Just finished Magic or Madness by Justine Larbalestier. It’s YA fantasy for a group read at GoodReads. I liked it. I’m starting to figure out why a book is categorized as YA. There’s no explicit sex or violence (or foul language), and there’s a bit more repetition. Works for me, since I can’t remember for beans.
About halfway through the other group read choice, The Anatomy of Deception by Lawrence Goldstone. Historical mystery with 19th century forensics, and some famous folks – the painter Thomas Eakins and the people who started Johns Hopkins. I like the tone.
Oh, I just saw this. Hold on to your hat, because …
He is a murderer, or perhaps not, depending how you look at it.
Although somewhat more seriously, the author was leaning pro-murderer, but left the possibility of doubt.
I finally finished Cryptonomicon a while ago, and then read a book by Damon Knight on writing short stories. I just got Firstborn by Baxter and Clarke, the third book in their trilogy. Mostly Baxter, of course, but clearly some Clarke input.
After that, time for another Tom Swift Jr. book from my stack.
Yes, please tell us Stephenson-philes your thoughts.
I finished my Iain Banks fest and am now reading The life of Pi which I’m quite enjoying. A friend bought it for me for my birthday last year and it’s taken me eight months to get around to reading it. Where’s the guilty emote?
I just finished Back When We Were Grownups and now I want to slap Anne Tyler with a trout. There was exactly one (1) likeable character, the main character spun her wheels for most of the story, and the big resolution at the end was she figured out who the kid in her dream was. Also the chronology was very confusing until the last five pages. I’d kick the book, but judging from the condition of the pages (there are two places where the inner spine is almost broken clean through) someone did it before me.
I read and enjoyed two of Georgette Heyer’s books, The Grand Sophy and Frederica. I’m planning to borrow some more Heyer next time I visit my mom; I think she has a bunch of them.
I’m more than halfway through The Iliad, reading one book a night. And I just ordered Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of The Iliad, by Rosemary Sutcliffe. It’s supposed to be a good children’s version, illustrated by Alan Lee, that includes the story of the Trojan horse. I’ll read it out loud to the kids.
I just finished my first Charlie Huston book, Already Dead. It was almost too gritty for my taste, but I like the way he writes. I’ve ordered two more of his books.
Right now I’m reading a Patricia Briggs novel, Raven’s Shadow. Swords-and-horses fantasy isn’t my very favorite genre, but I do like Briggs.
Finished A Soldier of the Great War, which I thought fell apart in the last 100 pages or so. (Koeeoaddi – I’ve been meaning to PM you with a detailed critique – perhaps this weekend. I wanted to let it marinate a bit before I did.)
Currently reading Simon Winchester’s Krakatoa, which I’m enjoying. He covers all sorts of territory – not just geology, but the history of the science of geology, how the plate tectonic theory got worked out, etc. Very interesting, very readable.
I want to read more of him too. I’ve read Shotgun Rule and I really liked it. It’s not one of his supernatural books though. It’s about four boys who get themselves mixed up with some local tough guy drug dealers.
One thing, I wonder why it gets filed with science fiction so often. Second, it is already getting dated. Definitely some great sections though. As a bonus, I’ve had coffee in the building which was the location of the siege in Los Altos.
There were a few subplots he could have easily cut out though.
Yesterday I finished Virtual Unrealities, a short story collection by Alfred Bester. If you’ve championed this author on the boards lately, I want to thank you, because it was your recommendation I took.
Most of these stories were good, a couple…meh, and one (Fondly Fahrenheit) so incredible I turned back and read it again as soon as I had finished it. Then I read the rest of the book, turned back, and read that one again. Beautifully done.
I read this last month and really liked it. Did you get what was going on when the guy woke up after being taken by the aliens? My first thought was some kind of time warp. I guess my SF thinking is still back in the 50’s. What happened to him was definitely an 00’s thing.
Oooh, I loved this book. And I was so annoying while I was reading it. I kept turning to Mr. Del and shouting out whatever geologic trivia fact I had just learned. Because all the facts were so interesting.
I’m in the middle of Schulz & Peanuts, the bio of Charles Schulz. It’s well written, but very sad. I’m a little less than halfway through it and it seems like he was not only depressed but awfully insecure too. (To say the least) Still, I always loved Peanuts and it’s interesting to learn about the man behind it.
I took a break from it and read Secrets of the Psychics by Massimo Polidoro. Very entertaining. It didn’t cover a lot of new ground for me. I was familiar with some of the people he talked about; but there was a great article (it’s a compilation of articles he’s written for various publications) about Houdini and Conan Doyle, as well as an interesting investigation into a possible haunting.
I didn’t get it at all until it was obvious but that was one of the bits I liked. If a sequel came out, I’d probably pick it up. I would also like a pet chupacabra.
HA! I did this as well. (To my husband though, not Mr. Del!) It drives him nuts when I do that because he wants me to just start reading it out loud and that’s only fun for so long.
He’s not a reader at all. I can’t even fathom not having a book within grabbing distance at all times.
I just finished “A Slave No More: Two Men Who Escaped To Freedom, Including Their Own Narratives of Emancipation” by David W. Blight.
It was very good. They escaped during the Civil War by making their way to the Union Army frontlines. Most slaves could not read or write. (It was illegal in the South to teach them to write). But these two men learned how and their accounts of their treatment while still slaves and the escapes themselves (one was recaptured 4 times) was suspensful and awful.