Old School last week...it was awesome, real 50s feel to the writing style.


----------



## Lily

I recently finished both _Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf_ by Edward Albee and _Brideshead Revisited_ by Evelyn Waugh. Bad combination, since both novels depect horrid marriages, and have very nearly succeeded in convincing me never to get married. Honestly, I think everyone's plotting to convince me against it. Well, at least my English teacher is, and he's a confirmed bachelor. Almost all the books he's assigned to us this year revolve around not just bad but terrible marriages or relationships. How depressing.


----------



## Pawn

Sounds distressing.

Just finished Anna Karenin, and am now reading Dostoyevski's 'Crime and Punishment' and Sartre's 'Being and Nothingness'.


----------



## strangedaze

I've read some bits and pieces of "Being and Nothingness" for an essay I wrote on Sarte. Very heavy reading. Come to think of it, so is Dostoevsky! 

Yeah, I'm sort of reading a plethora of books right now - haha I can't seem to commit. I'm 2/3's into Kafka's _Amerika_, twenty pages away from finishing Joyce's _Portrait_, a third into Graham Swift's _Waterland_, halfway into a book of letters between Lytton Strachey and Virginia Woolf, and I started a book called _Letters to a Young Poet_ by the german poet Rilke. Argh! Can't I just stick to one thing? At any rate, I'm going to try to finish them all in the next week or so, since my school is setting me free for reading week tomorrow. After all of this, it's on to _Lady Oracle_ by Margaret Atwood and Wilde's _Picture of Dorian Gray_.


----------



## Lily

I'm working through _Catch-22_ at the moment, and not particularly enjoying it, but I think that has something to do with the fact that I have a ridiculous amount to worry about.

This is a list of books I plan to read soon:
1. _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_ by Robert Heinlein
2. _The Wind in the Willows_
3. _The Red Tent_ by Anita Diamant


----------



## Pawn

Wind in the Willows? Isn't that a tad grown up for you? Still, I suppose we all read Harry Potter..

strangedaze - Yeh i'm in that kinda mood atm. I read Sartre's short lecture "Existentialism and Humanism," but it was too short to really give his arguments much persausiveness if you looked at them enough, so I went in search of something more hardcore. I'd move Dorian Gray up your list if i was you, you should enjoy that.


----------



## Zachary Glass

I read about 20 pages of Harry and then flipped him the bird.  Absolute crap-heap garbage...sorry Harry fans!  I wouldn't wipe my poopie-burdened shoes with that crap.


----------



## Pawn

I read the first three books out of boredom in two days, and read the subsequent ones on the day I bought them purely by virtue of having read their predecessors. Contary to this, I am absolutely of the opinion that they are shocking, appalingly terrible books. I tend to do that too much; buy books in a series merely because I trudged through the first ones, whether they were good or not. That's how I managed to read Robert Jordan's appalingly written 'Wheel of Time' series. Ten books or so of terribly written, unoriginal boredom.


----------



## strangedaze

*Dorian, Vonnegut, and a barrel of books*

Yeah, I really want to get cracking on Wilde, but now it seems that Kurt Vonnegut and _Slaughter House Five_ has cracked my list. *shakes fist* damn you world, damn you all!

-SD


----------



## Lily

Pawn, I'm well aware that _Wind in the Willows_ is a book that's supposed to be geared towards younger readers. I've been told, however, that there are different ways of interpreting the novel, and I'd like to determine my own take on that, which is why I've put it on my reading list, even though I probably won't get to it for a very long time since I have several books on the list before that, most of them nonfiction.  

I finished _Brideshead Revisited_- I don't know if it was just me and the mood that I was in when I read it, but I don't find any of the characters very likeable. Also, it seemed very much like a soap opera to me, though of course those are the least important factors. I think the problem is that I was trying to juggle reading that with the multiple papers, essays, and such I have to hand in. I also tried reading Laura Kipnis's _Against Love_, and got about 48 pages through. It's a waste of paper.

I also read Albee's _Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf_. I can't make up my mind about it- there are some things I certainly have to grok over a little bit more. I did, however, enjoy _Breakfast at Tiffany's_. For the most part. 

Now I need something long and engaging to read on a 19-hour flight overseas. I'm deciding between _Anna Karenina_, _War and Peace_, _The Brothers Karamazov_. _Dr. Zhivago_, _Moment in Peking_, _My Antonia_, _Pygmalion_, or any of Oscar Wilde's plays.




Maybe _Dr. Seuss_ will do, since I'm apparently _so_ infantile.  :roll:  8)


----------



## Zachary Glass

ooh ooh...how about ONE FLEW OVER THE COOKOOS NEST or THE ELECTRIC KOOLAID ACID TEST?  Those were great books!  For some reason seeing Kurt's name there reminded me of these books...bizarre trains, these trains of thought!


----------



## Pawn

Lily, every book on your to read list is either a good read from person experience of acclaimed to be such. My only suggestion is to read War and Peace after Anna Karenin. That said, if it's a 19 hour flight, War and Peace might be just the thing..

I was naturally joking in my comment about Watership Down, which is incidentally a very good book (I can't remember in what way I took it; I recall something about rabbits). If I was you, I'd bring Dr. Seuss along to lighten the trip  :wink:


----------



## Lily

Hmm . . . I was under the impression that the comment was geared towards _Wind in the Willows_, but that's OK. I'm a little oversensitive about being called immature . . . call it having a Napoleon Complex or something. At 17, I'm only 5 ft tall, so I tend to get treated as a kid sister wherever I go, which I can't stand. So that explains my touchiness 

I'm actually looking into Anne Tyler's mystery series at the moment. There are WAY too many books to read for my comfort.

As for the Dr. Seuss thing, I probably shouldn't read any of those above mentioned classics- I think I'll save those for school. The thought of being surrounded by relatives and old people all jabbering away in a language I can't speak well but understand perfectly is depressing enough as is.  :roll:


----------



## Pawn

Haha. It _was_ geared to Wind in the Willows, but it appears me memory is failing me. Perhaps I'm becoming prematurely senile (I'm also 17). What can I say... they both begin with 'W'; how do you expect me to deal with that level of complexity?


----------



## Blackdragonhide

Im currently reading: "Fox Evil ~ Minette Walters"

it is very good, fast paced and has kept me guessing so far.
(It's a crime novel)

I have read all the HP books and I have to DISAGREE!!! j/l. i totally agree. She (JK Rowling-in-it*) is disapointing.

* i came up with that name here on the fly, impressive huh?


----------



## matty

I would have to as far as style goes I love "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson.  That book blew my mind, I got it on a whim and could not put it down.  It has so many levels it is insane.  The book is part story, part textbook, and part politcal paper.  Other than that I would have to say 1984 by "Orwell" and "The Jungle".  There are many other great books out there that I relate to such as "The Fountainhead", "Crime and Punshiment", and "All Quiet on the Western Front".  I like books and authors that challenge you to think as much as entertain you with a story.

Matty


----------



## daniela

I am reading _Cryptonomicon_ by Neal Stephenson and _Battlefield Earth_ by L. Ron Hubbard.  I too picked up _Cryptonomicon_ on a whim and I am pleased to say that I am enjoying every minute.  As for _Battlefield Earth_, I was curious after seeing that movie John Travolta did.  While the film version is horrible, I love the book.

Next on my list is another book by Neal Stephenson entitled _Quicksilver_, _Night Watch_ by Terry Pratchett, and _Jennifer Government_ by Max Berry (not necessarily in that order).

--DM--


----------



## matty

I cannot say enough about neal stephenson as a writer.  He embodies all that I feel a good writer should hold true to.  He tells a darn good yarn.  His characters are fully developed with flaws just as in real life.  There are no perfect characters in his book Cryptonomicon.  He also has a good sense of humanity and rebellish side to him.  To those that have read the book there is a little jem placed within the book.  The solitare encryption scheme that is used in the book is an actual full blown, VERY well concieved scheme.  One reason for including it in the book is so that people in other countries who are not endowed with the same rights of privacy that we are shall have a means of private communications all their own.  

Matty


----------



## safari invasion

I read "Fight Club" yesterday and "Survivor" the day before that. I'll probably start something non-fiction tomorrow. Either "Inside Delta Force" or "Fighter Wing."


----------



## overheadalbatross

Recently finished: "Killer Angels," Michael Shaara (American Lit. class)
"Red Dragon," Thomas Harris
"subUrbia," Eric Bogosian
"Jennifer Government," Max Barry

Currrently reading: "Hannibal," Thomas Harris

Soon to be reading: "The Jungle," Upton Sinclair
"Fast-Food Nation," Eric Schlosser
"Mall," Eric Bogosian
"Slaughterhouse Five," Kurt Vonnegut

That's enough.


----------



## Lily

currently rereading Orson Scott Card's _Enchantment_.

Once my schoolwork lightens up I'm hoping to start _Dr. Zhivago_ and rediscover _The Once and Future King_. I read that in middle school and haven't been able to go back to it since. I have the feeling that were I to go back to it, I'd get VERY different stuff out of it


----------



## tekp

Ive just finished reading _Johnny and the Bomb_ (terry Pratchett) and thought it was very good.

I am now reading _Johnny and the Dead_ (wrong order, but hey).

I have already read _Only Your Can Save Mankind_ years ago. I might read it again actually, that was good...


----------



## Farror

Polgara the Sorceress, reading, but not necessarily enjoying.


----------



## strangedaze

I just read Jeanette winterson's _The PowerBook_, and today I'm working on Nabakov's _Lolita_. I tried reading St. Augustine's _Confessions_, but the style didn't really appeal to me. I'll probably read that and Hubert Aquin's _Next Episode_ when I have a lot of spare time. Still haven't read Wilde's _Picture_ yet, so that's definately on my list.

-SD


----------



## Lily

strangedaze, right now I'm trying to read Augustine's _Confessions_ too. Actually, it's currently sitting at the bottom of my backpack. It's kind of hard to read his opening pages when it's sunny outside and all you want to do is PLAY! or something . . .

I've just finished Italo Calvino's _Cosmicomics_. It's basically a collection of whimsical short stories about what prehistoric life might have been like. My favorite is the first story . . .


----------



## strangedaze

I'm hoping I can get through it later - maybe it will provide me with some spiritual answers. But right now I just don't have the time nor the patience to throw myself into such a deep text. I suppose I will just live vicariously through you, so I urge you to read it for the both of us 

That being said, Nabakov writes breathtaking prose. The first 30 pages of _Lolita_ are sensational.


----------



## Lily

strangedaze, out of curiosity, are you referring to _Cosmicomics_ or Augustine's _Confessions_? It doesn't really matter, but I was just curious . . . as I always am!


----------



## strangedaze

_Confessions_. What is this other thing you speak of?


----------



## tekp

Finished reading Johnny and the Bomb and recently continued to read Jean M Euel's _Clan of the cave bear_ after stoping reading it a while back for a reason now forgotten...


----------



## safari invasion

Have started reading Patricia Cornwell's Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper, Case Closed. Very interesting stuff.


----------



## Gundampilotspaz

Dan Browns "Angels and Demons" Which I will follow by Robet A. Heinlein's "Dubble Star", my 8th Heinlein book.


----------



## Leapord

Just started reading Rhapsody by Elizabeth Haydon.  Gotten about 1/3 of the way through, and it seems really good so far.


----------



## Csira

*pokes this thread* 

I am currently reading and re-reading (repeat infinitely) this lovely manga called "Alice 19th". It is the first volume of seven total volumes created by Yuu Watase. I love it to bits, and I am sure I will thoroughly enjoy reading the following volumes.

For those that don't know, a manga is a book that tells a story through drawings (much like a comic book). It is usually of japanese origin. My definition, I know, is not that great. I am typically not good at explaining things.    

~Csira


----------



## americanwriter

*Nonfiction - Historical*

I'm reading _The Silent Landscape: The Scientific Voyage of HMS Challenger_. For those who are into nonfiction, science, and history, I think you'd really enjoy this. I'm planning to review it for MBR and Missouri Reader. 

This is a really interesting story and it would also make a great screenplay or idea for an historical movie, or a fiction novel. Since I'm not into writing fiction, I'll just pass that on. There's quite a story there. 
 8)


----------



## tekp

I am now reading Garth Nix: Abhorsen, after reading his other two wonderful books.

I have recently borrowed Jim Brown - 24/7 from a friend, and read it. I like it, it's gone into my top 10, but I thought the swearing was a bit much, although the story was interesting and had some twists and turns, especially finding the truth about _Control_.


----------



## Csira

tekp said:
			
		

> I am now reading Garth Nix: Abhorsen, after reading his other two wonderful books.



Garth Nix's books are indeed wonderful. =) I am currently keeping track of his new series: Keys to the Kingdom. Although the audience seems to lean toward children, I find the books enjoyable. It's a series too, of 7 books. I don't know, just writing this information down in case you're interested. ^^;

~Csira


----------



## Lily

I'm working on _Dr. Zhivago_, and rereading the Harry Potter series in the meantime. I'm hoping to start on _Lolita_ whenever it arrives. It's funny how I have a quote from the 1997 movie in my sig and I've never even seen the film . . . 

I still adore Jeremy Irons though


----------



## babygurl

i'm currently in the middle of The Villa by Nora Roberts, who is my favorite author.  She's incredible, I love her writing style, it's just so...addicting.  hehe.  I can't seem to put the book down, I just wish I could write like her someday..  :roll:


----------



## shewalksinbeauty

I'm reading 'The Other Boleyn Girl' by Philippa Gregory.

I just don't seem to have the time or enthusiasm to read it at the moment though.  Exams and stuff *moan*


----------



## americanwriter

Just finished "A Hanging Offense: The Strange Affair of the Warship Somers," by Buckner F. Melton, Jr. It was interesting. Historical nonfiction. Looks like Missouri Reader is going to have a nautical theme for July. 

I'm getting ready to order, "Down to the Soundless Sea," by Thomas Steinbeck (son of famed John). Then I think I'll read the "Mapmaker's Wife," that just came out. I just have a couple of weeks to get through them.

Well, I'm off to review the "Hanging." Wish me luck.


----------



## Lara

Nineteen Eighty-Four and Girl with a Pearl earring

About to read:
Rebecca
The Bell Jar


----------



## rashadow

I am currently reading the second book in the Otherland series by Tad Williams. Very wordy, and at times, downright boring. But the story itself is excellent. The ideas he has in these books, although very unoriginal, are carried out superbly.


----------



## Farror

Just read nearly all the Shannara series by... Wait... I can't remember the author right now.

I am currently reading some more books from the series "Thomas Convenant the Unbeliever" series.


----------



## Sub

I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman a few days ago.  Awesome work of fantasy.
I also Had the chance to read Ishmael and Story of B.  Good pieces of philosophy.


----------



## strangedaze

Fifth Business, some Hemmingway, Mrs. Dalloway...Just finished Picture of Dorian Gray and Lolita...


----------



## sully474

Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman. Excellent humourous book.


----------



## Praetorian

I just re-read War and Peace, so I'm taking an intellectual break, and am rereading Harry Potter:  Prisoner of Azkaban.


----------



## tekp

I've just finished _Naughts and Crosses - Malorie Blackman_ (4 stars) and _The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time_ of which I have forgotten the author (also 4 stars)

And now I am trying to read _Catch-22_ but I'ts rather grown up for me hehe, as in, the writing style etc... i'm only 14


----------



## safari invasion

I am rereading Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden as inspiration for a drawn-out urban conflict scene I am in the middle of writing.


----------



## WiCkEd

Just finished _Gerald's Game_ by Stephen King. Just started _From the Corner of His Eye_ by Dean Koontz.

Upcoming books:
I have not the slightest idea, whatever sounds most interesting when I go to the bookstore.  :shock: [/i]


----------



## The Tao Of Spike

Slowly chuging along through _Blindness_ by Jose Saramago and flying through _Life, The Universe and Everything_ by Douglas Adams.

_So Long and Thanks For All The Fish_ by Douglas Adams and _Middlesex_ by Jeffrey Eugenides are queued up.


----------



## Myuuchi

I'm reading _Needful Things_ by Stephen King because there simply isn't anything else to read.

I need to go book shopping.. Too bad the nearest big bookstore is half an hour away.  :roll:


----------



## PigletLover

I am currently reading:

T.C. Boyle Short Stories (a collection)
Kurt Vonnegut Short Stories (a collection)
Annie Proulx - The Shipping News

I've kind of been on a short story kick lately...don't know why.  Sometimes I just get in the mood for some bite sized reading.

PL


----------



## ivan

I read this page and I realised I haven't heard of any of these writers.
(ok, I admit I heard of a couple of them but taht's it)

Oh, well. I'll stick to the classics. My current read :"The Demons" by Dostoievsky. I wonder why I haven't read it before.


----------



## sully474

Now its Hard Times by Dickens
Treausure Island again by Stevenson
and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain.

Heard of those authors


----------



## AdamR

I just started War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells today.

After that -- I've no idea yet; possibly Moby Dick.


----------



## thamior

Im reading a dangerous fortune by ken follet


----------



## Apathy

At the moment I'm reading The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - I'm studying up on my Arthurian Legend. I love how this book isn't told from the point of view of Merlin or Arthur, that the story is seen through the eyes of Morgaine (Morgan le Fay).


----------



## Lews

I just finished reading "The guns of Avalon" by Zalezny and now I'll start Deadhouse Gates by Erikson.


----------



## WiCkEd

Well, I'm still reading _From the Corner of His Eye_ by Dean Koontz. I haven't been able to read as much lately. But after I finish that I will probably read, _All quiet on the Western Front_.


----------



## Praetorian

tekp said:
			
		

> And now I am trying to read _Catch-22_ but I'ts rather grown up for me hehe, as in, the writing style etc... i'm only 14



Catch-22 is great!  Major Major Major Major.  I wrote a paper on it in high school English.


----------



## thamior

thamior said:
			
		

> Im reading a dangerous fortune by ken follet


heh, now i'm reading _A Night Over Water_ by ken follett _and_ a book for school _taming of the shrew_ by shakespeare


----------



## nae411

*Read*

I am just starting "Deception Point" Dan Brown, but I am also reading "By the light of the moon" Koontz.

Nae


----------



## Chris

I'm reading two books at the moment, _The Life of Pi_(again) for pleasure. Man I love this novel. I'm also reading _Moll Flanders_ for an English paper I'm doing.

I'm seriously considering picking up _The Lovely Bones_, can anyone give a reccommendation?


----------



## spunkymonkey

duh! i'm reading the computer screen!!!!  :lol: well, books wise i am reading Jessica by Bryce Courtenay and a few other books as well. not to mention my own story... gets confusing sometimes when i start to mix up the characters... :cry:


----------



## thamior

spunkymonkey said:
			
		

> duh! i'm reading the computer screen!!!!  :lol: well, books wise i am reading Jessica by Bryce Courtenay and a few other books as well. not to mention my own story... gets confusing sometimes when i start to mix up the characters... :cry:


hmm I once read 5 books at once and never mixed the characters....I wonder how you do that.


----------



## Farror

Over imaginative I suppose...

I'm re-reading Tolkien's work, mainly the Lord of the Rings. Also taking another crack at the Similarillion (However it's spelt)


----------



## Gordash

Apathy said:
			
		

> At the moment I'm reading The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley - I'm studying up on my Arthurian Legend. I love how this book isn't told from the point of view of Merlin or Arthur, that the story is seen through the eyes of Morgaine (Morgan le Fay).


That book is banned where I live because it's "bashing Christianity".  :x 

Anyway, I'm now reading Of Mice and Men.


----------



## becs

Currently reading 
Spies : narrative encyclopedia of dirty deeds and double dealings
Also trying to wade through Crossroads of Twilight - Robert Jordan.  Bought it two months ago and I'm only 30 pgs. into it.


----------



## Chris

Picked up and finished The Lovely Bones. An enjoyable read, certainly original when it comes to narrative perspective. Funny and sad too. Recommended.

Been thinking about picking up A Suitable Boy, but I really have to read Moll Flanders, which I haven't started yet. I skimmed through On Writing by Stephen King, another great book. I need to get The Shining or Salem's Lot.


----------



## Emma LB

I'm terrible, I can't just read one book at once so I'm currently reading the Odyssey and the Iliad. 



> That book is banned where I live because it's "bashing Christianity".



I can't believe that!  :shock:  I mean, who banned it? The government can't just decide what you can and can't read, that is terrible!   

I think the book isn't worth reading though, so no great loss  :wink: , but still. I know the government here has also banned certain books from being read (some I think shouldn't be banned, but they are border cases), that is true, but The Mists of Avalon? If they've banned that book, what other books have they banned then? Lol, I think you could have fun trying to find Rushdie's Satanic Verses where you live   . (not because of being christian bashing or anything, just because of the title)


----------



## Eiji Tunsinagi

The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide, Pattern Recognition, and Rim.


----------



## bobothegoat

_Servant of the Empire_ by Raymond E Feist.  It's... different.  Nobody else would like it unless they at least have read _Magicain_ first.


----------



## A_MacLaren

> now I'll start Deadhouse Gates by Erikson.



Yes! At last, someone else who likes Erikson!
I've just finished The Long Dark Tea-Time Of The Soul, by Douglas Adams, and Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Now I'm floundering in the souless limbo of booklessness. I'm trying to hunt down a copy of Magician, by Raymond E. Feist, but none of my friends have a copy and the libraries are all out, for some reason. Someone's hounding me to read The Count of Monte Cristo, and someone else wants me to read a book of short stories by Amy Witting. I can't take this!


----------



## sully474

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

Funny thing is, after he wrote it, Dumas tryed to be the Count of Monte Cristo, and went broke trying.


----------



## Tori

I am currently reading:

Mary Called Magdalene-Margaret George
Blackbird House-Alice Hoffman

Both are a delight with Mary being my bathtime book amd a bit slow moving.  Blackbird House being my night time reader and will be done with it shortly.


----------



## bobothegoat

Moving on to next book in the series- _Mistress of the Empire_


----------



## A_MacLaren

Magician, by Raymond Feist. It's not as good as it was made out to be.


----------



## The Admiral

I'm reading a book on character development by Orson Scott Card, and when I'm finished I've got some philosophy books to read (a few of Robert Nozick's books and some others).


----------



## Chris

Catcher in the Rye! I've never read it before, so it's all very exciting.   So far, so good. Then I plan on reading The Pianist which I have out from the library. I'm actually avoiding Moll Flanders, a book I have to read for my English paper/tutorial, I really don't like it and I hate forcing myself to read something I don't want to.


----------



## xayaxos

*sigh* I've been broke for so long that I'd forgotton how nice it was to hold a new book in your hands.  So I've been rereading books I already have.  At the moment I'm on the Revelation Space series by Alastair Reynolds, and I got to buy the fourth book today (YAY!).


----------



## Deadally

I'm reading Steinbeck's complete Non-fiction.  It gives phenomenal insight into his life and his style.  I'm also reading The Red Pony, but it's currently on hiatus...

I'm going to read Dante's Inferno sometime in the future, as I have a copy of it, and I just finished a book of miltary top ten lists that was quite interesting


----------



## Emma LB

xayaxos said:
			
		

> So I've been rereading books I already have.



Lol, I know just what you mean! In the last four days I read two Terry Pratchett books which I'd already read at least twice before. Still... good books are good no matter how many times you've read them before.


----------



## A_MacLaren

Raymond Fiest is making me feel soiled and unwashed. But I'm so close to the end!


----------



## bobothegoat

first or second book of magician?  I liked Magician, but then again, my reading tastes are a bit wierd  :tongue:


----------



## Farror

I loved Raymond E, Feist's books. I read the RiftWar Saga and the Serpant War Saga.


----------



## bobothegoat

Same here.  I also read the _Riftwar Legacy_, which takes place between _Prince of the Blood _but after _A Darkness at Sethanon_.  Currently finishing the last book in the _Empire Trilogy_.  Nice seeing Pug/Milamber's rampage at the Imperial games through Tsurani eyes.  I'm thinking of reading The Conclave of Shadows series, is it any good?


----------



## desired_destiny

Right now I am reading "So You Want To Be A Wizard" by Diane Duane.


----------



## jules

I'm reading the new Helen Fielding book, "Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination" 
I adore it, as i have adored Fielding's other 3 novels!  has anyone read them?
xoxoxoxo


----------



## Aubrey

Currently Reading: *Coyote Blue* by _Christopher Moore_


----------



## Dancer_girl16

I'm reading "The Whim of the Dragon" by: Pamela Dean


----------



## MisterRaziel

Hip-deep in Orson Scott Card's Xenocide.

This Ender series is pretty good, man.


----------



## sully474

I just bought The Last of the Mohicans today.


----------



## Myuuchi

"Anna Karenina" by Leo Tolstoy.


----------



## jules

now i'm reading 'I Capture the Castle' by Dodie Smith. lovely!
xoxoxo


----------



## rashadow

Still in the midst of Tad Williams Bloated Epic: Otherworld. I hated the first book but was still hooked by the story and ideas. Disliked the second book but still anxious and still determined to see this to the conclusion, I marched on. Now on the third book and am actually loving it. Will keep you posted.


----------



## Chris

Read _The Pianist_. Very good book.

Almost finished _Catcher in the Rye_ but will have to stop so I can finish _Pamela_ for English.

I'm also reading on the side Margaret Atwood's _Negotiating with the Dead_ which is a fun book on the writer's life.

Also reading random short stories on the side, last I read was _Greasy Lake_ by T. Coraghessan Boyle. Well written.


----------



## RachelEvil

Raymond Chandler - _The Little Sister_
Grant Morrison, et. al. - _JLA: And Justice For All_
Kate Bornstein - _My Gender Workbook_
Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh, and Henry Lincoln - _Holy Blood, Holy Grail_
Philip K. Dick - _The Divine Invasion_


----------



## A_MacLaren

I just don't like Feist. I'd object to him less if so many people weren't hailing him as some imaginative genius. He's a pretty stock-standard writer. And his style is incredibly amatuerish, or at least it is in Magician.
I'm not reading anything at the moment, though I'm thinking about reading a bit of Discworld.


----------



## Cunning Linguist

I just finished "The Talisman" by Stephen King and Peter Straub, after starting it in 1998 or 1999. Really. I am a snail. 

T.S Eliot, a bio by Peter Ackroyd, 

and "The Jewel in the Wound".


----------



## Elemental_Emissary

Right now I'm reading _Traveler_, the first in Melanie Jackson's Wildside series. It's one of those intriguing series that have been unjustly labeled as cheesecake romance, but it's fantasy people! FANTASY! If you're a fan of goblins, then stay away, because they're the evil villains in this.  :wink:


----------



## Spudley

This week, I have been reading _Death and the Penguin_, by Andrey Kurkov.

It's the story of a russian writer and his pet penguin, and how he unwittingly gets embroiled in a series of deaths after taking on a job writing newspaper obituaries.

A good read.


----------



## sully474

hrm. I am reading A Semester in the Life Of A Garbage Bag, by Gordon Korman. It cracks me up every time I read it.


----------



## Gladiator_008

I'm reading The Lone Drow by R. A. Salvatore. It's an amazing book and you should all read it!


----------



## A_MacLaren

Carpe Jugulum, by Terry Pratchett.


----------



## Twiddler

Pyramids by: Terry Pratchett.


----------



## Shy_Love

Myyyyyy...B I B L E...Yes thats the book for me! I stand alone ont eh Wrod of God! The B I B L E! Bible!


----------



## WiCkEd

_Suffer the Children_ by John Saul.


----------



## Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor

I'm current reading:

"The Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K Rowling. (sp?)
(Recommendation)

"Paradise Lost" by John Milton
This book builds your Vocabulary.  Other than that I'm getting little enjoyment out of reading it. (It's a school thing.)

"The Dawning of a New Age" by Jean Rabe
This is a Dragonlance book.  I've read the first two chapers and it looks promising.


----------



## bobothegoat

Just started reading a couple days ago _The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy_ and being in the 300rd-ish area, have found it to be ever bit as good as I've been told.  I especially liked Marvin


----------



## A_MacLaren

Why the 'Ultimate'?
I'm reading 'The King Beyond The Gate' by David Gemmel. It's bad.
Real bad.


----------



## bobothegoat

The Ultimate Hitchhikers also includes the rest of the series:  _The Restraunt at the End of the Universe_; _Life, The Universe and Everything;  Thanks for All the Fish;_ and _Mostly Harmless_.

Although it seems better as just one book, but then again that's also a personal preference...


----------



## A_MacLaren

Ah. I see. I love the Hitchhiker series. So much fun.
Still stuck on 'The King Beyond the Gate'.


----------



## bobothegoat

If it's so bad couldn't you just stop reading it?


----------



## annika

_The Submerged Cathedral_ by Charlotte Wood

(Just finished the Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide - thus my sig.  Thoroughly enjoyed it!)


----------



## A_MacLaren

I never, ever walk out on a book. By the time I've figured out whether it's good or not, it's too late to turn back.
I've got something lined up for after this little beastie is finished.


----------



## americanwriter

Just finished:

Down to a Soundless Sea by Thomas Steinbeck. Wonderful. Must read. The stories are superb. I'm not loaning this one to anyone. Sure to reread it.

Also:
The Outside of August by Joanna Hershon - definitely off the track of the mass market stuff. 

And:
Praying For Sheetrock by Melissa Fay Greene - nonfiction about McIntosh County, Georgia during the civil rights era. Good reading, too. 

I've written the reviews on these three. Previously finished Killed: Journalism Too Hot to Print. It was wonderful also. I'm due to review it for the next issue as well.


----------



## Creative_Insanity

Raymond Feist - Talon of the Silver Hawk
Megan Lindholm and Steven Brust - The Gypsy
Robin Hobb - Fool's Fate


----------



## Aeryn

Eye of the World - book #10

This is one of the best series I have ever read.  I also read the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice and the Annita Blake series by Laurel K. Hamilton.

I guess you could say that I have a thing for vampires. =]


----------



## Shy_Love

Case for a ceator. Awesome book.


----------



## Chris

_Frankenstein_!!! I have just started it, great book so far - has a nice creepy, forboding tone.

After, will read _Still Alive_ by Ruth Kluger.

Due to essays and assignments, I stopped reading _Catcher in the Rye_ so will have to start that again soon.

I'm on a two week break, so I'll definately have time to catch up on reading. Yay, I'm a geek.


----------



## daniela

I am about to read _Nightmares and Dreamscapes_ by Stephen King for the umpteenth time.

--DM--


----------



## Sammi

I'm reading The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice. I'm a bit disappointed though. It's very slow and not half as good as Interview with the Vampire.

When I'm finished I'm going on to a book from the SF Materworks series. It's called More Than Human but I forget who it's by.


----------



## tcaptain

Caves of Steel - Isaac Asimov


----------



## bbgun

I'm reading the City of Gold and Lead, thats the only book in the Tripod trilogy that I havn't yet read. After that I plan on reading The Clan of the Cave bear, because, I heard that the Earth's Children series is insightful.

Ben


----------



## Creative_Insanity

I just finished Mercy by Julie Garwood and Paranoia by Joseph Finer. Mercy SUCKED, Paranoia was good. I would esp. recommend Paranoia because it's going to be a major motion picture soon, and it would be cool for you guys to read the book first. It's extremely witty, fast, and entertaining. Usually I read fantasy (that's my pet genre) but I still really enjoyed this.


----------



## spokenwords.net

guns, germs and steel: the fates of human societies by jared diamond and a sociology book which titles far longer than this explanation.


----------



## r3b3l

being a measley twelve year old i read things like jaqueline wilson and ann martin and stuff like that


----------



## Ryushi

I'm reading "The haunting of Alizabel Cray" by Chris Wooding, its good dark fantasy for teenagers.

r3bel, trust me, its better to read stuff aimed at you age group than try to read grown up fiction. I know, i tried and didn't understand a word. And i'm officially Gifted and Talented..........  

Ben M


----------



## daniela

I just borrowed _JOB:  A Comedy of Justice_ by Robert A. Heinlein from the library.  It is quite good so far.

--DM--


----------



## CelticBardess

The Wayfarer Redemption -- Sara Douglass
Sophie's World -- Jostein Gaarder (starting it again for like the 5th time, since everytime I try to read it, I get sucked into something else!)

Just finished Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.

-Anne.


----------



## Creative_Insanity

Aw, I remember reading Ella Enchanted. It was cute. I used to really like that book! ^_^


----------



## Creative_Insanity

r3b3l said:
			
		

> being a measley twelve year old i read things like jaqueline wilson and ann martin and stuff like that


Don't call yourself a "measley" twelve year old!   We love you much anyways.


----------



## Chris

Nearly finished _Oryx and Crake_ by Margaret Atwood. That's a really fun book to read while your on vacation; witty, intelligent, interesting and well paced. The more I read from Atwood, the more I grow to like her.


----------



## CelticBardess

Creative_Insanity said:
			
		

> Aw, I remember reading Ella Enchanted. It was cute. I used to really like that book! ^_^



I enjoyed it very much, except near the very end where the slipper is involved.  I dunno.  It's just at that part it all came together that this was a Cinderella story and I just started hating it, but I _had_ to read the end.  However, I thought it the end brought it all back in my good favor.  

-Anne.


----------



## hollyoake

(a thread called what are you reading...!)

seriously though, i'm reading Carl Hiaasen's 'Strip Tease'... i'm reading it to Joshua too!!

i think he likes it...


----------



## Lynn

I've just finished reading THE SERVANTS OF TWILIGHT By Dean Koontz

I know it's a older book. I've got bookshelves full of books and I just read them as I want to. I'm a bigg yardsale junky and pick up books every weekend.

Dean Koontz is amazing. This is a must read.

HappyWriting
Lynn


----------



## Farror

hollyoake... You're reading a book called Strip tease to your baby son? Shame!


----------



## John

I'm currently reading Paradise Alley by Kevin Baker.  It may have been a book Gangs of New York was based on.  It takes place in the early 19th century.  It's a story about the struggles and hardship immigrants are met with arriving in New York City.  This takes place around the 5 points and the New York riots.  So far, so good.


----------



## hollyoake

Farror said:
			
		

> hollyoake... You're reading a book called Strip tease to your baby son? Shame!



what's wrong with that? it will win him lots of friends when he does start talking!!


----------



## John

The Canterbury Tales


----------



## sully474

Ive broken out the 19th century section of my library and am working on the Count of Monte Cristo. Actually in English today we were supposed to write a poem about a current event, but I wrote 'Ode to Edmund Dantes' instead. I didn't write The Count of Monte Cristo in it anywhere though. Just wanted to see if my teacher would catch on.


----------



## Pawn

Chekhov.


----------



## Chris

Just finished "Still Alive" by Ruth Kluger. Great book.

Now reading "The Castle of Otranto."

After that will read "Frankenstein" again and probably "Jazz" by Toni Morrison.

Also reading a variety of short stories (mostly NZ ones). Yipee!


----------



## Hot Ice

"The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy"
Its good but everybody who read it kept telling me its so funny. 
Its funny, but its not that funny.


----------



## aspire

speaker for the dead, best book ever, nah, but it comes close.


----------



## A_MacLaren

Deadhouse Gates, by Steven Erikson


----------



## Chris

Currently reading "Ender's Game," even though I should be reading other stuff.


----------



## Pawn

Cool.

Just read 'The Outsider', Albert Camus.


----------



## MiloDaePesdan

:wink: Readin' stuff from R.A. Salvatore i.e. Forgotten Realms "Exile".


----------



## feushin

"War and Peace" by Lev/Leo Tolstoy.  Even though I am reading this marvellous book for the third time, I have only just fallen in love with it.  Tolstoy presents us with a world of times gone by that one (particularly I) cannot help but envy and be wistful towards.  Oh, the beauty of the past!  I sincerely recommend it to everyone with a broad vocabulary, an interest in war, and tolerance of blood and gore.  It is truly a masterpiece.


----------



## Pawn

I agree. Tolstoy was an irrefutable genius.


----------



## ink stained dreamer

Pickwick Papers 

and a friend just lent me Rebecca.  

Any comments or advice on either?

ttyl.


----------



## daniela

_The Pickwick Papers_ starts out kind of slow (Dickens's dratted tendency towards excessive description is the cause), but from what I can remember (which is very little, so do not take my word for this) it is worth sticking through to the end.  As for the other book, I have not read it so I can tell you nothing.

I am currently reading _Wild Cards V:  Down and Dirty_ which was edited by George R.R. Martin.  It is pretty good so far, but having not read the previous volumes, I could not possibly comment on the quality of _Down and Dirty_.  I sneaked a peak at the afterword and it turns out that the editor considers this book to be an overall failure because he tried to please too many people instead of focusing on perfecting the storyline.  Of course, statements like this only make me want to read the book more. :wink:

--DM--


----------



## Chris

I just finished reading "Frankenstein" for the second time. Awesome book, now I have to write an essay on it - ugh!

Will hopefully finish "Ender's Game," by the weekend (taking my sweet time with that one   )


----------



## Cassi

Re-reading Catch 22


----------



## pharseer

I'm a multi-reader too.  Currently I'm reading House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski (highly recommend it, it's brilliant!), the last of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and Mortal Fear, a thriller by Greg Iles that my dad recommended.


----------



## Creative_Insanity

The Book of Jhereg by Steven Brust .. okay so far. Not nearly as good as The Gypsy though .. *shrugs*


----------



## eMBeR Chan

Anthem by Ayn Rand, shgood.


----------



## hollyoake

'Chloe' by Freya North, and before that it was 'Fen', they'e a good series, really warm and funny, set in England, about the lives and loves of young women, hense their titles.


----------



## Chris

"Maus" by Art Spiegelman. A graphic novel about the author's father's experience during the Holocaust. An epic, wrenching and amazing read. Highly reccomended.


----------



## thunder

Heh, interesting Chris..I'm currently reading 'Night' by Elie Weisel.  It has turned out to be one of the few good books the school chose for us to read.  Its about a father and son in the Nazi death camps, from the sons (authors) point of view.  Its fairly amazing..made me cry reading it the first time (thats not easy to do).


----------



## Chris

thunder,

yeah Holocaust literature can be quite devastating. I'm doing a paper on it for Uni, so I've been pretty absorbed in it for half a year now. It's a little depressing.


----------



## thunder

It is devestating, you don't even realize how much so until you read something about it.  I think the reality of it, the fact that the auther was _there_ and survived it, made it sink in more..


----------



## Shaun1138

Edgar Allan Poe - Complete works


----------



## pharseer

Wicked by Gregory Maguire. I think I'm a little disturbed by what its doing to my happy memories of the Wizard of Oz books.


----------



## A_MacLaren

Metamorphosis and Other Stories, by Franz Kafka.


----------



## Chris

"Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen.


----------



## River1034

i read The Old Man and the Sea again yesterday. I started the last installment of the dark tower series today.


----------



## Demiurgos

I just started reading some books for my studies: "Nicomachean Ethics" by Aristotle - it is interesting and edifying at the same time. I'm also reading Kant on the same subject - "The Metaphysical Elements of Ethics" - instructive but terribly boring!


----------



## D4rk_3|f

Druss the legend by David Gemmel


----------



## River1034

one rainy night, Richard laymon


----------



## die_daily

angels - denis johnson.


----------



## foreveracowgirl

i just finished candle in the darkness by lynn austin and fire by night by lynn austin. if you are a christian and are interested in the civil war and romance, these are the books for you. im currently reading tamora pierce's series protector of the small. the first test (the first book) is good so far.


----------



## bluecurtaindg

i am reading "On the Road" by Jack Karuac.


----------



## tekp

Just finished the 12th (and last) Darren Shan book and started on _The Golems Eye_ but I've forgotten the author *is shameful* it's the sequel to the Amulet of Samarkand. Someone's lending me a book called Lucas soon, so I'll read that too.


----------



## daniela

_The Blind Assassin_ by Margaret Atwood

--DM--


----------



## Kimba

I rarely have time to read these days. What with my work and evertying. The most recent book I read was _Fiery Cross_ by Diana Gabaldon but that was a while ago.

Come to think of it, I don't think I even finished reading it. :S

*goes looking for the book again*


----------



## Talia_Brie

I'm reading _Batavia's Graveyard_ by Mike Dash. It's the true story of the bloodiest mutiny in maritime history, over 200 people murdered by a heretic.

Really well researched and extremely well written. Almost reads like an adventure book/crime novel.

Four stars.


----------



## B1ot

Two on the go at the moment:
:arrow: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood 
:arrow: The Vanished Man by Jeffrey Deaver


----------



## Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor

"The Dawning of a New Age" by Jean Rabe 
This is a Dragonlance book. I haven't been hurrying to finish this one.  It's a typical moderately well written dramatic fantasy novel.  If you are looking for a decent easy read then it's not a bad choice.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets:
Recommended: An easy read and well written.

Brave New World:
Recommended: You have to get into this book.  I find it's a difficult book to sit and read one chapter at a time.


----------



## poison2themind

I am reading. 'The Song of Susanah' by Stephen King. It is part of the dark tower series. It is a great book so far, and i recomend the series to anyone.


----------



## Chris

I picked up "The Blind Assassin" by Margaret Atwood. Very good so far.


----------



## nostalgicdemise

"The War of the Twins", Dragonlance Legends: Volume II.

I'm a huge fan of the Dragolance series.  The books are pretty good themselves, but they string together into awesomastic trilogies.


----------



## kerpoe

I am reading 2 of history's finest writers: 

"Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad

some of Oscar Wilde's stuff


----------



## Dexnell

Sean Hannity's -  Let freedom Ring

Magaret Ryan - How to Write a Poem


----------



## desired_destiny

I recently started The Sight by David Clement-Davies.  It's a wonderful fantasy novel about wolves.


----------



## NightWing

Alastair Reynolds - Diamond  dogs, turquoise days.
Great SF writer, also reading Redemption Ark.

Trudging through the latest Andy McNab novel, Dark Winter - although I don't know why.


----------



## stereomuse

At the moment im almost done with _The Stand_ by Stephen King Its very good, I haven't been reading it recently though, the christmas season is making me a busy little bee.


----------



## magikpumpkin

I am meant to be reading _The Light Fantastic_ by Terry Pratchett. Is tarted it about 3 months ago when i was going on an exchange with my college to Munich and never got time ro read more than 50 pages. Really should start it again, just can't bring myself to sit down read, there's been a lot of alcohol around me recently. Thanks to my dad working for Interbrew we've got 4X Castlemaine on tap in my kitchen!! I'll get round to it next year. New years resolution maybe...[/i]


----------



## daniela

_The Year's Best Fantasy:  First Annual Collection _ edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling (1987)

I love going back and reading old anthologies.  You can really learn a lot from them.

--DM--


----------



## stereomuse

I got my cousin one of those for christmas! Something like, _The Years Best Fantasy and Horror_, Volume 17.


----------



## lisajane

Amy Witting's _Isobel On The Way To The Corner Shop_. It's my absolute favourite book, this is probably about the 25th time I've read it and I'm not bored.


----------



## Pendulum

Bartimaeus Trilogy: Book 2. Just got it for Chrimbo. So far it's good. Lots of action and wizardry and stuff. Hehe, you should check it out if you're a fan of fantasy and you enjoy reading novels written for teens.


----------



## swing_it_away

I'm trying to work my way through An Affair of Honor by Richard Marius, but, assuming I don't put it on hold for a couple years, it's going to take me months to finish.  The writing and plot are both fantastic, but it's so academic and theological.  I have to google half of it.

I'm also reading _Goodbye Columbus_ and a couple other sort things when I'm not up for a literary challenge.


----------



## LoneWolf

I'm currently reading The Jungle by Upton Sinclair for my AP US History class, and ugh, it makes me never want to eat another sausage, beef or pork product ever again!


----------



## Bhauger

I'm almost finished with Royal Assassin, and then I'll move on to Assassin's Quest.

The first book was "ok," until about page 200 or so, then it become pretty good. The second book has been really good all the way through so far.


----------



## LiberalDem

I just picked up House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski

I'll let you know how it turns out but so far, its freaking me out.  Very interesting set up, though.


----------



## kerpoe

I am reading "The Picture of Dorian Gray" by Oscar Wilde and a book on the history of teh beatniks (Jack KErouac, Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, and William Burroughs)


----------



## Welshscouser

Halfway through Dune: The butlerian jihad.  Its picking up pace, better than I expected.  The segments are so short though compared to the originals.


----------



## spirituous

I skimmed over my friend's book on Marilyn Manson, his autobiography. Basically, I think he's a gigantic asshole. He refuses to accept any responsibility in his life and constantly brings everything back to his crappy childhood. Lots of people have bad childhoods, but they still make something of their lives and can be happy. Watch an episode of Opera for god's sake. Also, he saw this dying lady who was in a car accident, and she asked him to hold her before she died. He didn't, and walked away. His reasoning behind this was that he didn't think anyone in the world would hold him if he was dying. One, that's obsenely selfish, and two, that's not the point. You're supposed to the right thing, regardless of what other people would do. Compassion anyone? God, I hate him.


----------



## Rajie

I'm reading Dante's _Inferno_ (almost done with it). Afterwards, I plan on reading  _Arabian Nights _.


----------



## lisajane

I don't mind Marilyn Manson. I like his music. It's not really a thought to find out about him privately.


----------



## spirituous

I would've probably gone on liking him if my friend didn't tell me about that book. It's just the principle of the thing; I can not like someone who won't hold a dying lady. Call me stubborn or whatnot, I just can no longer appreciate his music or anything else he does. 

I need a hobby or something...


----------



## FoggyImagination

I'm just now reading To Kill A Mockingbird...although I did 3 book reports on it in highschool without reading it (got A's too). I gotta say though, I'm a little mad at myself for not reading it sooner. I'm actually enjoying it.


----------



## mike5446g

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

I'm only about 150 pages into it and already it has made me laugh more than any other book I've read.


----------



## Cipher2

Franz Kafka: Metamorphosis and other Novellas


----------



## Demiurgos

Joachim Ritter - Metaphysics and Politics


----------



## nostalgicdemise

I finished _The War of the Twins_ and started _Test of the Twins_ yesterday, both by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.


----------



## LoneWolf

_Your Name Here_ by John Ashbery...it's a book of poems. I thought I'd do some research to better my own poetry, but I started reading it, and I don't get it at all! It's so random, I don't get it...makes me feel kind of dumb... :roll:


----------



## evadri

Kerpe, I read 'Dorian Gray' not so long ago, that story intrigues me. Right now, I'm reading Jane Eyre.


----------



## Loki

I'm reading the fourth volume in Stephen King's Gunslinger selection.  Wizard and the Glass...or something of the sort.  The series gets better the further you read into it.


----------



## Chris

I'm about a 100 pages into _The God of Small Things_. And I'm still unsure on whether I like it or hate it. Depends on my mood I guess.


----------



## lisajane

I'm reading Michel Faber's _Under The Skin_. A friend leant it to me, saying that I would enjoy it. I'm not that much into it yet, 49th page.


----------



## Under the Cloak

I'm currently reading _If are Afraid of Heights_ by Raj Kamal Jha
It's an interesting novel, filled with all sorts of riddles.

And I am reading _The Namesake_ by Jhumpa Lahiri


----------



## Welshscouser

Just picked up 1984.  Never read it before, im expecting good things.  So far it's depressing in a good way.  I also have to read The Handmaids Tale for Eng Lit, so i'll be getting that tomorrow too.


----------



## Madness

Just finished Legend and Quest for Lost Heroes, both by David Gemmell.

- Madness


----------



## daniela

_William Faulkner:  American Writer_ by Frederick R. Karl

Fascinating stuff.

--DM--


----------



## bobothegoat

HG Well's The Time Machine.

So far, I'm actually kind of bored of it...  But I'm doing a review on it, so I must read it.  Maybe it'll get better.


----------



## Monique

My dad went off on this weird bend about how novels were interfering with my studies and forbade me to read any more. However, I managed to sneak in a book or two. :twisted:   

The most current: _ The Elfstones of Shannara _ by Terry Brooks.
I have yet to finish it, but I am already hungering for the other books of the series.


----------



## Gracie

I'm reading three books at the same time.

_One-hit wonder _by Lisa Jewell. It's a light, easy read.

_We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our familes _by Philip Gourevitch. This is about the Rwandan genocide. For some reason this topic fascinates me. One of the top guys that organised massacres escaped to the USA.

_1984_ by George Orwell. I thought I should read this book because it's such a well known book. It takes a lot to absorb the ideas in this book.

Grace


----------



## Pats

In the evening before I put my youngsters to bed, we are reading The Oz Chronicles Vol. I by Baum (who else  ). We are on the original story right now.

I am also nearly done reading Beginings, Middles, and Ends by Nancy Kress. Her pointers are really helping me shape my first novel 

And just for fun, I'm trying to read the first Nora Roberts novel I've ever read, The Blue Dahlia... but I'm a slow reader


----------



## crzywriter

reading the books of the baroque cycle by Neal Stephenson

man that is some heavy reading. i read each page and then i'm like 'what?' so i have to read each page like six times before i get it. its really slow going.


----------



## spirituous

Nothing really at the moment because I think I'm too succeptable for reading an author I like and beginning to write in their style. It sucks and just make me have to edit more.


----------



## k3ng

Im attempting (almost failing) to finish War and Peace.


----------



## lisajane

Currently reading _The Messenger_ by Markus Zusak. Apparently it's one of the most popular novels in the TAFE library so I thought I'd give it a shot. Three quarters through and I really like it.

I'll follow that up with Bella Bathurst's _Special_.


----------



## Zatoichi

Euthyphro- A written record of the conversation between Socrates and Euthyphro recorded by. Plato

The Prince and Discourses by Niccolo Machiavelli

Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle

Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon


----------



## Scratches

Finally a non-Eggers/Coupland book falls into my eyeline...

David Foster Wallace - Brief Interviews With Hideous Men

Bit of a guilty pleasure this one. Sick but somehow gripping.


----------



## nae411

Conversations with God Book 2

By: Neale D. Walsch


----------



## Ilan Bouchard

Oh, I think the pile of books next to my bed grows bigger; I add two for every one I finish.  Here's what I got:

Stephen Greenblatt's "Will in the World."

Robert H. Hopcke's "There are No Accidents: Synchronicity and the Stories of Our Lives."

"The Buddha and His Teachings."

Simon Blackburn's "Think."

Suzette Haden Elgin's "More on the Gentle Art of Verbal Self Defense."

A french coursebook.

Tobin Blake's "The Power of Stillness."

Wheelock's Latin.


So yeah, no novels.  I love them, but my thirst for knowledge keeps me in Psychology, Language, Biographies, Philosophy, and Spiritual books.  Occasional poetry as well.


----------



## crzywriter

k3ng!!!

so i'm not the only one out there who's reading it!

actually, i managed to finish it a while ago, but close enough. hang in there!

went to the bookstore today...bought two more books...i'm such an impulse shopper


----------



## SacredFlame

*~*

*Currently, I'm reading "The Oddyssey" (sp?) as a school project that I have to, but on a side note I'm reading this one... book.. that remains... titleless...   DANG IT >&lt; I know when I get home I can look at it and get the title, but until then- live long and prosper you titleless piece of literature!  :evil: *


----------



## tsuraseyu

I'm reading Iliad again and I'm also reading Great Expectations (for school). I'm also reading sunrise.


----------



## Pawn

Hmm.

I seem to be in a constant state of reading Being and Nothingness, _the_ existentialist book. Three pages at a time...

As I slowly become more arty, I've started picking up books on famous directors and popular artistic movements. Pop Art and Minimalism are my fascinations just now.

Over on the escapism side I just finished (as you may have noted from the topic I posted) George R. R. Martin's most recent release. Thoroughly recommended.

Also on the biographical and musical fronts I'm nose-deep in an exploration of obscure English singer/songwriter Nick Drake.


----------



## SacredFlame

tsuraseyu said:
			
		

> I'm reading Iliad again and I'm also reading Great Expectations (for school). I'm also reading sunrise.


*I read the Iliad, I didn't like it at all. I had to read it, though, so maybe that's why. It was boring-it was long- and it was pointless at times. There were too many characters for my liking, and if it wasn't for my teachers "Reference Sheet" I would have been lost in a haze. T_T*


----------



## evil octavia

aaaahhhh....  (that is an anguished wail)

well, I am reading: 

Much Ado About Nothing by William Shakespeare
Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger
The Basic Eight by Daniel Handler
and
A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (for school)


----------



## LoneWolf

Right now I'm enjoying The Complete Works and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe. It's great!


----------



## European_Son

The Situationist Internationale archives at www.bopsecrets.org sporadically.

And my current book is Why I Write by George Orwell.


----------



## PhasesPantazis

Im currently reading Tommy Lee's new autobiography, _Tommyland_. It actually isn't as good as I thought it would be. It is, because I'm a huge Motley Crue fan and Tommy Lee fan, but many people probably wouldn't like it.


----------



## lisajane

I started on Bella Bathurst's _Special_ this morning. 12 pages into it and my interest on it is on edge...

Borrowed from a library today:

_Idoru_ - William Gibson

_A Change In The Lighting_ - Amy Witting

_Marriages_ - Amy Witting


----------



## evadri

Wurthering Heights...for school, but I like it.


----------



## galrium

I'm currently reading:

IN SCHOOL:
The Westing Game (weird, huh? o.o I read this book in the 5th or 6th grade. Pretty good, too.)

AT HOME:
-published: The Wolf and the Dove (cheesy romance novel, but too bad for me; I'm the one wasting my time after all)
-online: The Mirror of Maybe (I hope the writer updates soon before I write the end of the story myself. *whines very childishly* It's getting really annoying. T---T)


----------



## Scratches

Love And Hydrogen By Jim Sheppard (er, spelt wrong..)


----------



## Thekherham

I've almost finished The Dragon and the Fair Maid of Kent, by Gordon R. Dickson.

Library:  Anglo-Saxon Attitudes, by Angus Wilson

Also:  Just started a mystery by Tony Hillerman.

I think that's it.


----------



## lisajane

Gave up on _Special_. Though the blurb was quite good, I just couldn't stay with the book.

Now onto _Idoru_ (as in my previous post). I'm hating to have to put it down, which can only be a good thing. Seeming to be one of the very few science fiction books I like.


----------



## Hasscraft

The Broker


----------



## teflon

Emily Dickinson


----------



## ~*little_minx*~

Frankenstine... i always thought that frankenstine was the monster thingo... i was wrong...


----------



## Pawn

Neil Gaiman - American Gods


----------



## xmalloryx

I'm reading Bucking the Sarge by the author of Bud Not Buddy whose name escapes me at the moment lol

But I just recently read Sleeping Dogs by Sonya Hartnett
It was one of the most well written books I have ever read!


----------



## Scratches

_Infinite Jest_ by David Foster Wallace. It is entertaining just to glance at across the room. It's such a brick at 1070-something pages.


----------



## LoneWolf

Was reading Running with Scissors: a Memoir by Augusten Borroughs (may have spelled that wrong). It was so funny but sad and nasty at the same time...great though...I recommend it to everyone.

Now I'm reading The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard. It's so sad; it's about Sept. 11 and this girl whose mom dies in the towers and how she deals with it all. I'm not even halfway through it but it's great.


----------



## desired_destiny

I was reading Eragon by Christopher Paolini but I quit reading it.  I hate to quit reading books, but I just didn't like it.

So now I'm reading Artemis Fowl The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer.


----------



## TheUberManlyMan

LoneWolf: I agree with your description of Running with Scissors. "Funny but sad and nasty." I liked it, though.

I just finished reading Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (leisure) and The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera (school). So I started reading Life of Pi by Yann Martel (leisure) and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (school). Whew, that's a lot.


----------



## Saffron

I'm reading _A Tough Guide to Fantasy Land_ by Diana Wynne Jones. Very amusing!


----------



## Londongrey

Oh my god Diana Wynne Jones is one of my favourites!!!!

I wanted to be Ayna, Ceri and Gair all at once.  I have always loved her books, even as a child.


----------



## Creative_Insanity

A Separate Peace
The Crucible
Memoirs of a Geisha


----------



## LoneWolf

Just finished Lord of the Flies (crazy!!! Poor Piggy...)

Just started Mysterious Skin

Finished Streetcar Named Desire for school


----------



## Dunyasha

Actually I'm in the middle of reading "The Hidden World". Its a fantasy. So far its great!!


----------



## stereomuse

Im reading _The Dark Tower_ series right now, I'm on Wolves of the Calla. I love it so far.


----------



## daniela

_Dreamer of Dune:  The Biography of Frank Herbert_ by Brian Herbert

The writing isn't that good but the book contains tons of interesting facts.  I do wish the organization of them were a little better though.

--DM--


----------



## nae411

Lady Chatterley's Lover By: D.H. Lawrence


----------



## Pawn

Haha Nae. You, reading that book, it fits perfectly. Was he as interesting as his books, daniela?

Currently reading _Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?_ Tis a classic short novel by Philip K. Dick, and the loose basis for Ridley Scott's masterful film _Blade Runner_. Also perusing an exploration of the Danish _Dogme_ film movement and waiting to get on to a load of contemporary fiction which I just don't have the time for...


----------



## daniela

Yes he was.  It's too bad his son isn't a better writer.  If he were, I would recommend reading the biography. 

--DM--


----------



## LoneWolf

I just finished The Nanny Diaries (sooo sad at the end!!)

I'm now reading Dry by Augusten Burroughs; it's the sequel to his first book Running with Scissors. It's pretty good...this one's about his battle with alcoholism, but it's still pretty funnny.

LW


----------



## desired_destiny

I just finished reading The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  It's a wonderful book for teenage girls.  The imagery is excellent.


----------



## blademasterzzz

Lemme see, I'm reading... 

"The Chronicles of Lucria.  Amazing book.  it deservs to be bought by everyone.


----------



## Akumu

Just started reading Stephen King's Gunslinger (Dark Tower I).
Almost finished with Isaac Asimov's Foundation.

So, as you can see, I'm starting to read two very famous serial novels... Wonder if I'll actually make it through...


----------



## teflon

"The Unforgettable Few" John Culhane


----------



## EArabhorse

I'm reading The Picture of Dorian Gray by Wilde, it's alright so far, though the first page kindof surpised me with a sentence as long as most paragraphs.  By the time I got to the end of it, I forgot what the beginning was about!  :shock: 

When I don't have english to read books for...I delve into anything by Iris Johansen, Tami Hoag, Dick Francis, and basically whatever else I can get my hands on, lol.  

Oh, I'm also re-reading the Harry Potter series, just because it makes me relax reading something less, um, strong in vocab and sentence length than english books.


----------



## nae411

Tomorrow's God - Neale Donald Walsch


----------



## LostWords

Sadly I am reading nothing at the moment, my reading time is taken by the time I use to write my novel. But I do see movies that are based off books so that counts...no?

Saw Troy instead of reading the Illad


----------



## gohn67

Reading Survivor, by Chuck Palahnuik

and Education of a poker player by Hubert Yeardly.


----------



## The Thing

I am currently reading The Manitou by Graham Masterton. It's a fantastic debut novel by one of my favorite authors.


----------



## Welshscouser

Right now Im just over halfway through The Once and Future King.  Definitly the quickest long book Ive ever read.  Its fantastic, especially considering anything medeival usually sends me into a coma.  But when Im just not in the mood I have a book of Edgar Allen poetry I'll scan over.  The Raven kicks ass on so many levels.


----------



## LazyGuitarist

Class: Romeo & Juliet, though I've read it many times


----------



## Hodge

The Divine Comedy

The Return of the King


----------



## LoneWolf

Currently reading The Rachel Papers, which is a bit weird because an English man wrote it and it has all this English slang in it, but I like it a lot.

Next on my list, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.


----------



## theCloudsTears

Just finished _The Other Boleyn Girl_ i suggest it for any girl interested in England's King Henry VIII very good story
and now im reading _Wideacre_
both are written by Philippa Gregory =O)


----------



## Hand

_Moby-Dick, or The Whale_


----------



## Scratches

_Infinite Jest_. Still.  

:cry: I'm never gonna finish this damn book.


----------



## C. William Russette

I am almost done reading The Empty Chair by Jeffery Deaver.

This is the third book I've read by JD. The crap movie Bone Collector was based off of one of his books. For criminology nuts like me these are magnificent novels.

The Devil's Teardrop by Deaver has to be the second best novel I've ever read.

Shogun by James Clavell being number one.

I know no one asked.

adios,

CWR


----------



## Heid

Part way through Necessary Evil by Shaun Hutson. Seemed like an interesting read at only £3 but is more of a thriller than a horror (which was what I was after) but it's a pretty interesting story


----------



## Saponification

_Filth_ - Irvine Welsh.


----------



## strangedaze

The Castle by Franz

Naked Lunch by William Burroughs

The Shipping News by Annie Proulx

Unreasonable Hours by Julio Cortazar

The Kafka Effekt by D. Harlan Wilson



Yeah, I tend to meander a bit


----------



## Pendulum

Shadow Puppets- Orson Scott Card


----------



## daniela

Today:  _The Wind in the Willows_ by Kenneth Grahame

Tomorrow:  _Slocum and the West Texas Plunder_ by Jake Logan

Sunday:  _The Real Science Behind The X-Files_ by Anne Simon, Ph.D.

Monday:  _Have You Heard the Cricket Song_  Words by Winston O. Abbott and Drawings by Bette Eaton Bossen


Three of these books are for research purposes and one I am going to read just for fun.  Can you guess which one is for fun?

--DM--


----------



## Kane

Brian Lumley

THE WHISPERER And Other Voices.


----------



## gohn67

CHoke by palahunuik


----------



## Saponification

gohn67 said:
			
		

> CHoke by palahunuik



And that's one of the best books ever. 

See also, _Fight Club_

See also, _Invisible Monsters_


----------



## gohn67

> And that's one of the best books ever.
> 
> See also, Fight Club
> 
> See also, Invisible Monsters



Nice use of that line that Palahnuik used in a lot in Choke.
I am definitly going to read Inivisible mOnsters.  But probably not fight club, since I saw the movie, I just can't read a book after I saw the movie.

Kind of like Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, I saw the movie first then tried to read the book.  Just couldnt do it.


----------



## Saponification

The book is totally different the movie. It's unique in terms of writing style. It's also much nastier to the film and there's a few plot differences. It is the best book ever, I shit you not. Read it.


----------



## gohn67

> The book is totally different the movie. It's unique in terms of writing style. It's also much nastier to the film and there's a few plot differences. It is the best book ever, I shit you not. Read it.



Ok, you sold me on reading it.

my favorite quote so far in Choke is "_What would Jesus not dot_"  Great line.

Most genious/funny chapter in Choke was the one when Vincent and this chick plan a rape.  Laughed so hard in that part.


----------



## Saponification

gohn67 said:
			
		

> The book is totally different the movie. It's unique in terms of writing style. It's also much nastier to the film and there's a few plot differences. It is the best book ever, I shit you not. Read it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, you sold me on reading it.
> 
> my favorite quote so far in Choke is "_What would Jesus not dot_"  Great line.
> 
> Most genious/funny chapter in Choke was the one when Vincent and this chick plan a rape.  Laughed so hard in that part.
Click to expand...


Hitting someone with a knife is called stabbing.


----------



## Nimbus

Dictionary of Superstitions by David Pickering
It's very interesting, but there are too many superstions about death surrounding babies. My favorite though is the evil eye. Hurting someone by glaring at them is just cool sounding.


----------



## lisajane

_Wasteland_, _I Was A Teenage Fairy_ and _Echo_, all by Francesca Lia Block (one of my favourite authors)

_Crosshatched_, _Figs_ and _Honey_ by Kate Llewellyn (have to read these for class)

_Poems by Lily Brett_

_Doing It_ by Melvin Burgess


----------



## teflon

Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes, by J. D. Salinger


----------



## Dunyasha

I've just finished V.C. Andrew's "Celeste", and it was very interesting. I've read exactly 3 of her books now. Plan to take out two of her books next time I visit the library.


----------



## Lady Blueberry

_Snow_ by Orhan Pamuk

Best book I've read in a while... If you haven't read any of his books, read _My Name is Red_ first.


----------



## lisajane

A friend sent me these books through the mail (she was cleaning out her bookshelf and sent me some that she didn't want). They're all pretty old and I've never heard of any of them... though one has Linda Blair on the cover and that's cool.

_The Slave_ - Isaac Bashevis Singer (published 1962)
_The Mandarins_ - Simone De Beauvoir (published 1960)
_China Men_ - Maxine Hong Kingston (published 1981)
_Born Innocent_ - Bernhardt J Hurwood & Gerald Dipego (published 1974) - this has Linda Blair
_Girls Night Out_ - Kathy Lette (published 1987)
_The L-Shaped Room_ - Lynne Reid Banks (published 1960)
_Summer Lightning_ - Judith Richards (published 1978)


----------



## Saponification

_Jennifer Government_ by fellow Melbournite Max Barry.


----------



## lisajane

I've heard of _Jennifer Government_ somewhere...


----------



## PaPa

_Fantasia Mathematica_, edited by Clifton Fadiman.

"Being a Set of Stories, Together With a Group of Oddments and Diversions, All Drawn from the Universe of Mathematics"


----------



## jayme

The Da Vinci Code- Dan Brown


----------



## Nimbus

Finished "The Odessey" in class and soon will be starting both "Great Expectations" and "The Sparrow".


----------



## Saponification

lisajane said:
			
		

> I've heard of _Jennifer Government_ somewhere...



Ever played the online game NationStates? It was created by Max Barry to promote _Jennifer Government_, only it became really popular and as Barry himself puts it, ended up taking over his life.


----------



## lisajane

No, I don't play online games. I've probably heard of the book itself.


----------



## Saponification

lisajane said:
			
		

> No, I don't play online games. I've probably heard of the book itself.



Perhaps. He's also done _Syrup_, you might have heard of _Jennifer Government_ through that somehow. However you heard of it, it's a great book. There's plenty of locations Melbourne residents will appreciate - from Chapel Street to Chadstone shopping centre. There's a scene fairly early on in the book set in Chadstone that's perhaps one of the coolest scenes ever to appear in a novel.


----------



## lisajane

I just remember seeing the title and the cover, I think. I don't know where and I don't know why.


----------



## Manx

I'm reading 'Titus Groan' from 'The Gormenghast Trilogy' by Mervyn Peake at the moment. A classic book.


----------



## semtecks

just finished, On Writing-stephen King, Fight club--Cuck Palanhuick and It-Stephen King.

Oh and a 'how to' book of grammar which is boooorrrriiinnnngg


----------



## Wyndstar

*Reading*

I just finished reading Socrates/Plato Charmides...


----------



## Marsieux

Finished the Wheel of Time in a couple of months (wiped me out).  I think I'll take a break from reading for a while, stick to writing.  

No offense ladies, but when Robert Jordan tells his story from female point of view, it's soooooooo boring. :?


----------



## bobothegoat

Just finished _the Catcher in the Rye_.


----------



## Saponification

_Blackbox_ by Nick Walker.

_Advice on Dying and Living a Better Life_ by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.


----------



## Succubus

About ten minutes ago I finished reading "Lucifer" - Michael Cordy.  While aspects of it were good, I was disappointed. I'd just stumbled across his first book the other day in a second-hand bookshop and had enjoyed that, only to be semi-bored with this one. Oh well. You don't know if you don't read.


----------



## gohn67

Trainspotting, Irvine Wlesh


----------



## desired_destiny

Now I am reading Firebringer by David Clement-Davies.


----------



## Saponification

_Marabou Stork Nightmares_ - Irvine Welsh.


----------



## horrorcrafter

"The Writing Workshop" by Fletcher and Portalupi


----------



## crystalized-breath

lolita - vladimir nabokov
in fact, i've just finished it [yesterday] but i'm debating whether to read it again, or just savour it until i decide i would like to read it again...but i'm also reading stargirl [again] by jerry spinelli...OH - has anyone read the book of illusions - paul auster [it was recommended to me by my media teacher] and if so - what do you think of it?


----------



## stereomuse

i read stargirl for school when i was younger, i blubbered like a little baby at the end, i dont know why. Ive never really cried over another book, even though I've read ones that are much more sad. Probably because I was like eight, and it was the first sad book i ever read....


Anyway, I just finished the _His Dark Materials_ trilogy by Phillip Pullman, just like a few minutes ago. So Im kinda sad and dont feel like reading something else for a while. But I plan on Reading _Survivor_ by Chuck Palahniuk next.


----------



## Sub

I found and picked up The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.   All five volumes put into one convenient volume.  I'm into The Resturaunt at the End of the Universe.  Reminds me of Gaiman and Pratchett's Good Omens.

Now before you start saying I got it because of the movie, I didn't.  It had been in my to read list for an eternity.  I told myself I would read it after Bradbury's totally disturbing Farenheit 451.


----------



## XandrilZaax

those books are great!

I'm reading I, Jedi by Michael Stackpole...its awesome.


----------



## daniela

I went to the library today.  I didn't get as many books as usual but I think I made some good choices.

My reading list for the next week or so…

_33 Moments of Happiness:  St. Petersburg Stories_ by Ingo Schulze, translated by John E. Woods

_Sin and Syntax: How to Craft Wickedly Effective Prose_ by Constance Hale

_Master Class:  Scenes From a Fiction Workshop_ by Paul West

_Writing Down the Bones:  Freeing the Writer Within_ by Natalie Goldberg

--DM--


----------



## Manx

I've just started reading 'Tough Tough Toys For Tough Tough Boys' by Will Self. Like all his extremely satirical books, I'm expecting to enjoy this short story collection.


----------



## gohn67

Shampoo Planet- Douglas Coupland


----------



## SoLi

Structuralism and Semiotics - Terrence Hawkes

The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway


----------



## gohn67

Nine Stories, Salinger


----------



## RncdJoe

_Catch 22_ by Joseph Heller. YOSSARIAN LIVES!


----------



## bittersweet_breeze

Just finishing The Godfather by Mario Puzo.  I think next up is either On The Road, or one of the Louis De Bernieres trilogy.


----------



## gohn67

RncdJoe said:
			
		

> _Catch 22_ by Joseph Heller. YOSSARIAN LIVES!


Heh, that's the next book on my list.


----------



## Saponification

_The New Buddhism_ by James William Coleman.


----------



## Steve-In-Tokyo

Right now reading:

Just finished "Silk" - great book by an itallian author, nice and short, and beatiful highly reommended, about a french silk worm egg merchant going to Japan in the 1860's written by an italian, very beatiful. 

Now moving on to most favorite author in the world - the one I call the master of the WORD - William Gibson and his book Pattern Recognition - I know I may be a "fanboy" but his stuff is great, I can read about 300 or 3000 times and still moves me.


----------



## Gauda

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card


----------



## strangedaze

Just Read:

Dubliners by James Joyce

Reading:

The Castle by Franz Kafka
Crash by J G Ballard
Ulysses by James Joyce
Solomon Gursky was Here by Mordecai Richler

Next on the Chopping Block:

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood


----------



## gohn67

Catch22


----------



## stereomuse

_Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance_ ~Robert M. Pirsing

very inspirational so far, its almost like theres some whisp of insipration and philosophy in evry line.


----------



## Banana_Brother

"The Taking" by Dean Koontz.

Great book so far.


----------



## Saponification

_Syrup_ - Maxx Barry.

_The Dhammapada_ - Shakyamuni Buddha


----------



## kinetickyle

"I'm a Stranger Here Myself" by Bill Bryson

I'll finish it pretty quick and then I'm going to read "The Lost Fleet" by Barry Clifford.


----------



## aboyd

Chrispian said:
			
		

> What is everyone else reading right now?


I'm about halfway through the HitchHiker's Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (I'm on book 3).  Frankly, it's getting worse as it goes on.  I have the first book on audio CD, read by the author.  Man, that is funny beyond funny.

Also reading a few poetry magazines: Faultline, Fence, Zyzzyva, and tons of Missouri Review (it's not that M.R. is so great, it's just that they gave me an awesome deal on a subscription, and I've got about 10 issues piled up now).

-Tony


----------



## Nickie

About finished with "Hiding from the Light" by Barbara Erskine.


Nickie


----------



## lisajane

_Culua - My Other Life In Mexico_ - Samantha Wood


----------



## Trilock

Reading The Active Side of Infinity by Carlos Castaneda and Life of Pi by Yann Martel.


----------



## Scarlett

Re-reading _Northern Lights _by Phillip Pullman. 

Also reading: _The Shadow of the North_, Phillip Pullman, _A Tale of Two Cities,_ Charles Dickens, _Coastliners_, Joanne Harris and _Great Expectations_, Charles Dickens.


----------



## demon_

I am currently reading "Brian's Winter" By Gary Pualsen

wanting to read:
Any popular fantasy books besides Robert Jordan's books.


----------



## Sub

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.  Best assigned reading I've ever had.  Even better that James and the Giant Peach.


----------



## Wookie

Reading _Decipher_ by Stel Pavlou.

Plot's a B+ so far, author did some thorough research. 
I am expecting a weak ending, will find out soon.


----------



## Saponification

I flip through _The Dhammapada_ on a daily basis and reflect on various passages. But at the moment I'm reading Hunter S. Thompson's _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_.


----------



## applesweet

I am reading too much..
Lolita- Vladimir Nabokov
Tyrants Destroyed- Vladimir Nabokov
Ariel- Sylvia Plath
A Haunted House- Virginia Woolf
The Valley of the Dolls- Jacqueline Susann
Unholy Alliance- Peter Levenda
Everything is Illuminated- Jonathan Safra Foer


----------



## Akumu

_My Name Is Red_ by Orhan Pamuk


----------



## daniela

_Cloud of Sparrows_ by Takashi Matsuoka

--DM--


----------



## Saponification

_Swag_ by Elmore Leonard. And _The Dhammapada_.


----------



## Nickie

Currently I'm reading John Connolly's "The Black Angel".


Nickie


----------



## Oren

I just finished The Ice Queen by Alice Hoffman

Next I'm going to read Witness to Hope (bio of JPII)
and Light in August by Faulkner


----------



## tangential

i'm currently reading infinite jest by david foster wallace


----------



## gohn67

Reading Haunted, Palahnuik.


----------



## Manx

Just started 'Milk, Sulphate And Alby Starvation' by Martin Millar. Got to love his titles.


----------



## XandrilZaax

I am currently reading Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.


----------



## Ben

Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn


----------



## stereomuse

The Talisman ~Stephen King


----------



## gohn67

Fight Club- Palahniuk


----------



## LoneWolf

Nemesis by Agatha Christie--The best mystery writer ever!


----------



## BadLuckNovelist

Right now I'm reading When Darkness Falls by Shannon Drake.


----------



## strangedaze

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie


----------



## annika

Iris Murdoch - The Philosophers Pupil

Have been reading a bit of Murdoch lately.  I particularly enjoyed a lovely short novel of hers called "The Time of the Angels".  She certainly gives you a lot to think about.  

Let me know if you can recommend a favourite...


----------



## strangedaze

Salman goes on hold again, Hey, Nostradamus! and The Tao of Pooh (all this existential angst is a sore that only children's characters can soothe). DC's book will be done in a day or so, and Pooh will probably take me the day after, though I might savor its age old wisdom.

'Eyor frets, piglet hesitates, rabbit calculates, owl ponitificates, but pooh, pooh just is'.

Brilliant.


----------



## strangedaze

tangential,

wanted to ask you - how are you liking wallace? I heard that book's a tough read, that his stuff borders on brilliant but can't quite make it. Thoughts?


----------



## nostalgicdemise

I just finished Weis & Hickman's 'Dragons of a Fallen Sun'.  Well, time for the next.

'Dragons of a Lost Star'


----------



## Dramamine

Angels and Demons - Dan Brown


mmmmmm......fiction fit for mass consumption


----------



## BadLuckNovelist

Finished When Darkness Falls and I am now reading the book from before that one, Beneath A Blood Red Moon.  Man, her books rock! ^.^;


----------



## lisajane

House Of Sand And Fog - Andre Dubus III


----------



## Saponification

_After the Ecstasy, the Laundry: How the Heart Grows Wise on the Spiritual Path_ - Jack Kornfield.


----------



## Dramamine

The Onion Ad Nauseum, "Fanfare for the Area Man"
Especially the horoscopes!

Aries: "You will soon be forced to admit that your entire emotional range can be conveyed with a set of cleverly arranged punctuation marks."

;P


----------



## Manx

Reading 'My Idea Of Fun' by Will Self.


----------



## strangedaze

_Generation X_ by Douglas Coupland.


----------



## LensmanZ313

_Secret Atlas_ -- Michael A. Stackpole
_The Tale of the Thunderbolt_ -- E.E. Knight
_The Art of War_ -- Sun Tzu
_The Engines of Creation_ -- K. Eric Drexler
_Fingerprints of the Gods_ -- Graham Hancock


----------



## gohn67

The Bridge by Chris Miller


----------



## strangedaze

That guy's unstoppable  Let us know how it turns out!


----------



## XandrilZaax

_The Lord of the Rings_ by J.R.R. Tolkien. Need I say more?


----------



## puglover

Amazing Facts about Australian Mammals (volume 2) by Pat Slater


----------



## Thekherham

A biography of Boris Karloff


----------



## puglover

Boris Karloff? who is he? (sorry if this is a really dumb insulting question and this is a famous guy i should know.. lol)


----------



## Chris Miller

*thanks*

Thanks gohn67 for reading The Bridge, and for your generous feedback.

Hey strangedaze, thanks for pointing me here.  I read Gen X a long time ago.  I really like D. Coupland.  I was calling myself a "lesbian trapped in a man's body" long before I read Gen X.  He stole the concept from me somehow.

I think Microserfs is my favorite novel of his.  I love when they go to the porn convention in Las Vegas and meet Fabio.  Fabio talks about how he loves each woman he meets almost as much as his stereo.  He describes Fabio's pecs as "big beef throw cushions."  Coupland is a genius.

The last great novel I read was "In the Cut" by S. Moore: Erotic, literary, hilarious, fascinating.


----------



## desired_destiny

I am reading The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd.  It is one of my favorite books, but I suppose I shouldn't say that seeing as though I'm not very far into it.


----------



## strangedaze

Ugh, 

Still in the process of reading:

Gen X by DC
The Castle by Kafka
Final Exam by Julio Cortazar
Naked Lunch by WB

But I'm most likely going to finish a biography of Margaret Laurence before any of those, and after that, I'm borrowing 'Kilter: 55 Fictions' by John Gould on Thursday. I'll have it until Sunday, so that's next.


----------



## waylander

puglover said:
			
		

> Boris Karloff? who is he? (sorry if this is a really dumb insulting question and this is a famous guy i should know.. lol)



He had just an unknown role , playing the Monster in Frankenstein... :wink:


----------



## aliceedelweiss

hitchhicker: a biography of douglas adams
the bell jar(I forget who its by and don't have it on hand)
and The metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
alice


----------



## strangedaze

Alice,

I thought the Bell Jar was okay. Franz is my boy, of course, so I know you'll love The Meamorphosis.

Andrew


----------



## falco

mmm Metamorphosis = great story

currently reading: _Julian_ by Gore Vidal - it's the "memoirs" of the emperor Julian, the last Hellenistic (as opposed to Christian) Roman emperor, and I am enjoying it very much


----------



## LoneWolf

Metamorphosis= good but sad *tear*

I'm reading Mr. Murder by Dean Koontz


----------



## gohn67

Metamorphosis= never read before beucase it's still checked out at my library.  Decided to check out some Kafka since he's been mentioned so much lately.

Anyways I'm starting to read Amerika by Kafka, since that was all I could find.  

Is it anygood?


----------



## strangedaze

G - Amerika is probably my least favorite of his works. Very fragmented, uncharacteristically optimistic, usually only appeals to true Kafka fans. Lemme know what you think.


----------



## Kikster

gohn67 said:
			
		

> Anyways I'm starting to read Amerika by Kafka, since that was all I could find.
> 
> Is it anygood?



very good!!! I loved it... it's a sad story, but I thought was awsome. and very well written, of course.... you'll like it!


----------



## Kikster

I'm reading:

all marketers are liars by seth godin

the wedding season by darcy cosper

...and I'm on my way to borders to buy some new books because I'm running out of new ones and I'm starting to panic!  :wink:


----------



## Mada

Predator: Cold War
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell

I don't remember authors, Splinter Cell isnt written by Tom Clancy.


----------



## Achilles

Life of Pi, Yann Martel.

I heard good stuff about it here, and then I found out that my brother has a copy. Fantastic book.


----------



## EmuJenkins

I'm reading Dust Over the City by...Andre Langlin, I think. Some Quebecker. Anybody else read much CanLit? If so, send me a message.


----------



## discipleofWORD

I'm reading The Chocolate War by Cormier(not sure if I got the last name right).

Kinda funny when I brought this book, it was for a tutoring place (and I didn't pay attention and bother to read this book) and now... I find this book very strong and powerful.

If you can't get enough of that book, if you happened to read it, there's actually a sequel called Beyond the Chocolate War.


----------



## BookLover

I just finished reading 'Restaurant at the end of the universe.'

Planning to take up 'The Eyre affair' next.

And yeah, in between I read GEB.


----------



## strangedaze

Kilter: 55 Fictions by John Gould
Cocksure by Mordecai Richler


----------



## holdyoualways

you dont know me by david klass


----------



## gohn67

Metamorphasis and other short stories, by Franz Kafka.

I wish I could read German, so I could read his stuff in the original language.


----------



## Achilles

Gathering Blue, by Lois Lowry


----------



## LensmanZ313

_The Reckoning_ -- Charles Nicholl. It's about the murder of Christopher Marlowe and his work as a spy. Marlowe was part of spy network, as well other writers and actors of the period. It's an incredible story of Marlowe's involvement with rival spy networks . . . which led to his murder or, I would say, assassination . . . .


----------



## Keridwen

White Fang - Jack London.

Not as kiddy as I thought it would be!


----------



## gohn67

Invisible monsters, Palahnuik


----------



## lisajane

Just finished _House Of Sand And Fog_. Incredible book, the ending was a bit of a shock ending to me, but I loved the entire book.


----------



## Heid

Currently partway through "The Fog" by James Herbert. I'm fast becoming a fan of his


----------



## holdyoualways

misery by stephen king


----------



## lisajane

Finished 'Flesh Tones' by M.J. Rose. Court room novel crossed over with an erotic novel crossed over with art. Loved it. 

_In a New York courtroom, a woman stands accused of a controversial crime. Genny Haviland is said to have murdered legendary painter Slade Gabriel. For two decades the tempestuous Gabriel had challenged audiences with his wild work. And in the end, the prosecution claims, he alienated the woman he first seduced, then enslaved - enough to cause his own death at her hands.

Yet in Genny's  mind there rests another story, one that started 20 years before... one in which a college girl on summer break met an older, attractive artist - and began a forbidden affair she would never forget, a shadowy, sensual union in which she was more helpless and more powerful than she would ever imagine.

Genny maintains she was only easing her old lover to a painless death, allowing him to escape the awful illness that was slowly eroding his sanity and self. But is this the whole truth? Or was Gabriel indeed killed - but for far more sordid reasons, a motive driven by scandal and the threat of financial ruin? How much would Genny do for the man she professed to love? _

Now started on in the first Bridget Jones novel.


----------



## stereomuse

_A Game of Thrones_ ~ George rr Martin


----------



## hiddenwisdom

Soul of the Fire by Terry Goodkind


----------



## Coldwriter

Antrax by Terry Brooks


----------



## stereomuse

_A Clash of Kings_ ~ George RR Martin


----------



## Kane

lisajane said:
			
		

> Just finished _House Of Sand And Fog_. Incredible book, the ending was a bit of a shock ending to me, but I loved the entire book.



I saw the movie of this.  Pretty gut wrenching at the end.  


Now that I've finally plodded through "The Eyes of God" and "The Devil's Armor", I'm able to go back to something I enjoy.  I'm currently reading "The Bloody Crown of Conan".  It's a collection of Conan stories, Robert E. Howard style.  He's one of my favorites.


----------



## gohn67

Fast Food Nation

Eric Scholsser


----------



## Kikster

a long way down

nick hornby


----------



## gohn67

Put Fast Food Nation on hiatus, and am now reading Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.  

It written in the perspective of an Autistic kid.  So far ten pages in, I'm liking it.


----------



## EmuJenkins

Breathing Fire 2- Canada's New Poets


----------



## Hasscraft

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince


----------



## lisajane

Ditto.


----------



## gohn67

The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephan Chbosky


----------



## ssj2raider

Read HP&HBP (awesome book)
Restarting the Wheel of Time series with the Eye of the World.


----------



## donjose444

The Eyes of Darkness-Koontz
The Fountainhead-Ayn Rand
The Regulators-King


----------



## gohn67

Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs


----------



## teflon

The Dancing Wu Li Masters, by Gary Zukav.


----------



## EmuJenkins

Harry Potter Six (shh...)


----------



## Julian_Gallo

"Blood and Sand" by Vicente Blasco Ibanez


----------



## gohn67

Cats Cradle Kurt Vonnegut


----------



## Achilles

A Jack London anthology

A "Philosophy For Dummies" facsimile

The Prince and the Pauper, Mark Twain

A Robert Burns anthology


----------



## Ilyak1986

Books in the Elements of Fiction Writing series.


----------



## Julian_Gallo

"A Change Of Skin" by Carlos Fuentes


----------



## gohn67

The House of Sand and Fog


----------



## Hodge

_Long After Midnight_ by Ray Bradbury

_Desperation_ by Stephen King


----------



## Dirkin

Villains by Necessity by Eve Forward.

VERY good book, I've read it twice already.


----------



## holdyoualways

well im supposed to be reading thinney by stephen king but havent had the time to read it that much anymore. plus the fact that i just got done reading misery and thinner was a bit of a disappointment in that it wasnt as good as i thought it would be so im basically procrastinating.


----------



## Isis

I'm trying to read Pride and Prejudice. I need to read it for school, and it's just starting to get interesting. I hope it stays interesting, because I've got another two hundred pages to go.


----------



## semtecks

Just finished Bag of Bones and The Old Man and the Sea. And trying to find time to read Heart Of Darkness.


----------



## lisajane

Brother and Sister - Joanna Trollope. 

It's okay, I suppose. I really like the main characters. Cept one minute the characters have only found out their real parents' names and the next minute, they're chatting to them on the phone. And it's bogged down in description.


----------



## Sangreal

NASCAR: A Fast History~I can't remember the author right now, lol



It's good, I have learned a lot about the history of NASCAR. Good read if you like racing, mainly NASCAR for this book.


----------



## The Evincar

Eugenie Grandet- Honore De Balzac


I'm enjoying it so far, although as French literature goes, I prefer Zola over everyone (except maybe Sartre)...


----------



## Sephiroth

currently reading A Shadow on the Glass by Ian Irvine, which is part of the View From the Mirror Quartet.
For some reason i read the second quartet in this series first "The Well of Echoes", and the View From the Mirror, so far doesnt seem to be as good


----------



## Julian_Gallo

"Upside Down: A Primer For The Looking Glass World" 
                                                          by Eduardo Galeano


----------



## lisajane

Bitter With Baggage Seeks Same: The Life and Times of Some Chickens.

Scarily, I'm serious.


----------



## Stewart

I am currently reading _The Line of Beauty_ by Alan Hollinghurst. It won the MAN Booker Prize 2004 and the writing is gorgeous.


----------



## gohn67

Homebody/Kabul by Tony Kushner
Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
Crime and Punishment by Fydor Dostoyevesky


----------



## Stewart

Now reading _Lamb_, by Bernard Mac Laverty.


----------



## Trilock

For now, The Snow Garden by Christopher Rice.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Currently reading "The Dream of Scipio" by Iain Pears. It's about three different men in three different time periods trying to deal with the problems their countries are facing. It's a little confusing at times, but it's a pretty good book so far. It's got a lot of stuff about philosophy. After it I'll read "The Millionaires" by Brad Meltzer, "Mind Catcher" by John Darnton, "The Lays of Beleriand" J.R.R. Tolkien, "Unfinished Tales" Tolkien, "The Silmarillion" Tolkien, "The Forest House" Marion Zimmer Bradley, and "Mists of Avalon" Bradley. Don't have anything planned after that yet, probably the next one in Bradley's series if I can buy it.


----------



## Julian_Gallo

"Flamenco: Passion, Politics & Popular Culture" by William Washabaugh - A fascinating look into one of the most deep, emotional and passionate forms of music to come out of Europe...and one of the most misunderstood.  :wink:


----------



## Stewart

Just finished _The Alchemist_, by Paulo Coelho. Will probably start Andrea Levy's _Small Island_ next.


----------



## strangedaze

School: Kim by Rudyard Kipling
Pleasure: Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami


----------



## teflon

Most Secret War, by R. V. Jones


----------



## Stewart

Read _Ignorance_ by Milan Kundera yesterday.

Have now started _Saturday_, by Ian McEwan.


----------



## Julian_Gallo

"Persona Non Grata" by Jorge Edwards


----------



## faeriewings

"A Great and Terrible Beauty," by Libba Grey.


----------



## Stewart

_Slaughterhouse 5_, Kurt Vonnegut


----------



## BookLover

The Blind Assassin, Margaret Atwood.


----------



## teflon

Everybody's Knife Bible, by Don Paul


----------



## Transponderous

Net Force: Night Moves  
by Tom Clancy

Uugh, should have known better than to pick up a book with a colon in the title.


----------



## Julian_Gallo

"Poems & Anti-Poems" by Nicanor Parra


----------



## lisajane

Like Water for Chocolate - Laura Esquivel.

It's for class. I hate the book, shall never read again...


----------



## Achilles

Eldest by Christopher Paolini. It seems that everyone either has to love that book or hate it. I've chosen to love it.


----------



## whitt45

"Pagan Babies", Elmore Leonard


----------



## semtecks

White Devils by Paul Mcauley

Boy it's boring the pants off me


----------



## Flaming Penguins

Dune: House Atreides.

All Dune books= Recommended.


----------



## shinbook

Currently reading "Ulysses" by James Joyce. But I am recommending "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follett. Great book, you will learn a lot about writing and humanity.


----------



## Hodge

_The Sons of Llyr_ – Evangeline Walton

_The Divine Comedy_ – Dante Alighieri


----------



## Dephere

I just finished Brown's Da Vinci Code, which was interesting but not all its cracked up to be.

Now I am moving on to Angels and Demons, which is so much more slow than the Da Vinci Code.

I am also reading My Sister's Keeper by Picoult, not the best author but a good "sad" book. Picoult does not transition her characters very well so you get kind of a generic feel for all of them, with the exception of one she does rather nicely.


----------



## Philo

"Tropic of Cancer" - Henry Miller


----------



## doctor

"The Man With the Golden Arm" -Nelson Algren (GREAT!!)... about to finish it though, and then I will move on to "About the Author" -John Calapinto (I'll let you know. I've heard good things though.


----------



## salvothasock

The Blood Oranges by John Hawkes
Nova Express by William S Burroughs
Season In Hell & Drunken Boat by Arthur Rimbaud


----------



## writerprincess15

I just finished "Of Mice and Men" for my high school american lit class. And now i am working on "A Seperate Peice." and at the same time i am rereading for yet another time, "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". lol


----------



## Londongrey

If This is a Man - Primo Levi
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
Art Deco Interiors - Patricia Bayer


----------



## strangedaze

Good luck with your Woolf choice, Alex. I read it two years ago for a survey class, and I'm doing Jacob's Room as we speak. I'm not sure how I feel about her stream of consciousness style, to be honest. Let me know what you think after you've read it.


----------



## domodoom

Im reading Star Wars Courtship of Princess Leia.


----------



## demon_

All your guy's postes.


----------



## daisy

I just started Tom Robbin's "Skinny Legs and All."  I'm a huge fan of his, and somehow I've never gotten around to reading this one, so I'm looking forward to it.


----------



## daniela

_The Oxford Book of Fantasy Stories_ Selected by Tom Shippey
_A Treasury of the World's Greatest Speeches_ Edited by Richard Crosscup
_Writing the Private Eye Novel: A Handbook by The Private Eye Writers of America_ Edited by Robert J. Randisi (I picked this one  up because Lawrence Block and Ed Gorman are listed on the cover as contributors--I'll read just about anything those two guys write.)


----------



## stereomuse

_Watership Down_ ~ Richard Adams

I'm really enjoying it.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

The Silmarillion-Tolkien


----------



## doctor

To Kill a Mockingbird -Harper Lee


----------



## lisajane

The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

lisajane said:
			
		

> The Virgin Suicides - Jeffrey Eugenides



That was a weird movie


----------



## white-wolf

Just finished 'Flood Tide' - Clive Cussler
About to start 'Life, the Universe, and Everything' - Douglas Adams


----------



## daisy

Just picked up "A Million Little Piecess."  Anyone else read this?  My friend gave it to me because she said it was amazing, but I haven't formed an opinion yet...


----------



## Avarice

The Stand by King, i'm barely at page 100. It seems good but he does have that marvelous quality to drag everything out so I'm just waiting for them all to start dying.


----------



## semtecks

I just now finished Frankenstein by Dean Koontz, he seemed to have a lack of description in his work that should have given the book a breakneck pace . . . but it didn't. Half the book was dedicated to an autistic boy slolwy making his way through the rooms of a house . . .


----------



## Stewart

Both _Oracle Night_ by Paul Auster and _Interpreter of Maladies_ by Jhumpa Lahiri.


----------



## benjiman

*I'm reading...*

I'm an electic reader:

I'm currently reading the following books:

_The Remains of The Day_ by Ishiguro

_Friends with Benefits_ by Lawrence Ross

_Beautiful. And Ugly Too_ by M.K. Asante, Jr.


----------



## Stewart

benjiman said:
			
		

> _The Remains of The Day_ by Ishiguro



An excellent novel; my favourite, thus far, of the books I've read this year.


----------



## Londongrey

white-wolf said:
			
		

> Just finished 'Flood Tide' - Clive Cussler
> About to start 'Life, the Universe, and Everything' - Douglas Adams


 

I have every Clive Cussler book, just pure escapism.  Plus I wish I could do all of those things, hehe.


----------



## midlandsmuse

I'm rereading America Psycho.


----------



## galt

Treason by Ann Coulter.
I'd recommend it.


----------



## doctor

I am currently reading Dante's Inferno. Not sure why. It is laborous, but immensly interesting.


----------



## Kimahri

Right now I am reading Knife of Dreams book 11 of the Wheel of Time Series.  I know how some people feel about Robert Jordan but I truly believe this book is up there with the first few books.  

kimahri


----------



## ThatSmokingGuy

Reading 'Flowers in the Attic' by VC Andrews. I remember my mother reading it once, so I'm a little skeptical..
& Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan, yo.


----------



## Mean

I'm aggressively avoiding picking up a book until "A Feast For Crows", by George R. R. Martin comes out next week. It's the fourth book in A Song of Ice and Fire.

Anybody else read that series?


----------



## Stewart

Mean said:
			
		

> I'm aggressively avoiding picking up a book until "A Feast For Crows", by George R. R. Martin comes out next week. It's the fourth book in A Song of Ice and Fire.



That surprises me. It's been out here for weeks; typically America gets most books first.



> Anybody else read that series?



I've not read it although, when I take my next pointless step into fantasy then the first one will be the book I'll choose.


----------



## epone

Reading "Pandora's star" by Peter F. Hamilton at the moment. About 150 pages into it so far.
I adored the Night's Dawn Trilogy but this series is proving difficult to get in to. The reality dysfunction had such a beauty to its beginning that it caught me and kept me reading until the end of the third book - this one so far hasn't had the same affect.

Maybe its because I just got married!!!


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Currently reading "Unfinished Tales" by Tolkien.


----------



## doctor

Junky -William Burroughs


----------



## demon_

Eragon: Inheritance: Book One
-Christopher Paolini

Great book so far. Probably on page 90 after starting reading it today. He has quite a use of the "comma. LOL. Great description; keeps me reading.


----------



## Stewart

_The Fahrenheit Twins_; a terrible collection of short pieces from Michel Faber.


----------



## demon_

I just realized.....

It is suppose to be:

Inheritance: Book One: Eragon

The order, I written wrong.


----------



## stereomuse

_A Feast for Crows_ ~ George rr Martin
Its finally out!!! Yeah it came out a month or so earlier in the UK because of the publisher. Im not sure about the details. But its out in the US now!!!


----------



## cryptika

"I Know This Much Is True" - Wally Lamb


----------



## RachelEvil

I'm currently nearly done with my twenty-three-bajillionth reading of The Invisibles, still slowly slogging my way through O'Connor and Seymour's Introducing NLP, Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast. I'll likely finish at least one of those three some time this decade, assuming I keep running out of both other things to read and money.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, when a friend will likely lend me a Tom Robbins book, which I shall likely finish in a day or two and then once again enter a rut.


----------



## Deminicus

I'm currently reading The Samurai's Tale, for like the fifteenth time ( i really love the book, it is written by my favorite author Erik Christian Hauugard ).


----------



## strangedaze

School:

Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand (two thirds in)

Pleasure:

Fight Club by Chuck P (nearly finished)
The Acid House by Irvine Welsh (halfway)
Pussy, King of Pirates by Kathy Acker (uh, not far in...weeeeird)

Recent Completions:

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (wicked writing craft guide)


----------



## strangedaze

School:

Cracking India by Bapsi Sidhwa
Passage to India by EM Forster (two thirds through)

Pleasure:

Zombie by Joyce Carol Oates (a third in)
Rust and Bone by Craig Davidson (two short stories to go - fun read)

Recent Completions:

Untouchable by Mulk Raj Anand (school)
Fight Club by Chuck P
The Acid House by Irvine Welsh


----------



## Rob

John Banville's Eclipse. Loving it.

Cheers,
Omni


----------



## Philo

Just read:
"Woe is I" by Patricia O'Connor. Fun to read and lots of great advice for fixing persistant grammar problems etc...

Reading:
"Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century", edited by Orson Scott Card. Its as good as it sounds.

Next up:
"A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson


----------



## krazyklassykat

_The Joy Luck Club_.  Amy Tan.  I'd been wanting to read something by her for a long time.  Has anyone read it?  I've heard it's good.


----------



## krazyklassykat

Oh hey!  Philo, I've heard of that book, _A Short History of Nearly Everything_ the funny thing is, I heard about it in ANOTHER book, a fictional one and the main character was reading it.  Weird!


----------



## PamHKyle

'Songs of Innocence and Experience" by William Blake. I just love his poems.


----------



## gohn67

Waiting for Godot 
Molloy / Malone Dies /The Unamable
Stories & Texts for Nothing  - all by Samuel Beckett


----------



## Ben

Catch 22 - Joseph Heller. It's pretty funny so far. I'm likin' it.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished "Till We Have Faces" by C.S. Lewis. I loved it


----------



## salvothasock

collected poems of weldon kees.
and, season in hell + drunken boat by arthur rimbaud.

i dig 'em


----------



## Cady

The Purple Emporer


----------



## jk7070436

Well, I've just ordered three books, so soon, I'll be reading either Ptolemy's Gate (the third and final book of the Bartimaeus Trilogy), Game of Thrones, or Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.


----------



## IJS

I'm reading "Life Expectancy" by Dean Koontz. It's an interesting, fun read with some humor. I'm almost done with it.


----------



## strangedaze

over Christmas i got myself into far too many books...

cracking india by bapsi sidhwa (for school, midterm in a week in a half, still havent finished it)

the informers by bret easton ellis (a hunnerd in)

lunar park by bret easton ellis (forty in)

survivor by chuck palahniuk (forty in)

the dog fighter by marc bojanowski (fifty in)


- happy new years, everyone.


----------



## Wes919

The Resturant at the End of the Universe--Douglas Adams


----------



## IJS

Wes919 said:
			
		

> The Resturant at the End of the Universe--Douglas Adams



That's part of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series, right?


----------



## Hodge

_State of Fear_ - Michael Crichton

_Moll Flanders_ - Daniel Defoe

_Purgatorio_ - Dante Alighieri


----------



## IJS

Just finished Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz. 

Watchers by Dean Koontz as well.


----------



## Dresdor

Just about to start The Silver Chair; Book six of the Chronicles of narnia.  Been reading the series since I got it for Christmas, and it's been grand reading these stories again.


----------



## pride.in.introspection

I'm currently reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.


----------



## aliceedelweiss

I'm reading The tale of the body thief by anne rice, If I'm lucky I'll finish it in a week and a half and then I'm reading this huge nonfiction book about the french revolution


----------



## aisha

Knife Edge - Malorie Blackman


----------



## Titania

_Salt: A World History_ by Mark Kurlansky

I'm also rereading the Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan), under orders from one of my friends who worships them.

Recently finished: _Conqueror's Legacy_ by Timothy Zahn


----------



## Achilles

Right now I'm reading Walden for poetic inspiration, and Little Women when my head starts hurting from that. Thoreau and Alcott go well together.


----------



## strangedaze

Pleasure

Joshua Then and Now - Mordecai Richler
Garber's Tales from the Quarter - Lawrence Garber
The Dog Fighter - Marc Bojanowski
Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters / Seymour: An Introduction - JD Salinger

School

Nectar in a Sieve - Kamala Markandaya

Just Finished

Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
The Informers - Bret Easton Ellis


----------



## DaNorthernLight

"Dread Empire's Fall: The Praxis" by Walter Jon Williams.


----------



## Nickie

I'm reading "The Other Boleyn Girl" by Philippa Gregory. A delightful historical novel, about Anne Boleyn's younger sister Mary. Henry VIII's court is described in detail, which I love.


Nickie


----------



## delirium

Im currently reading Parallel Worlds: The Science of alternative universes and our future in the cosmos, its by Michio Kaku.


----------



## fastkilr

John Steinback's "The Pearl"...it's such a short book, why is it taking me two days to read 100-something pages?


----------



## Stewart

I'm not far off finishing Roddy Doyle's _Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha_ and then I will move on to _Cal_ by Bernard Mac Laverty.


----------



## FloridaJay

I was just beginning my second read of Gregory Maguire's _Wicked _(because I recently bought _Son of a Witch_, so I needed a refresher).  Then my loving wife bought me_ Cell_ by S. King for Valentine's Day.  King is my favorite poison so I hafta drop everything to read that one:smile:


----------



## erotic_cookie

Currently I'm trying to get through "Survivor" by Chuck Palahniuk, afterwards I have a choice between Stephen King's "On Writing" (which I've read before) or J.K Rowling's "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire". I just can't wait until I'm done Survivor though, it's been one long read.


----------



## revelation_22-20

Currently I am reading "Conflict of Interest" by John Martel. I'm hoping to finish it soon. I really want to get to "Beowolf" and "Grendel", I've heard they are well-plotted and good. However if I can get my hands on a copy of "Silence of the Lambs" or "Hannibal", I would read both first.


----------



## salvothasock

howl and other poems, by allen ginsberg
the sons, by franz kafka
the wild boys, by william s burroughs

stanley kubrick biography, by... i forget who


----------



## fastkilr

Hey salvothasock, have you read any other Kafka? What would you recomend, if so? I just started metomorphosis. It's amazing, so far!


----------



## gohn67

> Hey salvothasock, have you read any other Kafka? What would you recomend, if so? I just started metomorphosis. It's amazing, so far!


Hi, fastkilr, I'm not salvo, but I would recommend In the Penal Colony.  That is my favorite one of his.  Liked it more than the metomorphis, though I'm probably in the majority in that regard.

----

Just finished - "Consider the Lobser" and "Coming of Age in Missisipi"

Reading - The Autobiography of Malcom X (second time I've had to read this, but it is really good), Crime and Punishment (thinking about waiting until the summer to read this since I have too much other reading to do), and The Best 30 American Essays.


----------



## Aurelio

I just finished Armistead Maupin's _The Night Listener_.  I love his writing style and his characters. The _Tales From the City_ series was great fun. This one was, as always, a pleasant and entertaining read.  I had one HUGE problem with this one's concept however:

*Spoiler Alert* (reading further may spoil the ending for you)

He structures the book as a classic mystery and then leaves it with a deliberately ambiguous ending.  It wasn't simply unsatisfying because of that, it was like promising a solution and then not providing one.  As a reader, you are trying to solve the mystery all the way along, developing theories, etc., and then you are told you'll never know for sure.

It made sense in his context, but I think it was a mistake.  He was after a, "life is like that - sometimes you have to choose what you want to believe" thing, but as a reader it was irritating.


----------



## erotic_cookie

gohn67 said:
			
		

> Hi, fastkilr, I'm not salvo, but I would recommend In the Penal Colony. That is my favorite one of his. Liked it more than the metomorphis, though I'm probably in the majority in that regard.


 
I second this, The Metamorphsis was what convinced me to read Kafka but In the Penal Colony is what made me a fan.


----------



## IJS

Brimstone by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. So far, so good.


----------



## Jelly-Beanz-Rule

"Dawn" but i forgot who wrote it.


DUH! V.C. Andrews


----------



## stereomuse

_Assasin's Apprentice_ ~ Robin Hobb


----------



## Oasis Writer

_Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J.K. Rowlings_


----------



## Stewart

_Atomised_, Michel Houllebecq


----------



## leeannlessard

I have a tendency to read more romance fiction books. I recently read a great book STAR DUST by Ann O'Bannon. It's a sci fi romance. If you like soft science fiction  you'll love this book.

I am currently reading MOON'S WEB by Cathy Clamp and C T Adams. It's good but I'm not sure werewolf stories are my thing or not.

LeeAnn
www.leeannlessard.com


----------



## Stewart

_Cal_, Bernard Mac Laverty


----------



## Rob

I recently finished reading _Chronicle of a Death Foretold _by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, which was excellent, and I'm now reading _The Handmaid's Tale_ by Margaret Atwood.

Cheers,
Omni


----------



## Saraneth

_The Age of Innocence_ by Edith Warton.


----------



## Janelle_34

SGW. how multitasked are you?? geesh
Im lucky if I can read one book.. 
that would be "Cell" by Stephen King


----------



## Stewart

I started _Interpreter of Maladies_ by Jhumpa Lahiri this morning, the collection of nine short stories that won the Pulitzer Prize in 2000. Based on the first story, _A Temporary Matter_, I think this is going to be a great collection.


----------



## Mike C

Of Marriageable Age by Sharon Maas.


----------



## Stewart

Mike C said:
			
		

> _Of Marriageable Age_ by Sharon Maas



Are you far into it? If so, how are you finding it?


----------



## Walker Pierce

Killer Angels - Michael Shaara. My second read of this book for school purposes. One of my favorites.


----------



## Saraneth

_Freakonomics: A Rouge Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything_ by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.


----------



## beautifulempress

I'm now reading _The Handmaid's Tale_ by Margaret Atwood.

Is that good? What's that about?


----------



## revelation_22-20

I am reading _Hannibal_ by Thomas Harris. It's much better than the movie.


----------



## Jelly-Beanz-Rule

Revelation, i gotta read Hannibal, don't i? 
I'm currently reading _Blacklist_, by Sara Paretsky, and it's really good.


----------



## Rob

beautifulempress said:
			
		

> I'm now reading _The Handmaid's Tale_ by Margaret Atwood.
> 
> Is that good? What's that about?



From the inside cover:

_The Republic of Gilead allows Offred only one function: to breed. If she deviates, she will, like all dissenters, be hanged at the wall or sent out to die slowly of radiation sickness. But even a repressive state cannot obliterate desire - neither Offred's nor that of the two men on which her future hangs..._

A dystopian future, through the eyes of the main female character, Offred.

Is it good? Well, as with all fiction, good is subjective. The book is highly regarded, so probably yes. But I'm not that excited by it. Ordinarily I would probably have put it down by now without finishing it, especially as I have plenty more stuff to read. However, I determined late last year that I'm weak at analysing fiction, and this is one of several stories that I've set aside for study. I'm reading it alongside the York Notes (student notes) in order to learn about analysing fiction (in conjunction with Jeremy Hawthorn's _Studying The Novel_), so, even though I don't enjoy the story that greatly I'm going to stick with it and hope to learn from it.

I've also got Huxley's _Brave New World_, along with the York Notes, so will probably read that next and use that as a comparison. I may also read Orwell's _1984_, a story I read and enjoyed many years ago. Through these three dystopian novels and the student notes for two of them I hope to improve my ability to analyse fiction. I have the York Notes for several other novels and will work through these during the year.

Maybe by the end of the exercise I'll appreciate _The Handmaid's Tale_ more. Right now it's dragging a little.

Cheers,
Omni


----------



## Madam Cindy

Faulkner's Thse Sound and the Fury and
I just picked up D.H. Lawerence's Lady Chatterley's Lover


----------



## kalibantre

The witches hammer by jane stanton hitchcock.

i'm re reading it, but its still got me gripped, and the erotica I had all but forgotten about just hit me in the face again, rather intereting haha.. I do reccommended it to any of you with an interest in the occult, and relgion slashing. I havent read the da vinci code, really cant be bothered with it, but i think there may be parrallels, at least with the vatican keeping secrets..


----------



## Jelly-Beanz-Rule

kalibantre said:
			
		

> I havent read the da vinci code, really cant be bothered with it, but i think there may be parrallels, at least with the vatican keeping secrets..


 
i've tried The Da Vinci Code, but it didn't really keep my attention. But thats just me...


----------



## Kane

The Odyssey


----------



## Titania

_We_ - Yevgeny Zamyatin
&
_This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen_ - Tadeusz Borowski


----------



## IJS

Still Life With Crows by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child


----------



## A_MacLaren

The Outsider, by Albert Camus.


----------



## Stewart

I'm currently reading _The Atom Station, _by Halldór Laxness.


----------



## strangedaze

Just Finished

The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion

Currently Reading

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson
Tales from the Quarter by L. Garber


----------



## Stewart

strangedaze said:
			
		

> Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson


 
How do you find Winterson? I've read two of her works, _Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit_ and _Weight_. While I like her writing style, I just cannot engage myself with her books.


----------



## strangedaze

Connor, I'd like to read Oranges and have read The Powerbook. I'm not very far into Sexing the Cherry right now, but from class discussions I'm looking forward to how grotesque the story actually is. 

As for her writing...

There is definitely something alienating about how heavily she relies on the whole PoMo thing. The risk is that her stories become convoluted to the point of meaninglessness, and I think it does happen in her fiction. She's got really fascinating storylines and a lot of imagination, though. Hmmm. There are times when I can put up with her... kind of visceral narrative techniques and just let it all gloss over me. It's usually a toss up.


----------



## j.marley

Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman


----------



## Esther Hoffman Howard

I'm reading THIS WEBSITE!  hahahahahahahaha


----------



## Walker Pierce

_Recently Completed_

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ~ Fifth read
There Will Be Dragons ~ John Ringo ~ First read

_Currently Reading_

Fledgling ~ Octavia E. Butler ~ First read
Chronicles of Tao ~ Deng Ming-Dao ~ First read


----------



## ramseydbz

Just finished:

Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy
The Dark Tower VI:  Song of Sussanah

Currently Reading

The Dark Tower VII:  The Dark Tower
The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe


----------



## Jelly-Beanz-Rule

In SSR in english(for those uneducated people, SSR is self-selected reading)i'm reading _Pet Cemetary _by Stephen King. It's...weird. I'm about a little more than halfway through it. 
I just finished the Cutler series by V.C. Andrews. Those were good. 
I'm hooked on the Fearless books by Francine Pascal. Probably my favorite books right now. i'm at the very end of book 6.


----------



## strangedaze

Just Finished

Sexing the Cherry by Jeanette Winterson

Reading

The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia
Tales from the Quarter by Lawrence Garber
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (school related, but still pleasurable)
Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre


----------



## Walker Pierce

_Recently Completed_

Fledgling ~ Octavia E. Butler

_Currently Reading_

Chronicles of Tao ~ Deng Ming-Dao
The Dark Tower I - The Gunslinger ~ Stephen King ~ First Read


----------



## A_MacLaren

I just can't find a book a want to stick to these days. I tried The Outsider, but I've just come off a long line of 'heavy' books, so I wanted something a bit more disposable. So I ripped through Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency in two days, tried Thud! (the new Discworld novel) for the third time in as many months, idly flipped through some of The Battle of Evernight (Cecilia Dart-Thornton) and wasted a bit of time trying The Silmarillion (which didn't really follow the 'disposable' criteria).
So I'm just languishing in the painfil limbo of the unbooked.


----------



## Nickie

I'm currently reading "An evil spirit out of the West" by Paul Doherty. Crime set in Ancient Egypt - fascinating read!


Nickie


----------



## desideratum

_The Sun Also Rises _by Ernest Hemingway. It's terrible. The prose is entirely vapid, rather pedestrian.


----------



## kurrgan

*current reading .....*

currently iam reading The Bourne Ultimatum which i find a good deal of fun and also Killing Ground by Barry Eisler, about a mixed heritage assasin. Both are fun reads .....


----------



## j.marley

Just finished: 
                 A Voice Crying In The Desert  by Ed Abbey
Currently reading:
                 Black Alley by Micky Spillane


----------



## Yossarian89

currently reading _The Da Vinci Code _by Dan Brown


----------



## Ben

Roald Dahl - Kiss Kiss. It's a collection of short stories.


----------



## Stewart

About to finish Roddy Doyle's _The Snapper_ and move on to something by Ernest Hemingway.


----------



## J. Bryan Shoup

I just finished Nabokov's _Bend Sinister_, and my book club finished up D.H. Lawrence's _The Man Who Died. _Also, I substituted in a second-grade class today and read [SIZE=-1]Laura Ingalls Wilder's _Little House in the Big Woods _while the kids worked on an assignment_. _I'll probably pick up Pynchon's _V_. until my book club settles on a new book.[/SIZE]


----------



## Mike C

Connor Wolf said:
			
		

> About to finish Roddy Doyle's _The Snapper_ and move on to something by Ernest Hemingway.



heh. Half way through Farewell to Arms.


----------



## Stewart

Let me know what you think. I have that too. I bought ten Hemingways last week; a mix of essay and fiction.

I'm starting _Gilead_ by Marilynne Robinson now.


----------



## Mike C

Half-way through, I'm loving it. I think a lot of people don't 'get' Hemingway or dismiss his style as oversimplistic, but he's a joy to read.


----------



## mN.sparroW

I'm on The Telling by Ursula K. Le Guin.


----------



## Stewart

Mike C said:
			
		

> Half-way through, I'm loving it. I think a lot of people don't 'get' Hemingway or dismiss his style as oversimplistic, but he's a joy to read.


Yes, it's certainly simplistic. But that's good because with the simplicity it comes down to the word choice. And he makes good decisions there.

Someone asked me what I thought of _The Old Man And The Sea_ and I responded by saying that it reminded me of a talented Paulo Coelho in that through the simplicity Hemingway was able to describe and create drama while laying on metaphors and allusions with a story based around a character called Santiago. Coelho's _The Alchemist_, was lifeless in comparison. And Coelho's Santiago wasn't tortured, determined, or threatened in the way Hemingway's was; and that's what gave _The Old Man And The Sea_ meat.


----------



## strangedaze

Just Finished

Tales from the Quarter by Lawrence Garber
Max and the Cats by Moacyr Scliar 

Stuck in the middle of...

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre

Just Starting

The People of Paper by Salvador Plascencia


----------



## Cady

The Princess Bride. I am not sure who it is by, some say S Morgenstein, others say Goldman.


----------



## Rayner

I finished "I am Legend" by Richard Matheson
Also finished "The Areas of My Expertise", by John Hodgman
And I'm in the Middle of "Johnathan Strange and Mr.Norrel" by Susan Clark.


----------



## ds_matty

I just finished "Where The Wizards Stay Up Late " by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon.  It is about the orgins of the internet, I reccomend it if anyone is intreasted in a slighly technical book.  I am about to start "Quicksilver" by Neal Stephenson.  I have been looking foward to it for a while.  He is without a doubt my favorite author and his book "Cryptonomicon" is what ultimately pushed me to try and write a book myself.


----------



## Hodge

Cady said:
			
		

> The Princess Bride. I am not sure who it is by, some say S Morgenstein, others say Goldman.




Goldman used an old literary technique. He created a fictional author and said his words were the fictional author's. In this case he took it even further by saying his work is an abridged version of an older work. It's all fake. Goldman wrote _The Princess Bride_.

I'm reading too much.

_A Christmas Carol_ - Charles Dickens

_Moll Flanders_ - Daniel Defoe

_Robinson Crusoe_ - Daniel Defoe

_The Divine Comedy_ - Dante Alighieri

_Shardik_ - Richard Adams

_Burmese Days_ - George Orwell

_The Mabinogion_ - Unknown

_Invisible Man_ - Ralph Ellison


----------



## TheReMonstor

Just Finished: Prophecy - Elizabeth Haydon
Currently Reading: Shogun - James Clavell & The Army Field Manual
Up Next: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel - Susanna Clarke


----------



## LoneWolf

The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde. I love it. Next I'm going to read Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolfe?


----------



## strangedaze

Hodge, 

How are you finding Ellison's _Invisible Man_? Thinking about picking it up.


----------



## pride.in.introspection

The Mind in the Cave. It's about the art of cave painting and how it gave way to human consciousness, or vice versa.


----------



## pride.in.introspection

TheReMonstor said:
			
		

> Just Finished: Prophecy - Elizabeth Haydon
> Currently Reading: Shogun - James Clavell & The Army Field Manual
> Up Next: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel - Susanna Clarke


 
I remember reading that book - Prophecy - a few years ago. I loved it then. But only the first four books of the series is good.


----------



## Cady

Hodge thank you for clearing up that confusion.


----------



## Hodge

strangedaze said:
			
		

> Hodge,
> 
> How are you finding Ellison's _Invisible Man_? Thinking about picking it up.




It's friggin's awesome. A pity it was Ellison's only complete novel... But it's a really good story in addition to being a powerful social commentary. Pretty sick and twisted in parts, but very good (and it gives depth to black thugs and homeless people we stereotype so much).


----------



## rbradley_80

I was reading a thread somewhere about the book House of Leaves by Mark Danilewski.  Who ever posted the thread said the book was awesome so i went out and bought it that day.  I'm reading it now and i recomend it to everybody. Danielewski has a really unique way of telling this story.


----------



## strangedaze

Hodge,

Picked it up from the biblio. Read the prologue. Good stuff.


----------



## ButteredKazoo

I'm reading _Last Exit to Brooklyn_, Hubert Selby Jr.


----------



## Titania

_Azazel_ - Isaac Asimov

_He Shall Thunder in the Sky_ - Elizabeth Peters


----------



## strangedaze

Just Finished

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre

In The Middle of 

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy

Just Starting

White Teeth by Zadie Smith


----------



## Ruben

I saw the title, and couldn't resist the following wittiness:

This thread, ha!


----------



## Scarecrow

Zing.;-) 

I'm about to start reading _Infernal Devices_, the sequel to Phillip Reeve's previous "young adult" novels _Mortal Engines_ and _Predator's Gold_. At 17 I'm probably too old for them by now, but what else are you supposed to do when you read a great book when you're 13, and find out there were sequels later on?


----------



## Fish Chickie

reading

stephen lawhead-the dragon king saga (just finished the first of the pendragon cycle as well)
tolkien-the silmarillion

others-the case for a creator


----------



## Katoki

I'm starting Atlas Shrugged currently


----------



## playstation60

Without Remorse - Tom Clancy
Naked Empire - Terry Goodkind
Blackhawk Down - Mark something Bowden?
Sum of All Fears - Tom Clancy
Dark Lover - don't remember author's name.  Wanna say J.P. something.
WWIII: World In Flames - No clue on author's name


I know there is more.  At one point I counted 12 books that I'm currently in the process of reading.


----------



## sanctuary

Moby Dick


----------



## Guardian Angel

How can you people read more than one at once o.0

_The Banned and the Banished Series, Wit'ch Star (Book 5 of 5) - James Clemens_


----------



## Mandy Candy

_Deadhouse Gates_ by Steve Erikson, and _The Fellowship of the Ring._


----------



## lucyknickleback

_Charmed: Mist and Stone _by _Various Authors_


----------



## ButteredKazoo

Today I just finished _Last Exit to Brooklyn_ by Hubert Selby Jr.

Now I'm reading _Dostoyevsky: His Life and Work_ by Ronald Hingley. What lured me to this book was reading somewhere that Selby was similar to Dostoyevsky....I guess we'll see.


----------



## strangedaze

BK - what'd you think of Last Exit? I started reading it a while back but couldn't get through it.


----------



## gigi

midway into *"Jack Kerouac - Windblown World, The Journals Of Jack Kerouac 1947 - 1954" *Edited by Douglas Brinkley.

and 

* "The 120 Days of Sodom & Other Writings" *Marquis De Sade

oh why was i born so late?  why do i always fall for writers??  rogues and cads, all of them.  good for a mindfuck 

Kerouac is an effortless genius with a pen.  i hate him with passion and envy, but i love him with passion and envy as well.  we'd have made a good couple.

De Sade is sexy...

Both make for good night time reading, depending on my mood.

Both are highly recommended.


----------



## strangedaze

lans,

my copy of 120 Days is fatter than a fucken phone book. i read it in snippets during the school year. once you get past the first 250 pages youve gotten past pretty much the entire story. and how could you not inform me of your latest reading interests, given my signature? sigh.

love,

assy


----------



## gigi

assboy,

knowing me as you do, how could you not already know...?  i agree with that ass-essment.  but if you hunt diligently as you read, gems surface here and there that are brilliant.

the kerouac is much better, though.

gigi


----------



## Ruben

“It”, _by Stephen King_


----------



## Hawke

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown


----------



## pagemaster42391

Angels and Demons - Dan Brown.  I wish I'd read it before I read The Da Vinci Code.


----------



## sanctuary

Page-good books

I'm finishing up The Stranger and Moby Dick. Started rereading MacBeth


----------



## discipleofWORD

Bunch of college textbooks... X_X

But I do find this book called Resilent Identities by William Swann as he explores about self-esteem and its nature very well.


----------



## nae411

The Future Scrolls - Fern Michaels


----------



## nae411

pagemaster42391 said:
			
		

> Angels and Demons - Dan Brown. I wish I'd read it before I read The Da Vinci Code.


 
I was going to start it when I finish the book I am reading. I too read Davinci Code first. Did that mess it up for you?

Nae

P.S. I love your avatar! House is the MAN!


----------



## A_MacLaren

Intimacy, by the french guy. Jean-Paul someone.


----------



## ACircuitShock

pagemaster42391 said:
			
		

> Angels and Demons - Dan Brown.  I wish I'd read it before I read The Da Vinci Code.


I liked Angels and Demons alot better than the DaVinci code.

A Storm Of Swords - G.R.R. Martin

One word: Amazing.


----------



## IJS

Velocity by Dean Koontz


----------



## Syren

GRR Martin's - Songs of Ice and Fire and Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman


----------



## strangedaze

Just Finished

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

In the middle of...

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Down to the Dirt by Joel Hynes 

Next on the chopping block...

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller


----------



## Philo

Ooh, Andy is pounding through the reading list. You're better man that I.

Just finished "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" Christopher Moore [which I highly recommend]

In the midst of: "Galileo's Daughter" by Dava Sobel


----------



## Fish Chickie

dragon king saga-stephen lawhead
the silmarillion-jrr tolkien
montana 1948-larry watson

i'm always reading too many books at a time


----------



## thedarkboots

Iv just finished reading 'Labyrinth' by Kate Mosse.  I wouldnt recomend it.


----------



## K-P

"A Brief History of the Dead", by the guy who wrote it. It's good so far, but finals (and TES: Oblivion) put my book reading on hold.


----------



## C.B.

At the current moment im reading 'Everything's Eventual', and 'Pet Sematary' from Stephen King.


----------



## strangedaze

i cant seem to read one thing at a time is why 

Just Finished

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitgerald

Reading

Down to the Dirt by Joel Hynes


----------



## Syren

Finished 

GRR Martin: _Storm of Swords (8/10)_
Neil Gaiman:_ Neverwhere (7/10)_

Starting

Weis and Hickman: _Time of the Twins (Promising)_


----------



## Ben

> The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitgerald



That's on my 'to read' list. What did you think of it?


----------



## strangedaze

> That's on my 'to read' list. What did you think of it?



It was decent. I had filthy high expectations for it, so it's understandable that it fell a bit short. Not a bad read, though. I'd recommend it.


----------



## Reluctant Hero

I am currently reading "The Whole Truth" by John Ehrlichman.  It is an old novel circa 1979 about the American presidency, but it is still highly relevant.


----------



## mike z.

I'm reading Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut right now. I just finished off Timequake. I'd recommend both books.


----------



## strangedaze

> I'm reading Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut right now. I just finished off Timequake. I'd recommend both books.



after reading SH-5, Cat's Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions, i dont know how much more uncle kurt im inclined to read. all were fun romps, but how much different are the works you read from his others?


----------



## Dookie

I'm currently reading "Prey" by Michael Crighton, it's not good.  Highlight on the NOT GOOD.  It's actually a tad disappointing one could say.


----------



## Firewriter23

I'm currently reading _Lucas _b: Kevin Brooks. It's a great book.


----------



## Paperback Writer

I'm reading Phantoms, by Dean Koontz. He's one of my favorite authors and this is one of those books that makes you check to make sure your doors are locked...


----------



## Kamisama

I'm reading a book on abnormal psychology, microbiology, and intermediate algebra and geometry. None of it was even assigned.


----------



## AtlanteanTapir

Kamisama said:
			
		

> I'm reading a book on abnormal psychology, microbiology, and intermediate algebra and geometry. None of it was even assigned.


 
hehe, rofl, good for you.=D> 

im reading His Dark Materials, the second one, Subtle Knife. Recommend to all ages of all people. The author is..... Philip Pullman (His books look childish, but its not, and its really good.)


----------



## AtlanteanTapir

Fish Chickie said:
			
		

> reading
> 
> stephen lawhead-the dragon king saga (just finished the first of the pendragon cycle as well)
> tolkien-the silmarillion
> 
> others-the case for a creator


 
yay!! You read pendragon as well!! I'm a CRAZY fan of pendragon, even wrote some unfinished fan fics of it. i didnt noe tolkien wrote books other than LOTR.


----------



## Heid

Just finished reading "Velocity" by Dean Koontz this morning. First Koontz book I've read and I'm definiately going to get some more. Fast paced, easy to digest page turner it was 

Gonna start "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk today when I'm on my break at work.


----------



## Santa

I just finished After the First Death by Robert Cormier. I really didn't like it that much because it seemed that some parts of the book were perverted and that got to me after a while. Plus, too many people died in it.


----------



## AshBeanNun

Miracles, by C. S. Lewis. I'm having trouble getting into it because the first chapter deals solely with what a naturalist is, what a supernaturalist is, and both group's thinking, but the rest of it promises to be great.


----------



## Otto Ray Sing

This is one busy thread.  I'm reading The Glorious Cause 1763-1789 and I just finished the Unhandsome Prince and Heroics For Beginners by John Moore.  Its nice to see humor in Fantasy.  I do feel that Heroics for Beginners is the better of the two books.


----------



## TheReMonstor

*The Faded Sun Trilogy* by C.J. Cherryh - I like it so far, just finished book/part one.  Very imaginative and developed alien races and cultures.


----------



## perseph1ne

Right now I'm reading Carry On, Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse, it's British dry witty humor. There was a tv series based on the Jeeves books called Jeeves and Wooster starring Hugh Laurie (Dr. House from House MD). I've just finished some manga and Dealing with Dragon (for the third time funny series). Sitting on my shelf is a John Constantine Hellblazer novel called Warlord, and I'm waiting for the latest in Tanya Huff's vampire series to go to paperback so I can afford it. Sadly this summer will also be a research summer so I'll be reading lots of criticism on the Pastoral tradition and Tolkien as that is my thesis topic.


----------



## Hodge

_The Ancient Celts_ - Barry Cunliffle

Academic books rock.


----------



## strangedaze

Reading

Down to the Dirt by Joel Hynes (past halfway)
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk (giving him another chance)


----------



## dearlycorrupted

i just re-read summer sisters by judy blume today... she's my favourite author and always serves as inspiration!  i'm also reading them by joyce carol oates, and it looks to be a good one...


----------



## Otto Ray Sing

Remonster when you're done, you'll want to go to the Chanur Saga.  It contains the Pride of Chanur, Chanur's Venture, and the Kif Strike Back.


----------



## gigi

your mind.


----------



## IJS

gigi said:
			
		

> your mind.



Pshht. What am I thinking? 

:afro:


----------



## gigi

you *think* you're pretty clever...


----------



## strangedaze

pssst geegee, hugs and kisses.


----------



## Neverfate

I'm reading Something from the Nightside by Simon R. Green. 

I'm up to the 3rd book. It's  avery interesting fantasy-ish series. It's one half satirical and one half serious and one half awesome. This is also the type of book where having 3 halves of something is entirely possible and you're not sure if you want to know how or why haha.


----------



## Nichole

I'm currently reading Schindler's list


----------



## kalibantre

Lord Of The Rings, this time I'm gonna finish it lol..


----------



## Rob

Recently read:

- Chronicle of a Death Foretold, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
- Night Train, Martin Amis
- A Maze of Death, Philip K Dick

and am currently reading:

- Of Love and Other Demons, Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Omni


----------



## Omni

Cell by Stephen King


----------



## demon_

I'm reading your guys' post...

But the book I'm reading is:

Inheritance, part two: Eldest
-Christopher Poalini

Not a bad trilogy so far. Little cliche.


----------



## bknibbe

i am currently reading Mel Odom's "The Lord Of The Libraries"...

very good book..


----------



## eyes of the world

Walden by Henry David Thoreau


----------



## IJS

As soon as it arrives to my sanctuary, "The Book of the Dead" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.


----------



## rhino8

I am currently reading Part 5 of the Dark Tower Series by Stephen King: Wolves of the Calla.

This series is so good, I am starting to read slower so I do not finish the Dark Tower Series too quickly. Anyone who is looking for an alternative fantasy series, The Dark Tower Series is a must...


----------



## Man_Of_Truth

I'm currently re-reading Jumper by a guy named Gould.  I forgot his last name, but this is the best book in my opinion.  If you like sci-fi, or even if you don't, it's a good book.


----------



## Bob Loblaw

_Like Water For Chocolate_ by Laura Esquivel. It's pretty good, if you're into magical realism.But it's not as good as Toni Morrison's _Song of Solomon_-- an excellent read.


----------



## BeautifulDisaster

I'm reading Eldest (Inheritance, book 2) by Christopher Paolini. I'm not very far into it though.. only 20-30ish pages.


----------



## BillyLiar

I'm about a quarter way through Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. Enjoyable, humorous and light. Not a bad way to spend a few days in bed after oral surgery.


----------



## JoshuaOst

Write now I'm reading Lolita by Nabakov and is one of the greatest books I've ever read.  The writing in it flows nicely and the plot even today would be considered extremely controversial.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

I'm about halfway through "Street Magic" by Tamora Pierce right now. It's #2 in The Circle Opens Quartet, but that's actually a sequel quartet to The Circle of Magic Quartet, so if you look at it that way it's book #6. All of them are very good.


----------



## Addison

I just started on the text of _The Mysterious Mother_, by Horace Walpole - I'd rather liked _Otranto _and thought to give his dramatic masterwork a try. I believe that for my 18th Century dramatic fixes I shall in future stick with Sheridan.

I am also working through _The Life & Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman_, after having very much enjoyed _A Sentimental Journey_. Sterne has now assured his place among my favourite authors, though I'm taking _Shandy _slowly, it being that rare sort of book which one is tempted never to begin for fear of actually finishing it.


----------



## cryptika

I just started _Salt Rain _by Sarah Armstrong.

I just finished _Double Exposure _by Brian Caswell and _The Da Vinci Code. _


----------



## The Hooded One

Hmm I have currently finished the entire "Black Magician Trilogy" I recommend this highly. I have also started book one "The Dragon Bone Chair" in Tad Williams  Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. It seems a fairly good book though im only around 150 pages in.

Sincerely - J.C


----------



## Achilles

I just finished Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier and and started Terrorist by John Updike.


----------



## tgcid

Just finished all the Orson Scott Card Bean and Ender novels and just started Watership Down (for about the sixth time).


----------



## Mungye

I am nearly finished Celtic Myths and Legend by Peter Ellesford Berris, it is awesome.
Being Jewish from the line of David, house of Judah, I am of course interested in the other tribes, my kin and many of our people at one time in ages past migrated to live in Erinn,Scotland and the land of the Cymru and although some say that the Tuatha de danaan are from the Goddess Danu I believe from careful study that the tribe of Dan , those anyway that did not give up worship of the cow following their release from four hundred years of slavery under Egypt were those that migrated to Ireland and brought with them their worship, their magic and their lore and mystical ways.
This book is a perfect gorgeous blend of literary masterpieces, my favorite is the children of Lir and scholarly writing. I highly recommend it.


----------



## MarkINR

The Epic of Gilgamesh (the Mitchell translation) and I Am David


----------



## Blossom

The Weavers of Saramyr by Chris Wooding; The Snow-Walker Trilogy by Catherine Fisher and The Riddle by Alison Croggon


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

The Black Swan by Mercedes Lackey. _Very_ good.


----------



## Arin

I just finished The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffennegger. It was utterly fantastic. And then I read the Da Vinci Code (in about a day) for the first time. Suspenseful and fun, but like everyone's been saying, the writing leaves much to be desired. Now I'm going to start Lost and Found by Carolyn Parkhurst. Supposed to be good.:mrgreen:


----------



## Addison

_The Expedition of Humphry Clinker_, by Tobias Smollett. I'm quite fond of it.


----------



## Writer87

...


----------



## IJS

I just finished 'Velocity' by Dean Koontz and 'Book of the Dead' by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, both within the week. 'Book of the Dead' was fantastic. 'Velocity' was... alright. Koontz has done better but this wasn't really bad either. It left a lot to be desired. 

I'm starting 'The Alienist' by Caleb Carr


----------



## Buddhapants

I read the Alienist...it's been a few years...it was a pretty good story. Turn of the century (1900) psych detective story, can't remember enough about it to ruin anything for you though.

Dig the pic of old Walter Sobchak, "Eight year olds, dude."


----------



## Cearo

I'm currently reading Shakespeare.  Lots and lots of Shakespeare.


----------



## Pawn

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, a quite unique take on the term 'magician', probably best encapsulated by this extract:


"Can a magician kill a man by magic?" Lord Wellington asked Strange. Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. "I suppose a magician might," he admitted, "but a gentleman never could."​


----------



## Addison

> Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrel, a quite unique take on the term 'magician', probably best encapsulated by this extract...


 
I'm quite fond of that novel, actually - it is a blessed release from the usual bland, rather dreadful, seemingly universal prose style adopted by most modern writers.


----------



## strangedaze

strangedaze is reading The Godfather by Mario Puzo.


----------



## IamLegend

Forcing myself to read Diary by Palahniuk and am enjoying the Novel "Flicker" by Theodore Roszak (sp?).


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden


----------



## dwellerofthedeep

_Ringworld- _Not very far but it's wonderful (Reminds me of a less rediculous Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy).


----------



## Scarecrow's Arrow

Free Fall by Kyle Mills


----------



## Firewriter23

Kevin Brooks.  I just finished the book Lucas.  Lucas was a good book, a little disturbing but I loved it.


----------



## strangedaze

Just Read

Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
The Big Goodbye by Raymond Chandler

Reading

The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Sonny Liston Was a Friend of Mine by Thom Jones
Awaydays by Kevin Sampson


----------



## Blossom

The Crystal Desert by Julia Gray


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Rhapsody by Elizabeth Hayden


----------



## Avarice

the day of the jackal - frederick forsyth.

mighty good book.


----------



## IamLegend

Finally finished Diary by Palahniuk, probably his worst work to date. Finished Flicker by Roszak, amazing book. 

Reading A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and
Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. Last book of the latter of those authors I have to read.


----------



## journyman161

The Giza Power Plant by Christopher Dunn - fascinating read... An engineer taking a look at the engineering side of the pyramids & other ancient artefacts.


----------



## strangedaze

IamLegend said:
			
		

> Finally finished Diary by Palahniuk, probably his worst work to date. Finished Flicker by Roszak, amazing book.
> 
> Reading A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess and
> Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh. Last book of the latter of those authors I have to read.



i thought the same thing about diary.

i loved a clockwork orange. let me know how u liked it. seen the flick?

hitting trainspotting last? have u read porno?


----------



## Avarice

i couldnt read trainspotting, too hard, might ask more gf to read it to me [ shes from edinburgh]  need to try reading clockwork orange again. the constant slang killed me.


----------



## Ralizah

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. A truly magnificent piece of literature.


----------



## ReikiMeg

I'm finishing up Gene Wolfe's "The Knight" before I head onto Stephen King's Tower series.


----------



## jasmin

I`ve started *Ghost wars* by* Steve coll* .it is the secret history of the CIA,Afganistan and BinLaden ,from the soviet invasion to sep10 ,2001/


----------



## Stewart

I'm currently reading two books:

*The God Boy*, *Ian Cross*
A book from New Zealand author and journalist, Ian Cross. _The God Boy_ is the first novel of an author who, since the fifties, has only four novels to his name. 

This one concerns a thirteen year old recounting a time in his life two years ago when his parents were going through a bad time; so bad it has resulted in him living in a Catholic school away from them. The novel follows his thoughts on the period when he was an eleven year old kid wandering his small New Zealand town and trying to rebel. 

There are shades of Salinger's _The Catcher In The Rye_ and _Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha_ by Roddy Doyle within this novel, and it fits between them as regards its publication. It was published in 1957.


*ella minnow pea, Mark Dunn*
A rather tricksy epistolary novel that, as the story continues, loses letters of the alphabet and forces to the characters to find new words and phrases with which to express themselves. 

It's about the residents of a small island called Nollop, its most famous son being Nevin Nollop (for whom it was named). His claim to fame? He wrote the pangram: _the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogs. _There's a statue dedicated to him on Nollip with several tiles below phrasing his famous line. But, one by one, the tiles begin to fall and, rather than replace them, the High Council takes this as a sign that Nollop doesn't want his people to use these letters any more. Strict rules come into force and, starting with Z, the people are forced to communicate in their letters with less and less letters, which is a tad inconvenient, until on l, m, n, o, and p remain (hence the title, also the main character).


----------



## PamHKyle

Just finished 'The court of the Lion' by Daniel Alietri and Eleanor Cooney.
Historical novel set in China, painting the downfall of the T'ang Dynasty and the rising of An Lushan. Loads better than I hoped for, but you sort of need to be in this kind of books.


----------



## Hakeem

mm... I'm about to begin reading "The Kite Runner". Then probably head to LOTR,, everybody else read them! about time for me...


----------



## Stewart

Once you've read it, please post your thoughts on this thread.


----------



## Hakeem

Stewart said:
			
		

> Once you've read it, please post your thoughts on this thread.


 
Okay..


----------



## Fantasy of You

Arg I hate LoTR.. I don't know why everyone likes the books so much! Anyway,I'm reading Wilbur Smith's When the Lion Feeds (for th 16th time lol- buy it) and Dead Koots' The Taking for the 2nd time.. Yea I'm short onbooks ^_^


----------



## BeautifulDisaster

I'm reading Ken Follett's "The Pillars of the Earth". It's okay so far...and I still haven't gotten to the main plot of the book. I have a feeling it's gonna be a LONG one.


----------



## andreaypich

The diaries of Sylvia Plath
Joyce's Dubliners
London, a biography

Also several poems and essays for my exam on English modernism.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished Rhapsody, and now I'm reading Prophecy, also by Elizabeth Haydon. It's the second book in her series.


----------



## IamLegend

I was recentley in Italy for two weeks, and throughout the various train and plain rides (most of which were fairly long) I knocked out a few books. I read Trainspotting by Irivine Welsh, American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis (again, third time now), a Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess (amazing, goes without saying), as well as Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice which I thought was very good. I'm currently reading Flags of our Fathers by James Bradley, and it's excellent thus far.


----------



## dwellerofthedeep

Just starting _Stranger in a Strange Land,_ looks promising.


----------



## strangedaze

Just Read

Junky by William S. Burroughs
Mordecai & Me by Joel Yanofsky
Surfacing by Margaret Atwood

Reading

White Teeth by Zadie Smith
The Sporting Life by Mordecai Richler


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished Prophecy and I've moved on to Destiny, both by Elizabeth Haydon. It's the third book in her series, all of which are very good so far.


----------



## Esther Hoffman Howard

Right now, I'm reading Naked Lunch by William S. Burrough and I just don't get it.


----------



## IamLegend

You will, don't sweat it. 

I'm reading The Willow Tree by Hubert Selby Jr. and The rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis. Soon to be followed by a complete and utter reading of everything Anne Rice. Not usually my cup of tea (pop fiction, page turner style), but these books are amazing to me, and I personally can't wait.


----------



## Sigur RÃ³s

IamLegend said:
			
		

> You will, don't sweat it.
> 
> I'm reading The Willow Tree by Hubert Selby Jr. and The rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis. Soon to be followed by a complete and utter reading of everything Anne Rice. Not usually my cup of tea (pop fiction, page turner style), but these books are amazing to me, and I personally can't wait.



I'm in the middle of Requiem For A Dream by Hubert Selby Jr. Is The Willow Tree good?


----------



## mandax

"Down and Out in Paris and London" by George Orwell


----------



## Stewart

_Time's Arrow_, Martin Amis
_The Fascination Of Evil_, Florian Zeller


----------



## Blossom

_A Cavern Of Black Ice_ by J.V. Jones and _Sourcery_ by Terry Prachett


----------



## Scarecrow

I've been thinking lately about what influenced my writing style as I grew up, so I've been going back and reading some of the books I did as a kid, out of curiosity. 

Lately I've been reading the Animorphs series, which I read in primary school, and I love the feeling of nostalgia it gives me. Those books represent the 90s for me the same way the Back to the Future movies represent the 80s.


----------



## cardinalbaron

This weekend I finished A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin, and read The Forever War (which I HIGHLY recommend) by Joe Haldeman. 

I think I'm going to hit William Gibson's Idoru or Count Zero next.


----------



## Shawn

I'm reading Murder on the Orient Express and Enigma


----------



## strangedaze

I just finished a collection of stories called _The Lost Salt Gift of Blood_. Presently working on Dave Bezmozgis' _Natasha and Other Stories_, and the fabulously outrageous Susan Swan book about the Newfie giantess. Something something 'giant woman of the modern world'.


----------



## Stewart

Started _The Bridge Of San Luis Rey_ by Thornton Wilder this morning and finished it before I got to work. Wasn't all that impressed with it.

I'm now reading _fullalove_ by Gordon Burn.


----------



## JoshuaOst

I'm reading The Toy Collector by _James Gunn._


----------



## G. Palmer

The Maltese Falcon


----------



## Stewart

On Friday I started reading through the nineteen books longlisted for the MAN Booker Prize 2006.

So far have read _In The Country Of Men_ by Hisham Matar and I'm now reading _Get A Life_ by Nadine Gordimer.


----------



## Finduilas

Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini


----------



## Fictitious

Myst - Rand and Robyn Miller.

Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson.

Wicked - Gregory Maguire.

Tao Teh Ching - Lao Tzu.


----------



## modified7

This past week I read "To America" by Stephen Ambrose.......


----------



## IJS

Finished "Running Blind" by Lee Child last Thursday. Great book.

Reading: "Echo Burning" by Lee Child


----------



## starpanda

Forever Odd - Dean Koontz
The Husaband - Dean Koontz
The Time Machine - HG Wells (I'm thinking of writing a sequel, just to see if I can do it)


----------



## KarmaVictim

The Baby Merchant - Kit Reed


----------



## playstation60

Starfist 11, Flash Fire.  It's ok.  I've never read any of the series, in fact I wasn't aware that it WAS a series until I got into it.  Thankfully it's not really a series that you HAVE to read every book in order to understand the next.  At least I don't think so. 

I've got a few other books that I should be working on, but I borrowed this from the library along with Fight Club, a Star Wars book and some other random Sci Fi book...so yeah.


----------



## Addison

_Hesperides_, by Robert Herrick. He is my favourite of the Cavalier poets, and one of the most enjoyable in that century, which was almost certainly the greatest era of English literature. On that note, I'm also re-reading my collected works of Sir Thomas Browne.



> Tao Teh Ching - Lao Tzu.


 
Ah, which translation? I trust it is not that of the insidious Stephen Mitchell.


----------



## IamLegend

Currently reading Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts and Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. The former being one of the best reads ever.


----------



## A_Clockwork_Brian

The Beach - Alex Garland


----------



## Mike C

starpanda said:
			
		

> The Time Machine - HG Wells (I'm thinking of writing a sequel, just to see if I can do it)



The Time after Time Machine?


----------



## Soccah

I just read a childrens book with more depth than some current day novels: "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint Exupery.  I must add, it was probably the most enjoyable 30 minutes I have ever spent.
*
*


*
*


----------



## Stranger

I just finished ‘The Great Shark Hunt’ by Hunter S. Thompson.  I love Gonzo journalism.  And I’m about re-read ‘Animal Farm’ for my Creative Writing class.  Don’t you just love children’s books that aren’t actually for children?  And finally, I’m reading ‘Heart of Darkness’ by Joseph Conrad.  It’s not an easy read but I’m still finding it interesting.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

After Destiny I read Requiem for the Sun. I finished that and now I'm on to Elegy for a Lost Star. All are by Elizabeth Haydon, and are a part of her Symphony of Ages series.


----------



## IJS

I just finished "Echo Burning" by Lee Child. Great book in the Jack Reacher series. 

I plan on either reading "One Shot" or "Without Fail" by Lee Child next.


----------



## modified7

Last week.....Stephen Ambrose.....To America........
This week just finished.... A Few Minutes With Andy Rooney......
Both were worth reading..........


----------



## Strathen

I'm reading Money by Martin Amis, and Hemmingways Death in the Afternoon.


----------



## Stewart

Currently reading the following:

_Black Swan Green_, David Mitchell
_The Lonely Londoners_, Sam Selvon
_Annihilation_, Piotr Szewc
_Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?_, Raymond Carver


----------



## Banzai

_Wizard and Glass_ by Stephen King. It's the fourth book in his Dark Tower series, and I'm finding it very interesting as it explains Roland's past. Though I'm afraid it may have to take a back burner to the books I'll very soon have to read for my English class.


----------



## playstation60

Just finished Flash Fires, and I hate how it ended.  The character naming was laughable, some of the city names too.  They had one place called Wunderjahr.  Miracle Year, in german.  I mean come on people.  Don't you think that SOMEONE that might pick up the book spent just a little time learning German, or another language and might look up the meaning.  JEEEEZ!!

I do not recommend the series.  It does give me hope though.  If he can write that poorly, and get published, I've got hope.


----------



## modified7

Oddly enough.....the other day I finally started the 9/11 Report.......I guess we should all take a look at it at some point...... Keith


----------



## elitenixy

i just started terry pratachett's (or however you spell it) discworld series, and i really like it. great for a bit of humour.


----------



## Cearo

An essay by C. S. Lewis on writing for children.  I'm also reading Chaucer.  The former is for pleasure, the latter for homework.


----------



## Sephiroth

The Fate of the Fallen by Ian Irvine.....but I believe it's called The Torments of the Traitor everywhere elese in the world.


----------



## dwellerofthedeep

Siddartha by Herman Hesse.  I'm liking it so far, though I don't really think it's all that well written it certainly is entertaining and thought provoking.


----------



## strangedaze

bah medieval english shit and shakespeare (loves labors lost) for me. fuck ze world.


----------



## Fictitious

Spirited Away, for myself. I saw the movie and was instantly compelled to read it.

The Odyssey--for school.


----------



## PamHKyle

Just finishing 'A Falcon Flies' (from the Ballantyne-series) by Wilbur Smith. Good, as always (well, almost always). Not great literature that will withstand the ages, but nice entertainment.


----------



## Syren

*GRR Martin* - _A Feast for Crows_

- Brilliant writer, intriguing stuff... but while I think I love the idea of dividing chapters into pov pieces from a different characters perspective, all my favorite characters from the previous books in the series are neglected in the latest installment, which totally pisses me off. Add to that the addition of umpteen characters on top of the ka-jillion already in the series... and it's starting to dwindle a bit for me. Love the writing, wish it was formed better.



*Richard Baker* - _Final Gate_

- Yet to open it, but soon.


----------



## Dr Strangelove

The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett.


----------



## effervescent

Visions of Cody, Jack Kerouac
The Bridge Across Forever, Richard Bach


----------



## strangedaze

Schoooool: Wacousta by John Richardson, various Shakespeare plays, some middle english stuff by Langland.

Plee-azure: Step Across This Line by Salman Rushdie (swoon).


----------



## ACircuitShock

Otherland: Mountain of Black Glass by Tad Williams. Wasn't so impressed with Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, but these books blow me away.


----------



## Seras

Currently I am reading "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy."  So now all my nerdy friends (which pretty much describes all my friends) can finally stop yelling at me to read it.


----------



## Winged Sandals

"Kidnapped" by Robert Louis Stevenson.  And I guess I'm also reading "The Princess Bride" at the same time... My bookmark's in it at least, heh.


----------



## Featherlightheart

Im reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte!Its really adictive!


----------



## J.V. Amaral

I'm reading...

"Something Wicked This Way Comes," by Ray Bradbury (strange but wonderful)
"Watchers," by Dean Koontz (interesting, and ok)
"Frankenstein: City of Night," by Dean Koontz (interesting, but not very good: jumps around too much, too quickly)
"Wrting Horror," by Mort Castle (good advice on horror, though essays are somewhat short in length and information).


----------



## Craigy

Life of Pi by Yann Martel


----------



## theflowerofcarnage

The Glass Castle (Jeannette Walls)


----------



## Kane

This week I've read the first two books of the "Tears of Artamon" series by Sarah Ash.  Then I read Neil Gaiman's "Anansi Boys."  Hopefully today I will make it down to the bookstore for some more stuff to read.


----------



## TsuTseQ

_Watching Me, Watching You_ by Fay Weldon
_A Monk Swimming_ by Malachy McCourt
_Choose Me Stories_ by Evelyn Lau
_The Sacred Balance_ by Dr. David Suzuki

Heh. I don't know why I always read so many at once. I still have a crapload of books I've barely touched in my room and I will have to start them over when I get back to them. Yeesh!


----------



## Ty_lol

This thread is over two years old...


----------



## Kane

And still active!  Woot.  I noticed someone else started the exact same thread in The Lounge yesterday.


----------



## TsuTseQ

strangedaze said:
			
		

> Schoooool: Wacousta by John Richardson, various Shakespeare plays, some middle english stuff by Langland.
> 
> Plee-azure: Step Across This Line by Salman Rushdie (swoon).


I just glanced at the previous pages again, and all I saw was [size=+2]*Wacousta*[/size]. I had to read that for Can Lit. I stopped somewhere within the last ten pages, because I just couldn't take it anymore, so I never did find out how it ends. I bet it includes relatives with exactly the same names and noble savages though.


----------



## rowlam2

i've just started reading war and peace. its one hell of a book already. i'm only in the fifth chaper


----------



## MrTamborineMan

For school:  Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce

For pleasure:  Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs


----------



## strangedaze

Just Read

Traplines by Eden Robinson
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie

Currently Reading

Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town by Stephen Leacock (school)
everything by Shakespeare (school)
The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie


----------



## IamLegend

Started and will finish The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells today.


----------



## huitzil

Reading The House of God by Samuel Shem, crazy crazy book. I recommend it to anyone interested in the field of medicine, or just looking for a trippy read.


----------



## Dancer Preston

I'm reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I really hate it. I just read the synopsis for Coelho's Veronika Decides to Die...wish I got that one instead...Eh, I can get it later. I do work at a bookstore...30% employee discount!


----------



## Cornish Maid

A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon - not one for an quickie!


----------



## aQuaQua

*Dating Werewolves* by Alex Wise, published by Lulu. I find it pretty interesting. Booksie has some excerpts from this book too.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just read:
*The Gates of Sleep* by Mercedes Lackey

Currently Reading:
*Phoenix and Ashes* also by Mercedes Lackey

Both are different versions of fairy-tales. *The Gates of Sleep* is based on *Sleeping Beauty*, and *Phoenix and Ashes* is based on *Cinderella*. The next book in the series, which I'll read after I finish this one, is called *The Wizard of London* and is based on *The Snow Queen*. There's one more book in the series called *The Serpent's Shadow*, but I haven't been able to find it in any book stores. I'll probably end up ordering it.


----------



## JK_Wannabe

I'm mostly into Young Adult fiction (ignores ridicule). I'm trying to get my hands on Terrier by Tamora Pierce right now. I may read Kissing Coffins in the meantime.


----------



## FrankieDWK

Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut

Earlier this week I read :

Take The Connoli by Sarah Vaughn
&
Loaded Dice by John Soares


----------



## Zerath

*The Ersatz Elevator*


----------



## earthman buck

I'm reading some short story collection by Roald Dahl (I think it's called "Tales of the Unexpected").

I'm also re-reading "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for a school project.


----------



## lovefool

A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams for English class


----------



## modified7

Just finished Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, now reading Big Russ and Me by Tim Russert of Meet the Press.....


----------



## paulpark

earthman buck said:
			
		

> I'm also re-reading "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for a school project.


That's an entertaining read!

I've just finished reading "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest". It took me a while to get used to the writer's style but I'm glad I did.


----------



## strangedaze

Just Read

The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie
Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town
As For Me and My Body: A Memoir of Sinclair Ross by Keath Fraser

Reading

As For Me and My House by Sinclair Ross
Skids by Cathleen With
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. 3W by Gabriel Brownstein


----------



## wowzer77

STILL working on War and Peace, got like 500 more pages.

very good though.


----------



## hazel_baby

Project X by Jim Shepard. It's kind of scary...I'm almost done with it.


----------



## playstation60

A Clash of Kings.  Book 2 of the Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin.  

I'm currently at 408 of 969


----------



## jlcjrbal

In the past few months I have read
Thomas Merton's Seven Story Mountain
SHerlock Holmes VOl.1

Before Seven Story Mountain I was on a religious kick or about 4 books. I started the Sherlock holmes in the summer and just lost interest but I am about to finnish Volume 1..  I am hoping to get a few books for christmas so I will see!!!

Some I want to read are Fly Fishing through a mid life crisis,
A Thomas Pynchon book, and I am thinking a  some Frost and possibly getting an AMerican Poetry book....  Z


----------



## ruksak

I'm reading 'The Pig that Wants to be Eaten'  by Julian Baggini and 'Winter Queen' by Boris Akunin.  Both pretty decent departures for me.


----------



## Cornish Maid

Frenchman's Creek by Daphne duMaurier. Nice one for a quick read. And it's local!


----------



## Draconus Nox

im reading the subtle knife- phillip paulman (excuse spelling) AGAIN 

and a non fiction book about sybology and stuff


----------



## Elspeth

*colin leslie dean*

I am reading colin leslie dean. I find his poetry full of vivid images incantatory language meliflorous rythyms and velvet melodies, You can get his poetry free in pdf format vie email from this publisher at this site 



http://gamahucherpress.yellowgum.com/


----------



## teenwriter

I just started The Innocent Man, by John Grisham and just finished another one of Grisham's works--A Painted House


----------



## teenwriter

Oh, and I just finishd Lord of the Flies, for school purposes.  It's an excellent read, very symbolic.


----------



## Magnum Opus

Currently Farenheit 451, just finished the Harry Potter series, and I am also happily wading through the Poetic Edda again.


----------



## teenwriter

Magnum Opus said:
			
		

> Currently Farenheit 451, just finished the Harry Potter series, and I am also happily wading through the Poetic Edda again.



What is Fahrenheit 451 like?  I have to begin reading that next week when I start back at school.


----------



## Magnum Opus

It's actually quite an enjoyable read. I won't go into what it is about because you will figure that out soon enough, but I can say that it is one of the easier reads you may have...as speculative as that statement can be. 

As for what it is like, well it brings to light the importance of certain things, which I am sure is what one of it's original aims were, and it doesn't drone on and on about a particular subject haplessly for paragraphs at a time either. It isa  real to the point story.


----------



## violahotchocolate

I'm reading The Perfect Storm. It's supposed to be really good. But maybe I'm just not getting that much interested in it. Before this book, I was reading "The Pearl"... which in my opinion, wasn't interesting... and the whole want and need thing. Eh. I mean it was good. But the whole time that I read it... it was just a blur. Plus, I tapped into "Feed".


----------



## strangedaze

Just Finished

Natasha and Other Stories by David Bezmozgis

Reading

As For Me and My House by Sinclaid Ross (school)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, 3W by Gabriel Brownstein
Skids by Cathleen With


----------



## huntingtonb

New Orleans, Mon Amour: Twenty Years of Writings from the City  by Andrei Codrescu.

I bought it in New Orleans this week. The author is a NPR commentator and I'm enjoying this book. It's educating me about the history and current state of New Orleans.


----------



## lisajane

Reading 'Anna Karenina'.


----------



## pebbles

Further Under the Duvet by Marian Keyes.  Easy reading for summer.


----------



## audacity

The Wall-Sartre

It's a collection of five short stories, all very shocking. I enjoyed two of them, the rest seemed pretty fucked up and incoherent. I suppose you probably need to understand his philosophy to understand his literature.


----------



## huntingtonb

No Touch Monkey! and Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late
by Ayun Halliday

It's a non-fiction compilation and it's making me smile a lot!


----------



## teenwriter

Now on Fahrenheit451, and I like it a lot!  Even though it is for school, I am enjoying it very much.


----------



## golfprincess

*The doll keeper! its so demented!*


----------



## K-P

451 was a good book; something you could read in a day without straining yourself too much.

I'm reading The Last Light of the Sun by Guy Gavriel Kay. Normally I wouldn't read anything by a guy with the first name of Guy, but this one is pretty good. Subtle hints at magic, a complex world and political systems. Amazing.


----------



## Amber Leaf

im reading 'French Lieutenant's Woman' by John Fowles for my English A level at the moment.

Has anybody read this book? It is the biggest piece of self indulgant, pretencious drivel i have ever read.

How come a book always seems longer if you've GOT to read it?


----------



## Stockholm

Lolita and Hannibal.


----------



## Galder

On a Pale Horse, Piers Anthony

The Outstretched Shadow, Mercedes Lackey


----------



## KarmaVictim

Candide by Voltaire.


----------



## huntingtonb

I'm alternating between a book on Keith Richards, a book about U2 (by U2!), and the latest issue of Traveller magazine.


----------



## Arin

I'm reading Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey---second in the series of Kushiel's Legacy. Dizzying, but good.

Just finished Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides. One of the strangest (and best) books I've ever read. Gave me a new perspective on things.


----------



## teenwriter

I finished Fahrenheit 451 a couple days ago, and just began _The Thirteenth Tale_, by Diane Setterfield.  It is awesome.


----------



## pebbles

Now reading "Last Chance Saloon" by Marian Keyes.  Thats two in a row by the same author.  Its a different genre to what I usually read or write, but I am actually enjoying her writing.  Its an easy read and I relate too well to the characters and their nowhere relationships.


----------



## Cornish Maid

Just starting Utopia by Thomas More.


----------



## Adjective Ocean

False Memory by Dean Koontz. He is such an excellent writer that I've been reading many of his books lately. I am also reading the Dark Tower 5:Wolves of the Calla, for some reason I can't seem to finish it though I am over halfway through the book. I don't know why, as it is well written and entertaining.


----------



## HippyVanMan

I'm reading Lord of the Flies, The gringo Trial (by MArk Mann) and I'm listening too Conrad's Lord Jim. I don't usually read multiple books but Lord of the Flies is going to be featured in my GCSE exam so it's probably a good idea to read it.  The Gringo trial is the best of these three books so far in my opinion, and Lord Jim is the worst because Conrad wastes whole chapters on description.


----------



## Sparx

At the moment, im reading Jonathan Stroud's "The Amulet of Samakand" and its bloody brilliant, lol. Absolutely, by miles, the funniest fantasy book you'll read. I'm currently half-way and its just so original and full of life. And its the first in a trilogy.


----------



## olrayt

Right now I'm halfway thru Phantom, the tenth installment of Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series. Sure, fantasy's not everyone's cup of tea, but I owe the Sword of Truth book something: it's the book that made me love reading!

After this book I'm planning to read The Alchemist.


----------



## Dark Empress Zerai

*I am reading........*

I love to read fantasy, and currently I'm reading Tamora Pierce, Christopher Paolini, Patricia C. Wrede (if you enjoy reading about dragons and princesses who don't want to be princesses, read the Enchanted Forest Chronicles).

I prefer fantasy, but I also enjoy mysterious crime and law novels. Jeffery Deaver, and others, but I do enjoy Deaver's 'Lincoln Rymes' novels. (There is a new one out, but I haven't read it yet. Is it good?)


----------



## G. Palmer

I just finished THE KING OF TORTS by John Grisham. In terms of prose he isn't much, but his plotting and the actual stories being told I find are quite good.

I'm either going on to read THE BIG SLEEP, THE BLACK DAHLIA or THE GODFATHER

Any suggestions on which to read first?


----------



## Akumu

"Sophie's World" by Jostein Gaarder.


----------



## Crews

Sparx said:
			
		

> At the moment, im reading Jonathan Stroud's "The Amulet of Samakand" and its bloody brilliant, lol. Absolutely, by miles, the funniest fantasy book you'll read. I'm currently half-way and its just so original and full of life. And its the first in a trilogy.



So am I! The Amulet of Samarkand, which I am currently reading, is very humorous and still has that mysterious fantasy edge to it. I love this book, and can't wait to get onto the second and third.


----------



## coral

I'm reading:
Istanbul, by Orhan Pamuk - brilliant and the Nobel Prize for Literature Winner last year
When We Were Orphans by, Kazuo Ishiguro, not bad so far


----------



## Starla

I'm about to finish reading 'Light My Fire' by Katie MacAlister for the second time. I haven't got time or money to pay a visit to the bookstore to get new books. I'm all about the paranormal novels.​


----------



## Lanou

Middlesex - Jefferey Eugenides 

I love this book, have read it like 8 times already and I just can't get enough


----------



## cryptika

I just finished "Not Without My Daughter" by Betty Mahmoody and William Hoffer. I'm currently reading "The Magus"by John Fowles.


----------



## DabigJimdogg0

"Old Man and the Sea" By: Ernest Hemmingway, it's for school.


----------



## Archduke Robert of France

"Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo. 

A delightful book so far!


----------



## lisajane

Started and finished 'Eleven Hours' by Paullina Simons today. Not as good as her Bronze Horseman trilogy, but still a fantastic novel. Shall re-read again very soon...


----------



## Faldwin

I am almost finished with Fellowship of the Ring.  I keep leaving it and coming back.  It is a rather difficult read, but I am determined to read it.  I figure I can't truly call myself a fantasy buff without reading LotR.  Then I am going to read the second book in the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan.  That should take me a while as it is very long and I don't have a lot of free time.


----------



## submissive

The Dice Man - Luke Rhinehart

Synopsis
The cult classic that can still change your life...Let the dice decide! This is the philosophy that changes the life of bored psychiatrist Luke Rhinehart -- and in some ways changes the world as well. Because once you hand over your life to the dice, anything can happen. Entertaining, humorous, scary, shocking, subversive, The Dice Man is one of the cult bestsellers of our time.

I nicked the synopsis from Amazon because I couldnt be bothered to write one.


----------



## suicidedesign

James Herbert's latest novel - The Secret of Crickley Hall

The plot is a little cliched (how to you add accents?) and it's a tad lenthy at almost 600 pages. Nevertheless a worthwhile read, certainly not one of his best though, and I've read them all.


----------



## wmd

I am going to read the last 20 pages of Anansi Boys today... I dont know what I will be reading next, there is a lot on my list.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Recently finished:
Frankenstein-Mary Shelley
The Picture of Dorian Gray-Oscar Wilde
The Devil Wears Prada-Lauren Weisberger
The Six Wives of Henry VIII-Alison Weir

Reading:
The Hidden Diary of Marie Antoinette-Carolly Erickson


----------



## Straylight

Recently Finished:

Thinking in Pictures:  A biography of Temple Grandin
The Naked Ape
Eastern Standard Tribe (By Doctorow)

Currently in progress:

Nightwatch, a russian modern-day fantasy piece


----------



## ~Si~

Douglas Adams's Starship Titanic; by [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Helvetica]Terry Jones.[/FONT]


----------



## NyteLyfe

Just finished:

State of Fear - Michael Chrichton
The Husband - Dean Koontz

About to finishL

Deja Dead - Kathy Reichs

Next on the list:

Brother Odd - Dean Koontz


----------



## Holocoz

Just finished:
A Density of Souls by Christopher Rice (see my sig)

Next on my list:
The Dead School by Peter McCabe


----------



## Blossom

Roughly in the middle of _The Crow_ by Alison Croggon


----------



## Varine

Right now I'm reading HP Lovecraft in addition to a bunch of books about fantasy creatures and myths, most of which I have simply forgotten about.


----------



## Renos Babe

the artimis fowl series


----------



## je33ie

Agatha Christie has me enthralled - classic English. No sex, drugs or violence; just admirable men and real ladies.

A must read for all is "Catcher in the Rye". It's a short book that you can read in one sitting (if you're a fast reader...). I couldn't put it down.


----------



## deviger

Ive been reading Seas of Thunder.  Its about the naval war in the Pacific during WWII.  The book has some really great insight on the commanders of both sides.  I recomend it to anyone interested in naval or WWII history.  

Next I think I'll read a fiction book.  What?  I have no idea.  I buy books much faster than I can read them.


----------



## ruksak

Currently reading Eleven Kinds of Loneliness by Richard Yates.  Never read him before, but he is an excellent short story writer - highly recommended.


----------



## Jaspers

Gender Trouble - Judith Butler
Truth and Method - Hans Georg Gadamer

I agree with most of the ideas presented in these books, but good christ are they boring and repetitive!


----------



## tiffie

Stranger in a Strange Land


----------



## Lanex

Am currently reading *Velocity* by Dean Koontz. It's quite boring so far but am hoping it gets better.

My GF is currently reading *Harvest* by Tess Gerritsen.


----------



## Kane

I just started _Nightmares and Dreamscapes_ by Stephen King and _The Darkness that Comes Before_ by R. Scott Bakker


----------



## Amber Leaf

the invisibles by grant morrison. its a graphic novel


----------



## worldboy90

Night Soldiers by Alan Furst. Good read.


----------



## stupid_dream

*Invisible Monsters* by _Chuck Palahniuk_
*Diary* by _Chuck Palahniuk_
*Dandelion Wine* by _Ray Bradbury_
*The Golden Apples of the Sun* by _Ray Bradbury_


----------



## Scott Tuplin

_Remote Control_ by Andy McNab
_A Way of Life - Thirty Years of Blood, Sweat and Tears_ by Reg Kray

And I've just ordered myself a copy of _Hagakure - The Book of the Samurai_.


----------



## Womegolhl

Vagabond - Bernard Cornwell


----------



## salad days

Tietam Brown by Mick Foley


----------



## IJS

Just finished Richard Laymon's *Come Out Tonight*. It read a lot like a teen slasher flick and was only semi-enjoyable. 

I'm about to start *Death Match* by Lincoln Child.


----------



## pebbles

Almost finished 'A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian' by Marina Lewycka.  Its quite an easy read.  

Next on my list is 'Eleven Minutes' by Paulo Coelho, which a friend has highly recommended.


----------



## Dexter67

I'm currently reading *The Historian* by Elizabeth Kostova. 
Great book if you like Dracula//Vampires.
Srsly, the best vampire book since _Dracula_.


----------



## NatureHoldsAnswers

im rereading the Harry Potter series for the last book release in july. =P just started yesterday.


----------



## causefordisaster

Confessions of an Amateur Believer by Patty Kirk

I like it so far.


----------



## TinyMachines

read *beloved* over the weekend. yesterday I read *disgrace* (i really liked it, but i can't figure out why. It reminded me of the book *white noise*.) Today I started *Heart of Darkness* and this weekend I will be reading *Handmaid's Tale*. ( i have been looking forward to another atwood book for so long, but it never fit into my schedule.)

Next week or maybe a few days after I will be reading *As I lay dying*.


----------



## Renos Babe

The midnighter series


----------



## Malkamazing

*:*

The Catcher In The Rye - J.D. Salinger

China's Revolutionary War - Dick Wilson


----------



## movieman

'Bomber' by Len Deighton. It's all becoming a bit of a WWII soap opera, but I can certainly tell that he knows about WWII aviation.

Still, they've finally taken off now so I'm sure they're about to start getting shot down and blowing people up .

Edit: yeah, it definitely sped up in the second half, I started reading it earlier and couldn't stop until I'd finished the book . I guess it needed all he slow buildup in the first half to make that work.


----------



## playstation60

I just finished Outbound Flight, and am rereading Heir to The Empire by Timothy Zahn, because Outbound raised some questions that I can't answer.  I think there might have been a slip in the continuity within Outbound Flight.  Hmmm....Anyhow I forgot how well Heir to The Empire was.  Timothy Zahn can really write!

Eagerly awaiting Dance With Dragons by GRRM


----------



## Foxee

Just finished *Night Watch* (Terry Pratchett) for the second time. Now I'm out of books and going through withdrawl. I desperately want to get my hands on *Brother Odd* (Dean Koontz). *sigh*


----------



## Honeykissfire

Here's what my brain's letting me absorb at ther moment:
_The Best American Erotica 2007 _edited by Susie Bright
_Knife of Dreams _- Robert Jordan
_Dark Side of the Moon _- Sherrilyn Kenyon
_The Assassin's Touch_ - Laura Joh Rowland
_The Fiery Cross _- Diana Gabaldon
and a bunch of manga

No wonder I spend so little time writing......


----------



## Edgewise

Just finished Bukowski's "Ham on Rye" for the second time, and started on "Notes of a Dirty Old Man".


----------



## Lanex

I've just moved on to *1st to Die* by James Patterson now.

I think Patterson is a top author and great at what he does.


----------



## Lance

Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix (Yes I still read children books).


----------



## Sir Jorah

"The Prestige", by Christopher Priest.  Fantastic book, wonderful movie, brilliant plot, and amazing characters.  I highly suggest it.


----------



## TinyMachines

Lance said:
			
		

> Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix (Yes I still read children books).


 I am sure almost everyone here reads harry potter.

I am reading _The Handmaid's Tale_ *by* Margaret Atwood.


----------



## stupid_dream

Lance said:
			
		

> Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix (Yes I still read children books).


I love Harry Potter =P~

I just read *The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time* by _Mark Haddon_ in less than two hours...I loved it.

I'm reading *If I Die in a Combat Zone* by _Tim O'Brien_ now.


----------



## red lantern

_Judas Unchained_ by Peter F Hamilton, I picked it up while on holday and began to read it and loved it. But it was book 2 of 2 so I had to stop, read the 1st one (_Pandora's Star_) and start again, great book.


----------



## Due on Maple Street

Right now I'm reading Lisey's Story by Stephen King, excellent. Before that The Witch of Cologne by Tobsha Learner. I read all over the place, You will Know our Velocity by Dave Eggers, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foers, Gulag by Anne Applebaum, next up is a medical narrative called Stiff. I'm really up to almost anything. For a good laugh and a light read sometimes I read Vicki Lewis Thompson's nerd books. And for the brave House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. For the poetry minded Saul Williams said the Shotgun to the Head. In fantasy its all about David Gemmel.
Sometimes I feel like Burgess Meredith from the Twilight Zone Episode, Time Enough at Last. As much as I love to read all sorts of stuff there are other things, some I enjoy, some not so much so. But all those listed above should be given a read.


----------



## CircusFolk

I'm reading _Dune_ by Frank Herbert and _Jack Absolute_ by C.C Huphreys


----------



## Lanex

TinyMachines said:
			
		

> I am sure almost everyone here reads harry potter.



I've never read them....:---)

Just started *Kiss The Girls* by James Patterson now.


----------



## WriterDude

CircusFolk said:
			
		

> I'm reading _Dune_ by Frank Herbert and _Jack Absolute_ by C.C Huphreys


 
I started reading it, but bought the movie and mini-series instead as well as Children of Dune mini-series, all on DVD. Just don't have time to read much books. :roll: 

I used to love Harry Potter, but got bored after the fourth book. Somehow finished the fifth one, but never bothered with the sixth and seventh.

Currently reading: H.P. Lovecraft Omnibus 1-3 (more or less every story he ever wrote)


----------



## silentmockery

currently reading _Tropic of Orange_ by Karen Tei Yamashita, anyone else read that?


----------



## christinec1

i have 4 on the go.....

the apprentice by tess gerritsen
shadow in the wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Female chauvinist pigs by ariel Levi
the most evil women in history by Shelley Klein

was going to start hide by lisa gardner but thought about the 4 i hadnt finished


----------



## Stewart

Due on Maple Street said:
			
		

> Right now I'm reading Lisey's Story by Stephen King, excellent.


 
Be sure to add your thoughts on _that_ over here.


----------



## MrPenguin589

Current reading = The Dark Half by Stephen King


----------



## Loulou

I decided to step out of my comfort zone and read something I normally wouldn't.  

I picked a book up in the library called 'Cold Skin' by Albert Sanchez Pinol that is described as "a fabulous dark gem of a book, in equal parts thriller, science fiction and historical novel."  Since I don't read much sci-fi or historical fiction I thought I was killing two birds with one stone, so to speak.

And it's utterly absorbing.  I read the first chapter just in the queue awaiting the librarians stamp.  Nothing like I've read and I'm so excited.


----------



## Xx Kane xX

Quite a few books.

Franz Kafka Short Stories, The Count of Monte Cristo & The Odyssey


----------



## lisajane

Tatiana's Table - Paullina Simons


----------



## strangedaze

Just Finished

Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
As For Sinclair Ross by David Stouck
Buddha Stevens and Other Stories by Stephen Hayward

Reading

The Gloves by Robert Anansi
The Devil and Sonny Liston by Nick Tosches 
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller


----------



## sierra alpha

Currently:

Middleton & Dekker - _The Roaring Girl_
Thomas Pynchon - _The Crying of Lot 49_

Love the Pynchon - twisting, turning, metafictional, absurd, abstract, philosophical detective mystery. It's really really good - but don't let its narrow spine fool you, there's a hell of a lot of stuff in there, and it's all very clever. It's like what _The Da Vinci Code_ tried to be but failed oh so miserably.

Read it.


----------



## MaryAuksi

I'm actually reading "Romeo & Juliet" by W. Shakespeare right now. I kinda got into Shakespeare for no reason whatsoever... And I really like "Romeo & Juliet". Although it gets me all poet-y and I start to think in rhymes


----------



## sierra alpha

MaryAuksi said:
			
		

> I'm actually reading "Romeo & Juliet" by W. Shakespeare right now. I kinda got into Shakespeare for no reason whatsoever... And I really like "Romeo & Juliet". Although it gets me all poet-y and I start to think in rhymes



Ha, I do that too. I always end up spouting verse when I read The S'peare.


----------



## Blood_Writer

Im reading 'Lord Loss' by Darren Shan at the moment.

Ive just finished the 'Maximum Ride series'.
Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment
Maximum Ride: School's Out forever

By James Patterson.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished: Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

I loved this book so much!

About to start: The Arabian Nights


----------



## silverwriter

The Inevitable Roundness of Everything by Chris Miller

...and a bunch of other books on writing.


----------



## Mira

Currently reading a book that was recommended to me, Ireland by Frank Delaney. It's so radically different from the books I generally read, but I'm really enjoying it. For anyone who's curious as to what it's about, it's basically a tale of storytellers in Ireland, incorporating elements of Irish history with modern day Dublin. Only thing I have to criticize is that the historical aspects of the story are sometimes a bit tedious, makes this book a bit of a slow read. But Delaney's way of describing characters and setting makes it totally worth it. Absolutely a book I would recommend!!


----------



## RobH

I'm currently reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.


----------



## Blood_Writer

Im currently reading the 3rd book in the Power of Five series by Horowitz (writer of Alex Rider)


----------



## The girl left behind...

I'm reading New Moon by Stephenie Meyer....  I Love it!!!!


----------



## Tsaeb XIII

I'm currently trying to find a book to read, while re-reading every other book I own. Oh, and a senior high school Biology textbook.


----------



## IsEverybodyIn89

*Differents*

Im in the middle of The Tale of Two Cities by Dickens. According to my english teacher, the beginning and the end are great but the middle isnt. Its unfortunate by I like it. Edgar Allen Poe and all his greatest works. Lisey's Story by Stephen King- ONE OF HIS GREATEST. His maturity is shown through and I think if he ends on this, he can only go lower. The Mad Among Us, by Gerald Grob, an interesting insight into the insane history.


----------



## RobH

I've just recently completed a copy of Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman and loved it. The pages are full to the brim with captivating characters and a haunting world that'll keep you guessing.  The scariest part of all was knowing that the story would eventually come to an end. For those that have read it, the last chapter was the most shocking of them all.

*Spoiler alert...*

If Richard had stayed in London above, I'd have thrown the book into a bucket and lit it on fire. 

----------

Started today - Stardust by Neil Gaiman


----------



## cryptika

Just finished "Disgrace" by J.M. Coetzee. Now I'm reading "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov.


----------



## TheCrow

I bought a book recently but haven't got round to reading it yet. '48 by James Herbert.


----------



## wittyusernamehere

Right now, I'm reading "The Fourth Bear," by Jasper Fforde.


----------



## TinyMachines

cryptika said:
			
		

> Just finished "Disgrace" by J.M. Coetzee..


 wasn't that book awesome!?
I am reading *A Room of One's Own* by Virginia Woolf. It's actually a lecture she gave.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

The girl left behind... said:
			
		

> I'm reading New Moon by Stephenie Meyer....  I Love it!!!!



I'm reading the exact same thing! It's great, isn't it?


----------



## RobH

wittyusernamehere said:
			
		

> Right now, I'm reading "The Fourth Bear," by Jasper Fforde.


Are you enjoying it? I've been meaning to pick up The Eyre Affair for a long while now.


----------



## Crazed Scribe

I'm reading physik by Angie Sage


----------



## RobH

Completed: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Started: Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman


----------



## bob rulz

I am about 135 pages through "Ender's Game" by Orson Scott Card. Awesome book, I can see why it's so highly-praised.


----------



## wis3on3

Dracula-Bram Stoker.
I'm reading it for a C.E.L. (Critical Evaluation of Literature) in English. It's quite interesting, but it hasn't really 'drawn' me in...


----------



## ActivateMyAccount

Life of Pi - Yann Martel.

It's incredible.


----------



## Foxee

Life Expectancy by Dean Koontz (friend of mine had finished it and still had time left on the library loan. ) I'm really enjoying it but it might not be for everyone.


----------



## Lyonidus

wizards first rule-terry goodkind.

But i have to finish it and begin revision tomorrow (tear leaks out of eye)


----------



## strangedaze

*Just Finished*

The Gloves by Robert Anasi

*Reading*

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Broken Ground by Jack Hodgins


----------



## Isabella .M.

I just finished 
Esperanza Rising By Pam Munroz Ryan


----------



## JohnPatrick

*In a way I'm in a reading slump, yet I read several chapters every day.*

I've settled into a sort of research mode.  I'm not reading fantasy, fiction, drama, or anything that would be considered recreational reading.

I've tired.  Beleive me I've tried picking up an Asminov book, only to put it back down to replace it with a book on php or CSS.  I've even spent my writing time typing in the ebay powersellers forum, or the zen cart forum, answering questions for those who have accumulated less knowledge than I have on any paticular subject.

I'm begining to wonder if forums, not this one of course, are detrimental to the output of real work.  Am I wasting my muse's energy by putting all of the effort in helping others, or simply typing out my opinions on a forum?

I suppose, if you look at it deep enough, we all get paid to write in forums.  I know that my muse is getting paid right now.  After all when I stumbled accross the google link to this forum my muse simply jumped for joy.  No really!  My wife who sits accross from me at her desk diligantly working on our ebay store looked up and said..."What?".  I stumbeled out the word a forum and she rolled her eyes and painted that all knowing smirk on face that she gets when she feels that I'm wasting precious time.

The manor that we get paid is interaction and recognition.  That ever important third post thanking us for answering a cry for help.  Yes, it's just as important as post number 649 to a question post that after hundreds of post the question was still unanswered.

In any case.  I'm reading the following books.
PHP and MySQL
Google, The missing manual.  You gotta read this one.
Google Hacks, only read this one if you have an understanding of html, php, mysql, and are willing to simply make your muse sick.
The art of intarsia, so that I can make more products to sell.
The Marshal Plan for novel writing
e-start your Web Store with Zen Cart
XML in 24 hours, (I haven't finished it yet, and it's been about 3 months now...Ok, Ok!  Carol just reminded me that I had that very same book at the bottom of my "currently reading" stack which I purchased 5 months ago)
The Hummingbird Garden
Various articles on attracting wild birds to your back yard.  I write these too, but you have to keep up you know.


----------



## Mike C

Reading Defending Violet by Jennifer Louise Jefferson. It's a good book, but what's really so cool about it is, half way through, I thought "I wonder why she wrote that?"

As she's a client of mine (the hardback copy I have is signed by her) I was able to email her and ask. How cool is that?


----------



## Hakeem

[ot]What's cool if you can fix the link to your blog.[/ot]


----------



## Mike C

Off topic: The blog wasn't very interesting anyway.


----------



## Edgewise

"The Defense"  by Vladmir Nabokov.  It's about a chess prodigy (probably autistic) who goes insane.


----------



## RobH

I'm now reading...

*WICKED - The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West* by Gregory Maguire


----------



## Svalbard

At the moment I have a few books on the go.

I am re-reading a favourite of mine called King Hereafter by Dorothy Dunnett.
The others I am reading at the moment are Lionheart and Lackland by Frank McLynn and Imperium by Robert Harris.


----------



## Mike

Edgewise said:
			
		

> "The Defense" by Vladmir Nabokov. It's about a chess prodigy (probably autistic) who goes insane.


 
There's a movie based off the book called the "Luzhin Defense," with John Turturro. I thought it was quite good. But of course, you should finish the book first.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

*Dragonworld* by Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves


----------



## still_flying

Um... Gerald's Game by Stephen King, The Golden Hawk by Frabnk Yearby, Island by Dan Sleigh, Huckleberry Fin by Mark Twain, and the Mutiny on the Bounty by Nordhoff and Hall.

Because I never grab the same book twice in the morning.


----------



## gÃ¼lÃ¼mse

Jean chrisctophe grange's-L'Empire des Loups


----------



## LadyPenelope

I'm re-reading a couple of books at the moment. I'm reading Angels and Demons by Dan Brown and Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. The His Dark Materials triology that Northern Lights comes from are some of my favourite books. Lyra is such an amazing character. I actually met Philip Pullman a couple of years ago, but I was really dissapointed. He was so pompous! Never meet your heros!


----------



## darcy

I am reading Firestarter by Stephen King. It's a kinda like the movie, but more intense. (Books have more detail)


----------



## Deleted member 14306

War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

I need to finish this book already.


----------



## Rahvin

*Knife Of Dreams* by Robert Jordan. Well, actually, I just finished that, so now I'm reading *Eisenhorn* by Dan Abnett.


----------



## riversource

Steve Mcqueen : Portrait of an American Rebel by Marshall Terrill.

It's cool learning more about the films and stuff but i'm not sure if i really want to know just how much of an arsehole the cooler king was.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished: *Dragonworld* by Byron Priess and Michael Reaves 

Now reading: *The Thirteenth Tale* by Diane Setterfield


----------



## Short Tooth

*The Castle* by Kafka. Read it you uncultured swines!


----------



## WriteStuff

I'm currently reading _The Fires of Heaven_ by Robert Jordan.  I'm going to read _The Dosadi Experiment_ by Frank Herbet next.


----------



## Rahvin

Ah, *Fires of Heaven*... Such a good book...


Finished *Eisenhorn*, now I'm reading *This Other Eden* by Ben Elton


----------



## Pneumonia In Effect

*The Burn Journals* by _Brent Runyon_
*All of your guys's* posts by _You_


----------



## Short Tooth

Damn Rahvin!24 hours to read a book? What's in that drinking water over there fella.


----------



## Rahvin

What can I say, I'm a quick reader...

Helped a lot when we had to study books in secondary school (1 lesson reading the book, 2 months dossing while the rest of the (unfortunately,  mostly stupid) class catches up)! Seriously, in my English class there were about three or four people that should actually have been in the *top* set, the average grade for the rest of them (for the coursework) was about an F-. Not good at all... but that's Granville for you.


----------



## strangedaze

*Just Read*

Memories of My Meloncholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Broken Ground by Jack Hodgins

*Reading*

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters


----------



## heatherlouise

i am just about to start reading Hanibal by Thomas Harris.  the other books he has wrote were excellent so  cannot wait to start reading it.
Heather


----------



## Rahvin

Just finished *This Other Eden*, now reading *Reaper of Souls* by Dan Abnett and Mike Lee (new book for once, yay!)


----------



## Lanex

heatherlouise said:
			
		

> i am just about to start reading Hanibal by Thomas Harris.  the other books he has wrote were excellent so  cannot wait to start reading it.
> Heather



I was going to read that book but got put off by how small the text was and how many pages there were. I may actually get round to reading it one day though.

Am currently reading *Lightning* by *Dean Koontz*. Am only at the start of the book but it's quite a good read already and gives the promise of being a good read.


----------



## Lyonidus

Salamander-thomas wharton


----------



## G. Palmer

About halfway through To Kill A Mockingbird.


----------



## rosenthalpiano

I'm trying (yes, trying being the keyword) to tackle *Bleak House* by Charles Dickens. It's quite a difficult read, I'm finding.


----------



## Banzai

I'm on to the last book in Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series (strangely enough, itself entitled "The Dark Tower"). At about 250 pages in, it's keeping up the standard of the series, but is a lot more fast paced than the previous six (although, having said that, perhaps it isn't any more fast paced than book six...). At any rate, it's damn good so far, and I'm looking forward to finding out what happens at the end of the series.


----------



## Destroyer

Not reading one at the moment but just finished Colony by Rob Grant.


----------



## Rahvin

Heh heh, Colony. Funny book.

Now reading *Blood and Gold: The Vampire Marius* by Anne Rice (for - like all my books - about the fifth or sixth time...)


----------



## Rob

I just finished Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut, enjoyed it.

Cheers,
Rob


----------



## S-wo

I'm currently reading the Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, but I can't say if I like it yet. What irks me is the lack of description in the author's writing I still don't know what the main character looks like except that it's a girl, no age, hair color or anything. I've read the first 10 pages.


----------



## William_Goffspeare

Today I started Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God". It's an assignment for school, but hopefully I'll find it interesting.


----------



## Banzai

S-wo said:
			
		

> I'm currently reading the Golden Compass by Philip Pullman, but I can't say if I like it yet. What irks me is the lack of description in the author's writing I still don't know what the main character looks like except that it's a girl, no age, hair color or anything. I've read the first 10 pages.


 

The first book is a little slow, but if you stick with it then it gets much better. The third book is one of the best books I've read.


----------



## heatherlouise

well, i am nearly half way through Hanibal by Thomas Harris and i am truely enjoying it.  his books are by far some of the best i have read, although his writing stye cofuses me slightly.  the books are written in past tense, but every now and then there is a little bit in present, or even in second person for a chapter.  i can't decide if i like it or if it annoys me.  good read though.
Heather


----------



## J.S.S

I'm currently reading Glamorama by Bret Easton Ellis.


----------



## novu

I am reading:_

Mao: The Unknown Story - Jung Chang

The Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass - Stephen King

A Spy in the House of Love - Anais Nin

_Also trying to get through the sixth Harry Potter book, but I've found it increasingly more difficult to read.


----------



## FictionFan

The Way The Crow Flies by Ann-Marie Macdonald.  So far it's really good!


----------



## raymondstary

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency.


----------



## Tandy

Just finished reading *The Chemistry Of Death* by Simon Beckett. For a debut novel i must say i was pleasantly surprised and would recommend it to any crime/thriller fans, espcially those with a forensics interest.

Currently reading Malicious Intent by Kathryn Fox


----------



## Rahvin

Knife Of Dreams - Robert Jordan (again. I need to get some new books...)


----------



## velo

Blindness by José Saramago.  The style is unique and a touch disconcerting.  There are no quotes around dialog and it's often a part of a larger sentence.  I've only just started, but I think I will enjoy it.....


----------



## Trevor Miller

I am currently readint The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe, and I will have to say that it is probably the best book  I have ever read. On the surface, it seems a simple, and almost boring/complicated book. But while reading, I have found it to be one of those books that is beyond the capacity of most human beings. It has many deeper meanings, and genius is in every sentence.

Look it up on the internet,
Trevor


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished *The Thirteenth Tale* by Diane Setterfield. I highly recommend this book, it is amazing!

Currently reading *The Children of Hurin* by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien.


----------



## J.S.S

Just finished Glamorama and started Sherlock Holmes A Study In Scarlet.


----------



## Lyonidus

"A fighters heart" - Sam Sheridan.

Its unbelievable, i have only read a bit as i got it during my lunch break at work and sneaked a few minutes of reading but it seems brilliant.


----------



## J.S.S

Finished A Study in Scarlet and am now a quarter way through "Tragically I was an Only Twin" the complete Peter Cook.


----------



## paperhanger

Night by Elie Wiesel for class and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.


----------



## Rahvin

"Horus Rising" by Dan Abnett.


----------



## zedusk

The Dune Series by Frank Herbert.

The first book changed my life and actually was what inspired me to become a writer. I just finished book four and I have to say the next three sequels don't have the magic for me the first one did but they are still amazing. He not only explores but seems to temporarily become a part of the different aspects of his stories. I can't explain it with my limited command of the language but if you can chew and swallow the words, you should read them. The first one, you should definitely read before you die if you get the chance.

Edit: (very science fictiony)


----------



## Short Tooth

Just bought 'Londonstani' by Gautum Malkani. 60 pages in and really enjoying it. If I can use the word 'enjoy'. It's a sometimes humorous but often scary expose on the Asian youth in London. It's about a machismo mindset obsessed with consumption. Extremely perceptive writing for someone who's meant to be ten years outside the loop.


----------



## Queen_Bee

I'm reading _Roots  _by Alex Haley for a Civil War unit in my language arts class.  We're going to have to be each others slaves for a week and there are a lot of idiots in my class.  I'm scared.  It's a good book so far though.


----------



## SophisticatedMomma

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury


----------



## Banzai

Having at last finished the Dark Tower series (only took me about a year and a half, first book to last- not bad considering i didn't read them all in one go) I've been recommended this strange book called _Tamar,_  by Mal Peet. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a children's book, but it's about the Dutch resistance in WWII, something which I know woefully little about. So far it's fairly interesting.


----------



## ruksak

The Books in My Life by Henry Miller - again.  Love Miller.


----------



## strangedaze

Just Read

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters
The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke by Steven Hayward
The Cure for Death by Lightening by Gail Anderson-Dargatz

Reading

One Hundred Years of Solitude by GG Marquez
Living to Tell the Tales by GG Marquez
Diane Arbus: A Biography by Patricia Bosworth
Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures by Vincent Lam


----------



## Savia

Just finished off _Un Lun Dun_, a "children's" novel in the same way that Alice in Wonderland is- a terrific and exciting book with more imagination and invention, true original invention, than any other 'serious' attempt at fantasy I've read in years.  Every time China Mieville writes something, I'm more impressed than before.

I'm now going on to a good old classic: the ever undefinable _Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid_ by Douglas R. Hofstadter.  I couldn't (and wouldn't) dare to try to encapsulate what this non-fiction book is about, save to say that it changes life and that it is perfect.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Still reading *The Children of Hurin*, but now I'm also reading *Water for Elephants* by Sarah Gruen.


----------



## strangedaze

my prof taught sarah gruens mom.


----------



## strangedaze

Lyonidus said:
			
		

> "A fighters heart" - Sam Sheridan.
> 
> Its unbelievable, i have only read a bit as i got it during my lunch break at work and sneaked a few minutes of reading but it seems brilliant.



i just read that. i love how he travels, like, everywhere. i was bummed out about the kung fu section, but his stint with the noguiera bros - gold.


----------



## cryptika

Just finished _The Metamorphosis _by Franz Kafka -- loved it. Now reading _An Imaginary Life_ by David Malouf.


----------



## JK_Wannabe

I am currently reading _A Pagan's Nightmare_ by Ray Blackston. It's mmm'kay.


----------



## Kaila

I'm currently reading _Dreams of Steel_ by Glen Cook. I have to say its no where near as good as his earlier stuff, but thats just opinion.


----------



## Rahvin

Magi'i of Cyador by L.E Modesitt Jr. Unusually, it's written in the present tense. And, even more unusually, it works.


----------



## Savia

L.E. Modesitt's work is on my 'to re-read and finish off' list.  He's very interesting and different to most fantasy authors, despite the actual content of his world being fairly standard.


----------



## Mike C

Now nearing the end of 'All the Names' by Jose Saramago. 

It's brilliant, stunning, but should be approached only by serious, experienced readers.


----------



## Hakeem

I'm trying to finish the Kite Runner, which I had started ages ago but never got to finishing it.

It's quite disappointing nearing the end - even _I_ could tell that it has flaws.


----------



## ProudestMonkey

Just read:
Gilead by Marilynne Robinson
The Known World by Edward P. Jones
Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

The first two MUCH better than Middlesex. I didn't enjoy it very much.


----------



## SeattleCPA

I feel kind of sheepish about this, given all the serious stuff some of you are reading, but I picked up a couple of Rex Stouts and a Dick Francis at the used bookstore in Duvall, Washington last week...


----------



## ProudestMonkey

Nothing wrong with Rex Stout! I've only read Black Orchird but it was an entertaining book.

What are the titles of those books?


----------



## starStuff

i've got about four books half finished. but the one im focusing on, and determined to finish soon, is Wicked by Gregory Macguire.

its a great book so far, gives the whole "back story" to the wizard of oz. specifically about how the wicked witch became so wicked...


----------



## Reluctant Hero

Just finished Hangover Square by Patrick Hamilton.

Made me want a drink!


----------



## Rob

Just finishing Arthur C Clarke's _Rendezvous With Rama_. Before that, Philip Roth's _The Dying Animal_.

Cheers,
Rob


----------



## Gres

I just finished Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions. R.I.P. Mr. Vonnegut

I read a lot of non-fiction but I am just now getting to Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point.


----------



## Stewart

_A Tragic Honesty: The Life And Works Of Richard Yates_, Blake Bailey


----------



## bexyb

Relics, by Shaun Hutson, nice and gory!!


----------



## Abscon

I've been cut off computers for the whole weekend, so I finished:

Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
High Fidelity               - Nick Hornby


----------



## Rob

Abscon said:
			
		

> Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke


Just finished it too, and found it disappointing.

Cheers,
Rob


----------



## BecauseYoureWorthIt

'Invisible Monsters' by Chuck Palahniuk, I love pretty much everything he writes.


----------



## heatherlouise

The Wolves Of Wilbury Chase.  not too sure who wrote it, the book is upstairs and i am down here, haha.  i also started The Historian but it is so boring i have put it back now.  it just goe on and on.  but i promise i will read it fully some day (it is the third time i have started to read it and got bored, lol.)
Heather


----------



## sixlivesdown

Against the Day, Pynchon.

A real head-ful, that book is. Its taken me about three months to hit 200 pages. But worth it, I think


----------



## Laurel Chesnutt

"The Anglo- Ameircan Establishment" by Carrol Quigly.

and

"American Short Story Masterpieces"


----------



## Chris Stevenson

Just finished Enders Game...and don't shoot me, but I wasn't all that impressed.  It's different, but the kids are bouncing off the walls for 250 pages, okay.  I saw the end coming too.  It might have been fine printed back there in its day, but nothing really hooked me hard up front like a tarpon and dragged me screaming to the end.  

Reading Meg right now.  It's about a...ready for this...a megalodon shark that's twice the size of the jaws creature, Bruce.  Oh well...these are hand-me-down books.

Somebody recommended James Rollins.  I like adventure so I think I'm goin to try one out.

Chris


----------



## black_tie

I'm reading a bunch right now. : p

The Talisman- by Stephen King: For fun Its a great book to read.  I'm in love with King.  

The Great Gatsby- F Scott Fitzgerald: For AP Lit.

And...

Charles Darwin: The origin of the Species- For AP lit.  ITs a killer, though very interesting.


----------



## strangecs

A. A. Attanasio's _The Dragon and the Unicorn _and Michael Faber's _The Crimson Petal and the White._


----------



## Achilles

Macbeth, Shakespeare (just for fun)

The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (because Steinbeck is amazing)

The Iliad, Homer (because Greek warriors are more amazing)

The House at Pooh Corner, A.A. Milne (for old time's sake)


----------



## Trave_xx

I'll post the books I have and plan to read/am reading for the summer:
(Currently on vacation, so I don't have the authors' names with me)

The Iliad, Homer.
The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas.
Life of Pi, ???.
Haunted, Chuck Palahniuk.
The Odyssey, Homer.
Gathering Blue, ???. 
Eldest, Cristopher something.

The last two I have never gotten around to finishing because I lost the book and found it again, or lost complete interest, respectively.

Edit: Forgot the fairy tale ones.
Wicked
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Son of A Witch

Forgot author.


----------



## sixlivesdown

Taking (another) hiatus to let my brain re-grow from Pynchon, and so I'm reading _Infinite Jest_, David Foster Wallace, which is an amazing book that I've read twice already and get something new out of everytime I read it. One of the only works of fiction that I've read that uses endnotes to such a fantastic degree.


----------



## Stewart

_The Road_, Cormac McCarthy


----------



## Mike C

Now reading JG Ballard's Kingdom Come (absolute genius).


----------



## WordWeaver

The Inferno, Dante Alighieri
The Odyssey, Homer
Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson
The Gunslinger, Steven King
Battle Royale, Koushun Takami


----------



## Sundown

The Hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy - Adams
The Robot Novels - Asimov
House of Leaves - Danielewski
American Gods - Gaiman
Black House - King/Straub

Plus a few random short stories by Bradbury every now and again.


----------



## playstation60

A Game of Thrones - George RR Martin (second read through, biding time till Dance of Dragons)

Dark Force Rising - Timothy Zahn (millionth read through, just because I'm bored)

That's about it, really.


----------



## Leyline

Just finished: _Caretakers_ Tabitha King. Well constructed and observed, if a bit rushed in places and dragging in others. The intricate flashback structure is used as a device to reveal deeper layers of both depravity and heartbreak. Nice local color.

_Hannibal Rising_ Thomas Harrison. Darkly enjoyable, like the rest of the series. Not quite up to the psychopera of _Hannibal_, but slyly energetic, funny and engrossing.

Up next: _A Widow For One Year_ John Irving.


----------



## jtassinaro

Just finished _Two Little Girls in Blue_ by Mary Higgins Clark (some what dissapointing.)

Next up _Dracula _Bram Stoker


----------



## mbolton29@mac.com

I just started _Anil's Ghost_ which is my summer reading for school
I am also reading _All the King's Men_ and _On the Road_ just for a little light fun.


----------



## Hodge

_Mexico_ - James Michener


----------



## lisajane

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Getting ready for the movie and latest book.


----------



## strangedaze

*Reading*

Mother Night by Kurt Vonnegut
The Secret Fruit of Peter Paddington by Brian Francis


----------



## mollie

I've recently finished reading Street Kid by Judy Westwater.


----------



## Nefieslab

Just finishing The Dark Half and will soon be starting The Stand


----------



## not_a_ninja

Right now I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck), Of Human Bondage (Somerset Maugham), and Bluebeard (Kurt Vonnegut).


----------



## FoggyImagination

I'm reading Notes from Underground - Dostoevsky... again, and Candide - Voltaire.


----------



## Funwriter

Chrispin,

have you read the Star Wars books by Timothy Zahn?  I did many years ago, and found them to be totally engrossing.

FW


----------



## Leyline

Leyline said:
			
		

> Up next: _A Widow For One Year_ John Irving.



The first section is solid and enjoyable. The novel goes downhill after that, becoming yet another variation on Irving's pet themes: older women, obsession with a sport, a rape, writers (in this case, a woman writer writing about women writers), 'unexpected' deaths, betrayal by friends, etc.  I managed to get through it mainly because Irving writes an entertaining line of prose. Nothing he hasn't done several times before, though -- and better.

Up next: _Alone Against Tomorrow_ Harlan Ellison

...and tomorrow is library day.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished *Beauty* by Robin McKinley. It's a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, and I really enjoyed it.

Now reading *Jane Eyre* bye Charlotte Bronte. It's very good so far.

Next up *Anna Karenina* by Leo Toltstoy, which was recommended to me by a friend.


----------



## CroZ

1984 (Orwell) and Soul Music (Pratchet).


----------



## Funwriter

I am knee deep into The Physician by Noah Gordon. This is a damn good book.

I recommend it fully.


----------



## Leyline

_Counting Heads_ Dave Marusek


----------



## Golden

_The secret of crickley hall_ by James Herbert


----------



## Crazy_dude6662

i just finished 
Twillight Children by Torey Hayden
and i am now moving onto
A Bit of Book or A Book of Bits by Spike Milligan (i think thats the order of the title lol)


----------



## bunnybadass

i'm reading:
Friday by Robert A. Heinlein
The Well World Books by Jack Chalker
Dance Band on The Titanic by Jack Chalker 
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Garcia Marquez (for the tenth time lol) 

i'm reading a lot of scifi because my dad was telling me about all these great scifi authors and their awesome books all of which he owns (in their various stages of falling apart)  and throwing in some magical realism (which i was introduced to in one of my classes and kind of fell in love with)


----------



## Skoosh

I'm kinda waiting, no scratch that, dying on the floor roling around in a torrent of agony until the next book in the "Young Wizards" seris by Diane Duane comes out. it's an awsome seris.


----------



## strangecs

Am about to finish Kushiel's Justice (just got it!!) and then on to Wicked


----------



## jtassinaro

Finished Bam Stoker's "Dracula"

Now I'm in the middle of "The Journal of Professor Abraham Van Helsing"   Edited with critical commentary by Professor Allen C. Kupfer

After that, "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams.


----------



## Queen_Bee

I finally got around to The Wheel of Time, I'm reading the second one now.


----------



## Yustynn

I just finished reading maximum ride 1, 2 and 3, in the past two days. Wow I don't usually read _that_ much. Anyway, great series, and now it's my favourite


----------



## Rahvin

I just finished _The Riftwar Saga_ (_Magician, Silverthorn, _and_ A Darkness at Sethanon_), by Raymond E Fiest.


----------



## ryangt

Enjoying the last 100 pages of Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden, then it's on to The Stand.


----------



## Leyline

_To The White Sea_ James Dickey

Holy shit what a book. Vicious and poetic, focused, scary, moving, almost painful in its immediacy. Muldrow is one of the most fascinating characters I've ever encountered in a novel. 

During a raid on Tokyo in the closing days of WWII, a B-29 is shot down. The talented tailgunner, Muldrow, is the only survivor, managing to bail out into the heart of Tokyo.

Muldrow is an Alaskan, a man from the Brooks Range who identifies more with animals than people. Left on his own in enemy territory, Muldrow heads north, the only concept he truly understands.

Early in the novel Muldrow is asked 'Does it bother you to kill people?' 

'No,' he replies. 'It's what I'm here to do.'

The rest of the book is an examination of that animalistic statement, as Muldrow is forced to become more deeply animal than he knew himself to be. 

Amazing stuff.


----------



## lisajane

The Dreamers by Gilbert Adair. A personal favourite, re-reading.


----------



## raymondstary

"Player Piano" by Kurt Vonnegut
Just finished "Lone Survivor" by Marcus Luttrell (non-fiction)


----------



## Stewart

Currently reading _Lovers Or Something Like It_ by Florian Zeller and will then be moving on to _Light Years_ by James Salter.


----------



## Amour

In search of lost time - Marcel Proust


----------



## missmojorising

"One" 
Richard Bach.






*Review
*"Instead of soaring and diving though space, passengers on this flight must be prepared to cruise slowly, making several stops to look at their motivation and lifestyles as the Bachs look at their own." -- _Detroit Free Press_. 



"This is a strange and thought-provoking fantasy from the man who gave us _Jonathan Livingston Seagull_ and _Illusions_, one that is imaginative, playful, and in places, startling in concept." -- _The Anniston Star_. 

http://www.amazon.com/One-Richard-Bach/dp/044020562X


----------



## Loulou

I'm reading The Collins Book of Travel Stories which includes tales by such people as Edith Wharton, Charles Dickens, Evelyn Waugh and Anthony Trollope.  I'm also reading Michael Palin's Full Circle again, as well as Michael Crichton's Timeline.  I'm working my way through reading the whole Narnia series aloud to my seven year old daughter which is really taking me back to my childhood.


----------



## almostfamous1286

I'm currently reading a book called "Assassin" by Anna Meyers that I picked up at a book fair a year or two ago at school.
It's about John Wilkes Booth. *shrugs* It's alright. A very easy read, though.

I need to go to the library and pick up another one, though.


----------



## MA5Bergey

I'm currently reading _Without Remorse _by Tom Clancy.  I'm about 500 pages in (its 750 pages long) and I'm loving it so far.  Then again, I pretty much love all of his novels that I have read (I'm talking about the ones he actually wrote, not the "Tom Clancy's" books written by other authors).


----------



## Chris Stevenson

I'm read MEG by Steve Alten.  It's about a huge Megalodon shark that terrorizes a marine park facility.  Sound familiar?  Why oh why does this sound like a Jaws ripoff?  Probably because it is, eh.  Just coming in with a bigger sharkie.  It should have been titled MEH.

Just discovered James Rollins, and am reading Subterranean.  Not bad, but pretty mediocre, since I believe this was his first book.  His Excavation was much better, better voice and style.  He's an action writer, no mistake about it.  Lots of physical movement and environment description. 

Chris


----------



## Mike C

Just started Joe Moore's Grail Conspiracy. So far, looking good.


----------



## Archduke Robert of France

The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brian

I have to read it for English. So far, I'm totally not loving it.


----------



## jtassinaro

Archduke Robert of France said:


> The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brian
> 
> I have to read it for English. So far, I'm totally not loving it.


I had to read that for my HS senior english class.  I actually loved it, it's on of my favorites.


Right now I'm read _Salem's Lot_ by Stephen King


----------



## Johnna

I'm reading _Wind Rider's Oath _by David Weber. I'm sad because it's his last published fantasy book. *sigh*


----------



## Edgewise

"Invitation to a Beheading"- Nabokov.  So far so good.  They weren't lying when they called it Kafkaesque.


----------



## Heathoa

_Out of the Silent Planet_ by C.S. Lewis

The book hasn't captured me yet.


----------



## raymondstary

"Next" by Crichton.


----------



## sanctuary

Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner


----------



## cryptika

_Dracula_, Bram Stoker


----------



## Seppuku05

'An Artist of a Floating World' by Kazuo Ishiguro - I've read two of his other novels 'Never Let Me Go' and 'Remains of the Day' so why not another?  I think he's a good writer - though the one I'm currently reading isn't as good in terms as how he presents everything, but I think it's is his first or second book anyway.


----------



## Mira

"The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the unbeliever" by Stephen R. Donaldson. So far, I've only read 50 pages, but it seems good!


----------



## TinyMachines

just finished life of pi. Now I'm reading the things they carried.


----------



## IsEverybodyIn89

*Only one at a time*

I am currently reading _The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay_ by Michael Chabon. Since I saw someone else who wanted to read this, I would highly recommend it. It won the Pulitzer for a reason.


----------



## IsEverybodyIn89

*I will never sleep!*

Is anybody reading any Joyce?? Since getting knocked on my ass by _Ulysses_,I have been trying to read _Dubliner's_ and _A Portrait_... What is the reaction and review?Thanks


----------



## WordWeaver

Speaker For The Dead, Orson Scott Card.


----------



## Heid

About 215 pages into Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho".

Loving it so far!


----------



## Stewart

_Mister Pip_, LLoyd Jones.

It's one of the thirten longlisted for the MAN Booker Prize, and recent winner of the Commonwealth book prize.


----------



## mandax

To Kill a Mockingbird - I figured it was about time to read this book since I'm practically the only person who hasn't read it yet.


----------



## Mira

Also working on Jane Eyre, second time around. Man, that is one wordy book. I love it, but it's so slow to get through! Have to read it though, for a school project.


----------



## ClancyBoy

The Sounds and the Fury

I'm 1/5 the way through it and I have no idea what this book is supposed to be about.  I think one character is still looking for a lost quarter so he can go to a picture show.  Also "Cat smelled like trees."  That's all I've gotten out of it so far.


Curse me and my attention span.


----------



## Dabnorfish

American Gods by Neil Gaiman.  One of those books where you want to finish it to see the conclusion, but you don't as it's been too enjoyable.   Nearly at the end though.  Next up is I Am Legend.

Oh, and Mira... Jane Eyre... had to read it at school (that's 16 years ago now!  I feel old).  Utterly detested it.  For UK based people of my age, does anyone remember the Fry and Laurie sketch?  "Reader, I married him."


----------



## Joshua1181

State of Fear - Crichton

Obviously, this book is basically an anti- "An Inconvenient Truth" book, loosely wrapped in a plot, but still, interesting read about the whole global warming debate.

And whether or not global warming is really a part of it, I do totally agree with the premise that Americans are kept in a general state of fear all the time.... There's always something to be afraid about, even though we do live in one of the safest societies on earth.


----------



## AlaskaJane

Searching for Caleb, by Anne Tyler. Not her best (but then again I am only a quarter through) but still, with fine insight in normal people's lives, and so very funny.


----------



## RonGreen

*Lisey's Story by Stephen King. I actually just started it. But the concept behind it has me utterly intrigued. So I'm excited to venture into it.*

*I'm also currently reading Insomnia by Stephen King on the side. I'm about half-way through it. The concept is also interesting. Just a bit of a slow read.*


----------



## enron1982

RonGreen said:


> *Lisey's Story by Stephen King. I actually just started it. But the concept behind it has me utterly intrigued. So I'm excited to venture into it.*
> 
> *I'm also currently reading Insomnia by Stephen King on the side. I'm about half-way through it. The concept is also interesting. Just a bit of a slow read.*



Lisey's Story is really really good, i thought. It's King's best book since Bag of Bones. In my mind, he's been very disappointing in the last ten years, and i've wanted my old buddy back. Anyway, this story is very cool, and take your time and enjoy it. I was impressed, though it still received lots of criticism (i think at this point in his career, he always will). Insomnia was one of his worst novels and i couldn't finish it. I hear the end is really good. I got a little more than half way and couldn't bear it even more. Even he (King) describes Insomnia and Rose Madder as some of his worst efforts. I completely agree, though i'd also list Cell and From a Buick 8 among those. But yeah, lemmee know how the ending is, maybe i'll pick it back up if it's worth the time. 

As for me, right now i'm reading Something Wicked This Way Comes by the masterful Ray Bradbury.


----------



## Jam

Weaveworld


----------



## Jam

I am actually reading Clive Barker's "Weaveworld" and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. It's a strange take on a carpet world with grotesque horrific descriptions of creatures, which makes me beleive Clive Barker is the master of horror in my mind


----------



## WordWeaver

Jam said:


> I am actually reading Clive Barker's "Weaveworld" and I have to say I'm really enjoying it. It's a strange take on a carpet world with grotesque horrific descriptions of creatures, which makes me beleive Clive Barker is the master of horror in my mind


 
That's because he _is_ the master of horror.


----------



## RonGreen

enron1982 said:


> Lisey's Story is really really good, i thought. It's King's best book since Bag of Bones. In my mind, he's been very disappointing in the last ten years, and i've wanted my old buddy back. Anyway, this story is very cool, and take your time and enjoy it. I was impressed, though it still received lots of criticism (i think at this point in his career, he always will). Insomnia was one of his worst novels and i couldn't finish it. I hear the end is really good. I got a little more than half way and couldn't bear it even more. Even he (King) describes Insomnia and Rose Madder as some of his worst efforts. I completely agree, though i'd also list Cell and From a Buick 8 among those. But yeah, lemmee know how the ending is, maybe i'll pick it back up if it's worth the time.


I did enjoy King's Writing On that he wrote while recovering from being hit by that van. But I think even he mentioned in the book that a lot of his fans think his work over the last few years hasn't been nearly as good as his earlier work. 

I actually enjoyed Cell somewhat. It did get a little odd, but any Author can reel me in with a story about humans having to survive seemingly insurmountable odds. 

As for Insomnia, I'm much like you in regards to my reading of the book. I've gotten almost to four hundred pages with something like three hundred pages left. I really am axious to know how it all ends, but the journey there is like traveling through a path of super glue.  



enron1982 said:


> As for me, right now i'm reading Something Wicked This Way Comes by the masterful Ray Bradbury.


My Uncle for some reason use to left saying that Title. He just liked the wording of it. Ray Bradbury is very awesome though.

I've also been reading "Ask Not" by Thurston Clarke.I'm really into politics and I love speeches. So reading about the journey to creating one of the better speeches of all time, is an intriguing read for me.


----------



## Jam

WordWeaver said:


> That's because he _is_ the master of horror.


 
Oh wow...coulda sworn Stephen King was still the master of horror....gotta get with the times I suppose


----------



## Lyonidus

Ivan's War - Catherine Merridale

The Red Army on the Eastern Front in world war 2, jesus this book is harrowing.


----------



## Dabnorfish

Just started I Am Legend after finishing American Gods.  Enjoying it a lot so far.


----------



## BarbP

_Eyewitness to Power_ by David Gergen

In this book, the author reveals his personal memoirs and observations with President Nixon's frustration on handling of the Vietnam war and Watergate to President Clinton's struggle with morality.

In the short future, I plan on writing a fictional story with Washington Politics as one of the main themes.


----------



## Stewart

_The Welsh Girl_, Peter Ho Davies. Another Booker longlistee.


----------



## WordWeaver

Jam said:


> Oh wow...coulda sworn Stephen King was still the master of horror....gotta get with the times I suppose


 
You obviously don't read Barker.


----------



## RonGreen

So I like to read multiple books at a time. So I switched over to Saint by Ted Dekker. 

Wow, he is just awesome. His writing isn't spectacular in regards to "writing well". But in terms of suspense and building one awesome and compelling story, he's top notch.


----------



## Jam

WordWeaver said:


> You obviously don't read Barker.


 
No I obviously don't actually. This is the first book I've ever read by him and I saw the movie Hellraiser and enjoyed it, though I figure the book The Hellbound Heart is a lot more interesting. I also appreciate the fact of how immensely crass you're being with me right now considering I made a simple mistake, which I admitted too.... I'd just hope you're not this hard to assuage in a normal conversation when some poor boy accidently makes a slip of the tongue infront of you. Sense of humour is key


----------



## Stewart

WordWeaver said:


> That's because he _is_ the master of horror.


Just don't let Mr Barker hear you say that. He prefers to call his genre 'the fantastic'.

And there is no master of horror. That's just hype tagged on. I agree that Barker is the better writer than King but when it comes to subject matter, they are not comparable. _Sacrament_ is the best thing,  by the way, Barker has written.


----------



## enron1982

In terms of hyped up media taglines:

Stephen King - "The King of Terror"
Clive Barker- "The Master of Terror" 

In terms of me:

Geniuses


----------



## Lost in Some Story

_A Long Way Down_ by Nick Hornby


----------



## cactusfruit

I'm in book three of the Dune Chronicles = _Children of Dune_; and on the side I'm reading_ A Study In Scarlet_ by Sir AC Doyle.


----------



## Blood_Writer

The Spooks Battle, 4th in the Series.

Great Books.


----------



## Nefieslab

i'm just finishing _Lords of the North _by Bernard Cornwell. It's great. Cornwell is the one and only master of historical fiction. _Lords of the North _is number three in his series. the series is in this order, 1/ _The Last Kingdom _2/ _The Pale Horseman _3/ _Lords of the North._ The series follows the lifetime of King Alfred the Great during the times of the Danish invasion through the eyes of one Saxon lord who was raised by the Danes when his Uncle took his title after his father died.


----------



## Stewart

_The Welsh Girl_, Peter Ho Davies.

It's his debut novel, longlisted for the Booker Prize this year, and if the next 200 pages are as strong as the first 150, then it's more than likely going to be my book of the year. Yes it's _that_ good.


----------



## BlackWolf

Yeah, you said that already.


----------



## Nefieslab

yes but no one cared then so he said it again. but i'm put off just by the title... and that's hard to do...


----------



## Stewart

BlackWolf said:


> Yeah, you said that already.



Whoops! So I did. But so what. I hadn't any opinions on it at the time. Now I do.


----------



## DLFerguson

TALENT IS NEVER ENOUGH by John G. Maxwell


----------



## Johnnyelvis

Dark Descent 1 (The Colour of Evil) Edited by David G Hartwell.

A great collection of short stories featuring Robert Bloch, H P Lovecraft, Nathanial Hawthorne and Stephen King


----------



## Stewart

_Animal's People_, Indra Sinha


----------



## quarterscot

_In Arcadia_ by Ben Okri.

I advise everyone to avoid making the same mistake. It started pretentious and seems to be getting worst and worst with each passing page.


----------



## evlddd

Evil star by Anthoney Horowitz. Going to start Road of the Dead by Kevin Brooks after.


----------



## Joelle

"You're Not You" by Michelle Wildgen.
"Perfect Match" and "The Tenth Circle" by Jodi Picoult.
(I always tend to read a handful of books all at once.)


----------



## Jam

Stewart said:


> Just don't let Mr Barker hear you say that. He prefers to call his genre 'the fantastic'.
> 
> And there is no master of horror. That's just hype tagged on. I agree that Barker is the better writer than King but when it comes to subject matter, they are not comparable. _Sacrament_ is the best thing, by the way, Barker has written.


 
Awesome! I'm so looking up this Sacrament book next after I finish Weaveworld  Thank you!


----------



## SFeigley

I'm in a bunch of different books at the moment. They are as follows:

On Writing - Stephen King
How to write a damn good novel - James Frey
Dynamic Characters - Nancy Kress
Phantom - Terry Goodkind

Most of these are technical books that I've been reading to help with my current project. The Goodkind book is my fun reading and a requisite for me to read before the final Sword of Truth book comes out.


----------



## enron1982

The Ruins by Scott Smith

Anybody else read it?


----------



## Merforga

Path to Savagery by Robert Edmond Alter
NightShift by Stephen King
On Writing By Stephen King (audio book on my ipod)


----------



## Heinz

A walk in the woods - Bill Bryson
Is History Fiction - Two Australian Drs their names escape me at this point.
In the Lake of the Woods - Tim O'brien


----------



## Lost in Some Story

Heinz said:


> A walk in the woods - Bill Bryson



I love that book.


----------



## Rahvin

Just finished _Cell_ by Stephen King. Am now reading _From a Buick 8_, by Stephen King. For the third time.

I need some new books.


----------



## enron1982

Rahvin said:


> Just finished _Cell_ by Stephen King. Am now reading _From a Buick 8_, by Stephen King. For the third time.
> 
> I need some new books.



From a Buick 8 is in the top 3 for his works books ever written. Cell could be in my top 3 possibly for worst, although some people do like this book. I love stephein King, but Buick was just sooo bad.


----------



## Lost in Some Story

Just switched gears. I'm now reading _41 Short Stories_ by O'Henry.


----------



## Sephiroth

Just finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman again, and starting on Neverwhere by him. American Gods is amazing, highly recomended.


----------



## MSWordUp

Someone said On Writing. I read that. Pretty good advice in there.

I'm reading The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner and I must say I'm thoroughly confused.


----------



## Merforga

Sephiroth said:


> Just finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman again, and starting on Neverwhere by him. American Gods is amazing, highly recomended.



Very nice books , i read NeverWhere twice and American Gods three times. Never can get bored of those books ^_^


----------



## huntingtonb

Dry by Augustin Burroughs. I recently read two books of his essays, which I always see in airport bookstores. They are so dryly funny, mixed with some tragic stuff. I enjoy his writing so much, although the book Running with Scissors was a downer to read, without as much humor to relieve the stress of reading some of this guy's more upsetting experiences.


----------



## Capin

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf, The End of Faith by Sam Harris, Klingon for the Galactic Traveler by Marc Okrand, and Star Trek Corps of Engineers: Grand Designs.


----------



## Blossom

At the moment, I'm reading _Incarceron_ by Catherine Fisher. I've also recently finished _Voice of the Gods_ by Trudi Canavan and _The Burning Stone_ by Kate Elliot.


----------



## TruthSeeker

The Thirteenth Tale, by Diane Setterfield.

I call it 'Triple T', i'm not a fan though, don't get me wrong....anyhow, it's a nice read.


----------



## IsEverybodyIn89

*Confused also*

I am also reading _The Sound and the Fury_ by Faulkner. Its confusing but if I read close enough and take it slow, the words seem to make more sense. I like the writing style in _As I Lay Dying_, and _The Sound and the Fury_ only heightens my respect for Faulkner.


----------



## Heinz

Bill Bryson - Down Under

Good take on Australia from Bryson.


----------



## Mike C

Atonement by Ian McEwan


----------



## TinyMachines

I just picked up _Sometimes You Get So Alone It Just Makes Sense_ by Bukowski yesterday. I am already almost finished because it's amazing.
This poem in particular set me off laughing in the quiet study part of the library.

 we each
at times
should
remember
the most
elevated
and
lucky
moment
of
our
lives.

for me
it
was
being
a
very young
man
and
sleeping
penniless
and
friendless
upon a
park
bench
in a
strange
city

which
doesn't say
much
for all
those
many
decades
which
followed.


----------



## Der_Parvenu_Meister

Inside the Third Reich

 - Albert Speer

It's really long but then again when you're the last of Hitler's men I suppose you'de have alot to say. It's really good though. I'm doing my history project on him.


----------



## Lost in Some Story

Just started _Wise Blood_ by Flannery O'Connor. God I love that woman.


----------



## raymondstary

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco


----------



## Stewart

Mike C said:


> Atonement by Ian McEwan



In advance of seeing the film?




raymondstary said:


> Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco


That's one of my all time favourite novels. Hope you enjoy it.


As for me, I'm still reading through the Booker longlist. Onto my tenth of the thirteen now, and know I won't be able to read the complete list by Thursday, but it's been a good journey with highs and lows. The current read is _Consolation_ by Canadian author Michael Redhill. I'm hoping he can lift me out of the doldrums left by reading two average debuts and one miserable Irish family saga. Reviews of the longlist, if anyone's interested, are on the blog in my signature.


----------



## ClancyBoy

_Travels With My Aunt_, by Graham Greene.

I enjoyed this.  I'm glad I gave Mr. Greene a second chance, I didn't like _Needful Things_ very much at all.


----------



## Loulou

"Eats, Shoots and Leaves", the zero tolerance approach to punctutation by Lynne Truss.  It's fun, fun, fun.


----------



## JoannaMac

Jilly Cooper's "Rivals"


----------



## The Backward OX

_Watson's Dictionary of WEASEL WORDS, contemporary cliches, cant & management jargon_ ~ Don Watson
ISBN 1 74051 321 5


----------



## lisajane

Battle Royale - Koushun Takami


----------



## enron1982

The Zero by Jess Walter


----------



## raymondstary

Stewart said:


> That's one of my all time favourite novels. Hope you enjoy it.


I am. Used to follow conspiracies and this is far better than any of the stuff I read that propped itself up as legitimate. Funny, too, though I sometimes have a delayed laugh as my mind catches up to Eco's, which is full of far deeper valleys.


----------



## Hopeful_Author

Charmed to Death by Shirley Damsgaard (for the second time).  Quirky fun mystery...


----------



## meldy

"So Long and thanks for All the fish." and "The Meaning of Liff" by Douglas Adams

"State of Fear" by Micheal Crichton


----------



## crazy_for_writing

I am reading _Secret Windows_ by Stephen King


----------



## Nouveau Prole

*Thomas Pynchon's "Against The Day".   His most accessible novel to date, which is perhaps why the literary critics of academia are claiming that at 70 years of ages Mr Pynchon's powers are on the wane - that and the fact that the Anarchists are the good guys in the novel.*


----------



## Stewart

I'm reading _Darkmans_ by Nicola Barker. It's a whopper at 838 pages and, since it's in hardback, bloody heavy.


----------



## strangecs

Just started a fiction: _Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil_ by John Berendt.


----------



## silverwriter

I just finished up 'South Beach Chicas Catch Their Man'  by Caridad Pineiro for a review. (Not bad.)

Now it's on to 'Only Moments' by Nicholas Oliva for another review.

On the side, as part of the chapter-by-chapter discussions I'm holding on my side, I'm slowly reading 'Bird by Bird' by Anne Lamott.


----------



## Luzici

I'm reading A. Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades" and a collection of short stories by A. Moravia presently.


----------



## Athlynne

"The Brothers Karamazov" by Doestoyevsky, though I probably spelled that wrong.  I'm enjoying it, though half the time I'm muttering to myself, "Why is everyone being so dramatic, every moment?"


----------



## TWariner

I usually have a few books going at the same time.  Right now I'm reading "Character & Viewpoint" by Orson Scott Card, "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott, "The Lord of the Rings" by Tolkien, the book that came with the Aperture software I bought, and "1,000 Places to See in the US and Canada Before You Die" by Schultz, plus a bunch of random other things I read all day long.


----------



## Luzici

I'm reading I. Bunin's "The Gentleman from San Francisco" and H. Arendt's "The Human Condition (vita activa)" at the moment.


----------



## Azram

I'm currently reading Asimov's ''The Gods Themselves''.  I'm  halfway there  and it's brilliant.


----------



## ClancyBoy

I'm reading The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett and I hate it.

It started out fairly amusing, but _come on_.  It's like he writes down every random thing that pops into his head.  Get to the plot already.

Also the premise is lifted from _The Nightmare Before Christmas.

_Edit:
I should qualify that.  He's clearly a good writer, but this book is mostly filler.


----------



## echievements

Reading:  John Adams by David McCullough


----------



## echievements

*What I'm Reading*

Reading:  John Adams by David McCullough, Stumbling on Happiness by Daniel Gilbert, and Vital Friends by Tom Rath.


----------



## Crow

I'm currently 1/3 the way through Tom Wolfe's _The Bonfire of the Vanities. 

_So far, I can't help but feel both disgusted and seduced by the wealth and urban snobbery of some of the main characters. You always hear about New York City and its infamous upper class, but here its made vivid and fresh in your mind. You want to hate them, but deep down inside you're jealous even though you know they're mostly disreputable people. Can't wait to finish.


----------



## Erik Buchanan

"Plug Your Book" by Steve Weber - Promotional Work

"Medieval Live" by Terry Jones - Research for the edit of my third novel

"Trader" by Charles de Lint - because he writes brilliantly.


----------



## Thoth

ClancyBoy said:


> I'm reading The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett and I hate it.
> 
> It started out fairly amusing, but _come on_.  It's like he writes down every random thing that pops into his head.  Get to the plot already.


its called being a writer.


----------



## Storm Eagle

Knife of Dreams-Robert jordan, may he Rest In peace. The last book will be interesting with his death.

DragonWorld- Byron priess and Michael Reaves

Frankenstien-Mary Shelley. For schol, but still actually remotely intersting!


----------



## IsEverybodyIn89

Currently reading Ulysses by James Joyce for the second time, Heart of Darkness by Joesph Conrad, and King Lear.


----------



## jungle women

i am currently reading vilette by charlotte bronte.it is good but i dont like it very much.it is ok. not my kind but im short of books so i hve to read it wen i get bored.


----------



## Summerhaze

I am reading a Multiple 1st person narrative. Nick Hornby's _A Long Way Down._ It's very good, and very exciting. I'm on the last 20 pages and it's dwindling down to the end. I'm so excited to see what happens.


----------



## Selorian

I just finished _Neverwhere_ by Neil Gaiman and I'm now waiting for the wife to finish his _American Gods_ so I can start it.

In the meantime, I'm reading:

_The Politically Incorrect Guide to Hunting_ by Frank Miniter.  I was sent a copy by Regnery Publishing so I could do a review on my blog.

_The Complete Guide to Book Publicity_ by Jodee Blanco.  An interesting read full of ideas.


----------



## Mike C

Nearly finished Ian McEwan's Saturday. It's an exciting book - not so much in content, but insofar as it's made me redefine (again) what can be done with a novel.


----------



## Patrick

Mike C said:


> Nearly finished Ian McEwan's Saturday. It's an exciting book - not so much in content, but insofar as it's made me redefine (again) what can be done with a novel.



You're a fan of Ian Mcewan as well, Mike? He's brilliant isn't he? I need to buy some more of his books. I thought "On Chesil Beach" was magnificently written.


----------



## Patrick

IsEverybodyIn89 said:


> Currently reading Ulysses by James Joyce for the second time, Heart of Darkness by Joesph Conrad, and King Lear.




Oh good God, lol. I simply couldn't read Ulysses. I read the first two/three pages and had to put it down.


----------



## Kael-Katastrophe

At this time I am re-reading few greats novels at the same time, "1984" by George Orwell, "Primal Scream" by Michael Slade, and trying to finish "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac.


----------



## sam_kempton

elves of cintra - terry brooks
its the second book of the genisis of shannara series


----------



## ClancyBoy

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, by Robert Heinlein.

It's been painful for the first few chapters because he tried to write it in a Russian-ish accent and (IMO) completely botched it.  He removed all the the's but left all the a's and an's.  What the hell is that?  What kind of dialect keeps one article and drops another?  Plus he's completely inconsistent about it.

I got to the revolution part though, and that's kind of interesting.


----------



## ClancyBoy

Mermaid on the breakwater said:


> Oh good God, lol. I simply couldn't read Ulysses. I read the first two/three pages and had to put it down.



The Circe chapter (what is it, chapter 15?) is great.  The rest is just way too heavy-handed for me.


----------



## J.S.S

Started on the Complete Chronicles of Conan the other day, I'm now on the Scarlet Citadel.


----------



## Lost in Some Story

About to finish _The Poisonwood Bibles_ by Barbara Kingsolver. Decent story.


----------



## JosephB

Richard Ford, _Women with Men -- _3 longish short stories. So far so good.


----------



## Delvok

The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass.

Quite different than what I've read recently, but it's excellent.


----------



## BillyBob

I just finished Jon Krakauer - Into The Wild and the guy in the book was constantly talking about tolstoy so now im on war and peace.

P.S i also couldn't read Ulysses.


----------



## Leopold

Regeneration by Pat Barker 
King Lear


----------



## jtassinaro

Finished Halfway to The Grave by Jeanine Frost a week ago which was decent

Finished Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamiliton, that was a fun easy read

Now on to The Minion by LA Banks


----------



## Amara-J

I haven't tackled novels in a long time. For now, a sociology book: _"Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled - and More Miserable Than Before"_ by Jean M. Twenge.


----------



## Sinilin

Reading Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series. Simply love it.


----------



## CroZ

Wuthering Heights and The Fifth Elephant. Looking for 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, can't find it any where.


----------



## Charlie_Eleanor

His Dark Materials.


----------



## twistedfiction

I'm currently in the middle of Wheel Of Darkness by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child.


----------



## sugarfly

Sinilin said:


> Reading Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner series. Simply love it.


 
I love Lynn Flewelling, her characters are easy to get attached to. I liked her Tamir trilogy a little more than Nightrunner.


I am reading A Sword from Red Ice by JV Jones.


----------



## Drezzal

I picked up this book of short stories on witchcraft. I'm currently reading one by Stephen King called gramma.


----------



## Mr Write

I too am reading Stephen King - Salem’s lot 
I’m about half way through.


----------



## the pioneers

_Northern Lights _by Philip Pullman, which is definitely living up to its hype. I am trying to get it finished before the movie release but I can't see it happening, unfortunately. I also want to get it finished so I can start reading _Atonement _by Ian McEwan!


----------



## Lost in Some Story

The Bell Jar


----------



## Drezzal

Mr Write said:


> I too am reading Stephen King - Salem’s lot
> I’m about half way through.



Excellent book, i love vampires :thumbr:


----------



## SuperJac

War and Peace.

Also, a book about Gladiators that I'm pretty sure is called Gladiators.


----------



## FMK

I just finished _Showdown_ by Ted Dekker. Completely awesome, but a little weird at the same time. I'm about to start _Saint_. Same author, same series, but not directly related to the first book. Or so I've heard.


----------



## VampChick220

*None whatsoever*

Me Myself and I are reading too many books and waiting fot the library to hand the others over. 
                 I mean seriously theres only three of me. Im Reading....


          The cry of the Icemark-Stuart Hill (Highly recomended)
          Book of a thousand days-Shannon Hale (If any read it, what is a mucker?)
          Pale Blood-Me myself and I
          Extras-Scott Westerfeld (Recomended)
          Beneath a blood red moon-Shannon Drak
             Then here are the ones im waiting for the library to hand over from the hold shelf.

 +Anima Vol.6.
Dragonhaven-Robin MiKinley
Chibi Vampire. (Volume 5, 6,  and 7)
Blade of Fire-Stuart Hill
Blood Price-Tanya Huff
The seed of lost souls-Poppy Z. Brite.
Vampire Hunter-Anita Blake
                         :joker:


----------



## Tori?!?

i'm reading 
The Luxe

it's actually pretty good.


----------



## Horizon

Mr Write said:


> I too am reading Stephen King - Salem’s lot
> I’m about half way through.



I have been wanting to read Salem's Lot for quite some time now. I heard it's really good. Anyways I am reading a book called Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer.


----------



## Athlynne

"Salem's Lot" is one of my favorites by King.  I'm constantly amazed at how well he's able to balance so many characters...whole towns.  And insanely jealous.


----------



## ferrero-roche

Chrispian said:


> I tend to read too many technical books. Right now though, I'm readint the Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan). I recently read Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn, which was awesome. I'm going to pick up his new series soon.
> 
> What is everyone else reading right now?


Me 2! but I hate reading books so Im v.slowwwww


----------



## Rontae91

i'm reading:
_what are you afraid of?_ it's a short story book about a bunch of teenagers with different phobias
_white teeth _by zadie smith
_fitter faster stronger smarter _by miranda banks
i got more books out from the library though so i'll probably read them more.


----------



## duck

This thread.


----------



## kidstaple

_Swan Song _By Robert McCammon. Awesome piece of work, most notably compared to Stephen King's: _The Stand_, which unfortunately for me, I have not read yet... I plan on reading it right after _Swan Song_ though, and hope it's good, if not better.


----------



## CGymnast11

Identical Strangers,  pretty intresting.  Just finished the Ugly series.


----------



## Matt3483

_Intruder in the Dust_, by William Faulkner. It's unbelievable.


----------



## Amara-J

Finished George Martin's Book Four out of the _Song of Ice and Fire_ series. It's called "A Feast For Crows", to be exact. Exemplary work. Since I'm moving overseas, I felt tempted to toss the book to a friend, or sell it back to the thrift store... but after finding out that it's his latest work, and the series isn't finished, I think I'll hang on to it. Somehow. 

Although it's fantasy, I think it's shaping up to be a political thriller rather than the stereotypical sword-and-sorcery type. There's talk of dragons and magic, but it seems so much in the background. Aside, I love the way how one can dive into his series mid-point and still not feel lost at the end. His characterization is excellent, the interwoven stories riveting. 

I also found myself rooting for (or continually flipping the chapters based on) Cersei Lannister and Sansa Stark, diametrically different characters. A bit unusual because I normally don't sympathize with the baddie (Cersei), but I put it down to Martin's great writing. Can't wait to see what happens in the next installment.


----------



## strangedaze

Confederacy of Dunces on audiobook.


----------



## Centurion

I`ve just finished Centurion by Simon Scarrow. The best yet in his Eagles sceries. 

Just started A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and if its as good as his first book The Kite Runner then I`m in for a treat!!!


----------



## IsEverybodyIn89

Confederacy of Dunces was a great book. Funny. 
I am reading Seymour, an Introduction, by J.D. Salinger. I liked Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters. I'm one of those kids that likes Catcher in the Rye and is turned on by authors with clever wits. Next is SlaughterHouse Five.


----------



## blackrose

Right now I'm reading the last of a Kim Harrison series called, "A Few Demons More." Great book. This is the second time I've read it and I bet the ending will still make me cry.


----------



## FMK

Star Wars: Legacy of the Force, _Sacrifice._ Book five in the series. It's a little too politically involved for my taste, but it's about a major character's fall from grace. How can I resist?


----------



## ClancyBoy

My signature.


----------



## Jack Rains

Hmm, I can't read just one book at once so here are all the books I'm reading at this time:

Oil! by Upton Sinclair
Frankenstein 
Underworld by Graham Hancock
The Silmarillion 

and I believe that may be it.


----------



## mka321

_Crome Yellow_ by Aldous Huxley

The first book of his that I've read. I'm only about 50 pages in. It's not bad, but I don't think it's supposed to be one of his best works. I'll try _Brave New World_ next.


----------



## Snakes & Ladders

Brave New World was pretty good, I'm more of a 1984 fan when it comes to dystopia's 

I'm reading Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. Funny, and satirical. Love it.


----------



## Newyorkknicks07

i just finished a book called The Fighter, very good book if your looking for somthing to read.


----------



## RebelGoddess

Re-reading a few books I read as a kid and recently dug up from a box in my father's basement:

Companions of the Night by Vivian Vande Velde
Brimstone by Douglas Preseton and Lincol Child

And checking out the new kids book by one of my favorite authors:

Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke

Racheal


----------



## TheRaven

I just finished reading Twilight and New Moon by Stephanenie Meyer, so now I won't be happy untill I read the last one, Eclipse. Untill I get enough money to buy it, I will be reading Tithe by Holly Black.


----------



## Peejaydee

Right now I'm on a bit of a crime kick.  I'm reading Pig Island by Mo Hayder and I've just finished Mortal Causes, a Rebus book by Ian Rankin - can't resist a Rebus.  I also tripped over The Death Collectors by Jack Kerley having lucked into it for only £1 at Asda.  Best £1 I've spent in years.  Before that I was on a Carl Hiaasen bender, reading Basket Case, Lucky You and Sick Puppy - all fantastic and funny books.  If you're looking for an alternative read, try Dangerous Parking by Stuart Browne.  For some reason this book stunned me.  Maybe it was because I only read about the author after I'd finished the book.  I'm gutted that they're making a film of it.  It'll be mince.


----------



## shraga

I'm reading The picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
well written and somewhat humorous


----------



## Fixed

Currently reading the interpretation of murder by Jed Rubefield

very interesting read


----------



## playstation60

Rereading A Feast for Crows by George RR Martin, as I just finished Confessor by Terry Goodkind and haven't gotten to the bookstore yet.  Maybe I'll do that this weekend.


----------



## SadLuckDame

I am in some strange point in time, where I have a few books going at once. Yikes, I need to remedy that straight a way. I have been reading Love and War by John Jakes for quite some time now. It isn't that I don't love the book, since I seriously do, it is just that for some reason it doesn't keep my attentions for long. But the characters linger in my mind, so I always go back to reading it for a day or two. I am half way, wish me luck on my other half. And yes, I would still highly recommend the book to others, as the characters are fantastic!
I've also begun Dharma Bums which is one of those you just don't put down, you read as you walk, as you do laundry, make dinner, ect. I have Great American Short stories going, a few poetry novels, and well whatever I can soak up.


----------



## Snakes & Ladders

Right now, I'm tackling the Thomas Pynchon Against the Day


----------



## Ken

I'm reading _Choke_, by Chuck Palahniuk. I'm about halfway through it and love it. Great satire, and very funny, but also with extremely keen insight into human behavior.


----------



## deviger

Almost done the first book in Philip Pullman's _His Dark Materials_ trilogy.  You can be damn sure I'm going to keep reading straight through to the end of the whole series.  Leaps and bounds over Potter and his gang so far(and I really liked Harry Potter).  As long as Pullman doesn't spend a third of the last book having his characters wander around aimlessly not knowing what to do, I think it will usurp Potter's position on my bookshelf.


----------



## deviger

Almost done the first book in Philip Pullman's _His Dark Materials_ trilogy.  You can be damn sure I'm going to keep reading straight through to the end of the whole series.  Leaps and bounds over Potter and his gang so far(and I really liked Harry Potter).  As long as Pullman doesn't spend a third of the last book having his characters wander around aimlessly not knowing what to do, I think it will usurp Potter's position on my bookshelf.


----------



## deviger

Almost done the first book in Philip Pullman's _His Dark Materials_ trilogy.  You can be damn sure I'm going to keep reading straight through to the end of the whole series.  Leaps and bounds over Potter and his gang so far(and I really liked Harry Potter).  As long as Pullman doesn't spend a third of the last book having his characters wander around aimlessly not knowing what to do, I think it will usurp Potter's position on my bookshelf.


----------



## flores

beautiful losers by leonard cohen

interesting so far, kind of odd


----------



## Dreax

_All Quiet on the Western Front_, by Erich Maria Remarque. I'm also trying to get myself to read _The Pearl_, since I was supposed to have read it years ago. Once I'm done with them, I'm going to go back to _The Complete Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn_, as I've been holding off reading it for almost a year now.


----------



## The Thing

_Pompeii_ by Robert Harris. Not as good as his _Fatherland_ or _Imperium_ but a cracking read nonetheless. It does make a pleasant change to read a book set in ancient Rome that doesn't focus on the celebrities of history. Instead it's the story of a plumber (more precisely an aquarius - the person in charge of aqueduct maintenance).


----------



## rumpole40k

Map Of Bones by James Rollins


----------



## ArlenOrobono

The Shining .


----------



## Matt3483

Dreax said:


> I'm going to go back to _The Complete Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn_, as I've been holding off reading it for almost a year now.



Skip Tom Sawyer. It reads like a kids book. Huckleberry Finn is the real literary masterpiece, although the last 10 pages should never have been written.


----------



## Katastrof

Reading _The Great Gatsby _right now for English class. I loved how it opened but the when he got into the dialog of the characters (Nick, Tom and Daisy) it felt kinda wooden. 

Though his description is wonderful...


----------



## Mossy

I tend to read a lot of different genres. I love reading science fiction, some history, and fiction. 
At the momment I am reading The Darkest Evening of The Year, by Dean Kootz, and Grayson, by Lynne Cox.
Both books have something to do with animals. They are pretty good so far.


----------



## ClancyBoy

I'm reading the Unicode specification for Tangut.


----------



## datter

Re-reading George RR Martins "A Game of Thrones" series at the moment, on book two headed into three shortly.


----------



## NickK

datter said:


> Re-reading George RR Martins "A Game of Thrones" series at the moment, on book two headed into three shortly.



Fantastic series. A Game of Thrones is "low fantasy" at its best. The fact that the author is willing to kill off his characters so easily adds a whole new dimension to the books.

As for me, reading _Bird by Bird _by Anne Lamott. It's great advice on writing pulled off in a hilarious and engaging way.


----------



## the pioneers

I'm currently in the middle of reading _On Chesil Beach_ by Ian McEwan, and _The Other Boleyn Girl _by Philippa Gregory. I should really have finished Chesil Beach by now, what with it being so short, but I keep getting distracted by Gregory's genius. Either way, they're both great reads (at least so far) and I'll be looking into their other titles when I'm done.


----------



## FantasyWitch

Right now I'm reading Oliver Twist.

I have finally decided to dive into the classica nd read some of them instead of seeing the movies *smirks*


----------



## quarterscot

Just finished rereading _The Ghost Road_, the last part of Pat Barker's _Regeneration_ trilogy. This will not be the last time I reread it. How the hell can a book be so thoughtful, so macabre and so readable all at the same time? Humbling stuff.


----------



## Mishki

the pioneers said:


> I'm currently in the middle of reading _On Chesil Beach_ by Ian McEwan, and _The Other Boleyn Girl _by Philippa Gregory. I should really have finished Chesil Beach by now, what with it being so short, but I keep getting distracted by Gregory's genius. Either way, they're both great reads (at least so far) and I'll be looking into their other titles when I'm done.



LOL, just to give you an idea, I read _The Other Boleyn Girl_ in late January, and since then I have read her titles:

_The Boleyn Inheritance
The Constant Princess
Wideacre
The Favored Child
Meridon
The Queen's Fool
The Virgin's Lover_

She is very addictive. IMO, for your reference, the best were Constant Princess and the "Wideacre" trilogy; weakest were the Elizabethan ones.

As for what I'm reading, I rarely spend more than a day on one novel and never more than two.  I read a book yesterday and I'm buying more next weekend; anyone got any recommendations?  I'm considering purchasing _People of the Book_ by Geraldine Brooks, but it's quite pricey, so I'm not sure.


----------



## Lost in Some Story

_Letters From the Earth_ & _The Salmon of Doubt._

Also:

_What to Expect When You're Expecting._


----------



## wren

Just finishing "Insomnia" by Stephen King on a recommendation from a friend - not his best and I'm not his biggest fan to start off with.

Looking forward to reading the next one in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher (I'm up to "Summer Knight") and the pile of manga I bought at the weekend


----------



## slayerofangels

Gotrek and Felix: The second Omnibus.


----------



## rumpole40k

Writing Down the Bones


----------



## sethp

Reading at the moment
Entering the Castle -Carolynn Myss
The Lions Eye-Mary Gentle 
and a book on opening a home business the author escapes me.


----------



## Mike C

Currently reading Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants. Started out as a duty read - we're in the same writers' group - but I'm really impressed, it's gripping. Sara Gruen - Water for Elephants


----------



## Eli Cash

_East of the Mountains_ by David Guterson


----------



## SevenWritez

Just finished some lame piece of shit I snatched from the library entitled_ The Boy in the Lake_. Now I'm reading _Then We Came to the End_, and I enjoy it's witty and original style of a collective whole (I'm sure it's been done before, but this is the first time I've come across it, and I'm a young reader, so cut me some slack) narrating a company's downfall. After this I got some debut novel titled _You're Not You,_ that looks promising. I'll post my thoughts on it once I finished the sticky-note covered book.


----------



## Lost in Some Story

Just read "The Love of My Life," a short story by TC Boyle. One of the best stories I've ever read.


----------



## Crow

Reading Stephen King's 'Bag of Bones' is like mowing the lawn with one of those old-fashioned non-motorized cutters. It's boring, tedious work, and it's also awkward. I'm so used to King thrilling me with something that damn near borders on miraculous. 

'The Dead Zone' bowled me over, 'The Long Walk' still lingers in the crevices of my mind like a brain cockroach. Hell, even that doorstop 'Insomnia' was a page turner to some degree.

But this. Bag. Of. Bones. Yeah, I'm beginning to suspect there's more implied in that title than first thought. King wrote this one with half his brain tied behind his back.


----------



## Sam

Reading anything of Stephen King's requires time, patience, and the ability to weave through pages of absolute crap that have nothing to do with anything. 

Currently reading Tom Clancy's _Executive Orders. _

Sam.


----------



## Mike C

Careful Sam - comments like that drive Truth Teller into a frenzied, foaming-at-the-mouth rage!

Finished Water for Elephants - sensational read.

Now reading On Chesil Beach.


----------



## DavidGil

Finding Insomnia to not be an easy read at the moment. I just passed the prologue, so hopefully it gets better. 

And yeah, sorry if I set TT off.


----------



## workingdee

I'm readng The Playwright's Guidebook  by Stuart Spencer   and Summerland by Michael Chabon.  Thinking of rereading one of the Bronte's books too.


----------



## Brad S.

A Sound of Horse.

It's a history of horse racing...really great.


----------



## Brad S.

whoops.  sound of horseS


----------



## Eli Cash

_Drown_ by Junot Diaz


----------



## Tiamat

_The Sword _by Deborah Chester


----------



## dead_soul

The Dragonbone Chair by Tad Williams. It's about 900 pages. If you don't like descriptive paragraphs much, you wouldn't like the first couple hundred pages.


----------



## IsEverybodyIn89

*Trying to read one*

I am trying to juggle a lot of books, but for the most part it is just Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving.


----------



## Katastrof

Reading The Best of H.P Lovecraft: _Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror And The Macabre

_Pretty surprised by it too, actually. For a loner he writes some pretty good stories, though there are alot of _long_ paragraphs. Still, it's good work.


----------



## lilacstarflower

Just started reading The Other Boleyn Girl. I enjoy period dramas, but usually its nineteenth century - not this far back. No one would go and see the movie with me so I decided to read the book and so far I am really enjoying it. First book I have read by that author but I'm certainly going to read more of her novels. I'm a HUGE Eric Bana fan so I'm in my element reading this and picturing him as King Henry :grin: yummy


----------



## Lagomorph

Howl, the Harper Perennial Modern Classic edition. Version after version of Howl by Allen Ginsberg. Awesome.

Lagomorph


----------



## ash somers

El Dorado by Dorothy Porter and The Witch of Cologne by Tobsha Learner


----------



## Eli Cash




----------



## Dr. Malone

Haunted by Palahniuk.  Not great, but interesting enough to read.  He does some interesting things that make it worth reading.


----------



## psugrad98

I am reading Stephen King's _Blaze_ and _A Nation of Sheep_, by Andrew Napolitano


----------



## jack_morrison

_An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England_ by Brock Clarke.

In case you're wondering, it's a novel. And a really great one at that.


----------



## Lost in Some Story

Just started _The Blind Watchmaker_, by Richard Dawkins.


----------



## PageOfCups

Map of Bones  by James Rollins. I usually don't read action/thriller books but the author also goes by the pen name of James Clemens when he writes fantasy and I utterly adore the books he's written so I thought I'd try the ones he published as Rollins.


----------



## Eli Cash




----------



## Katastrof

Picked up Kurt Vonnegut's  _Sirens of Titan_ as the novel I'm going to read for my English culminating assignment (its not a book report).  Gotta say, I fell in love with the book in the first few pages; it starts even better than Slaugterhouse-Five!


----------



## Eli Cash




----------



## Stewart

_Goodbye, Columbus_, Philip Roth


----------



## Danielle

A historical novel by Donald Morris called Washing of the spears. It details the Zulu war with the British in 1879.


----------



## lilacstarflower

The Boylen Inheritance Phillipa Gregory

Getting into her stuff just now


----------



## Welshman

I decided to have a break and read something light and chose Sebastian Faulks. His Birdsong was deeply moving and now I am enjoying Charlotte Gray. His use of metaphor is quite unique and immensely enjoyable.

On the shelf and waiting - a couple of Paul Coelho's!! Oh I wish I had more time.

D


----------



## mdlegend17

God Emperor of Due by Frank Herbert. I'm trying to read the whole of the Dune series in order (although I have heard that the two books written by Frank Herbert's son to make up Dune 7 are pretty average).


----------



## RytorGirl

I just finished an autobiographical novel, _Beautiful Boy_ by David Sheff, about a father's struggle through his son's meth addiction.


----------



## Write Right

Currently reading the complete Louis L'Amour collection, alphabetically. Just finished "Law of the Desert Born", next ine line is "Last Stand at Papago Wells".
I put off reading Louis L'Amour for a long time but I don't know why. Though his stories start to become formulaic, every now and then he'll throw in something completely unexpected - like "Last of the Breed". An excellent read!!


----------



## stale911

I am honestly beginning to read the "DragonLance" series written by Margeret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
Pretty good book so far, nearly finished the first novel in the series, "A Rumor of Dragons", but I am into this kind of action/adventure topics, I have also decided that I am definitely reading all of the other five books excluding the first in the saga.

I am also beginning to read Frankenstein, of course, it is a good book so far into the story.
And I know I know, many of you have probably read this story ages ago and thinking that I am not much of a reader seeing as I am only reading the book as of now BUT, I am only 14 years old.
Cut me some slack.


----------



## Kelhanion

I'm reading _Paris in the 20th Century_ by Jules Verne. So far it has been pretty good, even though I can see what Verne's publisher meant when he refused to publish it. The language is quite good but almost embarrassingly clever and the amount the main characters get satisfaction from reading and from seeing each other is almost too funny. Anyway, Verne makes good guesses and points and I'm eagerly waiting to reach the conclusion.


----------



## evlddd

_Black Rabbit Sunday, by Kevin Brooks_. Although not exactly the greatest written piece I have read the story is good, and I have always liked Brooks characters, which is something a good book needs in my opinion.


----------



## Tiamat

Reading two Norwegian children's books and having a hell of a time understanding third person prose.  (Interesting that I can read first person prose without a problem.)  Also reading _Eye of the Needle_ by Ken Follett and trying really hard to get into it, but he has two boring chapters of military jargon for every chapter of action so far.


----------



## phurst

A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge, third edition. Somebody pleeeeease shoot me!


----------



## Eli Cash




----------



## cryptika

_She's Come Undone _by Wally Lamb (for the second time). It's a fantastic book..


----------



## Jenny

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Great read.


----------



## lilacstarflower

Trying to read Little Women. 

It was my grandmother's favorite and she told me  all about it when I was young. Finding it difficult to get into, especially as I now have 6 books on my bedside table that I desperately want to read...


----------



## Surinderjit

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri.

Of course i read interpreter of maladies and the namesake within 3 days.

I wanna re-read them at a slower pace once i finish Unaccustomed earth.


----------



## Suzip

Haven't read much recently, have been too busy writing... which can only be a good thing.


----------



## Jocelyn

After seeing other critiquers refer to Chuck Palahniuk when reviewing stories that I particularly enjoyed, I went to the library and checked out _Survivor_.  So far, so good.  Hope you guys didn't lead me astray!

I also grabbed Bill Bryson's _A Short History of Nearly Everything_.  He's one of my faves.


----------



## Sam

Thomas Harris - _The Silence of the Lambs. 


_


----------



## Damian_Rucci

I am reading The Killers Angels by Michael Shaara, it's such an amazing book. It's about the battle of Gettysburg in the Civil War. It shoots back between the Union and the Confederates.


----------



## jon_snow

A Song of Ice and Fire, it's awesome, my favorite series ever now!


----------



## Swamp Thing

The Sound and the Fury.  Come hell or high water.


----------



## lilacstarflower

great expectations 

not sure about it yet


----------



## Gilles

^I just read that. Didn't like it.

I'm now reading Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk.


----------



## embermac

*I am reading...*

Bird by Bird-Anne LaMott  writing how-to book recommended to me as an aid in writing and very good.

Courage to Write-- Ralph Keyes - wonderful inspiration and tips on writing.

World without End-Ken Follett--thick novel set in medieval England.  Can just sit and read for at least an hour at a time, great for me.

Can You Keep A Secret-Sophie Kinsella--chick lit good for the humoro
us narrative.


----------



## RebelGoddess

Re-reading a book I read as a kid:

The Sea of Trolls by Nancy Farmer.

The sequel to it, The Land of Silver Apples, recently came out and, since I enjoyed Sea of Trolls, I bought it.

I'm re-reading it to refresh my memory since I read it many years (and many, many books) ago.

It'll be interesting to see if I still enjoy it now that I'm older and have, I don't want to say higher standards, but a better idea of what good writing is.

Racheal


----------



## Katastrof

Finished _The Great Gatsby _for English and didn't find it half bad.

Starting to read _The Dark Tower: VI  Song of Susannah _now...


----------



## RebelGoddess

I'm also reading, for class, Dubliners and Ulyssess by James Joyce.

And squeezing in a re-reading of one of my favorites, Monkeewrench by P.J. Tracy

Racheal


----------



## buyjupiter03

Quicksilver by Neal Stephanson. Good characters, interesting detail, bad use of emphasis, somewhat bad grammar, and very good dialogue. Unfortunately I'm past my put down point (somewhere after a 100 pgs I HAVE to find out what happened). I don't know if I'll finish the rest of the series (as the excessive use of emphasis has been driving me nuts. I wanna slam the book up against the wall and see if some of it falls out.)

Also in the middle of The Algebraist by Iain Banks, but have put that down for the moment as it keeps making me really sleepy. Really good space opera, but really thought provoking and at three AM kinda tiring.


----------



## YoungGunWriter99

Im reading The Demonata Series by Darren Shan. I just got done with the 5th book and for the most part have very much enjoyed it.


----------



## Sam

_The Timer Game - _Susan Arnout Smith. 

Sam.


----------



## Jax1108

Im still reading the Dragonlance series...I know I know...but it sucked me in further when the MCs you grow to love have kids and they all end up adventuring together 
Noticed something though, and its something I've been wanting to mention but it probably doesn't deserve its own thread.
Mostly in like...the last 5 books, I've noticed alot of typos. Like...big, bad ones. Like the wrong character saying the wrong thing 
Is this common when the author already has a ton of books published? Do editors tend to look over those things accidently - more easily? It was strange


----------



## Battlemage

I am reading more Stephen King crap that I keep finding in the bathroom.


----------



## Battlemage

Double post....site is going really slow for me....


----------



## jellyfish

I recently finished rereading a Lewis Grizzard novel - he is still the best.  Currently, I am reading the newest Jodi Piccoult.  All of her books are good. Like yad4u, The Stand by Stephen King is one of my all time favorites, no matter how many times I read it.

The measure of a good book, movie, whatever?  Makes me want to be there.  Remember Northern Exposure?  I wanted to live in Cicely.  Harry Potter - I wanted to go to Hogwarts.  The Stand - I want a shot a reforming society from the ground up.  Awesome plot that you can take in any direction you want.


----------



## TJ Cruse

Just finished One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez (see my post in this forum). Just stared the Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler. It's the first Philip Marlowe book. So far, I'm digging it. Kind of like finding Robert Johnson after you've been listing to Clapton and the Stones for years.

jellyfish, The Stand is on my all-time top ten. It is one of the few books I've read more than once.

TJ


----------



## lilacstarflower

For the first time ever I stop reading a book I wasn't getting into - getting impatient in my old age lol. will go back to it later though, just in case it gets better (Great Expectations)

Now I'm on Phillipa Gregory Wideacre


----------



## Wilem

I'm reading the Quicksilver trilogy by Stan Nicholls.


----------



## Jon1jt

I only read Danielle Steele, she's the best. I stopped reading everything else...why bother??


----------



## Govinda

I am currently reading The Scar by China Mieville.  I finished one of his other books, Perdido Street Station, just days ago.


----------



## PageOfCups

Just finished reading Cabal by Clive Barker (absolutely brilliant, I strongly recomend it) aqnd now I'm reading Rebel Fay by Barb & J.C. Hendee (also awesome ^.^)


----------



## kidstaple

Finishing up _Against the Tide_ by John Ringo. Picked up _East of the Sun, West of the Moon_ a few days ago, so I'll probably delve into that as soon as I sit _Against the Tide_ on the table, lol.


----------



## redsoxocd

Yesterday I started _The Good Soldier: A Tale of Passion_ by Ford Madox Ford


----------



## topper

Wit'ch Fire by James Clemens
The Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
And I finished 13 reasons why in b&n..oops
also a manga, though I'm not sure if that counts as straight-out reading..


----------



## Merforga

I'm currently reading _The Thirteenth Tale_ by Diane Setterfield.


----------



## RebelGoddess

My goal is to finish all of the books I have not yet read that are in my current apartment before I move out at the end of the summer. 

So I just knocked off a YA book I've had for a while called Tell it To Naomi. Not so good, but I'm glad I finally read it.

And I'm re-reading Bruce Coville's The Unicorn Chronicles. 

The third in the series is coming out this summer (14 years after the first one!) and I want to be caught up, haha. Dont know why he took so damn long to write the third (the second was 5 years after the first in 1999, now this one is 9! years later...), especially since all his original readers are adults now.

Oh well.

Racheal

P.S.

I have about 200 books in my apartment that are mine, roughly 50 of which I have not yet read... it's going to be a good summer!


----------



## Sam

Anonymous - _The Book With No Name. _(Funny as hell!)

Sam.


----------



## Eli Cash




----------



## Kilna

Am currently halfway through Mary, Mary by James Patterson. Am liking it so far.


----------



## karax268

I'm curently reading book 1 of the death gate cycle.


----------



## Sayuri

Fiction: _Arrow of God_, by China Achebe.

Non-fiction: _The Leper King_ _and His Heirs_, by Bernard Hamilton (for fiction research purposes--EXCELLENT read, though).


----------



## mandax

The Life of Pi


----------



## SoNickSays...

Meat - Joseph D'Lacey

A pretty sick book. Just finished it.


----------



## PageOfCups

My copy of "The Hellbound Heart" just came in (it's a lot shorter than I expected) so I'm just about to start reading that ^.^


----------



## thechair

I'm making my way through Lolita and The Peloponnesian War. I recommend both.


----------



## Welshman

Dipping into a couple of Nick Hornby's books at the moment.  In particular 'A long way down'.  Just finished the tedious 'So he takes the Dog' by Jonathon Buckley.


----------



## papertears

Delgesu said:


> Liar, by Stephen Fry. That man knows how to make a sentence more of an rollercoaster ride than anyone. Except perhaps Heller's Catch 22. For the same reason



I am fool for not reading Catch-22 yet.  I wonder if I'm the only one.  

Is that Stephen Fry, the same one that was in the BBC series Black Adder with Hugh Laurie, and more recently--V for Vendetta by the Wachowski Bros.?  If so, I missed that he was a writer and I'm overjoyed.  Any advice on which book to start with?

Speaking of Hugh Laurie: someone gave me a copy of his novel: The Gunseller, which I haven't had time to open yet.  I'm wondering how that guy has time to do everything he does--all those degrees, rowing, a family, a tv series, a movie, a band, some humanitarian projects, looking so hawt,  and somehow he wrote a book too.  (I'm sure I missed some of his "hobbies".)  Anyone read it?


----------



## papertears

Jax1108 said:


> Im still reading the Dragonlance series...I know I know...but it sucked me in further when the MCs you grow to love have kids and they all end up adventuring together
> Noticed something though, and its something I've been wanting to mention but it probably doesn't deserve its own thread.
> Mostly in like...the last 5 books, I've noticed alot of typos. Like...big, bad ones. Like the wrong character saying the wrong thing
> Is this common when the author already has a ton of books published? Do editors tend to look over those things accidently - more easily? It was strange



Which DL authors' novels are you finding the typos in.  I'll admit I'm a huge fan of the original arcs by Weiss and Hickman: Chronicles and Legends.  Then there are some of the other authors/series I prefer--Dalamar the Dark by Nancy Varian Berberick is a fav, she is a friend of my sisters too so maybe I'm biased.  The only problem I've had was with pagination--a book that was missing 200+ pages.  I wonder if they just got cheap with the distributors?  I had to reorder whatever the book was from 3 places before I got a copy that wasn't hosed.


----------



## The Backward OX

The Supermarine Spitfire Owners' Workshop Manual. A must for insomniacs.


----------



## Damian_Rucci

I am reading Gods and Generals by Jeff Shaara.


----------



## Eli Cash




----------



## DavidGil

Finished Salem's Lot a few days back, started The Stand. Also, I'm finishing off A Game of Thrones. I haven't got much left to read on that though.


----------



## Tiamat

I'm reading _Ronja Røverdatter_ (_Ronia The Robber's Daughter_ is the English title, I think) by Astrid Lindgren.


----------



## Burns the Fire

HEAT by Bill Buford (past editor of the New Yorker and Granta) about his passion for cooking and his apprenticeship in Mario Batali's NY kitchen. It's well written and absorbing but so obsessed with every detail (i.e. pages and pages dedicated to finding the very first recipe in the history of the world where an egg was introduced in the making of pasta), I can only read a few pages at a time, and then I'm full.


----------



## Jade M

Supulchre - Kate Mosse


----------



## Tiamat

_The Jungle Book_ by Rudyard Kipling


----------



## JosephB

_All The Pretty Horses,_ by Cormac McCarthy

I don't like it. Some of the women in our neighborhood have a book club. They decided to invite the husbands for one book. This is what was chosen, otherwise I would have stopped reading it.


----------



## lilacstarflower

Five on a treasure island (the famous five) - research purposes. 

Since I'm writing a YA and I loved these books when I was younger, I'm going to read them all again and analyse what it was exactly that got me hooked. The secret forumla is in there goddammit and I'll find it!!


----------



## lilacstarflower

Also re-reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall

Brilliant


----------



## mandax

The Sun Also Rises, my first time reading Hemingway.


----------



## Dancer Preston

_Jitterbug Perfume_ by Tom Robbins


----------



## moderan

Conjure Wife, by Fritz Leiber (reread)


----------



## Eli Cash




----------



## Straylight

I'm working on three books -- road book, bathroom book and bedroom book.  Respectively, they are:

1)  Atlas Shrugged (read it before, but it's ever-more-pertinent in this day-and-age).

2)  The Portable Jung (Good subset of his essays).

3)  Domain-Driven Design (nerd book)


----------



## Eli Cash




----------



## Katastrof

The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower _by Stephen King
_
It's the last one in the series; I can't wait to finish it but at the same time I'm dreading it.


----------



## Charlie_Eleanor

Morgan's Rung?  At least, I'm supposed to be reading it for my book club


----------



## winkash

Auntie Rosie's palm... She's 83 and I see a an entire novel at its lines. She's always been an adventurer.


----------



## Eli Cash




----------



## SevenWritez

Katastrof said:


> The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower _by Stephen King_
> 
> It's the last one in the series; I can't wait to finish it but at the same time I'm dreading it.


 
Yeah. Wait till you get to the ending. Sit in awe and witness as Stephen completely fucks over his greatest work.


----------



## Lemex

Red Rabbit - Tom Clancy

It's dull!!!


----------



## Chirios

Before they are Hanged - Joe Abercrombie, Logen Ninefingers = Badass.



> Yeah. Wait till you get to the ending. Sit in awe and witness as Stephen completely fucks over his greatest work.


 
Ditto.


----------



## winkash

POwer talking by George R. Walker


----------



## Ghost.X

Wow, quite a popular thread, inevitably.

Well I'm reading 'Catcher in the Rye' by J.D. Salinger. Its very captivating and easy to read. I'm about 6 chapters in.

I just finished reading 'Elements of Style' by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White today. Its the kind of book I think any writer should check out at least once.


----------



## moderan

Century Rain, by Alastair Reynolds. Marvelous read so far. Good hard sf adventure with tight extrapolation and plotting. Probably my favorite new sf author. 
The Portable Atheist, edited by Christopher Hitchens. Seems more like a treatise on agnosticism and spends more time damning organized religion than entertaining the god concept. Still interesting though...except for the section by Karl Marx that's too dry to read.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Currently reading Forests of the Heart by Charles de Lint. This is the fourth book of his that I've read and he is easily becoming my favorite author.


----------



## Dancer Preston

Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann


----------



## GoodmanBrown

A lot of Flannery O'Connor lately, which is strange, because I'm really not much of a Christian. She somehow gets to me though.


----------



## Kast13




----------



## Kast13

Oh, and I _just_ finished this one:


----------



## JHB

I'm currently reading Warhammer 40,000: Ravenor by Dan Abnett.


----------



## Mike C

The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. 

Once in a while you read a book by somebody who gets just what a novel _can_ be, rather than _should_ be. If you want a book that really probes 'the human condition', read this. He covers everything from love and fidelity to philosophy and the theological relevance of shit, set against the backdrop of the Russian occupation of Czechoslovakia. He messes with the accepted form of the novel by occasionally interjecting, as the author, reminding you that you are reading fiction and that the characters are purely imaginary. It's awesome. Read it.


----------



## bryndavis

Just started The Fifth Child by Doris Lessing.


----------



## JWalker

I'm reading Kethani by Eric Brown and Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams.


----------



## lisajane

The Braided Path trilogy by Chris Wooding


----------



## lilacstarflower

The Book Thief - Markus zusak


----------



## lisajane

I brought today the following:

'Atomised' by Michel Houellebecq (on advice of the bookshop sales person, which is a first for me)
'A Clockwork Orange' by Anthony Burgess (very much love the movie)
'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest' by Ken Kesey (have always wanted to read this)
'The Fountainhead' by Ayn Rand (for my partner, not for me)

As a result, I now have enough reading material for the rest of the year, as The Braided Path is a looooong book and I've got Breaking Dawn yet to come.


----------



## Mike C

lilacstarflower said:


> The Book Thief - Markus zusak




Stunning book. It's one that stays with you long after you finish it, I loved it.


----------



## terrib

you know it's funny....I never really look at the title....if you asked me what I'm reading I would have to flip the book over....


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished: 
The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan
Misery by Stephen King
Atonement by Ian McEwan

The Kitchen God's Wife is probably my favorite Amy Tan book. I haven't yet read The Hundred Secret Senses, but I'm getting to it. I also really liked Misery. I was cringing through most of it. Atonement was alright in my opinion. The first part was the best. I loved how McEwan went from one character to another and showed their thoughts, and each chapter was exciting and made you want to go on to the next chapter. But the last parts weren't as exciting to me. The details were great, but for me it just didn't have the same drive. I was also disappointed that he gave Briony's view in the last section instead of Cecilia's, but once you get to the end it kind of makes sense, I suppose.

Right now I'm almost done with When We Were Gods by Colin Falconer. It's a novel about Cleopatra and it's very good.


----------



## Sam

Vince Flynn - _Consent to Kill. _

Another cracker from "Tom Clancy on speed".


----------



## SevenWritez

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

He is an amazing writer.


----------



## JHB

The Holy Bible - Our Lord


----------



## BOURBON

Thus Spake Zarathustra - Nietzsche


----------



## HippoHead

Just finished The Magic Cottage by James Herbert - boring for the first 300 pages and gets ridicuous after that. 

atm am reading Desperation by Stephen King which is good for the moment. I've only got to page 32 but it's excellent already.


----------



## Kast13

The Things They Carried - Tim O'Brien

Second or third time.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Almost done with 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King


----------



## shraga

The End of Mr. Y 
its a pretty crazy book but I like it


----------



## Suzip

Just finished The Other Boleyn Girl which was really good, much better than the film but then again the books usually are.


----------



## lisajane

Currently reading Breakfast At Tiffanys, by Truman Capote, which a friend left at my house. Never knew it was a novel until I found it last night.

Halfway through the tiny book, not a big fan of it though.


----------



## lilacstarflower

Suzip said:


> Just finished The Other Boleyn Girl which was really good, much better than the film but then again the books usually are.



agreed - though I love Eric Bana

North and South - Elizabeth Gaskell


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
'Salem's Lot-Stephen King
Violin-Anne Rice
Lonesome Dove-Larry McMurtry
Persuasion-Jane Austen
The Dispossessed-Ursula K. Le Guin

Now reading: Northanger Abbey-Jane Austen

I've read all of Anne Rice's Vampire and Mayfair Witch books, including The Servant of the Bones, but out of all of them Violin was my least favorite. It wasn't that it was really bad, but just that I liked all the others so much more. 

I absolutely adored Lonesome Dove. Every page had at least a little humor, but McMurtry also managed to be serious and even romantic at the same time. I hope I get the chance to read the rest of the series.

Persuasion was a good one too. It was pretty short, but I really enjoyed reading it. It's probably one of my favorites of all her books.

The Dispossessed was very different. I've read Le Guin's Earthsea series, but The Dispossessed was nothing like any of them. It was more of a science-fiction novel. It's about two planets similar to our earth and the moon, and each is inhabited. The people on the moon, though, don't own any property or have any government. They work voluntarily and share everything they have. One of the physicists of the planet, a man named Shevek, decides to visit the earth-like planet, called Urras, in an attempt to bring people together in brotherhood. 

I haven't got far into Northanger Abbey yet, but it's pretty entertaining so far.


----------



## moderan

The Dispossessed is not _more like_ a science fiction novel, it _is_ a science fiction novel. An award-winning, truly well-written one. It's set in the same milieu as _The Left Hand of Darkness_, which is highly recommended. The Earthsea Trilogy is more or less YA, atypical of Ms. LeGuin's work. She's one of the best, her website is here.


----------



## OtherWorlds

Chrispian said:


> I tend to read too many technical books. Right now though, I'm readint the Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan). I recently read Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn, which was awesome. I'm going to pick up his new series soon.
> 
> What is everyone else reading right now?


 
Chrispian, I love the Wheel of Time books.  They're some of my favorites. I've read the series twice and the suspense is still killing me.  I know Jordan didn't meant to go and die with the series unfinished, but I sure wish I could know how he was planning on wrapping it all up.

Oh yeah, back to the original question.  I'm currently reading a Christine Feehan paranormal romance novel, but I have to admit I've found it a disappointment.  She's so famous I wanted to try out some of her stuff, but I haven't been as impressed with it as I expected.


----------



## S1E9A8N5

Just finished NEXT by Michael Crichton.


----------



## JHB

Right now I'm reading The Holy Bible, by our Lord and God.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Northanger Abbey-Jane Austen
A Christmas Carol-Charles Dickens
Mansfield Park-Jane Austen

Now reading:
Robin Hood-Henry Gilbert


----------



## WriterDude

Just finished "The Legend of the Ice People 1: Spellbound" by Margit Sandemo. I read the whole thing (47 books) in norwegian years ago, but they are just starting to release them in english. The second book was released a few days ago, in fact.

Not sure what to read next, but it's either "Warhammer: The Von Carstein Trilogy" (don't remember who wrote it) or "The Bronce Canticles" by Laura and Tracy Hickman. Unless I can find "The Legend of the Ice People 2: Witch-hunt" in english, of course.


----------



## Olly Buckle

While I was on holiday I read "A Passage to India" "The Outcast" and "44 Scotland Street"

Passage to India was interesting as it described an attitude to the rest of the world that no longer exists. Just before my holiday I had had a conversation with a young Indian after returning from Glastonbury to the effect that the reason Glastonbury has changed is that as hippies we were inclusive, welcoming others into our group and our discussion rather than excluding them. He had personal experience of this having grown up in a poor family in Goa and spending his childhood selling drinks and fruit to the hippies on the beach, this culminated in his presence in London. How this developed from prewar Anglo Indian relationships is amazing. The book is very well written and some of the issues raised still have pertinence, I am unsure whether they are enough to call it a classic.
  The Outcast also deals with an England that vanished during the sixties, though it was still there during my childhood. I did not suffer under it personally as my parents were most certainly not run of the mill, but I saw it affecting my friends and understood why they kept themselves aloof from the larger part of society. It is a gripping, annoying, moving book. Worth reading, but not for fun.
  44 Scotland Street is a well written froth, like The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, I think of Alexander McCall Smith as being of the caliber of C.S forester who wrote the Hornblower series and Brown on Resolution or Arthur Updike who wrote detective stories about the Australian outback, in other words a very competent writer who occasionally surpasses himself but does not quite make it into the top bracket. The sort of writer I feel I might be if I had started earlier and tried harder. In the preface he says how he wrote it to be published as a newspaper serial and it is interesting to read with that in mind.


----------



## SparkyLT

I'm reading _The Dance of the Gods_ by Nora Roberts...second in the trilogy. good books.


----------



## shraga

I am re-reading Until I find You by John Irving
love him


----------



## moderan

Medea:Harlan's World, and Murasaki, both of which are re-reads. These are from-the-ground-up treatises on worldbuilding, with associated fiction. Recommended reading for sf writers. The first has better builders, the second better fiction. Both are very good though, with established pros riffing on the developed planets.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Robin Hood-Henry Gilbert

Now I'm almost done with Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.


----------



## Gabriel Gray

Just read Fiona Mcintosh' newest trilogy 'Percheron' very good storyline/world as usual, but the same weakish ending


----------



## moderan

Another re-read: Resume With Monsters, by William Browning Spencer. Satire with laugh-out-loud moments, Dickian hallucinatory interludes, spot-on lampooning of corporate America, and Cthulhu. 'nuff said.


----------



## magikpumpkin

i've got a 4 massive piles of books from uni, and another of ones I've had lying around or never got to read, I'm thinking either 'Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas' by Hunter S Thompson or battling the whole Gormenghast triology...


----------



## moderan

Go with Thompson.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Little Women-Louisa May Alcott
Andersen's Fairy Tales-Hans Christian Andersen

Now reading:
David Copperfield-Charles Dickens


----------



## SacredCircle

I am in the middle of the California Demon series by Julie Kenner and I just picked up Wicked by Gregory Maguire. The California Demon series is really easy reading but its fun and I can usually finish them up in a few weeks. I am not far enough into Wicked to know if I like it or not.


----------



## Metanoia

Weaveworld by Clive Barker and Soul Feast by Majorie M. Thompson.


----------



## babygirlmedia

I personally love reading Rowan Colemans books.  I really enjoy her novels, she also has a few novellas too which is a nice quick read.  I am looking to read lindy.S.Hudis books too.


----------



## Damien.

I'm reading some fantasy book called Confluence. It's alright. A bit long. Doo doo doo... I usually read Sci Fi.


----------



## deviger

The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard.  The first book I've read by Leonard, but from what I've read so far it will be far from the last.

Also I just finished Sacred by Dennis Lehane.  Despite what anyone can say about his writing style, he writes a hell of a fun story.

Lastly, I started reading Perdido Street Station by China Mieville.  I had to put it down.  The book seemed like an excuse for Mieville to show us how well he can reference a thesaurus.  It may not bother some of you.  You may even consider it excellent prose.  Does the pace of the story pick up at all?  Is the overall experience worth my time?


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished: 
David Copperfield-Charles Dickens

Almost done with:
Breaking Dawn-Stephenie Meyer


----------



## Lumaris

Was reading "The Rover's Cripple" by Adele Lorienne, but lucky me it fell into a pile of dog poop while I was walking outside. *sarcasm*

So now I'm finishing "The Outstretched Shadow" by ...err...forgot and too lazy to pick up the book... but it's good! So far, anyway.


----------



## moderan

Pushing Ice, by Alastair Reynolds. About 1/3 of the way through. Reynolds' books are highly recommended.


----------



## Kinbote

Fathers and Children - Turgenev

Ok so far. I have 'The Good Soldier' by Ford Madox Ford waiting patiently for its turn.

K.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Breaking Dawn-Stephenie Meyer
Romeo and Juliet-Shakespeare
The Scarlet Letter-Nathaniel Hawthorne

Now reading:
The Iliad-Homer


----------



## Richard Feynman

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins


----------



## Mr Write

Stephen King - On Writing
It’s a really good book so far, anyone else read it?
I’m just over half way through at the bit actually named: On Writing


----------



## iceguy303

Anonymous said:


> I am actually reading many things at once right now.
> 
> -The enchantments of Flesh and Spirit, Storm Constantine
> -Kushiel's Chosen, Jacqueline Carey
> -Weaveworld, Clive Barker
> 
> There are also many things on my shelf that one day I will hopefully get around to.
> 
> -Dras


 
I read a lot of Tolkein, but The Simarilian wasn't all that great.  I can appreciate his imagination and effort into that book, but for one, it felt I like was reading parts of the bible and I was in angony just trying to finish it.  

As for Weaveworld, I read the first in the series and didnt get around to the next ones.  I have read several of his books.  I like many of his scenes and I respect his name.


----------



## iceguy303

Richard Feynman said:


> The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
> The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins


What do you think of that one (Dorian Grey)? I have it on my shelf of books I have bought but not read.  

Have you read The Blind Watchmaker, or The Red Queen.  I ask this because of your quote.  No slight to you, but I havent really seen many books on Behavior Evolution and Theory here and I am curious to your thoughts.


----------



## iceguy303

*The Mind at Night & Glamorama*

I tend to read more than one book at a time.  I am reading a non-fiction book about dreams and I am halfway through Glamorama by Brett Easton Ellis.  

I just finished The Agony and the Ecstacy,  The Rules of Attraction, and Bird by Bird - Lamotte, which by the way was just as good as Stephen King's On Writing.


----------



## iceguy303

Mr Write said:


> Stephen King - On Writing
> It’s a really good book so far, anyone else read it?
> I’m just over half way through at the bit actually named: On Writing


 

I loved that book.  I just commented on Anne Lamotts book, Bird by Bird.  That was just as good.  Both books inspire me to no end.  The title threw me off; however, read the first chapter and you will feel like you are reading a different perspective on writing the same quality as Mr. King's.


----------



## iceguy303

embermac said:


> Bird by Bird-Anne LaMott writing how-to book recommended to me as an aid in writing and very good.
> 
> Courage to Write-- Ralph Keyes - wonderful inspiration and tips on writing.
> 
> World without End-Ken Follett--thick novel set in medieval England. Can just sit and read for at least an hour at a time, great for me.
> 
> Can You Keep A Secret-Sophie Kinsella--chick lit good for the humoro
> us narrative.


 

Bird by Bird is a great one.  Try Stephen King's On Writing.  I feel both are great perspectives and inspirational.


----------



## iceguy303

Sephiroth said:


> Just finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman again, and starting on Neverwhere by him. American Gods is amazing, highly recomended.


 

That book just didnt catch.  Some parts of it were decent, but I could have done without it.  I think I will buy his Stardust book, but I cannot remember if it was a novel first or a screenplay.  I love the movie.  I guess the nail in the coffin was the notes and questions for a book club to discuss American Gods.  I thought that insert was a bit pretentious.  The book wasnt horrible, perhaps my expectations were a little too high.


----------



## iceguy303

Jocelyn said:


> After seeing other critiquers refer to Chuck Palahniuk when reviewing stories that I particularly enjoyed, I went to the library and checked out _Survivor_. So far, so good. Hope you guys didn't lead me astray!
> 
> I also grabbed Bill Bryson's _A Short History of Nearly Everything_. He's one of my faves.


 

Survivor was a decent read.  I love the details in cleaning.  One of my favorite parts of his novels is the thread of learning something new.  Cleaning for Survivor, Reconstructive Surgery for Invisible Monsters, Construction and Art for Diary, and all of Stranger than Fiction. He is one of my most read authors - him, David Sedaris, and Brian Lumley's earlier works.  Enjoy Survivor, the Suicide Hotline is the coolest.


----------



## seigfried007

Mad Ship-- Robin Hobb


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
The Iliad-Homer
The Odyssey-Homer
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy-Douglas Adams
The Retaurant At the End of the Universe-Douglas Adams
Life, the Universe, and Everything-Douglas Adams
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish-Douglas Adams
Mostly Harmless-Douglas Adams

Now reading:
Crime and Punishment-Fyodor Dostoyevsky

All of the Hitchhiker's books were just amazing, and really hilarious. My husband just looked at me and said I was weird anytime I laughed aloud and then tried to explain to him why I was laughing. 
I haven't got far in Crime and Punishment yet, but it's good so far.


----------



## lilacstarflower

The count of monte cristo - Dumas *second best book in the world*


----------



## Sundown

Just finished the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer.  

Now reading The Inhuman Condition by Clive Barker.


----------



## Chirios

Toll the Hounds.

Note, Anomandaris Dragnipurake is _still_ a badass.


----------



## Akumu

Cormac McCarthy: The Road


----------



## moderan

Black Lizard's _*Big Book of Pulps*_. Has an unpublished story by Dashiell Hammett(!), stories by seminal writers of crime fiction such as Raymond Chandler, Cornell Woolrich and James M. Cain, pieces by Horace McCoy, better known as the author of _They Shoot Horses, Don't They?_, and Erle Stanley Gardner, creator of Perry Mason and at one time the best-selling author in the world. Well over a thousand pages. I've only read four of the stories and can recommend the book already.


----------



## TheCrow

I've read pretty much everything in my house. I think I'll re-read To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee.


----------



## Knocking

Wuthering Heights, Through the Looking Glass, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Shadowmarch, Hammerfall, Lord of the Rings (for the second time), etc.  I have a tendency to read several books at once...  So far all of them are good books.


----------



## Squishtof

I'm currently reading 'The Wheel of Time' series  well.. I'm on book three and hit a bit of wall :-/ I think I read the first three too quickly so its on hold at the moment but considering I haven't read much lately (its killing me.. *sob*) I think I'll go back to it  

Just finding the time really


----------



## DEIfan4life

Right now I'm listening to "New Moon" by Stepheine Meyers....my oldest daughter said she was reading it and I had to make sure it was something a 15 yr old can read....I've gotten into them.....
I've also listened to most of the wheel of time books...just waitin on the book 12 plus all the fillers....they are really good....


----------



## N.S. Glanzman

"The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger and "The Golden Compass" by Phillip Pullman.


----------



## SparkyLT

I just finished Catcher in the Rye. (Hated it, don't lynch me, just my opinion.) Currently I'm reading _Magic Street _by...I can't remember.


----------



## N.S. Glanzman

That's okay- I don't like it either... I'm reading it for school!


----------



## SparkyLT

So did I, I thought it would be good since it's supposed to be a classic or whatever...but Magic Steet is much better :-D


----------



## abman

I'm currently reading The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie.

I picked it up as an impulse buy -- it was under ten bucks for a hardback -- but I'm stunned by it. Salman Rushdie's style it exactly, or at least very close, to how I thought perfect writing would sound like. It's at times Satirical, but the jokes never take over the story. They're plenty of great analogies, and they all feel perfectly placed and just right. The surreal situations are described as if they were real, and overall the plot is very clever. I'm currently about half way through, if it continues on with the same quality, it may be one of my favorite books.

I'm also re-reading "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad. It shocks me English was his third language, and he was able to say more in under one hundred pages than most writers could say in over five hundred. Along with it, I'm also reading Thinner, a Stephen King book written under the Richard Bachman Pseudonym, and it's decent. Certainly nowhere near as good as the other two, but decent.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished: 
Crime and Punishment-Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Lysistrata-Aristophanes

Now reading:
Great Expectations-Charles Dickens

Crime and Punishment was pretty good, I thought Dostoyevsky did an awsome job with all the pyschological stuff.
Lysistrata was hilarious! I've never seen it mentioned on here, so I'll tell a little about it. It's a play set in ancient Athens during the war between Athens and Sparta. An Athenian woman named Lysistrata decides she and the other women can end the war by denying their husbands sex. It's very funny and doesn't take long to read at all. Highly recommended!

I haven't got far into Great Expectations yet. I've heard some people love it and others hate it, so we'll just see how it goes. The only other Dickens novels I've read are David Copperfield and A Christmas Carol, and both of those were pretty good.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

lilacstarflower said:


> The count of monte cristo - Dumas *second best book in the world*



I _love_ The Count of Monte Cristo. One of my favorites.


----------



## JoannaMac

I'm reading Jilly Cooper's 'Polo'. I found it at second hand book market here in Kiev and couldn't resist buying it. Also, just finished Amy Tan's 'Saving Fish From Drowning'.


----------



## workingdee

Shades of Pemberly by D.A. Bonavia-Hunt
This is the second "sequel" ever written for Pride and Prejudice.  It is from 1949.

Also reading A World Lit by Fire by William Manchester.  Non-fic about Europe in the Middle Ages.


----------



## WriterDude

Cell, by Stephen King. Great book, but at one point some people "set sail" (jumped) out a window on top of a hotel and dies. I somehow started thinking about Alestorm and the song "Set sail and conquer", so the whole scene in the book made me laugh. Not my proudest moment...  (it was four in the morning, though)


----------



## seigfried007

Finished Mad Ship and immediately devoured Golden Fool and Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Great Expectations-Charles Dickens

Now reading:
Seeing Redd-Frank Beddor


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Seeing Redd-Frank Beddor

Now reading:
Hard Times-Charles Dickens


----------



## WriterDude

Hellworld, by me :mrgreen:


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Hard Times-Charles Dickens

Now reading:
Insomnia-Stephen King


----------



## arakha

Just finished _Stacking in Rivertown _by Barbara Bell.

Now reading _Tropic of Cancer_ by Henry Miller.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Insomnia-Stephen King

Now reading:
A Tale of Two Cities-Charles Dickens


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
A Tale of Two Cities-Charles Dickens

Now reading:
Ivanhoe-Sir Walter Scott

A Tale of Two Cities was awesome. It took me a little while to get into, but once it got going it was great. So far I'm having the same problem with Ivanhoe, I just can't get into it. Who knows, I may end up loving it.


----------



## Intel

I just started The Electric Church by Jeff Somers.


----------



## Tom88

WriterDude said:


> Cell, by Stephen King. Great book, but at one point some people "set sail" (jumped) out a window on top of a hotel and dies. I somehow started thinking about Alestorm and the song "Set sail and conquer", so the whole scene in the book made me laugh. Not my proudest moment...  (it was four in the morning, though)



Just jumped to the last page to submit what I was reading, and low-and-behold I'm reading the same. I'm enjoying it, in that it's alot of fun, and not challenging in the slightest - HOWEVER...
The only thing I'd read of King prior to this was the iconic "The Shining". I know it's unfair to pit Cell against this, but it really feels to me like King put the sum of himself into The Shining, as though he had something to prove. When I read Cell, which is still written well, mind, I get the sense that he just sat at home one Summer and pushed it out, without any sense of urgency.
That's my only qualm. They're making it into a film in the near future, I think it would serve well as abit of mindless popcorn fun. I look forward to it...


----------



## Chris71

Since I buy my books at Bargin World or thrift shops, this may be an older book.

Life of Pi by Yann Martel


----------



## ThePinkBookworm

Well, since I am saving up my money (cannot buy new books) and the one book that I ordered a couple months ago is just shipped, I am having to reread old books.  

Currently I am kind of rereading Wish Craft by Barbara Sher.  It is an AWESOME book on how to find out what you REALLY want and get it, even if it seems impossible.  I read into it like last year, but now I have changed and want to go back and see what I REALLY want again.

I would recommend this book to any writer who is having troubles or is just stuck in a rut.  This will smack you, pick you up and push you forward:razz:

Just my impute

:read:


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Ivanhoe-Sir Walter Scott

Now reading:
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Volume I-Arthur Conan Doyle

Ivanhoe started off slow, but it got better as it went along. I loved the Robin Hood part of the story the best because a couple of months ago I read Robin Hood by Henry Gilbert and absolutely loved it.

Sherlock Holmes is fantastic and I plan to get Volume II as soon as I can.


----------



## Kayleigh7

I decided to re-read the VC Andrews books....man, those are crap!!!


----------



## moderan

Just finished Jay Russell's Brown Harvest, a recommendation from Lin. Extremely well-written though somewhat shocking to someone who grew up with Encyclopedia Brown. To say that the characters morphed a bit would be to understate the case. However, an enjoyable read, and nice homage to both the author of the Brown stories and Hammett/Chandler, whose plotlines are used to depict the action.
Also, since this is an election year, reread Thompson's FaL on the Campaign Trail. I do that every four years. There are a lot of similarities in that process and the current one.
Thirdly, am just beginning Alastair Reynold's Diamond Dogs, Turquoise Days, which is a collection of shorter pieces by the hard sf/space opera author. I was fortunate enough to receive a batch of new books for an early birthday present and am tearing through them at the rate of three per week.


----------



## Tom88

Now I'm reading an extended version of The Stand by Stephen King.
It's iconic, and is widely considered his opus.
I actually can't wait to get stuck into this one.


----------



## Mike C

Currently reading _Confessions of an English Opium Eater_ by Thomas de Quincy and Hardy's _Far from the Madding Crowd_. Great story, but man, Hardy's a verbose bastard.


----------



## The Hack

I've been leaning towards the classics lately. I've had a book on my shelf for some time that I am just now starting to read. It's three complete novels by H.G. Wells, all in one book. The novels are _The Time Machine_, _The Invisible M_a_n_ and _The Island of Doctor Moreau_. I looked at the book about a week ago and took shame in the fact that I've never read any of these stories.


----------



## Mike C

If you have a leaning to the classics, I strongly recommend Voltaire's Candide. It's easy reading, funny and totally relevant to the world today (as all good classics are). It's superb.

Also, shorts by De Maupassant - especially if you write shorts yourself, you'll learn muchly.


----------



## The Hack

Thanks for the tips.  I only write shorts when bored but anything that contributes to the process is welcome.


----------



## kidstaple

Currently in the middle of The Praxis: Book One in the Dread Empire's Fall Trilogy. Damn good. Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton is on my list to read after that.

Can anyone recommend some good, hardcore sci-fi. I've read a large portion, so hopefully there's something out there for me that I haven't read yet.

~Rodney


----------



## Cataclysmic

Just started to read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I love his writing. I've been looking foreword to reading this for a while.


----------



## kidstaple

Is Neil Gaiman any good? I've wanted to read him for a while, but never knew what of his to grab. Can you recommend anything?

~Rodney


----------



## moderan

kidstaple said:


> Can anyone recommend some good, hardcore sci-fi. I've read a large portion, so hopefully there's something out there for me that I haven't read yet.
> 
> ~Rodney


 

Anything by Alastair Reynolds for recent stuff. How far back do you want to go? I'd suggest going through the list of Nebula Award winners and seeing if you've read those. That list also has the Hugo Awards linked in the footnotes, and the John W. Campbell Awards list. If you need more obscure items, I can help.


----------



## Intel

I just finished reading 'Autobiography of a Geisha' by Sayo Masuda. Unlike memoirs of a Geisha, this is a true account of an illegitimate child sold to a Geisha house. She lives a rough life, and this story is moving.


----------



## ash somers

i'm reading and re-reading a staff handbook i've been writing for about 18 months
my deadline is by the end of the year, i'm beginning to hate this thing with a passion

raaarrrhhhh


----------



## ash somers

i've just finished reading saturday's age
i'm a bit pissed off, the good weekend was missing 
from the middle, i'm thinking about walking back to the shops
and complaining vehemently, it's my favourite part of the bloody paper


----------



## The Backward OX

When I've been desperate I've been known to read the wrapping on a toilet roll. True story.


----------



## Selorian

Cataclysmic said:


> Just started to read The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I love his writing. I've been looking foreword to reading this for a while.



My wife just finished 'The Graveyard Book' so now I'm getting ready to read it.  I really enjoy Gaiman's writing.

Also reading 'Odd Thomas' by Dean Koontz.


----------



## lilacstarflower

Far from the Madding Crowd

and

Demon Apocalypse


----------



## SevenWritez

Just finished Hemingway's _A Moveable Feast _and enjoyed it immensely.

Now reading:

_Herzog_, by Saul Bellow
_Taras Bulba_, by Nikolai Gogol
and _Hard Times_, by Charles Dickens.

I purchased three days back _The Known World_, a pulitzer-prize winning novel by Edward P. Jones. I read the first chapter in the store and was very impressed so bought it as to not forget it. Once I finish one of the books I'm on now (I always have three at a time), I will slide this into my reading rotation.


----------



## Katastrof

_The Canterbury Tales_ by Geoffrey Chaucer
Had to read some of it for an English assignment and I kinda got hooked on it.


----------



## moderan

lilacstarflower said:


> Far from the Madding Crowd
> 
> and
> 
> Demon Apocalypse


 
I just looked up that last. It's essentially a retelling of James Blish's Black Easter. Would bet you'd find Blish the superior writer.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol. I-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Now reading:
Hearts in Atlantis-Stephen King

Sherlock Holmes was great and I can't wait to read Vol. II (once I get it ). So far Hearts in Atlantis is good too. I remember seeing the movie when I was younger, but I know that the movie only covers the first section of the book, so I'm interested to see what the rest is about.


----------



## lilacstarflower

moderan said:


> I just looked up that last. It's essentially a retelling of James Blish's Black Easter. Would bet you'd find Blish the superior writer.



Blish is going on my list of near-future reads in that case


----------



## C.Gholy

I'm reading a book based on the charmed series; pretty interesting to read. I am also reading Attica, Nova swing and lovers and losers.


----------



## Hawke

I'm getting ready to read _The Story Of Edgar Sawtelle_ by David Wroblewski. Hope it's half as good as the reviews.


----------



## Airborneguy

Right now:
Give me Liberty, Naomi Wolf
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

Next:
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pinchon


----------



## Tom88

Airborneguy said:


> Next:
> Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pinchon



That's on my 'one day' list too. I've heard it's a damn ambitious read.


----------



## Airborneguy

Tough for sure. It has to have over 500k words, easily. Plus, the prose is extremely complicated. I started it about 2 years ago and gave up, but have decided to buckle down and finish it this time.


----------



## moderan

Worth the effort imo...though I'd think you'd want to work up to it with The Crying of Lot 49 and V. They're all worth the reading.
For some folks Pynchon is like Joyce in that it's a difficult slog and they just don't manage to push through it. I've been trying to read Ulysses for ten years. Finnegan's Wake likewise. The prose style just doesn't work for me.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Hearts in Atlantis-Stephen King

Reading:
Hungry Hill-Daphne du Maurier

I absolutely loved Hearts in Atlantis. It was very entertaining and I think it's awesome how King weaves in things from The Dark Tower series into it. He does the same in a lot of his other books, such as Insomnia, 'Salem's Lot, and The Stand. I think that's pretty neat.

I just started reading Hungry Hill today, and I got my copy at a university library book sale, so the cover is just a blank, with the title and author on the side, and there's no explanation of what the book is about. I bought it because I thought, "Hey, she wrote Rebecca. I've heard good things about that book, so maybe this one will be good too."


----------



## Tsaeb XIII

Just finished Farenheit 541, am about to start Brave New World, and plan on reading Catch 22 once I finish that.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

I gave up on _Hungry Hill_. Got a hundred pages into it and _still_ wasn't very interested, so I didn't finish it.

Now I'm reading _A Soldier of the Great War_ by Mark Helprin. He's one of my favorite authors and the book is amazing. He can make the most beautiful descriptions, and make you think, laugh, and cry. Every book of his that I've read has been this way.


----------



## kidstaple

Planning on finishing _The War of the Flowers_ by Tad Williams. Damn good book. Then, I think I'm gunna hit the TBR Mountain that has seemed to sneak up on me. I hate when that happens! I think I'll start with _Fallen Dragon_ by Peter F. Hamilton, and then from there... well.

~Rodney


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
A Soldier of the Great War-Mark Helprin

Now reading:
The Three Musketeers-Alexander Dumas

A Soldier of the Great War was hilarious, moving, and overall, beautiful. I can't wait to read his other books (I think I'll be getting a few for Christmas )

I've read The Three Musketeers before, but I've never read The Man in the Iron Mask, though I've seen the movie. Since it's been a few years since I read The Three Musketeers, I figured I'd read it again before I read the sequel so that I'd remember all the characters and what is going on.


----------



## Adjective Ocean

Currently I'm reading Everything's Eventual by Stephen King. It's a collection of 14 short stories and so far it's pretty good. I've gone through 4 of them and am currently working on the 5th. It's good to see short stories, you don't see them as much it seems.


----------



## Yustynn

Finished: Necropolis by Anthony Horowitz. It's the 4th book in the Power of Five series. Makes up for the 3rd book's suckiness in my opinion


----------



## pacifist guerrilla

Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Short, interesting read. 

Tomorrow I might start re-reading Lord Foul's Bane by Stephen Donaldson, then the rest of the First and Second Chronicles.



			
				Tsaeb XIII said:
			
		

> Just finished Farenheit 541, am about to start Brave New World, and plan on reading Catch 22 once I finish that.



Sounds good. ^^


----------



## Beja-Beja

I thought it was Farenheit 451?

Well..... I am reading.... *shifty eyes*..... Eldest.... *runs away in shame*


----------



## pacifist guerrilla

Why yes, it is!

Don't worry. Read what you want to read. A lot of the criticism is ridiculous and undue anyway. I myself recently finished reading Brisingr.


----------



## Chris71

Yann Martel  "Life of Pi"

enjoyable read


----------



## inkspot

Just finished "North to the Night" by Alvah Simon. He (intentionally) wintered on his sail boat in the arctic pack ice, but (unintentionally) alone. Very well written, interesting exploration of what months of isolation will do to a person's mind. I really liked how he related to the land, animals and Inuit.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Three Musketeers-Alexander Dumas
The Man in the Iron Mask-Alexander Dumas

Now reading:
Button, Button _Uncanny Stories_-Richard Matheson

Dumas never wrote a book called The Man in the Iron Mask, it was actually part of a bigger story called The Vicomte de Bragelonne, and from what I understand, was actually the third book in the series. The beginning of the book is a little confusing at first but it got really good towards the end. It's weird because the title character (the man in the mask) only shows a brief appearance. The movie may have something to do with the fact that the book was cut down and called by that name, but it doesn't make much sense to call the book after a character who is only a part of the bigger plot. It makes sense to call the movie by that name, though, seeing as how they greatly changed the story so that the title fits.

Button, Button is a book of short stories by Richard Matheson. He also wrote I Am Legend, What Dreams May Come, A Stir of Echoes, and Somewhere in Time, all of which were made into movies. The title story Button, Button is also being made into a movie called The Box. I've only read three of the twelve stories so far, but those three are really good, so I'm sure the rest will be too. We'll see.


----------



## WisdomSeeker

James...


----------



## Katastrof

I just recently finished reading _Waiting For Godot _by Sameul Beckettfor an English lit assignment (it's the culminating). Nothing happened in the it  but it was really good for a play that had two acts of nothing.

Currently reading a Non-fiction Annapolis/Vietnam tale, called _The Nightingale's Song _by Robert Timberg. It's almost narrative so, it's the most exciting non-fic book I have read that wasn't about physics or space.


----------



## Der Teufel-Wolf

Well, this month I finished the Twilight series in 8 days, I'm still working on Nature Girl by Carl Hiassen, Make Love *The Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell, and I still have abot four others I want to read before the end of the year, including Common Sense by Thomas Paine.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Button, Button-Richard Matheson

Now reading:
The Once and Future King-T.H. White

Button, Button was great. Like I said before, it's a book of short stories, and there were some pretty crazy ones in there! (And I mean crazy in a good way).

The Once and Future King is of course about King Arthur. I've read King Arthur and His Knights by Howard Pyle and The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, plus a little from when I was in high school. My favorite was definitely The Mists of Avalon, but this one is good so far. I'm just hoping it won't drag out because most classics that I've read have been that way. Some of them are good stories, but just have uninteresting details, if that makes any sense.

WisdomSeeker: Epona's one of my favorite Amy Brown paintings. Is the one in your signature one of hers too? I haven't been on her website in a while, so I haven't seen any of the new ones.

Der Teufel-Wolf: The Twilight series rocks. Are you going to see the movie?


----------



## WisdomSeeker

VinrAlfakyn said:


> WisdomSeeker: Epona's one of my favorite Amy Brown paintings. Is the one in your signature one of hers too? I haven't been on her website in a while, so I haven't seen any of the new ones.


 
Never knew that was an Amy Brown painting...
actually, it's probably just the fairy that's hers.
I do animation and play a lot with Paint Shop Pro.
I added the background and changed the colors.
Thank you for the comment...  
​


----------



## SparkyLT

_Wicked: The Life And Times of the Wicked Witch of the West_


----------



## tepelus

I just started The Historian. We'll see how it goes.


----------



## amanoa

Der Teufel-Wolf said:


> Well, this month I finished the Twilight series in 8 days, I'm still working on Nature Girl by Carl Hiassen, Make Love *The Bruce Campbell Way by Bruce Campbell, and I still have abot four others I want to read before the end of the year, including Common Sense by Thomas Paine.



oh really? wow, you're a fast reader... i only finished reading twilight and new moon in a week... now, i am reading eclipse... so far, i love new moon because there is more drama and adventures...


----------



## Cefor

I've recently read Michelle Paver's books, Wolf Brother up to Oath Breaker. Can't wait for the next one.

Brisingr is one of the best books I've read in a while.

Meh, I like fantasy... ^^


----------



## C.Gholy

Currently taking a look at other fan fictions right now and just about to re read Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean.  I need to finish off reading the Witches by Roald Dhal at some point.


----------



## Dragonsoul

The Orc King for the Forgotten Relams series. I totally love the Companions of the Hall, particularly Drizzt. I find it's a bit slow-going right now, but generally it's quite good.


----------



## moderan

Anthology re-reads this week:
Scare Care, edited by Graham Masterton. Large and unusually good horror anthology, with the proceeds going to charity. 30 of the 38 tales are original to the book.
Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley. This is reputedly "the Dangerous Visions of horror", with lots of content by established sf/f and mainstream writers, plus the original publication of S. King's The Mist.
Epoch, Roger Elwood and Robert Silverberg, editors. This undeservedly obscure volume attempted to one-up Dangerous Visions and was successful in all but sales. Particularly excellent and successful were stories by Ursula K LeGuin, George RR Martin, and Gregory Benford (the story Cambridge, 1:58 am became the novel Timescape). The anthology includes novellas by Larry Niven and Alexei and Cory Panshin, and a full novel by Jack Vance. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you can find it.
Adventures in Time and Space (see thread by the same title). The state of the art in science fiction @1946.


----------



## lilacstarflower

C.Gholy said:


> I need to finish off reading the Witches by Roald Dhal at some point.



One of my favourite Roald Dahl books!

Right now I'm reading Little Dorrit by Dickens. There is a BBC mini series of it on tv just now and I find Dickens difficult to read in general but fell in love with the series so giving it a proper go


----------



## Heid

Halfway through Salmon Rushdie's "Satanic Verses"

Very good writer. Lovely prose. Loving it so far.


----------



## JHB

Dragonsoul said:


> The Orc King for the Forgotten Relams series. I totally love the Companions of the Hall, particularly Drizzt. I find it's a bit slow-going right now, but generally it's quite good.



I absolutely love that series. The interactions between characters and sense of adventure usually just blows my mind.

Pick up _The Pirate King_ next time you hit the book store. It's much more dark and gritty than the other books (at one point thousands of people die in a huge magical explosion) and most the Companions play much smaller roles, but it's still a great book.

Oh, and if you haven't read all the books in the series, start off with _The Dark Elf Trilogy_, which details Drizzt Do'Urdens early adventures in the drow city of Menzoberranzan and the wild Underdark, and prepare for a great read! :smile:


----------



## Der Teufel-Wolf

The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde


----------



## Tiamat

Der Teufel-Wolf said:


> The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde


Good book.

Currently reading _A Game of Thrones_ by George R. R. Martin.


----------



## JHB

Currently I am reading _The Thief's Gamble_ by _Juliet E. McKenna. _It's a great fantasy book so far, shifting back on forth from first person to third person.


----------



## flashgordon

The Common Pot:The Recovery of Native Space in the Northeast.


----------



## JWalker

im currently reading the Twilight series


----------



## froman

Just finished Cat's Cradle (really really great!).  Now I'm reading Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (not to sure about this one).


----------



## moderan

_Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said_ _is_ kinda spotty. That and _A Scanner Darkly_, which was PKD's previous novel, are not up to the standards established during his heyday. They have moments, but are not as creatively unhinged, relying more on paranoia as a plot device and motive force and less on the overall existential worldview and sense of absurd "theater" that make Dick's earlier work so arresting and unusual.
That said, they're still better than most writers' output.


----------



## Tiamat

I liked _A Scanner Darkly_.  But I also haven't read anything else of his.


----------



## moderan

Try The Man in the High Castle, Martian Time-Slip, the Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, A Maze of Death, or anything else from the period 1962-1970 by PKD, and you'll readily see the difference. Drug addiction took its toll on Dick's prose and creative imagination.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

tepelus said:


> I just started The Historian. We'll see how it goes.



I loved that book. Very good.

Finished:  
The Once and Future King-T.H. White

Now reading:
The Wild Reel-Paul Brandon


----------



## PageOfCups

I've just started reading The Ghosts of Sleath by James Herbert. The blurb reminded me of the Goosebumps books I used to read, but written for adults. I'm three chapters in and the description is much more flowery than I expected, but I'm still absolutely loving it.


----------



## Tatiiii

I'm currently reading The Ravenscar Dynasty by Barbara Taylor Bradford.


----------



## SparkyLT

_Suck It Up_. Vampires. =;


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
The Wild Reel-Paul Brandon
The Secret of NIMH-Robert C. O'Brien

Now reading:
Showdown-Ted Dekker

The Wild Reel was really good, great for people who like more modern fantasy. I tried to read Les Miserables after that, but I read twenty-five pages into it and still wasn't very interested, so I may come back to it later. I read The Secret of NIMH just for fun because I watched the movie when I was a little kid. 

Showdown is really good so far. Ted Dekker is an awesome writer.

Can't wait to read all my Christmas books!


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Showdown-Ted Dekker

Now reading:
Freddy and Fredericka-Mark Helprin

Showdown was really intense and suspenseful. Absolutely loved it.

Mark Helprin is one of my favorite authors. I've read five of his eleven books and so far I've loved every single one. Freddy and Fredericka is the sixth book of his that I'm in the process of reading and I got the rest of his books for Christmas. The book is laugh out loud hilarious so far and I'm sure I'm going to love it.


----------



## Mugician

_Birds_ - A Golden Guide

_Collected Stories_ - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

_A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius_ - Dave Eggers


----------



## Tom88

Cujo by Stephen King.


----------



## RoundEye

_A Confederacy of Dunces_ by John Kennedy Toole.

I’m not really certain why I’m into the book so much. It was written by a native New Orleanian. I think it may be that I’m looking back slightly into the city’s history. It was based on a period of New Orleans in the 1960’s. It’s also written pretty well. The book is gaining quite a cult following around here.


----------



## RAlanCook

The Underdogs by Mariano Azulea.


----------



## Lyonidus

re-reading the "farseer trilogy" by Robin Hobb for what i believe to be the third time now.

But also have to read "Ivan's war" by Catherine Merridale, "Stalingrad" by anthony Beevor for history.


----------



## sf27

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James


----------



## moderan

Writers' Market 2009
Resume With Monsters, by William Browning Spencer
The King in Yellow, by Robert W. Chambers


----------



## Ilasir Maroa

Temeraire by Naomi Novik


----------



## SoNickSays...

Infected by Scott Sigler.

Nick


----------



## Tiamat

_A Clash of Kings _by George R. R. Martin.


----------



## Beja-Beja

The Contender by Robert Lipsyte


----------



## Tiamat

Beja-Beja said:


> The Contender by Robert Lipsyte


I had to read that book in high school for an English festival, and, well, I hope you like it more than I did.


----------



## ash somers

the society of others _ william nicholson


----------



## Beja-Beja

Tiamat10 said:


> I had to read that book in high school for an English festival, and, well, I hope you like it more than I did.


 
I think its just ok so far a real simple read but I have read far better novels similar to it.


----------



## Beja-Beja

I am also reading Othello for my english class.


----------



## Darling

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.


----------



## Tarantula

Kafka on the Shore, Haruki Murakami


----------



## kidstaple

The Excalibur Alternative by David Weber.


----------



## Dancer Preston

_Thirteen Orphans_ by Jane Lindskold


----------



## ash somers

trickster makes this world: how disruptive imagination creates culture

_ lewis hyde


----------



## Selorian

_Inca Gold_ by Clive Cussler


----------



## Dr. Malone

I read multiple books at once.  Currently:

Gonzo (Hunter Thompson retrospective by people who knew him)
The God Dellusion
Invisible Man


----------



## KangTheMad

Shock Wave by Clive C.


----------



## Zuiun

Like you, Malone, I've usually got several books going at once.  (I also wind up doing the audio book thing a lot, because I can do that while driving / working.)

Right now I've got going:

Slaughterhouse Five: Vonnegut (for the 3rd time)

Outliers: Malcolm Gladwell (non-fiction and EXCELLENT -- I recommend all of his books)

Axis: Robert Charles Wilson (so far, not as good as the first book, Spin)


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Like you, Malone, I've usually got several books going at once. (I also wind up doing the audio book thing a lot, because I can do that while driving / working.)
> 
> Right now I've got going:
> 
> Slaughterhouse Five: Vonnegut (for the 3rd time)



Nice.  I love Vonnegut.  I'm actually listening to Breakfast of Champions on audio book as well.  I have a love/hate thing with audio books.

And I've heard lots of good things about Outliers.  I'll have to pick that one up.


----------



## Triquediqual

_The Great War for Civilisation; By Robert Fisk_

Excellent journalistic account, first hand experience of the Middle Eastern crisis.


----------



## Taxiday

Finished reading my first Vince Flynn book and enjoyed it. Well written and kept my interest all the way through.

Am reading Clive Cussler's _The Chase_ and find it a nice change from his Dirk Pitt stuff (although I enjoy those now co-authored by someone). Takes place in the early 1900's and holds my interest.

Just found (whoopee!!!!!) _People of the River_ by the Gears. I remember reading some of their earlier stuff that absolutely fascinated me about pre-European America. Haven't started it yet but know it'll keep me fascinatef rom beginning to end.

God how I'd love to be able to write as good!!!!!


----------



## Zuiun

Malone said:


> I have a love/hate thing with audio books.


 
Yes.  I definitely prefer the visceral experience of a physical book.  However, I'll enjoy an audio book if a) it's unabridged, and b) has decent reader.  When I make my drives between Lincoln and Colorado Springs, nothing passes the time better.




> And I've heard lots of good things about Outliers. I'll have to pick that one up.


 
Also, if you haven't already, give Blink and Tipping Point a read.  They provide some interesting insights into how people think and how social events unfold.  Great resources for writers.


----------



## Industrial

1985 by: Anthony Burgess.

That's right such a book actually exists!!


----------



## Dr. Malone

1985 sounds like one of the dozens of books he pumped out when he knew he was dying and he needed money to leave to his family.  Is it any good?


----------



## Industrial

heh. It's allright. He basically spends the first half analyzing 1984 then the second half is his sequel to 1984.


----------



## kidstaple

Currently reading American Gods by Niel Gaiman. What an amazing author!


----------



## BlatantAssassin

I've got 2 books being devoured currently:

_Sabriel _- Garth Nix
_Name of the Wind _- Patrick Rothfuss

The second one is purely amazing. It's like reading a flowing script of magic...


----------



## kidstaple

BlatantAssassin said:


> I've got 2 books being devoured currently:
> 
> _Sabriel _- Garth Nix
> _Name of the Wind _- Patrick Rothfuss
> 
> The second one is purely amazing. It's like reading a flowing script of magic...



It is. Patrick Rothfuss is simply amazing. I discovered Name of the Wind a few months after it came out, and was blown away. There really isn't another fantasy story written like it. If you ever get the chance to meet Patrick, be prepared to be amazed. He is truly a brilliant person. Also, I highly suggest that you check out his website, he's got an awesome blog on it, and a few tidbits of awesomeness that you might enjoy.

~kidstaple


----------



## JosephB

I don't read bestsellers often, but I was discussing the subjects I write about  with someone, and she recommended a novel called _Double Blind by _by Chris Bohjalian. 

The writing is choppy and there are pages of back-story -- telling, telling, telling. I don't know if I can get through it, even though the story is fairly interesting so far.


----------



## Mugician

Just picked up _The Road_ by Cormac McCarthy.

Finished it in a day. Goddamn. Super intense. Beautiful story. Anyone else read this?


----------



## kidstaple

Mugician said:


> Just picked up _The Road_ by Cormac McCarthy.
> 
> Finished it in a day. Goddamn. Super intense. Beautiful story. Anyone else read this?



Aye, I have. It was a damn fine read. Can't wait for the movie... I have a feeling they won't butcher it to badly, so I'm thinking I'm gunna have to go and see it.

~kidstaple


----------



## Mugician

> Can't wait for the movie...



My god! They're making a movie?!! Whoa. That's going to be... uh... whoa. Wouldn't it be great if the Coen Bros did it? Except... I only say that because they NAILED No Country (by the way is that a good read?), _this_ wouldn't exactly be their thing - at least I don't think.


----------



## BlatantAssassin

kidstaple said:


> It is. Patrick Rothfuss is simply amazing. I discovered Name of the Wind a few months after it came out, and was blown away. There really isn't another fantasy story written like it. If you ever get the chance to meet Patrick, be prepared to be amazed. He is truly a brilliant person. Also, I highly suggest that you check out his website, he's got an awesome blog on it, and a few tidbits of awesomeness that you might enjoy.
> 
> ~kidstaple



I wonder what he'd say if he read our posts. He is amazing.

Blog? You got a URL for that?


----------



## Dr. Malone

No Country is a very good read.  They left very little out of the movie, though, so if you've seen that the only point of reading the book is just to appreciate the writing.  I saw the movie about three times before I read the book, but the book was still fantastic and hard to put down.


----------



## kidstaple

Mugician: Yeah, they're making a movie out of it. Here's the link for the information on it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_(film)

BlatantAssassin: Here's Patrick Rothfuss's Blog: Patrick Rothfuss - Blog

~kidstaple


----------



## WriterDude

The Shrinking Man, by Robert Matheson. The short version it's about a man running into a strange mist on the ocean that makes him shrink. Duh... It's so slow he don't even know something is wrong the few first days (he's shrinking about an inch a weeek), but it's never stopping... Part of the book takes place during that shrinkage and deals with the problems he and his wife has to face like lack of income, how to make love to your husband when he's the size of a child, him living in a dollhouse, being desperate to talk to anyone his size and so on (and even though I'm drunk right now, that book is insanely emotional sometimes... I'm a guy, and it almost gives me tears in my eyes...), and part of the book deals about him living in the basement, having to search for food and water every day and protecting himself against a spider that will be bigger than him in a few days. Oh, and according to his calculations, he will be so small he cease to exist in four days.

I don't know if it's the book or the author (it's the only book by Richard Matheson I've read, although I do have I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come laying around), but it's one of the best books I've ever read. It's one of those books you read in one sitting because you literally can't put it down because it's so damn good, and even when you have finished it, you sit there thinking "holy sh..., that was awesome..."

Trust me. "I Am Legend" has been turned into a movie at least three times, and this one is much, much better. It's just... wow... seriously... on a scale from one to ten, I give it a big wow... 

I have more than 300 books in my collection, possibly even past 400. The Shrinking Man is by far the best one I've ever read. By far...

Edit: It was turned into a movie in 1957. and a new version will be out next year according to imdb.com. I haven't seen either, but if it's half as good as this, go see it. I am going to find it online and order it right now. Not many stories makes me forget the rest of the world exist, but this one does... I mean damn... I'm not even that scary, just... wow... and for that matter, he eventually takes up the fight against the spider and tries to kill it, just because he has nothing left to loose... how often do you see that these days...


----------



## KangTheMad

Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich


----------



## ash somers

i've just finished reading, The Goose Bath - Poems by Janet Frame


----------



## C.Gholy

I paused reading New Moon, I went in the first few chapters and felt like stopping because it felt predictable. 

Bo in the dress by David Walliams was brilliant, I loved it. 

I'm now reading Vampirates: Tide of Terror.


----------



## ash somers

I'm halfway through Smoke and Mirrors _ Neil Gaiman.

I hope to borrow 'The Sandman' series _(reprinted in a re-coloured four-volume Absolute hardcover edition with slipcase)_ from my best friend next week; they don't know yet, but, I'm sure it will be fine


----------



## Beja-Beja

Of Mice and Men


----------



## David C.

Recently, I finished Neil Gaiman's _American Gods_ and _Anansi Boys_, as well as Ben Bova's _The Aftermath_, the fourth book in his Asteroid Wars series. Now, I'm reading the first book in the series, _The Precipice._ Yeah, I tend to bounce around a series. In non-fiction, I'm reading _An Experimental Approach to Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos, _though that's a little slower in progression. Confounded equations are driving me nuts. I really should've paid attention in those math classes.


----------



## Raging_Hopeful

I just finished "Confessions of an Evil Stepsister" which was excellent and now I am reading "Dreamchild" which come to find out is actually a sequel. so now I feel like I am missing vital plot points that they keep referencing to in this second book. How frustrating!


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Freddy and Fredericka-Mark Helprin
Everything's Eventual-Stephen King
Howl's Moving Castle-Diana Lynn Jones
Ellis Island and Other Stories-Mark Helprin
Kingdom Hearts manga 1,2,3, & 4-adapted by Shiro Amano

Now reading:
Memory and Dream-Charles de Lint


----------



## BlatantAssassin

"I'd say I love you but then I'd have to kill you"- I don't know the author.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Ally Carter is the author of that book, assassin.


----------



## BlatantAssassin

Hmm.. an insult? lol, jk, Malone.


----------



## kidstaple

Conventions of War by Walter Jon Williams. Awesome Space Opera.


----------



## S-wo

The Pact by Drs. Sampson Davis, George Jenkins, and Rameck Hunt.


----------



## kaseyisrad

Currently reading _The Lovely Bones_ by Alice Sebold


----------



## BlatantAssassin

Lirael-Garth Nix

(First one was good... why not try the sequel?)


----------



## kidstaple

The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer.


----------



## JosephB

_The Sun Also Rises. _I've been checking out current bestsellers, just for the heck of it, and to get a feel for the market. I'm reading this to cleanse my palate, so to speak.


----------



## Tiamat

_A Storm of Swords_ by George R. R. Martin.  It's slow-going though because I haven't felt like reading much lately.


----------



## SparkyLT

BlatantAssassin said:


> Lirael-Garth Nix
> 
> (First one was good... why not try the sequel?)


I loved the first one, but the others weren't so great, in my opinion. Not bad, but not great.

I'm chewing through the Midnighters Series, by Scott Westerfield. Slowly. I got the first two for Christmas, and the third a week later. Then, when I got to it (I read Breaking Dawn first, so Mom could have it *sigh*), I discovered that it went form page 60 to page 285... So, just today, we exchanged it for one that wasn't messed up.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> The Sun Also Rises.



I love that one.  His narrative/style is amazing.  I read that as like a study guide for writing.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Memory and Dream-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe

Of course, being a Charles de Lint book, Memory and Dream was awesome and I completely loved it.

I've been a Poe fan for a long time, but I haven't read most of his stories and poems, so I'm excited about this book.



kaseyisrad said:


> Currently reading _The Lovely Bones_ by Alice Sebold



The Lovely Bones was really good. Haven't read it in about a year, but I remember I really liked it.


----------



## kidstaple

SparkyLT said:


> Then, when I got to it (I read Breaking Dawn first, so Mom could have it *sigh*), I discovered that it went form page 60 to page 285... So, just today, we exchanged it for one that wasn't messed up.



Sounds like someone fell asleep on the job.

Just picked up Castaways by Brian Keene. He's not only a friend of mine, but a damn fine writer as well! So far it's held up to his standard: gritty, brutal-in-your-face-horror. An impressive homage to Richard Laymon...


----------



## Dr. Malone

I've heard good things about Castaways, if it's the book I'm thinking of.  I can't remember the author.  I'll have to go look it up.


----------



## BlatantAssassin

Abhorsen - Garth Nix


----------



## kidstaple

Malone said:


> I've heard good things about Castaways, if it's the book I'm thinking of.  I can't remember the author.  I'll have to go look it up.



It only came out a few days ago... I believe it is marked for a release of January 27 or 29, but hit bookshelves a few days earlier than normal. (they usually do) I picked mine up a couple of days ago and have already read it twice. Damn good read.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> It only came out a few days ago



Ah.  The one I was thinking of is from the 70s or 80s.  I'll still try to find the one you're talking about since he's your friend.


I'm reading a textbook called Esthetics.


----------



## thesarafurter

I'm re-reading _An Anthropologist on Mars_ by Oliver Sacks. It may be my favorite piece of nonfiction.


----------



## Zuiun

Ah....  Watchmen is so much more than just a comic book.  It's an amazingly complex story.  It's going to be so hard for the upcoming film to even come close to living up to it.

Another great one the elevates the "comic" medium to new heights is Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns.  It, too, is a comic that is as complex as any novel and it was a very heavy influence on both Batman Begins and The Dark Knight.


I just started re-reading Spin by Robert Charles Wilson.  Amazing story.  I don't want to give much away (because the way the revelations unfold is part of the fun), but the basic premise is that the Earth is covered by a gigantic shield that seriously distorts time.


----------



## Katastrof

Read _Procession of the Dead _by some D.B Shan character. Meh. Okay. I wanted to try something different. He can trudge along with suspense, but his characters and plot aren't really that believable. In fact in the latter half of the book when the main character Capac starts questioning the believability of the story, I acutal believed that the whole thing would turn out to be a dream considering the way the book portrays organized crime as a mix between Harry Potter and a conspiracy theory.

I guessed that he was Irish/English half way through, and guessed that he had never seen a criminal outside of a movie.  I was correct on both accounts.

Anyways, I picked up _House of Leaves_ while I was reading the above book. I'm really excited for it. It seems like a really good horror story (free of plot holes unlike the Mr. Shan's novel) and the way it's presented makes the writer in me want to shout on the roof tops.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I picked up Cat's Cradle because someone in the must read thread said it was his best novel.  I'm going to start it as soon as I knock out the last few pages of Gonzo.


----------



## WriterDude

I just started reading Nightmare At 20.000 Feet by Richard Matheson. This guy's a genius. He's the one who wrote I Am Legend, and the book I'm reading now is a collection or short stories. The title comes from the first story, where a guy goes on a plane and sees a monster destroying the wing. It was filmed as an episode of Twilight Zone and as part of the Twilight Zone movie. That says a bit. So does the fact I Am Legend has been turned into a movie at least three times, and both The Shrinking Man and What Dreams May Come have been turned into a movie and are being remade. I'm sure he has other books-to-movies too. That guy's a genious. I've no idea who I've managed to miss him as a horror writer. It's always Lovecraft, King, Poe and Barker, but I've completely ignored Matheson for some reason. Oh, well. Time to catch up.


----------



## SparkyLT

I finished _The Pigman_ by some poor guy whose name I didn't even notice. Well, it was a good book anyway - sorry, Mr. Guy Whose Name I Didn't Notice.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> The title comes from the first story, where a guy goes on a plane and sees a monster destroying the wing. It was filmed as an episode of Twilight Zone and as part of the Twilight Zone movie.



There's someone on the wing, some...thing.


----------



## WriterDude

SparkyLT said:


> I finished _The Pigman_ by some poor guy whose name I didn't even notice. Well, it was a good book anyway - sorry, Mr. Guy Whose Name I Didn't Notice.


 
Paul Zindel?

The Pigman - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


----------



## WriterDude

Malone said:


> There's someone on the wing, some...thing.


 
Yeah, exactly... the plane takes off as usual, and the passengers falls asleep. One of them stays awake, and notice a strange thing moving on the wing. He thinks itsn't an animal, but it turns out to be human... ish. Of course he calls for the stewardess, but the thing disappear just before she arrive. The story is mainly about him and the creature. The creature tease him by destroying parts of the wing and all that, and then vanish before the guy can get someone to help. It's pretty creepy.


----------



## SparkyLT

Er, yeah. That dude. Excuse me while I slink darkly into a corner, muttering 'Wikipedia' and various profanities.

_Mutter mutter... Wikipedia... Hrmph..._


----------



## WriterDude

Relax, it's past midnight over here, so I'll just assume it's the same over there and you are tired.


----------



## SparkyLT

I'll go with that excuse :razz:


----------



## WriterDude

Works every time for me.


----------



## Dr. Malone

That Twilight Episode with Shatner was VERY creepy.  It still makes me uncomfortable to watch.  I didn't know Matheson was behind it.  You seem to be on a Matheson kick lately.  I'm planning on picking up the shrinking man book based on your praise.


----------



## WriterDude

I've been a horror fan since the day I was born, and somehow managed to ignore Matheson completely. Probably because he's not so well known over here.

And yes, he's the one who wrote the story that episode is based on, and the story is at least as good. I strongly recommend him if you like creepy things.

Matheson is my God when I'm drunk. When I'm sober, I just love him a lot in a very heterosexual way. :mrgreen:


----------



## SoNickSays...

Macbeth, William Shakespeare and sometimes various H. P. Lovecraft Short Stories.

Nick


----------



## WriterDude

Shakespear and Lovecraft? Damn, I didn't see that combo coming...


----------



## Zuiun

Malone said:


> There's someone on the wing, some...thing.



The world ... needs more Shat.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished:
Hell House-Richard Matheson

Still reading:
The Complete Stories and Poems of Edgar Allen Poe

Just started:
The Ivory and the Horn-Charles de Lint


----------



## kidstaple

I was lucky enough to have found a copy of _Oryx and Crake _in a very sexy hardcover edition at my local B&N, for only a dollar. It's a damn fine read.


----------



## Sorrel

Engleby by Sebastian Faulks.


----------



## Capulet

Working on Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card.

I'm not usually a fan of spinoff series, but considering the Ender series veers so far away early on, it's an entity all to itself. Three books in and still enjoying it!


----------



## Beja-Beja

Thirteen: 13 Tales of Horror by 13 Masters of Horror.


----------



## kidstaple

I just picked up Orphanage by Robert Buettner. Looked good when I picked it up the other night, but I'm sorta iffy on the author's writing. It's got a different feel that I wasn't expecting. Oh well.

~kidstaple


----------



## JosephB

I just reread _The Heart is a Lonely Hunter_, by Carson McCullers. Brilliant. I read it in high school (not for school) and it really stuck with me. I'd rank it as one of my favorites. The movie is excellent also. Very true to the book.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I love that.  She wrote it when she was like 23 too.  I've read it several times.  Actually just noticed it on the bookshelf a couple days ago and thought of picking it up again.  She's an inspiration to me because she wrote something so profound at such a young age.


----------



## JosephB

See the movie, Malone, if you haven't. It's an old one, with Allen Arkin as Mr. Singer. I think I've cried watching two or three movies -- this was one. 

I own the book, and though I just reread it in it's entirety, it's one of those that I pick up and scan for inspiration from time to time since I started writing.


----------



## Page Wanderer

I'm currently reading The Golden Compass, and I've got No Country For Old Men and World War Z lined up.


----------



## Nickie

Right now, I'm reading two books. One on the daily train to work: Tell No One by Harlan Coben. Although I've already read it years ago, I still wonder how the book goes.
The second book is Hide Yourself Away by mary Jane Clark. I read this one at home, after work.

Nickie


----------



## gagoots

Just finishing up Then We Came To The End.

Up next, By The River Piedra, I sat Down And Wept.


----------



## writing4me

I'm reading Cross Country by James Patterson and Host by Stephanie Meyer


----------



## Eluixa

I am reading 'Vincalis the agitater' by Holly Lisle.
I have read a good deal of her work. Fantasy, but grisly and profound.


----------



## Swamp Thing

Conrad's _The Secret Agent.  _Also, just finished up the latest issue of The Southern Review, great fiction, and The Southeastern Review just arrived.


----------



## tirame

I'm currently reading _How Green Was My Valley_; when finished I'm going to read Dante's _Divine Comedy_ and then _The Fountainhead_ by Ayn Rand for the second time.


----------



## SevenWritez

I can't wait to get my hands on _The Heart is a Lonely Hunter_. I've picked it up at bookstores and have read through passages landed upon at random and have been very impressed. I've always been busy with a different novel, though. Joseph's post on it is good enough an incentive to lift it from the shelf before the week's done.

But first I must finish _Half of a Yellow Sun_. This novel is brilliant. I'm too stupid to explain its strength, but I'll leave one of the many comments from the novel's back for others here to read:

"We do not usually associate wisdom with beginners, but here is a new writer endowed with the gift of ancient storytellers. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie knows what is at stake, and what to do about it. She is fearless, or she would not have taken on the intimidating horror of Nigeria's civil war. Adichie came almost fully made."   - Chinua Achebe (for those not in the know, he's the author of _Things Fall Apart_)

Joyce Carol Oates and Edmund White also left gloating reviews. Pick it up, folks. It's a big one.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I love Fountainhead but I really can't stand Dante.  Maybe it's the translation in the edition I have (it was my mom's when she was young, so it's like 30 or 40 years old), but I just can't get through it.


----------



## tirame

Malone said:


> I love Fountainhead but I really can't stand Dante.  Maybe it's the translation in the edition I have (it was my mom's when she was young, so it's like 30 or 40 years old), but I just can't get through it.


Really? I've always wanted to read the _Divine Comedy _because the whole nine circles of hell thing has always intrigued me. I had a giftcard for Borders so I decided to use it the other day..they had a bunch of different versions of the _Comedy_, and the cheapest was one that was in novel form and included all three sections. I compared it with one of the books that had it in its original poem form and translation, and the one I bought, the novel one, seemed to be less wordy and more direct. Hopefully I'll be able to get through it, and if not, at least I didn't waste _my _money on it.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Well, I'm not very smart so that could have had something to do with me not liking it.  I've had to study the principles behind it in school, and I agree that they are interesting, but the actual literature just does nothing for me.


----------



## SevenWritez

I second Malone. I tried Dante's piece twice and have given up both times. Same with Tolstoy's _War and Peace_. 

_Anthem _and _The Fountainhead_ were great, though. I haven't read _Atlus Shrugged_ yet, but I intend to. I also tried to read Rand's _We the Living _but I couldn't get into it.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Atlas is basically Fountainhead's ideas taken to the Nth degree.  It's not as good as Fountainhead (I don't think the love or the human determinism comes across nearly as believable) but it's still very much worth reading.

And you'll love McCullers.  Heart is a Lonely Hunter is something I think you'll appreciate.  Brilliant story and writing.


----------



## C.Gholy

I got my hands on _Rumours_ today, I also brought some manga books too. I've just finished Vampirates: Tide of Terror and now about to read Vampirates: Blood Captain. Might check up on some fan fics along the way too.


----------



## kidstaple

I just picked up _The Icarus Hunt _by Timothy Zahn. It's a fine read and quickly rising to the top of my favorites list.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Put aside:
The Complete Stories and Poems by Edgar Allen Poe

Finished:
The Ivory and the Horn-Charles de Lint
A Dove of the East and Other Stories-Mark Helprin
A Stir of Echoes-Richard Matheson

Now reading:
The Innocent Mage-Karen Miller


----------



## Dr. Malone

Re-reading The God Delusion.


----------



## Sam

Reading Brad Thor's _The Takedown. _


----------



## Industrial

Noble House, James Clavell


----------



## Tom

The Kite Runner.

I forget the Authors name.

Loving it so far.


----------



## Katastrof

Reading Chuck Palahniuk's _Survivior_. Loving this guy's style so far.


----------



## David C.

Fiction - _Starship Troopers_
Nonfiction - _Stalin's Folly: The Tragic First Ten Days of WWII on the Eastern Front_


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Reading Chuck Palahniuk's Survivior. Loving this guy's style so far.



I like it too, but it can get old quick sometimes.


----------



## Eluixa

Reading Neil Gaiman. Just finished 'The Graveyard Book' and am reading 'Neverwhere' now. 
I love surreal, so I am loving his stuff.


----------



## Lyonidus

"The Historian" by elizabeth Kostova and i have to admit that for someone who's never really been fascinated with dracula it's rather good.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Ok, I'm reading this Watchmen comic book.  I must be missing something here.  The movie looks stupid as shit and the comic is no better so far.  It's like the Tick with all the lame-ass heroes.


----------



## The Backward OX

How Not To Write A Novel ~ Howard Mittlemark & Sandra Newman

In Search of King Solomon's Mines ~ Tahir Shah

Mexican Hat ~ Michael McGarrity


----------



## Dr. Malone

> In Search of King Solomon's Mines ~ Tahir Shah



I want to read that.


----------



## Crackedactor

I'm reading Hard Times by Dickens, because I feel woefully inadequate when it comes to the classics.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Crackedactor...I like that one.  I'll be the jean genie.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Marley & Me (not the dog one)


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Innocent Mage-Karen Miller
The Awakened Mage-Karen Miller
Moonlight and Vines-Charles de Lint
The Jane Austen Book Club-Karen Joy Fowler

Now reading:
Refiner's Fire-Mark Helprin



Lyonidus said:


> "The Historian" by elizabeth Kostova and i have to admit that for someone who's never really been fascinated with dracula it's rather good.



I love that book! Looking forward to rereading it soon.


----------



## David C.

Finished:
_Stalin's Folly_
_Orphanage_
_Starship Troopers_

Now reading:
_Armor_ - John Steakley


----------



## Dr. Malone

I'm about a third of the way through Watchmen.  It hasn't really impressed me yet.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Nausea  -  Sartre


----------



## Pandora's Head

Brideshead Revisited-Waugh


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Crackedactor said:


> I'm reading Hard Times by Dickens, because I feel woefully inadequate when it comes to the classics.



I didn't really like that one. But it may be because I read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series not too long before it, so everything was compared to those.

Finished:
Refiner's Fire-Mark Helprin

Now Reading:
My Family and Other Animals-Gerald Durrell

Refiner's Fire was good, but my favorite Mark Helprin books are still the Swan Lake trilogy and Winter's Tale. Still have to read The Pacific and Memoir from Antproof Case before I've read them all, though. 

My Family and Other Animals was suggested to me by a friend. It's actually an autobiography, but it reads like a fiction book and is actually really funny and interesting.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
My Family and Other Animals-Gerald Durrell

Now reading:
The Rossetti Letter-Christi Phillips

My Family and Other Animals was actually really good. I want to go buy my own copy now. The Rossetti Letter has started off really well, so I think I'm going to like it too.


----------



## Beja-Beja

I would tell you what I am reading now but the first rule about Fight Club is that I don't talk about it......... wait a minute?


----------



## Dr. Malone

Fight Club is one of those rare cases when the movie is better than the book.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Actually I think they are on about the same level. The author thinks the movie is better though.


----------



## SparkyLT

Recently finished _The Burn Journals_ by Brent Cannot-remember-his-last-name-to-save-my-life. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm kind of getting into memoirs. I've read five of them over the last couple of weeks.


----------



## Katastrof

Dr. Malone said:


> I'm about a third of the way through Watchmen.  It hasn't really impressed me yet.



I'm reading that too. I thought the movie looked cool (wanna read it before I see it), and I've been toying with the idea of reading a comic book (I mean graphic novel) for awhile now.

I think I know what you mean, although I think it's still pretty good with focusing on the characters more than fights with bad-guys. Original I guess you'd say; invented the whole questionable super-hero. Not as wow as in most novels I read, but it blows away any comic (graphic novel) I use to read before I thought they were a bit nerdy.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I'm watching the movie now.  It's scene for scene for the comic for the most part.   Actually shot for shot in some cases.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Heart of Darkness.  I've read Lord Jim but never this one.


----------



## SevenWritez

Spring Snow by Yukio Mishima. After that, True at First Light by Ernest Hemingway.

I made it to page 200-something in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter before I gave up. It's nice, but I think based off what others told me I was setting myself up for a great piece of literature, which, in my opinion, it isn't. However, I can't help but think To Kill a Mockingbird's Scout Finch is a complete rip-off of Mick Kelley.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Beja-Beja said:


> I would tell you what I am reading now but the first rule about Fight Club is that I don't talk about it......... wait a minute?



I love that movie! I read the book last May and really enjoyed it too.

As for movies definitely being better than the books, try The Prestige, The Painted Veil, or Sweeney Todd.

Finished:
The Rossetti Letter-Christi Phillips

Now reading:
The Pacific and Other Stories-Mark Helprin

The Rossetti Letter seemed to me to be a kind of mixture of Memoirs of a Geisha, The Witch of Cologne, When We Were Gods, and The Historian. I really liked it, but I couldn't help comparing.

The Pacific and Other Stories is by one of my favorite authors, Mark Helprin. This will be the 10th of his that I have read, so only one more to go after this. This one is all short stories, and so far I've only read one, but I thought it was amazing. I expect the rest will be just as good.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Hell's Angels - Thompson

Not expecting much from this one.


----------



## SevenWritez

I started Moby Dick and East of Eden. 

_AT ZEE SAME TIME!_

Moby Dick is a little more awesome, though, so I'm going to continue reading that until it bores me. Then I'll read East of Eden.

Oh, and I'm also finishing up Spring Snow. I should finish it by Wednesday.


----------



## SevenWritez

SparkyLT said:


> Recently finished _The Burn Journals_ by Brent Cannot-remember-his-last-name-to-save-my-life. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm kind of getting into memoirs. I've read five of them over the last couple of weeks.


 
Have you read _The Glass Castle _or _A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius?_

The former I've read and thought was amazing. The second I've read parts of and enjoyed, but not as much as the critics and readers who eagerly sucked the book's cock. Either way, you can't go wrong with either one. Check'em out.


----------



## Dr. Malone

East of Eden drags a little at a couple parts, but it's fucking amazing when you're done.


----------



## Tom

Chris Kuzneski - The Lost Throne.

Actually pretty good. A little slow pace wise but interesting. After I've finished it, I'll probably buy his other ones. If you've ever read James Patterson, you'll probably like this guy. They have similiar writing styles.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Brisingr!


----------



## Caballo

I have two ten page essays worth 30% of my mark (each) due within the next two weeks.  All I have been reading is the translated writings of ancient Roman historians.  Currently I am on Tacitus' biography of Agricola.  Surprisingly, this is more of an inspiration than one would think (even if it is, at times, drier than the Sahara --- I won't lie).


----------



## silverwriter

I'm about halfway through Dead Ringer by Mary Burton. It's the first uncorrected proof I've ever reviewed.


----------



## vic

'Troubled Waters' by Rosie Harris a light and easy bedtime read!


----------



## kidstaple

Deathday by William C. Dietz. I'm only about 100 pages into it, but it hasn't disappointed me yet! The dude knows how to write!


----------



## spider8

The Kite Runner.


----------



## Kayleigh7

I highly recommend the following book:

Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen.

Great book

I did just finish two books that were highly disturbing Called Offseason and Offspring.
Gory doesn't even begin to describe these books. First time ever that I actually felt bad for reading a book. However, Jack Ketchum in my opinion writes a scarier book that Stephen King ever has.


----------



## Strotha

I'm currently reading this thread.

Also, Carmilla by Sheridan Le Fanu.


----------



## Beja-Beja

spider8 said:


> The Kite Runner.


 

One of my favorite books. I hope you enjoy it.


----------



## Heid

I'm currently reading a plethora of books for university in preparation for my final project and some other bits and bobs.

I can't wait to graduate so I can catch up on some pleasure reading.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Memoir from Antproof Case-Mark Helprin
Interred with their Bones-Jennifer Lee Carrell
Waifs and Strays-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
Spirits in the Wires-Charles de Lint

Memoir from Antproof Case in my opinion is the second best of Mark Helprin's five novels, with Winter's Tale being the best. His Swan Lake trilogy, even though it's supposed to be for children, is also among his best. 

Interred with their Bones is kind of like The DaVinci Code, but it's about Shakespeare instead of Christ. I thought it was pretty good.

Waifs and Strays is a book of short stories, and let me tell you, de Lint is a genius and everybody should read every one of his books because I've read eight of his 40+ something, and every single one was amazing. He hasn't disappointed me yet.

Spirits in the Wires, also by Charles de Lint, is a novel. Only about 100 pages in, but it's looking to be another great success.


----------



## SparkyLT

I recently finished _It's Not About The Bike_, Lance Armstrong's biography. Was quite good. I also read _The House of Saven Gables_, and unsurprisingly, got bored with it. Short attention spans suck - ooh, butterfly!


----------



## SparkyLT

I recently finished _It's Not About The Bike_, Lance Armstrong's biography. Was quite good. I also read _The House of Saven Gables_, and unsurprisingly, got bored with it. Short attention spans suck - ooh, butterfly!


----------



## Tatiiii

The God of Small Things


----------



## Leyline

Recently finished _Heart Shaped Box_ by Joe Hill. Ghoulish good fun with well drawn characters that start off as unlikable and become extremely sympathetic as the story builds. Excellent pace and some very creepy moments. Hill keeps his protaganists human, fallible but determined throughout, and the plot is as lean and mean as they come. Recommended for any fan of horror, suspense or imaginative literature in general.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished: 
Spirits in the Wires-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
The Hundred Secret Senses-Amy Tan

Spirits in the Wires, like I predicted, was excellent. Charles de Lint is just a genius.

The Hundred Secret Senses is good so far. I've read all her other books and like them all, excepting Saving Fish from Drowning. That one was just okay. This one looks to be really good though.


----------



## vic

I have just got into Catherine Cookson books. I know she has been writing for years and the book I am reading is called The Tinkers Girl. It is about a girl who has left the workhouse to go and work for a shilling a week on an isolated sheep farm. I like to sit next to the fire with my cat on my knee and lose myself in my book  Lifes little pleasures!


----------



## The Backward OX

vic said:


> I have just got into Catherine Cookson books. I know she has been writing for years and the book I am reading is called The Tinkers Girl. It is about a girl who has left the workhouse to go and work for a shilling a week on an isolated sheep farm.


Set in a time when servants knew their place. The good old days. Ole! :lone:


----------



## silverwriter

Scattered Leaves by Richard Roach
Daughters of Moab by Kim Westwood


----------



## Farror

L.E. Modesitt Jr.'s Reculce Saga. Many of them.


----------



## lilacstarflower

Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Had to read it at school and didn't get into it at all. Giving it another try and so far want to put it down and start reading the latest book I bought from Amazon that came through the door yesterday. I will press on though!


----------



## moderan

Hyperion/Fall of Hyperion, by Dan Simmons. Second reading after some years. Not many who encounter him ever forget about the Shrike.
The Way The Future Was, memoir by Frederik Pohl, about the early days of sf fandom.
Pop. 1280, by Jim Thompson. Because there's nobody better at gritty, before, then, or after.
The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction, Edward Ferman, ed. Includes first book printing of Thompson novella This World, Then the Fireworks, long thought to be lost, and many other nuggets from the heyday of suspense fiction. If you don't know the name David Goodis or Cornell Woolrich, you should read this book. If you know those names, you probably already have.


----------



## PSFoster

Not reading anything at this time, but I have a couple sitting here I need to get read so I can get them off my desk:  Just After Sunset by Stephen King and Angels & Demons by Dan Brown.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

lilacstarflower said:


> Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Had to read it at school and didn't get into it at all. Giving it another try and so far want to put it down and start reading the latest book I bought from Amazon that came through the door yesterday. I will press on though!



Hang in there! I know, it's not a very exciting read, but it feels good if it's ever mentioned in conversation and you can say, "I read that."

Finished:
The Hundred Secret Senses-Amy Tan

Now reading:
The Blue Girl-Charles de Lint

The Hundred Secret Senses was awesome, but the ending was really sad. It definitely ranks with my other favorite, The Kitchen God's Wife. The next two would be The Joy Luck Club and The Bonesetter's Daughter, with Saving Fish from Drowning ranking last.

I haven't been able to read too much of The Blue Girl yet because I've had schoolwork that's been taking a lot of time, but I've only got a couple weeks of school left so then I'll be able to plow through many more books.


----------



## Detention Veteran

Lady Chatterley's Lover - D.H.Lawerence
Les Liaisons Dangereuses - Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
The Drawing of the Three - Stephen King


----------



## The Hopper

Terry Goodkind Sword of Truth series

R.A. Salvatore, Drizzt Chronicles - All books on the dark Elf


----------



## Oliver-Milne

Necronomicon - H.P Lovecraft.

The Female Eunuch- Germaine Greer


----------



## Dr. Malone

> The Female Eunuch- Germaine Greer



I have that book.  Let me know if it's worth reading or not when you're done.


----------



## ejket

I read the first two books of Yukio Mishima's _The Sea of Fertility_ tetralogy (_Spring Snow_ and _Runaway Horses_) but I found the happy slappy attitude toward seppuku in the second book really annoying.  There's a clear disconnect from a book when you feel that the characters (and author) are deluded idiots.

So I'm giving these books a rest for now and reading _The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao_ by Junot Díaz.  It may be a while before I get curious about the rest of _The Sea of Fertility_, but that's fine, I have lots of other books to read.


----------



## Dr. Malone

The Inhabited Woman

Verbose and poorly written so far.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Blue Girl-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
Lord of Snow and Shadows-Sarah Ash

The Blue Girl, like all de Lint books, was awesome, and well worth the read.

Lord of Snow and Shadows is pretty good, but I'm not moving very quickly through it. Could be because school has kind of picked up again, though. This book is the first in a trilogy, and I'm hoping that I'll think it was worth it when I'm done with it.


----------



## SuperJac

_Robinson Crusoe_. I've never read it and I was curious, so I picked it up.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Lord of Snow and Shadows-Sarah Ash

Now reading:
Prisoner of the Iron Tower-Sarah Ash

Into the sequel now. I think it's pretty good. It can't beat my favorite fantasy series, The Symphony of Ages, but it's good.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I just finished The Pearl.  Top notch, but what else can you expect from the Stein-man.


----------



## ejket

_King Rat_ by China Miéville and _The Bones of the Moon_ by Jonathan Carroll.


----------



## SoNickSays...

Dr. Malone said:


> I just finished The Pearl.  Top notch, but what else can you expect from the Stein-man.



I just bought that!

Gonna be reading it after I finish this book I'm reading now. 

Nick


----------



## moderan

Dr. Malone said:


> I just finished The Pearl.  Top notch, but what else can you expect from the Stein-man.



That was actually my introduction to Steinbeck, assigned reading in sixth or seventh grade. I remember it as good, don't think I've read it since then. There's a copy here though, should open it.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I remember reading a book about a pearl diver when I was younger, but I don't think it was The Pearl by Steinbeck.  I can't really remember any of the details about it, but I don't remember it as being so terrifying and gruesome as The Pearl.  Anyone know what I may be thinking of?  I'd look through my old books, but I think my mother gathered them up in a couple truckloads and gave them to Goodwill a few years ago.

EDIT: After fifteen minutes on google and same hard remembering, I think it may have been The Black Pearl.  Not that anyone besides myself cares.


----------



## moderan

Well...I do, having read that one also. It was in the same reader as the Steinbeck one, no doubt some sort of editorial segue (that was a terrific reader-I can remember the contents clearly, and it was 7th grade now that I think hard about it). I picked it up from the school library later. Wasn't it sort of like a gold rush thing, the black pearl starting the rush? I remember it like that...should read them both, and then Animal Farm.


----------



## Beja-Beja

The Great Gatsby


----------



## seigfried007

Bloody Bones by Laurell K Hamilton


----------



## PSFoster

"Sweet Spot" by Linton Robinson


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Prisoner of the Iron Tower-Sarah Ash
Children of the Serpent Gate-Sarah Ash

Now reading:
Widdershins-Charles de Lint

The Sarah Ash books were good, but at the end of the trilogy there were still a couple of loose ends that were never settled. I don't think she's making a fourth book, and if she did I don't know what it would be about because everything else except for those few things were taken care of.

Widdershins is very good so far. Charles de Lint is my favorite writer, so I recommend any of his books. They're all amazing.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Tale of Two Cities.  Again.


----------



## lilacstarflower

I'm just about to start This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson. Found it in the book section of the store I work in. Looks like it will be good; it's about Captain Fitzroy and the effect that a boat trip with Charles Darwin had on him, according to the blurb


----------



## Govinda

Iron Council by China Mieville in paperback form

Nova Swing by M. John Harrison as an e-book on my iPhone. (freakin' loved Light!)


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Widdershins-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
The Hobbit-J.R.R. Tolkien

Widdershins was brilliant, like all of de Lint's books.

I've read The Hobbit several times, but after two years of reading neither it nor The Lord of the Rings, I decided it was time to pull this favorite off the shelf again.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I prefer The Hobbit to the Rings trilogy.

I'm reading The Kite Runner.  Started it today and I'm halfway through, and it's actually living up to the hype.


----------



## Beja-Beja

The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns are both fantastic books, I don't care how many time I have to say it.

Currently reading my least favorite novel, The Sun Also Rises, again against my will.


----------



## Tiamat

_Twilight_ by Stephanie Meyer.

I know, I know.  But I watched the movie a couple weeks back and enjoyed it, so I'm giving the book a shot.  I did the same thing with Harry Potter and I'm glad I did.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Hobbit-J.R.R. Tolkien

Now reading:
The Lord of the Rings-J.R.R. Tolkien

Bet no one saw that coming.  This must be the sixth or seventh time I've read it (lost count long ago), but I never get tired of it.


----------



## moderan

Candide-Voltaire
just because


----------



## Dr. Malone

I've been working my way through Dune since moderan urged me to read more sci-fi.


----------



## PSFoster

moderan said:


> Candide-Voltaire
> just because



That story is a trip. We read it in College Lit. and I laughed my a$$ off.  They had great humor back then.


----------



## moderan

Dr. Malone said:


> I've been working my way through Dune since moderan urged me to read more sci-fi.



Doesn't sound like Arrakis holds enough water for you. Looks like I'll need to change my links (points at sig).


----------



## Dr. Malone

Well, I definitely don't dislike it.  When I went looking for it, I found that I only have Dune as an audiobook, and I have a hard enough time with all the made up names and stuff when it's printed, so trying to pick up on it being read to me is a little difficult.  It's still pretty good, though.  I'm going to finish it.


----------



## moderan

Ah. The way your post was worded (working my way through it) made it sound like a struggle. Who's doing the reading?


----------



## Like a Fox

I am juggling between two books atm:
Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
The Time Traveller's Wife - Something Niffinegger

Have purchased and am deciding between reading next:
Moby Dick (never read it), 
Shantaram (been meaning to read it for over two years now) or 
The Life of Pi.

Any clear cut winners there?


----------



## Dr. Malone

The Life of Pi!  Definitely read that one next.  Absolutely amazing book.  I stumbled upon it and was totally blown away.  It's one of my favorites now.

moderan: I just replayed the beginning, assuming it would give a "Read By" as most of them do, but there isn't one.  Windows Media Player has the name Klaus Schultze come up after "Frank Herbert's Dune" so maybe that's who it is.  I used the term "work" because I have to keep rewinding chapters to figure out all the made-up names of planets and families and things.


----------



## moderan

Arrakis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
that should help

Audrey Niffenegger
Call me Ishmael, but don't call me late for dinner.


----------



## Leyline

I bought 40 back issues of THE MAGAZINE OF FANTASY & SCIENCE FICTION at a library sale for a dollar. Good shit, from 97-2000, a couple of years are full runs. Also picked up:

_Carrion Comfort_ - Dan Simmons. I'm about a quarter into this massive sumbitch and I'm hooked. Best horror novel I've read in ages.

_Steel Beach_ - John Varley. I've read it before, love it.


----------



## Like a Fox

Sold. Thanks Malone.


----------



## moderan

Can't go wrong with Simmons. Pound for pound, possibly the best weird writer on the planet. Carrion Comfort is a truly odd book, and really big, but well-worth the journey.
John Varley has been one of my favorites since he started publishing. I remember his first appearances in F&SF and IASFM, and meeting him at ChiCon a million years ago.
40 issues of F&SF for a dollar is a deal anytime. My favorite of the sf slicks.


----------



## Leyline

Mod --

I love Simmons short work. "On K2 With Kanakaredes" is one of my favorite pieces of the Noughts. And Simmons is one of those rare novelists who can bring the energy of his short work to his longer stuff. I thought _Summer Of Night_ was a better version of _It_ that _It_. Heh. The characters were far more believable and the atmosphere spookier. I guess it goes back to what were were saying yesterday about genre being like the blues -- sometimes the variation on a riff is better than the original (or more famous) riff.

I agree on TMoFSF. ANALOG has goten more and more disappointing to me over the years. They average about one good story per issue and the rest is decently written (often gimmicky) filler. ASIMOV'S hasn't been the same since Dozois retired. But F&SF just chugs right along. I've read a few of this batch and they've all been cover to cover good.


----------



## moderan

Asimov's was better before Gardner Dozois took over, I thought. George Scithers, the original editor, was of a slightly different and somewhat less "lit'ry" bent. I have several very long and friendly rejection letters from him. One of them explains the difference between "profic" and "fanfic"-that story was a Lovecraft pastiche.
I'm old enough to remember Galaxy, which Fred Pohl edited. That was even better. Ed Ferman's F&SF was always great. Never was much of an Analog fan, though I read it on occasion.


----------



## Tiamat

Finished _Eclipse_ by Stephanie Meyer today.  Going to buy _Breaking Dawn_ by her tomorrow.


----------



## Mike

Save the money and borrow from the library. I know there's a twenty-three week hold for it, or something like that, but it's definitely worth putting it off for that long.


----------



## Tiamat

Yeah, like I could really wait that long with all the bad reviews everyone's given me.  That actually makes me want to read it _more_ than if everyone had said it was awesome.


----------



## Mike

At least wait til the new moon...


----------



## Tiamat

Lol.  Actually tomorrow sounds like an excellent day.  Walmart's got it for like ten bucks, so it's not like I'm going to be out some huge stack of money if it really does suck.


----------



## Mike

ah, probably sandwiched between the janet evonovich paperbacks and the chex mix. great place for it. i think there's a fourteen-day window for you to return it to wal-mart. say 'it was a gift' and try to explain that 'it came like that' (you'll be explaining the puke stains on the inside).


----------



## Tiamat

Haha.  You have no idea how much I want to go buy it right now, thanks to you.


----------



## sweet_caroline

Reading now: The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski
And A Thousand Splendid Suns


----------



## Kayleigh7

I want to read the Edgar Sawtelle one too. Is it any good?


----------



## sweet_caroline

so far it is riveting, im about three fourth the way through, so unless the ending totally deteriorates, i think i'd be safe in recommending it.


----------



## Kayleigh7

Sweet. That will probably be my next book. 

Have you read Water For Elephants yet? It's pretty good.


----------



## sweet_caroline

no i haven't, but its on my list of books to read. i finished edgar sawtelle tonight and it was absolutely striking. must read.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I'm re-reading The Scarlett Letter, which I hate, and working my way through The Complete Short Stories of O. Henry.


----------



## moderan

I love O. Henry, though I haven't read any of his things in just eons. Been meaning to though, as that collection is on my to-read pile along with John Collier's Fancies and Goodnights.
Don't care for The Scarlet Letter either, though I like the House of the Seven Gables.


----------



## Beja-Beja

I hated The Scarlett Letter.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I find O. Henry's prose to be slightly annoying.  His narrative and dialogue are kind of stuck in a time and style between Dickens and Fitzgerald.  Of course he's a natural wordsmith, and his word play is some of the best I've ever read.  His ideas are genius, and his story telling abilities expressing them makes up for the slight annoyance I get from his writing.  Although I have to admit that reading all his work back to back in this collection, the invariable twist endings get a little stale and predictable.


----------



## moderan

I try to read short story collections at the rate of one story a day, to digest them fully. That said, O. Henry _wrote_ during the time you're talking about. If you've never had the pleasure, try the Collier I listed above, or perhaps some Fredric Brown or Charles Beaumont. They're a little more modern. All are masters of the short story-Collier is terrific at fantasy or mainstream, Brown at mystery, suspense or sf, and Beaumont at almost anything. You'd likely be familiar with their work through tv even if you've never seen a word by any of those gentlemen.
I don't care much for reading Dickens because the pacing is too pedestrian and honestly am not a Fitzgerald aficionado either...I do recognize their influence though.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> His narrative and dialogue are kind of stuck in a time and style between Dickens and Fitzgerald.



I should have worded that as "are kind of stuck not only in time, but also in style..."

I actually looked him up when I began reading this collection to figure out exactly when he lived.  If he had been around at the same time as Steinbeck and Fitzgerald, I wouldn't admire him as much as I do.  And it's only the majority of his works that I find annoying in that sense.  Mammon and the Archer and Memoirs of a Yellow Dog are actually quite modern in their prose.  And when I say annoying, it's because he's clearly pushing the envelope and working towards what guys like Fitzgerald later refined, so I really enjoy reading O. Henry as a study in literary progression.


----------



## moderan

HH Munro. Him too. I think you'd like.


----------



## JosephB

I'm reading _The Neon Wilderness_, a collection of short stories by Nelson Algren. He wrote _The Man with the Golden Arm_ which I haven't read, although I saw the movie.

I'm really enjoying it. It was published in 1947. The stories are mainly about cops, petty criminals, alcoholics and hookers, boxers. I never knew he wrote short stories and stumbled on it by accident. I'm not sure why, but it's available in it's entirety on Google books.

The Neon Wilderness - Google Book Search

Hemingway said this --

  "Mr. Algren, boy are you good—one of the two best authors in America."

Not sure who he thought the other was -- himself?


----------



## moderan

Very likely (Hemingway on Hemingway)...or Ring Lardner. Good stuff. Algren was a super writer, great ear for dialogue and an eye for the landmark.
Thanks for the link-I don't have a copy


----------



## Dr. Malone

I bookmarked that google doc, and, moderan, I've tagged those authors.  I can't afford to spend money on books right now, but I'll search gigapedia for them and see if I can find .pdfs.

On the Hemingway quote, I've heard that Fitzgerald wanted to be Joyce, Hemingway wanted to be Fitzgerald, and Bukowski wanted to be Hemingway.  The Bukowski part is certainly true, I don't know about the rest.  I think the dates of their writings match up in an order that would make that statement believable, but I'm not sure.


----------



## moderan

You can find HH Munro (Saki) and a mystery novel by Brown. I actually have two copies of the Collier in TPB.


----------



## Leyline

Finished _Carrion Comfort_. Though it got a little unfocused as it ramped towards conclusion, Simmons did an amazing job of keeping the tension as high as possible over the course of such a long book. A very satisfactory ending to a very well written (and realistic!) horror novel.

Was mildly disappointed in _Steel Beach_, rereading it after more than a decade. It's, quite simply, dated. The narrative is sprawling and messy (perhaps in imitation of the MC's mental state?) and lacks the diamond like clarity of Varley's wonderful short fiction. There are still some wonderfully fun scenes, but I found the Heinleiners to be not very remniscient of any philosophy propounded by Heinlein himself, except a devotion to space travel.

Currently re-reading _The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon_ -- Stephen King, which I plan on adapting as a screenplay. Mainly for fun.

Still making my way through those 40 issues of F&SF.


----------



## moderan

Leyline said:


> Finished _Carrion Comfort_. Though it got a little unfocused as it ramped towards conclusion, Simmons did an amazing job of keeping the tension as high as possible over the course of such a long book. A very satisfactory ending to a very well written (and realistic!) horror novel.
> 
> Was mildly disappointed in _Steel Beach_, rereading it after more than a decade. It's, quite simply, dated. The narrative is sprawling and messy (perhaps in imitation of the MC's mental state?) and lacks the diamond like clarity of Varley's wonderful short fiction. There are still some wonderfully fun scenes, but I found the Heinleiners to be not very remniscient of any philosophy propounded by Heinlein himself, except a devotion to space travel.
> 
> Currently re-reading _The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon_ -- Stephen King, which I plan on adapting as a screenplay. Mainly for fun.
> 
> Still making my way through those 40 issues of F&SF.



Never read "Tom Gordon". Odd as I'm a baseball fan and kind of a King fan. Only kind of. Some of his stuff is filler or worse. He wishes he could write like Simmons or maybe Ramsey Campbell.
Red Thunder by JV is a tad better. I think it was the basis for the Astronaut Farmer, no matter what they say. Still not as good as Titan, Wizard, Demon, or the earlier Ophiuchi Hotline.
Am reading me some Bob Shaw. Online and off


----------



## Leyline

_Tom Gordon_ is, IMO, one of King's best. I find he's a far better writer at novella length. _The Body_, _Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption_, the title story of _Hearts In Atlantis_ and the just over 200 page _Tom Gordon_ have a razor focus and energy missing in all his long novels. Here's a review I wrote of it a couple years back:

*It strikes me that King's finest works are also his shortest. The Body, Rita Hayworth & The Shawshank Redemption, Hearts In Atlantis -- King the novelist completely overshadows the fact that he is a master of the novella form.

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon clocks in at just over 200 pages, and feels to me like a novella that got just a bit out of hand. I mean that as a compliment.

This is the tale of a 9 year old girl who gets lost and figures out how to survive in the woods. She's not an especially adept girl, being a townie through and through, and relies on luck and coincidence as well as bits from stories she's read and things her elders have told her. The story makes this plain, using the device of hope and faith in excellent fashion.

King wears his influences on his sleeve, unselfconciously and with love. In addition to the prototypical fairy tale set up, he references London in the simple cleanliness of his prose style, the matter of fact relating of 'this is what happened'. The possibly supernatural events are handled well, in a decidedly ambiguous manner. He draws on the metaphysical aspects of baseball to instill his tale with a wider context, and the brute truths of survival to give it weight and reality. An odd combination, but one that works beautifully.

A story like this is only as good as its main character and its ending. Trisha is superbly drawn and realized -- never unbelievable, never overachieving or becoming a stereotypical victim. 

The finale, when Trisha faces down the God Of The Lost, drawing on her own gods and heroes, on her own modern mythology in a world that has shown it has teeth, is as masterfully evoked as any scene in English literature. It will move you to tears if you are the type who thinks that humans are something more than smarter-than-average monkies. If you believe that in the end, in life or death situations, there comes a time to stand and call upon heaven for strength.

Good game, Trisha. Damn good game, girl.*

But I mainlky started the script project because I thought of the most lovely pre-credits/credit sequence for it.


----------



## moderan

Mmm, maybe one day I'll read it. I still have a buncha stuff I picked up on my last used-bookstore foray. Fifty bucks worth at about sixty cents a throw...for the kind of older sf you and I and others in the know are always on the hunt for. Ace paper, Avon paper, Ballantine paper. Lafferty's Nine Hundred Grandmothers collection was one of those. Great story, the title piece. I'm doing a song with that concept, just because.


----------



## Hakeem

Feels good to be here again. I think it's been ages since I last posted.

I am currently reading a collaborative writing project between me and my friends. As for more... er, notable works, I'm reading Emma by Jane Austen then planning to read Crime and Punishment.


----------



## Kayleigh7

I am finishing up the last 30 pages of House of leaves. (709 pages in 4 days) It was really good. I have enjoyed it so far. I think quite a bit of fat could have been trimmed from it though.


----------



## Rob

Currently reading _Altered Carbon_ by Richard Morgan. Before that, _Helix _by Eric Brown. In April, _Neuromancer _by William Gibson, _Learning the World_ by Ken MacLeod. In March, _Cowl_ by Neal Asher and _Revelation Space_ by Alastair Reynolds.

Cheers,
Rob


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Lord of the Rings-J.R.R. Tolkien
Sirena-Donna Jo Napoli
Chosen-Ginger Garrett
A Whisper of Roses-Teresa Medeiros

Now reading:
Oryx and Crake-Margaret Atwood

Sirena was pretty good. It's about a siren who wants to really be loved, not forced to kill men in order for them to come to her. Chosen is supposed to be the secret diary of Queen Esther. It was actually really good too. A Whisper of Roses was suggested to me by a friend. It's a romance novel, but I thought it was awesome! It's only the second romance novel I've ever read, but I liked them both. Don't judge me for saying this, but perhaps I should read some more! They're not all sex all the time like I would assume, at least the two I've read weren't. They actually had pretty good stories.

Oryx and Crake is good, but strange so far. I'm not too far in it yet, but the plot takes place in the present, when pretty much all of civilization is destroyed and reverted back to the basics, and in the past, which just kind of jumps around in the life of Snowman, who in his past was called Jimmy. So far he is the only one in the story who remembers civilization as it used to be. I think all the other characters in the present were created by another human who may or may not be alive anymore. It's a very interesting story.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Travels With Charlie.  I've avoided it because I don't like cross-country "finding America" stories, but it's Steinbeck so I finally caved.


----------



## JosephB

That's a Steinbeck I haven't read. I read Tortilla Flats not long ago first time. time. Really enjoyed it.

Inspired by a few stories I'd read online, I checked out _The Neon Wilderness _by Nelson Algren from the library and tore through that.

Now I'm reading his _The Man with the Golden Arm. _So far so good.


----------



## DarkDyer

_The Highwayman_ by R. A. Salvatore.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Oryx and Crake

Now reading:
V for Vendetta-Alan Moore and David Lloyd

Oryx and Crake was an interesting read. The ending was sort of a cliff hanger, but I still liked it.

A friend loaned me V for Vendetta and I'm eating it up. I loved the movie and couldn't wait to get my hands on the graphic novel.


----------



## Mike

_Oryx and Crake_ is one of my favorite books. 

I'm re-reading the space opera _Honor Harrington _series by David Weber. I'm on the sixth one, _Honor Among Enemies._


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished: 
V for Vendetta-Alan Moore and David Lloyd

Now reading:
The Amost Moon-Alice Sebold

Loved V for Vendetta. Just awesome.

The Almost Moon is very dark so far. It's about a woman who kills her elderly mother. Throughout the book she thinks back over her childhood, while in the present she just goes from one thing to another to keep herself from thinking about what she did. The whole of the book is supposed to take place in a single day.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

I just finished reading the Host by Stephenie Meyer - it was really good.

Now I'm reading the Kite Runner for English, and at the same time reading _Sense and Sensibility_ by Jane Austen.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

I've been wanting to read The Host. So tempted to just go out and buy it!

Never read The Kite Runner, but Sense and Sensibility is pretty good. Persuasion is my favorite by her, but that's personal opinion .


----------



## Deleted member 33527

I've only read Pride and Prejudice, but I really liked it. I also loved the movie. Persuasion is an interesting title. What's that one about?


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Here's what the back says: "What does persuasion mean - a firm belief, or the action of persuading someone to think something else? Anne Elliot is one of Austen's quietest heroines, but also one of the strongest and the most open to change. She lives at the time of the Napoleonic wars, a time of accident, adventure, the making of new fortunes and alliances.

A woman of no importance, she manoeuvres in her restricted circumstances as her long-time love Captain Wentworth did in the wars. Even though she is nearly thirty, well past the sell-by bloom of youth, Austen makes her win out for herself and for others like herself, in a regenerated society."

I'm afraid it's been a little while since I read it, but I remember it as very enjoyable. My version's only 188 pages, too, so it's a fast read.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

That sounds kind of like this book I read called Victoria and the Rogue, only the main character was 16. She was a bit of a manipulator. There is this quote that I can never forget, "_You handle your relations the way Napoleon handled his troops_." It's what the guy she liked said to her at one point.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Kind of sounds like Emma Woodhouse, Austen's main character in Emma. She fancied herself a matchmaker, but if I remember rightly pretty much all of the matches turned out horribly.

Great quote by the way


----------



## fantasy girl

i have just fin9shed land of the silver appels and am now reading just a boy, by Richard McCann


----------



## Like a Fox

I haven't been able to absorb books recently. 
I am waiting for American Gods by Nail Gaiman to be delivered.
Hoping that will get me back into it.

In the meantime, been reading my favourite comic series :
Johnny The Homicidal Maniac - Jhonen Vasquez


----------



## Mistique

What came before he shot her


----------



## Leyline

Like a Fox said:


> I haven't been able to absorb books recently.
> I am waiting for American Gods by Nail Gaiman to be delivered.
> Hoping that will get me back into it.
> 
> In the meantime, been reading my favourite comic series :
> Johnny The Homicidal Maniac - Jhonen Vasquez



_American Gods_ should do it nicely for you. I seriously consider it to be among the very best of contemporary speculative literature. It manages to be multiple things: a rousing story, a piece of art, a strange and charming examination of the 'American character' by an open minded and optimistic outsider, as well as a deeper examination of things like faith and trust (how they are different and similar) and the duty of the created to the creators.

It's also hilarious, slyly paced, passionate and contains the oddest novel-length discussion of the idea of romance I've ever read, using the classic 'The Good Wife' fairy tale to almost ultimate effect.


----------



## Like a Fox

Leyline said:


> _American Gods_ should do it nicely for you. I seriously consider it to be among the very best of contemporary speculative literature. It manages to be multiple things: a rousing story, a piece of art, a strange and charming examination of the 'American character' by an open minded and optimistic outsider, as well as a deeper examination of things like faith and trust (how they are different and similar) and the duty of the created to the creators.
> 
> It's also hilarious, slyly paced, passionate and contains the oddest novel-length discussion of the idea of romance I've ever read, using the classic 'The Good Wife' fairy tale to almost ultimate effect.


 
And if I read at the pace of noble anarchists such as yourself... all I'll need is three hours right? haha

I hope you're right, I'm sure you are, this whole not-reading thing is driving me nuts.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I'm reading Crime and Punishment.  My brother gave me a copy of a newer translation, so I'm going through and seeing how it compares.  The book claims the new translation is the most accurate to the original Russian so far (what else would they say?) but I'm not sure I like it more than the previous translation I read.


----------



## SevenWritez

The Easter Parade by Richard Yates. 

So far I'm enjoying it more than I did Revolutionary Road, which was a great novel as well.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished The Host. Now I'm reading Helen of Troy and the Kite Runner.


----------



## Mike

_Helen of Troy_ is a good read, and if you're not well-versed in the lore of Homer and Greek legend, then it's also informative about the families and city-states involved. It tends to be too mystical at times, and the woman's perspective gets a little dry with all the embroidery and gossip that goes on. The telling of the actual Trojan war is greatly romanticized, veering from most historians' account of what happened, but overall I enjoyed the book for its epic scope.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Watchmen, so far so good.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

> Helen of Troy is a good read, and if you're not well-versed in the lore of Homer and Greek legend, then it's also informative about the families and city-states involved. It tends to be too mystical at times, and the woman's perspective gets a little dry with all the embroidery and gossip that goes on. The telling of the actual Trojan war is greatly romanticized, veering from most historians' account of what happened, but overall I enjoyed the book for its epic scope.


That's good. It's for a World History project. The romanticizing of the Trojan War will make me pay more attention, though I'll have to get the facts straight. So far it's good. I'm planning on watching the movie Troy again too.


----------



## Leyline

_The Living & The Undead: From Stoker's Dracula To Romero's Dawn Of The Dead_ -- Gregory A. Waller. Book length critical assessment of vampire and their later pop culture spawn zombies in film and literature. Waller has unusual takes on the classics of the genre and finds some pretty amazing linking material. The book is researched to a fault and the bibliographies are years and years of reading. A superb job of passionate scholarship in a very strange area.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Almost Moon-Alice Sebold

Now reading: 
The Left Hand of Darkness-Ursula K Le Guin


----------



## Dayshayde

I just finished the Han Solo Trilogy by A.C. Crispin
I'm currently going through my animorphs series by K.A. Applegate.


----------



## moderan

Leyline said:


> _The Living & The Undead: From Stoker's Dracula To Romero's Dawn Of The Dead_ -- Gregory A. Waller. Book length critical assessment of vampire and their later pop culture spawn zombies in film and literature. Waller has unusual takes on the classics of the genre and finds some pretty amazing linking material. The book is researched to a fault and the bibliographies are years and years of reading. A superb job of passionate scholarship in a very strange area.


That sounds interesting. Gonna have to find it. I admit to hating the "modern" vampire as the archetype has been perverted and would love to have some sort of timeline. It's a long way from Stoker and Carmilla to Laurell K. Hamburger.


----------



## Leyline

moderan said:


> That sounds interesting. Gonna have to find it. I admit to hating the "modern" vampire as the archetype has been perverted and would love to have some sort of timeline. It's a long way from Stoker and Carmilla to Laurell K. Hamburger.



University Of Chicago Press if that helps any. And Waller is surprisingly snobby about his inclusionary materials. His main texts are the Le Fanu, Stoker's DRACULA, the play based on it, Browning's famous film adaption of that play, Badham's 70's remake, a lot of classic Hammer pieces, Matheson's I AM LEGEND (the birthplace of the moden concept of 'zombie' undead he claims), Romero's work, King's SALEM'S LOT and some odd little independant pieces I'd never heard of. The writing is scholarly, but accessible, and Waller's passion for the material is obvious.


----------



## moderan

Amazon has it used for @20 bucks. Is in my cart.


----------



## DarkDyer

_The Drawing of the Three _-- Stephen King.


----------



## Tom

I started I am Legend last night.


----------



## CandieK

Right now I'm reading Lestat The Vampire. 

When I watched Queen of the Damned a long time ago, I thought this horrible vomit couldn't have come out of Anne Rice! 

I'm just now getting around to reading the book and I'm enthralled.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I've never really been into vampires, least of all in literary forms, but I recently watched the Interview With a Vampire movie, and I enjoyed it.  It kind of interested me in finding out more about the Lestat character as well, since I've heard that he's in most of Rice's books.  I might have to check that one out.


----------



## seigfried007

Danse Macabre and The Harlequin by Laurell K Hamilton


----------



## alanmt

Just finished Son of a Witch.


----------



## Kayleigh7

reading Obsessed by Ted Dekker now. so far its kind of boring.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished the Kite Runner. Very sad. Now I'm reading Helen of Troy.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Left Hand of Darkness-Ursula K. Le Guin
The Poisonwood Bible-Barbara Kingsolver

Now reading:
The Robber Bride-Margaret Atwood


----------



## Crazed Scribe

Royal Assassin_ by Robin hobb_

Good book, so far.


----------



## kidstaple

Currently finished 'Blood of Ambrose' by James Enge. Some of the most amazing stuff I have read for a while, and that's saying something. Swept me off my feet and took me for a ride from beginning to end, four times in less than a week. I usually re-read stuff, but not as vivaciously as I did with this thing.

Currently reading 'The Stormcaller' by Tom Lloyd. Taking a chance on Pyr books, which is an imprint of Prometheous Books. 'The Stormcaller' caught my eye a long while back, but never really wanted to drop $15 on a book, when I could buy two -- depending on size -- that were four times as big as what it was. Glad I picked up 'Blood of Ambrose', it's the reason why I took a chance on Tom Lloyd's book, and Pyr in general.

I think, after I've made a few more purchases outside of Pyr publishing, I'll return and pick up some more: more specifically 'The Twilight Harold' which is the second book in Tom Lloyd's 'Twilight Reigns' saga.

Now, back to reading!

~kidstaple


----------



## Dayshayde

I've been reading the chronicles of narnia, the first three are ok but the fourth one is a little rough, I'm about to start the fifth one called the horse and his boy.


----------



## Rob

Just finished _Altered Carbon_ by Richard Morgan, which I thought was great. That's the first of his that I've read and I'll be reading more, for sure.

Just started _House of Suns_ by Alastair Reynolds. Previously read _Revelation Space_, which was okay but nothing special, and hoping this is better.

Cheers,
Rob


----------



## moderan




----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Robber Bride-Margaret Atwood

Now reading:
Middlesex-Jeffrey Eugenides


----------



## Beja-Beja

The Doors of Perception & Heaven and Hell- By Aldous Huxley.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished _Secrets of the Knight_ by Julia Lathom. Currently reading_  Pendragon: Soldiers of Halla_ by DJ MacHale, and _Ransom My Heart_ by Meg Cabot.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> The Doors of Perception & Heaven and Hell- By Aldous Huxley.



Nice.


I just finished reading the first two novels of the Dexter series.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Middlesex-Jeffrey Eugenides

Now reading:
The Ruins-Scott Smith


----------



## Dr. Malone

All Quiet on the Western Front (haven't read it since highschool.  Enjoying it immensely.)

The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature (very good.  Making me rethink some ideas I had.)


----------



## moderan

Kaleidoscope Eyes, by Jim DeRogatis. DeRogatis is or was the music critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the history and present of psychedelic rock. The book is an absorbing read if you like the music or music history in general and also covers related genres in brief, like art rock and heavy metal. Out of print but I understand that a reprint with updates is upcoming. DeRogatis has also worked as a dj on Chicago fm station WXRT and was the biographer of infamous critic Lester Bangs. Highly recommended.


----------



## MEShammas

Chrispian said:


> I tend to read too many technical books. Right now though, I'm readint the Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan). I recently read Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn, which was awesome. I'm going to pick up his new series soon.
> 
> What is everyone else reading right now?


 
I'm reading the Wheel of Time, too! I am on Eye of the World (1st) but so far it is GREAT. The writing stays amazing all throughout, too.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Brothers Kazamarov.  Read the .pdf, now enjoying it in paperback.

Someone gave me a Tom Waits book.  That's next.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished Pendragon. Now I'm reading Ransom My Heart by Mia Thermopolis/Meg Cabot.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Octopussy and The Living Daylights.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Ruins-Scott Smith
The Love Wife-Gish Jen
Skin-Ted Dekker

Now reading:
The Summoning-Kelley Armstrong


----------



## Robosquad

Recently finished: _Breakfast of Champions_ by Kurt Vonnegut. Loved it.

Now reading: _It_ by Stephen King. Pleasantly surprised by King, as I'd previously written him off. Well written and very exciting.

Next: _Anna Karenina_ by Tolstoy. Need to round out the summer on something more literary, so I'll try Tolstoy.


----------



## Leyline

_The Novels Of Dashiell Hammet_ - D. Hammet. Talking about cyberspecter's fairy tale re-write got me psyched up to re-read 'em.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I read Breakfast of Champions a couple months ago.  Absolutely hilarious.  The man had a gift.

"It" was pretty scary when I was a kid.  The movie came out when I was young and I had nightmares after watching it.  All the child abuse in the book got to me when I read it.

I picked up We the Living or whatever that first Ayn Rand book is.  Planning on starting that tonight or tommorow.


----------



## Leyline

> I picked up We the Living or whatever that first Ayn Rand book is. Planning on starting that tonight or tommorow.



Probably her best book. Before she began believing the ridiculous flattery of sycophants.


----------



## moderan

Leyline said:


> _The Novels Of Dashiell Hammet_ - D. Hammet. Talking about cyberspecter's fairy tale re-write got me psyched up to re-read 'em.



Yes! I started re-reading the Complete Continental OP after that...Red Harvest being the common work. Might restart on my Big Book of Pulps afterward. That has Thompson and Woolrich and an unpublished Dashiell story.
Three cheers for cyberspecter!


----------



## eggo

"The Lost Fleet" by Campbell.

Not bad, the war scenes in space describing hyper-spatial relationships are well done.


----------



## winkash

A biography! I'm rading a f...... biography! It's good, but the guy's dead.


----------



## Leyline

moderan said:


> Yes! I started re-reading the Complete Continental OP after that...Red Harvest being the common work. Might restart on my Big Book of Pulps afterward. That has Thompson and Woolrich and an unpublished Dashiell story.
> Three cheers for cyberspecter!



This omnibus edition has _Red Harvest_, _The Dain Curse_, _The Maltese Falcon_, _The Glass Key_ and _The Thin Man_. As a kid, _The Glass Key_ was always my favorite. I wonder if it will hold up or if the rankings will change?


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Probably her best book. Before she began believing the ridiculous flattery of sycophants.



Well now I'm actually excited to get to it.  I had heard it wasn't that good.  I love Fountainhead but I thought Atlas got way too preachy.  She really shoved her "philosophy" down the readers' throats.


----------



## moderan

Leyline said:


> This omnibus edition has _Red Harvest_, _The Dain Curse_, _The Maltese Falcon_, _The Glass Key_ and _The Thin Man_. As a kid, _The Glass Key_ was always my favorite. I wonder if it will hold up or if the rankings will change?



Dunno. Worth reading to find out. I have those all as singletons from Black Lizard.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

The 21st Century and Where it All Went Wrong by Andrew Mueller

Ransom My Heart by Meg Cabot


----------



## Leyline

Dr. Malone said:


> Well now I'm actually excited to get to it.  I had heard it wasn't that good.  I love Fountainhead but I thought Atlas got way too preachy.  She really shoved her "philosophy" down the readers' throats.



It's some of her most impassioned writing, and her most rounded characters. This was also back when she was not 'too-famous-for-editors'. Heh.

The funny thing is, I agree with Rand's philosophy for the most part. Non-aggression, the primacy of the market over government, the unsustainable nature of socialism. Where we part is the idea of uncontestable objective truths. The universe is way too slippery to nail down so casually. As I explained to someone years ago, I don't believe in objective truths but I live my life as if they existed, because they give an individual a solid diagram of morality and action.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Angels and Demons.


----------



## A-L

Moby Dick


----------



## terrib

I am reading, The Midwife's Advice. At first I thought it would be boring, It came in a box of books I ordered off eBay...it was also well over the 500 pages I like to read.

But surprisingly it is pretty interesting..well written and superbly researched. It is about a  Russian midwife in 1913 that stumbles on a woman that has multiple you knows(kids here, remember) at inappropriate times and places, then investigates to find out why... 

I don't know what she finds out yet...but I think it's fixing(a southern term) to take an interesting turn..... I'll keep you posted on how it goes....


----------



## Calixto

I'm in the middle of Atlas Shrugged right now--very interesting. It's actually the first Ayn Rand book I picked up.

After, I think I might start Paradise Lost or Pride and Prejudice.


----------



## caelum

Just finished Catch-22, just starting The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett.

A quick review of Catch-22:  So I heard about this book somewhere and how it's this big classic, actually I remember where I heard about it.  I've been researching absurd books, cause I find my own style drifts towards the absurd, and this book's name cropped up.

I laughed out loud, or at least smirked, many many times.  One part early in the book where he was like "and if that wasn't funny, there were lots of things that weren't even funnier" tickled by funny bone pretty hard, as did many similar puns.  Definitley some sweet gags throughout the book that I gotta pay respect, like at that guy's legal hearing when the judge, the defense lawyer, and the prosecutor were all appointed to be the same guy.

But when it comes to readability/fun factor, I wasn't feelin' it all the time.  He had this same kind of joke that he reused used over and over, which was saying a certain phrase and following up with something ironic, usually the same phrase in a different context.  By the twentyith time, it was a little irking.  I wasn't the hugest fan of the way he darts all over the freaken place, either, and the way the story never really had a solid direction.

And I'm all about the absurdity, but some things were even stressing my already-overtolerant absurd-O-meter.  Like when the Doctor is declared dead because his name was on a manifest for this plane that crashed, even though he's still walking around, and everyone ignores him and pretends he's like a figment of their imagination.  I mean, that's pushing it.  Some of the scenes just were so implausible they pissed me off, cause I like to imagine the freaken story actually happening.  Like when the mess officer who has incredible sway and power takes a contract from the germans and orders the bombers of the squadron, who are under his organization thingy, to bomb their own base.  That means the bombers are basically bombing their own friends and their own tents, and they're just cool with that?  And then does the military, ya know, shoot this mess officer afterwards?  Nope.

Definitely a good book though.  Very above-average.

Initial impressions for The Colour Of Magic:  Seems really funny and cool, and I'm looking foreward to reading it.  What the hell, a giant turtle with four elephants on top carries the world.  That's wack, son.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> The funny thing is, I agree with Rand's philosophy for the most part. Non-aggression, the primacy of the market over government, the unsustainable nature of socialism. Where we part is the idea of uncontestable objective truths. The universe is way too slippery to nail down so casually. As I explained to someone years ago, I don't believe in objective truths but I live my life as if they existed, because they give an individual a solid diagram of morality and action.



Yeah, I also agree with much of her thinking.  The biggest deterant to me is that things likes Galt's city don't take into account a retarded child being born and the parents dying and not leaving enough money for the retard to take care of him/herself.  Or one of the producers having an accident that leaves them unable to produce.
At least, I don't remember her addressing that.  Maybe she did and I just don't remember.


----------



## Squalid Glass

Calixto said:


> I'm in the middle of Atlas Shrugged right now--very interesting. It's actually the first Ayn Rand book I picked up.
> 
> After, I think I might start Paradise Lost or Pride and Prejudice.



I have a Milton class in the fall!. I'm pumped. Also, Rand is good. Read Anthem.

I'm currently reading a diary by a Russian girl in Soviet USSR called I Want to Live! It's an interesting little read.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> I have a Milton class in the fall!



Oh God.  Shoot yourself now and avoid the pain.


----------



## Coyoteofthenine

Street Magic by Caitlin Kittredge


----------



## Squalid Glass

Dr. Malone said:


> Oh God.  Shoot yourself now and avoid the pain.



HAHAHA, I suppose I'll just enjoy the thought of what I was hoping it would be before I have to face the horror.


----------



## Like a Fox

I've just started Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
So far so good, first book I've been able to get into in what feels like forever.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Britain and the 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic: A Dark Epilogue.

Pretty dry.  But informative.


----------



## Kayleigh7

Like a Fox said:


> I've just started Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
> So far so good, first book I've been able to get into in what feels like forever.


 

I loved that book Fox. One of the best i've read in about five years.


----------



## Kayleigh7

I just finished "Obsessed" by Ted Dekker and "Heartsick" by Chelsea Cain. Both were entertaining. Nothing I'd call life changing or inspirational.


----------



## Patrick

If you want a novel that has a lot of original imagery try, "Fugitive Pieces" by Anne Michaels. Should give you some good insight into the all-too-real cruelty of the Holocaust, too.

What I think of as quality, intellectually engaging writing.


----------



## blackthorn

I'm currently in the middle of "What is the What" by David Eggers. It's about a Sudanese refugee who's trying to make his way to the States, but he-of course-faces many hardships in a continent that is being torn apart by war.

Very entertaining, in my opinion.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Summoning-Kelley Armstrong
The Awakening-Kelley Armstrong
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz-L. Frank Baum
Wicked-Gregory Maguire
The Thief Lord-Cornelia Funke

Now reading:
The Feast of All Saints-Anne Rice


----------



## Leyline

Re-reading _Deadeye Dick_ by Kurt Vonnegut. It's his typical mixture of laugh out loud humor, subdued tragedy and moral questioning against a simmering background of low-key anger. Good as always.

Also re-reading (for the seventh? Eighth time?) _Friday_ by Robert A. Heinlein, my hero and intellectual mentor. Fast paced, fascinating, philosophical and fun. Friday herself is so easy to fall in love with. One of his finest later works.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

_I Wouldn't Start From Here_ by Andrew Mueller - it's pretty interesting, once I decipher it. It's written by an Australian guy, and I'm an American so I can't understand half of what I'm reading.


----------



## Patrick

I read through Birdsong by Faulks again a few days ago. It's still able to move me to tears. :smile: Sign of a great novel. Anybody looking to read a war novel should read this one; it's the most beautiful and touching of all. It's one that stays with you for a long, long time.

It's one that our American friends should read to get a good account of the horrors of the first world war in continental Europe.


----------



## SevenWritez

Currently reading _The Wild Palms / If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem_ by William Faulkner and am loving it. I wasn't able to get into his work when I was still in my Hemingway phase, but recently I've started to see just how brilliant his work is. And it's been a lot harder for me to enjoy Hemingway.

I also attempted _Beloved _by Toni Morrison and _The World According to Garp _by John Irving and respectfully threw both at the wall after a few pages.


----------



## Lanex

At the moment i am reading  A Perfect Stranger by Danielle Steel. Haven't really read much of it yet though so not sure what it is like.


----------



## Dayshayde

I'm reading swiss family robinson again. It's a classic and I always enjoy it.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Feast of All Saints-Anne Rice

Now reading:
Rhett Butler's People-Donald McCaig


----------



## Dr. Malone

Re-reading a college textbook, Options in Rhetoric.

Reading Van Daron's Benjamin Franklin.

Both are good stuff.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

The Alchemist by that one Brazilian author. Paulo Coelho or whatever.


----------



## abbie

Angels and Demons


----------



## Leyline

Just finished _The Vampire Sextette_, six vampire novellas ecited by Marvin Kaye. The best was "The Other Side Of Midnight", a bizarre but charming story of an undead private eye, Orson Welles' last chance at greatness, and a Hollywood being overtaken by the legacy of Dracula. Guest appearances from tons of folks out of left field -- The Dude from _The Big Lebowski_, Columbo, Anne Rice (author of _Interview With A Mummy_ lol) "Barbie The Vampire Slayer" (a real lil' bitch in this form) and too many others to count. Great fun.


----------



## Kayleigh7

Finished 3 books this last week.

"The Reach" (can't remember the author's name) it was predictable and lame. Reminded me of the movie "Firestarter"

"Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers - My sister insisted I read this book. Typical romance crap. 

"Black Out" by Lisa Unger - Hated it. End of story

Starting "The Boneman's Daughters" By Ted Dekker.


----------



## Destroyer

I'm reading 'The Day Watch' by someone whose name I can't actually spell.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Rhett Butler's People-Donald McCaig

Now reading:
Scarlett-Alexandra Ripley


----------



## TheDexMan

Gonna start the harry potters again


----------



## Emily5

Oh, Anonymous! I adore Kafka. So much so, that I saw Baryshnikov perform Gregor. By the end of the performance, coming out for his bow, he did look like he was about to have a nervous breakdown. I will say that.

I'm hanging out with the classics. Now, reading "Displaced Person" by Flannery O'Connor.


----------



## Guardian☆Angel

The Book Thief.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Scarlett-Alexandra Ripley

Now reading:
Douglas Adams' "Starship Titanic"-Terry Jones


----------



## PSFoster

I just finished Sweet Spot by Linton Robinson (remember Lin?)  Good one.

Starting Single White Vampire by Lindsay Sands.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Douglas Adams' "Starship Titanic"-Terry Jones

Now reading:
Brisingr-Christopher Paolini

Starship Titanic had some funny parts, but I didn't think it was nearly as hilarious as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.

As for Brisingr, I know, not the best book in the world. But I read the first two while still in high school and I got the third for Christmas, so I figure, why not? My birthday's coming up so I'll get new and more exciting books, and I thought the first two were entertaining (not saying they were genius or anything). So I'm giving it a try.


----------



## Beja-Beja

The Road.


----------



## ash somers

The Absolute SANDMAN - Neil Gaiman - Volume 1 (A Graphic Novel)


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Brisingr-Christopher Paolini

Now reading:
The Black Jewels Trilogy-Anne Bishop


----------



## PSFoster

I finished Single White Vampire.  Started The Tale of the Body Thief. Now I remember why I quit reading Anne Rice's books.

ETA:  Single White Vampire is a fun read. Light-hearted, entertaining.


----------



## Blood

I just finished "Horton Hears a Who" ...finally. 

And now I'm starting "Horton Hears a Who" again 'cause I didn't get it the first time. 

Good read, though a little too wordy.


----------



## DarkDyer

Funny, Blood. You cracked me up.

Finished: 
Stephen King -- The Gunslinger

Currently: 
Robin Hobb -- Shaman's Crossing


----------



## MeeQ

Robbin hobb is brilliant. She's always got good depressings endings and events. However, I got halfway through Shaman's crossing and threw it over the side of my ship... It dragged on, Which was a disapointment. as the first two in the trilogy were equisite.

Assassin's quest shall remain her best trilogy.

Just finished "American Gods" Neil Gaiman.


----------



## Dr. Malone

The Years of Talking Dangerously

I started reading it as research, but the subject matter and writing style are so engaging that I'm just reading it for pleasure now.


----------



## Jones

I just finished the same book - "American Gods".  I thought it was pretty good.

I'm in the middle of "Crooked Little Vein" by Warren Ellis right now.  I love the writing style: Warren Ellis - A Piece Of CROOKED LITTLE VEIN.  It's pretty entertaining lol.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

The Grapes of Wrath.


----------



## kidstaple

Currently reading: Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen by Christie Golden. Finishing it up for my book review site.


Gearing up to read: The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan. My counterpart to the Book Review just finished it and said that it was bloody brilliant. So can't wait for this one!


----------



## Kayleigh7

Finished:

Boneman's daughters by Ted Dekker...it was MEH.

and

Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill...it wasn't too bad. entertaining anyways.


----------



## kidstaple

Getting ready to start reading Larry Correia's: Monster Hunter International. It's bloody, freakin' brilliant! Then, after I finish that, a review for my site, and then quite possibly an interview with the author and a signed giveaway. I'm so stoked!


----------



## Dr. Malone

I'm going to start A Thousand Splendid Suns.  Looking forward to it and hoping it can live up to Kite Runner.

I also picked up The Road but I'm looking at it with hesitation due to all the hype it's received.


----------



## Tiamat

I just started reading _The Time Traveler's Wife_ by Audrey Niffenegger.  I saw the previews for the movie and it looked quite good, but when I found out it was based off a book, I had to read that first.


----------



## kidstaple

Dr. Malone: _The Road _is an amazing book. One of my newest favorites. I think it might actually someday be considered a classic, just like _I Am Legend_.

Tiamat10: I thoroughly enjoyed _The Time Traveler's Wife_. Not something that I had originally thought I would like, but after checking it out from the library, I decided to go and buy a copy for myself. Now I got my girlfriend reading it.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Dr. Malone: _The Road _is an amazing book. One of my newest favorites. I think it might actually someday be considered a classic, just like _I Am Legend_.



Cool.  I like Legend and his other stories.  I'll definitely give The Road a shot now based on your recommendation.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Just finished The Road. Let's not get carried away here it is a good book not spectacular. It's classic McCarthy and the relationship between is basically all there is to it. In the end it is worth it but the delivery is simple almost to the point it seems pretentious. It is a nice quick read though and it did win the Pulitzer, if that means anything to you.

A Thousand Splendid Suns on the other hand is one of the best books I ever read.

Currently reading: Jane Eyre.


----------



## Tom88

Just finished King's From A Buick 8. I enjoyed it, but was frustrated by it all the same.

Next: I Capture The Castle by Dodie Smith, something I've been keen to read for ages.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Just finished King's From A Buick 8. I enjoyed it, but was frustrated by it all the same.



I've read that one twice.  It was better the second time.


----------



## Tom88

Eh, I think it would've been magnificent at, say, 300 pages. But as it stands it had so much padding and repetition that really dampered what was otherwise a novel idea, and a solid execution. The general 'theme' was really interesting to me though. And the inconclusive ending/moral was great.

Don't think I could wade through it a second time though.


----------



## Squalid Glass

Dr. Malone said:


> I'm going to start A Thousand Splendid Suns.  Looking forward to it and hoping it can live up to Kite Runner.
> 
> I also picked up The Road but I'm looking at it with hesitation due to all the hype it's received.



kite runner... i'm so divided about that book.

reading anna karenina now. tolstoy was a genius.


----------



## Mike C

The Road deserved all the hype. It's a masterpiece. That doesn't mean you'll like it, of course...

Kite Runner I loved, A Thousand Splendid Suns was good but so bloody relentlessly tragic!

Currently reading Nabokov's _Bar Sinister _- another dystopia to place alongside 1984, though he's very scathing about Orwell in the preface.

I've yet to get to Tolstoy, though the house seems full of it (blame the wife). Any recommendations on a starting point, or just dive straight in?


----------



## Destroyer

Nothing at the moment. I have a habit of getting the second half of a series before the first half.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and To the Lighthouse.


----------



## Squalid Glass

Mike C said:


> I've yet to get to Tolstoy, though the house seems full of it (blame the wife). Any recommendations on a starting point, or just dive straight in?




The Death of Ivan Ilyich is my favorite of Tolstoy's work, out of what I've read. Interesting little novella.


----------



## michaelknost

I am currently reading _The Strain_ by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan.


----------



## kidstaple

michaelknost said:


> I am currently reading _The Strain_ by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan.



Hell yes! It's a rather good book. Def. could see it as a movie in the near future, which would make sense, seeing as del Toro helped to write it.

If you're interested, I'm getting ready to post a book review of _The Strain_ here in the next few days, over at my book review site. Check it out if you want: 

The Sci-Fi Guys Book Review​


----------



## Dr. Malone

For some reason I didn't start either of the books I mentioned previously and am instead re-reading Steppenwolf and Rules of Attraction.

Two of my favorite authors.


----------



## Leyline

_Jailbird_ -- Kurt Vonnegut. The last of the Mohicans, the only Vonnegut book I've never read. And so it goes.

_Hearts In Atlantis_ -- Stephen King. My favorite later work by him, and I think the title novella may be the finest work he's _ever_ done. Direct, funny, heartbreaking, powerful. The madness that was Vietnam portrayed as a never ending Hearts tournament in the scholarship dorm of a public university. That's a brilliant conceit in itself. When it's backed with characters as amiable as King has ever created, it gets even better. Along with the short novel _Low Men In Yellow Coats_ and a handful of short works that match the best stuff he's ever done, you get a strange and beautiful portrait of the 60's as a whole.


----------



## blackthorn

"A Lesson Before Dying" by Ernest Gaines


----------



## Dr. Malone

> _Jailbird_ -- Kurt Vonnegut. The last of the Mohicans, the only Vonnegut book I've never read. And so it goes.



Is it good?


----------



## Leyline

Dr. Malone said:


> Is it good?



Only about 20 pages into it, but so far it's excellent. It's late 70's KV, so I expect no less: small things elaborated upon, large things dismissed for metaphysical clarity and humor arising from pointedly tragic sources. 

Vonnegut himself declared it one of his few 'A+' books. He was pretty self-deprecating, so I'd class that as a good sign.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Black Jewels Trilogy-Anne Bishop

I absolutely loved these books. I feel as if the story could continue on forever and I'd never get tired of the characters. Brilliant

About to read:
Evermore-Alyson Noel


----------



## Page Wanderer

Howl's Moving Castle. I just recently saw the movie for the first time so I decided to pick up the book. I am nearly finished and have quite enjoyed it.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Page Wanderer said:


> Howl's Moving Castle. I just recently saw the movie for the first time so I decided to pick up the book. I am nearly finished and have quite enjoyed it.



I was the same way. I just so happened to glance over at a shelf and saw it sitting there, so I had to read it. Loved the movie too.

Finished:
Evermore-Alyson Noel

About to start:
Blue Moon-Alyson Noel


----------



## Dr. Malone

I read Ham on Rye last night.  Hilarious.  One of his books I still hadn't read.  Finished it in one sitting, so that's always a good reflection on the work.


----------



## Galivanting

Dr. Malone said:


> I read Ham on Rye last night.  Hilarious.  One of his books I still hadn't read.  Finished it in one sitting, so that's always a good reflection on the work.



funny, i read factotum and ham on rye the same day.... buko has a way with capturing my attention, im fairly certain i have all his books that are still being published, poetry and fiction.


----------



## SevenWritez

I have no idea how some people can get through a Bukowski novel...he always starts off great then goes nowhere. I remember when I was reading Women I felt as though each relationship was like a re-run episode of some crappy sitcom. I ended up skipping the last forty pages just to finally be done with the book. But maybe it's just me.

Anyway, I'm currently re-reading Ask the Dust (a short, brilliant novel that everyone should read) and recently started Moby Dick. The latter I enjoy but am taking my time with.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Ham on Rye is about his life before he started working and lost his virginity, so it's a bit of a departure from his usual stuff.  Still very much Buk, though.

EDIT: Wait, you don't like Bukowski's novels but you say everyone should read Fante and you list it in your top ten?


----------



## SevenWritez

Dr. Malone said:


> EDIT: Wait, you don't like Bukowski's novels but you say everyone should read Fante and you list it in your top ten?


 
I like Fante's Ask the Dust; his other novels suck (from what I've read). And their styles aren't alike. Bukowski describes things in a straight forward manner whereas Fante goes balls out and describes every little thought going through his head while simultaneously talking about a girl's breasts. Bukowski observes and Fante jumps right in to make everything a part of his heart.

But, it was because of "Fante was my God" on Ask the Dust's jacket that I learned of Bukowski and picked him up. I haven't tried Ham on Rye. I'll give it a shot.


----------



## Robosquad

Currently reading Tolstoy's _Anna Karenina_.  This is how you do a society affair book and make it relevant and interesting (Jane Austen, looking at you).


----------



## Firewriter23

Lucas 
 by: Kevin Brooks


----------



## Leyline

Leyline said:


> Only about 20 pages into it, but so far it's excellent. It's late 70's KV, so I expect no less: small things elaborated upon, large things dismissed for metaphysical clarity and humor arising from pointedly tragic sources.
> 
> Vonnegut himself declared it one of his few 'A+' books. He was pretty self-deprecating, so I'd class that as a good sign.



Malone: It was wonderful. Perhaps his most overtly political book, therefore his most bitter and angry book. As good as _Cat's Cradle_, _Sirens_ and _Breakfast_, and that's high praise for me.

I cried in a couple of spots. Not sure if it was the book alone or the book in conjunction with the tragic idea that I'd never ever crack an unread Vonnegut novel again.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Blue Moon-Alyson Noel

Now reading:
The Time Traveler's Wife-Audrey Niffenegger

No, I'm not reading it just because the movie came out. That book has actually been on my list for a while and right when I decide to get it they decide to make a movie. Call it weird timing. It's really good so far, though. 

SarahB: Lord of the Rings is one of my favorites. If you're the kind of reader who gets deterred in the so called "boring" spots, let me encourage you to keep reading. Also, another fantasy series you might like: The Black Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop. There are also actually 5 more sequeals, adding up to 8 books total, but I've just read the first three so far. They will not disappoint.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

> The Time Traveler's Wife-Audrey Niffenegger


I read that book last year. So good, you won't be disappointed.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Put a pause on Jane Eyre. Now reading the last Pendragon.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Time Traveler's Wife-Audrey Niffenegger

One of the few books to make me cry.

About to start:
The Forgotten Garden-Kate Morton


----------



## ThatWierdGuy

Right now I'm reading a thread that has over 2000 posts and won't die.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Right now I'm reading a thread that has over 2000 posts and won't die.



You're welcome.  I'm the one who proposed moving it to The Lounge and I'm glad it's been so popular and stayed alive.

I finally started The Road this evening.  At first I felt like he was trying a little too hard, but I fell back into his style after a couple pages and I'm enjoying it so far.


----------



## ThatWierdGuy

When I saw my quote, for a second I thought I was going to get a response like, "your keeping it alive too dumbass"

But in all seriousness, I am reading Stephen King's Duma Key, and a lot of stories here on WF.  I'm addicted.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

> Now reading the last Pendragon.


Quite a disappointment, to be honest. D.J MacHale got way off track with his plot.

Currently reading Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively, and Grapes of Wrath.


----------



## JosephB

I'm reading Raymond Carver's _Cathedral_, probably for the 3rd or 4th time.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Forgotten Garden-Kate Morton

This book was amazing. I absolutely loved it.

Now reading:
A Concise Chinese-Enlgish Dictionary for Lovers-Xiaolu Guo

Despite the title, this is a novel, and it's pretty entertaining so far. It's about a Chinese woman who goes to England on a student visa to take English language classes. She meets a man and the rest of the story is about trying to understand her lover. It's not so much about learning what the words mean in Chinese as trying to understand his culture and then comparing his to her own.


----------



## ash somers

*work related*

Come Into My World: How to Interact with a Person who has Dementia. An educational resource for undergraduate healthcare students on person-centred care.


----------



## Heid

Halfway through Daniel Pinchbeck's "2012: The Year of the Mayan Prophecy"

Suddenly become really interested in this topic.


----------



## Niritoiwa

Im curently reading Steven Erikson's Gardens of the moon.
Quite nice, so far.


----------



## kidstaple

Finishing up _Age of Ra_ by James Lovegrove. Will post the review on my site within the next couple of days, then I'm gunna start working on Deadman Switch by Timothy Zahn. Absolutely love his stuff, and since it's Baen Publishing it'll be even better!


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
A Concice Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers-Xiaolu Guo

Now reading:
Love in a Fallen City-Eileen Chang
The Circle of Magic series-Tamora Pierce


----------



## Beja-Beja

Live and Let Die


----------



## Dr. Malone

I finally started the Thousand Splendid Suns.  I'm about half way through, and I started this morning, so it's definitely held my interest, but I think it's pretty "blah" in general.  Yeah, Muslims treat women like shit, I get it.  I'm getting really irritated by his use of Arabic words in italics too.  Just fucking write it in English, cut out the cheap device.  I'm really only reading on in hopes that the author will redeem himself.  If I had started this book without having read Kite Runner first, I probably would have thrown it away after fifty pages.


----------



## Leyline

A whole shitload of late 90's issues of _Heavy Metal_. Awe inspiring, mind bendingly good art mated with run of the mill usually poorly translated stories. But _damn_ the chicks are hot.

My younger brother is reading the full run of Vertigo's _Sandman_ spinoff _Lucifer_ by Mike Carey and a buncha different artists. I'll probably read those when he's don. I also have over 200 issues of the _Hellblazer_ series burnt on DVD. Might start those if I get suitably bored.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished: 
Sandry's Book-Tamora Pierce

Now reading:
Tris's Book-Tamora Pierce

Still reading:
Love in a Fallen City-Eileen Chang


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Tris's Book-Tamora Pierce
Love in a Fallen City-Eileen Chang

Now reading:
Daja's Book-Tamora Pierce


----------



## Dr. Malone

Damn.  That does sound creepy.  It reminds me of a movie or story I heard too.  I wonder if one is based off the other.

I'm reading Alex Garland's two books.  The Beach, which I'm just kind of skimming since I've seen the movie so many times, then I got The Coma on audio book and I'm gonna start listening to that.


----------



## KangTheMad

Cyclops-Clive Cussler

Its a bit far fetched compared to most of his other books actually. I can't beleive he went that far...


----------



## Dr. Malone

I picked up "Best American Short Stories of the Century" this morning and it's terrific.  Updike put it together and picked all the stories.


----------



## Like a Fox

Just read the _first_ thing I've picked up and managed to finish in 5 months.
Maybe my reading 'dry patch' is over? Hope so.

Called _Kindling Does for Firewood_ by _Richard King.

_Aussie novel, won a few awards in the mid-nineties. Set in Melbourne. Quick-witted, sexy, kinda gross, fast paced, awesome.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished: 
Daja's Book-Tamora Pierce

Now reading:
Briar's Book-Tamora Pierce

With this one I'll be finishing the first quartet in her Circle of Magic series. I know the titles of the first four aren't great, but all the rest in the series are better. I love the books, probably because of the great characters. The plots in each one are good too, but Pierce created some unforgettables in this series, so they stick out more in my mind.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Resuming Jane Eyre for school along with Blink: The power of thinking without thinking. I have to finish both in a week >_<


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Okay I'm in the right thread now.

Just finished: Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively. It was a good book, but the main character pissed me off.

Currently reading a Stephen King novel, plus a couple of romance novels that I have to hide from my mom.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Briar's Book-Tamora Pierce

Now reading:
Magic Steps-Tamora Pierce

Told you the titles got better.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I started re-reading The Bell Jar tonight.

The Coma is pretty interesting so far.  He's doing a good job of capturing the feel and logic of dreams.


----------



## Edgewise

"The Forgotten Soldier" by Guy Sajer.  Fascinating memoir of a German infantryman who fought the Soviets on the Eastern Front.  Instead of using a whole lot of adjectives to elaborate on the book, I'll just share a little thought I had while reading it.

There are no theists in foxholes.  If you have experienced war, especially the kind of meat grinding, merciless, callous total war like the kind so common in WWII, than you can't help but reject the notion of a benevolent god who has more than enough power, in all his omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience, to put an end to such sickening evil.

And that's something that occurred to me while READING the book as a very interested but (thankfully) detached reader.  It's impossible to imagine what Sajer went through, but the story he provides is as close as anyone can get without actually being there.  Should be required reading for all those gung-ho "let's go kill us some 'Raqui's" eager to destroy their fellow man without a second thought.  Probably everyone else as well.


----------



## Leyline

_Just After Sunset_ - Stephen King.

I generally enjoy King's novels, but I absolutely _love_ his short fiction, and a new collection is always a pleasure. This one is up to his high standards. My fave so far is the wonderful _Rest Stop_ and the non-supernatural thriller _The Gingerbread Girl_ (which would make a killer movie). I'll give an overall report when finished.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Magic Steps-Tamora Pierce

Now reading:
Street Magic-Tamora Pierce


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Street Magic-Tamora Pierce

Now reading:
Cold Fire-Tamora Pierce
Soul Mountain-Gao Xingjian

I have to read Soul Mountain for a class.


----------



## Tom88

Though I was eager to branch out from Stephen King, whom this year alone I have read something like 9 of his books, I am now reading 'Salem's Lot.

I _just_ finished Everything's Eventual (great, by the way) and was just about to pick up a new author when my girlfriend surprised me with 'SL.
Ever the grateful boyfriend, I shall read it, though reading shit loads of the same author seems counter-intuitive to my desire to grow as a writer. It's just that they're so damn fun - and really, when I curtail the literary snobbery, isn't that the point?


----------



## Dr. Malone

Salems Lot is one of his finest.  You'll be glad you read it.  Best vampire book, show, movie...well, best vampire _anything_ I know of.

I'd like to hear more about Just After Sunset.  Didn't know he had a new short story collection out.


----------



## Leyline

Dr. Malone said:


> Salems Lot is one of his finest.  You'll be glad you read it.  Best vampire book, show, movie...well, best vampire _anything_ I know of.
> 
> I'd like to hear more about Just After Sunset.  Didn't know he had a new short story collection out.



Just finished it. Not a bad story in the book. They range from disturbing little 'literary' portraits like 'Graduation Afternoon', to the novella 'N.' which is a Lovecraft/Machen-esque take on obsessive compulsive disorder that's as creepy and powerful as anything he's ever written. 'The Things They Left Behind' is a quite touching piece dealing with 9-11, very tastefully done. There are several semi-speculations on possible afterlifes. Quite a few are straight suspense, no supernatural elements whatsoever, and are all the stronger for it. 'A Very Tight Place' involves an attempted murder by Port-A-Pottie and is almost retro in it's giggling, gross-out style black humor. 'Mute' is a strange little revenge thriller. 'Stationary Bike' is pure modern fantasy, not horror at all. 

In his intro, King says he was afraid he'd lost his touch with short fiction. He then edited _Best American Short Stories 2007_ and got completely hyped up for the form again. You can really tell. Most of these were written in the past two years.

It's funny, but I was thinking about the collection and _Salem's Lot_ myself earlier today. It seems to me that, as he gets older, his novels are getting more complex but less powerful. _Lot_ is far more poetic, lean and mean than anything he's recently written. I find the opposite for his short work. There are some real gems in _Night Shift_ and _Skeleton Crew_, but I think that his newer stuff is tighter, more focused, and just better.

That said, I'm _really_ looking forward to his upcoming novel _Under The Dome_: it's a massive _The Stand_ sized sucker, over a thousand pages, and takes us back to quintessential Kingly matters: the direct confrontation of good and decent with evil and malicious.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Sounds like a good Christmas gift for me.  I could download it, but I think I'd prefer to enjoy them on paper.

I didn't know he had another novel coming out either.  The guy's a fucking machine.  I'm going to have to pick up that short story collection too.  The last one of those I have is 2000.  Always great selections.  I'd love to see what Steve picked.

One of my favorite novels of his when I was younger was Desperation.  I loved the violence and the biblical good vs. evil theme.  I might have to see if I can find it and reread it to see if it stands up.


----------



## caelum

You really like Salem's Lot that much, Malone?  I just read it a few months ago for the first time, and poetry-wise mindgame-wise I loved it, but I had gripes with the story itself.  There was very little actual fighting of the vampires, main characters we grow to like oddly get butfucked (the priest, the girl), and there wasn't really that much resolution for me in the end because King just hinted that the vampires were spreading and so the writer dude and the kid were begrudgingly coming back to slay some, and that was pretty much it.

My only gripes, however, were with the overall story's flow and lack of action (which may have something to do with King's way of letting stories evolve as he writes them instead of setting up much of plan), and even King's idea of vampires is a little meh.  They have ill defined magical abilities, such as the floating in the air and the vanishing.  There's also very little pain with the way they kill!  They hypnotize the victims so they think they're loving it and then there's never even any gore, but I guess that's scary in its own way, something that you know to be bad feeling too good to resist.  But hey, that's just my taste.  Morbid me wants guts and entrails and screaming victims.  At least his vampires didn't glitter in the sun, hahhahahhhh.

I did really like the book, though.  Some parts I really loved were where Barlowe bursts through the wall and kills his parents like BAM! and we're left like, "um, what just happened?"  I laughed out loud there.  When the kid owned baldy was sweet.  I also liked when that psycho mom got told.  It's too bad they didn't drag one of the vamps way out into the sun, pinned it there, and watched it sizzle.  If _I_ wrote it, they would have roasted hotdogs on that vamp!  Hohohohhh-yeah.  That's a fun idea.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> There was very little actual fighting of the vampires, main characters we grow to like oddly get butfucked (the priest, the girl), and there wasn't really that much resolution for me in the end because King just hinted that the vampires were spreading and so the writer dude and the kid were begrudgingly coming back to slay some, and that was pretty much it.



That's a pretty good list of why I liked it.



> King's idea of vampires is a little meg. They have ill defined magical abilities, such as the floating in the air and the vanishing. There's also very little pain with the way they kill! They hypnotize the victims so they think they're loving it and then there's never even any gore, but I guess that's scary in its own way, something that you know to be bad feeling too good to resist. But hey, that's just my taste. Morbid me wants guts and entrails and screaming victims. At least his vampires didn't glitter in the sun, hahhahahhhh.



Well, I'm no vampire expert, and the genre in general as far as literature goes doesn't interest me much at all.  The number of vampire books I've read is less than ten I think.  There are definitely some good ones, but I think Salems Lot is the best of what I've read.  I'm sure some Anne Rice afficianado can tell me why I'm wrong.  I've seen most vampire movies, and I like True Blood.  That's the majority of my experience.  Short of making a vampire look like Max Schreck or whoever Nosferatu was, Salems Lot is my favorite vampire story.  Although the Willem Dafoe thing was fucking good.


----------



## Leyline

> I'd love to see what Steve picked.




*Author	Story	Where story previously appeared*

Louis Auchincloss	"Pa's Darling"	Yale Review

John Barth	"Toga Party"	Fiction

Ann Beattie	"Solid Wood"	Boulevard

T. C. Boyle	"Balto"	Paris Review

Randy DeVita	"Riding the Doghouse"	West Branch

Joseph Epstein	"My Brother Eli"	Hudson Review

William Gay	"Will You Go Where Your Skin Cannot Contain You"	Tin House

Mary Gordon	"Eleanor's Music"	Ploughshares

Lauren Groff	"L. DeBard and Aliette: A Love Story"	The Atlantic Monthly

Beverly Jensen	"Wake"	New England Review

Roy Kesey	"Wait"	Kenyon Review

Stellar Kim	"Findings & Impressions"	Iowa Review

Aryn Kyle	"Allegiance"	Ploughshares

Bruce McCallister	"The Boy in Zaquitos"	Fantasy and Science Fiction

Alice Munro	"Dimension"	The New Yorker

Eileen Pollack	"The Bris"	Subtropics

Karen Russell	"St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves"	Granta

Richard Russo	"Horseman"	The Atlantic Monthly

Jim Shepard	"Sans Farine"	Harper's Magazine

Kate Walbert	"Do Something"	Ploughshares


----------



## caelum

Haha yeah I saw that movie, it ruled.  Ah, I see you appreciate a bit of dissonance to a story, which I really do to, in the same way I appreciate music by Aphex Twin.  I guess criticizing the story that way falls flat, and about the extent of my vampire expertise is what I garnered from Angel, one of my all-time favourite shows back from when I watched tv.

I'm about to be reading the Conan stories as soon as they arrive in the mail.


----------



## Leyline

> I'm about to be reading the Conan stories as soon as they arrive in the mail.



They're all on Project Gutenberg for free, ya know.


----------



## Leyline

Dr. Malone said:


> That's a pretty good list of why I liked it.
> 
> 
> 
> Well, I'm no vampire expert, and the genre in general as far as literature goes doesn't interest me much at all.  The number of vampire books I've read is less than ten I think.  There are definitely some good ones, but I think Salems Lot is the best of what I've read.  I'm sure some Anne Rice afficianado can tell me why I'm wrong.  I've seen most vampire movies, and I like True Blood.  That's the majority of my experience.  Short of making a vampire look like Max Schreck or whoever Nosferatu was, Salems Lot is my favorite vampire story.  Although the Willem Dafoe thing was fucking good.



King stuck pretty tightly to Stoker's _Dracula_ in depicting the vampires. A lot of vampire mythos has been added in recent decades, by Rice and lesser known people like Fred Saberhagen.


----------



## Wolfbrother

im currently re-reading Simon Scarrows Roman series 
has anyone else read them?


----------



## Wolfbrother

False Dawn said:


> Catch 22 is a very good, very funny book. I recommend it greatly.



excellent i was about to ask about that lol im going to buy it tomorrow  yay lol


----------



## caelum

Leyline said:


> They're all on Project Gutenberg for free, ya know.



I will have to look into this Project Gutenberg.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Whoops. Wrong thread.


----------



## Adjective Ocean

Dean Koontz's Frankenstein, Prodigal Son. It's somewhat interesting, but the whole cop partners in love (one being serious and the other being a jokester) thing is so played out that its prescence kind of annoys me. Not every great story NEEDS romance, sometimes books are better off without it. That being said, the premise is decent and the writing isn't terrible. I may pick up the second book in the series.


----------



## Edgewise

Wolfbrother said:


> excellent i was about to ask about that lol im going to buy it tomorrow  yay lol



It gets tedious at points, and the "who's on first" bits verge on obnoxious, but it's a worthwhile read.


----------



## Sigg

Frogs Into Princes - Neuro Linguistic Programming

So far it's pretty interesting, the basic concepts are things I already understand pretty well but it is a very practical and precise approach to understanding human behavior


----------



## Like a Fox

I'm _still_ not reading anything. I have read ONE book in the whole time I've been on this site. It's driving me beserk.

Here is a list of the books that have been in and out of my handbag, on my work desk, taken everywhere I go basically, to force me to read them. They're all piled up on my bed side table now:

Of Mice and Men
A Clockwork Orange
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Confederacy of Dunces
The White Tiger
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Anonymous Lawyer
Nineteen Eighty Four
American Gods
Life of Pi
How to Paint a Dead Man
Vinyl Inside (This is actually the first novel by the teacher of the writing class I'm doing)
Wuthering Heights.


... I'm at various stages in all of them. All within the first 100 pages though. I've never read any of them before. I wanna read a whole book damn it.

I'm thinking, tonight, I pick up Of Mice and Men, and just read it till it's finished. It's the smallest there, only 120 pages.... Hopefully that will reignite my attention span.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Those are alot of good books you're not reading.


----------



## menjustme

im reading now the hitchhiker guide full version
for the ampth time and love it
its the best book ever


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

menjustme said:


> im reading now the hitchhiker guide full version
> for the ampth time and love it
> its the best book ever



I love those books! I need to read them again.

Finished:
Cold Fire-Tamora Pierce

Still Reading:
Soul Mountain-Gao Xingjian

Now reading:
Shatterglass-Tamora Pierce


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Shatterglass-Tamora Pierce

Now reading:
The Will of the Empress-Tamora Pierce

Still reading:
Soul Mountain-Gao Xingjian


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Wuthering Heights. This book is insane.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Atonement.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

I loved Wuthering Heights! Atonement...not so much.

Finished:
The Will of the Empress-Tamora Pierce
Soul Moutain-Gao Xingjian

Now reading:
Melting Stones-Tamora Pierce


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Melting Stones-Tamora Pierce

Now reading:
Little (Grrl) Lost-Charles de Lint


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished: Wuthering Heights. I was completely blown away. This is one sick book. Sick meaning good.

Currently reading: still haven't decided yet.


----------



## Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor

I'm reading the Lone Drow by R.A Salvatore, I'm doing a speed-reading attempt of Pride and Prejudice. I'm also reading a bit of the History of the Peloponnesian War (it's important segments in a course text). 

Too books I started but have to get back to are Philosophical Investigations by Wittgenstein and History of Western Philosophy (barely started it) by Russell.

I'd love to say my favorite read is one of the more sophisticated texts, but so far I'm liking the Lone Drow best.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

> I'm doing a speed-reading attempt of Pride and Prejudice.


That is a really good story, but I liked the movie way better than I liked the book, which doesn't happen often.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Whoopsies! Wrong thread.


----------



## Ben

The Autobiography of Malcolm X. Before that was My Booky Wook by Russell Brand, which I'd recommend.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Loved Wuthering Heights. Great read.

Finished:
Little (Grrl) Lost-Charles de Lint

If you like The Borrowers or urban fantasy, you'll probably like this.

Now reading:
Fishing for Amber-Ciaran Carson


----------



## Beja-Beja

Tess of the D'Urbervilles


----------



## Like a Fox

None of the books I listed a few days ago. Or week ago. Or more. Time is slipping through my fingers presently. Damn weird busy life and full time job.

Reading both _Zig Zag Street - Nick Earls
_and _Headgames - Nick Earls._

Aussie writer. His short stories in _Headgames_ are amazing. 
I highly recommend _All those ways of leaving_ if anyone can find it. 
Wow. I cried, both times I read this, which is super rare when I'm reading, I'm not really much of a crier. It's funny and tragic and just all things good.


----------



## Rob

Just finished _Rape: A Love Story_, by Joyce Carol Oates and thought it was gripping from start to finish. Not only a great story, but worthy of study for the way she plays with point of view and tense, switching between third person past tense, second person past tense and second person present tense.

Cheers,
Rob


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Fishing for Amber-Ciaran Carson

I thought this would be a book of fairy tales, but most of it is just information about all kinds of things. The narrator easily moves from one thing to another the way we do in conversation. Then he pops in a fairy tale that "comes to his mind" from talking about things. I liked the fairy tale parts, but after the first couple chapters, I started skipping all the rest.

Now reading:
The Retrieval Artist and Other Stories-Kristine Kathryn Rusch


----------



## caelum

I'm thirty pages into Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy so far, and I'm very impressed.  One of the funniest books I've come accross in a long time, if not ever.  Can't believe I've never read it before, with all its hype, but it seems like this time the hype is lived up to.


----------



## spider8

caelum said:


> I'm thirty pages into Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy so far, and I'm very impressed. One of the funniest books I've come accross in a long time, if not ever. Can't believe I've never read it before, with all its hype, but it seems like this time the hype is lived up to.


The TV series was good too, though the film was forgettable.
I'm reading The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCollough. Quite good but feels like hard work getting through it. Never saw the mini series.


----------



## spider8

Dr. Malone said:


> Atonement.


loved the book, loved the film- both seemed very different from each other. Is this your first McEwan?


----------



## spider8

Wuthering Heights? The only good thing about this was the Kate Bush single. The book was pure mince.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Loved the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! Are you going to read the whole series?

I have to disagree about Wuthering Heights. I loved that book.

Anyway, I'm still reading The Retrieval Artist, but I had to add Red Poppies by Alai for my Asian Lit class. I will admit that it's good so far, but I'd rather not be forced to read it right when I'm trying to read another book. And I'm going to have to read Hamlet again, too, for my Dramatic Writing class. Oh well. At least they're not boring.


----------



## Emily6

Mary McCarthy's Bio


----------



## KangTheMad

I just finished 1984. Very creepy IMO.


----------



## caelum

VinrAlfakyn said:


> Loved the The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy! Are you going to read the whole series?


 
Yeah, the book I bought is all four in one, so I'm gonna whittle away at the series.  I've got a few others on the go, but I'm definitely reading it all.  Man, some of the puns are sweet.  I remember one that went something like "The giant orange block space-ships hung in the air in just about the same way that bricks don't" lol.  I think the only comparable book is Catch-22, and it loses next to this.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Washington State Driving Guide. Very boring. Sigh, one page at a time...


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

caelum said:


> Yeah, the book I bought is all four in one, so I'm gonna whittle away at the series.  I've got a few others on the go, but I'm definitely reading it all.  Man, some of the puns are sweet.  I remember one that went something like "The giant orange block space-ships hung in the air in just about the same way that bricks don't" lol.  I think the only comparable book is Catch-22, and it loses next to this.



Which book are you on now? I remember there was some small thing in the first one that I thought was hilarious, but it was even better when it was elaborated on in the third one. Cracked me up so bad! I'll have to reread them all.

Finished:
The Retrieval Artist-Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Now reading:
Winter's Tale-Mark Helprin

Still reading:
Red Poppies-Alai


----------



## Hoot08

Finished: American Psycho- Ellis

Now reading: Visions of Cody-Kerouac, Tropic of Cancer-Miller

Still reading: Holy Barbarians- Lipton


----------



## Mistique

Pride and Predjudice - Jane Austen


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Finished: American Psycho- Ellis



One of my favorites.  He talks about writing it and the trouble getting it published in his newest book, although he weaves fact and fiction in the new book so I'm not sure how much of what he says about the Psycho writing process is true.  Stuff like waking up in the middle of the night and feeling Bateman inside him needing to get out, writing twenty pages in a virtual blackout, the "spirit" of Bateman that had been urging him to write the book finally being appeased when it was completed and published.  Sounds like a King story, and it might just be bullshit he's doing to add to his persona, but it was interesting nonetheless.

I'm reading Interviews With Horrible People by David Foster Wallace.  Incredible stuff.  I think Joseph and Sevenwritez would like it, if either of you happen to read this.


----------



## KangTheMad

Mistique said:


> Pride and Predjudice - Jane Austen


 

That was the most boring school play I've ever gone to.


----------



## Mistique

KangTheMad said:


> That was the most boring school play I've ever gone to.


 
Well I don't know about your school play, but the book is delightful  and quite funny


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Still reading:
Winter's Tale-Mark Helprin
Red Poppies-Alai

Adding:
Backwards and Fowards-David Ball
This is a required reading for my Dramatic Writing class. At least it's short, otherwise I don't think I'd get anything done, what with other required readings, project due dates coming up, and tests to study for.


----------



## SevenWritez

Yesterday I bought two novels.

My Name is Red and Man Gone Down. 

The first is amazing, the second reads like one of the many Raymond Carver clones, but unlike Carver and his clones I actually like it. I'll probably finish My Name is Red before Man Gone Down, but so far I've been pecking at both equally. 

Oh, and yesterday I finished Factotum. I enjoyed it, but I still think Ham on Rye is the author's best.


----------



## caelum

VinrAlfakyn said:


> Which book are you on now? I remember there was some small thing in the first one that I thought was hilarious, but it was even better when it was elaborated on in the third one. Cracked me up so bad! I'll have to reread them all.



I'm halfway through the second one.  The plot is a little chaotic, but still great fun.  One of my new favourite series.

I don't think this kind of literary humour translates well onto the bigscreen, because most the fun lies in the puns and trying to picture the crazy crap, like the two-headed three-armed president dude.


----------



## movieman

Dr. Malone said:


> One of my favorites.  He talks about writing it and the trouble getting it published in his newest book, although he weaves fact and fiction in the new book so I'm not sure how much of what he says about the Psycho writing process is true.



The problem I had with 'American Psycho' was that it seemed like it just needed about 600 pages cut out to become a great novel; I suspect that's why I much preferred the movie to the book. After a while I found all the 'then I cut her up and ate her brain' stuff rather tiresome.

I'm slowly working through 'The Siege of Trencher's Farm' when I actually have time to read; it's interesting both because of the differences from the movie, and because it manages to get away with a number of things I normally complain about when critiquing other people's stories (e.g. jumping PoVs). Then I should really get down to working through the William Hope Hodgeson collections I bought a couple of years back... I read his most famous stories long ago but the lesser known ones have been hard to find until recently.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

caelum said:


> I'm halfway through the second one.  The plot is a little chaotic, but still great fun.  One of my new favourite series.
> 
> I don't think this kind of literary humour translates well onto the bigscreen, because most the fun lies in the puns and trying to picture the crazy crap, like the two-headed three-armed president dude.



Just wait until you get to the third. There's a part that ties into the first book that just cracked me up. Don't try to look for it, it will come naturally. You shouldn't be able to miss it. 

I've never seen the movie, although I've wanted to. I'm not sure I'd like them as movies. Like I feel about all my favorite fantasy/science fiction books, I just think all the special effects they put in will make the movie cheesy.

Finished:
Red Poppies-Alai
Backwards and Forwards-David Ball

Still reading:
Winter's Tale-Mark Helprin

Finally! Finished school books, so now I can focus on the book I really want to read. And it's one of my favorites, so it's a good thing it won't be put last anymore.


----------



## Tiamat

Reading _The Time Traveler's Wife_ by Audrey Niffenegger.  A few weeks back I saw the trailer for the movie and instantly decided that I wanted to read the book first.  I'm thoroughly glad I made that decision.  I was hooked from the very first page.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Infinite Jest by Wallace.  Quite good, brilliant at times, yet it drags at others.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Tuck Everlasting by Natlie Babbit.


----------



## ash somers

i'm reading a memoir, which is very unusual for me
but it is clive james and it's called unreliable memoirs
and i'm getting a real chuckle out of his satirical humour


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Tiamat10 said:


> Reading _The Time Traveler's Wife_ by Audrey Niffenegger.  A few weeks back I saw the trailer for the movie and instantly decided that I wanted to read the book first.  I'm thoroughly glad I made that decision.  I was hooked from the very first page.



Loved that book. Still haven't seen the movie, though.

Finished:
Winter's Tale-Mark Helprin

Although I know what I'm going to read next, I'm not going to start it yet because I have a lot of homework and things to read for my classes. So I'm going to try to focus on those for a little while so that when I do pick up the next book I won't have to read it only a few pages at a time.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Cry the Beloved Country


----------



## Ungood

I just finished reading City of Bones and Looking to start on City of Ash.


----------



## Crazed Scribe

Just finished: The Kite Runner. An immense book 

Starting: The Catcher in the Rye. So far, nothing at all like I expected but really enjoying it.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Now reading:
On Writing-Stephen King
Harp of Burma-Michio Takeyama

I'm reading neither of these of my own will, although I did buy On Writing on my own. I'm being forced to read them now (for classes), otherwise I'd be more excited about them. But when school books interfere with my private reading, I tend to look on them in a hostile manner.


----------



## Crazed Scribe

I read Kite Runner for school too but I'm really glad that i did. I think the key to enjoying books that your studying with school is to read them before you cover them in class. Then you can just enjoy the narrative first.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

My main problem with them is that they interferred with my own reading. I have plenty of books that have nothing to do with school that I'm dying to read, and these books got in the way of those. I admit, Harp of Burma wasn't bad, and On Writing was probably the most helpful writing book I've read, but they could just as easily have been boring books. 

As for reading ahead, I'm actually doing that with both of these because I didn't want to put them off and then have homework later to add on top of them. I'll probably be doing this for a while longer.

Finished:
Harp of Burma-Michio Takeyama
On Writing-Stephen King

Up next:
probably The Waiting Years-Fumiko Enchi, again for class


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Waiting Years-Fumiko Enchi

Up next:
Norwegian Wood-Haruki Murakami and Jay Rubin


----------



## Coyoteofthenine

Sins And Shadows by Lyn Benedict


----------



## Crazed Scribe

*Finished:* _Carrie_ by Stephen King - good, very shocking but somehow i didn't feel compelled to read on.

*Reading:* _Enduring Love_ by Ian McEwan


----------



## Lost in Some Story

Just finished "Skinny Legs and All." Now I'm reading "Les Mis" again because I told someone I would and I don't know how to keep my mouth shut.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Jane Eyre.


----------



## kidstaple

Currently reading _The Highwayman_ by R.A. Salvatore. After that, I think I'll move on to _The Ancient_, which is the sequel to the first.


----------



## Hoot08

*Finished: *Visions of Cody-Kerouac, The Subterraneans-Kerouac
*Reading:* Tristessa-Kerouac, Persuassion-Austen, Tropic of Cancer-Miller


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Norwegian Wood-Haruki Murakami

Now reading:
The Lion in Winter, a play by James Goldman


----------



## warrior's pride

A few weeks ago I finished a series by David Eddings called The Belgariad. Those were, without a doubt, the best medieval fantasy books I have ever read. Last night I finished a sci-fi novel called The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson which was also exceptional. Today I started a two volume series called The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Someone gave me the new Dan Brown novel so I started that today.  My thoughts kept wandering during the beginning so I'm not very hopeful.


----------



## Ungood

I started reading "Literature", it's some used college text book I bought at a yard sale, Yah, I'm lame, I know. But I have found it strangely an enjoyable read.


----------



## kidstaple

iDrew said:


> Just finished Margaret Atwood’s _The Year Of The Flood_ and I’ve started on  A. S. Byatt’s _The Children’s Book_



Was _Year of the Flood _worth it? I've enjoyed some of Atwood's earlier works, and was really looking forward to _Year of the Flood, _but haven't gotten around to reading it yet...


----------



## caelum

Just finished On Writing by Stephen King.

Now reading Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley.

I'm becoming a huge fan of this guy, Huxley, active in the early 1900s.  His prose is intelligent, buttery and stylish, very fun to read.  I find myself getting sucked in about as much as I get sucked in by Stephen King, and that's saying something.  On Writing was a treat, as well.


----------



## ross

Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America.
It made me want to put together a US road trip... 
Key West to Las Vegas? Hmmm...


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Lion in Winter-James Goldman

Up next, once I finish my research paper:
The Name of the Wind-Patrick Rothfuss


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Now reading Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley.
> 
> I'm becoming a huge fan of this guy, Huxley, active in the early 1900s. His prose is intelligent, buttery and stylish, very fun to read. I find myself getting sucked in about as much as I get sucked in by Stephen King, and that's saying something.



I really like him too.  I started reading him after learning that he was one of the pioneers of (western) experimentation with mescaline.  I haven't read Point Counter Point, but I picked it up last night after you mentioned it.  I'll start it soon.


----------



## caelum

It's really entertaining me so far (I'm about eighty pages in).  I'm at this huge, drawn out party scene at this mansion with all kinds of rich players bullshitting and scheming.  Little spoiler: Some guy premeditated this pickup line and hit flopped horribly, lol.

I read a short story of his before from some compilation book, which stood out to me, so I ordered Point Counter Point.  This is the first novel of his I've started, but I plan on looking into more of him.  I love the way he jumps into people's heads.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Not exactly what I have been reading but there has been a book called "Ivan and the dogs" broadcast on BBC radio 4. I found it inspirational how much he was able to say about people by telling the story through the eyes of a boy living with dogs, wild in Moscow.


----------



## The Backward OX

Just finished "Rommel - The End Of A Legend" -Ralf Georg Reuth. Ever since once working alongside a guy who served under him in Egypt I have been interested in him.

Have now started "Writing Fiction, Step By Step" - Josip Novakovich. Good stuff.


----------



## moderan

I'm reading Sweet Spot, by this guy named Robinson who hung out here once upon a time. Really fast-paced and enjoyable, smooth prose.
Also re-reading the Island of Doctor Death and other stories, and other stories, by Gene Wolfe. Arguably his best fiction.


----------



## ash somers

I'm reading Maestro by Peter Goldsworthy.


----------



## tikiman53

Dr. Malone said:


> I really like him too.  I started reading him after learning that he was one of the pioneers of (western) experimentation with mescaline.  I haven't read Point Counter Point, but I picked it up last night after you mentioned it.  I'll start it soon.



Oooh, I'm guessing you've read Brave New World too? I just read it for my English class. Very weird and dark, but kind of enlightening for me.



warrior's pride said:


> A few weeks ago I finished a series by David Eddings called The Belgariad. Those were, without a doubt, the best medieval fantasy books I have ever read. Last night I finished a sci-fi novel called The Dark Beyond the Stars by Frank M. Robinson which was also exceptional. Today I started a two volume series called The Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny.



I read that series too! Did you read the Mallorean? I haven't yet. I'm kind of afraid of it being overkill and just ruining the whole thing


----------



## Olly Buckle

Dr. Malone said:


> I really like him too.  I started reading him after learning that he was one of the pioneers of (western) experimentation with mescaline.  I haven't read Point Counter Point, but I picked it up last night after you mentioned it.  I'll start it soon.



Also "Island", here and now boys, here and now.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I picked up Brave New World Revisited.  Don't know what the hell it is, but I'll read it soon.

I love Rommel.  I honestly don't know how Monty ever stood a chance against him, let alone accomplished all that the Brits managed in the desert.  It's like Mozart competing against Billy Joel, and somehow Billy Joel won.  Or did Rommel's sickness and departure from the battlefield play a factor in the Nazi defeat?  I can't remember the timeline.

I really enjoy the BBC radio broadcasts, Olly.  I have Diary of a Madman downloaded as an MP3 from one of their presentations.


----------



## Beja-Beja

I'm back finally. Reading The Awakening and Beowulf.


----------



## spider8

Dr. Malone said:


> I really like him too. I started reading him after learning that he was one of the pioneers of (western) experimentation with mescaline. I haven't read Point Counter Point, but I picked it up last night after you mentioned it. I'll start it soon.


 
You never said what you thought of Atonement.

I liked the ideas in Brave New World.
Am reading the Good Bride Guide at the mo'. I'm not a fan of chick-lit or lad-lit, but Matt Dunn's an easy if sometimes frustrating read.
Just finished Prisoner of Birth (modern version of the Count of Monte Christo), and have also started Paths of Glory (about the life of George Mallory).


----------



## Sigg

I'm reading Sun Tzu on the Art of War... I figured I'd see what all the fuss is about.  It's interesting to a point, but it seems to be mostly just a bunch of bite sized 'nuggets of wisdom', things are rarely elaborated upon.  It's like reading pointers on war in fortune cookie form.

it's pretty short though, so I think I'll finish it


----------



## Trinitylynx

I'm reading my own story, and after the pointing out that Dr. Malone did, I find that I need alot of work done on it. Sighs. I don't think I will ever get it right.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Name of the Wind-Patrick Rothfuss

Up next:
Moonheart-Charles de Lint


----------



## caelum

VinrAlfakyn said:


> Finished:
> The Name of the Wind-Patrick Rothfuss
> 
> Up next:
> Moonheart-Charles de Lint



What do you think of The Name of the Wind?  I read it, and liked it, but some things bugged me.  The main dude was a little too godly, too awesome at too many things: the guitar (okay, _lute_), the magic, etc.  I know that's like the idea, but... doesn't ring very human to me.  I also found Rothfuss's morals a little iffy; if I remember correctly, he called women whores every other page.  Maybe that's just my selective memory.

I liked the novelty of his magic, but basically all the magic was was binding the heat energy of things together, which is kinda lame.  Yeah, the name calling thing wasn't that, but that practically never happens anyway.

Also, if I have no idea how to pronounce the main character's name, something is up.  Ka-voth?  I dernno.  The book did entertain me though, I'm just a picky pickle.  I found the preluding to the dragon-wannabe thing a little tacky.  It was like he just inserted these references to it at random points in the book, making them stand out--unlike J.K.Rowling who weaves them into her story and then the surprise ending actually freaken surprises you.

But this is the dude's first novel and first published thing, so, I mean, I can't complain that much.  I'm sure the first thing I ever get published, fingers crossed, will have its share of prancy snobs getting their panties in knots.


----------



## spider8

The site's not letting me get on to page 146. So maybe this'll do it.


----------



## spider8

Aah! I see why now.


----------



## Hoot08

Reading, "Lonesome Travler"- Kerouac.


----------



## moderan

Reading "The Three Imposters and other stories", by Arthur Machen. Recommended, especially to fans of the weird tale.
Also re-reading Kaleidoscope Eyes, by Jim DeRogatis-nonfiction exploring the psychedelic era in music from its inception through the publication date (2001). Really good read, and the author (a Chicago-based music critic) is extremely knowledgeable about the subgenre.


----------



## Sigg

started reading Thus Spake Zarathustra, like Sun Tzu on the Art of War i wanted to know what all the fuss was about.  so far it's actually pretty good, although the translations are glaringly misleading... he used a lot of german word play that simply does not translate well to english.

plus, both of those things are available for free in .pdf form on the net.


----------



## spider8

I mentioned earlier I was reading the Good Bride Guide by Matt Dunn. So far it's rubbish.
 I looked up amazon.co.uk to see other people's comments. The first two reviews were given 5 stars and obviously written by the agent, or publisher, or friends. Probably agent as the reviews were like sales pitches. The third review gave it 1 star out of five. When I clicked on 'see all my reviews' there weren't any others by the two favourable reviewers. Hmmm... 
I clicked on another Matt Dunn book to find a very similar golden 5 star review with a couple of letters in the reviewers name changed. Why do they make it so obvious?: 'This laugh a minute novel will be enjoyed by the young and the not so young. Another belter from Matt Dunn, can't wait to pick up his next novel, From Here to Paternity.'

I got a book called The Loser's Club once, based on all the glowing 'reviews' I'd seen of it on amazon. To be fair, the book wasn't bad. But, obviously to help sales, it turned out that the author or his accomplices were putting up reviews for a lot of genuinely great books and adding 'If you liked this, you'll love The Loser's Club'. I was taken in and ordered it.

Lots of people began putting up terrible reviews and warning others of the scam, but these warnings were deleted after a day or two.

I have a friend of a friend whose book got blasted by reviewers (I won't mention his name because he's a nice bloke), and he clicked on the 'report this' button and got the bad reviews removed. It's such a pity that amazon, in offering this service, spoil it by allowing the dollar to be their God.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

caelum said:


> What do you think of The Name of the Wind?  I read it, and liked it, but some things bugged me.  The main dude was a little too godly, too awesome at too many things: the guitar (okay, _lute_), the magic, etc.  I know that's like the idea, but... doesn't ring very human to me.  I also found Rothfuss's morals a little iffy; if I remember correctly, he called women whores every other page.  Maybe that's just my selective memory.
> 
> I liked the novelty of his magic, but basically all the magic was was binding the heat energy of things together, which is kinda lame.  Yeah, the name calling thing wasn't that, but that practically never happens anyway.
> 
> Also, if I have no idea how to pronounce the main character's name, something is up.  Ka-voth?  I dernno.  The book did entertain me though, I'm just a picky pickle.  I found the preluding to the dragon-wannabe thing a little tacky.  It was like he just inserted these references to it at random points in the book, making them stand out--unlike J.K.Rowling who weaves them into her story and then the surprise ending actually freaken surprises you.
> 
> But this is the dude's first novel and first published thing, so, I mean, I can't complain that much.  I'm sure the first thing I ever get published, fingers crossed, will have its share of prancy snobs getting their panties in knots.



I liked it, but I'll admit I've read better fantasy novels. Why I think Kvothe is so good at so many things is because he has a good memory. I'm the same way, so I can understand that part. It did mention that he cheated to get into the University, so he's not completely moral. Also, he plans on sneaking into the Archives, and I wouldn't call that moral.

I don't remember anything about women being called whores on every other page. I know Kvothe met some different women, but he had good relationships with them. The only downside was that there were few women at the University, and a pretty woman like Denna, who did not attend University, didn't have many options in life.

I agree with the magic part, but I think we're supposed to be disappointed, because Kvothe was disappointed too. He kept mentioning that he wanted real magic, which would involve knowing the names of things. I'm hoping we'll get more of that in the next book.

As for pronunciation, they say it's pronounced like 'quoth,' so I'm guessing 'ka-voth' is as close as you're gonna get. That's how I pronounced it in my head while reading.

I thought the draccus part was interesting, but there are probably a lot of different ways to introduce that. Since the whole story was supposed to be what Kvothe says, word for word, then I'm guessing Pat put that in its own section because since Kvothe is the storyteller, that may have been part of his personality. Kvothe-tells-the-story, so-the-story-has-to-read-like-Kvothe-would-tell-it kind of thing. Could be wrong, but it's a guess.


----------



## spider8

I just finished _The Bodies Left Behind_ by Jeffrey Deaver. Brilliant, although you've to will the suspension of disbelief. I'm now reading _Garden of Beasts._


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Dreamcatcher by Stephen King.


----------



## fantasy girl

For once, I'm not actually reading anything. I have just finished reading the Twilight Saga... again... fot the millionth time  I might have a look through this list and find another book to read.


----------



## moderan

reDemolished, by Alfred Bester. It's a newish compilation of his stories, interviews, and essays with the largest attraction being a reprint of his long-lost prologue to the famous novel "The Demolished Man".
The prologue is interesting but doesn't really need to be part of the novel-I agree with its omission. The interviews-with such diverse people as Robert Heinlein and Woody Allen-those are quite good if not necessarily in-depth, and the essays are variations on a theme, namely why Bester stopped writing science fiction in the late 50s and returned to the field some fifteen years later.
Bester is an extremely engaging writer. Apparently a professional extrovert, his confessional/raconteur style will put off some folks. His fiction doesn't suffer from the same syndrome, instead deploying a rapid pace and florid bursts of language. He's known as one of the greatest stylists in any genre, ever, and is one of the 26 SF Grandmasters, a very select group.
The collection Starlight is more inclusive, and they have a few pieces in common, but the acquisition and perusal of both is highly recommended.


----------



## Uncivilized Serpent

fantasy girl said:


> For once, I'm not actually reading anything. I have just finished reading the Twilight Saga... again... fot the millionth time  I might have a look through this list and find another book to read.


 
:0 Harry Potter is so much more fun than Twillight! Lol.


----------



## secretsanta

The Southern Vampire Mysteries book 1. You might recognize it as True Blood.


----------



## alanmt

_Peasant Fires_: slow going but very interesting when I am in the mood.

_The Fall of Highwatch_ not recommended. Technically proficient fantasy writing with the worst plotting I have seen since paolini. The title event takes a few pages only toward the beginning and the rest of the book so far is a dreary hunt/chase with the usual 17 year old girl princess who is utterly unlikeable and nonreflective to the point of being comatose about the consequences of her ongoing series of absolutely wrong decisions. blah. Plus now she is developing romantic feelings for some questionable dude who may or may not be centuries old, which is just creepy.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished: 
Moonheart-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
Spiritwalk-Charles de Lint


----------



## Fleurdelis

Finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  I found it amusing but it whet my appetite for some really good zombie action.

So I bought World War Z.  

It satisfies.


----------



## secretsanta

Just started the Southern Vampire Mysteries. Or if you don't know that title, try True Blood.  Hated the tv-series thanks to a ridiculous annoying main character (she's great in x-men, though), love the book so far.


----------



## Cefor

secretsanta said:


> Just started the Southern Vampire Mysteries. Or if you don't know that title, try True Blood.  Hated the tv-series thanks to a ridiculous annoying main character (she's great in x-men, though), love the book so far.



Shock horror! Anna Paquin (or however you spell her surname) plays the part well methinks!

I'm currently reading Peace and War - Joe Haldeman: second time. Just finished Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore.


----------



## RoundEye

Fleurdelis said:


> Finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  I found it amusing but it whet my appetite for some really good zombie action.
> 
> So I bought World War Z.
> 
> It satisfies.



I thought WWZ would be better too, considering who the author is. Now I’m debating if I’m going to buy his first book or not, The Zombie Survival Guide.


----------



## Fleurdelis

What I love most about World War Z is that it's a best seller and it's almost completely expository.  The last story I submitted to a magazine was a sci-fi/body horror piece called "How to Become a Model."  World War Z makes me feel okay about how expository that story is.


----------



## Ungood

Just started City of Ash.


----------



## Leyline

Just finished Charles Sheffield's _Dark As Day_, his sorta sequel to _Cold As Ice_. It's 2097 and the human settled solar system is finally recovering from a vast and destructive war. The plot, like much of Sheffield's work, is panoramic and extremely convoluted. The youngest scion of an ultra-rich family, his boss/girlfriend, two 'displaced persons' from Earth, feuding brothers that run a revamped SETI operation, and an anti-social genius become involved in a multilayered tale involving alien signals, corporate mergers, predictive modeling and a lost weapon of frightening power. Truly hard sf, with superb characters, an action movie pace, and fountains of well speculated technology. Highly enjoyable.

ETA: You don't have to read _Cold As Ice_ to enjoy _Dark As Day_ -- they stand on their own very well.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Reading Hamlet and a Punisher Graphic Novel. Gonna start the Hobbit and LOTR soon.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Shipwrecked on the top of the world, four against the Arctic, by David Roberts
An amazing story of survival, 1743 and four walrus hunters find themselves stranded on one of the smaller islands in the Spitzbergen group and survive for *six years* 'til rescued.

Bess of Hardwick, first lady of Chatsworth, by Mary S Lovell
How a woman born into a noble, but poor, family ended up one of the richest and most influential women in history in Elizabethan times.


----------



## Sigg

Just finished reading an e-book called Empty Cloud, The Teachings Of Zen Master Xu Yun.

now listening to/reading a series of lectures called Understanding Linguistics - The Science of Language


----------



## Leyline

Just finished King's _Four Past Midnight_ (I knew I'd find it if I kept bummin' around!). Sadly, "The Sun Dog" wasn't as wonderfully creepy as I remembered. It was actually very humorous. There were a few chills here and there, but not like I remembered. "The Library Policeman" and "Secret Window, Secret Garden" were better than I recalled, though, and "The Langoliers" was still a lot of fun.


----------



## Sigg

> though, and "The Langoliers" was still a lot of fun.


 
w00t, i love that one.  the movie is great, it's so horribly made that it truly adds to the creepy effect.

"You may think your running... but you're really scampering!"


----------



## kaseyisrad

The Divine Comedy


----------



## JosephB

_The Poor Mountaineer_, by M. Drysdale.


----------



## Leyline

JosephB said:


> _The Poor Mountaineer_, by M. Drysdale.



Yeah, but the follow-ups -- _Barely Kept His Family Fed_, _Shootin' At Some Food_ and _Bubblin' Crude_ -- went off on strange tangents and were nowhere near as satisfying.


----------



## JosephB

Leyline said:


> Yeah, but the follow-ups -- _Barely Kept His Family Fed_, _Shootin' At Some Food_ and _Bubblin' Crude_ -- went off on strange tangents and were nowhere near as satisfying.



Just wanted to see if anyone is paying attention.


----------



## moderan

^LOL.
Just finished Chuck Amuck, by Chuck Jones. Highly recommended, even if you don't read.


----------



## Leyline

Cool. I've always been a fan of Mr. Jones, though my faves are Bob Clampett and the wildman Tex Avery.


----------



## moderan

Maurice Noble was always my favorite, but Chuck's _characters_ are the most memorable for me.


----------



## RoundEye

_Threads_, it’s a compilation of stories by Writing Forums.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Gone With the Wind.


----------



## caelum

Just finished Point Counter Point by Aldous Huxley.  Amazing book.  Funny how little things have changed since the early 1900s.

Starting Still Life With Woodpecker by Tom Robbins.  Very entertaining and random zaniness so far.  Loving it.


----------



## Leyline

A superb novella by Phyllis Eisenstein in an old issue of _Fantasy & Science Fiction_ called "The Island In The Lake", concerning one Alaric The Minstrel. A little research shows quite a few more Alaric stories, which go immediatly onto The List (That Never Ends).


----------



## Beja-Beja

The Hobbit


----------



## Tiamat

I haven't had internet for the last two weeks (Death to Verizon!), so I've done a lot of reading in that time frame.

Finished up _The Time Traveler's Wife_ and am now very eager to see the movie.  The book was excellent--easily one of my top five now.

Read _Goddess of the Night_ or some such book.  Nothing complex or intriguing, just a teenybopper book, recommended by my boyfriend's seventeen-year-old sister.  Not a bad read, just not... compelling, exactly.

Then _Joust _and _Alta,_ books one and two in The Dragon Jousters series.  Definitely a must-read for any fans of fantasy.  I finished the latter about fifteen minutes ago and am currently resisting the impulse to start the third book, _Sanctuary_, but even if I don't do so tonight, I'll definitely pick it up tomorrow.


----------



## JosephB

_Raymond Carver, A Writer's Life

_


> Finished up _The Time Traveler's Wife_ and am now very eager to see the movie.  The book was excellent--easily one of my top five now.



I might read that. My wife liked it and recommended it too.


----------



## moderan

Brothers of the Head, by Brian Aldiss. Very strange work about a pair of Siamese twins, one of whom has an additional head growing from his shoulder. It was made into a movie, which I have but haven't watched yet.
Anyway, Aldiss is an entertaining writer, and there are plenty of odd twists to the story, which is told from several different points of view, as by people who knew the twins. That's actually quite a feat as the narrators have very different "voices", and the whole thing amounts to a tour de force.
The edition I have is profusely illustrated and is in folio format, about 12x10.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Spiritwalk-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
Here On Earth-Alice Hoffman


----------



## moderan

Confessions of a Crap Artist, by Philip K. Dick. I've somehow managed not to read this up til now. Dick's paranoia and wit weren't confined to his "fiction", as this "nonfiction" entry proves. Only about fifty pages in, should finish tonight.


----------



## Tom88

Reading _The Road_, and holy hell, hype aside it's a real grim punch in the gut with some amazingly poetic prose. I'm really enjoying it.


----------



## Fleurdelis

Tom88 said:


> Reading _The Road_, and holy hell, hype aside it's a real grim punch in the gut with some amazingly poetic prose. I'm really enjoying it.



I know, right?  

And that's not even the most depressing McCarthy book I've read.  

While I was reading The Crossing, I described to my husband how the book was dragging me down into funk of epic proportions.  He asked me why I was still reading it.  

I explained it was the way he writes, it's so lyrical and hypnotizing.  It turns you into a meth addict of sorts.  You know his prose is killing you but, damn it, you've got to get your fix!


----------



## RoundEye

I’m reading a collaboration called _Threads_. By the people of  Writing Forums, it can get kind of strange at times. It can also run through every emotion known to mankind, if you know how to read between the lines. It’s not always well-written.


----------



## moderan

LOL. I've finished Confessions of a Crap Artist, which seemed only slightly autobiographical and am moving on to Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said, PKD's last novel.
Am also reading the essential Silver Surfer, which I found under the One Step Beyond dvd collection, and contemplating doing the coloring (the "essentials" series is black and white only).


----------



## Hawk

I'm reading Brave New World for my Mass Media class, studying dystopia and eutopia and all of that fun stuff.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Here On Earth-Alice Hoffman

Now reading:
The Riddle of the Wren-Charles de Lint


----------



## Edgewise

Re-reading _Master and Margarita_ by Bulgakov.


----------



## Ungood

Just Started: New Moon.


----------



## Cefor

Ungood said:


> Just Started: New Moon.



It's better than the first, not as good as third or fourth 

Finished Peace And War -Joe Haldeman

Reading Hitchhiker's Guide. I bought all five in one fell swoop the other month and havent read them yet.


----------



## moderan

The Book on the Edge of Forever, by Christopher Priest. A re-read of the expose of Ellison's the Last Dangerous Visions.
Writer's Market 2010 deluxe edition-my Christmas present. Both arrived yesterday.


----------



## Uncivilized Serpent

Warrior Cats  Such an awesome, lower-level book =D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warriors_(novel_series)


----------



## moderan

The Yellow Sign and Other Stories: The Complete Weird Tales of Robert W. Chambers
Because to read it is to go insane and I'm tired of the mundane...actually I need a Chambers recharge to continue _Carcosa_, which is now at 210,000 words.
Great book...one of the best horror/dark fantasy works ever.


----------



## ash somers

the story of danny dunn by bryce courtenay, his new release
it's a hard cover with lots'a pages, nice big font - i'm in heaven


----------



## Leyline

Just finished re-reading _God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater_, by Kurt Vonnegut.

Wept as usual.

"Goddamit, babies! You've got to be *kind*!"

I've been working on a screenplay for years. Tricky. But one thing I do know: no man can play Eliot Rosewater but Phillip Seymour Hoffman. It's just fate.


----------



## SevenWritez

The Brothers Karamazov. It doesn't have the pitch perfect pacing of Crime and Punishment, but it is definitely earning points with me.


----------



## moderan

Leyline said:


> Just finished re-reading _God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater_, by Kurt Vonnegut.
> 
> Wept as usual.
> 
> "Goddamit, babies! You've got to be *kind*!"
> 
> I've been working on a screenplay for years. Tricky. But one thing I do know: no man can play Eliot Rosewater but Phillip Seymour Hoffman. It's just fate.


Love that book. Can't stand Philip Seymour Hoffman. I know some of his family members and have met him. They're all insufferable in person.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Cefor said:


> Reading Hitchhiker's Guide. I bought all five in one fell swoop the other month and havent read them yet.



I love those books! Hilarious!

Finished:
The Riddle of the Wren-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
Dreams Made Flesh-Anne Bishop

Dreams Made Flesh is a _Black Jewels_ book. It has four stories in it, two short and two novella size. The first story tells of how the spiders became able to make the webs that make dreams into flesh. The next tells of how Lucivar and Marian met. The next tells of Saetan's third son, the one Hekatah killed. And the last is a direct sequel to Queen of the Darkness. So far I'm loving it. The whole series is just amazing.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Dreams Made Flesh-Anne Bishop

Now reading:
Tangled Webs-Anne Bishop


----------



## Leyline

_The Runelords: Book I, The Sum Of All Men_ by David Farland (pen name of SF writer Dave Wolverton)

The rarest of the rare for me: a high fantasy series that sucked me in and has kept my interest. A quote on the back roused my curiosity:

"David Farland is the single greatest discovery of my professional career." -- *Algis Budrys*

Budrys isn't one to over-hype. The writing is plain, understated and professional, with none of the purple-tint this genre is known for. The characters are complex, multi-faceted and realistic, even the villains are given shades-of-gray motivation and make rational arguments for their actions.

Best of all, it boasts a killer magic system, that's both cool and essential to the story: 'endowments' may be given to others: brawn, glamour, wit, metabolism, stamina, etc. Once given up, these 'Dedicates' lose these things forever, or until the receiver is killed. A man or woman who gives beauty becomes ugly. Brawn Dedicates become weak as infants. Wit dedicates become almost mindless. This is worked out in almost SF terms, with cause and effect accounted for, and drawbacks for every virtue.

Examples: When metabolism is given, the receiver ages faster. When brawn is given, without stamina, supercharged muscles can break bones with a single unwise move. Farland builds this system (and these details) beautifully, until -- near the finale -- warriors with the strength, metabolism and stamina of hundreds are crushing their own bones and instantly healing into freakish shapes, fighting through the pain and fear. Great stuff, and far from the 'I iz a supah-wizard! Fireballz!' simplicity that ruins a lot of the genre.

Also notable is the moral quandry such a society would face. The tyrants simply take or blackmail their vassals into giving up their virtues. Nobler men pay their subjects. Truly honorable rulers take only when needed, and only what is freely given by people. This creates fascinating layers of dilemmas.

Farland also rejects a lot of cliches. The hero is the hero because he gives a shit about others and seeks to behave morally. There's no prophecy, no peasant-destined-for-glory, no 'find the Great Whatsit to defeat the Evil Whosit' and, best of all...

*...NO FREAKIN' ELVES!!   *

I'm on the second novel, _Brotherhood Of The Wolf_, and will report when finished. The first I highly recommend to all, especially those who don't care for the genre. This one is quite different!


----------



## Like a Fox

Reading _*Hummingbirds*_ by _Joshua Gaylord_


----------



## MeeQ

WFTDA rulebook.


----------



## Dr. Malone

I finally picked up a copy of And The Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks.  It's decent so far.  The Burroughs' parts are the best, and it's interesting to see his early style developing.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Tangled Webs-Anne Bishop

Now reading:
The Legend of Zelda: The Oracle of Seasons-Akira Himekawa

Yes, that's right. They've made manga based on the Zelda video games.


----------



## Cefor

Finished _Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy_

Now reading _Restaurant at the end of the Universe_


----------



## Tom

A Fraction of a Whole.

Set in Australia - and the bloody thing keeps reminding me of Ox.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Cefor said:


> Finished _Hitchhicker's Guide to the Galaxy_
> 
> Now reading _Restaurant at the end of the Universe_



What do you think so far? I love that series. 

Finished:
The Legend of Zelda: The Oracle of Seasons-Akira Himekawa
The Legend of Zelda: The Oracle of Ages-Akira Himekawa
The Probable Future-Alice Hoffman

Now reading:
Jack of Kinrowan-Charles de Lint


----------



## SparkyLT

Uncilvilized Serpent said:


> Warrior Cats  Such an awesome, lower-level book =D
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warriors_(novel_series)


Aaah, I got all those at the library a few years back. I loved'em too! When I think of those, another series comes to mind - the Catwings books, by Ursula K. LeGuin. You might like them, though to be honest it was even longer ago I read _them,_ so I know not of what I speak, really.


I just finished _The Sweet Far Thing_ by Libba Bray. Didn't cry this time - I'm proud of myself. Now _Where The Red Fern Grows_ is the only book that can consistently make me lose it *laughs*


----------



## Leyline

Candrah said:


> Just spotted this post, Leyline, or I would have replied sooner.
> 
> I used to be very much a fan of the fantasy genre. But life, distance and saturation point being reached with trite badly written and poorly researched unbelievable nonsense, put me off for what I would have assumed to be the rest of my life.
> 
> However there's always been a tiny wee part of me that hopes against hope for a novel or series to come along that might just draw me back into the genre again. The way you describe this Runelords series is giving me a glimmer of that hope. Thank you for the indepth description. I'll be remembering the title and looking out for the books for definite.
> 
> As for what I'm currently reading? Ech, not much to be honest. Not had much time recently and having been unable to finish Clive Barker's Books of Blood and put off by a weak ending novel to a series I stuck with for over ten years, my reading habit has taken a nosedive. This thread's reminded me I need to get my finger out and get back in the game.
> 
> Off to make up a list of to-reads.



Good news then, Candrah: the second volume (Brotherhood Of The Wolf) is even better than the first. It picks up exactly where Book I left off and simply grows better and more affecting by the page. The characters change, grow, and learn. People introduced as seemingly worthless redeem themselves in realistic, moving ways, and the stakes get higher and higher. Power, magical or political, is seen as both necesarry and dangerous.

One of my favorite characters is Myrimma, introduced in the first book as little more than a good-hearted, beautiful but poor girl, looking for a wealthy husband to provide for her family. As the story progresses, she is transforming into a warrior, and becoming a hero. Not because she is fearless or vastly talented, but (in an incredible scene I won't spoil) because she stands her ground and faces evil to save a friend _despite_ the fact that she's very nearly pissing herself in terror. Later, when she is preparing for the battles to come, she is amazed when hundreds volunteer their strength and speed and wit to her. Farland makes it clear: power does not make a 'hero'. Heroism brings power.

Starting the third book now. Will keep you posted.


----------



## spider8

First Love, Last Rites by Ian McEwan. Short stories, pretty disappointing so far.


----------



## A-L

Just began reading _The Fate of Africa _very excited about this book so far.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte

An Obvious Enchantment

The Fountainhead


----------



## moderan

Neil Gaiman's American Gods...a reread but it's been a while.
More Than Human, the graphic novel version, also a re-read, and it's been much longer. Doug Moench did the adaptation, and Alex Nino the art-it was issued by Metal Hurlant in 1978. Great stuff-a must for sf/Gn fans.
Mr. Boston's bartender's guide, 1960 edition that I found in a used bookstore a few months ago, and John Madden's One Knee Equals Two Feet, which is surprisingly well-written and extremely entertaining if you like anecdotes about pro football.


----------



## SilverMoon

I'm presently reading W. Somerest Maugham's "The Moon and the Sixpence" roughly based on the life of Paul Gaugan.


----------



## SilverMoon

I'm presently reading W. Somerest Maugham's "The Moon and the Sixpence" roughly based on the life of Gagaun.


----------



## Hakeem

I'm reading Reconciliation by Benazir Bhutto.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Siddhartha by Herman Hesse


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Siddhartha by Herman Hesse



Someone gave me that because they knew I'm a Hesse fan.  Haven't gotten to it yet.  Would you recommend it?  I'm actually reading Glass Bead Game for the third time right now.




> The Fountainhead



I saw my little sister re-reading that when she was home for Christmas break.  One of my favorites.


----------



## MeeQ

Ok, so i havn't baught a book in... well too damn long. 

I'm looking for something amazing (and hopefully by now, you all will know my idea of a good read).

Suggestions. (This is particulary directed at leyline, moderan, Ox and malone)


----------



## Dr. Malone

You'd probably like Easton-Ellis.  American Psycho and Rules of Attraction are good starts, if you haven't read them.  Alot of people can't handle American Psycho, but I have a feeling it'll probably give you a boner.

Anyway, he's one of my favorite living authors and most likely right up your alley.


----------



## MeeQ

I've read American Psycho... touche to the boner.

I'll have to search for Rules of Attraction.


----------



## Tiamat

Just finished _Aerie_ by Mercedes Lackey.  It was a massively disappointing end to the series--so disappointing, in fact, that I was immediately compelled to go write a review on Amazon, just to make myself feel better.


----------



## Leyline

MeeQ said:


> Ok, so i havn't baught a book in... well too damn long.
> 
> I'm looking for something amazing (and hopefully by now, you all will know my idea of a good read).
> 
> Suggestions. (This is particulary directed at leyline, moderan, Ox and malone)



Diaspora by Greg Egan

One of the most mind-blowing, challenging and intellectually rewarding SF books I've ever read. Egan, a Perth native, makes other hard-SF look quaint and simple. His extrapolations encompass nearly every aspect of the human condition, from sex to space travel.

This novel demands to be read _slowly_ and carefully. But Egan's genius is such that, by about fifty pages in, you've caught on to the flavor and texture of his world and are just swept away by his vision. It's not exactly a glorious vision -- it's often scary and cold. But it's amazing enough!

For a taste of Egan, check out his short story The Moral Virologist.


The Business by Iain Banks

What happens when an up-and-coming executive in the world's most powerful corporation (it's older than the Catholic Church, richer than any nation state) starts having moral doubts?

Well...it all depends on how much she's worth to the company, right? But 'worth' can be calculated in many, many ways...

Both serious as a heart attack and deliriously fun, this is my favorite of Banksy's non-SF works. Paced like a spy thriller, as taut as a crime novel, the characters and situations get wild but stay somehow believable. Banks makes some killer observations about modern capitalism, socialism and the mercantilist mindset, without a word of preaching or a single lecture.

Stranger Things Happen by Kelly Link (short stories)

Since you're a fan of _American Gods_, you should check out the gal Gaiman called 'too good to be real'. Like Gaiman, Link takes mythology and fairy tales and reconstructs them in contemporary form. Bizarre, sometimes hilarious, always beautiful, these tales are as close as I've ever came to getting stoned on words. The dowload is free, so give it a shot. If you like, buy a copy. Perfect for reading yourself to sleep with.


----------



## Leyline

Tiamat10 said:


> Just finished _Aerie_ by Mercedes Lackey.  It was a massively disappointing end to the series--so disappointing, in fact, that I was immediately compelled to go write a review on Amazon, just to make myself feel better.



I think that's a problem Lackey has with ending all her series. I'm not a big fan in the first place, but her 'final' books always stike me as subpar. She just sort of doodles to an end. They don't feel like 'endings', there's no closure.


----------



## moderan

Meeq-William Gibson's Spook Country. Fairly recent and outstanding.
Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space-good start to Reynold's fiction.
Just a couple of in-print things. Don't want to get obscure


----------



## MeeQ

Appreciate all the suggestions (you have me very intrigued Leyline), all written down. Now to make a random order of them, and begin my delve into my own reality.


----------



## terrib

Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte (yuck)


----------



## Hakeem

terrib said:


> Wuthering Heights-Emily Bronte (yuck)


Why? It's one of my favorites. (Or, to be more precise, the first half is one of my favorites.) :smile:


----------



## Leyline

I also heartily second mod's suggestion of Alastair Reynolds. Almost single-handedly brought back the 'sense-of-wonder' to science fiction, and did it by adhering to scientific principles and 'realistic' extrapolations (no faster-than-light travel, for example, and a conservative take on nanotech and AI). As mod pointed out in our SF social group, one of the best elements of Reynold's work is a sense of the horrific and the _dangers_ inherent in exponential technological progress and space-travel. You've got to have nerves of steel to face the final frontier in the Reynoldsverse.


----------



## moderan

Just finished American Gods (first re-read), and I have to say that the book was disappointing. Gaiman does acknowledge that some of the territory he speculates on was previously covered, by Ellison and Zelazny and Cabell, and on the whole, I found the book rather thin. Lord of Light has considerably more depth, I think, and the two Ellison volumes covering the subject do so more audaciously.


Spoiler



I hate the MC's name almost as much as I hate Hiro Protagonist and I don't care much for the "avatar" status of the titular personages. The "grift" is as transparent as scotch tape given the foreshadowing, and the "backstage" aspect has been done so much better-by Clive Barker, for one example.


Sorry, Neil, that one's not gonna make a third read. It's going back to the library, and I'm not gonna buy a copy. I'd rather read Strange Wine or Paingod and other Delusions or Lord of Light. Even Creatures of Light and Darkness, one of Zelazny's minor works, is more satisfying. Hell, Walt Simonson scripted better Asgardians.
Of course, it might just be that I'm jaded. Been feeling the weight of all those books I carry around in my head lately. That usually means that something wants to come out.


----------



## Susanna-Cole

Right now I'm alternating between reading "Words In Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell", and "The Collected Poems" by Sylvia Plath. 

I love them both, though in reference to the first, I think I prefer "The Letters of Robert Lowell", which include his letters to any/all correspondents, versus the collection with just his and Elizabeth's letters.


----------



## Kayleigh7

Over the last 5 days i've read four books.

Five Mile House - Karen Novak
Sharp Objects - Gillian Flynn
The Unseen - Alexandra Sokoloff
Fracture - Karen Slaughter

Now starting The Strain by Guillermo Del Toro


----------



## Hoot08

Finished 
Tropic of Cancer- Henry Miller
Naked Lunch- William Burroughs
Wisdom of the Buddha: The Unabridged Dhammapada

Reading
Siddhartha- Herman Hesse
Rimbaud Complete- Collection of all Arthur Rimbaud's work
Leaves of Grass- Whitman


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Jack of Kinrowan-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
The Ice Queen-Alice Hoffman


----------



## moderan

Snappy Answers to Stupid Questions, Vol IV, by Al Jaffee.
Mad Looks at the Movies, by theusualcastofidiots
White Fang Goes Dingo, by Thomas M. Disch


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Ice Queen-Alice Hoffman

Now reading:
The Myth of You and Me-Leah Stewart


----------



## Leyline

*"I am Conan, a Cimmerian," he answered. "I came into Argos seeking employment, but with no wars forward, there was nothing to which I might turn my hand."

"Why do the guardsman pursue you?" asked Tito. "Not that it's any of my business, but I thought perhaps--"

"I've nothing to conceal," replied the Cimmerian. "By Crom, though I've spent considerable time among you civilized peoples, your ways are still beyond my comprehension.

"Well, last night in a tavern, a captain in the king's guard offered violence to the sweetheart of a young soldier, who naturally ran him through. But it seems there is some cursed law against killing guardsmen, and the boy and his girl fled away. It was bruited about that I was seen with them, and so today I was haled into court, and a judge asked me where the lad had gone. I replied that since he was a friend of mine, I could not betray him. Then the court waxed wrath, and the judge talked a great deal about my duty to the state, and society, and other things I did not understand, and bade me tell where my friend had flown. By this time I was becoming wrathful myself, for I had explained my position.

"But I choked my ire and held my peace, and the judge squalled that I had shown contempt for the court, and that I should be hurled into a dungeon to rot until I betrayed my friend. So then, seeing they were all mad, I drew my sword and cleft the judge's skull; then I cut my way out of the court, and seeing the high constable's stallion tied near by, I rode for the wharfs, where I thought to find a ship bound for foreign parts."

"Well," said Tito hardily, "the courts have fleeced me too often in suits with rich merchants for me to owe them any love. I'll have questions to answer if I ever anchor in that port again, but I can prove I acted under compulsion. You may as well put up your sword. We're peaceable sailors, and have nothing against you. Besides, it's as well to have a fighting-man like yourself on board. Come up to the poop-deck and we'll have a tankard of ale."

"Good enough," readily responded the Cimmerian, sheathing his sword.*

-- Robert E. Howard, _Queen Of The Black Coast_



Simply magnificent.


----------



## moderan

That is very nice. REH had a way with words. I found these while looking for something else and thought ya might like em:
The People of the Black Circle


----------



## WanderingStar

Just finished The Princess Bride, next up is Ken Follet A World Without End


----------



## Tom88

Finally finished The Road.

Continuing on with Lisey's Story by King. Enjoying it thus far (though I can tell it's ripe with his recent [unnecessary] padding).


----------



## moderan

_*Transfigurations*_, by Michael Bishop. Just finishing up. The novel is based on an excellent novella, _Death and Designation among the Asadi_, a runner-up for the 1973 Hugo Award, narrowly beaten out by Gene Wolfe's _The Death of Doctor Island_. It's anthropological sf, a strange sort of sub-niche. The mc goes on a journey to an alien planet and lives among the inhabitants in an effort to understand them and identifies a little too closely with them (they are humanoid but definitely alien).
The novel resolves some of the unanswered questions left by the novella, however the overall quality isn't up to the same level-the novel was completed some time after the original story and some of the impetus may have been lost. Still, it's a very good-to-excellent read, a tad dry if you're not into science, by a not-quite-big-name sf author.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> The mc goes on a journey to an alien planet and lives among the inhabitants in an effort to understand them and identifies a little too closely with them (they are humanoid but definitely alien).



Are they blue, perchance?


----------



## moderan

Dr. Malone said:


> Are they blue, perchance?



No. Was one of the stories I thought of when I first saw the rushes for Avatar though. That and _the Word For World Is Forest_. I haven't seen it yet so I don't know what all Cameron ripped off besides the Poul Anderson story reported on in i09.


----------



## JosephB

_No Just Desserts_ -- the story Edwin Farquar, the inventor of the Twinkie. It's about his battle with  the Continental Baking Company, his struggle for recognition and his descent into alcoholism and madness.


----------



## PSFoster

Just finished The Tale of the Body Thief by Anne Rice.  Trying to decide on Stephen King or another Anne Rice.


----------



## Hoot08

Finished: Lonesome Traveler-Kerouac
             Siddhartha- Hesse

Started: Desolation Angels- Kerouac


----------



## Heid

Broke off reading Salman Rushdie's "Midnight's Children" to read Neil Postman's deconstructive text on TV's influence on culture: "Amusing Ourselves To Death".


----------



## Sigur RÃ³s

The Valkries, by Paulo Coelho. A must read for anyone into alchemy, or ancient religious beliefs.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Myth of You and Me-Leah Stewart

Now reading:
Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z.-Debra Weinstein
Writing Picture Books-Ann Whitford Paul

Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z. is very amusing so far. The main character becomes an assistant to Z., a proffesor at her college and a famous flower poet. Secretly they call her an apprentice. But so far all she's done for Z. has mostly been going on errands for groceries, presents for other people, a certain kind of ink or paper for Z., etc. When she asks Z. to read one of her poems, Z. says she would love to, but just has no time because she's just so busy. I can already tell this isn't going to turn out good, and the opening line even said that, but I'm still curious as to what exactly will happen.

Writing Picture Books is for a class, but I'm really enjoying it so far. It has a lot of good information in it, and it actually makes me want to put the book down and try it myself, while at the same time I don't want to stop reading.


----------



## ash somers

i'm reading my phone bill, bloody hell - something's gotta give!


----------



## Hoot08

Taking a Class entirely on Jane Austen where we will be reading 6 of her novels, so I've started Sense and Sensiblity three days ago and now only five pages stand between me and Pride and Prejudice. She's not too bad at all.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Apprentice to the Flower Poet Z.-Debra Weinstein
Writing Picture Books-Ann Whitford Paul

Now reading:
Empress-Karen Miller


----------



## Beja-Beja

A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest J. Gaines

The Prince by what's his name?


----------



## sweet_caroline

Empress by Shan Sa. amazing so far.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Empress-Karen Miller

Now reading:
The Riven Kingdom-Karen Miller


----------



## Cefor

Sabriel by Garth Nix, again.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

The Hobbit. I've never gone near a Tolkien book in my life, but I read a review for the Hobbit and it sounded interesting, so I decided to read it and judge for myself. Then I'll know if I want to read the Lord of the Rings series too.


----------



## Cefor

Dreamworx95 said:


> The Hobbit. I've never gone near a Tolkien book in my life, but I read a review for the Hobbit and it sounded interesting, so I decided to read it and judge for myself. Then I'll know if I want to read the Lord of the Rings series too.



It's not quite the same thing, reading the Hobbit and then deciding to read LotR...

When (if) you come to try The Fellowship of the Ring, then make sure you at least carry on until they start the journey, I always find the first few chapters a slog, it's about hobbits and a party for heaven's sake!


----------



## Dr. Malone

I prefer The Hobbit to LotR.  It's just a fun easy read, even for someone who doesn't like fantasy.

I'm finally getting around to finishing After The Quake.  Also reading In Cold Blood, which I'm ashamed to admit is one of Capote's only works I haven't read completely before.

And I read a bunch of books at the same time, so anyone who has recommended me books lately, I was already reading these, not ignoring your recommendations.  I have the recommendations lined up to begin as I finish the current crop.


----------



## Leyline

_Under The Dome_ Stephen King.

About halfway through Kings _massive_ (1076 pages in hardback) new one and can confidently say: The King of _The Stand_ and _The Talisman_ and _It_ is back -- or has at least made a special guest appearance. Huge, but moves like a rocket (much better than the enjoyable but sluggishly paced and soap-operaesque _The Stand_) and filled with characters you love and some you hate, but all of whom seem quite a bit like people you know. Not a horror novel, IMO. It reminds me of what might have happened had some of the big, brawling, panoramic stroytellers of the early 20th Century (Wolfe, Dreiser, London, etc.) written an action-centric SF novel. His best work in years.


----------



## Cefor

Finished Sabriel a while ago, and now reading Lirael, again.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Dreamworx95 said:


> The Hobbit. I've never gone near a Tolkien book in my life, but I read a review for the Hobbit and it sounded interesting, so I decided to read it and judge for myself. Then I'll know if I want to read the Lord of the Rings series too.



I would recommend both, but I know people have different opinions. I must've read them both at least seven times and I never get tired of either.



			
				Cefor said:
			
		

> Finished Sabriel a while ago, and now reading Lirael, again.



How are those books? I've been meaning to pick them up for years, but I've never gotten around to them.

Finished:
The Riven Kingdom-Karen Miller
Hammer of God-Karen Miller
Wolf Moon-Charles de Lint


----------



## Leyline

Finished _Under The Dome_, the ending was a little weak, but still: King's best work in years.

Read _Someplace To Be Flying_ by Charles de Lint. Beautifully written, moving, and joyful. A wonderful novel that was hard to put down.

Currently: _The Snow Queen_ by Joan D. Vinge. A classic SF novel that I finally found. Good, but not as great as some make it out to be.

Up next: _The Reluctant King_ by L. Sprague DeCamp. An omnibus collection of _The Goblin Tower_, _The Clocks Of Iraz_ and _The Unbeheaded King_.


----------



## Cefor

VinrAlfakyn said:


> How are those books? I've been meaning to pick them up for years, but I've never gotten around to them.



Do it. They are three of my favourite fantasy books, Garth Nix one of my favourite authors. I recommend heartily.

Cheers,
Cefor


----------



## Beja-Beja

The Color Purple


----------



## moderan

The _Rediscovery of Man_...Cordwainer Smith's complete short work, a companion volume to *Norstrilia*. Simply beyond superlatives.
_Caviar_, by Theodore Sturgeon. Likewise. Short stories by a master of the form.


----------



## Tom88

Leyline, that recommendation comes as a huge relief. It's nice to hear he might be back to playing to his strengths, after the light-hearted (fun, but weak) Cell, and the all-over-the-place Lisey's Story (which was brilliant and poignant at times, yet dreadfully tedious at other moments).
I've a half dozen books to get through first, and I'm hoping for a re-print (that soft-cover original print is a behemoth), but after all that I am very looking forward to this book.


Currently reading Perfume. Very fun.


----------



## Tom88

Double post.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Leyline said:


> Read _Someplace To Be Flying_ by Charles de Lint. Beautifully written, moving, and joyful. A wonderful novel that was hard to put down.



I love that book! That was the first Charles de Lint book I read, and it's still one of my favorites. Have you read anything else by him? I own seventeen of his books so far, but out of at least fifty, that's not much. Most of mine are set in Newford, but I recently got a few of  his earlier ones that are set in different places. The Newford ones are still my favorites, though. He's an amazing writer.

Finished:
The Big Book of Little (compiled by Cooper Edens)
The Swan Lake Trilogy-Mark Helprin
Ponyo (film comics)-Hayao Miyazaki
The Host-Stephenie Meyer
Kiki's Delivery Service (film comics)-Hayao Miyazaki

Now reading:
Green Rider-Kristen Britain


----------



## KangTheMad

Huckleberry Finn and The Great Gatsby.


----------



## JosephB

That's an interesting premise. Does Huck move to East Egg, or do he and Jay Gatsby navigate the Mississippi?


----------



## KangTheMad

*facepalm*

Actually its revealed that Gatsby is Pap. 

I should have sais I'm reading _Huck Finn_ and _The Great Gatsby_.


----------



## Cefor

Recently read Magician by Raymond E. Feist - wow what a legend of a man. I'll be going and finding the other two books in the Rift War some time soon.

Still to read: Dune - Frank Herbert


----------



## Leyline

> Have you read anything else by him?



I've read quite a bit of his short fiction, but that was the first of his novels I've ever found. I also love his review column in _The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science fiction_ which is archived here. I reviewed _STBF_ on my blog:

*Someplace To Be Flying, Charles de Lint, 1996.*

_The field of ‘urban fantasy’ has, since the 90’s, become one of the more popular sub-genres of speculative fiction. The mother of the genre is no-doubt Anne Rice, with her Vampire sequence, reaching heights of success most spec-fic writers can only fantasize about. The currently hot series, both good (Butcher’s mostly excellent Dresden Files) and bad (Laurell Hamilton’s mostly horrific semi-porn Anita Blake novels), outsell even the big names of SF/horror by wide margins. Charlaine Harris’ Southern Vampire novels (about midway between the Butcher and Hamilton so far as quality goes) have even become a very popular television series from currently lauded(and extremely over-rated) writer-producer Alan Ball.

I’m not a huge fan, as my tone probably reveals. For the most part, urban fantasy suffers the same problems that pervade ‘high’ or ‘heroic’ fantasy: cliche, repeated devices, poor grasp of the history of the genre, and an over-reliance on noir archetypes and plots (detectives, crime, romance and sex) to ‘modernize’ over-used mythological tropes (werewolves, faerie, shapeshifters, and an unending stream of vampires, vampires, vampires). Butcher manages to nullify this by keeping tongue firmly in cheek and letting his obvious love for the material shine. Hamilton fails because she’s deadly serious and seems to care more about (un)interesting new ways to penetrate her main character above all other considerations.

Charles de Lint, however, is an exception. His urban fantasy can stand up to the giants like Lieber and Zelazny with no shame. He writes beautifully, avoids cliche, creates realistic characters and places them in compelling and suspensful situations. Where other u-fantasists create over-powered Mary Sue’s that seem like escapees from a drunken munchkin game of D&D, de Lint’s (even his vastly powerful supernaturals) are complex creations, with deep troubles and deeper joys. Unlike many ‘people’ populating urban fantasy, you’d like to have a cup of coffee with them, talk about the news with them, tell some dirty jokes, maybe.

Someplace To Be Flying, taking place in the author’s imaginary city of Newford, concerns what is known to mythology buffs as ‘first people’, or ‘tricksters’. The Native american folk-heroes like Coyote and Raven and Crow. He has a deep knowledge of the subject and how those tales are linked to Scottish and Irish folklore. He also uses them as powerful metaphors for modern concepts, giving his work an allegorical sheen missing from most of the sub-genre. Caught up with these beings (some of whom are ignorant of their own magical nature) are a host of well drawn and sympathetic mortals. The novel has a huge, shifting cast, a panoramic POV, and a superbly structured plot. Just as in real life, odd connections (and almost coincidental relationships) power the narrative.

Even though, at base, the conflict involves the very existence of the world, de Lint keeps his focus on human and emotional drama, never allowing the great and deeply mystical events to overpower the drama of people striving and changing. This gives the book a grounded and wonderfully intimate scope, with the bigger events properly mysterious. The reader is more concerned with the budding romances of the likable characters than the war between animal-folk. That war, and the mystical events that spring from it, work as contrast and enhancement to the emotions that really power the story.

Moving, often funny, sometimes heartbreaking, Someplace To Be Flying is a hard novel to put down, leaving the reader wanting more at the end, and remaining in their thoughts for days afterward. This is the first de Lint novel I’ve read (though I’ve read a lot of his short fiction and respect him as the long-running book reviewer for The Magazine Of Fantasy & Science Fiction*) and it will not be the last.

*de Lint’s “Books To Look For” is probably the only review column I read for pure enjoyment. When he likes something, his enthusiasm is down-right infectious. He also won my respect by being the only major reviewer to welcome self-published works, saying he’ll give them the same chance he gives every book: he’ll read the first page and see where it takes him. You can’t ask for a fairer policy, in my opinion.
_



> Now reading:
> Green Rider-Kristen Britain



Ha! Read that a couple weeks back. I enjoyed it, but found it very light reading indeed. Fun, but more for the younger set, IMO. Basically just a fantasy version of the 'girl and her horse'  type books my sisters used to read voraciously.


----------



## Beja-Beja

SeinLanguage which is a book Jerry Seinfeld wrote back in 1993
&

As I Lay Dying- Faulkner


----------



## Hoot08

Finished:
Pride and Prejudice- Jane Austen
Desolation Angels- Jack Kerouac
Rimbaud Complete- Arthur Rimbaud
Of Mice and Men- John Steinbeck
Franny and Zooey- J.D. Salinger

Starting:
Mansfield Park- Jane Austen
Walden- Henry David Thoreau
Ham on Rye- Charles Bukowski


----------



## spider8

Cefor said:


> Recently read Magician by Raymond E. Feist - wow what a legend of a man. I'll be going and finding the other two books in the Rift War some time soon.


Brilliant books. Also good are the three he co wrote with Janny Wurtz: Daughter, Servant and Mistress of the Empire. After that he kinda got a bit samey.


----------



## spider8

Reading _Hannibal_ again. Have ordered _Solar_ by Ian McEwan.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Leyline said:


> I've read quite a bit of his short fiction, but that was the first of his novels I've ever found.



Yeah, I almost never see his books in stores. I've seen a few in Hastings, almost always used, and his new one is in Hastings. But all the rest you have to look for online.



			
				LEYLINE said:
			
		

> VinrAlfakyn said:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Now reading:
> Green Rider-Kristen Britain
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ha! Read that a couple weeks back. I enjoyed it, but found it very light reading indeed. Fun, but more for the younger set, IMO. Basically just a fantasy version of the 'girl and her horse'  type books my sisters used to read voraciously.
Click to expand...


I've read it before, and I enjoyed it, but I got the third novel in the series for Christmas, so I'm reading the first two again. Good thing too, because I forgot a lot. 

Finished:
Green Rider-Kristen Britain
My Neighbor Totoro (film comics)-Hayao Miyazaki

Now reading:
First Rider's Call-Kristen Britain


----------



## Dr. Malone

King's "Under the Dome."  I wouldn't have grabbed it if Leyline hadn't mentioned it awhile back, and I'm really enjoying it, so thanks, Leyline.


----------



## Leyline

Dr. Malone said:


> King's "Under the Dome."  I wouldn't have grabbed it if Leyline hadn't mentioned it awhile back, and I'm really enjoying it, so thanks, Leyline.



Heh. No problem. I've been reading the dude since I was six or seven years old, so it's just absolute habit. When he comes out with a new one, I'm gonna read it. 

As I said, _Under the Dome_ was his best in ages. I enjoyed _Lisey's Story_ and _Duma Key_, but it seemed like he was trying really hard to impress the critics or something. His new one feels like he just wrote it for the pure fun of it. The result is that not only is it more enjoyable than his last few books, it actually makes some pretty interesting points about politics and the problem of power. King's strength has always been his characters and his best characters were always the 'just plain folks' type. In the two mentioned above he was writing mainly about 1) a famous writer's wealthy widow and 2)a rich dude making a new life for himself. While I'm sure King has the experience and talent to understand those POV's, it never felt as if his heart was in it. In _Dome_ he has a whole town of 'just plain folks' to play with, and the results are far more satisfying.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Yeah, it definitely has a classic King feel.  He's in familiar territory.  The last book of his I read was Insomnia, which was much better the second time through for some reason.  The one I read before that, I think, was From a Buick 8, which was also much better the second time through.

The Big Jim car salesman character in Dome has already had me chuckling a few times.  The audio book has 28 parts and I'm starting part 8 right now, if that gives any indication of where I'm at.  They're at the day before the military tries to blow a hole in the force field.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Yeah, it definitely has a classic King feel.  He's in familiar territory.  The last book of his I read was Insomnia, which was much better the second time through for some reason.  The one I read before that, I think, was From a Buick 8, which was also much better the second time through.

The Big Jim car salesman character in Dome has already had me chuckling a few times.  The audio book has 28 parts and I'm starting part 8 right now, if that gives any indication of where I'm at.  They're at the day before the military tries to blow a hole in the force field.


----------



## darknite_johanne

The Mask Carver's Son by Alyson Richman- very poetic and a bit sad.

"Set in turn of the century Japan in the world of the Noh theater, and in Paris during the heady days when French Impressionism was the avant-garde, this heartbreaking, beautifully written novel tells of a young Japanese artist who sacrifices everything: family, love and wealth for his art. 
A Master Noh mask carver dedicates his life to his art, turning his back on love after a series of tragic events leaves him devastated. Kiyoki, his only son, defies his father and the demands of cultural tradition to follow his dream of becoming a painter in the western style. Kiyoki journeys to Paris, where he lives the life of an exile, unable to break the bonds of tradition, until he finds his heart leads him back to Japan, where he at last discovers himself as an artist."


----------



## Cefor

Currently reading Dune - Frank Herbert

To read - The Winter King, Bernard Cornwell


----------



## shamouza

scott, roald dahl is my favorite author.

right now i'm reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac, very adventurous, makes me want to drop everything and hit the road. I'm also reading the painted house by john grisham.


----------



## Cefor

Finished Dune.

Now reading: Plot & Structure - James Scott Bell

To read: The Winter King, Bernard Cornwell


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
First Rider's Call-Kristen Britain

Now reading:
The High King's Tomb-Kristen Britain


----------



## S1E9A8N5

Finished:
Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz

Now reading:
Brother Odd - Dean Koontz

Future reading:
Immediate Fiction: A Complete Writing Course - Jerry Cleaver (Excellent advice)


----------



## Beja-Beja

Just finished As I Lay Dying. Have to say it joins the list of greatest books I have ever read. Seems whenever I read something by Faulkner I have a hard time sleeping that night.

Now trying to give the LOTR series another go after failing on multiple occasions to get through 10 pages.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Just finished As I Lay Dying


Mmm.  Good one.  That was the first Faulkner I ever read.



> Now trying to give the LOTR series another go after failing on multiple  occasions to get through 10 pages.


If you like those kind of stories it's worth it.  Otherwise, move on to something else.  If you stick with it, though, you'll eventually get into it.  It bored the shit out of me several times before I managed to get through them all.


I finished Under the Dome and am re-reading Brave New World.  Apparently a movie version comes out next year, so I want to read it one more time before it's tainted by Hollywood.

And I started Jane Eyre a few days ago.  Good so far.


----------



## moderan

*Endymion* and *The Rise of Endymion*, by Dan Simmons. The last two books in the *Hyperion Cantos* series (the first two were *Hyperion* and *the Fall of Hyperion*). They've been on my to-read stack for quite some time, and I've embarked, knowing full well I'm gonna love them.
Dan Simmons might be the best writer using the English language today. I find his work vastly more accessible than the writings of more-celebrated authors such as McCarthy and Atwood. He writes sf, horror, and fantasy with equal facility. His prose is very clean and marked by a use of poetic imagery and a consistent subtext.
The Hyperion Cantos series is something like an extended version of Zelazny's A Rose for Ecclesiastes stylistically, especially as both that story and the series of novels have as a main character a poet, and the authors are able to craft convincingly good verse to represent the characters' output. There is also the small matter of religion to deal with-both A Rose... and the Cantos deal with Christianity.
The Shrike in Hyperion(s) was a living devil figure, a literal "crown of thorns", among other things. One of the most memorable characters you'll ever encounter.


Spoiler



The Shrike makes a reappearance in the Endymion Chronicles, set several hundred years after the events of Hyperion(s). So too does the poet Martin Silenus. The action so far (300 pages in to Endymion) is relatively similar to Alastair Reynolds' work, using the dual-narrative 1st person/third person style often deployed when a character has some telepathic knowledge of another or will be merged with another at some point.
There is also considerable manipulation of past, present, and future tense that points to some (intentional) temporal confusion in the denouement.


----------



## Cressida

Gosh all so intelligent! 

I am afraid I am reading Dark Fire by CJ Sansom. Absorbing and good though if you like books about Tudor England. A cut above the usual in that category so worth a look.


----------



## Leyline

Recently finished:

The Fleet Of Stars - Poul Anderson

Needful Things - Stephen King

Currently: The Tommyknockers - Stephen King

Up next: Don't know. My cousin sent me a thumb-drive with hundreds of pdfs. Lot to choose from.


----------



## Cressida

Just started Wolf Hall by  Hilary Mantel. 2009 Man Booker winner so fabulously well recommended. Fascinating topic in the rise of Thomas Cromwell but very hard to get into as it is largely written in the present tense.


----------



## ash somers

I'm about to begin 'The Time Traveler's Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger. My daughter just finished it and reckons I should give it a go, so ...


----------



## Leyline

> Currently: The Tommyknockers - Stephen King



Much better than when I first read it (1987). Might be his best ending ever.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

ash somers said:


> I'm about to begin 'The Time Traveler's Wife' by Audrey Niffenegger. My daughter just finished it and reckons I should give it a go, so ...



I absolutely love that book. I'm making my mom read it as well.



			
				Beja-Beja said:
			
		

> Now trying to give the LOTR series another go after failing on multiple occasions to get through 10 pages.



Don't give up!



			
				Dr. Malone said:
			
		

> And I started Jane Eyre a few days ago. Good so far.



Love that book too. Though I think between it and Wuthering Heights I'd have to go with the latter. Just my preference.

Finished:
The High King's Tomb-Kristen Britain

Now reading:
Love in the Time of Cholera-Gabriel Garcia Marquez


----------



## Dr. Malone

I'm reading one called The Plot Against America.  The title caught me because I figured it was non-fiction, but it's a fictional book set in an alternate timeline.  Lindbergh defeats FDR to become president, and allies America with the Nazis.  The stories told by a little Jewish kid.  It really quite good.  It's like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn with the looming threat of genocide in the background.


----------



## JosephB

Revolutionary Road. 

I love it, so far. It may be one of the first books I've read _after_ seeing a movie -- which I thought was great. 

I'm seeing the characters as portrayed by DiCaprio and Kate Winslet -- but they seem like inspired choices. In fact, everything about the movie seems to be right on.



Dr. Malone said:


> I'm reading one called The Plot Against America.



That sounds fascinating. I saw a doc about  Lindbergh's efforts to get involved in the war. They didn't want him at first, but he ended up training pilots and making technical recommendations of some kind. It's been a while. I'm curious now, so I'm going to have to look it up to refresh my memory.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

I'm re-reading Life of Pi and Pride and Prejudice. Also have a bunch of books for research on my story.


----------



## Heid

Finished "Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole.

Just started "The Great Gatsby" by Scott Fitzgerald.


----------



## moderan

Tales of the Mysterious and the Macabre, by Algernon Blackwood
23 of Blackwood's best stories. Recommended.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Tales of the Mysterious and the Macabre, by Algernon Blackwood
> 23 of Blackwood's best stories. Recommended.


Glad to hear it's good.  I downloaded the audiobook a couple weeks ago but haven't read it yet.  

I also downloaded a bunch of Lovecraft with you in mind.  Figured I'd see what all the fuss is about.


I've been reading Beavers' Stalingrad the last few nights.  Great so far.  Mark on Peep Show loves him, so when I saw Beavers on Stalingrad (which fascinates me) I had to give it a go.


----------



## moderan

Dr. Malone said:


> Glad to hear it's good.  I downloaded the audiobook a couple weeks ago but haven't read it yet.
> 
> I also downloaded a bunch of Lovecraft with you in mind.  Figured I'd see what all the fuss is about.
> 
> 
> I've been reading Beavers' Stalingrad the last few nights.  Great so far.  Mark on Peep Show loves him, so when I saw Beavers on Stalingrad (which fascinates me) I had to give it a go.


A couple of friends of mine do Lovecraft tales for audio. Generally they do a good job with the material. I can look up the urls if you like.
Blackwood is one of the alltime best horror authors.
Um, how do you "read" an audiobook? *ducks*


----------



## Dr. Malone

Probably not.  I never really did audiobooks before, but I've been doing hours and hours of 3d modeling and animation that mostly involves pushing shapes around (I'm not artistic) and repetitive shit like that, so I turn the audio books on to listen to while I'm doing it.

Some of the Lovecraft is the audio performance stuff.  I don't like that kind of stuff so I'll have to see if this is an exception or not.  I just like flat voice reading if I'm listening to something like that.


----------



## moderan

Mmm. You're better off reading the Lovecraft. His ideas are far better than his use of the language. All of his work is available at Dagonbytes.
Here's a link to some podcasts, for you or anyone else that might be interested:podcasts
Why are you doing the 3d stuff?


----------



## Like a Fox

You should look up this guy's stuff if you like stop motion Doc.
DeePee Studios
His name's Darcy Prendergast. Went to uni and did animation with my best friend.
His final project - _Ron the Zookeeper_ - was put into a number of film festivals I believe. Not really sure what he's been up to since. Maybe _I_ should look up his stuff. Haha.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Mmm. You're better off reading the Lovecraft. His ideas are far better  than his use of the language. All of his work is available at Dagonbytes.
> Here's a link to some podcasts, for you or anyone else that might be  interested:podcasts
> Why are you doing the 3d stuff?



I've encountered a couple that don't translate to audio well.  I downloaded a Faulkner I hadn't read and it just didn't work at all trying to listen along with it.

A couple months ago I was bored with writing so I figured I'd make some animations from my short stories.  I can't draw, though, and I had to figure out how to draw in Illustrator with a mouse, which took a week or so to get it down to the point I could point something good looking together, then I spent a day drawing and coloring a character thinking there was some computer program I'd be able to use that wouldn't require me to draw it over and over again for every frame and angle, but I found that I'd still have to do that to an extent (a greater extent than I was willing to deal with) so I said fuck that.  Then I figured I'd just put some 3d models together and animate those.  So like $30,000 of software later I've spent the last month learning how to do it all.  You have to learn to model it, sculpt it, rig it animate it, and it's all ridiculously hard for someone with as little artistic ability as I do.  I had to keep scrapping things over and over because it looked good at one stage but when I got to a later stage it wasn't built right to animate or rig or whatever.  Giant pain in the ass.  But I like learning shit like that and I've put so much time in I keep sticking with it.  It seems like the best way for someone who can draw to make an animation.  Lots of cool stuff I can do with it too once I put it all together.



> You should look up this guy's stuff if you like stop motion Doc.
> DeePee Studios
> His name's Darcy Prendergast. Went to uni and did animation with my best  friend.
> His final project - _Ron the Zookeeper_ - was put into a number of  film festivals I believe. Not really sure what he's been up to since.  Maybe _I_ should look up his stuff. Haha.



Those samples were nice.  I downloaded a couple stop motion programs thinking I might try that, but I don't have the patience to sit there taking thousands of pictures and moving things just right.  And I probably couldn't sculpt the clay and paint it realistically and all that either.  I'm just doing the CG stuff like Pixar does.  Except trying to make it look a little more realistic.  It's coming out like a cross between Avatar and Toy Story in looks.


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Mmm. You're better off reading the Lovecraft. His ideas are far better  than his use of the language. All of his work is available at Dagonbytes.
> Here's a link to some podcasts, for you or anyone else that might be  interested:podcasts
> Why are you doing the 3d stuff?


I've encountered a couple that don't translate to audio well.  I downloaded a Faulkner I hadn't read and it just didn't work at all trying to listen along with it.

A couple months ago I was bored with writing so I figured I'd make some animations from my short stories.  I can't draw, though, and I had to figure out how to draw in Illustrator with a mouse, which took a week or so to get it down to the point I could point something good looking together, then I spent a day drawing and coloring a character thinking there was some computer program I'd be able to use that wouldn't require me to draw it over and over again for every frame and angle, but I found that I'd still have to do that to an extent (a greater extent than I was willing to deal with) so I said fuck that.  Then I figured I'd just put some 3d models together and animate those.  So like $30,000 of software later I've spent the last month learning how to do it all.  You have to learn to model it, sculpt it, rig it animate it, and it's all ridiculously hard for someone with as little artistic ability as I do.  I had to keep scrapping things over and over because it looked good at one stage but when I got to a later stage it wasn't built right to animate or rig or whatever.  Giant pain in the ass.  But I like learning shit like that and I've put so much time in I keep sticking with it.  It seems like the best way for someone who can draw to make an animation.  Lots of cool stuff I can do with it too once I put it all together.



> You should look up this guy's stuff if you like stop motion Doc.
> DeePee Studios
> His name's Darcy Prendergast. Went to uni and did animation with my best  friend.
> His final project - _Ron the Zookeeper_ - was put into a number of  film festivals I believe. Not really sure what he's been up to since.  Maybe _I_ should look up his stuff. Haha.


Those samples were nice.  I downloaded a couple stop motion programs thinking I might try that, but I don't have the patience to sit there taking thousands of pictures and moving things just right.  And I probably couldn't sculpt the clay and paint it realistically and all that either.  I'm just doing the CG stuff like Pixar does.  Except trying to make it look a little more realistic.  It's coming out like a cross between Avatar and Toy Story as far as realism goes.


----------



## Like a Fox

Ah I see. Yeah the guys who did the course did 3D animation as well in their first two years. My friend made a pretty crappy all grey-scale animation about a dog and another one with a robot. Or maybe it was meant to be a person. Do you make everything from spheres? I have a vague recollection of him maniacally ranting about spheres.


----------



## JosephB

*Off topic:*

Malone, I'm working on my first project that involves computer modeling and animation and it's amazing. The product doesn't even exist yet, so the artists are building incredibly photo-relasitic computer models of it using engineering drawings. They aren't really animated beyond that you can rotate and view the product from any angle, but it's done at a level of realism far beyond what you see in the movies -- and it's a very complicated product.


----------



## Dr. Malone

What's it called?  Have you ever used ZBrush?  It's really amazing too.  I can make cool stuff with it, and I've actually thought a few times what you could do with it.  It's about as close as you can get to sculpting on a computer.  I think they even have some kind of adapter that can be placed on a physical...turning table or whatever they're called, and the program translates the data.  You can start a sphere of clay and end up with a photo quality head pretty easily.  It's able to handle billions of polygons so the detail is amazing.  I really like it.  I use that and Maya mostly.  I had Cinema4D but it seems to be more for broadcast television stuff than intensive modeling and animation.  I used it and After Effects to make a cool Twilight Zone-style black and white intro that I plan on using that ends with "Malone's Mind Presents" instead of "Twilight Zone."  Really just used Cinema for modeling a brain, eyeball, doorway and then simple animations to output to AE.  I have XSI too but haven't got into that yet.  They have a new Face Robot thing that I'm planning on using tomorrow to do my facial animations.  It's pretty amazing looking in the demos.  And I have Motion Builder, but I couldn't figure out how to use it and there aren't many tutorials like they are for Maya so it's just kind of sitting on the back burner.  I downloaded Houdini too, but haven't used it yet.  Apparently it can do 3d modeling and animation, but I'm comfortable in Maya so I figure I might just try Houdini for compositing.


----------



## JosephB

I don't know what apps they use. The studio is in LA, so I haven't actually seen them do it. I just review the hi res images and video. I'm talking to them today, so I'll ask.


----------



## moderan

Hmm. I can draw but the learning curve for 3d is beyond me. Good luck with that. I'll stick with paper.


----------



## Edgewise

_We_- Yevgeny Zamyatin

Orwell heavily bit off this book when he wrote _1984_, and it's easy to see why.  Zamyatin set the standard for the dystopian genre, both stylistically and chronologically.

By the way, if you are looking to pick up an English version of a Russian novel, check to see if Mirra Ginsberg translated it.  Her version of _Master and Margarita_ is incredible, and so is _We_.


----------



## Leyline

As I mentioned earlier, my cousin sent me a thumb-drive with hundreds of PDFs. Included was the complete works of Stephen King. I've decided to re-read his entire life's work. I considered doing it chronologically but decided against that because I'd read a few of his earliest works not long ago. So I'm skipping around. Recently re-read and finished:

_The Tommyknockers_ (comments above)

_The Dead Zone_ (Taut, powerfully written, and almost painfully sad.)

_Cujo_ (Didn't care much for it this time. Way too much blathering on about the fucked up relationships of basically unlikable characters who say shit like "The sex ... it was no good. I had orgasms, but it was no good. I can't explain why not, except that I still loved you through all of it, and understood that I was running away. ." Fuck, if I wanted Oprah-Dr.Phil crap I'd watch that.)

_Misery_ (Brilliant, and even more-so when you realize that Annie Wilkes was King's vast addictions and that he was basically screaming at himself.)

_The Stand_ (Eh. Still too soap-opera-esque IMO, but with some of the best scenes and set-pieces he's ever written. Can't really abide the Luddite philosophy, though it's not quite as bad as the hilarious ranting against nuclear power plants in _The Tommyknockers_, where Steve-O brings up every urban legend and enviro-nut distortion ever blubbered out.)

Next, gonna read _The Dark Tower_ saga straight through and hope the momentum will carry me past the fairly terrible last two books.


----------



## Tom88

@ Leyline
Hm, I always liked that about Cujo. I found the torn marriage to be the highlight, that and Cujo's inner voice, and that the final act with the car to be its weak spot. Each to his own.


I've just read 'Perfume', and absolutely loved it. Great pace, brilliantly twisted MC, and a delicious mish-mash of philosophy-lite and dark humour. One of my favourite books.

About to start 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower'.


----------



## caelum

Just want to make a comment on Cujo's shittiness, which I think I agree with, because I read it five years ago but don't remember much.  In King's book _On Writing,_ he said he practically didn't remember writing Cujo, he was so messed up on drugs at the time.

This could almost lead to the longstanding debate: Drugs = Creativity?


----------



## kendricktamis

Right now I'm finally reading Hitchhiker's Guide. I have never read anything like it before, but boy is it ever enjoyable! And funny, actually laugh out loud funny! I would recommend it to anybody.


----------



## ash somers

I'm reading 'About a Boy' by Nick Hornby. I read the first half last night, I reckon I'll finish the other half tonight - what with the full moon and all.


----------



## Tom

The Unholy Book of Mischief.

Set in Venice in the 16th Century. If you like cooking, mystery, the tale of a peasant boy who craves for more than just stealing and a maestro who helps him along the way, this is definitely the book for you. I'm enjoying it a lot.


----------



## Dr. Malone

Well I like cooking and mystery.  I don't know if I like them together, though.

I started a non-fic titled Freakonomics.  Interesting so far.


----------



## JosephB

Flannery O'Conner, Collected Works

I got this collection for my birthday, just to have. I hadn't intended to read these stories again at this point -- but I picked them up and couldn't stop.

It's part of the American Library Series, which I'm collecting. Carver, Steinbeck O'Conner -- Cheever is next on my list. These are great books and a good value -- around thirty bucks each for the single book collections. The Steinbeck collection -- four volumes, is around 100.00. You can't beat it.


----------



## Tom

Dr. Malone said:


> Well I like cooking and mystery.  I don't know if I like them together, though.
> 
> I started a non-fic titled Freakonomics.  Interesting so far.



It's not how you might expect. Most of the time, the food is used as a metaphor and even used in instances where the effect it has on people is better known as magic to the people back then.

It's cool. He gives them coffee and they all freak out and start having sex. Well, not quite.

Ah hell, it's different.


----------



## Leyline

Started _The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger_ and got about fifteen pages in before my brain rebelled violently. Too much King. Haha. Overdose. Figured I'd read some other stuff then start the _Tower_ saga.

That same day my Mom went out yard saling with my aunt and stopped by to drop off some books she'd found. She buys every SF/fantasy she finds for me. Lucked out this time. 

_Quarantine_ by Greg Egan, his first novel, which I've been searching for for years. Terrific stuff! Probably his most accessible work. It's written in the style of a detective novel, set in the 2060's, after a mysterious and impentrable shield has surrounded the Solar system, cutting it off from the universe proper. Within that greater mystery the protagonist pursues smaller but ever more complex human mysteries. The whole thing is a sort of literary explanation of quantum theory, but Egan never lets that conceit ovepower his narrative, and keeps the story on track with surprising human developments.

Had a surprise when I searched for this online. Turns out this edition (HarperPrism American reprint in hardcover) is extremely rare and much sought after by collectors. I've seen copies in worse shape than the one I have (Mom paid 50 cents for it) going for $650 bucks! Ha!


----------



## Dr. Malone

> Wow... Thats the first time I've heard of coffee being used as an  aphrodisiac. Sounds interesting


It's a stimulant so it does make men horny.  In England a couple hundred years ago, then men would go to their clubs for coffee and smokes, and when they came home their wives would want to have sex but the men weren't in the mood.  The wives figured the coffee was like an anti-aphrodisiac.  But what was happening was the men would finish their coffee then fuck their mistresses or whores before going home, so when they got to their wives their cocks were already worn out.


----------



## moderan

Candrah said:


> Or, a whole lot of gardeners started getting lucky on a regular basis, because I have no idea when the first dildo made its appearance. Something makes me think the nineteenth century - vaguely remembering a thread about hysteria and dildos as cures while I'm typing this.



I just had to look that up-here's the best answer I found:origin of dildoes


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

kendricktamis said:


> Right now I'm finally reading Hitchhiker's Guide. I have never read anything like it before, but boy is it ever enjoyable! And funny, actually laugh out loud funny! I would recommend it to anybody.



I agree 100%. Love those books.

Finished:
Love in the Time of Cholera-Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Now reading:
The Abhorsen Chronicles-Garth Nix


----------



## moderan

Just finished-*the Rise of Endymion*, by Dan Simmons.
Get it. Get all four in the _Hyperion Cantos_ tetralogy. Hyperion, the Fall of Hyperion, Endymion, the Rise of Endymion. The books work on so many levels that it's ridiculous-as specfic, as allegory, as satire, as adventure, as philosophical treatise, as, as, as...superlatives fail me.


----------



## Ashton Lee

Feet of Clay by Pratchett. I'm a bit out of order since I jumped to Hogfather before this.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

The Rasputin File. I haven't been this excited over a book in years, especially not a non-fiction book. It's so damn interesting.


----------



## Leyline

> I found the torn marriage to be the highlight



I have nothing against the theme, and can easily imagine it done well. It simply _isn't_ in _Cujo_. King's dialouge goes instantly from naturalistic and smooth to clunky and almost hilariously 'touchy-feelie' when he broaches the subject, as if he knew that he really had no clue how to put himself in the shoes of these characters. That also shows in the fact that they're probably the least realistic and rounded main characters I've ever read by the man, and both are instantly unlikable, and never ever get over that fact.


----------



## Tom

Revolver - Marcus Sedgwick

Just started it. A good 50 pages in and it's enjoyable so far, but maybe a little slow for a book with so few pages than I'm used to. The front design is beautiful though, and some of the imagery is well written. There's the whole flashback and linear storyline thing going on, and that's a favourite of mine. Looking forward to seeing how it pans out.


----------



## Tom88

Ah well, to each his own Leyline.

Finished 'The Perks of Being a Wallflower' by Stephen Chbosky.
I loved it. It was recommended to me by my girlfriend, and I was told it was a coming-of-age story in the same vein as Catcher in the Rye (a book I'm decidedly blase about). Wallflower, however, elicited real feelings for me as a reader, which seldom happens. I really liked the main character (and his steadfast morals and cute observations), he was amiable and relatable, and the way his story organically unravelled around him was great. It didn't feel spoon fed.
The letter writing format served the story well, fitting better than a traditional narrative  would. The writing was simple, but still it was witty and heartfelt. I will stop gushing now.


Next, 'After You'd Gone' by Maggie O'Farrel.


----------



## Tiger_Princess

Well my copy of Twilight has arrived, I've given in and decided to see if it really is all that. Will keep you posted...


----------



## moderan

Software
Wetware
Freeware
Realware by Rudy Rucker

I've read the first three books in this tetralogy several times. The fourth came to me in the mail, sent by a fellow sf enthusiast. Over-the-top situations, accessible characters, a believable future premise, those are all hallmarks of this series, as is the laugh-out-loud humor and deadly serious intent of the author, a San Jose State mathematician.
Rucker has a truly wild imagination and his stories are tremendously well-written and invested with force of personality. Very enjoyable...his website is a also a treat and is hyperlinked above, embedded in his name.


----------



## Tiger_Princess

Well have started Twilight and I'm stopping long enough to put this up as I'm loving it and have bought the next 2...


----------



## HalcyonZephyr

I think you'll find it was my card that paid for those, Tiger!


----------



## Tiger_Princess

HalcyonZephyr said:


> I think you'll find it was my card that paid for those, Tiger!


 
As it should be!!!


----------



## Ilasir Maroa

WF.com


----------



## moderan

Ilasir Maroa said:


> WF.com


My condolences. Less well-written than a Stephenie Meyer tome, in the main, and with a hopelessly meandering plot. The cast is something like Arkham Asylum viewed as a Kintergarten.
Best taken in small doses.


----------



## MissVixen

*What to do when someone dies *by Nicci French. 
Always had a fondness for their books.


----------



## negenki

I been trying to finish Pride and Prejudice by also listening to the audio book, but I'm always busy. Also, is in the process of reading Your Heart Belong To Me by Dean Koontz and A Long Fatal Love Chase by Louisa May Alcott.  (i like reading nonsexual historical romance and mysteries if you're wondering)


----------



## Like a Fox

negenki - I recommend wathcing the 5 hours BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice if you're struggling through it. It's nearly word for word, and it makes dipping back into the book really easy. That's how I read it anyway, plus the adaptation is superb.


I'm reading this book _Iced - by Ray Shell_. I kind of hate it. Has anyone else read it? The actual story is fine, and I'll probably finish it, but the layout... Each new sentence on a new line, and then far too often; the bolded, capital letters, exclamation marks. *I NEVER MEANT TO BECOME AN ADDICT!!!* Makes me cringe every time. And there's about one per page. Quit yelling at me Ray Shell, it's a cheap trick.


----------



## moderan

The Collected Stories of O. Henry.





Because sometimes you just have to go with the best.


----------



## moderan

I have Zamyatin's book. You should enjoy that. I read the O. Henry book annually...next will be Saki, then John Collier.


----------



## MissVixen

Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman


----------



## Beja-Beja

A Streetcar Named Desire
Inglourious Basterds (Screenplay)
Cry The Beloved Country
Batman: The Long Halloween (Graphic Novel)
The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers


----------



## spider8

I just finished _Solar_ by Ian McEwan. Brilliant bits, boring bits. Overall, the main character mirrors the human races attitude towards global warming, very clever.

...am now reading _A Tale of Two Cities_ by Charles Dickens.


----------



## salad days

Beja-Beja said:


> Cry The Beloved Country


One of my favorite novels.

Currently reading The Greatest Game Ever Play: Harry Vardon, Francis Ouimet, and the Birth of Modern Golf by Mark Frost.

I wanted to read this before watching the movie.


----------



## moderan

Fancies and Goodnights, by John Collier. Brilliant collection of short stories by one of the masters.


----------



## AA

The City and the City, by China Mieville


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished The Prize, by Brenda Joyce. Six-hundred pages of pure heartbreak, shocking outrage and exhilerating triumph. Simply genius. One of the best romance novels I've ever read.


----------



## Kat

I'm just reading non-fiction right now. 

Working with Oneness, How to See Yourself as You Really Are, The Circle Within: Creating a Wiccan Spiritual Tradition

I just finished Night by Elie Wiesel. It was such a small book but I had to keep putting it down. It was just heartbreaking.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Abhorsen Chronicles-Garth Nix

Now reading:
The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao-Junot Diaz


----------



## NathanBrazil

I've been trying to read Noey Hynd's _Ghosts_ but can't get past page 35.  William Zinnser's _On Writing Well_ is more engaging so now I'm reading _On Writing Well_.  Go figure.


----------



## Crazed Scribe

> The Abhorsen Chronicles-Garth Nix



One of my favourite fantasy sagas, what did you think?

Just finished: _Enduring Love_ by McEwan

Starting:_ A Streetcar Named Desire _by Tenessee Williams


----------



## S1E9A8N5

Finished: "Undone" by Rachel Caine.  Not as fun as the Weather Warden series I have to say but still interesting.

Right now, I am reading "Born of Night" by Sherrilyn Kenyon.

Just passing time until I can find a good sci-fi novel.


----------



## moderan

Dan Simmons, Sean, think Dan Simmons. Alastair Reynolds, think Alastair Reynolds.


----------



## S1E9A8N5

moderan said:


> Dan Simmons, Sean, think Dan Simmons. Alastair Reynolds, think Alastair Reynolds.


 I'll have to check them out to see if anything interests me but looking at them they appear to be more space type sci-fi.  I'm really picky when it comes to those.  Sometimes they go into too much technical detail that it ruins the story for me.  I'm looking for something more like 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, Gather Darkness etc.


----------



## moderan

They are space-type science fiction, I guess. They're also the best. What's "The Giver"?
There aren't many similarities in the titles you posted. I suppose 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are dystopias. Try Stand on Zanzibar or No Blade of Grass. They're earthbound.


----------



## S1E9A8N5

moderan said:


> What's "The Giver"?


It's a Utopian novel by Lois Lowry.


moderan said:


> There aren't many similarities in the titles you posted. I suppose 1984 and Fahrenheit 451 are dystopias.


They're Dystopian/Utopian sci-fi novels.


moderan said:


> Try Stand on Zanzibar or No Blade of Grass. They're earthbound.


I'll check them out.  Thanks.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Crazed Scribe said:


> One of my favourite fantasy sagas, what did you think?



I really liked them, Mogget cracked me up. I wish there were more to them! I really wanted to know what happened in their lives after the final battle with The Destroyer, especially after Nick went back to the Old Kingdom.

Finished:
The Brief Wonderous Life of Oscar Wao-Junot Diaz

Now reading:
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol. II-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


----------



## Crazed Scribe

> I really liked them, Mogget cracked me up. I wish there were more to them! I really wanted to know what happened in their lives after the final battle with The Destroyer, especially after Nick went back to the Old Kingdom.



I think he was going to bring out a prequel and I think there was also mention of another book that he was going to bring out about after the final battle. I don't know though now, I seem to remember him saying that a few years ago and there's been nothing out... to my knowledge anyway .


----------



## Cressida

What am I reading? Year 11 and 12 Mock exam papers - truly great works of fiction!

Seriously though I am reading Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier. Great book about Mary Anning the fossil hunter. Well worth a read but if not I believe that the film rights have just been sold.


----------



## Kayleigh7

I haven't read a truly great book in a long time.


----------



## JosephB

I'm reading _The Easter Parade, _by the author of _Revolutionary Road, _Richard Yates. I'm on a kick -- I tend to do that if I really like an author. This is the third I've read of his, and I'll likely read more. I think he's vastly underrated -- and I'm glad his work has recently garnered a little attention thanks to the movie version _of Revolutionary Road._


----------



## Idle Tinkerer

Ran out of things to read and was rooting through a dusty old cupboard when I found something I can't believe I've never heard of before - River God by Wilbur Smith. One of the better accounts of historical fiction I've ever read, though I'm somewhat skeptical of the claim that it's all true. Even if the scrolls were found, I'm convinced there was a fair bit of bias coming from Taita there...

But still, definitely an entertaining read, 15 years old or not.


----------



## darknite_johanne

I just picked up The Game by Neil Strauss: the art of pickup artists. haha


----------



## moderan

The Black Lizard Anthology of Crime Fiction
(again)
Simply killer book of _roman noir_ edited by Ed Gorman, including stories by such luminaries as Max Allan Collins, Joe Hensley, Robert Randisi, and Jim Thompson. The last is a novella that was unpublished before this book. Cannot recommend highly enough. Seriously excellent tough-guy-oriented fiction, mostly with a satirical edge.


----------



## Featherpen

Nothing to be Frightened of 
by Jules Barne


----------



## blackthorn

darknite_johanne said:


> I just picked up The Game by Neil Strauss: the art of pickup artists. haha


 
Downloaded that e-book. It's fantastic!

Anyway, right now my buddy has me reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Plus I'm reading David Copperfield by Charles Dickens and a collection of short stories by Mark Twain. Yeah, I'm trying to dive into the classics


----------



## caelum

I'm reading _Hard Frost_ by _R.D.Winfield_, starring the detective Jack Frost.  An old, English friend turned me on to Wingfield, and so far the novel has been loads of fun.

After that starting _Those Barren Leaves_ by _Aldous Huxley_.


----------



## Like a Fox

Reading _The Sea_ by John Banville.

A lot of people hated it (I'm reading it for class). I don't mind it.


----------



## moderan

Move Under Ground-Nick Mamatas
Tons of fun so far.


----------



## moderan

The Barbecue Bible, by Steve Raichlen. Great stuff...international bbq. Has lots of history-of-the-dish info and suggestions for menu combos and such.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Complete Sherlock Holmes Vol. II-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Now reading:
The Eye of the World-Robert Jordan


----------



## ash somers

i loved those sherlock holmes stories *grin* 

almost finished: Saving Francesca

by Melina Marchetta

fabulous read!


----------



## wolfe:)

Right at the moment i am reading The Chosen by L.J.Smith


----------



## darknite_johanne

First time I've read Stephen King's The Stand. I've found it boring the first eight chapters only because I don't enjoy reading stories with a lot of people, like a soap opera. But now I seemed to be enjoying it. Thought it's not one of those books I'd sit through for 24 hours.


----------



## caelum

Wasn't crazy about The Stand either.  As for apocalyptic scenarios, I liked King's Cell more (think that's what it's called).  That one was freaky.


----------



## moderan

Ashenden, by W. Somerset Maugham. The template for Fleming's Bond, and a decent spy novel. Found in a box while I was looking for something else.


----------



## NathanBrazil

"Moderan" by some dude called David R. Bunch just arrived.  I don't who that is but I'd heard that it's pretty good.


----------



## Gumby

The 5000 Year Leap   by W. Cleon Skousen


----------



## LadyWolf

_Blind Fall_, by Christopher Rice.

When I'm in a post-apocalyptic mood, I re-read Robert R. McCammon's _Swan Song_. Knocks me out every time.

*~ L ~*


----------



## moderan

Swan Song is an excellent book. I prefer it to The Stand.


----------



## Like a Fox

I finally finished _The Sea_ by Banville. Man, that book hurt. It was like pulling teeth, probably not helped by the fact that I had to read it for uni.
The worst bit was, it was so hard to stay focused thanks to the meandering rubbishy metaphors and speculation and internal dialogue of a drunken old man, that when I got to the end and something unexpected happened, I was left regretting my disinterest. I may read it again. Then again, with so many good books to be read, I'm not sure I should waste my time.


----------



## moderan

NathanBrazil said:


> "Moderan" by some dude called David R. Bunch just arrived.  I don't who that is but I'd heard that it's pretty good.


 How'd I miss that? The book's good. Some hack has borrowed the name though.


----------



## Heid

_The Human Stain_ - Philip Roth

I enjoyed _Portnoy's Complaint_ when we studied it at university and I've been promising myself I'd read some more Roth. I'm so glad I've kept that promise. Goddamn he's good!


----------



## spider8

Like a Fox said:


> I finally finished _The Sea_ by Banville. Man, that book hurt. It was like pulling teeth, probably not helped by the fact that I had to read it for uni.
> The worst bit was, it was so hard to stay focused thanks to the meandering rubbishy metaphors and speculation and internal dialogue of a drunken old man, that when I got to the end and something unexpected happened, I was left regretting my disinterest. I may read it again. Then again, with so many good books to be read, I'm not sure I should waste my time.


Don't waste your time reading it twice. Awful. 
I'm reading American Gods. Any thoughts?


----------



## Katastrof

Reading _Blood Meridian Or the Evening Redness in the West_ by Cormac McCarthy. Not sure how I feel so far; I mean Cormac knows how to write a damn good sentence, and the last book I read of his, _The Road_, was amazing, but right now it's not catching me.


----------



## darknite_johanne

spider8 said:


> Don't waste your time reading it twice. Awful.
> I'm reading American Gods. Any thoughts?


 
One of my favorite books. I like it for exploring the myths and legends and what happened to the Pagan gods while delivering an amazing and unpredictable story.

I'm still reading Stephen King's The Stand, I don't like it for the fact that it took at least twenty chapters to get me in the _I can't put the book down_ mood. But getting past that made me want to finish it faster. It's a _looonng_ book though.


----------



## NathanBrazil

_Relentless_ - Dean Koontz


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Eye of the World-Robert Jordan

Now reading:
The Great Hunt-Robert Jordan
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan-Lisa See


----------



## Tom

NathanBrazil said:


> _Relentless_ - Dean Koontz



I've got that on my book shelf somewhere, don't know whether to read it yet. I might wait until I've caught up with the Odd Thomas series.

Just finished 'One Day' by David Nicholls which, to me, was a beautifully composed book that had me hooked purely because of both the characters, the banter between them and the fact that they felt real.

Also finished 'This is How' by M.J.Hyland, which was interesting, unusual and the ending left me...confused.


----------



## C.Gholy

I've been reading Carrie by Stephen King, I'm finding it really interesting. I've also been intending to read The Second Short Life Of Bree Tanner by Stephanie Meyer but I haven't really gotten round to it.


----------



## woodpanel

I'm reading The Waterproof Bible by Andrew Kaufman. The other night I finished Marvels by Kurt Busiek & Alex Ross.


----------



## darknite_johanne

NEXT by Michael Crichton. It is interesting.


----------



## Beja-Beja

I just finished The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Batman Year One (Graphic Novel) and Slaughterhouse Five.

Now reading Three Cups of Tea.


----------



## mandax

I'm 300 pages into Les Miserables, so I still have a long way to go.  I'm loving it, though, and I was inspired to read it after seeing the musical in London last month.  It completely blew me away.


----------



## Beja-Beja

Now I Can Die in Peace: How The Sports Guy Found Salvation Thanks to the World Champion (Twice!) Red Sox by Bill Simmons

I'm loving it even though I am not big into Sports, am a Yankee fan, and hate the Red Sox


----------



## Deleted member 33527

The Picture of Dorian Gray. I was surprised by how openly gay Oscar Wilde was about this. So far it's been very enjoyable and intriguing.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Great Hunt-Robert Jordan
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan-Lisa See
Winter Moon-Mercedes Lackey, Tanith Lee, C.E. Murphy

Now reading:
The Dragon Reborn-Robert Jordan


----------



## caelum

Reading Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. It's great, way better than I expected. I read the Colour of Magic by him and was underwhelmed, but it looks like experience teaches because this, his fortiethish novel, is very entertaining. Fairly unique plot, skillful writing, great humour, very fun. I can see why this guy sells.


----------



## J.E. Blackworth

Reading my first Dostoyevsky ever; _Crime and Punishment_. I already feel influenced by his writing style.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Dragon Reborn-Robert Jordan
The Republic of Trees-Sam Taylor

Now reading:
The Shadow Rising-Robert Jordan


----------



## Beja-Beja

007 Moonraker by Ian Fleming.

I love James Bond novels.


----------



## Linton Robinson

Didn't realize people still read ol' 007.   Do you notice a difference in quality in the Bond books since Fleming died?

Ever listen to the "Secret Agent"  station on SOMA  internet radio?


----------



## Lyonidus

"Gardens of the moon" by Steven Erikson

I heard this dude was better than GRRM and a load of other fantasy authors and i gotta admit that, although more complex it's excellent and you don't have to weait a whole five years for the next one in the serie s unlike some other authors in the genre i could mention


----------



## webdancer

I am reading Flood by Stephen Baxter and Protector by Robert Niven.


----------



## T.G. Harrison

I just finished _The Girl who Played with Fire_ by Stieg Larsson. It was okay, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if I spoke Swedish and read the original print. I think something gets lost in the translation. Nevertheless, I do plan on reading the third book.

Right now, I've started on Joyce's _Ulysses_.


----------



## Beja-Beja

For some God forsaken reason I am reading _Dubliners_


----------



## Like a Fox

I just finished _Of a Boy _by _Sonya Hartnett._

Now I have to read _Austerlitz _by _W.G.Sebald. _Apparently it's quite a mission to get through... I've been putting it off.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished Dorian Gray. Currently reading Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub, Edgar Allen Poe stories and poems, and Men and Gods by Rex Warner.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Shadow Rising-Robert Jordan
The Darkangel Trilogy-Meredith Ann Pierce

Now reading:
The Fires of Heaven-Robert Jordan


----------



## Beja-Beja

_Pygmy _by Chuck Palahniuk

_American Born Chinese_ by Gene Luen Yang

_Batman Haunted Knight_ by Jeph Loebe and Tim Sale


----------



## Tom88

The Wayward Bus by Steinbeck. So far so good.


----------



## Ragdoll

I just finished Pride and Prejustice by Jane Austen today. Wonderful book, I enjoyed it very much


----------



## SoNickSays...

Working  my way through The Iliad, and finding this translation of it oddly thrilling (the language used is not too difficult, the references to popular culture and the Greek pantheon are explain so not to deter from the story with confusion...) 

Other than that I've been looking at various short pieces by Edgar Allan Poe and Richard Matheson.


----------



## KangTheMad

_News Junkie_ by Jason Leopold.


----------



## garza

SoNickSays...  - What translation are you using?


----------



## gregory.k

I'm reading Robert Browning right now, working my way through Paracelsus. I picked up a cheap used volume at a thrift store. The problem with buying my books from thrift stores is that I wind up reading only what other people throw away.


----------



## SoNickSays...

For The Iliad a Penguin's Classics version. It's very good. The name of the translator is Robert Fagles, and he seems to be well praised (for good reason, judging on what I have read of his version).

The Odyssey is a 'Vintage' version, translated by a man named Robert Fitzgerald. This doesn't seem to be as good, but there isn't much to complain on. They are much better than the versions I read a while back.


----------



## Tom

Read ONCE and THEN, and reading NOW by Morris Gleitzman at the moment.

Simply written, but very powerful.


----------



## Nefieslab

The Thin Executioner - Darren Shan

A children's writer trying not to be a children's writer and yet still ending up as a children's writer. However, my little cousin left it here so I'm reading it.


----------



## RoundEye

I’m thinking about reading Dante’s Divine Comedy again. I read it about 25 years ago and still remember how freaky it was. It must have scared the absolute crap out of people when it was written almost 700 years ago.

I think if there was an all night book store open right now, I’d run out and buy it.


----------



## TestDummy

Just finished the Hitchhikers "Trilogy"


----------



## SoNickSays...

RoundEye said:


> I’m thinking about reading Dante’s Divine Comedy again. I read it about 25 years ago and still remember how freaky it was. It must have scared the absolute crap out of people when it was written almost 700 years ago.
> 
> I think if there was an all night book store open right now, I’d run out and buy it.



I think it's worth it, but the first copy of Inferno I owned didn't explain any of the cultural references Dante made, so I was on the internet looking for what they meant, asking people, looking in books, and it just became a lot of hassle.

If you get another copy of his Divine Comedy, get one that explains them. The a very good translation of Inferno which could be available for Purgatorio and Paradiso too is by John D Sinclair (It's an Oxford version). I'd suggest getting this copy, or one similar.


----------



## RoundEye

Thanks for the tips Nick.


----------



## aquablue

*Middlesex* by Jeffrey Eugenides. This is quality writing. I adore it.


----------



## Loretta Anne Buerkle

Sookie Stackhouse series... Which maybe some of the best writing I've seen... Not too repetitive and such.


----------



## badjoke

Right now I'm rereading A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick and also rereading The Crying of Lot 49 by Thomas Pynchon.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

The Crucible and the Scarlett Letter. Summer reading for AP English.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

> Sookie Stackhouse series


I've been wanting to read those but it doesn't look like I'm going to until I finish the summer reading. Are they good? How different are they from the shows?


----------



## ronnycarson

*Lewis Black*

Me of Little Faith


----------



## mybloodyxxsweetheart

*Perks of Being A Wallflower *by Stephen Chobsky
*Speak *by Laurie Halse Anderson
*Lolita *by Vladimir Nabokov


----------



## aquablue

*The Great Gatsby* by Fitzgerald. All I can say about this one is wow!


----------



## Sam

_Area 7_ by Matthew Reilly.


----------



## SoNickSays...

After a good go at Homer, I wanted some lighter reading. I picked up some random short stories by Richard Matheson and haven't put the book down since.


----------



## BrandonWilde

I find Ian Fleming's Bond stories are really good for a cool down between tougher exploits. I threw a few in between "Crime and Punishment" and "La Divina Commedia" (Although I am yet to ascend Il Inferno


----------



## SoNickSays...

It's worth it, Brandon. I mentioned a page or two back a good translation to buy if you're interested in getting a copy of Inferno. Let me know when you've started reading it! I love to see people's reactions to Dante (they usually vary).


----------



## aquablue

aquablue said:


> *The Great Gatsby* by Fitzgerald. All I can say about this one is wow!



I forgot to mention: Along with Fitzgerald I am also reading *Super Reading Secrets* by Howard Stephen Berg on my Nook.

__


----------



## Nefieslab

Just finished re-reading 1984 (brilliant piece of British writing)

Starting Dante's Inferno (yes, I got the one you suggested Nick )


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

TestDummy said:


> Just finished the Hitchhikers "Trilogy"


 
I love that series. I've only read them once, but I'm definitely looking forward to reading them again.

Finished:
Fires of Heaven-Robert Jordan
The Exile of Sara Stevenson-Darci Hannah
Lord of Chaos-Robert Jordan

Now reading:
Prophecy of the Sisters-Michelle Zink


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Prophecy of the Sisters

Now reading:
A Crown of Swords-Robert Jordan


----------



## Mike

The Blind Assassin, by Margaret Atwood - about 3/4 through it.


----------



## badjoke

V. by Thomas Pynchon.

I'm going on a kick of reading first novels of some of my favorite authors. Next up is Grimus by Salmun Rushdie, if I can find it.


----------



## funnygirl

I sometimes buy 'boring' books to help me sleep at night. So stupidly I picked up Clive Cussler's Novel Corsair from the Oregon Files thinking it was some long rant about the history of war boats --good for a months worth of early nights at least-- but no! I couldn't have been wrong, it's a fantastic, exciting, amazing book thats been keeping me up all hours!


----------



## malvo4

badjoke said:


> V. by Thomas Pynchon.
> 
> I'm going on a kick of reading first novels of some of my favorite authors. Next up is Grimus by Salmun Rushdie, if I can find it.



That is on my list next. I stopped about half way though, by the time I got to the monk with the rats in the sewer my head was spinning.

Right now I am getting through The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, which is a scientific book about uncertainty. Before I was reading The Passage, which is A-mazing!


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished the Crucible. Now on to the Scarlet Letter.


----------



## KangTheMad

Dreamworx95 said:


> Now on to the Scarlet Letter.


 
Have fun. It is a very boring book, I didn't like it at all. :lol:


----------



## garza

'Partial Scope Agreement Between the Government of Belize and the Government of the Republic of Guatemala'

Actually a series of such agreements regarding trade between Belize and Guatemala. The latest legitimatises the export of corn and beans across the border at Jalacté. That export has been going on for many years, and now will have legal standing. 

It is interesting. Really. It is.


----------



## vangoghsear

funnygirl said:


> I sometimes buy 'boring' books to help me sleep at night. So stupidly I picked up Clive Cussler's Novel Corsair from the Oregon Files thinking it was some long rant about the history of war boats --good for a months worth of early nights at least-- but no! I couldn't have been wrong, it's a fantastic, exciting, amazing book thats been keeping me up all hours!


Now that's funny.  You picked up a Clive Cussler book to help you sleep!  Try his "Raise the Titanic."  Another page turner.

I'm actually reading "Weird Pennsylvania" by Mark Moran, Matt Lake, Mark Sceurman.  Not great literature, but a bit of fun reading.


Also, Dennis Lehane's "Gone, Baby, Gone" and "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova.


----------



## funnygirl

vangoghsear said:


> Now that's funny. You picked up a Clive Cussler book to help you sleep! Try his "Raise the Titanic." Another page turner.


 

I'm an ignorant one, I'd never heard of Cussler :/ Perhaps next time I'll try 'Tried and Tested Toilet Cleaning Tips' for a good nights sleep


----------



## Mike

Cussler's books are like junk food. They're not very filling and leave you with the thought: "I can't believe I just ate that."

I've always wondered who would win in a bar fight: Clive Cussler or James Patterson. But it wouldn't be an ordinary bar fight of course. There'd be some sort of historical significance to the wood, and a clutch of Swedes would be lacing the kegs in the back with some kind of radioactive dust, and no one would leave any fingerprints. Snorkling gear would dangle from the ceiling fans. Morgan Freeman would be narrating in the corner, a glass of brandy in hand.


----------



## funnygirl

I'm now reading 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac.
Now i can't stop saying diiig it man!


----------



## caelum

I grew up on Clive Cussler novels.  Must have read around ten of them.  Dirk Pitt is one of my all-time favourite childhood heroes, and some of the feats he had!  Now that I think about it, the plots were a little outrageous.  He almost always singlehandedly saved the world (with the help of his buddy Al, of course).  From finding Atlantis and in the process averting some kind of glacial shift, to stopping a red tide of oceanic bacteria that could destroy Earth's algae and therefore our oxygen supply.  Inca Gold and Sahara were some other great ones.


----------



## garza

_Human Development Report 2001 - Making New Technologies Work for Human Development_, Oxford University Press for the United Nations Development Programme
I'm reviewing the UNDP human development reports as we near the end of the first decade of the 21st Century. The idea is to look at the global picture, then figure out where our nation fits into the overall pattern of human development, or lack thereof. We are one of the smallest of the world's nations with a population just over 300,000 and we do not have the resources most countries have that allow them to translate developments in technology into human development.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
A Crown of Swords-Robert Jordan
The Coyote Road-Anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling
A Blessing on the Moon-Joseph Skibell

Now reading:
The Path of Daggers-Robert Jordan


----------



## Banana_Brother

*Plato* - The Republic


----------



## Olly Buckle

funnygirl said:


> I'm now reading 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac.
> Now i can't stop saying diiig it man!


Everybody says "On the road" when they say Kerouak. I much preferred "Dharma bums".

I recently finished "Rubicon" by Tom Holland, at the moment I am on "The world according to Bertie" by Alexander McCall Smith.


----------



## garza

'_Agricultural and Rural Extension Worldwide - options for institutional reform in the developing countries_', and '_Agricultural Extension, Rural Development, and the Food Security Challenge_', both published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.


----------



## caelum

Currently reading Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King.  I was surprised jumping into it to discover the whole thing is a woman's spoken account to the police over a single night.  Makes for an entertaining read.  So far haven't seen much of King's horror, just his ability to make really human scenes and characters.


----------



## Leyline

_The Knight_ by Gene Wolfe, the first volume of 'A Novel In Two Volumes'. As usual with Wolfe, when he tackles a genre he makes previous toilers in the same fields look somewhat crippled and slow. Here it's high fantasy and -- using unusual for the genre techniques like epistolary form, an extremely elegant variation of Borroughsian cut-up technique, and his trademark unreliable narrator and poetic exposition -- he crafts another winner. Recommended.


----------



## funnygirl

Olly Buckle said:


> Everybody says "On the road" when they say Kerouak. I much preferred "Dharma bums".


 
Here I am showing my ignorance again (damn this is just not my week) I'd never heard of Keroauc, I picked up the book for 10cents at a garage sale, because I like a good road trip story... hmmm I need to get my head out of so much Aussie literature.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

I just read the Scarlet Letter. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I actually enjoyed it.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Currently reading the Hunger Games.


----------



## Bruno Spatola

I just finished War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. 

It's from the perspective of a horse during World War I in 1914, and I just felt like it was my best friend towards the end. This horse is the only thing I can identify with on a personal level, although some of his owners are very identifiable too. Many people treat the horse (Joey) quite cruelly, but he has different owners throughout the book, some kinder than others.

Reading from Joey's point of view, a young horse who has been dragged into this hell is truly magical and really shows war for what it is. 

Heart-breaking but I would recommend it. Michael Morpurgo is known as a children's writer, but I thought this book was very mature and thoughtful, like most of his work is, but it's not a typical book.


----------



## Jessalynn Barnum

~ The Tommyknockers, Sephen King. I am where Bobbi shows the ship that she is digging to to Gard.


----------



## ppsage

Olly Buckle said:


> Everybody says "On the road" when they say Kerouak. I much preferred "Dharma bums".



In my woodsy period I carried _Desolation Angels_ but my favorite Kerouac now is _Vanity of Duluoz. _Speaking of ancient pursuits, I'm currently (re)reading _Sometimes a Great Notion._ Ken Keasey. Met him a few times. Makes DFWallace seem pretty normal. It's blowin' my mind, man. Again. How did I forget? Six concurrent POV and no time signature. If you wanta know why people liked dropping acid.


----------



## RoundEye

_Dante’s Inferno_ by  Dante Alighieri. It’s my second reading of his book, I like his river of boiling blood, that’s creepy. I didn’t know  “_abandon all hope ye who enter here_” that you see written on modern haunted houses comes from his writing. 

I may be reading it for quite a while because I’ve been having a problem with my eyes. So I may be talking about it again in one way or another.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Path of Daggers-Robert Jordan

Now reading:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time-Mark Haddon


----------



## caelum

I read that curious incident book a few years ago.  It's alright, just the day to day life of an autistic kid with atheistic leanings,  ". . .this is why I think the normal people made up God. . ." It's one of those books that won awards and stuff, which means it's almost certainly highbrow tripe.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

I read that book too. It was entertaining for a time, but probably not something I would read again.


----------



## funnygirl

The Thorn Birds - Colleen McCullough

Reading this again! --when I get the time-- 
I wish I wrote this, I love it.


----------



## strangedaze

Annabel by Kathleen Winter

just finished The Mysteries of Pittsburgh by Michael Chabon


----------



## ash somers

caelum said:


> I read that curious incident book a few years ago.  It's alright, just the day to day life of an autistic kid with atheistic leanings,  ". . .this is why I think the normal people made up God. . ." It's one of those books that won awards and stuff, which means it's almost certainly highbrow tripe.



i read it years ago, i thought it was an interesting approach to something not easily quantifiable 

and i've just finished 'feather man' by rhyll mcmaster, probably more highbrow tripe, but i enjoyed it

before that and also worth a mention is 'the portrait' by willem jan otten, translated by david colmer, told from the POV of the canvas itself, i thought it was a brilliant read!

i'm now reading a trashy steven king book of short stories called 'skeleton crew' for a change of pace

jumped in the middle and started 'the ballad of the flexible bullet' it's about the road to insanity ...

this may be more to your liking, caelum?


----------



## Bruno Spatola

I've read _Everything's Eventual_ and _Nightmares and Dreamscapes_. Both great collections of short stories from King. I'd recommend _Everything's Eventual_, some brilliant little stories in there. Of particular interest to me were _1408_ and _The Man in the Black Suit_. Haven't read _Skeleton Crew_, might check that out.


----------



## SoNickSays...

_Of Love and Other Demons_ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez again. I'm considering flicking through _Lord of The Flies_ again. I haven't read that one in a long time.


----------



## caelum

ash somers said:


> i'm now reading a trashy steven king book of short stories called 'skeleton crew' for a change of pace


 Oh, that's one of my faves, ash.   The Jaunt, The Mist, The Raft, all scared the crap out of me as a kid.


----------



## Bruno Spatola

_The Hellbound Hear_t by Clive Barker. Read that through again today. I just love the lengths the character Frank goes to, to fulfill his desire for pleasure. Makes me shiver, and of course The Engineer is a force all on his own. Love that book. It's dirty and there's almost a smell while you're reading it, like sweat and bad breath.

When Frank is giving his gifts to the Cenobites, it makes me cringe. I imagine the taste of the stale air and everything. Not many books make me do that. I can just see them all gathered around a fresh pile of skin and blood, drinking the urine. Great atmosphere, very carnal.


----------



## Olly Buckle

caelum said:


> I read that curious incident book a few years ago.  It's alright, just the day to day life of an autistic kid with atheistic leanings,  ". . .this is why I think the normal people made up God. . ." It's one of those books that won awards and stuff, which means it's almost certainly highbrow tripe.



The title is a quote from Sherlock Holmes, Watson says something along the lines of "But there was no incident of the dog in the night" and he replies "That my dear Watson is what is so curious", or words to that effect. I am not going to look it up.


----------



## garza

The quote you want is from 'Silver Blaze':

_Colonel Ross still wore an expression which showed the poor opinion which he had formed of my companion's ability, but I saw by the Inspector's face that his attention had been keenly aroused.
"You consider that to be important?" he asked.
"Exceedingly so."
"Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
"To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
"The dog did nothing in the night-time."
"That was the curious incident," remarked Sherlock Holmes._
                 from 'Silver Blaze', by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle


----------



## The Backward OX

None of what Olly and garza said explains those three earlier posters accrediting the book to someone named Mark Haddon.

 Wtf?


----------



## caelum

The title of the Mark Haddon book is a Conan Doyle quote, which garza just showed.  That's all.

Finished reading Dolores Claiborne.  It was really entertaining, nothing really supernatural, just a dysfunctional family and the drama surrounding it.  An abusive husband—like too friendly with the kiddies abusive—who needs murdrin, and a crazy rich old lady who craps her bed.  That about sums it up.  And of course the rich lady dies and bequeaths her money to the MC—that's a given, that's a given.


----------



## Loulou

Read recently, _The White Tiger_ by Aravind Adiga, _Fight Club_ by Chuck Palahniuk, and _The Weight of Silence_ by Heather Gudenkauf.

Looking for something new...


----------



## The Backward OX

Internet entries on how to create endings - and I'm none the wiser.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished the Hunger Games. Now moving on to the Bell Jar.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Currently reading Grisham's The Broker.


----------



## aquablue

I am on the verge on divine into another author study. This is when I stop reading books at random and focus on the work and life of just ONE writer. My writer this time around will be Ernest Hemingway. This study usually takes time to complete in full. But boy do I love it. To discover the way another writer views his/her life in words is just beyond anything. It's a labor of love.

Ernest Hemingway

One of the all-time greats. Perfect profile to study. His economy of words is legendary.

__


----------



## joonho1

The Golden Compass- FTW
The Hobbit- FTW
Mockingjay- Super FTW!


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

caelum said:
			
		

> I read that curious incident book a few years ago. It's alright, just the day to day life of an autistic kid with atheistic leanings, ". . .this is why I think the normal people made up God. . ." It's one of those books that won awards and stuff, which means it's almost certainly highbrow tripe.



I had to read it for my novel writing class, but I liked it more than I thought I would.



			
				Olly Buckle said:
			
		

> The title is a quote from Sherlock Holmes, Watson says something along the lines of "But there was no incident of the dog in the night" and he replies "That my dear Watson is what is so curious", or words to that effect. I am not going to look it up.



I liked that the main character loved Sherlock Holmes because I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan myself. I've never seen any of the movies, but I've read all but the sixteen stories in The Return of Sherlock Holmes. I didn't realize that the title was also a Holmes reference, though. I've only read my copies once, and it's hard to remember all the specifics in every single story.

Finished:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time-Mark Haddon

Now reading:
Winter's Heart-Robert Jordan

*Edit*
You made me curious, so I looked up that quote. It's from the story Silver Blaze.
Watson: "Is there any point to which you would wish to draw my attention?"
Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time."
Watson: "The dog did nothing in the night-time."
Holmes: "That was the curious incident."

*Second Edit*
Sorry garza! I didn't see that you'd already posted the quote.


----------



## Chrispian

Wow, this thread's still going and I'm still reading Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time (See the first post in this thread). 

I'm not actually currently reading it. It's taking me years to finish. I try to read of of the books every now and then, sandwiched in with some lighter reading like The Dresden Files or The Nightside novels. I just finished a tech book (HTML5 for Developers) and now it's time to read the last 3 Dresden books to catch up.


----------



## Bruno Spatola

I'm like that with the Discworld books. Just can't seem to read them from start to finish smoothly. 

I've had a bookmark on p401 of _The Stand_ for six months now  

Have to finish it!


----------



## caelum

IMO _The Stand_ is overrated.  I seem to remember it stalling badly half way through, though it's been a while since I read it.  There was a lot of weird stuff, like the old black lady, and that dude who sniffed out nukes in the desert.  It was pretty good, though.  I mean, it is the _King_, after all


----------



## Bruno Spatola

Well I'm only a third into it so, it would be quite unfair of me to comment on its quality so early. I've really enjoyed it so far, but the story isn't exactly new. Even his bad stuff (bad compared to his other work) is good. I thought _Dreamcatcher_ was a little_ under_rated. Sometimes his characters are so good it's really difficult to notice the flaws.


----------



## caelum

Yeah, I agree about Dreamcatcher, I really liked it.  The scene where he was in his own head running from the alien had me at the edge of my seat.  I've always been a King fan, and though I may harp about this or that, he's probably my fave writer.


----------



## Bruno Spatola

It's good that you can criticize your maybe-favourite writer. It annoys me when some people like _every single_ thing an author has done, simply because of who they are. 

Rose Madder was a bit of a doozie for me. I loved the way he described her violent husband near the beginning, the way he _worked her kidneys_ and stuff like that, but when she started going inside paintings. . .yeah, it started to feel a bit strange. Obviously that symbolized escapism, but it still felt out of place.

I couldn't even get past the first page of Cell, just couldn't do it. I didn't like Salem's Lot, which is truly his most overrated work in my opinion but, everyone has low points. Cell is probably someones fave book ever.

Him and Clive Barker are my favourite writers by far. Getting through the Dark Tower at the moment, it's pretty good!

Need to read Weaveworld by Barker, haven't got round to it yet.

On paper, Barker has churned out a hell of a lot more crap than King. King is one of the most consistent writers, and that's very difficult to achieve I think.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Winter's Heart-Robert Jordan
How to Become a Famous Writer Before You're Dead-Ariel Gore

Now reading:
The Dragon Book-anthology
78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might-Pat Walsh
and maybe The Literary Life-Carolyn See


----------



## KangTheMad

Bruno Spatola said:


> Rose Madder was a bit of a doozie for me. I loved the way he described her violent husband near the beginning, the way he _worked her kidneys_ and stuff like that, but when she started going inside paintings. . .yeah, it started to feel a bit strange. Obviously that symbolized escapism, but it still felt out of place.
> 
> I couldn't even get past the first page of Cell, just couldn't do it. I didn't like Salem's Lot, which is truly his most overrated work in my opinion but, everyone has low points. Cell is probably someones fave book ever.


 
Rose Madder I enjoyed, the painting was wierd, but its King, so I wasn't surprised.

While I read all of Cell, it seemed like he was trying a bit too hard.

King definitely has low points. I was bitterly dissapointed when I read The Talisman's sequel, Black House.


Right now I am about 3/4 of the way through In Harm's Way. Absolutely thrilling, and horrifying at the same time, reading about what happened to those guys.


----------



## caelum

Reading The Runaway Jury by John Grisham.  I'm impressed by how sheer entertaining it is.  Been reading lots of classics and older books lately, so a more modern fast-paced novel is a refreshing change.


----------



## funnygirl

I loved The Runaway Jury.
Currently reading Doctor at Sea by Richard Gordon


----------



## CharlesVer

Hi,

I'm a constant reader and audio book listener.  I'll start with what I'm reading and listening to now, and then I'll go back a month and tell you what I've read or listened to recently.

I keep track of everything I read or listen to on a spreadsheet.

Currently Reading:

         Bullies Bastards and Bitches by Jessica Morrell

This is a writing book about developing villains.  Not bad, but I don't feel I've learned much I didn't know.

         The Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinger

Because I decided not to read it way back in high school in the early 1980s, and now decided it's about time I went back and read it.  Having read most of it, I'm surprised it's required high school reading, considering how badly written it is.  I know, I know, it's supposed to be from the MC's point of view, but it's just unbearable to me.

On audio book, I just started

         “E” is for Evidence by Sue   Grafton

Decent series, I'm listening to the whole thing.

Just this morning, I finished another audio book.  I number them as I finish... so this was my 127th book this year, including both audios and regular books.   Date is the day I finished.

127. Dinner   at Mr. Jefferson’s by Charles   Cerami 9/22/10 

Pretty good if you like history, it was about the fateful meeting between Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton during which they reached an agreement that would allow Hamilton to create a National Bank while it would allow Jefferson and Madison to create the new nation's capital that is now Washington D.C. 

Here's what I've read since August

104. Hell House by Richard Matheson 8/1/10 Audio *RECOMMENDED

105. John Adams (President’s   Series) by John Patrick Diggens
         8/3/10 Audio

106. Rose Madder by Stephen   King 8/5/10 *RECOMMENDED

         107. Curse of the Pharaohs (AP 2) Elizabeth Peters
         8/6/10 Audio (I'm reading the whole Amelia Peabody series, they're fun adventures about a family of archeologists, with comic elements.)

108. Thomas Jefferson   (President’s Series) by Joyce Appleby
         8/8/10 Audio

             109. The Kingdom of God is Within You by Leo Tolstoy 8/10/10

             110.  Dark   Dreams:  Tales of Terror Various Authors 8/11/10
My first published short story is in there.  It's a kids book.

             111. Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson 8/13/10
         Audio  *RECOMMENDED.

             112. Landmark Story of New Health Care Law by Staff of   the Washington Post 8/16/10 Audio *RECOMMENDED INFORMATIONAL READING

             113. Abraham Lincoln:    Vampire Hunter by Seth   Grahame-Smith
         8/18/10 *RECOMMENDED-FUN BOOK! Audio

             114. The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron 8/20/10 Audio

             115. A Long Way from Home by Connie Briscoe 8/21/10 Audio 

             116. “D” is for Deadbeat by Sue   Grafton8/22/10 Audio

             117. One for the Money by Janet Evanovich 8/24/10 (The Stephanie Plum series is fun reading, I decided to start from the beginning although I read and/or listened to some of the later ones)

             118. Cold Fire by Dean   Koontz 8/25/10 Audio

             119. The Mummy Case (AP 3) by Elizabeth Peters 8/28/10
         Audio (another Amelia Peabody)

             120. Two for the Dough by Janet Evanovich 8/30/10
         Audio (another Stephanie Plum)

             121. Deliver us from Evil by David   Baldacci 9/3/10 Audio  *RECOMMENDED--perhaps my favorite thriller author, I recommend all David Baldacci's books, especially his Camel Club series and another novel, The Winner

             122. Too Close to Home by Linwood Barclays 9/8/10
         Audio *RECOMMENDED.  Thriller novel about a boy suspected of murder in his friend's home.

             123. Fragile Things by Neil   Gaiman 9/12/10 Audio 

124. Three to get Deadly by Janet Evanovich 9/15/10
         Audio (more Stephanie Plum)

             125. Tick Tock by Dean   Koontz9/17/10 Audio (This one wasn't bad.  Dean Kootnz I think is hit or miss, sometimes I like his books, sometimes I don't, I'm a big fan of his Odd Thomas series.)

             126. Lion in the Valley (AP 4) by Elizabeth   Peters 9/19/10
         Audio (more Amelia Peabody)



Spoiler



test


----------



## Beja-Beja

Been a while since I last updated but I haven't stopped reading.

The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller
Batman Dark Victory by Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
The Lost World by Sir Artur Conan Doyle
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddonn
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli
Persepolis by Marjane Satarpi

Now reading: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius.


----------



## Crazed Scribe

> The Catcher in the Rye by J.D.Salinge



I found the lack of plot quite strange in _Catcher_ but really enjoyable. Loved the narrative and character.

Just finished Alan Bennett's _Four Stories_ and loved his work so just started his _Untold Stories._


----------



## Danvok

Just finished Tay John by Howard O'Hagan for School. (Canadian Lit class, ugggh.)
Still working on Moby-Dick. (1/4 of the way through)
Working on Les Miserables in French. (Only two chapters in)
Nearly finished Walden and Other Wriitings by Thoreau.

To Beja Beja: Btw Persepolis, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Meditations are all good books.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Just finished 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never Be Published and 14 Reasons Why It Just Might, and still reading The Dragon Book, an anthology.


----------



## Ricky Jalapeno

I haven't read in a while but does an open Iron Man comic book under my bed count haha


----------



## Tom88

Just finished Ellis's Imperial Bedroom. Enjoyed it, though it was a little more detective-y than Less Than Zero. The general sense of paranoia was great, and the gratuitous final scenes were handled really well.

Now reading Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. I've only read The Pearl and Wayward Bus, but I'm beginning to really enjoy his style.


----------



## SoNickSays...

Decided to start reading _Lord of The Flies_ again. Definitely well written, but a lot of the allegories seem forced; in some places it's as though Golding is basing the character solely around the allegory he's created for them, rather than expressing how the child would act. But considering some of the gripping imagery and fluid narration, I can let him have that one problem.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Dragon Book

Now reading:
Making a Literary Life-Carolyn See
Crossroads of Twilight-Robert Jordan


----------



## caelum

syed2011 said:


> I am reading Malcolm gladwell's "Blink"


I read that one a few years ago.  For a non-fiction. . . meh.  I found it too wandering.  He sort of reviewed topics on sub-conscious thinking, and how we should trust our sub-conscious reflexes, but I didn't buy his arguments.  A stimulating read, though.


----------



## Daisy215

Emma by Jane Austen. I'm surprised with how much I'm liking it.


----------



## michaelangelo

the english language by David Crystal

for my lighter reading, Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories, H.P. Lovecraft


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Daisy215 said:


> Emma by Jane Austen. I'm surprised with how much I'm liking it.


 
I liked that one too. My favorite was Persuasion, though. I didn't like Northanger Abbey or Mansfield Park. Mansfield Park was _way_ too long.


----------



## wolfiesign

I'm reading Woods Runner by Gary Paulsen, as well as The Rifle, also by Gary Paulsen. The rifle is... Diffrent. Somehow I'm enjoying his works though. I think he's really big on guns though. Everything that I've read so far has a little something to do with guns.


----------



## badjoke

I'm reading The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie. I'm trying to read all of his books I haven't read and refresh my memory of the ones I haven't read in awhile before he comes to my city to do a reading in December. I'm pretty up and down on this one. At the start it just felt like he was building the story to a standard blueprint, many similarities but nothing to set apart from favorites like The Satanic Verses and my personal fave Midnight's Children. About a third through it kicked in, though, and now I'm devouring it.

I'm also reading How To Escape From A Leper Colony by Tiphanie Yanique for a class. It's a collection of short stories that was published earlier this year, and while it's an okay read, I'm not super impressed by it.


----------



## caelum

Just finished The Runaway Jury by John Grisham and immediately started the movie.  I stopped watching the movie about twenty minutes and deleted it, because it wasn't faithful to the book at all and because it generally sucked.  The bad corporation getting sued turned from a tobacco company to a firearm company, WTF, and the main antagonist changed from a shady defense supervisor to a damned jury consultant.  It lost all its flair for me.  Book was amazing, though, loads of fun and an awesome ending.


----------



## Bruno Spatola

I'm reading through Invisible Monsters by Chuck Palahniuk. . .and it's surprisingly good. I don't really want to spoil it but, it's basically about this hatred between a seemingly narcissistic transsexual and the rest of the world, and other things. . .and then it turns into something completely different. 

Hard to explain as you can tell, but I'm loving it.


----------



## The Backward OX

On Writing ~ Stephen King
One Hundred Years of Solitude ~ some Spaniard whose name I forget and I'm too tired to go and look
A Fraction of the Whole ~ Steve Toltz (thanks, Tom - I think)
Australian Writer's Marketplace ~ Queensland Writer's Centre


----------



## CharlesVer

Since my last post: 
(dates are date finished, numbering is, number book read/listened to this year.)

Finished on Audio book:

127.   Dinner at Mr. Jefferson’s by Charles   Cerami 9/22/10
             128. “E” is for Evidence by Sue   Grafton 9/23/10
             129. Pride Prejudice and Zombies (Dawn of the Dreadfuls) by
Steve   Hockensmith 9/26/10

Finished as regular book:
         130. Bullies Bastards and Bitches by Jessica Morrell 9/27/10
          131. The Catcher in the Rye byJ.D.Salinger 9/29/10

        I'm almost done with, and expect to finish today or tomorrow:

On Audio book:
         Thomas Jefferson the President, 2nd Term (V) byDumas Malone (this is part 5 of the 6 part "Jefferson and his Time" series)

Regular book:
          Blockade Billy (and Morality) byStephen King


Currently also reading:

         Frankenstein by Mary   Shelley

As soon as the Jefferson audio book is finished, on Audio, I next turn to:

         Classic Tales of Horror by Bram Stoker (et   al)
             The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis   Stevenson

And I plan to read an issue of Asimov's magazine before turning, perhaps to a book about agents and publishing.

Charlie


----------



## tommethew

Reading is my one of the favourite hobby. Right now I am reading The novel "One night At a Call Centre" by Chetan Bhagat. He is a great writer. One night at a call centre is a based on real life story. It is a thriller story book. I like the story of this novel. It is a interesting novel.


----------



## Tom88

Ugh, I hated Invisible Monsters. A strong case of vanity + a strong case of apathy X jumpy 'stylistic' shifts does not equal a good read for me.

The twist was pretty left-field, but that's about all I got from it.


----------



## gagoots

Wow, I just noticed this thread sitting there way up at the top.
Maybe I should list my books of 2010. Just because I should be writing, and technically, this is writing.

Abarat Vol 1 - Clive Barker (read to son)
You Shall Know Our Velocity - David Eggars
Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
Broom of the System - David Foster Wallace
Girl With Curious Hair (stories) - David FOster Wallace
The Unnamed - Joshua Ferris
Ghostwritten - David Michell
Roger's Version - John Updike
Oblivion (stories) - David Foster Wallace
Sirens of Titan - Vonnegut
This is Water - David Foster Wallace
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman (read to son)
Anathem - Neal Stephenson
Although of Course You End Up Becoming Yourself - David Lipsky
Black Swan Green - David Mitchell
Vineland - Thomas Pynchon
The Picture of Dorian Gray - Oscar Wilde
The Metamorphosis - Kafka
Don Quixote - Cervantes
The Dubliners - Joyce
Howl - Allen Ginsberg
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again - David Foster Wallace
The Trial - Kafka
People of the Book - Geraldine Brooks


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished Mockingjay. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't read it yet but I will say that I seriously feel drained after reading this book. My energy is completely sapped.


----------



## AuthorCC

I'm currently reading two books, haha.
I'm almost finished with The Big Empty by JB Stephens
And I've just started Speaker for the Dead by Orson Scott Card (which is the second book in a series called the Ender's Game series. By the way, awesome so far! I'd recommend it.)


----------



## CharlesVer

.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Making a Literary Life-Carolyn See
Crossroads of Twilight-Robert Jordan
The Tao of Writing-Ralph L. Wahlstrom
Blackbird House-Alice Hoffman
The Adventures of Johnny Bunko-Daniel H. Pink

Now reading:
Knife of Dreams-Robert Jordan
The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth-Ruth S. Noel


----------



## ash somers

When you are engulfed in flames by David Sedaris - it's a bit of a giggle


----------



## citygirl

I just finished reading two novels:  The Good Guy and: Relentless: by Dean Koontz


----------



## Mike

I'm about 200 pages from the end of Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand (which is 1200 or so pages long). Her book, The Fountainhead, is one of my all time favorites, and The Anthem wasn't all that bad, either. I don't know how I like this one. A lot of her ideas are repeating themselves over and over, kind of like how Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis got redundant in its theme as well. I also don't like how Rand overly describes simple gestures like a look or a glance or simply standing still. I will say that it's a book I will only read once.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth-Ruth S. Noel

Still reading:
Knife of Dreams-Robert Jordan


----------



## Tom88

Reading Mysterious Skins by Scott Heim. Very hard to stomach in places.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Degree of Guilt by Richard North Patterson


----------



## Cambyses

_Lord of the Rings_


----------



## citygirl

I am reading: "Heart of Honor," by Kat Martin.  I usually do not read novels like this one, but for lack of time, I just gabbed the first novel that I saw, and left.  It has been sitting around my house for a time, but then I decided to pick it up and see what it was about.  It is a spicy romance...lol but well written.


----------



## Paul J Raimi

I am currently reading Under The Dome by Stephen King. Awesome.


----------



## KangTheMad

Paul J Raimi said:


> I am currently reading Under The Dome by Stephen King. Awesome.



I loved that book. Very well written, and it had me going until the very end. How far in are you?


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Cambyses said:
			
		

> Lord of the Rings



Like. 

Finished:
Knife of Dreams-Robert Jordan

Now reading:
Trader-Charles de Lint


----------



## Bilston Blue

I'm halfway through Ernest Hemingway's first forty-nine stories, and thoroughly enjoying it, if not for all of the stories then just enjoying the way the man wrote. Reading Hemingway has influenced my sentence structure; fewer full stops and comma's and more 'ands' and more colons and semi-colons and learning to write with rhythm and flow and... well, you get the idea. The guy is seriously good and I can't believe it took me 35 years of my ordinary life to discover his work.


----------



## Cory Lamontagne

I am currently reading:

The Liar by Stephen Fry
My System (chess classics) by Aron Nimzowitsch
Telling Lies by Paul Eckman
Difficult Conversations by Douglas Stone
The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle

only one of them is a novel. I tend to read more non-fiction.


----------



## Scarlett_156

_Retribution: The Battle for Japan, 1944-45_, by Max Hastings.  DAMN this is a good book!  It's so well-written, it's almost like a novel to read.  Smudge is reading it so he carries it around all day and I am only reading it in bits and pieces right now, but he'll be done with it soon.


----------



## sailorguitar

Roberto Bolano, William Faulkner, Bohumil Hrabal, Iaian Banks.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Purgatorio - Dante Alighieri


----------



## Branlees

I have never tried to read several titles at once, maybe two at most.  I enjoy staying focused on one story.  I also enjoy being extreme.    I am reading Terry Brooks and his Shannara trilogy ( initial trilogy ).  The first two books kept me glued, although it did mirror LOTR.  This third book, The Wishsong of Shannara, it just feels like a clone of the first two; which the trilogy seems like a clone of LOTR.  On to the Mistborn series by Robert Sanderson.


----------



## DELFIA

Just finished James Frey's *My Friend Leonard.*

Beautiful book, amazing story, no matter how true it actually is.


----------



## TWErvin2

I am rereading *50 Weapons that Change Warfare* by William Weir.


----------



## Heid

I've picked up Mil Millington's 'A Certain Chemistry' ready to roll when I get back from work. If it's half as funny as his last book I'll be a happy chappy


----------



## Tom88

I am reading *The Elegance of the Hedgehog* as a favour to my girlfriend. So far so good.


----------



## Nick

I'm hoping Father Christmas might bring me Oryx & Crake, by Margaret Atwood. I've been told it's a classic, but I'd never heard of it. Has anyone else read it?


----------



## AmandaC

RE-reading Tale of Two Cities


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Nick said:
			
		

> I'm hoping Father Christmas might bring me Oryx & Crake, by Margaret Atwood. I've been told it's a classic, but I'd never heard of it. Has anyone else read it?



I've read it, and I really liked it. It's a really cool book.

Finished:
Trader-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
The Gathering Storm-Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Gathering Storm-Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson

Now reading:
The Wild Wood-Charles de Lint


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Wild Wood-Charles de Lint

Next up:
Towers of Midnight-Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson


----------



## shadows

Margaret Atwood is on my to-read list.  I have Handmaid's Tale sitting on my bookshelf.  At the moment I'm reading Darren Shan - The Thin Executioner but I don't much care for the main character which is giving me a bit of a problem.


----------



## Nick

I was at the local library, and it crossed my mind that I'd never even read Brave New World. That's what's in my hands at the moment. I have a christmas deadline, which shouldn't be too hard.


----------



## Katie D

Jessica - Bryce Courtenay


----------



## ash somers

Mary Ann in Autumn by Armistead Maupin


----------



## Guy Faukes

Nick said:


> I was at the local library, and it crossed my mind that I'd never even read Brave New World. That's what's in my hands at the moment. I have a christmas deadline, which shouldn't be too hard.


 
T'is a good book, along the lines of 1984 and Animal Farm. 



I'm reading "Of Human Bondage" right now. Tried to start "Don Quixote", but couldn't get through the first few pages .


----------



## Elynae

Lately, I have read "Animal Farm" (George Orwell) and "The Physicists" (Friedrich Dürrenmatt).
Now I have started "Iron in the Soul" (Jean-Paul Sartre) and plan to reread Arthur C. Clarke's "Rendezvous with Rama" soon.
These books I would recommend (well, "Iron in the Soul" looks good so far; I will be able to say more when I am finished).


----------



## Vertigo

Currently, I'm working on Jordan's The Shadow Rising, which I'm hoping to finish soon because I really don't like it that much. Too long, too winding, too... well, it reminds me too much of Goodkind's stuff, which is even worse.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Still reading:
Towers of Midnight-Robert Jordan

Now also reading:
The Alchemist-Paulo Coelho


----------



## pskl

Currently working on:

The Ethical Brain
The Name of the Rose
The Tao of Poker
Shadow of the Hegemon


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Alchemist-Paulo Coelho

Still reading:
Towers of Midnight-Robert Jordan


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Update

Still reading:
Towers of Midnight-Robert Jordan

Added:
In the Forests of Serre-Patricia A. McKillip


----------



## caelum

guy_faukes said:


> T'is a good book, along the lines of 1984 and Animal Farm.


 
I'm a big fan of the author, Aldous Huxley.  A very anti-establishment, invigourating writer.  I've read a few of his novels and short stories but not Brave New World, but I have it with me and plan on getting to it before the year is out.

Reading _Tales to Tremble By_, by a whole lot of people.  So far only liked _The Hand_ by _Guy de Maupassant_.


----------



## Mistique

'Her fearful symmetry' by Audrey Niffenegger. I must say so far I am loving it, but then again I also loved her first book 'The time Traveler's wife.'


----------



## Fiachra

I got my copy of "Fatherland" by Robert Harris off my sister for Christmas this year - a few days early, I know. It's set in 1960s Germany, where the Nazis won world war two.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
In the Forests of Serre-Patricia A. McKillip

Reading:
Towers of Midnight-Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson
Into the Green-Charles de Lint


----------



## Elynae

Finished:
Cornelia Funke - Reckless
That was rather mediocre than anything else - the idea of the storyline seemed good for a work of fantasy, but the way it was put into writing - seemed hurried at parts, very flat characters, the world in general not well described. I've read better stuff by the same author.

Reading:
George Orwell - 1984
So far, very good.
Aldous Huxley - Brave New World
I read this a few years ago, rereading now because I have greater interest in dystopia. I did enjoy it the first time though, and thinking back, the storyline and characters were very good. 
This time I'll pay greater attention to detail than last time.


----------



## shadows

I have just started reading Reckless but so far I too am finding it mediocre.  It almost feels like a sequel in that we miss about five years worth of Jacob exploring the world through the mirror.


----------



## Elynae

Actually, I could have coped with that if it was done the right way - it would have been interesting to hear about his past actions from other character's reactions when they meet him, discussions between the antagonists, thoughts of others about him etc. - this way, you could have slowly gained knowledge about him and understand his character more, which would have been an interesting approach. Sadly, this wasn't present either, therefore I agree with you on this. 
Another thing was that the world was not described well when Jacob entered it five years later - it seemed as if it was assumed that the reader had Jacob's knowledge.


----------



## QueenBee2015

Three right now:

The Jungle - Upton Sinclair
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck

The two above are for school.  The next one is for fun.

The Portrait of a Lady - Henry James


----------



## Bilston Blue

A collection of short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I've read two so far and am eager for more. _Head and Shoulders_ is quite wonderful, and has encouraged me to think of the concept before the story when I'm writing short stories.


----------



## Tom88

A Life Raised High, it's a J.D. Salinger biography. Pretty insightful, particularly the parts about his WWII days.


----------



## Elynae

After reading _The Physicists _by Dürrenmatt, I decided I would read more by the author -  _The Judge and his Hangman_. It was very good - especially the characters were complex and well-made - and though I've never been into detective stories much, it was worth reading. 
I will start _Time Machine _tonight.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Into the Green-Charles de Lint

Reading:
Towers of Midnight-Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson
Od Magic-Patricia A. McKillip


----------



## KaitlinMorrow

I might start reading the book _The Screwtape Letters_ by C.S. Lewis.  it's a very good read, or so I've heard. My mom even recommended it. Shocker.


----------



## Adeline Addison

Right now I'm in the middle of The Case of Charles Dexter Ward by HP Lovecraft, out of the Lovecraft: Tales, from the American Heritage series.   The last book I read waaaaaas...  One Hundred Years of Solitude by GG Marquez.  Next on my reading list is probably...  hm.  I keep hearing the Diskworld (Disk World? DiskWorld? For some reason I want to spell Disk 'disc' today...  Isn't is strange when you realize you have only ever heard a word and not ever noticed it in print?) series is a lot of fun, but I don't know the name of the author off the top of my head.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

It is Disc, and the author is Terry Pratchett. 

Finished:
Od Magic-Patricia A. McKillip

Reading:
Towers of Midnight-Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson


----------



## garza

_Traitor to His Class_, H.W. Brands, Doubleday, 2008, New York.

This is a biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who was greatly admired by both my grandfathers and all but worshiped by my father.


----------



## Insouciantly

I just recently finished _The Elegance of the Hedgehog_ by Muriel Barbery, and loved it, so decided to move on to her debut novel, _Gourmet Rhapsody_.


----------



## Tsaeb XIII

Just finished reading the James Bond series, and currently reading (well, rereading, but it'd be a better part of a decade since I last read it) Batman: No Man's Land. The Bond series was interesting, and although the writing wasn't exactly spectacular the storylines generally were. As for NML, well, it actually is written fairly well, and has a more than solid storyline to help its cause.


----------



## caelum

Just finished _Brave New World_ by Aldous Huxley, probably his most well-known novel depicting a future where people are grown in factories and heavily indoctrinated from birth to fit into their assigned niches.

I have a few problems with this book.  I'm a fan of Aldous Huxley, read a few of his novels and shorts, but like all his stuff I found it too self-absorbed, bitter, and boring, however intellectually stimulating.  Also, strangely focused on sex.  Not a page goes by without talk of the future's sex life.

There's a few "Author in Disguise" characters right from the start, in his case introverts who hate most people.  There's too many Shakespeare references, and I don't quite buy that two people in the future would know so much Shakespeare by heart.

You know, I really question the motivations of Aldous Huxley, because he seems more interested in disgusting people than musing on the themes, let alone delivering a story.  The story is like all Aldous stories, lots of conversations and rants and Shakespeare references.

Also, his vision of the future was bland and strange.  Didn't thrill me.  Some of the logic was faulty.  There's all these ranks of people, right—Alphas, Betas, Deltas, etc.—and the lower castes exist to do the grunt labour of society.  Okay, but then in the book it says new technology hasn't been implemented so that the grunts can continue labouring.  Why not implement the new technology, and do away with the lower caste slaves, HUH?  There were a few other logical alarm bells ringing, but still a decent read.


----------



## garza

Adeline Addison - If you abbreviate one of a person's _apellidos_, or surnames, you must abbreviate both. In your reference to Gabriel García-Márquez you abbreviated his father's first apellido, García, but not his mother's first apellido, Márquez. 

Note that García and Garcia are two different names, pronounced differently, and that Garza is a corruption of Garcia.


----------



## Adeline Addison

garza said:


> Adeline Addison - If you abbreviate one of a person's _apellidos_, or surnames, you must abbreviate both. In your reference to Gabriel García-Márquez you abbreviated his father's first apellido, García, but not his mother's first apellido, Márquez.
> 
> Note that García and Garcia are two different names, pronounced differently, and that Garza is a corruption of Garcia.


 
Uh... (pulls finger out of nose). Kay.  I just didn't want to butcher the spelling off hand- I figured the initials and the last name along with the title would be enough if someone was looking to google it.  Sorry if I offended your honor or something.  I love names, but I've failed spanish every class for ten years, I figured simpler was safer.

On Topic: I have a bad habit of reading more than one book at once, but I found an old hardbound copy of At the Back of the North Wind by George Macdonald and I think it might be a pleseant break from Lovecraft- no matter how much I adore him.  I read this as a kid and loved it.  I wonder how it will be now I'm a grownup.  I'm worried I might not like it as much...


----------



## garza

Adeline Addison - Márquez is not his 'last name'. It's his mother's first surname. To refer to him using his mother's name is very much incorrect. If you refer to him by his father's first surname you would not be exactly correct, but in line with much of the way the press reports a person with a hyphenated name. Thus on second reference in a news story Gabriel García-Márquez can be referred to as García, but never, ever, as Márquez. 

And don't feel lonesome about not fully understanding how this works. Whenever I give my name to a person who is accustomed to the English style of a single surname derived from the father's surname, I have to go through the same explanation. I have a friend who has simplified it for herself by using the initials of my first and second names, Ricardo Eugénio, thus calling me R-E and leaving my other three names for someone else to sort out.

When in doubt about the use of a name, best thing is to use the whole thing. This is especially true of Spanish, Russian, and Oriental names.

You may or may not enjoy _At the Back of the North Wind_ as much as you did as a child, but I can assure you of one thing; you will never enjoy it in the same way. I remember reading _Call of the Wild_ by Jack London when I was about ten. I decided it was the best book ever written and London displaced Albert Payson Terhune as my favourite author. I've read _Call of the Wild_ a couple of times as an adult and enjoyed it, but the magic I found as a child is no longer there. All the characters are seen in a different light.

And poor Terhune has suffered badly. At eight and nine I read and re-read all his books. Now I wonder how they could have seemed so great. 

Now that you've read _Cien años de soledad_ may I recommend another masterpiece by García-Márquez? _El amor en los tiempos del coléra_ (_Love in the Time of Cholera_). Just as London displaced Terhune when I was a child, so now García-Márquez has displaced Faulkner.


----------



## Tom88

caelum said:


> You know, I really question the motivations of Aldous Huxley, because he seems more interested in disgusting people than musing on the themes, let alone delivering a story.  The story is like all Aldous stories, lots of conversations and rants and Shakespeare references.
> 
> Also, his vision of the future was bland and strange.  Didn't thrill me.  Some of the logic was faulty.  There's all these ranks of people, right—Alphas, Betas, Deltas, etc.—and the lower castes exist to do the grunt labour of society.  Okay, but then in the book it says new technology hasn't been implemented so that the grunts can continue labouring.  Why not implement the new technology, and do away with the lower caste slaves, HUH?  There were a few other logical alarm bells ringing, but still a decent read.


 
I feel the same way, that was why I was confused when you once recommended him to me (citing his philosophical meanderings as interesting), but I can't fairly comment because Brave New World is my only experience with him and I didn't think much of it. It didn't help that I read it and 1984 almost back-to-back. I've been told not to draw comparisons, but it was difficult not to. 1984 is a different novel, particularly in tone, but still I found it to be in another league to Brave New World. Bernard being an unlikeable sourpuss didn't help.


Anyway, I just read '_Of Mice and Men_' in a single sitting, which I almost never do (I'm a terribly slow reader). I thought it was beautiful, and can't recommend it highly enough. I thought I liked Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' and 'Wayward Bus', but man, his short fiction is brilliant too (also liked 'The Pearl').

About a hundred pages into Brett Easton Ellis's '_Rules of Attraction_'. Pretty damn stylish in the format department, and Ellis sure can speak in the language of the spoilt, affluent young. I like it. (Been plowing through books lately, I wonder why that is?)


----------



## Adeline Addison

Full names if you don't know how it works: check.  Good to know I'll make a point of remembering.  I have heard of Love in the Time of Cholera, I'll keep an eye out for it.  I might have to order it online, our town is...  very small.  Like, we have a grocery store and a barber shop- the nearest library is the next town over.  XD


----------



## Tom88

And to the new user on the previous page who actually enjoyed 'The Elegance of the Hedgehog' I say congratulations. I couldn't find a plot amongst all the banal, ultra-pretentious intellectual elitism. I really tried to enjoy it, because it came highly recommended to me, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that both the old woman and the little girl were thinly disguised versions of the author herself, who used them to belittle every insignificant facet of society that she herself had a problem with.

I'm not being argumentative (well, I'm not trying to be anyway), but what did you enjoy about it, other than the occasionally neat turn of phrase?


----------



## caelum

Tom88 said:


> I feel the same way, that was why I was confused when you once recommended him to me (citing his philosophical meanderings as interesting), but I can't fairly comment because Brave New World is my only experience with him and I didn't think much of it. It didn't help that I read it and 1984 almost back-to-back. I've been told not to draw comparisons, but it was difficult not to. 1984 is a different novel, particularly in tone, but still I found it to be in another league to Brave New World. Bernard being an unlikeable sourpuss didn't help.


 
Some of his stuff is pretty good.  I really enjoyed Point Counter Point though it suffered from some of the same issues.  Bernard was unlikable to me as well, whiney little biatch.  My favourite character was Mustapha Mond because I like the name and because he was an imperial asshole.  I've never read 1984 but it's on my to-read list, heard a lot of good things.  I've read Of Mice of Men but not Grapes of Wrath, though I actually have it and mean to dig into it.


----------



## CFFTB

> but not Grapes of Wrath, though I actually have it and mean to dig into it.


 
Please do. You will not be disappointed. It is definitely a must-keep. If chapter 25 doesn't cinch it for you I don't know what will.


----------



## Guy Faukes

And you probably have to sequester the book from another library. Know how that is.

Started the Millenium Trilogy as I put down "Of Human Bondage" for a bit. Philip's pathetic fixation with Mildred makes me wanna wring his neck.


----------



## gagoots

I'm just finishing my first go-round with Cat's Cradle. Good little book. Great House is next, followed by Blood Meridian. I've challenged myself on goodreads.com to read 35 novels this year. I did 31 in 2010.


----------



## BIORD

I'm not reading anything currently, unfortunately.

However, soon I'm going to be reading Aksel Sandemose's "A Fugitive Crosses His Tracks", which is said to be somewhat of a nordic literary masterpiece. As far as I've read there was talks of him receiving the nobel prize in literature back when the book came out (it was published in 1933), so needless to say I'm really looking forward to reading it. I'm going to be reading it in Danish.


----------



## ash somers

i'm reading about the floods in Brazil, 
QLD and Victoria @ the age online tonight ...
and today i finally finished reading the Tao Te Ching


----------



## Luckystars1987

I have just finished reading the Twilight lot, and have finished Stephen King's The Stand. 
I have alot on my shelves that are waiting to be read that i just don't have the interest for at the moment, mainly chicklit (bit of easy bed time reading)

I am looking for new authors and wondered if anyone had any suggestions, i generally read anything but am swaying towards sci fi/fantasy at the moment.


----------



## Jenwales

Well I am a bit of a serial reader. I tend to read more than one book at once. Let me explain: I will read one and get bored, so I'll start to read another one. Then I might find another one. I've jsut finished Let The Right One In. I am getting to the end of The Return Of The King. I have started reading a book called Shadow Land (I think!) by Carlos Ruiz Rafon- I enjoyed his other book Angels' Game. I am alsr reading John Barrowman's autobiography- the second one I am what I am. 
I have always read this many books, I don't recommend it though, one always takes ages to read. But I really can't read just one.


----------



## BIORD

Sounds like a bit of an ADD-reader! :-D


----------



## Luckystars1987

i'm a bit like that Jenwales, I go through phases where I will have 3 on the go at one time


----------



## Hawke

> What are you reading?



I'm reading works and posts on WF! 

Just saying.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Same here! 

Actually, I'm reading books too.

Just finished:
Towers of Midnight-Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson

Now reading:
The Little Country-Charles de Lint
New Spring-Robert Jordan


----------



## QueenBee2015

Oedipus Rex - Sophocles (AP English)
The Gormenghast Novels - Mervyn Peake
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - Jules Verne


----------



## Bilston Blue

Just read Susan Hill's 'The Woman in Black' and 'The Man in the Picture,' and the second was probably the better of the two. Both very simple stories, but chilling in places; and I'll give the authoress one thing, she likes a comma; her sentences go on forever.


----------



## Bruno Spatola

Has anyone here read _The Box Man_ by Kobo Abe? I'm not sure if I should buy it, because the reviews are pretty polarized on the net. Some say it's a masterpiece, some say it's a confusing heap of excrement. . .or, words to that effect .


----------



## spider8

QueenBee2015 said:


> The Gormenghast Novels - Mervyn Peake


For years and years I've nearly read these books. Let me know what you think of them.


----------



## spider8

Bilston Blue said:


> Just read Susan Hill's 'The Woman in Black'


I'm going to see the play in London soon. Let me know what you think.

btw Hammer have _The Woman in Black_ starring Daniel Radcliffe out this year.


----------



## spider8

Just read _The Lovely Bones_ in 24 hours. What a beautiful, but depressing book. A bit like the film _Schindlers List_ (...would love to say _Schindlers Ark_, but never read it.)


----------



## shortywriter

Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand


----------



## Tom88

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
New Spring-Robert Jordan
The Little Country-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
Ombria in Shadow-Patricia A. McKillip


----------



## Lamperoux

Dante's Paradisio
i'm determined to finish the entire divine comedy and i'm at the last stretch.


----------



## shortywriter

As I Lay Dying-William Faulkner


----------



## TheFuhrer02

I'm currently reading Ludlum's The Altman Code


----------



## bazz cargo

micromart
homequest liberation by j e browning       first timer, and she self published
anything by sir terry of pratchett
as much as i can on this forum
do you remember roger zelazney ?


----------



## InsanityStrickenWriter

I'm reading Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell.

Also been trying to read The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan for about a year now, but it constantly loses my interest, I'm only on page 59 . I'm determined to finish it at some point though. 

After Sword Song I'll probably try the mountain of Terry Pratchett books that exist, starting with Colour of Magic.


----------



## spider8

just finished _Beatrice and Virgil_ by Yann Martell. Excellent.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Ombria in Shadow-Patricia A. McKillip

Now reading:
The Magicians-Lev Grossman


----------



## Nick

'Seeing Stars' by Simon Armitage has just arrived. It's one of his poetry-prose books, full of small dramatic monologues and tall tales. I've read a couple, and I already love how he writes, and trying to peel away the layers to find the meaning in the writing (like with poetry).


----------



## TheFuhrer02

I'm near to finishing Ludlum's The Altman Code. I'll be reading his The Paris Option next.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. Just recently started reading this. So good so far! And tonight, I'm going to go meet and talk with the author! Yay!!!!!


----------



## Bilston Blue

Reading Stephen King's _Full Dark, No Stars._ It's like returning to an old lover, that's former, not aged; or perhaps a pair of cosy slippers is more appropriate. Either way, I'm liking it.


----------



## Bilston Blue

spider8 said:


> I'm going to see the play in London soon. Let me know what you think.
> 
> btw Hammer have _The Woman in Black_ starring Daniel Radcliffe out this year.


 
I thought the book was good, though I'm not usually found reading ghost stories. It was interesting to see the original film stuck very closely to the book, and as I saw the film years ago, and again recently, I was reading more out of curiosity. Surprising to find how short the novel is. It will be interesting to see what they do with the new film, though I imagine it will be difficult to beat the atmospherics of the original. 

Have you seen the show yet? I've read some reviews which said how scary it was, and how well it was done.

Scott


----------



## Tom88

Bliston Blue, is that one short stories or novellas? I've only read Everything's Eventual, but I'm keen to sink my teeth into more of his shorter fiction...


----------



## caelum

I'm about a third the way through Moby Dick.  Read it once before when I was 19.  My opinion of it hasn't changed.  Simply genius.


----------



## Bilston Blue

Tom88 said:


> Bliston Blue, is that one short stories or novellas? I've only read Everything's Eventual, but I'm keen to sink my teeth into more of his shorter fiction...


 
There are four stories, the longest isn't novella length, but is more than a short story. The shortest is about thirty pages long. Think along the lines of _Different Seasons_ and you're somewhere near the mark.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Magicians-Lev Grossman

Now reading:
Blackbringer-Laini Taylor


----------



## nae411

I just finished "Yesterday I cried" by Iyanla Vanzant and now I just started "In the Meantime". She is a powerful speaker. I am really getting into her books.


----------



## bazz cargo

Enjoyed
Shadowman by Neuroaxion
Picture 470 by Mytalkingbird
Any recommendations ?

free the pengiun


----------



## Bilston Blue

bazz cargo said:


> Any recommendations ?


 
Hi Bazz

to answer your question directly, you could try a story I posted a couple of weeks back, for which I'm looking for feedback on any aspect before deciding if or where I'll submit it. I'll send you a pm, as I don't think I'm allowed to promote the piece apart from posting it. In return I'd be more than happy to read anything you post (fiction).

Scott.


----------



## catbehaviors

Just finished Dewey: A Small Town Library Cat Who Changed the World, and will be starting O' Pioneers!
Dewey is a great read for cat lovers.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Blackbringer-Laini Taylor

Now reading:
Silksinger-Laini Taylor


----------



## Bruno Spatola

At the Mountains of Madness by H.P. Lovecraft


----------



## TheFuhrer02

I'm suddenly wanting to read a Coelho. Any recommendations?


----------



## Bilston Blue

Just started Sarah Blake's _The Postmistress._


----------



## Shirley S. Bracken

Just finished "The Help".  It's very good.


----------



## Mr mitchell

I am reading: the killing floor by Lee chlid


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Decided not to continue my Paris Option reading. I've decided to start on Alighieri's Purgatorio instead.


----------



## S1E9A8N5

"Blind Faith" by Ben Elton.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

TheFuhrer02 said:


> I'm suddenly wanting to read a Coelho. Any recommendations?


 
Over Christmas break I read The Alchemist. Took me only a couple hours to read.

Finished:
Silksinger-Laini Taylor

Now reading:
Spearwielder's Tale-R.A. Salvatore


----------



## Bilston Blue

Bilston Blue said:


> Just started Sarah Blake's _The Postmistress._


 
And my, it didn't disappoint. Such elegant use of words. A wonderful story. She cuts her characters open so we can see what is in their heads and their hearts and what drives them through the story, and paints pictures with words so delicately.

:thumbl:


----------



## TheFuhrer02

VinrAlfakyn said:


> Over Christmas break I read The Alchemist. Took me only a couple hours to read.


 
I was already able to read The Alchemist. Still, thanks! 

Just finished reading Letter to Menoeceus by Epicurus.


----------



## Smaddux

I actually just started the twilight books. Apparently I have been 'missing out' on a lot. I don't know if I agree yet. Yikes!


----------



## Guy Faukes

VinrAlfakyn said:


> Now reading:
> Spearwielder's Tale-R.A. Salvatore


 
I like some fantasy, but can't stand the way Salva writes his books for some reason.


----------



## catbehaviors

Currently I'm reading O' Pioneers by Willa Cather.  It's a great book so far! :grin:


----------



## Dustin Lloyd

I'm currently reading 'Salem's Lot by Stephen King. I'm a little behind, but I've never read any of his books, despite people constantly telling me I'd love his work. They were right. So far, it's an excellent piece of work.


----------



## Leyline

Just  finished: _Horns_ by Joe Hill --  the best horror novel I've read in  ages. Hill is rapidly becoming the king of the genre (no pun intended)  and it's due to his ability to ground the terror and terrible things in  real emotions. Even more than a horror novel, _Horns_ is a deeply sad  work, an actual tragedy -- yet it finishes on a note of triumph without a  hint of artificiality. It's not a downer, either: the MC gives a flat-out brilliant sermon on the  true meaning of the devil -- to a bunch of snakes -- that's inspiring,  thoughtful and hilarious at the same time. One of the novel's  high-points. Fantastic shit, highly recommended.


----------



## Jinxi

I have just finished Tess Gerritsen 'Girl Missing'. I thoroughly enjoy all of Gerritsen's books, but was a little disappointed with the ending of this one. 

I have now started 'Girl with a Dragon Tattoo'. It is a slow read in the beginning, but I am about 150 pages in and it is starting to pick up pace.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Sigh. Postponed reading Purgatorio and opted to read Josenberg's Inside the Revolution. Hopefully, I'll finish this one.


----------



## Kiz-zy

Leyline said:


> Just  finished: _Horns_ by Joe Hill --  the best horror novel I've read in  ages. Hill is rapidly becoming the king of the genre (no pun intended)  and it's due to his ability to ground the terror and terrible things in  real emotions. Even more than a horror novel, _Horns_ is a deeply sad  work, an actual tragedy -- yet it finishes on a note of triumph without a  hint of artificiality. It's not a downer, either: the MC gives a flat-out brilliant sermon on the  true meaning of the devil -- to a bunch of snakes -- that's inspiring,  thoughtful and hilarious at the same time. One of the novel's  high-points. Fantastic shit, highly recommended.



I really liked his Heart Shaped Box book!


----------



## Kiz-zy

Anything and everything by Karen Slaughter and Lisa Unger


----------



## caelum

Reading: _You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News_ by the editors and contributers of Cracked.com.  Awesome site, awesome book.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

^ Is that en e-book sort of thing? Or is there a physical copy available?


----------



## caelum

It's a real book, but it's just like the site in how it's all articles on random topics, usually serious in subject matter but humorous in delivery.  I only discovered this Cracked site a little while ago and was simply having a blast reading their articles, so when I found out they had their own book I made a point of getting one.  Very entertaining and insightful so far.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

^ I'll try searching for it at the local bookstore. Looks really interesting.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

guy_faukes said:


> I like some fantasy, but can't stand the way Salva writes his books for some reason.



It's the only thing by Salvatore I ever read, and it was just all right. That one of the characters was a leprechaun was the best thing about it.

Finished:
Spearwielder's Tale-R.A. Salvatore
Alphabet of Thorn-Patricia A. McKillip

Now reading:
The Invisible Ring-Anne Bishop


----------



## Bruno Spatola

I feel the same way about Terry Pratchett's work, just can't stand the way he writes to be honest. I've tried to read _The Hogfather_, _The Colour of Magic_, _Mort_, _Guards! Guards!_ etc., couldn't get past page 40 with any of them; a real struggle, in my opinion. Ah well, it happens. We all react differently to different styles. He certainly has a unique way with words, that's undeniable; wonderful imagination. 

I'm reading _Alice in Wonderland_. Never read it before, liking it so far, although the wording is very strange. I'm still not used to it, but it's good. Alice is such a likeable heroine, I have a strange affinity with her.


----------



## AnthonyJones

I recently finished Black and White by David Volponi. I still can't believe the ending. Any of you read it?


----------



## spider8

Bruno Spatola said:


> I feel the same way about Terry Pratchett's work, just can't stand the way he writes to be honest. I've tried to read _The Hogfather_, _The Colour of Magic_, _Mort_, _Guards! Guards!_ etc., couldn't get past page 40 with any of them; a real struggle, in my opinion.


That's better than me. I couldn't get past ten pages of _Guards! Guards!_
Never picked up a Pratchet again.

I read _The White Tiger_ last week. Very good.
I read _Juliet Naked_ by Nick Hornby in 16 hours because I couldn't put it down. Brilliant, but a little depressing. I started at 10pm Sunday night and stayed up all night, finished it at 2pm monday afternoon.


----------



## yingguoren

Anonymous said:


> Must reads:
> Everything by Tolkien, HG Wells, Wilde, Shaw, Dumas, F.S. Fitzgerald, Hemingway, H. Rider Haggard, GK Chesterton
> 
> Kafka scared me half to death with The Metamorphosis.
> 
> Currently, I want to read and finish reading, as opposed to can actually afford the time to read: Tom Jones, Faust, and The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay


 
Reading the Adventures of Kavalier and Clay gave me a love for Michael Chabon. It is the best, and best written, piece of modern fiction that I've read in a while. You might also be interested in another of his novels called Wonder Boys. It is about an author who is struggling to write his masterpiece. It goes in quite some depth into the process of writing and is a book that all writers and would-be writers should read.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Invisible Ring-Anne Bishop

Now reading:
The Book of Atrix Wolfe-Patricia A. McKillip


----------



## Tom88

Lunar Park by Bret Easton Ellis. Really, really clever premise and very rewarding to longtime readers of his.


----------



## MJ Preston

*Three Day Road - by Joseph Boyden*:5stars:

Boyden's tale of Xavier Bird the Cree soldier who returns from the Great War less a leg and addicted to morphine. His Aunt Niska collects him and paddles north as they both recall their past and the uncertainty of their future. So far it is outstanding!

*Under the Dome - by Stephen King*:3stars:

King's Sci-Fi story of a town (surprisingly in Maine) that has suddenly been enveloped by a force field. So far it moves with an interesting pace, although I found a few parts recycled from some of King's other works.


----------



## JennyBeanses

Right now I'm reading Isn't it Necromantic by C.I. Bond. It's interesting. Not the type of book I typically read, but the author gifted me a copy and I'm enjoying it for the most part. I'm gearing up to finally read Game of Thrones, so everything else I've been reading hasn't been getting my full enthusiasm and attention. Poor, suffering other books.


----------



## BipBopRealGoodNop

I'm not particularly a fiction-y person (unless it's writing for television). I'm loosely looking at 'A Dog called Grk' by Joshua Doder.

I'm also reading Ronnie Barker's All I Ever Wrote and I'm about to start reading Ronnie Corbett's autobiography, High Hopes. (like the pun)


----------



## Shan

I have a couple books I've started reading right now, but I have to say anything by John Grisham, Maeve Binchy, and Jan Karon I'll read.  I'm reading Sense and Sensibility, because I need to challenge myself once in a while with the language of the book.  My bookcase is full of Dickens, Twain, Poe and Austen.  I love having a variety in my own personal library!


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Book of Atrix Wolfe-Patricia A. McKillip
The Shadow Queen-Anne Bishop

Now reading:
The City of Dreaming Books-Walter Moers


----------



## _ Ellie _ Sinclair _

The Enchantment Emporium - Tanya Huff

Have now finished this one and working on  "Peaches & Screams" - G.A. McKevett
I read way to much I sometimes wish It took me more then four hours to read a book.  However I have been getting better at only reading one a day.


----------



## gagoots

_Slaughterhouse-Five_ and after that T_he Pale King_.


----------



## spider8

I just finished _Juliet Naked_ by Nick Hornby. Not his best but still good. Now reading _Paying the Pri_ce by Janie Bolitho.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Currently reading Steve Martini's _Shadow of Power_.


----------



## LuciaStar

_Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes_ by Edith Hamilton
I've read parts of it from the library copy I had and didn't catch onto the fact that it was basically the same book until I looked into the Dionysus section of it and realized "Oh hey, this is the same book I had from the library."
Well instead of reading parts of it, I'm reading most of the whole thing to help me get back into the habit of reading. :C


----------



## PageOfCups

Night Chills by Dean Koontz. It's not too bad, an easy read that you don't have to put much thought into (in fact it's another one where if you know anything about science/psychology I'd recomend purposefully not thinking). I was a bit disapointed to find out there was nothing supernatural about it when it seemed like there would be from the blurb.


----------



## Somnium Shadow

I'm currently reading _All Around the Town_ by Mary Higgins Clark.  I've ready it many time as it's my favorite book, it's been a while so I thought it would be a good time to go ahead and read it again.


----------



## Bruno Spatola

I'm reading _The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_. Only on page 25, but it's been great so far. I'm attempting to read a bunch of "classics" to try and broaden my. . .taste?

I've finished the two main _Alice in Wonderland_ books, _1984_; I plan to read all of the OZ books, Peter Pan, etc. Any other classics I should get? Some recommendations would be really helpful .


----------



## Unbrokenkiss

_The Lord of the Rings _- I ended up re-reading all three of these books in a day.


----------



## spider8

Bruno Spatola said:


> I'm reading _The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe_. Only on page 25, but it's been great so far. I'm attempting to read a bunch of "classics" to try and broaden my. . .taste?
> 
> I've finished the two main _Alice in Wonderland_ books, _1984_; I plan to read all of the OZ books, Peter Pan, etc. Any other classics I should get? Some recommendations would be really helpful .



I'd recommend _The Woman in White_ by Wilkie Collins - thought of as being the first 'sensation'  novel. Because he and Charles Dickens used to write supplements for a fortnightly magazine, he tried to end each section with a hook, the precursor of todays hooks at the end of thrillers. Beautifully and simply written too.

I'll list a few for variety:

_Perfume_ by Patrick Suskind (forget about the film)
_The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists_ by Robert Tressel
_Magician_ by Raymond E. Feist
_A Tale of Two Cities_ by Charles Dickens

Incidentally, I notice Jean M. Auel's book _The Land of Painted Caves_ is just out. Sixth one is supposed to be the last one. A long wait since the first came out in 1980.

For one year, a friend and I read over fifty classics each for fun. It was like a new window opened. Hope you have as much fun.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The City of Dreaming Books-Walter Moers

Now reading:
The Tower at Stony Wood-Patricia A. McKillip


----------



## ppsage

Something called _Mojo: Conjure stories_, edited by Nalo Hopkinson. Published 2003. 'Stories of magic from the black diaspora.' A chance, random-shelf-browsing discovery. Very much enjoying this. Will be looking for other work by some of the contributors. pp


----------



## TheFuhrer02

I just finished reading Antoine de Saint-Exupery's _The Little Prince_. I know, I'm supposed to have been able to read the thing long ago, but I haven't actually been able to buy a copy until recently.

And I was not to be disappointed by that purchase. Saint-Exupery's allegorical masterpiece was simply wonderful and heart-warming. Such an inspiring work.

Just wanted to share what the fox said to the Little Prince: "It is only with the heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."


----------



## MEShammas

Finished before:

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

Finished:

The Graduate by Charles Webb

Reading:

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks

*Figured I'd put two "finished" since The Graduate literally takes about 4 hours to read, max.


----------



## The Thing

Dr Who: Timewrym: Genysis


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Helicio said:


> Finished before:
> 
> The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss



Jealous!

Finished:
The Tower at Stony Wood-Patricia McKillip

Reading:
The House at Riverton-Kate Morton


----------



## Nenada

VinrAlfakyn said:


> Reading:
> The House at Riverton-Kate Morton


 
Really wonderful book, I couldn't put it down.

I rarely give up with books but I've just given up on The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.  For some reason I could not get into it no matter how much I tried.  So instead I've started on Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris - her books are definitely my guilty pleasures


----------



## spider8

_A Prisoner of Birth_ by Jeffrey Archer. Brilliant (modern day version of _The Count of Monte Christo_) I read it twice a couple of years ago.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished Toni Morrison's _Beloved_. That was a really weird book. 

Currently reading _Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, _and _The Gunslinger_. First Stephen King novel I've read. It's pretty good so far.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Spider8, the Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books. Might have to check that one out.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Just finished reading Martini's *Shadow of Power*. It was fantastic and fast-paced, a legal drama of historical proportions. A great read.

And after that, I shall venture back to the world of law as I read Grisham's *The Confession*.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

_The Rose That Grew From Concrete_ - Tupac Shakur.


----------



## spider8

Dreamworx95 said:


> Spider8, the Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books. Might have to check that one out.


I loved _The Count of Monte Christo_. _Prisoner of Birth_ requires a similar amount of 'willing the suspension of disbelief', but it's worth it.


----------



## spider8

I'm put in mind of Captain Blackadder saying "I'm not having him gazing in disbelief at _my_ willy suspension!'


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Grisham is definitely one of the best storytellers, if not the best, of his generation. Stunning plot, incredible pace, a gripping novel. *The Confession* started fast, then ended faster. The pages kept turning, and I never realized that it was already six-thirty in the morning. X\'D


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished _R & G Are Dead_ and _The Rose That Grew From Concrete_.

Working on finishing _The Gunslinger_.

Got two new ones yesterday. _Local News: A Collection of Short Stories_ by Gary Soto, and _Sun, Stone, and Shadows: 20 Great Mexican Short Stories_.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Currently reading Connelly's *The Lincoln Lawyer*.


----------



## siouxj73

I"m working my way through the journals of Anais Nin.  :mrgreen:


----------



## caelum

Anybody read the Hunger Games trilogy?  It's been highly recommended and I'm thinking about picking it up.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

^ Haven't read it yet, though I hear the hype about it. Thinking of grabbing a copy of the first book, too.


----------



## HarryPotter

Ya, I've heard they are good too. I think I may read them next.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Caelum, you should definitely check out the Hunger Games. Especially now that they're all out, you can just read them one right after the other.


----------



## caelum

Yeah, I'll have to give them a read.  Haven't heard a negative thing yet, and the box-set isn't that expensive.  The writer sounds like an interesting person who worked writing kids shows till she got into novels.


----------



## lucas3140

Currently reading "Notes From The Underground" by Dostoevsky. A scary look into the depravity that is the lonely human soul.


----------



## HarryPotter

Has anyone read The Mortal Instruments? I was wondering if they were worth reading.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Nenada said:


> Really wonderful book, I couldn't put it down.



I really liked. I'm going to be reading The Distant Hours soon, and I'm really looking forward to it. The Forgotten Garden is still my favorite so far, though.



Nenada said:


> I rarely give up with books but I've just given up on The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova.  For some reason I could not get into it no matter how much I tried.  So instead I've started on Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris - her books are definitely my guilty pleasures



That's too bad you gave up on The Historian. I really like that book.

I've been meaning to read the Sookie Stackhouse series too. It's going to take me a little while to get to them, because I like to get all the books in the series first, and I still have a ton of other books I need to read. I'll get to them eventually, though. 

Finished:
The House at Riverton-Kate Morton

Now reading:
The Harp of the Grey Rose-Charles de Lint


----------



## Jinxi

I have just finished reading Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre - what a brilliant read! I found it quite difficult to read in the beginning because it is very cynical, but it is definitely worth reading.

Just started The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Deaver never fails to deliver. He took me to a wild but breathtaking goose chase with *The Cold Moon*. A brilliant read. The pages just keep on turning. :thumbl:


----------



## Tom88

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius - Dave Eggers. So far so good. Very funny, authentic voice. Though sometimes the self-aware, stream of consciousness prose style can feel like you're being buried in an avalanche.


----------



## MeeQ

The clinically insane ramblings of Herbert Mullin, on his psychology report I bought online.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Harp of the Grey Rose-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
The Distant Hours-Kate Morton


----------



## caelum

Currently reading: The Best Laid Plans, by Terry Fallis.

It's basically a satire on Canadian politics.  Interesting how it was originally self-published, but the author winning a prestigious award, and putting the book on the internet in podcasts, garnered a huge fan-base and then it became a smash, got a publisher and won even more awards.  Fallis himself is a former strategist for the Liberal Party.


----------



## kennyc

The Canon by Natalie Angier

Introduction to the sciences.


----------



## Bilston Blue

A 2004 edition of _Glimmer Train Stories_.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Just finished Grisham's YA novel, *Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer*. Amazing and fast-paced as always. :thumbl:

Hmm... I think I'll tackle Martini's *Double Tap* next.


----------



## Cressida

Present Danger by Stella Rimington


----------



## Ashlock

Going to read "The Emperor of All Maladies".


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Distant Hours-Kate Morton
Winter Rose-Patricia A. McKillip

Now reading:
The Dreaming Place-Charles de Lint


----------



## FCRedd

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, the entire Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, Chronicles of the Black Company by Glen Cook, Game of Thrones by George Martin and the Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson.

I write more than I read so I rarely finish reading a book, but these are the ones I'm in the middle of.


----------



## Trides

Just finished Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson.


----------



## FantSweetGirl

I am currently reading the Thirst series by Christopher Pike, then I have Diva by Alex Flinn, The Haunted by Jessica Verday, Kiss Me Deadly by a couple of different authors, Choker by Elizabeth Woods, and If I Stay by Gayle Forman.

I suggest you read The Magicians by Lev Grossman, it is my favorite book.


----------



## Skeletor

Finished reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy.  I have a soft spot for post-apocalyptic stuff.  I loved the way it was written, though I might have spoiled it a bit for myself by reading up on it before-hand.  Bad habit that.  Plot is still important, you know. 

Now busy getting through "The Magus" by John Fowles.  It was recommended to me ages ago, and I could never find a copy.  Found one last year and I've been neglecting it, so here we go.


----------



## kennyc

Skeletor said:


> Finished reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy.  I have a soft spot for post-apocalyptic stuff.  I loved the way it was written, though I might have spoiled it a bit for myself by reading up on it before-hand.  Bad habit that.  Plot is still important, you know.
> ....


 

One of my "best book ever" selections! I loved it!


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

FantSweetGirl said:


> I suggest you read The Magicians by Lev Grossman, it is my favorite book.


 
I love that one too!

Finished:
The Dreaming Place-Charles de Lint
Skylight Confessions-Alice Hoffman

Now reading:
Riddle-Master-Patricia A. McKillip
Shalador's Lady-Anne Bishop


----------



## Woodroam

My current redaing: the Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky -- Absolutely delectable
Non-fiction: Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls which is part of my character research for a project.

Next up: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Currently reading Crichton's "Next."


----------



## TheFuhrer02

^ Just finished reading it (Crichton's Next). It was a worthwhile read.

Now planning to read either Hound of the Baskervilles (Just bought the whole collection of Sherlock Holmes a couple days ago) or Hawking's Theory of Everything. Then there's Grippando's The Informant. Come to think of it, I still have 20 more unread books here in the shelves... X\'D


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Shalador's Lady-Anne Bishop
Riddle-Master-Patricia A. McKillip

Now reading:
The Girl Who Chased the Moon-Sarah Addison Allen


----------



## TheFuhrer02

Just finished reading Hawking's _The Theory of Everything_ and Doyle's _A Study in Scarlet_. 8/10 and 9/10, respectively.


----------



## Heavy Thorn

Just finished _The Reader_, by Bernhard Schlink.  Really wanting to dive into some fantasy, a la Joe Abercrombie or Patrick Rothfuss, but my library doesn't even have George R. R. Martin on the shelves... <sigh>

Might start reading _Pride & Prejudice_ on Tuesday if nothing else comes to mind.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

I guess I'm on a roll. Just finished another Holmes novel, The Sign of Four. Another Doyle classic. 9/10.


----------



## candid petunia

Reading _The Secret_ by Rhonda Byrne.  Have waited long for this.


----------



## Skeletor

TheFuhrer02 said:


> I guess I'm on a roll. Just finished another Holmes novel, The Sign of Four. Another Doyle classic. 9/10.


 
A few years ago I got the whole lot in a little two volume set and read through them almost end to end.  Great stuff!


----------



## BipBopRealGoodNop

I'm being lazy and just reading one at the moment - Out of Shadows by Jason Wallace for the Carnegie Shadowing thing.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

TheFuhrer02 said:


> I guess I'm on a roll. Just finished another Holmes novel, The Sign of Four. Another Doyle classic. 9/10.


 
I love Sherlock Holmes. I just got a volume that has The Return of Sherlock Holmes collection, the only stories I haven't read.

Finished:
The Girl Who Chased the Moon-Sarah Addison Allen

Now reading:
Yarrow-Charles de Lint


----------



## Terry D

Just finished _What the Night Knows_ by Dean Koontz. Just started _Coming of Age in the Milky Way_ by Timothy Ferris.


----------



## Tom88

Saving Francesca - Melina Marchetta, for my Young Adult class.


----------



## Bright

Oh, man, I love Sherlock Holmes. I got the two-volume complete set back in eighth grade or so. Since they're old, I am reluctant to use those books much, so I still haven't finished them. Now that I've finished Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, I can now mess with some more Holmes stuff! It's been far too long since I've picked them up.


----------



## ScientistAsHero

I am starting _Red Mars_ by Kim Stanley Robinson. Haven't made much of a dent in it yet, but I've heard great things about the series.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

@ VinrAlfakyn and Bright: Holmes can be addictive indeed! He's so singular, and so un-elementary... X\'D

Yes, just finished another Holmes. This time, it was The Scandal in Bohemia and The Red-Headed League. Both brilliant reads. :thumbl:


----------



## Rustgold

I'm reading this thread


----------



## ScientistAsHero

Whew! Have fun with that!


----------



## BoredMormon

Tales for canterbury


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Yarrow-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
Solstice Wood-Patricia A. McKillip


----------



## Tom88

Night Shift - Stephen King. Some great stuff, and, as usual, some clunkers.


----------



## Bilston Blue

The Battle for the Falklands - Max Hastings & Simon Jenkins


----------



## Robert_S

I'm trying to find my copy of "Neuromancer." I started it, but got put off due to an outside influence and it's been lost since.


----------



## Ladyhawk

Laurell K Hamilton’s Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series Book Ten - Narcissus in Chains.


----------



## Foxryder

Jonathan Kellerman's The 
Clinic.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Solstice Wood-Patricia A. McKillip

Now reading:
Local Girls-Alice Hoffman


----------



## Robert_S

I still can't find my copy of Neuromancer so I pulled my copy of The Third Body by Hélène Cixous.


----------



## caelum

Out of curiosity, reading my first ever Danielle Steel novel.  A few pages in and I like the style well enough.  The dialogue's iffy.  Before I picked it up I started my first ever Dean Koontz novel, but put it down a few pages in.  I can usually tell whether I'll like a book within a few pages; either the tone will be decent, or little things will annoy me which I know I'll be seeing again and again, and down she goes.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Just finished: 
Beautiful Creatures
The Giver

Currently reading:
Monster
The Art of Fiction


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Local Girls-Alice Hoffman

Now reading:
Greenmantle-Charles de Lint


----------



## Winston

_And Another Thing_ by Eoin Colfer.

The book is entertaining and mostly harmless.


----------



## Bruno Spatola

_At the Mountains of Madness _by H.P. Lovecraft (third read). Dark; bleak; macabre; and totally engrossing. I recommend it to any fan of horror, although it took me a long time to appreciate. It was about three years ago on my 16th birthday that I realised how good it was.  

Plan on reading _T__he Dunwich Horror: And Other Things_ soon; I've heard great things about it.


----------



## Olly Buckle

Between times I have been reading The Priestley Companion. It is a book of extracts from J.B.Priestly, short pieces that nicely fill a bus ride or a stay in a doctors waiting room. He is not a terrific author, his characters are a bit stereotypical and his plots one dimensional, but he is a wonderful writer. Take this description of the street Miss Thong the dressmaker lives in, from The Good Companions.

They walked the length of an unusually monotonous street of little brick houses, which ended in some waste ground, a melancholy muddle of worn turf, clayey holes, wire netting and ramshackle fowl-houses made out of orange boxes, and a few dirty and listless hens. The last house on the left was detached from the row; but was yet so close to it, so obviously part of it, that Miss Trant felt felt that this house had just been sawn off, as if it were the crust of a long loaf. It looked like a slice too, for it was severely rectangular and only one room in breadth, being indeed the very narrowest house she had everseen. It was not old; it was not dingy; it was newish, had a bright glazed look, and was immediately depressing.

There is nothing inspiring or uplifting in that little scene, yet he holds the attention with it and makes it come to life, excellent writing.


----------



## ProcrastinationStation

Currently, I am (re)reading IT by Stephen King, The Book of Lost Things by John Conolly (amazing, amazing book) 

These books I am reading for the first time, the sequel to The Gates (can't remember it's name, also by John Conolly) and The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.

Is it wrong that in the Poisonwood Bible, my favourite character so far is Adah? 

and for those wondering, I read the books depending how I feel at the time and sometimes in rotation. Though I havn't been reading much the past few days. Too much thinking in my brain so I can't concentrate.


----------



## dreamerofimprobabledreams

at the minute I'm re-reading The Pictur of Dorian Gray for about the fourth time - I love Oscar Wilde and it's probably my favourite of his works.


----------



## Bruno Spatola

There's a section in _IT_ that nearly put me off Stephen King's books forever. I still think it's his greatest work, but this one part I'm talking about really is messed up. Ah, 'tis still a great read. Good luck. . . .


----------



## ProcrastinationStation

The bit on how they got out of the tunnels as kids? 

^ Not really a spoiler as the book opens as they are adults.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

> There's a section in _IT_ that nearly put me off Stephen King's books forever. I still think it's his greatest work, but this one part I'm talking about really is messed up. Ah, 'tis still a great read. Good luck. . . .​


I always have trouble finishing Stephen King novels. I got halfway through the first Gunslinger and I just couldn't finish it.


----------



## Bruno Spatola

ProcrastinationStation said:


> The bit on how they got out of the tunnels as kids?



Yeah. What the hell was he thinking? Maybe it's just me that thought it was sick, but jeez. I thought it was totally unnecessary, and a little weird.


----------



## ProcrastinationStation

It was fairly gross but I think I get what he was going for, though it didn't quite work out the way he planned.
If I am right in what he was going for it really makes no sense at all how they got out, but even at that, it still makes no sense. He could have changed it from what happened to a simple few minutes rest while they talked each other down.


----------



## Zabobula

Deuteronomy. Very intense book just seeing the rules that God had set for his people in the Old Testament world.


----------



## caelum

Just read the non-fiction _Lone Survivor_, by Marcus Luttrell, who is the lone survivor of a doomed US Navy SEAL team scouting Taliban locations in the Afghan mountains.  After being revealed by Taliban-sympathizing Afghani goat herders, he and his three teammates were caught in a firefight with around a hundred Taliban, during which his three teammates were killed while he managed to hide in a cave. The next day, he fumbled his way badly wounded to an Afghan village of Pashtun tribe's people, who remarkably took him in and protected him from the Taliban until his eventual rescue, doing this at great peril to themselves, repeatedly threatened by the Taliban as they shuffled Luttrell from house to house.  They did this according to ancient Pashtunwalai law which says guests must be taken in and protected.

The story is quite extraordinary, reading like something out of Hollywood (and a movie _is_ in the works), and includes histories of his childhood, SEAL training, and family's experience during the ordeal, which was touching.  However, I really think someone other than the survivor himself should have written the book; the writing's frankly bad, without literary merit, and many of Luttrell's own prejudices come to light.  He repeatedly brings up how his greatest regret was not killing the three unarmed, goat herding civilians, rules of engagement and the liberal media be damned!  Not a very honourable thing for a soldier to admit, and I'll say right now I don't believe in the liberal media myth.

His descriptions of the Taliban were a little too colourful (_Those vile, hook noses, towel headed. . ._), and it's striking how much Luttrell sounded like the extremists he was fighting, with thoughts like, "We're here doing God's work." And at one point he even mocks the Taliban's claim of how they're fighting for "freedom," I guess forgetting "freedom" is his own politicians's favourite word for justifing operations over there.  It really is one of those maneuverable, feel good words politicians love to sprinkle through speeches.

Good story, bad writing.


----------



## moderan

I'm reading for the nth time Brian Aldiss' Trillion Year Spree, which is the revised version of his Billion-Year Spree. Billion-Year Spree was a personalized history of the genre of science fiction, and so is Trillion-Year Spree.
I found myself attracted to the book in its original incarnation, and borrowed it from the library. I was 12, and beginning to delve deeply into the minutiae of written sf (never sci-fi--I am of that generation in which that distinction was important and sci-fi was a pejorative. Not so much as SyFy but that's a horse of a different color.)
The tome was a trifle deep for me, I fear. I did get a lot of good book recommendations from it, and remembered it through the years. Aldiss is a terrific writer and manages to keep a very dry subject interesting (at least to me). His personal anecdotes (Aldiss is a celebrated author in the filed of which he writes) are well-told, though he injects perhaps a bit too much of the personal taste at times in his reviews.
Years later, I ran across a copy of Trillion-Year Spree in a local used-book store. It came along for the ride, along with forty or so other books.
I was interested to see that it had been revised and expanded, with the help of one David Wingrove, and a dedication to Sam Lundwall, the Swedish writer and sf historian, and fellow sf historian Marshall Tymn.
Aldiss is of the opinion that written science fiction started with Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. This seems reasonable to me. He cites a number of other possibilities, most of which straddle the line between sf and fantasy, and treats with the genre's roots in the Gothic tradition..which helps to bolster the Shelley hypothesis. The entire first portion of the book is concerned with this relationship. He takes a good look at EA Poe's work, discusses the Victorians, and moves along smoothly from there to Verne and Wells, through Hugo Gernsback, and on to John W. Campbell.
While Aldiss certainly wasn't a prototypical "Campbell writer", not so science-oriented as that group, he did publish in Campbell's magazine Astounding (later Analog). It was Campbell that introduced "hard sf" to the world, exemplified by Cleve Cartmill's *Deadline* and Lester del Rey's *Nerves*, both of which were on the cutting edge of the nuclear age...and of course he bought stories from Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein. From 1938 until his demise in 1971, Campbell was the pre-eminent editor in a field that loomed larger and larger until it exploded and went outside of its own genre. It isn't an accident that most of the highest-grossing films of all time have sf elements. The sense of wonder doesn't completely go away.
The book then continues to relate events in the field of sf through the "Golden Age" (roughly 1938-1960), and to the author's present (1983). If you've an interest in such, then I'd recommend the book as a good read. If not, it likely won't kindle that interest. I'd recommend some of Aldiss' fiction instead, like Hothouse or the Malacia Tapestry.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Winston said:


> _And Another Thing_ by Eoin Colfer.
> 
> The book is entertaining and mostly harmless.



I recently got that book, but haven't read it yet.



			
				ProcrastinationStation said:
			
		

> Is it wrong that in the Poisonwood Bible, my favourite character so far is Adah?



She was my favorite character too. 

Finished:
Greenmantle-Charles de Lint

Now reading:
Bone-Jeff Smith
The Iron Thorn-Caitlin Kittredge


----------



## Tom88

Just finished 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and am now about halfway through Dave Eggers' 'The Wild Things'.


----------



## caelum

Tom88 said:


> Just finished 'To Kill a Mockingbird'


Been so long since I read it.  Think it was Grade 11 we had to.  I remember loving the dad's speeches.


----------



## Hibachi

I just finished The Picture of Dorian Gray, which I absolutely loved and now consider one of my favourites. I just picked up Slaughterhouse Five, which I'm just about to start.


----------



## XenaLin

What am I reading? Well I read a swedish novel series, I read Pillars Of Earth by Ken Follet, I read The Divide by  Nicholas Evans and the Historian by Elizabeth Kostova and I read a novel by Andrew Taylor called The Anatomy of Ghosts.


----------



## just-me

I haven't read a real book in a while, just been reading the internet for the last couple years...


----------



## Tom88

Finished 'The Wild Things', onto Kazuo Ishiguro's 'Never Let Me Go'. Enjoying it a lot so far.


----------



## spider8

_The Finkler Question _by Howard Jacobson. A Booker Prize winner. Very slow-going, hoping it picks up. It seems to be about being obsessed by judaism.


----------



## moderan

Fleet of Worlds, by Larry Niven and collaborator du jour. Niven's Known Space tropes are well-worn, though still an excellent example of how to _do_ aliens and hard science in a "universe" context. Nobody does that better. The book takes place some two hundred years before the initial visit to the Ringworld and illustrates some of the alien-logic deployed by the Pierson's Puppeteers, exploring some of the consequences of manipulative decisions by those worthies.
Worth the read for fans, probably not good as an introductory piece. The Ringworld series has better examples and the exploration of an alien ecology is exemplary. This is pedestrian.


----------



## The Backward OX

_The African Queen_ ~ C.S.Forrester

(Bogey as a cockney just doesn't work, for me)


----------



## Razzazzika

It completely slipped my mind that the latest Dresden Files book came out a few weeks ago. I am now quite absorbed in "Ghost Story" <3 Jim Butcher.


----------



## Amber Leaf

Twilight - now 150 pages in and have never heard so much description of one guy's haircut. I don't reckon I'll finish it.


----------



## TheFuhrer02

I haven't read much fiction lately. Busy at school. Been readin' a lot of books, though. Right now, I'm reading _Textbook of Medical Physiology_​ by AC Guyton. X\'D


----------



## Bloggsworth

I just finished _Split Image_ by one of my favourite authors, the late, great, _Robert B Parker_. I am now half-way through _Summoned by Bells -_ _John Betjeman's_ autobiography in blank verse.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Iron Thorn-Caitlin Kittredge
Cygnet-Patricia A. McKillip

Now reading:
The Third Angel-Alice Hoffman
Dilbert 20th Anniversary Edition-Scott Adams
Bone-Jeff Smith


----------



## Nick

An interesting book called _The Believing Brain - how we construct beliefs and reinforce them as truths_ by Michael Shermer. I assumed it would be very Dawkin-esque, which put me off it a little, but I was encouraged by a friend to try it and it does have a very fair view of religion, and is as critical of atheism as it is of theism and agnosticism.


----------



## moderan

*The Best of Cordwainer Smith.*
What a wonderful (in the sense of full of wonders) universe Dr. Linebarger created in his Lords of the Instrumentality series, of which this is the first volume. Underpeople, Alpha Ralpha Boulevard (The Champs Elysee on steroids), the Scanners, Mother Hitton's Littul Kittons. Simply enchanting, even when the visions are dark. Engaging storytelling voice, Eastern-oriented and mythopoetic into the bargain.
I've had this book since I was eleven. This is perhaps the 40th re-read, and it hasn't gotten old yet. Next I shall commence *Norstrilia*, his fantastic novel about _stroon_, the forever drug. Then *The Lords of the Instrumentality *and *The Quest of the Three Worlds*, the last two volumes in the series. Cannot recommend Smith's work highly enough. The prose is diamond-hard, the conceptualization creatively bent, and the vision alternately sordid and majestic.


----------



## beanlord56

I just finished Rick Riordan's _The Lost Hero_ the other day, and Ted Dekker's _Red_ last night. So now, I'm reading _White_, also by Dekker, _Warhammer 40,000: Salamanders_ by Nick Kyme, _Diablo: Legacy of Blood_ by Richard A. Knaak, _Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne _by David Gaider, and Tolkien's _The Two Towers_.


----------



## sir_vile_minds

Not sure if I've posted in here yet but, The McAtrix Dirided by the Roberts Brothers/A. R. R. R. Roberts/Adam Roberts (All one man)

It's a weird parody of the Matrix but pretty good so far.


----------



## Tom88

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan. Should finish it tonight. Masterful depiction of the bedroom dance.


----------



## BabaYaga

Just reached a soul shattering chapter in _Shantaram_ by Gregory David Roberts...and since none of my friends have read it I am doomed not to be able to speak to anyone about it without completely ruining the full context for them and thus eliminating the impact of said chapter.


----------



## Kyle R

I'm currently enjoying _The Dark Fields _by Alan Glynn, the novel from which the recent film "Limitless" was inspired.


----------



## Bloggsworth

*Now All Roads Lead to France*, Matthew Hollis' biography of Edward Thomas - Brilliant!


----------



## Revekka

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Quite a few parts in there that are pretty funny.


----------



## sir_vile_minds

Helter Skelter: Story of the Manson Murders by Vincent Bugliosio with (or ghostwritten by) Curt Gentry. I was going to read It by Stephen King after I finished by previous two books but then decided I wasn't in the mood for some King.


----------



## moderan

*Snow Crash *can be a little precious...Hiro Protagonist? Cheeeez. *Helter Skelter* is good if you haven't read it before.
In this burgeoning political season, I'm re-reading *Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail* ( I do so every policycle). It's all the same, every go-round. FaL helps me to keep perspective.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

Picked up:

_Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
To Kill A Mockingbird
Farenheit 451
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Cat Cradle
Evil Genius
Enchantment_


----------



## victoria stiles

"Dark Tower II-Drawing of the Three" Stephen King Thinking of picking up SHADES OF DARK by Linnea Sinclair..has anybody read it? Is it any good?


----------



## Bluesman

Cujo , Stephen king. i have just read Under the dome by King which was a wonderful read.


----------



## moderan

I've just finished Stephen King's *Duma Key*. The writing and the characters held my interest. King seemed to be nodding a bit toward Carl Hiassen in some of his character constructs, though he didn't allow himself to get as over-the-top as the Floridian Hiassen.
So the characters were quirky. The plot was a typical King out-in-the-ether sort of thing, where he doesn't really say what the issue/evil is until very late in the book. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. About the time the actual monster appeared, I was thinking that I'm not scared by the things most people are and was prepared to be disappointed. Spiders, clowns, big dogs, bleah.
This one's somewhere out toward country inhabited by Barker and Lovecraft, with a bit of the old collective unconscious showing it's face and maybe a nod toward Neil Gaiman. Just a little mythopoetic, I'm saying. And not enough attention paid to that side of things to make it very scary. Instead you get pages and pages and pages of talking heads and an mc with a voice not unlike Thomas Covenant in spots.
Kind of cozy horror, not scary enough to cause any deep-seated psychological problems. King's specialty.


----------



## Bluesman

I read Duma Key also and i found it a wonderful read in terms of the characters but as a horror story for me it was a no no. Not scary but entertaining.


----------



## ProcrastinationStation

I enjoy stephen king but I didn't get very far into Duma Key at all. 

Currently I'm reading The Wasp Factory and Mort, from the discworld novels.
Quite enjoying both.


----------



## Tom88

Kerouac's 'Desolation Angels' and 'Twelve' by Nick McDonnell.


----------



## Deleted member 33527

I was reading Fahrenheit 451 before I went to sleep and I had a nightmare about the robot Hounds with the eight legs chasing me.


----------



## moderan

Bluesman said:


> I read Duma Key also and i found it a wonderful  read in terms of the characters but as a horror story for me it was a no  no. Not scary but entertaining.


Yeah. That's what I mean by cozy horror, after the "cosy catastrophes" of John Wyndham, John Christopher, et al.


ProcrastinationStation said:


> I enjoy stephen king but I didn't get very far into Duma Key at all.
> 
> Currently I'm reading The Wasp Factory and Mort, from the discworld novels.
> Quite enjoying both.



*Danse Macabre* is actually my favorite King book. I think most of his novels have issues, not necessarily in length but in content. But the man knows his field and writes with a certain degree of panache even at his most uninspired. Some of his short stories are excellent, and the novella is a particular strength of his. I've often viewed him as the lineal descendant of Bradbury, given the smalltown America feel he likes to employ and his delving into fantasy more than horror or sf. *The Running Man* and *the Long Walk* are pretty good sf though. PKD and Shirley Jackson-inspired, I'd have to say. He's pretty adept at using the tropes of a genre or subgenre and combining those with other genres.
I can't get through the *Discworld* books at all. Just not good enough at holding my interest.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
The Third Angel-Alice Hoffman
The 5 Love Languages-Gary Chapman
Tapping the Dream Tree-Charles de Lint

Reading:
Dilbert 20th Anniversary Edition-Scott Adams
Bone-Jeff Smith
Timeless-Alexandra Monir


----------



## Tatham

Gene Wolfe's Book of the New Sun Volume 1: Shadow & Claw.

I've actually had this book for at least five years now but never got passed the complex use of words and heavy imagery. Now however, after getting stuck into my own book, I'm actually getting sucked into this once neglected, now cherished, book of mine. I love the imagery and I love the tragic hero Severian. I've just reached chp XXIII(23) Hildegrin. 

Anybody else read this?


----------



## Tom88

'Machine Man' by Max Barry and a collection of short stories by Will Self.


----------



## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Bone-Jeff Smith
Dilbert 2.0: 20 Years of Dilbert-Scott Adams
Timeless-Alexandra Monir
Tapping the Dream Tree-Charles de Lint
Imaginative Writing-Janet Burroway
The Red Garden-Alice Hoffman

Now reading:
Make a Scene-Jordan E. Rosenfeld
Medicine Road-Charles de Lint


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## Tatham

Moved onto George R.R Martin's Game of Thrones. I'm also reading Volume 5 of Vampire Hunter D (manga).


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## Pilgrim

Currently reading "Mein Kampf"


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## Belle

I'm reading Hamlet and The Fiery Cross, fifth book (I think?) of Diana Gabaldon's "The Outlander" series.
They're making me read Hamlet in Spanish which makes it crappy because there's no poetry to it and so they have succeeded in making me hate it with all my heart, though I'll make sure to reread it in English whenever I come. The Fiery Cross is a pretty good historical novel, the characters are simply outstanding and the fact that the books are 1000~ pages long makes it batter because they don't leave me with the feeling of lacking more of the story that most of the good books I read leave me with.


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## Bluesman

Reading Dean Koontz , From the corner of his eye. So far so good, Koontz is a master with words and the story flows well. Not sure where the story is going yet but it,s rich in character and rather dark in places.


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## VinrAlfakyn

Finished:
Medicine Road-Charles de Lint
Make a Scene-Jordan E. Rosenfeld
Immanuel's Veins-Ted Dekker

Now reading:
Eyes Like Stars-Lisa Mantchev


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## Revekka

Just finished reading Robert Matheson's I am Legend including the short stories at the end of the book. I like "Prey" the best.

Now to decide on what my next read will be. Hmm...

Peace,

Revekka


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## Tiamat

Currently reading "Nights in Rodanthe" by Nicholas Sparks.  I've never read one of his books, but I have a theory on how it will go.  Boy meets girl, one or both of them have doubts about pursuing any type of relationship, they fall in love anyways, and last but not least, one or both of them dies.

Just guessing here.

*EDIT:  I was right.


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## Tom88

William Golding's 'Lord of the Flies'.


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## spider8

_Masters of Rome _series by Colleen McCollouch.

Anyone know much about Kindle? - I was gonna buy it to read book 3 of the series but can't see how to get it on Kindle. I can't on amazon's Kindle Store.

btw, 2nd time I've read the series.


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## Cat Laurelle

I just finished "Years" by Lavyrel Spencer. I almost gave up on it a few times, early in the book the author makes at least one insinuation that they are anti-Norwegians! Very weird.


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## Olly Buckle

spider8 said:


> _Masters of Rome _series by Colleen McCollouch.
> 
> Anyone know much about Kindle? - I was gonna buy it to read book 3 of the series but can't see how to get it on Kindle. I can't on amazon's Kindle Store.
> 
> btw, 2nd time I've read the series.


I was offered a kindle as a birthday present and said "wait" because of this. When I looked it seemed they run their own system, AWZ I think, and don't support e-pub. As all the best free books on google book store etc are in e-pub it seemed silly to get a reader that won't take it. But I am not sure if that is the be all and end allof it.


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## Tiamat

I just finished reading 'The Secret Garden' by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  It's books like this one that make me want to give English Lit a second chance and not limit myself to authors like Poe and Bradbury (excellent though they are).


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## Robert_S

I just finished "World War Z" in perhaps record time. Slaughterhouse 5" was probably a but quicker, but it's also a fraction of the length. I couldn't put it down and got it read in three days. It was one of the most entertaining reads I've come across in recent years.

Both the realistic portrayal and the structure made it rather unique for a work of fiction.


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## Tom88

'Syrup' by Max Barry.


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## shortywriter

Mentor by Tom Grimes


----------



## JoeSmo

The Kitchen God's Wife by AMY TAN


----------



## Bluesman

the silent Sea ....Clive cussler with Jack du brul


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## TheFuhrer02

Kingdom Keepers III by Ridley Pearson


----------



## Jinotega

Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges


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## Tom88

Saturday by Ian McEwan. Fourth McEwan book I've read. Guess I'd call myself a fan.


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## moderan

I'm about sixty pages into this thing called The Star War Factor. Has a nice clean prose line and (so far) accessible characters. The writer has a good eye for the visual details.


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## caelum

Just getting into "Switched," by Amanda Hocking.  I'm curious about Amanda Hocking because she's one of the few self-published writers to achieve much success, selling about a million books through word of mouth.  I'll see what lessons she can give me.


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## felix

Finally got around to To Kill a Mockingbird, fairly good. 

Finished Under the Dome last week; would definitely recommend for any King fans.


----------



## Bluesman

Just started "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz, i'v been told it's a good read and as i like this author i'm looking forward to it.


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## TheFuhrer02

Just finished reading two Sherlock Holmes shorts, namely the Boscombe Valley Mystery and The Case of Identity. Now, I'm split between reading Iliad, The Picture of Dorian Gray or War of the Ancients II: The Demon Soul.


----------



## Hunter

I'm reading Sacré Bleu by Christopher Moore.


----------



## Doc_Gonzo

Bluesman said:


> Just started "Odd Thomas" by Dean Koontz, i'v been told it's a good read and as i like this author i'm looking forward to it.



I love the series and I'm reading the latest book - "Deeply Odd"


----------



## Olly Buckle

Fifty sheds of grey, by C.T. Grey, Pan Macmillan; erotica for the older gardner.


----------



## Terry D

Just finished the new King book, Doctor Sleep. It was a very quick 500+ pages. You do not have to know The Shining to enjoy it, but if you have read the earlier work (not any of the lame movie versions) it will add to the pleasure.


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## movieman

I'm about half-way through 'The Boy From Treacle Bumstead', which is pretty funny so far. I'm almost looking forward to another day when I have to take a bus to work so I'll get a chance to finish it.


----------



## ViKtoricus

Right now I'm reading Douglas Adams's _The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

_It's five novels and one short novel in one thick volume.


----------



## escorial

The Winter of Our Discontent...again!... but it is Steinbeck at his best.


----------



## bookmasta

Carrie by Steven King, though its rather short.


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## Macduff Inkwell

Right now I'm reading non-fictional history books. I'm currently enjoying Donald Kagan's _The Peloponnesian War.

_I do plan to get a historical fiction novel sometimes soon. Been too long since I dove into one of them.


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## Carlton

We, The Drowned by Carsten Jensen.


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## mstyle

I'm currently reading Rachel Joyce's 'The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry' its such a joy to read, light hearted but with a beautiful and sometimes touching story line, really enjoying it


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