:smack:
The Fabric of the Cosmos, sorry. The Elegant Universe was the first in the series.
Now you see my ambivalence. I kept reading the whole time – and I liked the storytelling, starting with them in elem. school and following through. I thought the way the story unfolded with stuff happening that at the time you think is an aside and then at the end realize that it all ties together. I didn’t mind the stuff on the detectives – but I read a fair amount of detective fiction, so that didn’t seem like a distraction to me. I thought her starting point interesting – a school shooting book that was about girls, not boys. Etc. etc. etc.
But – despite all that – I can’t say “go look for this,” just “if it presents itself, you might want to pick it up.” Which IIRC was the nature of my “lukewarm” review.
Thanks for sharing your reaction – it helps me understand where the lukewarmness was coming from. 
Update – got halfway through this (and the mo-fo’s about 600 pages) and totally stalled. After not touching it for a week, last night I realized I just don’t give a shit, so I am officially throwing in the towel.
So it ended up being 300 pages longer than it had to be. 
LMAO. Yeah. Good point.
claps twickster on the back Good job. I heartily approve of not wasting your reading time.
I was thinking of reviving this thread myself, because I just read a good book, but I don’t have time at the moment. See you later!
I read The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris. I thought he made some good, if disturbing, points about how faith can be used to steamroll right over reason and how this has led to a lot of regression and oppression. But he also writes sections that seem contradictory, going from “torture sucks” to “let’s invent a torture pill”; and “the war on terror is a war of ideas” to “let’s kill them all before they kill us all.”
For fiction, I'm into Annie Proulx these days. I loved **That Old Ace in the Hole** and am reading **Wyoming Stories--Close Range**. In another thread, I wanted to discuss her short story "Brokeback Mountain," but it looks like it'll have to wait until more people have read it.Just finished The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay.
Quibble: Kay is much too fond of his major characters. There were several times when one or another of them should have died. It was unbelievable after awhile. He is also too fond of trickery in his foreshadowing. I don’t mind being surprised, but I don’t like being tricked.
Just started Dark Hollow by John Connolly. Same main character as in Every Dead Thing, which I liked a lot.
Also reading in a short story collection of Avram Davidson, some alternate history stuff.
I enjoyed Kay’s first few books, starting with the Fionvar Tapestry, but have not enjoyed much of his later works.
I’m reading Galveston, by Sean Stewart, which is about floods, magic, mardi gras, and Galveston. He’s a beautiful writer. Seemed appropriate.
I’m also reading (slowly savoring) Annie Dillard’s Pulitzer Prize winning Pilgrim at Tinker’s Creek.
The book I just read is called Silverlock, by John Myers Myers. Half the time I was reading it, I was thinking “Dopers would love this!” I had the sneaking suspicion that everyone knew about it but me, so I did a search, and I see that plenty of Dopers have already recommended it. But hey, I’m not going to let that stop me.
The copyright on this book is 1949! Apparently it’s been out of print for years and has just been reissued. When I first picked it up, I noted the lovely cover art and general glossiness of the thing, and I thought to myself, “Great. Obviously they’re trying to polish up an old turd here.” Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. The three forewords are written by Poul Anderson, Larry Niven, and Jerry Pournelle, and they are all so effusive that no book could live up to their praises. Still, I was not disappointed.
Silverlock follows the adventures of an American man who is shipwrecked and washes up on the shore of a land called the Commonwealth. This land is peopled by characters of literature and mythology. It was lots of fun to catch all the references (not that I caught *all * of them!) And it was refreshing that the protagonist was not interested in anything so silly as finding his way home. I found him a very realistic character, and not outdated, as I had feared.
[Fifth-grade book report mode]
Although I’m not generally a big fan of fantasy, I was very happy with this book and I hope I’ve said something here that will encourage someone to go pick it up, because I think you’ll like it too. [/FGBR]
I’ve finished both The Devil in the White City and Thud!. Both were excellent books and I had a few short nights of sleep because I couldn’t put them down until I couldn’t focus on the pages anymore.
Just Started The March, by E.L. Doctorow. So far, so good!
And I’m reading the Chronicles Of Narnia books in anticipation of the movie.
Glad to hear it. I bought it for my daughter, who has become a Civil War buff lately. Maybe she’ll let me borrow it. 
Dung Beetle, I’m convinced. I’m buying the paperback of Silverlock and putting the special NESFA hardcover edition on my wish list. It sounds awesome.
brightpenny, I haven’t read Galveston yet (it’s around here somewhere), but I’ve read Mockingbird, and I agree that Stewart’s a beautiful writer.
In a very rare occurance for me, I just read a book in one sitting. It was The Last True Story I’ll Ever Tell, by John Crawford. I mention it as a reply to this post as it has been compared to Tim O’Brien’s writings.
It is the (true) story of Crawford, a newlywed two classes away from his degree at Florida State University, getting called up by the National Guard to serve in Iraq. His unit goes in from Kuwait on the first day of the invasion and he ends up mostly patrolling in Bagdhad. It is non-political, just a description of what the life of an American soldier in Iraq is like. It is extremely powerful and the ending is a complete surprise.
Highly, highly recommended.
Currently reading Mind Prey by John Sandford. Got hooked on this guy several months ago and am burning through all his stuff.
Since I’ve finished The Confusion by now, I’ve also started on The System of the World. Like it better than The Confusion thus far, since it has more political intrigue, more Leibnitz/Newton/Waterhouse than the second part of the trilogy. I’m very fond of Stephenson’s writing, but the Bonanza parts of The Confusion had me shaking my head once too often.
Also on my shelves / in my bags / in my pockets:
The Inner Circle, by T.C. Boyle. Had Boyle recommended to me and didn’t want to read Tortilla Curtain. This is very good – about an assistant to infamous sex research Kinsey.
Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett, finally out in paperback here. Need I say, it’s a page turner as always. I liked Night Watch a little better, but it’s still very good. I see Terry introduced Thud! in this, so I’m now looking forward to reading that, when it comes out in paperback.
The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair. Just another bit of reading that needs to be done for the university.
I just started The City of Falling Angels by John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. Set in Venice, it opens with the dramatic fire of the Fenice Opera House. Two chapters in, and I find the book intriguing.
I’ve just completed my annual reading of Long Dark Teatime Of The Soul, by Douglas Adams. Way better than that Hitchiker piffle.