Just finished Glorious Appearing, the latest/last of the Left Behind series. Hoo boy.
My “Listening to An Audio Book in the Car During My Commute” book is a biography of Geronimo. Only fair - less than half the book is actually about Geronimo so far. Can’t remember the author, but it was published in 1971.
I also picked up a recently discovered early Heinlein novel, called (IIRC) “We the Living”. That’s next. Then maybe Full House, the latest Stephanie Plum novel. My wife wants me to read it so we can discuss it.
I managed to plow my way thru Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, based on some Doper recommendations. Better than Emma, at least. And I was very disappointed by Wizard’s First Rule, which I heard good things about but didn’t encounter in the book itself.
I’m in the middle of To Reign in Hell by Steven Brust. It’s a stopgap effort to fill my Brust addiction, since I recently read all of his Dragaerian novels, and ran out.
I interrupted it to reread (like Ethilrist) Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, having just seen the movie. I finished it though, so it’s back to Hell for me.
LeRoi, (and silenus if you’ve started it,) is Ringworld Children readable? I started Ringworld Throne, couldn’t stand it, and put it down. I used to be such a fan of Niven’s, too.
On Sunday I finally finished reading The October Horse, the final volume of Colleen McCollough’s mammoth Masters of Rome series. Even though I love these books, I can only read them veeeeeeeery slowly. The sheer number of names and places that pop up from one page to the next are pretty overwhelming. Taking notes is heavily recommended.
Now that I have that one out of the way, I’ve got a whole box of other books – much less epic and weighty books – taking up space on my bedroom floor. I picked up The Da Vinci Code on Sunday evening and finished it last night at around 3:00 AM. Yes, I am yawning at the office today. Hugely entertaining book. Intellectual caramel corn.
I’ll tear my way through a few more page-turners before embarking on the Master and Commander series.
I just finished East of Eden by John Steinbeck, for my school Summer reading. I enjoyed it, and I think I’ll try reading some other Steinbeck stuff- Cannery Row or Grapes of Wrath, maybe.
Next, I’ll be reading A Rasin in the Sun, also for school summer reading.
I’m reading Martin Chuzzlewit, by Charles Dickens. It seems to be a treatise on human selfishness, especially in regards to the “New Worlders” in the good ole U.S. (circa 1860s). I’m enjoying the exaggerated characters immensely. I like C.D.'s writing style, too, which makes me a big silly.
Nicholas V. Riasanovsky’s A History Of Russia Fourth Edition, Steward Brand’s The Media Lab and Bill Griffith’s Kingpin, an anthology of Zippy The Pinhead comic strips.
Just finished (after what felt like an eternity) Blackwood Farm by Anne Rice… Somewhat of a snore (see separate thread about it) to be honest.
So after reading that, I thought I’d intellectualize myself a bit, so I turned my attention to Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Yep, that’s pretty far from Anne Rice, and what a refreshing change!! It’s the first Jane Austen book I’ve read (I’ve loved pretty much every movie adaptation) and although the language can be tricky at times, I am enjoying it thoroughly!
Lately I haven’t read anything I much enjoyed. Why did I bother with Anne Rice’s Sleeping Beauty series? I don’t like her writing and this trilogy isn’t even good Anne Rice, but I just had to know how it ended, sheesh. Plus, I know it’s a fantasy, but I just couldn’t help thinking those poor people must be seriously chaffed, everywhere.
Then there was Alice Hoffman’s Turtle Moon, which was mildly entertaining but not the light fun of Practical Magic. Jeffrey Eugenides’s Middlesex was maddening. All wind up and then a fizzle.
The last good book I read was Twain’s Diaries of Adam and Eve. It was quite touching, funny, and generally made me like Mark Twain even more.
Next up is Oscar Hijuelos’s Empress of the Splendid Season. I kind of liked The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O’Brien, so I’ve got my fingers crossed.
Only Mostly Dead I read The God of Small Things a while back and it was okay. It helped that I was reading it more for the description of another country and culture, than the story itself. Not the happiest read, so I can understand not getting all the way through.
You know, it seems I can read a bit, but not write. What I meant, in the last paragraph of my post, was that I could understand that you might not have liked The God of Small Things, not that you quit reading it.
I’m absolutely terrible with author’s names, which is rather sad, because after I read something of someone’s I like, I can never remember to find other works of theirs :smack:
Still, the last name is Lynch, and the book is The Undertaking. Lynch lives his life as a poet and undertaker, and so far, the books just a great read. I’m only four chapters in, but so far it’s great.
'm also reading Fast Food Nation.
I’m currently reading Beowulf, as translated by Seamus Heaney.
Recently I read *A Simple Plan * by Scott Smith, and *The Color of Magic * (my forst foray into Terry Pratchett’s Discworld).
Next, I think I’m going to try to get all the way through Malory’s Le Mort d’Arthur. I’ve started it three or four times and have never been able finish it for one reason or another.
Have just finished two books in quick succession: The historical fiction, Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield and Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld novel A Hat Full of Sky.
Next, I’m going to read Patrick MacGilligan’s biography on Hitchcock, Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light
Wow, i thought I was the only person in the world who remembered with awe Lucifers Hammer. I actually chased it up a couple of Christmases ago for my middle son who is a sci fi fan - had to get it sent up from Sydney, but it was still in print.
I am not reading anything except journal articles and lecture notes for end of semester exams atm.
I’m having so much going on in my life right now I haven’t been able to pick up a book in about a week. I can hardly believe such a thing is possible!
I do still have my audio book, which, God bless it, is extremely long and interesting. I Know This Much Is True, by Wally Lamb. Story of twin boys, one of whom is mentally ill, the other is the narrator. The narrator has plenty of problems of his own, and is also reading a manuscript written by his grandfather, who had a fascinating life in his own right. Highly recommended. It’s not highbrow by any means, but quite an engrossing tale.
Just finished Hemingway’s Across the River and into the Trees. It was alright, but definitely not his best work. He spends a lot of time describing food in detail. Nothing wrong with that, but without the time spend illustrating the culinary delights of Venice the book could have been a short story.
I didn’t have a chance to get to the library recently, so I picked a book off of my wife’s shelf called The Secret Life of Bees. I couldn’t get more than a third of the way through it. An “inspirational” tale of a young girl and her black housekeeper in Georgia who run away from her abusive father and start a journey of personal discovery and …zzzzzzzzz…
Just about to start Umberto Eco’s The Name of the Rose. I loved Foucault’s Pendulum, so I’m looking forward to this one.
Christopher Moore’s Lamb. Blasphemous or heretical, not quite sure which, but it’s certainly laugh-out-loud-funny :D.
Starts with the hero (“Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal” and narrator of the book) meeting Jesus as a young boy. JC has a lizard in his mouth, and he takes it out and gives it to his young brother, who bashes its head with a rock. JC puts it in his mouth again, takes it out (head restored, lizard returned to life), gives it to his brother again, etc. I’m now 300+ pages into Lamb and it’s full of clever inventive stuff like this - not just comedy, there’s pathos and thought-provoking bits too.
Highly recommended if you liked “Life of Brian”. Can’t wait to see what happens in the end (don’t say “he gets crucified” I’m sure there’ll be more to it than that).
Currently I’m reading “The Mystery Religions”, “Atheism, a collection of essays”, “What remains to be discovered”, the NCSE (?) book on education and evolution, “10 things you should know about the crea-evol debate”, and “Stranger in a strange land”.
I’m reading each one depending on what sort of mood I’m in-I should probably just concentrate on one at a time, but I really don’t care if it takes me longer to read them the way I’m doing it…
So far it’s pretty good. I’m reading it immediately after having finished Ringworld Engineers, which I had in old yellowing paperback form for years. Children is set 12 years after the end of Engineers and a lot has changed, but it seems to be (so far) a faithful recreation of the tone and characterization of the first two books in the series, and a natural progression of the story. I haven’t read Ringworld Throne, but if you liked Ringworld you should like Ringworld Children.
Just finished The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde - an alternative-universe mystery/comedy with many. many literary in-jokes & references. A re-read in preparation for Lost in a Good Book and The Well of Lost Plots - by that time Something Rotten may have arrived at the library.
Two other recent reads I’d recommend: I Had Brain Surgery, What’s Your Excuse?: An Illustrated Memoir by Suzy Becker & Opening Skinner’s Box: Great Psychological Experiments of the Twentieth Century by Lauren Slater. Reading them back to back wasn’t intentional - but thought-provoking anyways.
