I just finished one pile of books. Thoughts on them can be found here.
The new pile is made up of:
The Hobbit, Tolkien
The Door in the Hedge, Robin McKinley
Fools Crow, James Welch
A Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century, Barbara Tuchman
Right now, I’m deep into Comanche Moon, which has made me yearn to re-read * Lonesome Dove*. I’ve also got Atonement in the offing. I sometimes have some lighter reading on the side, but not right now.
Finished Route 66 A.D., which I liked a lot, then quickly knocked out [Allen Kurzweil’s Case of Curiosity, a novel about an 18th-century Frenchman who designes and builds a talking head (one of the automata so popular at the time), along with many other adventures. It was pretty good – but a whole stretch of the plot hinges on your following the protagonist into interpreting something that happened in one particular way, and it was so clear to me that it could be interpreted in a different way, that my enjoyment was incomplete. (I don’t want to say any more, in case someone wants to read this – it really was a good read.)
ETA: I think I’m ready to tackle A Solider of the Great War, which will, I hope, finally get koeeoaddi off my back. 
Over the weekend, I read Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible. I did enjoy it, but thought the first half of the book was better than the second.
Finished brushing up on northern-Thailand infor for our trip and checked out a few Elmore Leonards from the library. Today, I began his Bandits. Very good so far.
Just finished The Unnatural Inquirer by Simon Greene. I referred to him in another review and compared the author to him. I like Greene because he writes great bad guys. But my problem with him is just when you think you’ve seen the biggest bad guy there is, he introduces someone who is bigger and badder.
He is a light read and is meant to be. One reviewer on the back covers says: Greene doesn’t take his writing too seriously and neither should you. I agree, there is a lot of fun there.
He is sometimes a lazy writer though and I noticed this most is this book. At one point the good guy and the girl must sneak past a T. Rex. After that they must sneak *back *past the T. Rex. The good guy says: I’ll think of something. And then adds - as narrator - and of course I did. He might as well have said: I can’t think of anything… Of course, the way back out did not really further the plot, so I suppose it can be excused. All in all though, it was a good read, especially as I am in the middle of a huge deadline at work and have little time for a more complex book. Haven’t decided what I’ll pick next. As I said I am chocker-block at work and barely have time to read when I get home. If I have something else light in the queue, that is what I’ll pick.
Finally got around to starting The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. A bit convoluted, but interesting so far.
When Genius Failed: The Rise & Fall of Long-Term Capital Management, by Roger Lowenstein. The story of the, well, rise and fall of the hedge fund mentioned in the name. Part of my ongoing self-education on matters financial, it’s a pretty good read, albeit one that sends me scurrying to wikipedia on occasion.
Also working my way through Sherlock Holmes (currently on The Hound of the Baskervilles) again, and somewhere around here I have Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely waiting to be finished–I started it on the plane, but misplaced it when I got home. Given Chandler’s byzantine plots, I’ll probably wind up having to start it over.
The God Delusion by Dawkins
The Illiad by Homer (Warning: contains gods)
Big Planet by Jack Vance
The folks at Ziesing Books gave glowing praise to A. A. Attanasio as a top fantasist, so I’m reading a short novel he wrote, called Killing With the Edge of the Moon. It’s a rich, lovely tale of Faerie’s presence in modern times, similar to some of the work by Charles de Lint or Holly Black’s series beginning with Tithe.
As far as I can tell from comments online, Attanasio seems to write books of inconsistent quality. If anyone has read him and liked him, I’d like to know which works to take a look at.
Oh, and Player of Games rocked!
Re: my question above, I should add that Attanasio writes under the name of Adam Lee as well.
It certainly does, it’s possibly my favourite Iain M Banks book. If you liked that I heartily recommend Excession as the next one to try.
Just finished The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches: A practical and fun guide to enjoying life more by spending less, by Jeff Yeager. I always like this type of book, and this one was humorously written, but I don’t think I came away with anything new. It was heavily slanted towards being happy with what you have, with sidebars describing how rich Americans are in relation to other parts of the world. At least (as the author points out) it doesn’t insult your intelligence by giving really obvious advice like, “You can save a lot if you give up your daily four-dollar latte!”
I’m currently fiddling with Punching In: My Unauthorized Adventure as a Front-Line Employee, by Alex Frankel. This is a book about a guy who took jobs with companies that have distinct corporate cultures, to see how they create it. So far I’ve read about UPS, he’s applying at The Container Store and Whole Foods Market, and I think he’ll be doing Starbucks also. It’s an interesting concept, but he manages to make it dull. That, or I’m just not in the right mood for this book at the moment.
I look forward to complete vindication (after which I’ll no doubt find other worthy books to pester you with). 
I’m reading three excellent books:
Dogsbody, by Diana Wynne Jones
New and Selected Poems: Volume One, by Mary Oliver
Duma Key, by Stephen King (yes, it really is good this time)
Finished The Children’s Hospital.
Finished Running With Scissors a few days later. Unusual that I do two books at once. Currently reading The Red Tent. Likely finish before month ends. Gotta book of short stories up next, then no clue what.
Cartooniverse
I know you’ve read the PM I sent you raving about it, and you managed to keep all smug “I told you so” out of your reply. Exellent work!
People – I am now on this bandwagon. It truly is one of the most amazing books I’ve ever read. I’m halfway through it and resenting every minute I have to spend, yanno, working for a living, sleeping, etc., instead of reading.
I just started Georgette Heyer’s The Grand Sophy. It’s my first Heyer book, and so far it’s charming.
I just finished Duma Key - overall enjoyable, but had a couple of plot questions which I addressed in the relevant thread. I am now reading The Abstinence Teacher and really enjoying it.
I finished drooling over the language in A Door in the Hedge and picked up Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (or Das Parfum if you go by the back cover).
I did not know Perfume was set in 18th century France. That works because I’m still riding high off Les Liaisons Dangereuses. I even rented Dangerous Liaisons as soon as I finished the book. Love that movie and book. Love love love.