This group seems like a very intelligent lot. I would wager that most of you are reading a book in your spare time right now.
I’m reading a book called “Virtual History.” It takes a certain event in history and describes what could have happened if that event had not occurred. For instance, what would have happened if John F. Kennedy had not been assassinated.
D’oh
“Everything you know is wrong”, by Lloyd Pye (sp?). Debunks Darwinism, to a large extent. Still don’t know what to think of it, entertaining though.
Coldfire
“You know how complex women are”
10 lb Penalty by Dick Francis.
then probably Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins
and then I’m back in school so Ill have no time to read anything but textbooks Im sure! =(
I’ll always be working through a book of old (‘classic’) SF short stories. Got enough on my shelf to last me a lifetime.
Just finished “To Kill a Mockingbird”
About to start “Brave New World” and two books on Korean history and culture (one focusing on pre-Korean War, one on post-war)
Now if I could just break my newspaper addiction, I’d have much more time for reading books!
H.P. Lovecraft and Others: Tales of the Cthulhu Mythos. It’s an anthology that contains reprints from Weird Tales and other old pulp mags; some of the authors include Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, Frank Belknap Long, August Derleth, and Robert Bloch.
It’s okay, I guess, and some of the stories are interesting, but I’ll tell you this much: they ain’t Lovecraft.
Undaunted Courage, about the Lewis and Clark (mostly Clark) expedition. I’m only making intermittent progress since I keep stopping to read murder mysteries.
Best book I’ve read in a while – How the Irish Saved Civilization. Surprisingly enjoyable and interesting.
“non sunt multiplicanda entia praeter necessitatem”
– William of Ockham
Orson Scott Card’s “Earthborn”, the concluding chapter of the Homecoming saga. A pain in the ass as far as character names go. None are “normal” and it’s difficult to tell males from females without proper context. Still, it has been an intriguing series I’ve been reading for about 4 years.
LINDBERGH by A. Scott Berg. It won the Pulitzer last year, and deserved it. It’s a bio of Charles Lindbergh. Fascinating. I highly recommend it.
I just got 'Tis by Frank McCort. It’s a follow-up to Angela’s Ashes. Looking forward to reading it next.
Geez, I’m glad I’m not the only one who had trouble with the names, Trumpy. I started that series and I never finished it, which is almost unprecendented for me. I even really like Orson Scott Card, but I couldn’t figure out who was who. If he’d have just started out with a few characters I would have done OK, but I felt like I got hit with 50 names/nicknames in the first chapter.
I’m currently reading The Year’s Best Horror and Fantasyand Nietzsche’s Better than Human. Then I’ll probably move on to Visual Intelligences, about how we perceive what we see.
“Eppur, si muove!” - Galileo Galilei
Just finished Sophie’s World by Jostein Gaarder…my new favorite Norwegian author! I know very little about the history of western philosophy (despite all those years in school) and this was a fascinating way to catch up.
Also I just read a biography of Alf Wight, the real James Herriot. It was very interesting, but I wish I had not read it as it turns out so much of what I loved about the Herriot books and considered autobiographical was in fact pure fiction.
A friend has recommended The Weight of Water (blanking on author right now) to me as a good light read. I’ll start on that next…
Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, per recommendation of someone on the SDMB, no less. 
On an earlier thread, I mentioned how much I enjoyed his Into Thin Air; someone told me about this book, and off to Borders I went!
Very interesting book, thus far. It tells of a young man who went off to live a Tolstoyan/Jack London existence in Alaska, only to have his decomposed body found a few short months later inside an abandoned bus he’d made “home.”
“Me fail English? That’s unpossible!”
“English? Who needs that? I’m never going to England.”
About 10 books. Last one opened: Dave Barry novel Big Trouble.Entertaining.Not the standard Barry.
LauraRae: I just read Into Thin Air this summer…I could not put it down! But it was pretty intense, I felt dizzy in parts (particularly where he describes oxygen deprivation).
Did you see the documentary on the making of that IMAX film three or four weeks ago? I can’t remember what channel; they had an interview with Beck Weathers, so often left for dead in the book. It was great closure for me as I wondered what happened to the guys.
Actually, I am reading a book on RF design for CATV systems. Pretty dull shit.
I have found some time recently to browse through some of my old National Geographics though. I think the ideal job would be photographer for the NG. It would combine my love of travel, photography and I could use the technical stuff stuff I enjoy.
One complete set of morals for sale to highest bidder, new in box.
Well, if you were paying attention in the BBQ, you know I’ve been reading “The Secret Language of Birthdays”… but I’m never reading just one book. My attention generally gets split between three or four at a time. Currently, in addition to the birthday book:
-A Season in Hell & The Drunken Boat by Arthur Rimbaud
-Shopping in Space: Essays on America’s Blank Generation Fiction (again) by Elizabeth Young and Graham Caveney
-The Feminist Companion to Mythology edited by Carolyne Larrington
All as well as “2715 One-Line Quotations for Speakers, Writers and Raconteurs”, “Feng Shui”, and all the thousands of magazines that come in.
Veni, Vidi, Visa … I came, I saw, I bought.
I’m currently reading “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt, a book I bought over two years ago. I have a bad habit of buying books, even when I already have plenty to read.
Next up? I haven’t decided yet. I want some “airplane reading”…any suggestions? (no Arthur Hailey plane disaster novels, if you please!) 
I prefer rogues to imbeciles because they sometimes take a rest.
Alexandre Dumas the Younger (1824-1895)
Slogging through a “History of Poland” and just starting Tom Brokaw’s “The Greatest Generation”
Also reading the manuals for my recently acquired Adobe graphics studio s/w.
Question:
Anyone know the title of Mark Twain’s book about Ste. Joan of Arc? I heard about the book recently from someone who couldn’t recall the title. Sounds interesting
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.
I just finished Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. I had to give my brain a little rest, so yesterday I started Dave Barry’s Bad Habits.
Debt of Honor by Tom Clancy. Again. For what seems like the 25th time. I needed something to read at work during the hurricane/tropical storm/wimpy fizzle that came through last week, and realized it on the way out of the house, so I grabbed it. And now I’m stuck reading it. Again. Damn Clancy, I can’t stop reading his stuff once I’m more than halfway through the book.
Jeremy…
I can think of no more stirring symbol of man’s humanity to man than a fire engine - Kurt Vonnegut
How about Exchange Server 5.5 Unleased (I think, I tossed it in a corner a few hours ago and don’t have the energy to go dig it out …). Turns out it should have been a ‘Dummies’ book but the name was already copywrit (copywrited? copywritten? copywrote?). Spend sixty bucks on a book, you’d expect some useful information, grumble, grumble, grumble.
Anyway, Frakie: Tom Robbins - have you read much of his stuff? I loved ‘Still Life with Wookpecker’, figure that the earlier books are just drafts and the later stuff is just a restatement.
Other favorites (who haven’t released any new stuff lately, if they’re even still alive) are Kurt Vonnegaut (any book - pick one, I’ll swear it’s my favorite); John Crowley (especially ‘Little, Big’, and always always always ‘Engine Summer’); John Irving - ‘Cider House Blues’ sent chills up and down my spine.
Okay, okay - John Irving actually has a new book out that I haven’t read yet, so we know he’s not (or very recently has become) dead.
-E-