Just finished my first ever comic book. Well, actually a collection-type book of Daredevil comics. Interesting, but I would never attempt at this point to tell anyone if this is a good example of the genre. Still too much a beginner.
Also just finished Black Rubber Dress by Lauren Henderson. I just love Henderson, and her sleuth-heroine Sam Jones. For mystery lovers who aren’t too uptight.
Reading Cornelia Funke’s The Thief Lord, a children’s book that would probably appeal to most Harry Potter fans.
Reel Shame:Bad Movies and the Hollywood Stars Who Made Them. Very enjoyable read on soon to be or on the decline stars and some of the bad movies they were in.
I’m reading Mick Foley’s first book, Mankind: Have a Nice Day.
[I almost never watch wrestling on TV, but I did like it as a kid.]
Why? I needed some light reading (I prefer light non-fiction) as work has been very busy. My mom read the book and said that Foley is good at bringing out the human interest side of wrestling. She’s right…it’s mostly the story of a guy’s life who does wrestling for a living instead of a wrestler writing a book, if you understand what I am getting at.
(I’m also reading a book on prayer before bedtime.)
Prague by Arthur Philips, a story about American expats in Budapest in the early 90s, after the fall of communism. Seriously underwhelmed thus far. I have to read it since it’s for a book club. I can’t wait to find out what the big deal is with this book.
I, Claudius by Robert Graves. Much more fun! I want to see the series now.
It’s a collection of sci-fi short stories with religion as its theme. I’m undecided on whether I like it or not yet due to my own sometimes rabid atheism but would suggest it to others that might like the juxtaposition of its theme and genre.
I am reading a wide variety of things at the moment, including Revelation space and the first of Robin Hobbs Fool series. However the book I have with me right at this moment is Inversions by Iain banks, it’s a little to early to tell which way the plot’s going to jump but it shows every sign of being just as good as the rest of his books.
I’ve just finished reading Supreme “the story of the year” by Alan Moore, a very neat dissection of comic book evolution.
For Christmas my wife got me the first three Jack Aubrey books by Patrick O’Brian. Master and Commander, Post Captain, and H.M.S. Surprise. I just got around to starting them 2 weeks ago and I’m half way through H.M.S. Surprise. Tells you way more than you ever wanted to know about life aboard a British man-o-war during the 18th century, and quite a bit about 18th century life, class distintions, sexuality, hygene, and morals. I’m liking it a lot, but I loved the Hornblower books. YMMV.
Up until last Wednesday, I was reading Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man. Very good book, though most of my English class hated simply because it’s 600 pages long.
Which is ironic because the other book I’m reading just for the hell of it instead of school is Stephen King’s The Stand, which is twice as long as Invisible Man I wonder how my English class would react about being made to read a book over 1000 pages long.
Recently a friend who collects pulp paperbacks loaned my one of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu novels. (I believe it is The Mask of Fu Manchu.) Am about 1/4 through it and I may throw in the towel; it’s basically a third-rate Conan Doyle ripoff, with “chapters” that are often little more than a couple of pages long. The only pleasure to be drawn from it is to savor how bad it is, and that pleasure doesn’t go very far. I’m thinking of dropping it and skipping ahead to the next item in my reading queue, House of Mirth.
Currently reading Umberto Eco’s Baudolino, the far-fetched autobiography of a peasant adopted by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarrosa, circa 1200AD, narrated to a Byzantine historian during the Fourth Crusade’s sack of Constantinople. Excellent story-telling and full of the kind of historical detail that drives others bonkers, but which I eat like candy.
Also reading Terry Pratchett’s The Fifth Elephant. Good stuff.
Hey, I almost picked up Baudolino, but instead opted for The Oath by Frank Peretti. I’m a little disappointed, the story is pretty good, but the guy is a mediocre writer and there are some glaring inconsistencies. Plus, I figured out it’s a “Christian” Novel but written to the mainstream (the lack of swearwords and a few contextually mild and innapropriate “darns” clued me in, Not to Mention it’s published by Word Publishing. In addition, the crazy religous antihero is the hero!). That turned me off, but it’s compelling enough for me to finish. It’s basically about a dragon that eats sinners in a modern backwoods mining town. Sins of the fathers and what not. Salem’s Lot ala St. George.
I just finished George R. R. Martin’s A Storm of Swords and I want more, dammit! But since I have to wait for the next installment, I’m winding my way through David Brin’s Uplift series. Just started on Sundiver. It’s good stuff, I love the world he’s created.
Just finished Daniel Handler’s The Basic Eight, about a group of high school kids involved with a murder. I really enjoy his writing style, and there was a twist in the story which makes me want to go back and read it all over again.
In the car, I’m listening to She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb. I just started yesterday, but so far so good.
I would just like to second this recommendation for Chuck. I own everything he’s ever written, had most of it signed a few years back when Mr. Bunny and I were lucky to meet him, and not only is he a fantastic writer, he’s a very friendly and likeable person. His most recent novel, Diary, is one of the best things he’s written in years.
I’m currently reading Villa Incognito by Tom Robbins, and it’s very good so far, if a little lurid. Then, that’s Robbins for you. I wouldn’t have him any other way. Those not into his style of writing and his typical subject matter might not dig it, though (within the first couple of pages, a mystical badger parachutes to Earth using his own scrotum). Before that, I read Disco Bloodbath by James St. James, the book that the recent movie Party Monster was based on. Quite entertaining. James St. James writes like he’s speaking directly to you, quite similar actually to the style of Chuck Palahnuik, and he’s frickin’ hilarious. The story is intriguing as well, about a grusome murder back in the New York “club kid” days of the 80’s and 90’s. Check it out.