Martha, what did you think of Birds without Wings? I enjoyed it; I love how alive his characters seem to be, but I still haven’t enjoyed his later books as much as I liked the Columbian trilogy, especially Don Emmanuel. I did like reading about the Turkish experience of Gallipoli, having grown up hearing so much about the Anzacs.
Last finished: The Song of the Dodo by David Quammen – a really interesting book on island biogeography – long, dense, but fascinating. (While in Barnes and Noble tonight I picked up his Monster of God, on man-eating predators – nope, Tim Treadwell of Grizzly Man isn’t listed in the index.)
Currently reading: Speaking to the Dead, on the Fox sisters, who are generally credited with kicking off the 19th-century spirtualism craze. Good but not great – a pretty fast read.
Next up in the queue, because it’s a library book: the new Elizabeth George, With No One as Witness. I like George – but like many bestselling novelists, she somehow seems to have moved into a realm where no one dare edit her, so I anticipate it will be at least 100 pages longer than it needs to be.
(BTW, photopat – there’s a thread on Devil in the White City when you finish it.)
I have waaay too many books in my pile.
Just finished:
The birth of Britain by Winston Churchill. Not bad; lots of war and politics, while I usually concentrate on peasants and women, so a nice change.
Crime and punishment by Dostoyevski. Not the cheeriest book I’ve ever read; took me forever (I try to have a classic going at all times, or I would never read any)
Just started:
Northanger Abbey, as a reward for finishing C&P
Canterbury, a neat little history guide I picked up at the library
About to start:
Magic Street, Orson Scott Card’s latest.
I love David Quammen’s writing and recommend The Boilerplate Rhino if you haven’t yet read it.
Damn. You have just caused me to add three new books to my list. Oh darn, another trip to the bookstore is in my future. 
I’m just starting The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos. I’m coming off a break after reading the last three Zuckerman novels by Philip Roth (American Pastoral, I Married a Communist, The Human Stain) last spring. American Pastoral was really the stand-out amongst the three. An amazing book.
After seeing it mentioned in GD, I’m trying to get my hands on a copy of Becker’s Denial of Death. So far, the local library hasn’t been able to get it on interloan, I guess.
Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail by Hunter S. Thompson - because you know there’s never enough U.S politics in the news. 
Ah, I loved that book. Wasn’t even close to alive at that campaign time, but I found it weirdly resonant. (Of course, it’s also a lot of other kinds of weird.) Let me know what you think.
I thought it was sublime, as good as - if not better - than Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. I had been told it was ‘a demanding read, and too heavy on the historical detail’ but I didn’t find that at all.
I also enjoyed the trilogy but I read it years ago, and would need to go back to it and see how they compare. IIRC the trilogy was much more slapstick than the more gentle Corelli and Birds.
I finished the latest Harry Potter book (HP & the Half Blood Prince) a few weeks ago, and have also been working on “Empire Falls,” by Richard Russo. I plan to read more of his work; my daughter and I enjoyed the HBO miniseries so I decided to see how much of the book actually made it into the movie.
I have to admit that “Devil in the White City,” sounds very interesting to me although I’m not sure that I want librarians to know that I enjoy reading novels about serial killers! Something else that’s caught my attention is the upcoming Anne Rice novel about the life of Christ. Okay, put it this way, it -could- be very good. Especially if you like historical fiction. Other than that, I’ve also been working my way through a few murder mysteries (run-of-the-mill ones that I got at a local used bookstore) as well as the occasional Trek novel…
I’ve just finished reading everything by P. G. Wodehouse that I own. I’m currently re-reading my Original Illustrated Sherlock Holmes.
The Flashman series is next on my list. After that, I may have to buy some new books.
I can also recommend The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. I read the whole thing in about 2 days, and I’m normally a slow reader. I’m also in the process of re-reading The Book of the New Sun, by Gene Wolfe. It tells the story of Severian, a torturer expelled from his guild for showing mercy to a prisoner, and who spends the 1000 pages of the book wandering from town to town having lots of sex and acting like Jesus. Except there’s more to it than that, of course. If you pace yourself correctly it can last you the better part of a year.
I was just thinking of starting this thread! I love these threads because I always get such good leads on new books.
I’ve been ill since June and have been reading alot.
I’ve read:
The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix quite enjoyable. Actually I read the first a year or more ago. This is one of the few times that I enjoyed the sequels more than the original.
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The Weather Warden* books from Rachel Caine - a different type of fantasy, a quick read and enjoyable.
The sequel to Darkly Dreaming Dexter called Dearly Devoted Dexter. This one was too graphic and too dark for me and I did not enjoy it at all. However, I enjoyed the first, a quirky take on the serial killer genre.
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Zorro: A novel *(by Isabel Allende). Not bad. I have always enjoyed the Zorro stories.
The women of the other world series by Kelley Armstrong. Anoter quick read, but not too bad. Especially when you are desparte for books like I currently am.
I just read one of my favorite authors, but was disappointed: The Hawk Eternal by David Gemell. It was OK, but not up to his usual quality.
Waiting at home for me when I finally return is Jim Butcher’s new one, but its name has slipped my mind.
Gulo gulo – I actually picked up The Boilerplate Rhino a few years ago – it had migrated into the inactive queue (one of the several upstairs bookcases of unread books, as opposed to one of the downstairs bookcases of unread books). You’re right, though, he’s a wonderful writer – I just went upstairs and found it so I can leave it downstairs.
tarragon – Devil in the White City is nonfiction – and it’s as much, if not more, about the Chicago World’s Fair as it is about a serial killer.
Kasuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go and the non-fiction Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer, by Chauncey Loomis.
Let’s see, I just finished “My G-String Mother: At Home and Backstage with Gypsy Rose Lee” by her son Erik Lee Preminger. I am also finished with the first two books of “The Chronicles of Narnia” by C.S. Lewis (of course!). Next up is John Irving’s new one, “Until I Find You”. After that, who knows?
Just finished Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I may be the last person on this board to have read this.
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I’m normally a fast reader but I’m taking my time with this one so as to not miss any of Wilde’s rich prose. Every sentence is so well-formed.
I’ve been working on All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren for about a month or so now. It’s actually an OK book, but I’m having trouble really getting into it. It also much longer than I’m used to. Amazon.com says 672 pages, but it’s very small print with narrow leading and hardly any margins on the page.
I’m in the middle of an Evelyn Waugh kick now. I’ve read The Loved One and Scoop in the past two weeks, and I have Black Mischief and Brideshead Revisited checked out from the library waiting to be read. He’s another writer who I have to read slowly.
I just finished Denise Mina’s Scottish crime mysteries Garnethill and Deception. I recommend both, especially the slow-moving but more psychologically chilling Deception. Rather than focusing on the gory and shocking aspects of the crimes at the center of the stories, she delves into the psychological effects on those swept up in the aftermath. I’ll definitely seek out more of her work upon my next visit to the library.
I’m about half way through The Battle for God (a history of fundamentalism) by Karen Armstrong. It’s fascinating, in a massive trainwreck sort of way. It definitely manages to give perspective on fundamentalist views of the three major religions. The writer is an ex nun.
I’m also re-reading Roger Zelazny’s Amber series, and Wrinkle in Time out loud to my daughter.