Whatcha Readin' April 2010 Edition

Wow, I almost forgot! I had a minor success at work today and it occupied my mind most of the day.

I am reading The Juggler a Faustian novel about a - you guessed it - juggler who sells his soul to Satan in order to be *the *best Juggler. It started slowly but after 100 or so pages picked up. I am not finished, but will let you know how I like it once I am.

Linkto last month’s thread.

To those celebrating a holiday this weekend - have a safe and enjoyable holiday.

Just finished Active Liberty, by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. In a nutshell, he argues that, in interpreting the Constitution and statutes, all things being equal, courts should favor any interpretation which leads to greater citizen involvement in the democratic process. He also rebuts the Scalia/Thomas originalist interpretation pretty effectively. It makes for a persuasive argument but a pretty dry book - and reminded me all over again why I don’t enjoy reading legal theory.

I’m a little over 1/3 through Robert Harris’ Fatherland and enjoying it immensely.

Taking it to Vietnam with us this weekend, along with Harris’ The Ghost, which was just made into a film called The Ghost Writer starring Ewan McGregor and Pierce Brosnan; and A Most Wanted Man, by John le Carre. I may also take a local novel called Private Dancer, by Stephen Leather, but I don’t know how much reading I’ll actually get done and may leave that one behind.

I just finished a short by Doctorow When Sysadmins ruled the Earth. Pretty good read.

I’m just starting The Demon-Haunted World, good start, no demons yet though.

That’s the point. :smiley:

Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghosts. The guy has more depth to his writing than his old man. Well at least in his short stories. I’ve only read one of his novels so far Heart Shaped Box. I’m looking forward to reading more. Next up is John Duignan’s The Complex a scientology expose. Apparently it’s publication has been blocked for the moment, so I’m lucky to have a review copy.

I finished March 246 pages deep into Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson. It’s book 8 of The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Unfortunately it’s not available for the Kindle yet in the US, so I’ve been wrestling daily with the massive paperback. I finished the previous book in the series, Reaper’s Gale, early in the month. Looking back on last month’s thread, I read around 480 pages this past month in this series.

For work, I’m reading Concurrent Programming on Windows by Joe Duffy. I just started Chapter 7, page 315. Starting to get in to more practical, higher level discussions. I read about 70 pages in this book in March.

Congratulations on your work thingy,** Khadaji**!

I’m still working on The Best of Joe R. Lansdale, and expect to give it five stars when I’m done.

I just started the audiobook version of True Grit by Charles Portis, read by Donna Tartt (an author in her own right). She sounds a bit like Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs.

I just finished Ruling Passion by Reginald Hill - the third in the Dalziel and Pascoe series. I had been warned before reading A Clubbable Woman that it wasn’t up to the standard of the rest of the series, but I have a thing for reading an author’s books in order. Then An Advancement of Learning was much better, but I still wasn’t blown away. Now, I get it - *Ruling Passion *was outstanding.

I’m off to the bookstore and then lunch - I’ll see what I come up with to read next…

Is that the one by John Morressy? I read it last year and liked it a lot. A simple story but told well.

Seamack, re Joe Hill – I’ve read both his novels and while they were just fine, the short stories are what do it for me.

Dung Beetle, I loves me some Lansdale but I’m gonna have to find a TOC to make sure I don’t already have the stories. Are there some new ones in the Best collection?

I’m still reading A Distant Flame by Philip Lee Williams (Civil War novel).

It is indeed. It may be that I am reading it based on you having mentioned it. I know that I found out about it via our threads.

Tess of the D’urbervilles.

Well, they’re new to me…I like him but I haven’t read much of his stuff.

This book has: Godzilla’s twelve-step program – Bubba Ho-Tep – Mad dog summer – Fire dot – Big show – Duck hunt – Incident on and off a mountain road – Events concerning a nude fold-out found in a Harlequin romance – White mule, spotted pig – On the far side of the Cadillac Desert with dead folks – Not from Detroit – Cowboy – Steppin’ out, summer '68 – Fish night – Hell through a windshield – Night they missed the horror show.

:smack: Now you tell me. Twilight and Left Behind were right there but I had to go for the demons.

Never trust a title. :smiley:

I’ve just got a couple of pages left on When Science Goes Wrong: Twelve Tales from the Dark Side of Discovery, and I’ve really enjoyed it. Simon LeVay is a very engaging writer, and has done an excellent job of laying out the problems of methodology, assumptions, pure bad luck, etc., for twelve cases in different fields, and looking at various opinions about the cases and how they could perhaps have been handled differently. It seems very well-researched and unbiased to me, and is a nice look at the human side of science.

On my nook, I’ve got a collection of Japanese stories, including a selection from Genji, that I’ve just barely started. I’m trying to hold back a couple of good things since I’m on vacation next weekend and will be driving (or at least in a car) for about 30 hours round trip - lots of good uninterrupted reading time!

Thanks for the list! Some of these are definitely new. Cool!

Have you tried his Hap and Leonard novels? They’re pretty violent, but they’re quite funny.

Just finishedThe Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and immediately picked up and finished *The Nature of Monsters* by Clare Clark. Both are the kind of book that stays with you for while after you finish them. Now I’m reading The Book of Fires by Jane Borodal. It’s good, too, although it starts out with a pig being killed, which is one thing that really bothers me. (See also the movie The Girl from Paris.)

No, those are one of the things I always think I’ll read someday. Maybe soon…

Just finished The Maltese Falcon and loved it. I’m about halfway through Peter F. Hamilton’s The Dreaming Void and I’m loving it, too. It’s been several years since I read the Night’s Dawn trilogy and I’d forgotten how I enjoy his style.

I hope you will not think less of me. I just finished Abe Lincoln; Vampire Hunter, further I recommend it.