Mickey Spillane’s Kiss Me, Deadly. It’s the first of his I’ve read. I can’t recommend it. I like Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammet but this is awful.
Next on the list is the 4th in the River World series.
Avoiding Prision & Other Noble Vacation Goals by Wendy Dale
In the Path of an Avalanche by Vivien Bowers
The White by Deborah Larsen
Abou and the Angel Cohen by Claude Campbell
Where the Light Remains by Hayden Gabriel
Oh, Politzania, Thursday Next is my girl-crush, I cannot wait for Something Rotten to arrive! Heartily recommended.
Right now I’m re-reading Imagica by Clive Barker. I so want the Dominions to be reconciled, I really want to see Yzorrdrex. Like Judith, I’d go in a hot minute. If you only know Clive Barker from Hellraiser, this is a lovely, horrible, passionate fantasy.
I just got an email from Amazon, The Song of Susannah has shipped, so I suppose that’s next!
Now really Lord Derfel, maybe Across the River and into the Trees was flawed and lacked resolution, but by far it was Hemingway’s best story of artistic merit beyond his short stories of genius.
Currently I am reading…
THE LONG SUMMER * How Climate Changed Civilization* Brian Fagan
So far so good…but not yet four stars.
THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE John D Barrow
Four stars. Original thinking.
NIKO’S NATURE * A life of Niko Timbergen and his science of animial behavior* Hans Kruuk
Interesting. Some new ideas among some old. A biography
IN SEARCH OF DEEP TIME * Beyond the fossil record to a new history of life* Henry Gee
The sub-title might be a bit over-stated but still a worthwhile read.
JUNG A biography Deidre Bair
Nicely written, confirming my suspicion…Jung was a genius and Jung was a nut.
GLOBAL BRAIN * The evolution of mass mind from the big bang to the 21st century * Howard Bloom
Howard Bloom has found the right string baby but leaves it to me and/or you to drop the right yo-yo. Good. 
I didn’t really like this one-- I actually quit reading it about 3/4 of the way through, something which is very rare for me. I think it was the author’s writing style, but for me, it just seemed so dry and distant-- like the Cliff Notes version.
For those who liked Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers , by Mary Roach you may like The American Way of Death by Jessica Mitford. It’s a tad critical of the funeral industry, to put it mildly, but an interesting read nevertheless.
I got on a true crime kick after reading In Cold Blood by Truman Capote. Now I’m about 50 pages from the end of Helter Skelter (by Vince Bugliosi, about the Manson murders, though most of you probably know that).
Now I have to start reading for school again - **Totem and Taboo **by S. Freud is first in line. Then I’ll be reading Man and His Symbols, by Carl Jung, then Man’s Search for Meaning, by Victor Frankl, among others, for my Psychological Theories of Religion class.
I am currnetly halfway through The Shining… my first time reading it.
I recently finished:
Mortification by Robin Robertson - A collection of essays from writers detailing their most mortifying writing related moments. Very amusing in spots and it makes you wonder how these people keep at it. It showcases a lot of smaller authors. No Kings or Clanceys. People like Margaret Drabble and Louis de Bernières.
This Way to the Gas Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Browski - A collection of fictionalized short stories about life in concentration camps by a concentration camp survivor. Very well written.
After The Shining I have a big stack to read so I don’t quite know what i’ll pick up next.
I set a goal for myself to read 24 books by Dec 31. The Shining will be number 16 so far.
You lucky so-and-so. I hope you like it as much as I did.
Just finished The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon…the best book I’ve read in a good long while.
Before that, On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Also quite good.
Now I’m reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the third or fourth time.
I’m reading *An Unfinished Song: The Life of Victor Jara *. He was a Chilean folk singer who was murdered during the military takeover of Chile in 1973; the book was written by his widow, Joan Jara. Whether you agree with Jara’s politics or not–he was a communist and an Allende supporter–it’s a very tragic and disturbing story. (It’s also out of print but can be obtained through Amazon and excerpts are available online.)
Song of Susannah
•Mars on Earth (Nonfiction)
•1633
•Stiff (Nonfiction)
•Luftwaffe Secret Projects: Ground Attack Aircraft (Nonfiction)
Do they translate the cod-Latin spells into English?
Good is not a sufficient adjective. Start with The Haunting of Hill House; it’s one of the greatest works of modern fiction. Then move on to We Have Always Lived In The Castle before you go back to the short stories.
ISiddiqui - you have dissed the sacred Pterry. Prepare to die.
Next book on my own reading list is Ring, the book by Koji Suzuki on which the film is based.
Currently Annals of a Former World by John McPhee, and Rest in Pieces by Rita Mae Brown. After Rest in Pieces, I have Wish You Were Here, also by Rita Mae Brown. Since I got my Sony Clie, I have been buying a lot of eBooks - it’s too easy to browse and instantly download them. A girl in one of my classes turned me on to John Sandford (crime mysteries), and I’m planning on reading that series. I read the first one, Rules of Prey, it was pretty good.
I’m reading “JonBenet: Inside the Murder Investigation” by Steve Thomas. (I have almost thrown the book across the room a couple of times in frustration. That poor little girl is never going to get justice, ever.)
I’m doing a paper on the case for my forensics class. After I finish this one I’ve got about 3 others to go.
Recently read:
The Stand - If you don’t know the plot of this book, I pity you. I thought it was okay, but not great. I preferred Carrie
Catcher in the Rye - A bit of a departure from The Stand, and rather good. I’d recommend it. Not that much in the way of plot, I saw it as more of a character study.
The Lovely Bones - Book about a girl who gets kidnapped and dies. I tried to get through this book, but by around page 120 I realized I was reaching literary depths of depression not seen since the awfulness that is Ethan Frome came along. So I decided to cheer myself up with the lighthearted comedy:
All Quiet on the Western Front - Very well written story about a German soldier in WWI. Very depressing as well, makes me glad wars aren’t fought like that anymore. I finished it in 6 days, which is pretty fast for me. Then again, I read Carrie in 4 days, and Michael Crichton’s Prey in 5.
And right now I am reading H. G. Wells The War of the Worlds. Pretty good, though the Victorian style of writing takes some getting used to, especially since, up until recently, my idea of literature was Michael Crichton and Stephen King.
Currently reading: (sorry, too lazy to give actual summaries)
Robots in Time: Dictator
The Canterbury Tales, in English or Chaucerian depending on how much energy I have
Just finished:
The Fall of Hyperion
Callahan’s Lady
About to Read:
A Portrait of Dorian Gray
As you can tell, I read very little nonfiction, but I read more fiction than most people read total of every genus.
I’m reading Chuck Pahlaniuk’s Diary, a novel. Lots of bitterness and sarcasm but entertaining so far.
I can’t go a day without reading, I usually try to go through 3 books a week(from the library; I can’t afford them).
In the past 2 weeks I have read the latest book (can’t recall the title) by Michael Savage(and found myself agreeing with everything he said),
Deliver Us From Evil by Hannity(again agreeing with all he writes), a book on marriage by Ravi Zacharias,
and am now starting The Real Jimmy Carter(how our worst ex president undermines american foreign policy, coddles dictators, etc).
Ad always the Bible(it never gets old)
As always…an endless amount of reading.
I just finished reading ‘Chindi’ by Jack McDevitt and I’m about to start on ‘The Cryptonomicon’ that a pal loaned to me.
Beyond that I’ve also got a book of Wilde quotes stacked up in a holding pattern and shortly I’ll begin ‘Re-Birth’ by John Wyndham.