Going to the library today, and notice I’m taking back one book that I don’t think I reported on here:
The Secret Lives of Buildings: From the Ruins of the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in Thirteen Stories, by Edward Hollis.
Liked it a lot – it’s about how buildings are used over their lifetimes.
That’s my favorite of the Flashman books I’ve read so far.
I read Vanity Fair last week - it was really good, if maybe a bit too long. It’s very funny in places. For whatever reason, my Kindle is making these classics that I’ve always meant to read sound very appealing.
Over the weekend I read Charlie Huston’s novel The Mystic Arts of Erasing All Signs of Death. I enjoyed it very much, but then I’m a big fan of his unusual writing style. This one is a standalone book, and it’s practically light and cheerful compared to the rest of his books that I’ve read.
I’m now reading Days of the Dead, which is part of Barbara Hambly’s Benjamin January mystery series, set in the 1830’s. This one is taking place in Mexico during the Texas Revolution. So far I’m lukewarm on it - particularly I miss New Orleans, which is where most of these are set.
I read that not long ago, and it is indeed a good compendium of short stories about the Devil.
I just finished Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King, and I have to say…I think this is a very good collection of novellas. I know another Doper was kinda meh on it in last month’s thread, but I found the stories, particularly 1922, to be utterly mortifying (in a good Stephen King book way).
I also just finished book 2 of The Strain trilogy called The Fall, and I’m not going to lie…I really like these books. I’m a sucker for post-apocalyptic vampire stories!
Still slogging through Fatal Shore and about halfway through the 600 pages. As eye (and brain) relief, I’m also reading Ageless Memory, which is about methods to improve said brain function. I forget who the author is.
Certainly, feel free to comment! Work is picking up for me, too, so I’m getting through A Clash of Kings at a bit of a slower pace. I’m through about 200 pages.
I had to read it in Jr. High and remembered not caring for it much at the time. I want to get to it again. I actually do like the movie a lot. Very creepy for a cartoon.
I warned you! 
I read Kim Paffenroth’s Dying to Live over the weekend. It was actually very interesting, quite a few new ideas for the zombie novel genre. I’m not sure I’m buying into the whole religious side story, but it certainly was a welcome change from the more formulaic books I’ve still on my list. Also finished Dr Dale’s Zombie Dictionary, which had some good funny bits and some not so funny ones, but overall was quite an enjoyable read. Oh, and Daniel W. Drezner’s International Politics and Zombies, which deals with real world likely responses to a zombie outbreak. Fascinating, and, what’s perhaps more important, astoundingly well research with a great bibliography for more zombie goodness.
Now, I’m taking Faulkner, Pynchon, Melville, and loads of zombies with me on a US trip.
I’m just finishing up Wesley for Armchair Theologians. I’m Methodist by default, so I was interested in a biography of the guy who started the Methodist church. My pastor recommended this, which is a little biography, and a lot about the questions/conundrums that John Wesley wrestled with and attempted to reconcile (like, how can God create and control everything but there still be free will? etc).
It’s a pretty short 180 pages, but interesting.
Finished. It was somewhat delicately written for the topic; not that I was looking for sensationalistic sleaze, but I guess for the enslaved women to be more outraged about their situation. I suppose that was the whole point, that they were more or less resigned to it for most of the book and were making the best of what they couldn’t change. The reader is left to be outraged on their behalf.
He does go on at length, doesn’t he?
Finished Sympathy for the Devil and liked it very much.
No doubt I picked it up on your recommendation, so thank you!
I also just finished Joe R. Lansdale’s Captains Outrageous, another solid entry in his Hap and Leonard series.
Next up: The Ring of Solomon, by Jonathan Stroud.
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Shirley**, I hope you like Watership Down…it’s one of my top three favorite books of all time.
Well, I liked it. 
Started The Wise Man’s Fear and see it will probably take me the rest of March at least. I am savoring it, reading it slowly rather than my usual quick reads. So far I am really enjoying it.
I just finished Jim Futtrell’s Amusement Parks of New Jersey and Phil and Kaja Foglio’s Agatha H and the Airship City. The latter seems to be the first couple of volumes of their Girl Genius graphic novel turned into a prose novel, with no obvious changes. Although it gives you a bit more background, the humor works better in graphic form. This is the first case I can think of where a graphic novel got turned directly into prose, rather than vice-versa (or through a movie adaptation).
I also finished Robert Goldsborough’s Death on Deadline, his Nero Wolfe novel. I’m starting The Best of Cyril M. Kornbluth. I thought I’d read this entire series, but I can’t recall whether I’ve read this volume (I’ve certainly read many of the stories elsewhere), so I might be re-reading this.
Agreed. But the World’s Fair narrative was just riveting, IMO. Sparkling and fantastic. I loved that part of the book.
On Sunday, I started and finished G.R.R. Marten’s Fevre Dream. I liked it well enough, but it’s not as good as his SOIAF books. An interesting take on the vampire mythos, though - I liked his additions, as well as what he felt was nonsense.
I just started Tears in the Darkness, about the Bataan death march. I’m literally like 5 pages into it, but it’s good so far.
Not sure what’s next. Maybe Stephen King’s latest, Full Dark No Stars.
The Gates by John Connolly. I read all his Charlie Parker mysteries, and this is for teens. He’s very, very funny.
Finished Gödel, Escher, Bach last night. I’d love to read more about AI if anyone has any suggestions. I started a thread, but so far the pickins have been slim.
I’m re-reading A Game of Thrones in anticipation of the HBO series. I don’t usually “see” or “hear” characters in my head when I read, but Eddard Stark is sounding very much like Sean Bean to me. To a lesser degree, I’m also hearing Coster-Waldau and Mark Addy. I can’t make Tyrion sound like Peter Dinklage yet, though.
This despite the fact that I have avoided watching clips of the show. I don’t understand the appeal of long previews and sneak peaks - I’d rather just wait and watch the whole show.
It’s a mind-blower, isn’t it? 
A good follow-up (not on AI specifically, but still) I think is Journey to the Ants (less hard science-y) and The Superorganism (more hard science-y):
… prepare to have your mind blown again. The theme is how do you get complexity out of simplicity - in this case, how social insects can to an extent mimic concious beings, without conciousness.