Twiddle, there’s a lot of good western fiction out there. Do you plan to read any of McMurtry’s other westerns?
Maybe somebody should start a western thread. It’s not just Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey (not that they’re not okay).
Ed Gorman, Glendon Swarthout, Ron Hansen, some others whose names I forget (too lazy to run upstairs). Lotsa good stuff. 
I recently read all of **Janet Evanovich’s ***Stephanie Plum *Detective books, except the latest one 10 Big Ones. Took me two weeks of avoiding life in general, but I was determined. Cannot recommend this series enough if you want a fast, frivolous, funny, funny read with one regular woman and two hot, hot guys involved in her life. BTW, I call dibs on Ranger.
Now I am working my way through Nora Roberts Writing as JD ROBB (Whatever) In Death series. I like everything about it except the romance with the billionaire guy. He’s too perfect and to cardboardy and is coming across as a little co-dependant.
Twiddle, have you seen the movie? If not, make sure you see it when you finish the book. Robert Duvall says Gus McCrae was his all time favorite role to play, and it shows.
Yes, I just heard that the 10th one was out.
That series is so funny. When I grow up, I wanna be Stephanie Plum. 
And sorry, but I already called dibs on Ranger.
I just read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon in one sitting. It’s sort of a murder mystery written from the POV of an autistic child, very compelling.
Next on the pile is Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond.
Speaks the Nightbird, Robert McCammon. Mystery surrounding a witch trial in 1699. Very well done. For some reason it was split into two volumes.
Yes, it’s common knowledge that this is the slowest website in the history of the Internet.
I read that last summer; it was my Pool Book. Utterly fascinating.
The hardcover was huge, so maybe a one-volume paperback would have been too unwieldy.
McCammon’s a favorite of mine, but this book could have been a lot shorter. There was way too much description of very ordinary things and events, IMHO.
I’m re-reading Pterry’s ‘Monstrous Regiment’, which I picked up the day the hard cover hit the shelves and plowed through in a day or two. I remember being ever so slightly annoyed, because I thought the plot twist got a bit repetitious and I wanted the book to get going with the action.
On this second reading, I find I enjoy it a lot more. Now that I’m spoiled, I can relax and take my time and find the nuances.
To other Pratchett fans, this one gets better on second reading.
Ohhh, man, I love that book. One of my favorites ever. (And it’s Thomas Lynch, if anyone wants to look it up. I highly recommend it.)
Right now I’m reading House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. It’s engrossing, and a little scary, and has left me with a slight fear of the dark and unexpected noises. The author is Poe’s brother (Poe the musician), and her album Haunted is sort of a companion piece to the book. Put the two together, and it’s great fun.
After this, it’s Song of Susannah. Stiff sounds pretty good too; I’ll have to look for it.
I’m reading The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. It’s a collection of reminiscences and short stories based on his experiences in Vietnam. A harrowing, beautifully written book.
Ranger? Ranger? No, no, no! Give me a man with a nice ass in a pair of faded jeans who loves dogs! Morelli is the man.
I’m reading Ten Big Ones by Janet Evanovich now.
I’m out of college and finally reading for pleasure again! I’m a couple of chapters into Moanin’ at Midnight: The Life and Times of Howlin’ Wolf, by James Segrest and Mark Hoffman.
Finishing up Betrayal by Clare Francis tonight. It was first published in England in 1995 and the cover says it’s an international bestseller. It’s a very good psychological suspense novel about a man and what follows when his lovers corpse washes ashore.
Just finished Pride and Prejudice (again) on tape. Its one of a few commute books I rotate through. Next on tape is the Book of Four which I know nothing about, but bought because some guy at Barnes and Noble recommended it.
Started Midnight’s Children. Not very far into it. But the first few pages are very good. Salman Rushdie is one of my literary crushes.
Just finished Time Traveler’s Wife, which I was entraced with. My bookclub reads in threes – this time it was three time travel books - The Eyre Affair, To Say Nothing of the Dog (thanks Dangermom - I made my trifle for The Eyre Affair), and The Time Traveler’s Wife. I’d highly recommend all three.
Guns Germs and Steel is queued up, I don’t want to be the only Doper who has never read it.
If anyone ever wonders why you’ll hear nothing from me at the 50 Book Challenge, and then I’ll review 4-6 books at a time, it’s because I have a short attention span. It amazes me that some people think it’d be difficult to keep track of plots from switching from book(hell, I’m writing five stories at the moment, and keep those straight), to book, but I can see how they can sustain interest in one book long enough to read only it from start to finish! 
Trust me, it’s hard to mix up the plots of books like the ones I’m reading at the moment.
Currently reading (seriously attempting to finish)
You Shall Know Our Velocity by Dave Eggers
tithe by Holly Black
So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane
(much less seriously attempting to finish)
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Delivery Room by Kasey Michaels, Kathleen Eagle & Emilie Richards
The Western King by Ann Marston
Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King (I may stop reading this one and re-read the others first. Maybe)
Hey Dangerosa, what a great book-club triad. I love all those–not to mention the trifle.
I just finished Brave New World, which I now have to confess that I’d never read before. :o
Now I’m reading A Venetian Affair, but I don’t know if I’ll finish it. I’m already a little tired of those two. (It’s chronicles the obsessive and apparently life-long affair between a Venetian patrician and his illegitimate and unmarry-able half-English girlfriend. Casanova is involved. They seem to have spent most of their waking hours scheming to see one another.)
And some short prose stories by Pushkin that I’ve been meaning to read since October.
In early January I posted a list of, “The 100 Best Books” that it was my intention to read. Since then I’ve read:
Lolita
Catcher In The Rye
The Great Gatsby
Invisible Man
1984
On The Road
To Kill A Mockingbird
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Brave New World
Lord Of The Flies
Heart Of Darkness
A Clockwork Orange
Beloved
A Passage To India
Things Fall Apart
The Sun Also Rises
Brideshead Revisited
The Age Of Innocense
All The King’s Men
A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man
Wuthering Heights
Winesburg, Ohio
Their Eyes Were Watching God
The Tin Drum
The Prime Of Miss Jean Brodie
Metamorphoses
An American Tragedy
The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz
The Good Soldier
Nostromo
Madame Bovary
Absalom, Absalom
A Bend In The River
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
Pride and Prejudice
Tess Of The Durbervilles
A Prayer For Owen Meany
The Bridge Of San Luis Rey
Love In The Time Cholora
Gulliver’s Travels
Light In August
Right now I’m on, “Lord Jim.” So far it’s a heap-and-a-gob better reading than the Joseph Conrad efforts.
“Wuthering Heights,” mega-sucks. A typical sentence might consist of the following punctuation - , , ; ; : ! ? , , : . And yes the sentences go on after !'s and ?'s.
“Beloved,” by Toni Morrison was just strange. Picture a sci-fi/horror/escaped slaves living in Ohio/pre civil war commentary kind of book.
“Things Fall Apart,” was a learning experience. I now know a lot more about raising yams in Africa. Might come in handy in case a meteror strike ends civilization.
“The Age of Innocense,” was really good.
“To the Lighthouse,” “Don Quixote,” and “The Golden Bowl,” I’ve put aside in the hope that I’ll die before it comes time to try them again.
SandyHook it wore me out just reading your list. Are you retired, rich and idle, or do you read 1000 words per minute? I’m a poor reader myself, meaning slow, but I do manage to read a book every couple of weeks. A page-turner like Chrichton’s Prey goes pretty fast, while a boring tome like Winston Churchill’s Their Finest Hour (I’m reading it because I think I should) serves as a soporific when I’m really having trouble sleeping. Works like a charm.
I’m finishing Lonesome Dove tonight (I should say this morning). It’s a great novel, and a long one. I thought the mini-series was the best western film I ever saw, and, as I have come to expect, the novel is even better. I just bought Grisham’s Bleachers, which should go pretty fast since I love Grisham’s writing.
In between, I’m reading the complete works of Robert G. Ingersoll on CD. I’ve read all twelve volumes before, so I’m going at it a couple of chapters (or lectures) at a time, plus a biography of Ingersoll. His style is florid, but his wit is razor sharp.
Since the last of these “Whatcha Readin?” threads I read Gore Vidal’s Burr. I hadn’t read Vidal before, and I liked his style. The novel was wonderful and illuminating (if, as the blurb says, it’s historically accurate). Some of those founding fathers (Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton) could be real shits couldn’t they.