Summer books -- what'cha reading?

The July/August issue of Bookmarks came today. What a wonderful magazine for readers – especially for readers who don’t subscribe to a bunch of newspapers.

I bought two of their recommendations – Softspoken, a ghost story by Lucius Shepard, and What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman. I know the Shepard will be good, but I’ve never read Lippman. Has anyone here read her stuff?

Bookmarks says Lippman delivers a novel that “cements her new standing as a literary novelist who just happens to write in the mystery genre. Her multiple narrators are each vivid characters in their own right; the plot is rich with detail – and potential clues; and above all, Lippman gives the sense that much more is at stake than a straightforward whodunit.” Doesn’t that sound good?

June’s been a great reading month – I loved Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, The Pesthouse by Jim Crace, and The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly.

Today I’m starting Facing Rushmore by David Lozell Martin, one of my favorite writers. According to the DJ blurb, America’s monuments are crumbling, and ghost dancers may be responsible. Sounds weird as hell, but Martin is always good.

I don’t usually get involved in these threads, but what the heck.

I started and finished The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer yesterday.

Currently I am knee-deep in The World According to Garp.

And I need to go back to the library. I am eyeing that horror thread wondering what else I could get.

Hmm…

Studying for the LSAT screwed up my reading, but here’s what I’ve got out:
Fallen Dragon by Peter F. Hamilton
The Histories by Herodotus (slow going, that)
I’m looking forward to Harry Potter and Jasper Fforde coming out later.
My bedtime reading is the New Testament which I haven’t really sat down and plugged at since Bible class in high school. My perspective is very different now.

Currently I have Kushiel’s Justice by Jacqueline Carey on the go. I shall soon have Valentine’s Resolve by EE Knight and Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon in my hot little hands.

And, of course, Harry Potter.

I’m currently reading Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, which I picked up because AuntiePam mentioned it in an earlier book recommendation thread, so thanks! Lord, it’s so funny. I suspect it’s well-written and all those other good things, but I’m not noticing so much because I keep laughing all the time.

Another book I picked up recently after seeing it mentioned in one of these threads was Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer (sorry, I don’t remember who first suggested it) and that was very enjoyable and chock full o’facts about American history. And it was exciting, too. And to prove I am a complete philistine, I will add that all the while I was reading it, I continued to be amazed that anyone caught any criminals, ever, before the internet. It simply seems unbelievable that one could organize that extensive of a search armed only with your wits and a telegraph.

I finished Waiting for Snow in Havana: Confessions of a Cuban Boy which is a memoir about the author’s childhood in Cuba during Batista and then later the revolution. While I thought the writing was a little uneven, overall I would recommend it to anyone interested in Cuba during this time.

Up next, I am looking forward to Michael Chabon’s new novel with great enthusiasm!

Let’s see:

Children of Hurin - Tolkien

Omnivores Dilema - Pollen

The Origin of Consciousness
in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind
- Jaynes [Found it burried deep in a pile, it’s been a while since I read this.]

Lippman has a mystery series that I really love, it stars Tess Monaghan and is set in Baltimore.

But I wasn’t as taken with the only standalone novel of hers that I’ve read: To the Power of Three.

Still, I’d say she’s got the potential to knock your socks off.

I’m reading Tad Williams’s To Green Angel Tower, Naomi Novik’s Black Powder War, Sue Henry’s The Tooth of Time, and Carolyn G Hart’s Scandal in Fair Haven.

Just finished The Ivy Crown by Mary Luke and getting started on P.D. James’s Children of Men. Before that, I read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, Desolation Island by Patrick O’Brian (I’m working my way through the Aubrey / Maturin books), Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse, and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

I’ve got an… eclectic reading list this summer…

I’m about halfway through The Amulet of Samarkand, by Jonathan Stroud, and kicking myself for not having gotten it earlier. I’ve seen it recommended lots of times, but someone here mentioned it again just lately and I finally decided to go for it. I now have all his other books on hold at the library.

I also recently read The Top Ten: Writers Pick Their Favorite Books, by J. Peder Zane, which made me realize how few of the “important” books I’ve read. So I listed a lot of the ones that were frequently mentioned and I’m going to at least give them a try. I’m kind of worried about it, because my reading time is so short and generally of poor quality, and furthermore I’m not all that bright. But if these are the great books, I don’t want to miss them. Maybe some of them will sweep me off my feet!

The first three are: Anna Karenina, by Tolstoy (this was the number one choice of the writers surveyed for this book); Lolita, by Nabokov; and Middlemarch, by George Eliot.

The audiobook I’ll be starting next is The Abolition of Man/The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis.

This sounds interesting. I love books about books.

I recently read Francine Prose’s book on reading and writing. She’s convinced me to stretch myself. She used excerpts from literary greats to illustrate how writers write, and the exerpts were shockingly good, and not “difficult” at all. Chekhov, here I come! :slight_smile:

I’m about 2/3 of the way through Rupert Everett’s Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, and it’s fascinating. He’s a pretty good writer, despite a few overly flowery passages and a couple of editing mishaps. But I never knew he was involved with so many women!

Here’s what I’ve finished so far.

World War Z by Max Brooks

The War that Made America by Fred Anderson

First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough

Up Front by Bill Mauldin

And I’m just now starting on

The Grass Crown by Coleen McCullough
Marc

I’ve finally gotten back into A Series of Unfortunate Events. They’re by no means great literature, closer to Discworld novels than anything else I think, but like Discworld, they’re pretty entertaining. I’m reading about one a night, currently on book 9 or 10 out of 13.

I’m also reading Anthony Bourdain’s Typhoid Mary, a sympathetic history of Mary Mallone. In some ways it’s really interesting; in other ways, he reminds me of Count Olaf dressed as a disco cop, constantly snapping his fingers and saying, “Cool!” He thinks he’s way cooler than he really is, and he spends too much of the book just reprinting vast swaths of other people’s firsthand accounts, interspersed with his own not-terribly-interesting snarky comments and baseless speculation (he goes on at great length about the character traits of a doctor, based only on a single photograph of the doctor).

I just finished A History of the World in Six Glasses, which officially rocks. It talks about how world history was affected by and reflected in the history of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola. It’s a fascinating book, history just the way I like it, full of great anecdotes (such as General Zukhov, the Soviet leader who disguised his love of the decadent American soft drink by having Coca-Cola make up a special clear version of the drink that he could store in Soviet-stamped vodka bottles), interspersed with discussions of broad historical themes. Great reading!

Daniel

I just finished The Rebels of Ireland. It was a good read, and I had read the first book, The Princes of Ireland some time ago.

I’m now looking for some more good books, so I’ll keep my eye on this thread.

Let’s see.

Current read The Doctor’s Wife

Started:

The Crimson Pearl and the White (I know, 2002 called and wants its book back)
Cellophane
Fahrenheit 451

I’ve just re-read the last Harry Potter book, to get ready for the next one.

I just finished Tanya Huff’s Heart of Valor, the third book in that series. So far I have really enjoyed all of her books.

I was thinking about stopping on my way home to get the new Stephanie Plum book to read over the weekend.

I just finished Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds, and am about to start Chasm City by same. Good hard Space Opera. My only complaint is that the characters are pretty much all unlikeable paranoiacs.

I’m in the middle of The Origin of Species by some fellow named Charles Darwin. I must say, while I enjoy a jape as much as the next fellow, this Darwin goes too far. If we take his theory–if he is indeed being serious–to its logical conclusion, we may have to admit that man is cousin to the Orang-utang! :eek:

I loved that book! Come back and let us know how you feel about the ending. It was controversial.

I am presently reading Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko and loving it. I also have “Last of the Mohicans” at work for my breaks (when I get them).

I plan on re-reading the Harry Potters before the new one is released and also have a pile of about 40 books on my bedstand demanding my attention.

This looks yummy, and will be the fourth book I’ve bought today.

I’ve never read Russian horror or fantasy. Any cultural differences?