Another "whatcha reading?" thread

Justine by the Marquis de Sade. Quills piqued my curiousity.

Just finished The First Casualty by Phillip Knightley, a history of war correspondents from the Crimean War to the present. Just started The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain.

Finished Domain by James Herbert last night.

Starting The Khufra Run by Jack Higgins today.

See now, I’m currently reading Clan of the Cave Bear, and I am finding that I just can’t get into it, and I’m only on page 50 or so. It’s just sort of a soft and gushy, emotionally-driven, mother/child kind of book about relationships, and I’m just really not into that. I’m almost certain that I won’t be able to get much further into it.

OTOH, there are dozens of books sitting on my bookshelf, begging me to read them - like House on the Borderland, Relic, Temple, Still Life and other pulpy horror-type books, and I have a feeling I’m going to weaken and start reading one of those instead.

I find it noteworthy that Clan was recently named “one of the most important works” by one of those insufferable thinking institutes (No doubt, Joyce Carol Oates is on that same list… :smiley: ). It so happens that I am also reading Jack Higgins’ The Khufra Run, an older action book recently re-issued in Mass Market Paperback, and I’m flying through it (“flying” for me) - the dumb, pointless, unimportant, hack work. That must mean I’m stupid.

(Please don’t mind me as I hack and cough a bad cold away here…)

I just got started on Portrait of a Burger as a Young Calf (non-fiction) by Peter Lovenheim. He’s a journalist who decided to follow the life of a calf from conception to slaughter, and so far I’m finding it fascinating. Whether you eat meat or not, if you just like to know how things work, I think you would find this interesting.

I’m just now finishing up The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff, perhaps one of the greatest books ever written. :slight_smile:

Started The House on the Borderland, by William Hope Hodgson, today - interesting how it’s over 100 years old, and hasn’t dated nearly as much as some books I’ve read which are only 30 years old.

Just finished up:

A Point of Honour -great dialogue.

Slammerkin - like a really really depressing Crimson Petal and White.

We Need to Talk About Kevin - took a little while to get going but had a really powerful ending

And I’m now working Bonesetter’s Daughter

I’ve really enjoyed all of these.

i just finished neil gaiman’s american gods last night. it was my first book of his that i’ve read, but definitely not the last.

The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien

I can’t believe I haven’t read this saga yet. :slight_smile:

After I finish LOTR, I’m going to read the last two books in the Dune saga by Frank Herbert. I can compare them to see which is better.

Hi all,
Just got back from vacation in Denver- read Zeke & Ned by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana. Very excellent as usual.

Recently finished Porno by Irvine Welsh, put me on a Welsh kick-went back and re-read Trainspotting- now re-reading *Porno * again - those are my lunch break books. Also re-read *The Acid House * by the same author. Got to remember not to leave those out on my work desk :wink:

Now reading the third Harry Potter Book and touched on P.J O’ Rourkes Modern Manners on the car drive home.

I am currently reading “History of My Life,” books 7-8 by Giacomo Casanova.

War and Peace, just started a couple days ago, and Bertrand Russells History of Modern Philosophy

War and Peace, just started a couple days ago, and Bertrand Russells History of Western Philosophy

Stalking Darkness by Lynn Flewelling – I thought it was #2 in a trilogy, but apparently it’s #2 of 2, and the next book, which I thought was #3 of a trilogy, is actually a stand-alone. Cool! I’m so glad to see another Flewelling reader here – she’s getting more attention among fantasy fans.

Also reading Stewart O’Nan’s new book, The Night Country. It’s about teenagers who died in a car crash. They come back a year later, on Halloween. For O’Nan readers, you know this won’t be a typical ghost story.

I promised someone I’d read The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood next, and I promised myself I’d read The Lord of the Rings very soon.

Just finished House on the Borderland and will start something new tomorrow - was going to try The Stand, but not sure I’m ready for such a big book! :smiley:

I think I’ll start Ghost Train by Stephen Laws. (halfway through Khufra Run, will probably finish that Tuesday or Wednesday)

Like Elaella I almost always read more than one book at a time. Since I usually write more than one short story at a time too, I guess that’s how my brain is wired to deal with the written word.

Anyway, I just finished Dawin’s Radio by Greg Bear and ** Oryx and Crake** Margaret Atwood …I didn’t get them until Tuesday, so I guess I really liked them :smiley:

I didn’t get out of the Bs at the library this week - now I’m working on **Lives of the Monster Dogs ** by Kirsten Bakis and **Tamsin ** by Peter S. Beagle. Since I’ve got to read them by two weeks from Tuesday, this interupts my readings of Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley and ** The Dogs of Babel ** by Carolyn Parkhurst, both of which I’ve vowed to finish before taking anything else out of the library. But that’s probably a lie to myself.

[teensy weensy hijack – I didn’t want to start a horror thread]

nisosbar, I can’t help but notice that you read a lot of horror, and not just the ordinary KingKoontzRiceSaulAndrews.

Like Ghost Train. I haven’t heard anyone mention that book for years.

Where are you getting your recommendations?

I’m reading Joyce’s Ulysses

but interspersed with chapters from that I’m re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

It’s actually interesting to compare Joyce’s writing to Lewis’s (or Tolkien’s); they were basically contemporaries, but from a colony and a colonizer (sounds like something with which one might zap a colon), and with very different writing styles.

Yup, I’m like that too. My brother got fed up with my taking more than 8 months to finish “Fargo Rock City” (which he gave to me for Christmas last year) that he took it from my room the last time he was over at my place!

Blood and Gold by Anne Rice, but only on Saturdays… or whenever I have to spend time on the bus.

Shakey: Neil Young’s Biography by Jimmy McDonough… I plan to finish that by Nov. 25, or whenever my brother has his birthday party. (it’s my present to him, and I figure I may as well read it while I’ve got it)

Life of Pi by Yann Martel.

F_X