I’m on the third (and final, cuz it’s the last book he wrote) novel by Jerry Jay Carroll. Inhuman Beings – it’s very much like Invasion of the Body Snatchers but without the pods. I don’t know yet how the aliens take over the humans. It’s starting to look like they do it just by being in close proximity to a human (or an animal), which makes it a bit more scary. I wish this guy had kept writing. Google says he writes features for the San Francisco Chronicle.
I finished Peter and the Sword of Mercy, which was pretty interesting but I felt it left some loose ends. Also, the story comes right up to the moment when the original Peter Pan begins, but I don’t think the stories would actually fit together well. Having said that, I admit I never read the original. I’m thinking of trying it, along with the original Mary Poppins.
My current book is Everything I Need to Know I Learned from a Children’s Book : life lessons from notable people from all walks of life, by Anita Silvey. A little awkwardly put together, it goes: excerpt from the book, paragraph about book, essay by notable person, all on a two page spread with the paragraph about the book being in very tiny font, some including typos. (Yeah, I nitpicked that ‘cause that’s how I roll). I’d also like to know something about these notable people before I read their essays. Thumbnail biographies are in the back, but I’m not going to flip back and forth.
Other than that, good book, and I’m especially enjoying the excerpts.
What did you think of I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb? I’m not a twin, but I found the portrayal interesting.
Glad you liked it!
Yeah, the suspension of disbelief required is substantial – but I found the underlying conceit so engaging that I was willing to go along with it. It really started to fall apart in the last section, though, after he got to D.C.
That the secret society really existed, and they’re all running around in secret sections of the Smithsonian? :dubious:
Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman. It’s pretty funny. My first Pratchett.
Weirdly enough, that didn’t bother me so much (although I didn’t really see the point, because they didn’t do anything as far as I could tell) but I had a harder time with
the DC transition in the sense that TS is now interacting with a lot more people – it was much easier to get sucked into his world when he was alone on the train, but when he’s interacting with adults … I couldn’t believe that not one of them stepped up and realized something was not right about an injured kid showing up alone at the Info Desk.
Just started The End of Overeating: taking control of the insatiable American appetite, by David Kessler. So far, it’s creamy and delicious.
Tis the season for me to read depressing novels - I suppose it keeps everything in perspective with the credit cards reaching max out points & screaming children at the mall - I do like sugar cookies and candy canes so the season has some high points too 
I just consumed two novels - both worth reading and I highly recommend - Wally Lamb’s “The Hour I First Believed” (read I Know This Much Is True First case same characters make an appearance) and Ann Marie MacDonald’s “Fall On Your Knees”…
I had to wait in line for two hours this morning to sign the kids up for swimming lessons, and so, I finished ‘Fishing with my Old Guy’. I don’t think it’s Quarrington’s best work - my personal favourite is ‘Whale Music’, though I’ve liked everything of his. (Read Whale Music, I recommend it highly! If you have to see the film, read the book first. Maury Chaikin is absolutely perfect as Desmond Howl, but Cindy Preston as Claire is somewhere left of nowhere. One of the books strongest features is the narrative voice, and it is sadly lost in the film.) I may re-read my way through all of his books in the next couple of months.
I just started ‘Still’ by bp nichol - it was the winner of the 5th annual 3-day novel contest.
Finished How Dogs Think by Dr. Stanley Coren, a noted psychologist. I found it interesting and learned some things that I did not know. For instance, dogs do not see the color orange well and for them it will blend in easily with the color of grass. This explained a curiosity for me - my new dog easily finds a yellow tennis ball, but has trouble with the new mostly-orange Chuckit ball that I got her. If she doesn’t see where it lands, she has trouble spotting it. (I thought she was getting lazy and just pretending to not find the ball.)
I did enjoy it, but will caution that in many places it is a slow read.
I just finished Exit Music, the probably-final book in Ian Rankin’s excellent John Rebus series. It was pretty good as wrap-ups go, and the whole series held its head above water longer than most mystery series do.
Next I’m on to Daniel Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year, and also apparently Catch-22.
“Apparently”? Is someone holding a gun to your head?
I think there is a SDMB bookclub and they have chosen that as their first read.
Ha, this cracked me up. Sometimes being in a book club does feel like a gun to the head.
I just finished re-reading The Diamond Age. I had an ambition to read or re-read every Neal Stephenson novel from The Big U through Anathem, but I think I’m Nealed out. He’s a brilliant funny writer, but he tends to let his plots get away from him.
I’m now reading Armor by John Steakley, which is pretty bad, but I find it hilarious if you imagine it being read by Brock Samson, with the female voices done by Molotov Cocktease.
I dunno, is someone? <looks around anxiously>
No, “apparently” not.
I read the first of Robin Hobb’s Tawny Man trilogy and liked it very much; I’ll probably read the next two books shortly. I like finding all of these completed trilogies. I’ll be sad when I finally catch up to her and have to wait on new books.
I’m about to start on David Sedaris’s Holidays on Ice, which I’ve been saving for Christmas. Even though I think I’ve read at least one of the pieces in it already.
I just read that, and also found it pretty funny. The fact that his name popped up 3 or 4 times in the “future classics” thread makes me wonder what the next one to read should be.
Has anyone won the thread yet?
Not a chance. At SDMB the thread wins you!