What are you reading now?

As of this morning, I’m reading I, Robot. This is a great case of sloppy seconds: my roommate rented it, and I watched it after he did. He saw me watching it and offered to lend me the book, so now I am. After that it’s back to the Studs Terkel book.

That one sounds like a very good read Klaus. Right now, I am reading "The Kid ", a memoir by Dan Savage. It is about his, and his partner’s road through adoption. If anyone is a fan of his sex advice column "Savage Love, I would highly recommend it. It is very un PC, very funny (in a wry sort of way), and offers solid advice to anyone considering adoption.

*Winter Solstice * by Rosamunde Pilcher and Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley by Alison Weir.

I’m going to set aside A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, by Barbara Tuchman. I like it a lot, and I’m learning gobs, but it’s just not the sort of book that I say, “Ooooh, yippee, I have some free time to read! I’ll read a couple of chapters!” so I’ve been slogging through it, reading a couple of pages at a time while waiting in line or otherwise killing time, for months.

In its place, I’ve picked up A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge. I really loved A Fire Upon the Deep, so I’m looking forward to diving in.

For bedtime reading, I’m about halfway through Many Waters by Madeline L’Engle. I decided to reread the Murray books a while ago, and got up to A Swiftly Tilting Planet but got bored with that one. (I don’t know why; it was my favorite when I was a kid.) I finally finished it and launched into Many Waters, then stalled on that and read something else for a while. I restarted it a week or so ago. When it’s done, I’ll probably put A Distant Mirror on my night stand and see if it isn’t too heavy for bedtime reading.

I’m also skipping and jumping back and forth through A Knitter’s Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman (much-acclaimed author of Knitting Without Tears.) It’s a very fun book, and I’m already mentally planning about four projects, which is the hazard in reading a book like that. :slight_smile:

I have The Wizard. Would it make any sense to read it without finishing The Knight?

(I loved The Book of the New Sun.)

I second supervenusfreak’s recommendation.

I’m juggling three books right now.

Perdido Street Station by China Meivile. I read lots of good things about it, but it has yet to really grab me. I’m going to stick with it, though.

Preludes and Nocturnes, book one of Sandman by Neil Gaiman. I’ve never been too into comics, but this is really good, and I enjoy Gaiman’s prose writing.

Extreme DV at Used Car Prices by Rick Schmidt. It’s the bible of the ultra-low-budget filmmaker, but so far I’m underwhelmed.

Time Travellers Only Cash, by Spider Robinson.

My first response would be an absolute NO. However, after finishing The Wizard, I am desperate to go back and reread The Knight. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it, but it might actually make an interesting reading experience. If you are at least aware of the one or two main plot drivers, you should be able to follow it. Well, at least read the last few pages of The Knight first, as they are key.

New Sun was my first exposure to Wolfe and it remains my favorite. I have read them a bunch of times.

I’m really enjoying The Geographer’s Library by ** Jon Fasman** right now.
It’s unfolding too slowly to justify being called a thriller but it has all the elements; a small town reporter writing an obit uncovers more and more oddities about the deceased.
Interleaved with his present day story are chapters describing various alchemical objects, their history and the circumstances behind their disappearance.
The reader is well ahead of the hero in figuring some of what’s going on but it’s a very well written book - and I still expect surprises!

I’m reading State-Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century by Francis Fukuyama.

I also say ‘Bravo!’ for Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, English Pasengers, and Crimson Petal and the White. After finishing Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, I decided to re-read Charles Dickens’ wonderful Bleak House. Why? Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell is like Bleak House with wizards.

I’m most of the way through Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. It’s quite good so far.

After that I’ve got Empire Falls by Richard Russo, and after that I need to hit up Amazon.com.

Last year I read Skipping Towards Gomorrah: The Seven Deadly Sins and the Pursuit of Happiness in America by him. I highly recommend it. I loved it.

I used to read all the time when I was younger, but I stopped having time for it when school got harder. Now I’m forcing myself to make time. In the past three weeks I have read:
Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs (memoirs; very, very funny)
Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs (memoirs, specifically about his screwed-up childhood; funny, but also depressing since it really happened)
Barrel Fever by David Sedaris (stories and essays; absolutely hilarious, one of the best things I’ve ever read)
Epileptic by David B (a graphic novel about his brother’s experience with epilepsy and the lengths his family went to to try treating it)

Great books, all of those. The memoirs are good if you don’t have time for long, uninterrupted blocks of reading, since you can just read a chapter at a time and not have to worry about remembering a whole lot.

Right now I’m reading Dry by Augusten Burroughs about battling his alcoholism. It’s good, but so far I don’t like it as much as his other stuff. As soon as I finish this, I have his novel Sellevision, The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things by JT Leroy, and Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.

Well, I’m not thanking twickster. I’ve been a zombie at work for a week, staying up till 2 a.m. every night reading the damn thing.¹ When I finish it, I’ll probably not be thanking AuntiePam for suggesting The Good House by Tananarive Due. It’s up next.

¹English Passengers is the best book I’ve read in Og knows how long.

I’ve just finished Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and I was so pleased with it that I didn’t pick up another book for a week or so, just sort of floated around in a pleasant haze.

Now, however, I’m working my way through two simultaneously: a reread of **The Phantom of the Opera[/a], which I’d forgotten is (a) more Raoul’s story than anyone else’s and (b) a very effective mood piece, and Vanity Fair, which I am in love with the narrative voice.

:smack: Please to ignore the inane coding in the post above.

I’m alternating between The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico by Miguel Leon-Portilla; The Legends of the Ferengi by Ira Steven Behr and Robert Hewitt Wolfe; The Zimmerman Telegram by Barbara W. Tuchman; and a cultural anthropology textbook entitled simply Cultural Anthropology by Fred Plog and Daniel G. Bates.

Lord Foul’s Bane, the first book of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant. A hard read, not because it’s written particularly complex… but because of a very difficult scene near the beginning, and the inundiation of names and the way things are described. I’m sure a lot of dopers have read the entire series, but this is my first time through.

I haven’t decided. I just finished (last night) The Patient’s Eyes by David Pirie. It is

It wasn’t bad. I have the second one in the queue, but I’m not sure I want to jump right into it. I am thinking maybe Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell: A Novel.

Sundays are devoted to “deep” reading which often means books on religion or philosophy, but can be any non-fiction. I just finished one this past Sunday and I am thinking On Intelligence by Jeff Hawkin.

I’ve been reading “Battle Royale” by Kousun Takumi. In Japanese. I guess I can’t reccommend that to you, though. :wink: