I’m reading Seeing Like a State by James Scott, and a beginner’s book on electronics.
That’s sorta how I felt too, when she responded. She’s a nice lady.
If you like fantasy and horror, come over to the Shocklines board – there’s lots of “celebrities”. Elizabeth Massie, Doug Clegg, Tim Piccirilli, Ray Garton, Rick Hautala, Poppy Z. Brite, and many up and comers.
Here’s my last 4 books;
Finished “Illium” by Dan Simmons, moved onto “Battle Royale” by Koushun Takami, then moved onto “How to lose Friends and alienate People” by Toby Young and just picked up “The System of the World” by Neal Stephenson…
Loved Battle Royale. I have System of the World but haven’t started it because i know it will take like 2 1/2 months to read it.
I just finished Survival in the Killing Fields by Haing Ngor. I just started Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.
I just finshed reading this series last month and I agree this is not Vance’s best, but I still crack up over the ending of “The Face”. I am now reading “The Son of the Tree” by Jack Vance.
I just started reading Lucky You by Carl Hiaasen. Like it.
Bumping this to thank ShirleyUjest for mentioning Gil’s All Fright Diner – I liked it, laughed out loud several times.
Next up is a re-read (I think, can’t remember for sure) of The Devil to Pay by Earl Thompson. His stuff is raw and gritty and sexy, and that’s what I’m in the mood for. I wish I could convince other people to read him.
I’m surprised this thread has slowed so quickly; seems like we hadn’t had one in a while. C’mon people, I know you’re reading stuff…give it up!
Now I’m reading To The Power of Three by Laura Lippman. Someone around here mentioned it and gave it a fairly lukewarm review (although obviously still good enough to get me to look for it.) It’s not the sort of thing I’d read twice, but since this is my first trip through it I’m finding it to be sufficiently entertaining. (How’s that for lukewarm?)
Heh. I just finished that and am currently writing a review of it. I’m a big fan of Lippman’s Tess Monaghan books. Unfortunately, that fandom must not be portable.
I’m reading Garth Nix’s Shade’s Children, Janet Evanovich’s Ten Big Ones, and Carolyn G Hart’s Scandal in Fair Haven.
This week I finished Zen and the Way of the Sword and Miyamoto Musashi’s Book of Five Rings. I have Hutton’s Old Sword-Play: Techniques of the Great Masters to keep me busy until The Unfettered Mind arrives.
That’s in my TBR. You’ve read the Abhorsen trilogy? Good stuff.
I put aside the Thompson and started Darkness Peering by Alice Blanchard, which I think I heard about here. I’m liking the (possible) murderer brother better than the detective sister. There’s something about women who sleep with married men that gets my dander up.
This is probably the first time I’ve inspired someone to read something that wasn’t a children’s book or a trashy romance novel.
YAY and a w00t!
That might have been me – pls. post again (with spoilers, I guess) after you finish – I’d be curious to get someone else’s reaction on it.
Right now, I’m reading Tim O’Brien’s Vietnam memoir called If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home. This is not my usual terrain, but it’s a good read, and I recommend it. The only weird thing about it is the cover, which from not so far away, looks like a Harlequin Romance, of all things. The color is pinkish, with the title written in cursive script, and then there’s a Harlequinesque publisher’s logo at the top. A little embarrassing for reading on the bus.
I just finished East of Eden and The Da Vinci Code in time for my birthday, which means I’ve got Breakfast of Champions by Vonnegut, Schrodinger’s Cat by R.A. Wilson and Stardust by Neil Gaiman on the docket.
Woo hoo!!
I’m sure it was you! I should be done and posting by tomorrow night.
Yep. That was my introduction to Nix, and I was very impressed.
Shade’s Children is much more SF rather than fantasy, and it’s a little grotesque for me. I’m about a third of the way through.
Well-written though.
Re: To The Power of Three
It passed the time enjoyably for a couple of days. I couldn’t figure it out ahead of time (although I hardly ever can; I haven’t read many mysteries since The Three Investigators and Nancy Drew.) However, I had some problems with it which would keep me from recommending it to anyone:
[spoiler] 1. I was a little irritated that the storyline kept veering away from the girls to give us more background on minor characters. I don’t care where the detectives went to school or how long they’ve been cops. I know this is truly a minor nitpick, but it may be the reason I don’t usually care for mysteries. I only care about what happened, not the people who figure out what happened.
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The descriptions of every female character’s body felt gratuitous.
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I felt there were some loose ends. One in particular: We never really learn what the deal was with Perri wearing that woman’s underwear and having Dannon take her picture with the gun. I guess the author just stuck it in there to explain how everyone knew Perri had the gun, but she didn’t do enough explaining *why * Perri would do something like that.
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This is my major problem with the book: We finally learn what really happened in the bathroom, and it makes no sense at all. I don’t really understand why Perri cared so much about what Kat’s father had done to Binnie. It wasn’t cool, of course, but it was no skin off Perri’s nose. And most of all: why was the freakin’ gun loaded? Perri was supposed to be trying to scare Kat into confessing, and had no intention of shooting anyone, right? I thought she was supposed to be smart. Furthermore, if I was Kat, and an old friend told me she was going to kill herself if I didn’t confess that my daddy had tried to pull strings so that I could be the valedictorian…I’d say, “Yeah, right.”
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Okay, other than that, it was a fine book.
Currently readingThe House of Gentle Men by Kathy Hepinstall.
This is one of those books where you go WTF? but keep reading anyway.
Just finished reading The Fabric of the Universe and Freakonomics. I’m now reading The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonesense.