I finished The Shadow Year, by Jeffrey Ford. It was a first-person semi-autobiographical, magical-realist story set in the 1960’s from the point of view of a boy in a very odd family. It had the same warmth and scariness as Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine or McCammon’s Boy’s Life. I loved it, and I’m still thinking of it, a few days later.
I finished Princess Ben. I have read books whose target audience was teens and enjoyed them. I have read books whose target was probably women and enjoyed them. This however was likely aimed at teen girls, putting me so far outside the demographic I have to wonder about the competency of the man screening my queue.
Having said that, it wasn’t too bad a read, I read it on the flight home from the UK and it helped passed the day.
I picked up The Book Thief by Markus Zusak in the wee hours of the morn and have not been able to put it down yet.
I’m sure this book has been mentioned here but this is amazing. It’s narrated by Death and takes place in Germany during WWII. I’m about halfway through and I just know that whatever happens is just going to slay me emotionally but I cannot wait! I’m enjoying it immensely and it’s so short on words but so very evocative.
I just finished The 5th Witch, by Graham Masterton. Good, fast, fluffy read (if the definition of “fluffy” can be extended to people puking toads and the bad guys filling a large room with chunky salsa made from the mangled bodies of a couple dozen SWAT team members).
Now that I’ve finished that, I’m going to start Arthas, by Christie Golden (the latest, and by many accounts the best so far, among the World of Warcraft series).
Just finished Fahrenheit 451, which I’d never read, and was somewhat disappointed in. Didactic sci-fi is usually heavy-handed, but sheesh. Plus you usually get flying cars or interplanetary travel or something for your trouble.
Now I’m reading Uglies, and enjoying it. I’ll probably read the whole trilogy, based on how much I’m liking the first one.
Thought I was going to be going to Georgia (for why not, see MPSIMS), so put down The Ancestor’s Tale (big heavy trade paperback) in favor of a more manageably sized volume, George Eliot’s Adam Bede. I do like a nice fat 19th-century novel, and this is a good one. Will probably finish it before returning to Dawkins, despite the cancellation of my trip.
I doubt I’ll ever read it, so tell me…
Does she eat him?
I finally finished Nick Harkaway’s The Gone-Away World. It took a while because I’ve been really busy lately, and I wished I could’ve read it faster. It’s a “wow” book, as in there were several passages throughout that, once I came up for air and stepped away from the story, made me go “wow” just because they were so well-written. It’s hard, IMO, to balance that kind of clever wordsmithing with keeping you rooted in the story, but Harkaway does it with apparent ease.
If I had to compare it to something, I’d say it reminded me of Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle, but set in the future. And with ninjas.
Homebrewing For Dummies
Funniest. Reading Thread Spoiler. Ever! 
Reading an advance paperback of George Hamilton’s memoir Don’t Mind If I Do, which won’t be out till May 5. Only on page 5, but already hilarious.
Finished Digital Fortress, by Dan Brown. I enjoyed it. A fun read.
Next up is Hammerhead Ranch Motel, by Tim Dorsey. I’ve been delaying it, because someone last month suggested I read Dorsey’s Florida Roadkill first, as it introduces some of the same characters, but after searching for it and finding three other Dorsey books, I could not find that one. Ah well.
I had to take my daughter and posse “prom shopping” so to compensate, I ducked into Waldenbooks. I picked up something I’d never heard of – E.E. Knight’s Way of the Wolf, the beginning of *The Vampire Earth *series.
It’s a mix of Dies the Fire sort of civilization with alien-mutated “vampires” ruling the earth. I’m only on page 66, but already he has had several times when a great turn of phrase has stopped me cold to reread it with pleasure. Anyone know if the series is worth investing in?
My current reading pile:
Gods and Myths of Northern Europe by H.R. Ellis Davidson–I read this for a Northern European Mythology class years ago, sold the book back at the end of the semester and have regretted it ever since. A friend of mine gave me his extra copy. 
Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini–I ran across this in the Unshelved Book Club and it looked interesting. So far it is. Blood is still a slave but he’s about to escape so the cool pirate stuff is imminent.
Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare by Stephen Greenblatt–He looks at Shakespeare’s plays and what little information we have about his life to try to piece together a reasonable biography. It’s really good. My favorite part so far is when Greenblatt uses the plays to show that Shakespeare did not like his marriage at all.
Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie–Rushdie is my current “read everything he’s written” author. I’ve loved everything I’ve read so far (except The Satanic Verses and Haroun and the Sea of Stories). This is one of those “murder told from every perspective” stories. So far all I can say is the daughter is a twit.
World War Z by Max Brooks–I checked this out yesterday and read a little bit of it before work. I like it.
I’ve heard good things about it. I read and enjoyed the first one, as you are doing.
A lot of what I’ve read this month has been/is research for a children’s story I’m working on: The Element Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures by John & Caitlin Matthews; The Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits by Carol Mack; a history of the town I live in because my fictional town is geographically near here; and some kids’ books to fine-turn my narrator’s voice and vocabulary - The Mighty by Rodman Philbrick, In The Winter Room by Gary Paulsen, and at the moment The Headless Cupid by Zilpha Keatley Snyder and The Named by Marianne Curley.
Other than that, when I have time I’m working my way through Christopher Golden’s The Lost Ones (the final, and by far the slowest novel in the Veil trilogy) and Kelley Armstrong’s second Women of Otherworld book, Stolen.
Finished Drood by Dan Simmons (loved it).
Started The Warded Man by Peter Brett. So far, it seems to be the standard fantasy farm boy saves the world story. Fantasy readers are comparing it to Jordan’s Wheel of Time (which I haven’t read).
I might just dump it for now and start The Comedy Writer by somebody Farrelly, recommended by a Doper.
Finished The Way of the Wolf, and am going to get the rest – a really good book, IMO. Since then, I caved and bought The Dark Tower I (Gunslinger)…and having finished it, um…huh? I’m assuming questions are answered in ensuing books. Also picked up John Nevitt’s New Tricks, his second in his wizard series. It’s basically Harry Dresden with a day (night?) job as a jazz guitarist. Nice quick read, although I picked out the bad guy half way through and was just waiting for him to clue in. Next up, Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy.
Check pm
Done, and already responded. Thanks.
I just finished John Scalzi’s The Last Colony, and really enjoyed it. It’s the third in his trilogy of military sf that includes Old Man’s War and The Ghost Brigades, and I highly recommend it. Scalzi obviously owes a big debt to Heinlein’s Starship Troopers and Haldeman’s The Forever War, but has a lot of great ideas of his own and a smartass style with dialogue that makes for many laughs.