Huh? Huh?
I’m reading In A Sunburned Country by the hi-larious Bill Bryson, and loving it. I’d recommend it unreservedly, but I’m currently without an emergency back-up book and so am looking for another good read. Recommendations for me, and everyone else . . . ?
David Sedaris’ Naked, unless two funny books in a row aren’t what you’re looking for.
Like thrillers? I just finished Every Dead Thing by John Connelly and liked it. It has some Silence of the Lamb touches, but not enough so that you think you’re reading the same book.
Now I’m reading Voyage of the Narwhal by Andrea Barrett, and it’s excellent. It’s fiction, about an early 1800’s arctic expedition. I like how Barrett gives the POV of lots of characters without changing the POV. Sneaky little author tricks like having one character read another character’s journal.
If you like fantasy that reads like the best medieval history, get hold of George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series. The first book is A Game of Thrones.
What a co-inky-dink! I just posted a long review of what I’m reading here, but in brief, two HUGE volumes of short stories which respectively collect the science fiction of Frederic Brown and William Tenn. (From These Ashes The Complete Short Fiction of Frederic Brown
and Immodest Proposals: The Complete William Tenn (vol 1).
If you like short stories, either of these two volumes are highly recommended (probably the Brown one more). The nice thing about these volumes is that, since they’re short stories, they make nice bite-sized reading for those times where you don’t want/have time to read a whole novel. (Although at 700 pages and 120 short stories, the Brown volume isn’t a pocket book)
Fenris
Sacre bleu! All of Fred Brown’s short SF in ONE VOLUME? Put me down for a copy o’ that! And if someone would put all his short mystery fiction in ANOTHER book, my day would be complete!
Right now I’m reading Evelyn Waugh’s third novel, BLACK MISCHIEF (1932).
I read DECLINE AND FALL and VILE BODIES back in high school, and have debated their relative merits on this board, and I read HANDFUL OF DUST and THE LOVED ONE in college, and SCOOP and MEN AT ARMS since then, but I never got around to BLACK MISCHIEF. I was afraid it was racist.
Yeah, it IS racist. He treats the Emperor of the African nation and his subjects with viciousness and contempt. Of course, he also treats all the white British, European, and American characters with viciousness and contempt, so it doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it might.
I’m also reading Sven Kirsten’s THE BOOK OF TIKI: THE CULT OF POLYNESIAN POP IN FIFTIES AMERICA. Man, it’s great.
Going against the recommendation of Maeglin, I went out and bought Pounding Nails In The Floor With My Forehead by Eric Bogosian, and laughed out loud on the el train. So the next day I bought The Essential Bogosian which features the famous Talk Radio play.
Very interesting. Some hilarity, some drama. He’s a very interesting writer.
jarbaby
Having just finished rereading Seeker’s Mask by P.C. Hodgell (my copy finally came in, yay!), I thought I’d turn to something a bit lighter. I picked up The Magehound by Elaine Cunningham. Yes, it’s a Forgotten Realms novel (I told you I wanted something lighter), but it’s rather deeper and better crafted than most (though it still has some of Cunningham’s trademark quirkiness). The protagonist has some interesting internal conflicts to deal with in addition to a solid external storyline. I’m looking forward to finishing it and moving on to the sequel, The Floodgate.
Right now I am reading Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimen and Hannibal by Thomas Harris.
I recommend The Bretheren by John Grishom and The Clan Novel Series by various authors. 13 novels about Vampires. Good series, although it is kinda slow in the begining.
“is that a book in your pocket, or are ya just glad ta’ see me?”
On the OP, sadly, whatever I’m currently reading isn’t interesting enough for me to even remember the title. Recently re-read a few classics - Patrick Dennis’ * Little Me* (a book my mother, who had a wonderful sense of humor had sought out, I found it last year) and Bunny Lake is Missing (Can’t remember who wrote it) very spooky. 
Reading right now: Mark Twain: On the Damned Human Race. An edited collection of some of Twain’s more obscure works.
I would always recommend nearly everything by Twain. In particular, if you have never read them, **Life On the Mississippi, The Innocents Abroad, Roughing It, **or Huckleberry Finn
Right now I’m reading The Hand of Oberon (from The Great Book of Amber) by Roger Zelazny at home and my carry-along book is The Shining Court by Michelle West. I’m also working on Everyday Life in the Middle Ages now that I’ve found it again.
The books I’m currently pushing are Partners in Necessity (which consists of Conflict of Honors, Agent of Change and Carpe Diem) and Plan B by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller and Hunter’s Oath and Hunter’s Death by Michelle West. Or for those not interested in SF/Fantasy, The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver.
After reading about it for 40 years–finally remembered it the last time at the library-----THE JUNGLE by UPTON SINCLAIR. Though it was written in 1906,(“led directly to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of later that year”)it’s STILL stunning reading.
I love reading books like this and THE GRAPES OF WRATH. They give me an insight as to what it must have been like; the everyday lives/hardships of my parents/grandparents. To never forget the crap that THEY had to put up with from the “Establishment”.
JODI—If you’re looking for humour----I recommend any of the compilations of the late S.J. PERELMAN. (He wrote for THE NEW YORKER) ALSO—someone mentioned MARK TWAIN. Check out his LETTERS FROM THE EARTH.
All above are most excellent reading.
I’m currently reading The Bonesetters Daughter by Amy Tan and Naked by David Sedaris. I’d recommend them both, although the first only if you’ve read other Amy Tan and like her stuff. Recently purchased, but not yet read (we’ll call these my on-deck books) are two books I chose based on SDMB recommendations: Thank You for Smoking and The Battle For God. If you’ve recommended these in the past, thanks and be smug about in the fact that your endorsement convinced me!
My book club recently read The Saving Graces by Patricia Gaffney–it’s sort of on the level of “beach reading” but if you’d like something lighter, most of us rated it pretty highly.
I just finished The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy and intend to rush out and buy the rest of the books in that series at the earliest opportunity.
Last thing I read before that: Dante’s Inferno.
Sitting on my dresser waiting to be read: The Princess Bride, The Faerie Queene (if I can work up the nerve – I’ve read some of it for English class, and it’s very difficult), and Shakespeare: A Life.
What can I say, I have eclectic taste… 
wring, given the size of this volume (it’s bigger and thicker than my dictionary), if I were that glad to see you, I’d explode.
Fenris
Gone with the Wind. For about the sixth time. (I seem to read that book every time I get depressed about relationships. I wish I could not “give a damn”)
Yeah, I’d recommend it. Even though I, as a guy, admit I get self concious reading it in public and “hide” it whenever someone walks by. (I really should just get a hardcover edition or some such)
I work in a public library so you can imagine my daily dilemma - “So many free books, so little time…”
Right now I am going through The Power Book by Jeanette Winterson. It’s good but not as great as her earlier works.
Most recent book purchased - Selected Poems of Anne Sexton.
And I am also currently re-reading Possession by A.S Byatt. It’s fantastic the way it reveals a different level each time I revisit.
Take no offense to this dodge_this, but Possession was one of three books in my life that I actually slammed shut and threw across the room at page 100, my head pounding, my teeth grinding…wailing “WHY WHY WHY”
If you’d like to read a similarly exasperatingly complex and headache inducing book, my I suggest The Magus by John Fowles?
jarbaby
Ireland Since the Famine by T.S.L. Lyons. Definitely recommended for those with an interest in Irish history, but probably a bit too heavy for “newbies” to the subject. It’s out of print anyway, unfortunately.
It’s kinda light, but: Big Trouble, a novel by Dave Barry. Yes, that Dave Barry.
I’m re-reading The Godfather for the third time. Then I plan on buying The Godfather Legacy about the movie and reading that. I’m on a Godfather high right now, brought on by the fact that we’re watching both of the movies in one of my classes for a present from the teacher.