I like taking a look around, say, on the bus, and seeing what everyone is reading. I’m always amazed at the huge variety on any given day. So what are YOU reading? Is it any good?
I’m just starting “Black Holes and Time Warps - Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy” by Kip Thorne. Not sure if it’s any good yet, but so far the introduction was interesting!
The Satanic Verses. It’s taking a little while for me to warm up to it, though.
Don’t Shoot The Dog by Karen Pryor.
I love science but lately I’ve been reading fiction.
Henderson the rain king - Saul Bellow (good ass book)
About Schmidt - I forget (nothing like the movie)
The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
I purchased it both because it sounded interesting and because I learned it was Audrey Niffenegger’s first novel. (I like to support new writers). I ended up being very glad I did, as it turned out to be the best book I’ve read this year.
The root of the novel is a simple love story between a man named Henry and a woman named Clare. A genetic abnormality has caused Henry to travel in time for brief spurts since the age of five, sometimes running into his own self, other times meeting Clare as a child. The story never becomes gimmicky, but instead more complex and serious.
Highly recommend this one.
The Six Sigma Way-office management
Miss Wyoming- Douglas Coupland
Gulag- Anne Applebaum. I am a little dubious about her dismissal of a lot of Solzhenytsin, but it’s pretty interesting. She relies more on documents released after the communist collapse of Russia.
In the Hand of Dante-Nick Tosches. Haven’t gotten a bead on this one yet. Half Literary Mystery, half Hard Boiled.
Close to finishing “The Color of Magic” - Terry Pratchett. My first venture into Discworld.
Miller—I absolutely loved the Satanic Verses. Great book.
And as for me, I’m re-re-re-re-reading Frank Herbert’s Dune and Robin Cook’s Toxin. Dune, as always, is great; Toxin wasn’t what I hoped it’d be.
I’m finishing up the BiFrost Guardians series, I believe I’m well in to book 5 (it’s been reissued in 2 books, book 1-3 in one book and books 4 and 5 in the other) and it just continues to knock my socks off.
Anna Karenina…its good but goes on forever.
Just finished - Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. Hillarious!!!
Been working on - Understanding Zen by Benjamin and Amy Radcliff. Heady Zen stuff.
Just picked up - A Monk Swimming: A Memoir by Malachy McCourt. Funny stories from NYC Irish immigrant.
The Grave Maurice by Martha Grimes – I read all the Richard Jury mysteries but only once they come out in paperback.
Universe 1 - Sci-Fi anthology edited by Robert Silverberg & his wife (what’s her name?): In the car for the ferry ride.
** Thanks to the Saint** - 45 year old crime novel by Leslie Charteris: In the bathroom.
** Birds of the World** - Coffee table book by Mark Rauzon: In my library. (Yes, I have a room dedicated to books. Of course.)
** she hates my futon** - Unfinished novelette by Craig Mitchell: Online
The Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler.
It’s the second book in a series about a woman in the near future when the United States is falling apart. Global warming has driven people north, violence has erupted everywhere and in teh middle of this is a woman who creates her own religion and leads a group of followers to a remote location in Northern California to try and survive.
I’d recommend anything by Ms. Butler.
I’m also rereading Caverns by Keven O’Donnell. More lighthearted fare about a teleporter.
The best part is the training he goes through to learn how to use his abilities. It talks about having to add or subtract momentum, chaning velocities, etc.
Finishing up Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (due back to library tomorrow).
Also reading: The Day I Became an Autodidact by Kendall Hailey and The Straight Dope Tells All.
** The How and the Why ** by David Park
Probably the best history of physics I have read, though there are clearer explanations of modern physics than this book’s last chapters.
Neuromancer by William Gibson. It’s neato, and I got it because it was reccomended on this very board.
Right now I’m reading The Fourth Hand, by John Irving.
It’s great, of course. After all, it’s John Irving.
Secrets of the Temple: How the Federal Reserve Runs the Country, by William Greider. It sounds like a conspiracy nut-job opus but is actually a straightforward history of the fed in the 70s and 80s.
Constantine’s Sword, by James Carroll. A history of the relation between Judaism and Catholicism.
A People’s History of the Supreme Court, by Peter Irons.
Gee. Can you tell I’m a 20th century history enthusiast?