Ah, sorry about that. I’ll refrain from posting further possible temptations.
In the meantime, my reading stack grew today with the additions of Life by Keith Richards, Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, The Gates by John Connolly, Pirates of the Levant by Arturo Perez-Reverte, and The Gendarme by Mark Mustain. I don’t know how I’ll pick which one to start first.
A colleague and my wife have both given up on Freedom by Jonathan Franzen as too dense, plodding and depressing.
I agree. The plot of Be My Enemy is pretty far-fetched, and serves as an awkward way place the characters in a particular contrived scenario, but I was too busy enjoying the action and the dialogue to be much annoyed. The third Parlabane book, Boiling a Frog, is my favorite so far - I have one more to go.
I *loved *the ending of that trilogy - at least, I did after taking some time to reflect on it.
I got a new Kindle for Christmas! I also got two book gift cards - one for Barnes & Noble, and one for Borders. From relatives who knew I was getting a Kindle. 
A Heinlein Trio, by…Heinlein!
I’ve never read much Heinlein before and I just finished The Puppetmasters. Oooh, mind-controlling slugs from outer space! Blech!
Great story!
S’okay. I have self control.
I got a ton of books for Christmas and about 180 bucks in Borders cards. Woohoo, it was a good Christmas.
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying (from the library) Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand.
I’m just to the Bombing of Wake Island and just amazed at this guy’s life.
Wiki says Nicolas Cage may star in a movie based on him: Louis Zamperini - Wikipedia
WHAT!
OH DEAR GOD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
And I like Cage to an extent, but holy dogcrap, batman.
I’m reading The Ask, by Sam Lipsyte. It’s a funny novel about people like me – overeducated, fortyish, new father, rather pathetic in some ways but generally happy and observant.
I’m looking forward to enjoying these Xmas gifts: Blind Descent, by James Tabor (about the craft of cave exploration), and the Yale Press Anthology of Rap.
To the Doper just plunging into Gödel, Escher, Bach: Have fun! It’s amazing how much of the material is fresh today, despite evolving computer technology. Don’t get too hung up on the tougher theoretical mathematics – I’m terrible at that stuff, but I still enjoyed every chapter, and digested what I could.
Finished “The Botany of Desire” by Michael Pollan. It was a worthy predecessor to “The Omnivore’s Dilemma.” I can also see at the end what led from the former to latter. I didn’t see the connection before.
I didn’t read it fast enough though, because I had to return “Full Dark, No Stars,” along with two other books I didn’t get to enjoy, to the library today. Instead of the Stephen King, I will read “Game Change” next.
Still enjoying Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell. Just as if Jane Austen wrote a Harry Potter book - crisp dialogue, Regency social niceties, drawing-room politics and witty asides.
Your top ten books of the year?: Top ten reading picks for 2010 - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
I just finished a collection of “humorous” advice given by comedians in The Believer’s You’re Horrible, But I Like You. It’s either a really short read or I tried to get through it as fast as possible. The comedy was too hard without a “straight man”. The advice questions sought tried to be wacky and it’s hard to give funny advice to wacky questions. It smacks of overkill. There were a couple bright spots, the following exchange was one of my favorites.
Unfortunately, the clunkers were too many to enjoy the occasional gems.
I just started Paul Mooney’s Black is the New White. And on deck is Schrodinger’s Cat Trilogy by Robert Anton Wilson.
I received the latest Stephen King, Full Dark, No Stars for Christmas, and finished it the day after (very convenient to have, we were essentially snowed in here in NYC). I think fans of classic King will be pleased with it, there was no smucking, no one was hit by a van, etc.
Finished “The Plague of Doves”. Now reading Bryson’s “Notes From a Small Island”.
Did you like it? I didn’t, really. While I do like her writing, the style of the book I found boring and I was slow to develop interest in the stories, even though the stories were interesting to a point.
I’m now reading High Tide In Tucson- a collection of essays by Barbara Kingsolver. I am liking it, mostly because I live in Tucson and she talks about it and the desert.
What’s “smucking”?
A made-up word he used in a recent bomb, Lisey’s Story. It’s nearly unreadable.
Not particularly. My wife checked it out of the library and I had nothing else to read until the Bryson book came in. She went a long way around the block to write a story about how lives intertwine, and some of it was downright stupid. Luckily, it was a fast read.