Whatcha reading?

[Dung Beetle]

I recently read The Woman In Black, by Susan Hill (possibly an Auntie Pam recommendation). It was an excellently done ghost story, though short. It was perfect for a rainy afternoon.

I also read Weekend Makeover : take your home from messy to magnificent in only 48 hours! by Don Aslett. Meh. It passed the time, but I was not inspired to take my home anywhere.

The kids and I just finished listening to our audiobook, the final volume of A Series of Unfortunate Events. An excellent job by Tim Curry as always, and we were pretty happy with it, although personally I'm still mourning Count Olaf.

Next up: The Gospel of Food : everything you think you know about food is wrong, by Barry Glassner.

[Dinsdale]

A bio of Patrick Henry.
We're planning a trip to Williamsburg over the summer.
Last read Jim Harrison's memoir - long one of my favorite authors. An interesting life he has led.

[nashiitashii]

I'm currently reading The Human Stain by Philip Roth, and for bathtub reading, Cod by Mark Kurlansky. Once I finish with those, I may move on to Snow by Orhan Pamuk, one of the latest Nobel literature prize recipients. If not, I may see if I can dig up an older Terry Pratchett novel that I have not yet read.

[Eureka]

Last Bite by Nancy Verde Barr taught me about the culture behind the scenes at Good Morning America's food segments--especially those involving Julia Child. (Who appears in slightly fictionalized form as Sally Woods).

Tubby Meets Katrina, a Tubby Dubonnet mystery by Anthony P. Dunbar showed a slightly fictionalized first hand view of life in New Orleans starting just before Katrina hit town. It's the kind of book which is a mystery, because it's one in a series of books that are mysteries, rather than the kind of book that is a mystery, if that makes sense. It's not a mystery in a formulaic sense where the body is discovered on page 1 or maybe page 10, and the rest of the book follows the sleuth who must figure out whodunnit. It's a neat book because of the descriptions of life in New Orleans right after Katrina, even if a little convenient (hmm, let's give the main character a boat so he can help rescue people from flooded houses. And a friend with helicopter so he can fly over the city.) It's kinda depressing but seemed worthwhile to me for the picture of life in New Orleans.

(Hmm, my description seems a little redundant. Tough.)

[CalMeacham]

I Just Finished The Empire State Building by John Tauranac. Great book about a building I've loved ever since I was a kid. . Written in 1995, so it avoids any thoughts on the doomed World Trade Center.

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-State-Building-Making-Landmark/dp/0312148240/sr=1-1/qid=1171482486/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4756844-2775261?ie=UTF8&s=books


And Freakanomics by Leavitt and Dubner -- the expanded version. I've wanted to read this for quite a while now.

http://www.amazon.com/Freakonomics-Revised-Expanded-Economist-Everything/dp/0061234001/sr=1-1/qid=1171482581/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-4756844-2775261?ie=UTF8&s=books


I've got a stack of science fiction yet from the last con I went to, and am reading Two Tales and Eight Tomorrows by Harry Harrison (Which includes the wonderful parody "Captain Honorio Harpplayer, R.N"). I also picked by A Treasury of Great Science Fiction in 2 volumes, edited by Anthony Boucher. It's the first SF anthology I ever read, and I'd like to read it again.

[Dr. Rieux]

Colleen McCullough's The Grass Crown and The Complete Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe.

[Sarahfeena]

I'm reading The Book of Names by Jill Gregory and Karen Tintori, which is sort of a DaVinci Code-esqe religious thriller, but based on the Kabbalah. It's pretty fun, kind of lightweight, not something I'd highly recommend, but if you like that kind of thing it's pretty good.

The problem with books like this is that you can never be sure if the historical & religious "facts" the author talks about are true. I mean, sure the DaVinci Code was fun, but it makes me dizzy to think of how much stuff he gets dead wrong, and that some people who don't know the difference seem to believe every word. I know enough about the Catholic Church and Renaissance art to know where Dan Brown was BSing, but I don't know squat about Kabbalah, so I am taking the stuff this book says with a big grain of salt. For example, they inter-relate Kabbalah and tarot cards. That sounds fishy to me, but what do I know? You'd like to think that you could learn from stuff like this, but you have to be careful what you believe.

[AuntiePam]

I'm glad you liked The Woman in Black. There aren't enough simple ghost stories.

I was impressed with a recommendation from a Doper -- Flanders by Patricia Anthony. Letters home from an American soldier in France in the early years of World War I. Indescribable. I've heard that Ms. Anthony has written a screenplay. I can't imagine how this could be filmed, but I think Guillermo del Toro could do justice to it.

It was like reading two books -- one set in the real world and the other in the cemetery in Travis's head. There were times when the cemetery was more real. Awesome book.

So thanks for the recommendation, even though it gave me some nightmares.

Also enjoyed The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Urrea, another Doper rec, I think.

You guys rock!

Currently reading Little, Big by Jon Crowley.

[Eleanor of Aquitaine]

I'm reading my way through Lois McMaster Bujold's Miles Vorkosigan series. I'm up to Mirror Dance.

They've all been good, but I really like the character of Cordelia. The first two novels, Shards of Honor and Barrayar, might be my favorites.

[Marley23]

I read both of Barack Obama's books, Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope, in the last week or week and a half. Dreams in particualr was very well-written and engaging. I'm not sure what I'll read next.

[yanceylebeef]

Just finished Jennifer Morgue by Charlie Stross and Overclocked by Cory Doctorow. Just starting Old Man's war my John Scalzi. I've heard good things.

I just ordered Missle Gap, an alternative history novella from Stross, and on the to be read pile is A Touch of Strange by Sturgeon and The God Delusion. It's going to be a good couple of weeks at the lebeef household.

[dangermom]

I just finished A tree grows in Brooklyn for my book club. Wow, what a great book! I had never read it before.

Am now reading 1453, about the fall of Constantinople, and a book called Reading I've liked--a collection of things Clifton Fadiman liked.

[FordPrefect]

The God Delusion by Dawkins.

[Sarahfeena]

I just finished A tree grows in Brooklyn for my book club. Wow, what a great book! I had never read it before. I just read that recently, too...isn't it good? My dad recommended it to me, and I was so surprised after I read it that he had never mentioned it to me before!

I highly recommend her book "Joy in the Morning" as well.

[teela brown]

I just started my first Agatha Christie mystery, Murder At The Vicarage, a Jane Marple novel, which was recommended to me by the good folks here on the SDMB. I'm only a few pages into it, but I like it very much, despite having to memorize twelve or thirteen characters right from the get-go.

[dangermom]

I highly recommend her book "Joy in the Morning" as well.Heh, I just looked it up yesterday--our library doesn't have it. I asked to put it on the purchasing list, but it's the sort of thing the head librarian hopes will come through in a donation, so she won't have to spend money on it. Maybe I'll ILL it.

[Bobotheoptimist]

With the youngest, reading Moon Dragon from the Secrets of Droon (http://www.tonyabbottbooks.com/secrets_of_droon.html) series. On my PDA I'm reading The Reversal of the Medal (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Reverse_of_the_Medal#The_Reverse_of_the_Medal), and at home it's Mary Stewart's Crystal Cave (http://www.amazon.com/Crystal-Cave-Arthurian-Saga-Book/dp/0060548258/sr=1-1/qid=1171491457/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6483141-7640138?ie=UTF8&s=books) and the aptly titled Celtic Ireland West of the River Shannon (http://www.amazon.com/Celtic-Ireland-West-River-Shannon/dp/0595264778/sr=8-3/qid=1171491406/ref=sr_1_3/102-6483141-7640138?ie=UTF8&s=books)

[AskNott]

Right now, I'm nearly to the end of The Company Of Strangers by Robert Wilson. It's a nicely crafted WW II spy novel that follows an 18-year old British woman as she goes to Portugal to keep an eye on the local Nazis. It picks her up again in 1981, as she rejoins the Company and goes to East Berlin.

I left out a lot about who's allied with whom, and who's romantically involved with whom.

[Cisco]

I recently finished Catch-22 - which was great, one of the top 5 books I've ever read - and then read several mediocre graphic novels.

Now I'm reading Buddha by Osamu Tezuka. I read the first 3 books in 2006 but that's all they had at the library. Today I happened to check online and they had 4-6 so I went and picked them up. Great story, but I wish I remembered more about the first 3.

[stucco]

I just finished Sunset Song by Lewish Grassic Gibbon which I really liked. Next up is 'Tree Disease Concepts' which I think I'll like less. Both are for classes though. I can't wait until break when I can read for fun again :)

[twickster]

Mind Wide Open (http://www.amazon.com/o/ASIN/0743241665/ref=s9_asin_image_1/002-0706861-4031221), by Steven Johnson -- a popularized intro to neurobiology. I'm enjoying it.

[Khadaji]

I've been thinking about starting one of these myself, but didn't have any thing good to report.

GreyWalker (http://www.amazon.com/Greywalker-Kat-Richardson/dp/045146107X/sr=1-1/qid=1171498540/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4071462-4793634?ie=UTF8&s=books)
A totaly mediocre read. Mind candy. If you like the genre, go ahead and look at it, but don't expect to be wowed.

The third in The Sisters Grimm (http://www.amazon.com/Sisters-Grimm-Problem-Child/dp/0810949148/sr=1-3/qid=1171498649/ref=pd_bbs_sr_3/002-4071462-4793634?ie=UTF8&s=books) I like the series. So far this one is only OK.

The Stolen Child (http://www.amazon.com/Stolen-Child-Novel-Keith-Donohue/dp/0385516169/sr=8-1/qid=1171498740/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-4071462-4793634?ie=UTF8&s=books) is in the queue. I have heard good things about it. We will see.

[Meurglys]

I'm about to start Napoleon's Pyramids by William Dietrich.
I really liked his other historical novels about Hadrian's Wall and Atilla the Hun.

The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by G. W. Dahlquist was very good - fairly slow going, though. It's a strange, quasi-Victorian conspiracy novel with lots of confusion and double-crossing.

[SkeptiJess]

A bio of Patrick Henry.
We're planning a trip to Williamsburg over the summer.See if you can fit in a trip to Jamestown, too -- it's the quadricentennial this year. Yorktown (my stomping grounds) is also worth a visit. Neither is as madly developed and huge as Williamsburg (although Jamestown is likely to be pretty busy this year, what with the birthday and all).

I'm working my way through the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher. Enjoying them very much indeed. I'm about halfway through Dead Beat, which is the second to the last book so far.

[Judith Prietht]

In Xanadu by William Dalrymple, in which the author retreads Marco Polo's travels from Jerusalem to Xanadu. Dalrymple's witty and funny, and I'm getting a fair bit of history in the reading, but something about it's not really snaring me. Oh well. I found the book stashed in our magazine recirculation bin in the lobby of my building.

Next up: The Castle in the Forest by Norman Mailer.

[Colophon]

Whatcha reading?
Not, "Whatcha reading for?" ;)

[Jodi]

I'm reading Queen Isabella (http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Isabella-Treachery-Adultery-Medieval/dp/0345453204/sr=1-2/qid=1171555096/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-5659908-0803618?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Alison Weir. It's a biography of a English queen from the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages is not my favorite period for British royal history, but Weir is my favorite historical biographer and the book is pretty good if you like that sort of thing.

[koeeoaddi]

After Flanders, which as AuntiePam points out, was an absolutely riveting and terrifying book, I needed a moment to catch my breath. So, I'm trashing out with Deep Storm (http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Storm-Novel-Lincoln-Child/dp/0385515502/sr=1-1/qid=1171556601/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/105-7309481-8940403?ie=UTF8&s=books), by Lincoln Child. It hasn't hit the wall yet, but it isn't nearly as good as his books with Douglas Preston. Kind of an undersea mishmash of The Abyss, Sphere and Outland, with interchangeable characters...wait, why am I reading this again? Oh yes, rats, mud, purification, pain, brutality, insanity, waste and death. Think I'm going to need something more distracting more than Deep Storm.

I just picked up Grayson (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/0307264548/ref=dp_image_0/105-7309481-8940403?ie=UTF8&n=283155&s=books), by Lynne Cox, from the library. Young girl swims with baby whale. Maybe this'll work.

[Siam Sam]

"The Vicomte de Bragelonne," by Alexandre Dumas (pere). It's the second sequel to "The Three Musketeers."

[Cemetery Savior]

Currently reading Little, Big by Jon Crowley.

I'd be interested to hear what you thought of it. I enjoyed it.

I think you've made some recommendations in my Gene Wolfe thread.

-Cem

[Cemetery Savior]

Sorry....forgot the intent of the thread!

I'm reading Galatea 2.0 (Richard Powers) right now, and have a few on queue:


Team of Rivals (about Abe Lincoln)
Re-read some Haruki Murakami
Maybe re-read Gene Wolfe's Short Sun series


I want to get more Richard Powers, and maybe a few reccomendations I've received in another thread.

-Cem

[Alistair McCello]

Just started reading two new books:

The Letters of John Keats: I have a wierd inclination to reading the letters and journals of authors and philosophers rather than their actual published works.

Shalamir the Clown by Salman Rushdie: After reading The Satanic Verses earlier this year I began to buy all of his novels and I am finally starting to get a chance to read through them.

[Voyager]

Four things more or less at once.

The Roman Reader, edited by Basil Davenport, and originally published the month I was born (by Gutenberg, obviously.) An anthology of Roman literature. I'm in the middle of the Aeneid, each book of which they took from a different translation. All the translations were chosen to be public domain.

Thurber Carnival, which I had picked up at a library sale for 50 cents.

For the Flag by Jules Verne, from my collection

and A Tom Swift Jr. book, #7, which I started when my wife went to bed early and all 3 of my books were in the bedroom. Also from my collection.

[Kizarvexius]

I just finished getting through several crime thrillers by Val McDermid. I nearly had to call in sick one day last month because I couldn't stop reading A Place of Execution the night before.

Now that I've unpacked the box where they'd remained hidden for over a year, I've started re-reading the Aubrey-Maturin series. Almost finished with Post Captain.

[Dorjän]

Currently finishing:

In paperback, Blind Man's Bluff, a historical account of U.S. Navy submarine activities during the Cold War.

On my PDA (I just created my first e-book library!):

Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes, a great book detailing the 1905 Trans-Atlantic Kaiser's Cup race and the social and political backdrop of the time.

Up next on my PDA:

Air Force One: A History of Presidents and Their Planes
COD: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - Ohio Narratives

If you couldn't tell by now, I'm a bit of a history buff!

[Judith Prietht]

Sorry....forgot the intent of the thread!

I'm reading Galatea 2.0 (Richard Powers) right now, and have a few on queue:


Team of Rivals (about Abe Lincoln)
Re-read some Haruki Murakami
Maybe re-read Gene Wolfe's Short Sun series


I want to get more Richard Powers, and maybe a few reccomendations I've received in another thread.

-Cem
I loved Galatea 2.0. It started me reading several of Powers' books, of which The Time of Our Singing was my favorite. I hope it's on your list!

[Kythereia]

Just finished Helen of Troy by Margaret George, The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, Concubine by Norah Lofts, Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams, and The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Now I'm rereading Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett and going through Lucifer: Mansions of the Silence by Mike Carey.

I've got two books on hold that I need to pick up: Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles and The Autobiography of Henry VIII, both by Margaret George. After that... who knows?

[Biffy the Elephant Shrew]

Currently reading Little, Big by Jon Crowley.
My last girlfriend almost dumped me the first day we met when I admitted that I never finished this. Of course she dumped me a few weeks later anyway. Now I'm sad again. Damn.

Currently reading The Arrogance of Power: The Secret World of Richard Nixon by Anthony Summers. Awaiting delivery of The Power of Black Music: Interpreting Its History from Africa to the United States by Samuel A. Floyd, Jr. The last fiction I read that wasn't a children's book or graphic novel was Malpractice in Maggody by Joan Hess.

[Gordon Urquhart]

I'm in the middle of Widdershins, a collection of ghost stories by Oliver Onions (of which the first, The Beckoning Fair One, is my favorite ghost story -- I've read it lotsa times).

I'm also in the middle of McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, edited by Michael Chabon -- it's got stories from some heavy hitters in it, including Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Michael Moorcock and Chabon himself. I've enjoyed all of the stories thus far, and have discovered some writers new to me from which I'll be looking for more.

I'm also reading a biography, Ulysses S. Grant: The Soldier and the Man by Edward G. Longacre, but I'm about to put it down and get a different Grant biography. It's pretty well accepted that Grant liked the bottle to a certain extent; I don't need to be reminded of it every three pages.

[Sarahfeena]

I'm reading Queen Isabella (http://www.amazon.com/Queen-Isabella-Treachery-Adultery-Medieval/dp/0345453204/sr=1-2/qid=1171555096/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/105-5659908-0803618?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Alison Weir. It's a biography of a English queen from the Middle Ages. The Middle Ages is not my favorite period for British royal history, but Weir is my favorite historical biographer and the book is pretty good if you like that sort of thing. She has a new one coming out in a couple of weeks, I think, about Lady Jane Grey. This one is fiction, though, and aren't hers usually straight bios?

[AuntiePam]

I'd be interested to hear what you thought of it. I enjoyed it.


Re: Little, Big -- I've picked it up and put it down about five times over the last few years. I haven't made it past Smoky and Daily Alice's wedding.

The book is charming, but I'm not feeling compelled to read it straight through. I think that's okay. It feels like that kind of book. Read for awhile when you're in the mood.

When the next Amazon order arrives, I'll probably put Little, Big aside again, but I'll finish it someday.

[SkeptiJess]

This one is fiction, though, and aren't hers usually straight bios?This wasn't to me, but, yeah -- I've never seen any fiction by Weir. Dang. I dislike fictionalized biography, so I won't be reading this, and I would really have enjoyed reading a bio of Lady Jane by Weir.

[Maeglin]

She has a new one coming out in a couple of weeks, I think, about Lady Jane Grey. This one is fiction, though, and aren't hers usually straight bios?

She does. I hear her read a few chapters of it at the Hay Festival last May. Historical fiction with the flavor of a trashy romance novel. Vintage Weir.

[PastAllReason]

I've "discovered" Erik Larson. After just finishing Thunderstuck (http://www.amazon.ca/Thunderstruck-Erik-Larson/dp/1400080665/sr=1-1/qid=1171589739/ref=sr_1_1/702-5274605-4287233?ie=UTF8&s=books), a meticulously researched, but very readable book about Crippen (the killer) and Marconi (of wireless fame), I've now moved on to The Devil in the White City (http://www.amazon.ca/Devil-White-City-Madness-Changed/dp/0375725601/sr=1-2/qid=1171589844/ref=sr_1_2/702-5274605-4287233?ie=UTF8&s=books) his earlier book about a serial killer in Chicago at the time of the World's Fair, and the architect who was responsible for the fair's construction

I highly recommend Larson.

[Scubaqueen]

i'm just about to begin the first of the dresden files books: 'storm front.'

i just finished book five of the weather warden series by rachel caine.

[Siam Sam]

Currently finishing:

In paperback, Blind Man's Bluff, a historical account of U.S. Navy submarine activities during the Cold War.

On my PDA (I just created my first e-book library!):

Atlantic: The Last Great Race of Princes, a great book detailing the 1905 Trans-Atlantic Kaiser's Cup race and the social and political backdrop of the time.

Up next on my PDA:

Air Force One: A History of Presidents and Their Planes
COD: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World
The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States - Ohio Narratives

If you couldn't tell by now, I'm a bit of a history buff!
I think Dumas invented the "historical novel."

[DataZak]

Finished reading Seize the Hour: When Nixon Met Mao by Margaret MacMillan and On Royalty by Jeremy Paxman.

Right now, I'm into chapter three of Michael Dobbs' latest, First Lady. I hope they adapt it for TV like what they did with his Francis Urquhart books.

[LifeOnWry]

I just finished The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger last night. Not at all what I expected from the first chapter or two - I was thinking gooshy romance, and set it aside for a bit, but got bored and picked it up again, then couldn't put it down. I am not sure if I was fascinated by the story itself, or by the storytelling.

I read Fannie Flagg's Can't Wait To Get To Heaven a couple weeks ago. It's about characters that have been in previous Flagg novels, that I just adored, so that was marvelous.

Next up... again... I am going to try to get past the first two chapters of Bangkok 8. This was a gift from a friend who told me I would love it. Unfortunately, it arrived just before my Mom died, and what I have read so far I read in hospital waiting rooms. For some reason I'm not all that eager to get back to it, though I promised my friend I would.

[Lissa]

I've got two books on hold that I need to pick up: Mary, Queen of Scotland and the Isles and The Autobiography of Henry VIII, both by Margaret George. After that... who knows?

She wrote The Memoirs of Cleopatra, too. It's my second-favorite of hers, following Henry VIII. I generally have a big problem with authors who take "liberties" with history, but dammit, George does it so well.

This wasn't to me, but, yeah -- I've never seen any fiction by Weir. Dang. I dislike fictionalized biography, so I won't be reading this, and I would really have enjoyed reading a bio of Lady Jane by Weir.

I love fictionalized biographies! If they're done well, they can be just as fascinating and informative as non-fiction.

As for biographies of Lady Jane, the pool is shallow. This (http://www.amazon.com/Lady-Jane-Grey-Nine-Queen/dp/0750928166/sr=8-2/qid=1171604213/ref=pd_bbs_2/104-3931659-8239133?ie=UTF8&s=books) is one of the more recent offerings, and I was quite dissapointed with it. (As you can see from my review, second one down.) So little is really known about her short life that there really isn't a lot of material for a biographer to work with.

Fans of historical fiction and fictionalized historical biography might find my Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/2MMZUXHVTFTZS/ref=cm_sylt_byauthor_title_full_1) list interesting. I try to keep it updated with my recent reads in these genres.

[AuntiePam]

Fans of historical fiction and fictionalized historical biography might find my Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/richpub/syltguides/fullview/2MMZUXHVTFTZS/ref=cm_sylt_byauthor_title_full_1) list interesting. I try to keep it updated with my recent reads in these genres.

Thanks for sharing this. I've read a few of the books on your list. I started and stopped The Burning Times just last week because I thought it was going to get romancey, but if you say it's not, I'll give it another go.

I'm tickled pink to see that The Egyptian is still in print. Although when I think about it, it should be. Great book.

[TheOnlySaneOne]

All semester I've been reading off and on The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, by Edward Kennedy. Kind of required reading for people in my field, but I'm just reading it for fun.

Ah, the joys of being a history/international relations dork.

[Lissa]

Thanks for sharing this. I've read a few of the books on your list. I started and stopped The Burning Times just last week because I thought it was going to get romancey, but if you say it's not, I'll give it another go.


Nah, I wouldn't consider it "romancey". I'll put the rest of my comments in a spoiler box.

There is a love story involved, but it's not the focus of the novel. The main plot revolves around how Sybille learns of her destiny as part of a magical twosome which has a special role in the eternal struggle of good-versus-evil.

As I said in my review, it's a really odd book and if magic and supernatural themes turn you off, you won't enjoy it. If you can suspedn disbelief, you may enjoy the tale.