I started the first of Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars Thrawn trilogy, Heir to the Empire. The writing isn’t winning any awards, but the story is pretty good. It seems to fit really well within the Star Wars universe.
I just finished the Omnibus last night. It’s good. #2 was a bit slow, but don’t let that put you off.
Don’t go reading news about the Wool movie. Many articles about it (even short ones) contain mild spoilers.
I am in no sense a “foodie”, having enjoyed meals in hospitals, on airliners and even in boot camp.
Still, I got a tremendous pleasure out of Heirloom, subtitled Notes From an Accidental Tomato Farmer by Tim Stark. The author grew heirloom tomatoes and myriads of other vegetables for sale in the farmers’ markets of New York City.
I didn’t know there was going to be a movie, though I guess it’s not too surprising. I’ll be excited to see that when it comes out, but will definitely stay away from any articles until I’ve finished reading.
I know some hardcore Star Wars fanboys who think the next few movies should be based on Zahn’s books.
I had read some time ago that they would be, but now I guess that’s right out. Oh well, it’s still entertaining.
The other day I was reaching for Lonesome Dove, missed, and picked up Halberstam’s Playing for Keeps, his “biography” of Michael Jordan. Great read, just finished it and now (successfully) picked up the McMurtry novel.
I finished A.D. 1000: Living on the brink of apocalypse today. It wasn’t bad, though it was much less of a social history than I expected. It actually more of a biography of Pope Sylvester II and the three Ottos of the Ottonian Dynasty that founded the Holy Roman Empire. Some of the book was rather dated ie he used the old saw about spices being sought after because they hid the taste of spoiled meat and he quoted many period sources without qualification. But overall a nice readable look at the shakers and movers of tenth century Europe.
OH! And I started HExed, the second Iron Druid book today as well.
I just finished Macroscope by Piers Anthony. Now, that’s some serious hard sci-fi! I assume the science was high end, because I sure didn’t understand a lot of it. 
Good story, though; very thought-provoking.
Finished that, and I have to say it won me over. I was a bit doubtful about it at first, but the story of the Daisy and Violet is just amazing. And horrifying. Those women went through an incredible amount of highs and lows, literally from the bottom to the top and back down again, with many twists and turns along the way.
This biog has its flaws, but the story is so interesting that it more than makes up for them. Highly recommended.
Anyhoo, I have now moved on to Byzantium - The Surprising Life of a Medieval Empire by Judith Herrin.
I’ve only read the introduction so far. I feel the need to know more about the Byzantine Empire, which lasted around 1000 years and was obviously pretty damn large and important, but doesn’t really get much publicity in the Anglosphere, compared to, say, the (Western) Roman Empire, or even Ancient Greece.
ETA: You have to love an empire that had an Emperor Maurice.
I’ve finished both the Sherlock Holmes and the Jeeves and Wooster. I’m going to finish the Bertrand Russell before I pick up anything else. With any luck, I’ll be home in a couple of days, where I have a colossal stack of physical books waiting for me.
I whole-heartedly endorse this idea; thank you for taking up Khadaji’s mantle. Goddamn, the SDMB is a fantastic community.
I finished Hannu Rajaniemi’s The Quantum Thief the other day and am now more than halfway thru it’s successor The Fractal Prince. Seriously mind-bending and fascinating sci-fi, not for those who like everything explained. The author employs what is known as a “show, don’t tell” style which basically means that he tells the story as tho all of the elements of society and technology are contemporaneous and familiar to the reader. It can be frustrating at times because the reader is forced to catch up to the universe of the novel with little to no expository breaks. Fans of Iain M. Banks’ Culture might also find these novels intriguing and enjoyable. They are the two best books I’ve read in months.
I’m also reading:
Antiphon by Ken Scholes. This is the third (and last?) book in his Psalms of Isaak series. So far each book has been significant slide down to “meh” from the first book, but some of the concepts behind the story are interesting enough that I don’t think I wasted my time (yet).
Impact by Douglas Preston. I found this on sale at B&N for like US$5; it’s about an impending asteroid/large meteor crash on Terra. It became low priority when the Ramajiemi books piqued my interest so I haven’t read much of it.
Jennifer Government by Max Barry, which was recommended in one of these threads, I believe. Very interesting, lots of fun. Reminds me a lot of Fred Pohl’s The Cool War so far.
Finished Musashi.
Written in the 30s about Japan’s most famous (historical) swordsman, this novel is well worth reading - for one, it’s a rollicking read; but for another, it is a glimpse into a truly different set of cultural romantic expectations (for those of us who are not Japanese).
The ostensible subject is the adventures of a wandering swordsman, but very quickly it becomes obvious that the real subject is the quest for self-improvement - is this quest a noble one, or ultimately selfish? Everywhere our hero goes, disaster follows - he leaves the woman who loves him, and others who depend on him, basically to fend for themselves; his quest seems to be in equal parts a quest to perfect his murdering prowess and to perfect his skill in all of the arts - he’s part serial killer and part artist, eventually able to appreciate a blood feud and flower-arranging (there is one passage in which he realizes the skill of a samurai by the message he passes on - which contains the gift of a cut flower; the cut of the stem is perfect).
The hero gradually comes to realize that perfection has to serve a social purpose, but it is not at all obvious what, exactly, that purpose is to be.
I finally finished Conrad’s*** Nostromo***, which was great but had a major downer of an ending.
I now need something light, and am about 10% into Right Ho, Jeeves. I hadn’t read any Wodehouse on over 20 years, and am pleased to find he’s still as much fun as he used to be.
The first two books are very good, but you can stop after that. The third is a sequel rather than a continuation, and is inferior to the first books.
Also a popular name for ships:
Not to mention many mangas and animes about him. He’s a cultural hero sort of like a wild west cowboy 
Interesting. The first two were allegedly named after the province, and the last after the swordsman.
The intro to the novel I read claimed that this novel in particular was very well known in Japan, so much so that people would be compared to characters in the novel and most people would get the references.
Presumably, even before the novel, he was a well-known stock cultural hero.
I finished The Child’s Child by Ruth Rendell as her alter ego, Barbara Vine. Not her best.
Also, The Caller, eighth in Karin Fossum’s Konrad Sejer series about a Norwegian police inspector. It was excellent. I have been trying to avoid the avalanche of Scandinavian mysteries out of principle, not because I have anything against Scandinavian authors but just to be contrary and to stay off the bandwagon. But I had no idea this was set in Norway and didn’t find out until a couple of chapters in. I really enjoyed it and will look for earlier books in the series.