Not to be confused with the better-known Bill Mauldin…
I recently finished The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillippa Gregory, which was slow, but fascinating. At the moment, I’m about to start Gregory Maguire’s Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, and we’re expecting a snowstorm this weekend, which means it might be time to break out and reread Edding’s Belgariad, which I always seem to reread when it snows–even when, as I have now, there’s an entire shelf of books I haven’t gotten to. I’ve been carrying Neil Gaiman’s American Gods in my purse for over a month without cracking the cover, but I’ll get to it eventually. That’s the good thing about books, they usually stay where you put them, and the story won’t move on without you.
I know I shouldn’t do this, because every time I do, you stinkin’ dopers sell me on another book to chase after and I’m 87,000 behind…curse you all!
:::sigh:::
**Explain to me in simple engrish what exactly is this Guardian of the Flame ** I keep hearing about.
I just finished New world coming : the 1920s and the making of modern America, by Nathan Miller, which I found to be an extremely enjoyable survey of social and political history of the Twenties.
At the moment, I’m reading The Policy, about a monstrous supernatural entity posing as an insurance company. Bentley Little’s horror novels are really entertaining and contain much more over-the-top plots and villains that most other works of the genre, plus the side vignettes of the horrific fates meted out to assorted victims of the evil insurance company’s fine print are ghoulishly delightful.
I have several books in the queue, including **The myth of the imperial judiciary : why the right is wrong about the courts **, by Mark Kozlowski, and "We are Lincoln men: Abraham Lincoln and his friends, by David H. Donald.
Currently reading The American Axis: Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, and the Rise of the Third Reich by Max Wallace and dipping in and out of The Haunted Wood: Soviet Espionage in America by Allen Weinstein. Before the current non-fiction binge it was Floating Dragon by Peter Straub and some little tome called The Great Gatsby.
gobear, what Bentley Little books would you recommend in particular?
My last 5 reads:
The Minority Report and Other Classic Stories by Philip K. Dick. None of the more famous stories, but it does include one that’s almost light-hearted (“Waterspider”) as well as “The Mold of Yancey” that, in light of current events, is rather chilling.
Why We Buy: The Science Of Shopping by Paco Underhill
A look at shopping/advertising from an anthropologic viewpoint - some intriguing insights into how to build a better store.
*The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America * by Erik Larson
This book traces the development of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair and the career of one of America’s first serial killers.
Curses! Broiled Again!: The Hottest Urban Legends Going by J.H. Brunvand
Urban legends examined for their folkloric and psychological influence and aspects.
*Naked in Baghdad: The Iraq War as Seen by NPR’s Correspondent Anne Garrels *
A combination of journal-type entries and e-mails by her husband to friends & family - this book covers Garrels’ experiences before, during and after the Iraqi war of Spring 2003.
And, for the GotF books, do they have to be read iin order to make them coherent?
Which goes first?
I’m in the middle of The Ghost in the Universe by Taner Edis, a skeptical look at the supernatural.
The Association, about an evil home-owner’s association, and The Store, about an evil Wal-Mart-like store (yes, Little’s novel do tend to have a common theme) were particularly good.
Daytime Drama is a murder mystery involving a murder on set of a daytime drama. The sex is an added bonus to a decent story. Although you’ll likely figure out the culprit before the end.
Skipping is now out in paperback so it’s even easier to get. The chapter on gambling was my favorite.
Ahhh thanks TV time I like Lady Fraser quite a lot. Her book Warrior Queens is fantabulous!
Shirley: GoTF is a series about a bunch of kids playing a D &D like game who get sent into the Universe of their game by their gamemaster who is a sorceror. The books MUST be read in order! The first three are :
The Sleeping Dragon
The Sword and the Chain
The Silver Crown
There are a couple more that I thought I had but I can’t locate on my shelves. Check your local used book store maybe you can find those three in one of those big three in one issues the SF Book CLub puts out.
Oh and I adore John Bellairs books. I mourned his death deeply.
I recently finished A Prayer for Owen Meany. Pretty great!
I am halfway through The Da Vinci Code. It’s a real page-turner!
I’m also intermittently reading Tales from Watership Down.
I’ve just finished Deadhouse Gates (Steven Erikson). This is the second book of Tales of the Malazan Fallen. I normally read science fiction but I detour into fantasy occasionally. My reading now is one of Gardner Dozois’ series The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction
V
I tried Years of Rice and Salt too. He’s a good writer, but I just couldn’t get into the subject at all. You’re right, he was just lurching all over the place. I’d like someone to do the same subject from a more coherent POV.
Shirley-If you don’t want to carry around a lot of books, the Guardians of the Flame books have a hardback out with the first 3 books in it. Here it is. I’m sure there are more books in the series, I haven’t read them yet. I’m enjoying it so far, it’s not my favorite series, but it’s a good read.
Currently reading The Lord of the Rings, am halfway through The Two Towers.
Recent new discoveries (for me) are Pat Barker, Robertson Davies, and Stewart O’Nan, so I’m doing that thing where you buy everything the person ever wrote and just gorge. 
The two books that made the biggest impression in the past year are Billy Dead by Lisa Reardon (made me rethink incest – I hear it’s going to be a movie, wow) and Feesters in the Lake, a collection of the short fiction (fantasy and SF) of Bob Leman. It’s the best anthology I own, hands down.
Thanks! I’ve been meaning to check the guy out.
I was out of new books recently, and got on a re-reading kick. Some of the more interesting books I reread were the “Lords of Dus” series by Lawrence Watt-Evans:
The Lure of the Basilisk
The Seven Altars of Dusarra
The Sword of Bheleu
The Book of Silence
I was glad I reread these; I had forgotten how entertaining they were. (Not deep, but entertaining fantasy, and very original.)
A newer one I read recently was
The Woad to Wuin by Peter David - a very conscious tongue-in-cheeck fantasy parody, that nevertheless has an engaging story. (It’s second in a series).
And a book on SONET, but that’s of pretty limited interest.
I’m looking forward to:
Dragon Venom by Lawrence Watt-Evans, and
Tong Lashing, by Peter David
… each of which complete a trilogy I’ve started. I’m rather waiting for them in paperback, though, unless some enterprising friend or relative gives them to me as a Christmas gift.
Is there another kind? 
I just finished reading The Millionaire Next Door and now I’m reading the Wealthy Barber
Also, I just started reading The Hobbit and plan on reading all of the Lord of The Rings. For some reason I never read these books, though I did read things like The Once and Future King and similar books. Oh well better late than never.
I almost always have at least one book going, though usually non fiction. Unfortunately I don’t read as much as I used to and would like to.