What's everyone reading?

I just finished – well half-finished and then skimmed – The Brothers of Gwynedd Quartet by Ellis Peters (4 books in one). I liked it, and the skimming only started when I realized that it was all English king and marcher barons agree to truce, break truce, agree to truce, break truce, etc. I got a nice feel for the times though, and it fit nicely with the Nova program on trebuchet construction.

Now reading a fantasy, Illusion by Sarah Volsky, while waiting for Cell (Stephen King) and The Bone Hunters (Steven Erikson) to arrive.

What are you reading? What have you dumped lately? Anything knock your socks off?

Working on Darwin’s Voyage of the Beagle mostly. And Woodrow Wilson’s (yes, that Woodrow Wilson) George Washington a liittle bit.

Recently read David Quammen’s Song of the Dodo. Fabulous book. Had it sitting around for several years. Dunno why I didn’t read it earlier.

I’m almost halfway through Against All Enemies, by Richard Clarke. It’s very interesting, though I feel like I’m drowning in acronyms. It’s fun to read the quotes from high-mucky-mucks when they’re talking like real people and not politicians and even (gasp!) swear. It’s also interesting to see Clarke’s personal opinions come through so clearly even in purely factual passages. For instance, in my head, the title of the current chapter is “Louis Freeh is a Dickhead.”

I’m also reading *The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding * for homework - I’m working on becoming a LLL leader with an eye to geting certified as a lactation consultant.

Just finished His Excellency: George Washington, by Joseph J. Ellis. Now reading Mencken: The American Iconoclast, by Marion Elizabeth Rodgers. I seem to be on a non-fiction binge.

When I was a kid I bought some Ballantine’s History Of A Violent Century. Since I found that Spitfire kit (posted in MPSIMS) I’ve started re-reading some. I’ve just finished the one on the Battle of Britain, and I’m starting Spitfire. After that, probably Lancaster Bomber. I’ve also read three Biggles adventures recently.

I’m also reading a book about Borley Rectory (‘The Most Haunted Place In England’), though I don’t believe in ghosts.

Vladimir Nabokov’s The Enchanter, the prototype for Lolita. About three pages away from the ending.

I’m working my way through Patrick O’Brian’s series. I’m about halfway through The Nutmeg of Consolation.

I’m also reading Temple Grandin’s Animals in Translation. We went to see her at a local bookstore where she gave a talk. Very interesting and engaging and quite funny.

Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. I’m partway through the third book (The Waste Lands) and I’m really enjoying it. I haven’t read any King in years and I forgot what a good writer he can be when he’s not just pumping out cash cows.

I’m currently reading Monkeyluv by Robert Sapolsky. He’s fantastic, whatever he writes. A Primate’s Memoir is one of my all-time favorite books. This is a collection of his essays – currently in the midst of one about Munchausen by Proxy.

Just finished The End of the Affair by Graham Greene. Damn, is he a fantastic writer. That may be the apotheosis of his career, I dunno, but it’s amazing.

Next up: The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz (sp?) Zafon. Either that, or The Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner.

Mrs. Furthur

Fifth Business, by Robertson Davies, and Leisure, The Basis of Culture by Josef Pieper. Both good.

After I finish I should read Shadowmarch, by Tad Williams. He’s my almost favourite fantasy writer. Robin McKinley is first.

Just finished Bill Bryson, a short history of nearly everything.

I’m working on

Re-reading Night by Elie Wiesel
Finishing Jefferson’s War by Wheelan (about Halfway through it)
Getting ready to start Freakanomics by Levitt and Dubner

All links are to look inside copies for those truly interested.

I’m (re)reading the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman; I’ve been thinking about starting a thread to discuss it, if anybody’s interested. Let me know.

The Golden Ratio by Mario Livio.

I have Assembling California by John McPhee here in my office for emergency material (I have read it twice before and understand a little more each time…it is about the geological history of California).

I just finished The Life of Pi by Yann Martel. It was pretty good but had been hyped up quite a bit by the folks who recommended it.

A couple of nights ago I started The Archer’s Tale by Bernard Cornwell. It is the first part of the Grail Quest Series. Seems pretty good so far but I’ve only read 60 pages or so.

I just finished Glass Castle, a memoir by Jeanette Walls that I recommend highly. She describes her childhood with brilliant but dangerously & negligently eccentric parents, two people you really like except for when you want to kill them with a brick and take their kids to safety. (Of course in light of James Frey it’s possible she in fact grew up in a split level ranch style house in a suburb of OshKosh and that the childhood of poverty and constant relocation was actually based on a vacation to Disney Land where her father’s Master Card was declined and he had to use traveller’s checks.)

I’m currently reading The Crucible as I’ve been offered the role of Judge Danforth in a production and am debating whether to accept it. (Great role but I’m worried about the time commitment.)

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami translated by Jay Rubin. I am about half-way through, its pretty good although I do find myself occasionally thinking get on with it.

I just fininshed Carpe Demon a very light fantasy about a former demon hunter (Hunter actually) who has retired and now has a family. It wasn’t too bad.

I am now reading Troy by one of my favorite fantasy writers David Gemmell. This one seems - at least so far - to be straight forward historical fiction rather than fantasy, but I am still enjoying it.

I just finished Connie Willis’s novella Inside Job. It’s cute, a typical Willis story. It’s about a professional skeptic investigating a psychic channeler.

I’m now reading Alexander McCall Smith’s No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series. They’re about a lady detective (obviously) in Botswana.

I’m also halfway through Owen Parry’s Faded Coat of Blue, the first of a mystery series set during the Civil War.

AuntiePam, have you tried Sharon Kay Penman’s Welsh trilogy? I really enjoy all of her books. The trilogy starts with Here be Dragons, where King John’s illegitimate daughter Joanna marries Llewelyn.

cher3, I absolutely love the the Aubrey-Maturin books. I read them all straight through about a year ago, and I am gradually working through them again, whenever I run out of something else to read.

Isn’t Dodo excellent? I named it “Best Nonfiction Book I Read in 2005.” I’m currently reading his Monster of God, which isn’t as good, but how could it be? It’s not bad, though, and as usual with him there’s stuff to think about.
Speaking of Darwin, recently read *The Darwin Conspiracy*, which is pretty much an effort to cash in on the Da Vinci Code craze, but which was a fun, quick read. I’ve been thinking I need to go back to the source on Darwin – do you recommend Voyage of the Beagle? Have you read Origin of Species?

Last week I finished Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers by Fred Howard. It was quite an interesting and detailed account of how the brothers invented the airplane. It also discussed the other inventors who were also making their first attempts at flight.

Before that I read Freakanomics.

My current reading is somewhat mundane: Operating Instructions for the Sony RDR-VX511 Video Cassette Recorder/DVD Recorder