Yay! If anyone wants to start a discussion thread, I’d be all for it (I’d start one myself, but my head is a little fuzzy tonight).
I’m reading Bryan Boyd’s Nabokov’s Ada, and (much more slowly) Nabokov’s Ada, or Ardor. I got about 25 pages into Ada itself and realized I needed some sort of guide into this strange world, and I have to say, Boyd’s guide is awesome. (And Nabokov! My GOD. Seriously, what that man does with language makes him like unto a god.)
Wasn’t that a great book? Here’s a thread on it from 2003, for anyone who’d like a refresher. Crimson Petal and the White.
Damn, that was a great thread, wasn’t it? (I wouldn’t’ve guessed it was 7 years ago that I read it, but apparently it was.)
Currently reading The 19th Wife, about polygamy amongst Mormons. It interweaves the story of Brigham Young’s 19th wife, who left him and became an apostate, writing and lecturing against the Mormons, and a modern 19th wife, who is accused of killing her husband. Mixture of reconstructions of 19th-century stuff with various 20th-century stuff: the first-person narrative of the son of the accused murderess (who’d been thrown out of the cult when he hit puberty, as most boys are in that system, when a few men control almost all of the women), a Wiki article, a thesis proposal by a grad student at BYU, etc.
Entertaining and absorbing – was schlepping around on public transportation most of the day yesterday, and it made an excellent companion.
Thanks to mein Herr, who is the most understanding man God ever gave a woman, I have a STACK of books from Amazon that is crooning my name. Mother’s Day arrives, the kids give me stuff, and HE GIVES ME AN AMAZON GIFT CARD! I spent several happy hours trying to decide from my wishlist, which is populated by many of the books you all recommend. I’m determined to finish up the Sookie Stackhouse series before I tackle anything else and before she can get another book out. I’m trying to drag things out and make them last through June (HA!) since I have chemo then, and will be good for nothing else but reading and drooling.
My wife and mother-in-law, both of whom are Austen fans, also enjoyed An Assembly Such As This.
twickster, permit me to recommend Under the Banner of Heaven by Jon Krakauer, an excellent and very readable nonfiction account of Mormonism from its earliest days to the present, as well as contemporary fundamentalist/polygamist/renegade Mormonism today, focusing on a pair of murderous brothers.
Just finished Michael Daly’s The Book of Mychal, mentioned upthread, about the FDNY chaplain who was killed on 9-11. It’s pretty good. I think I’d have gotten more out of it if I were either Catholic or gay, though.
Whenever someone gives me a Borders gift certificate I make a BIG fuss over how this is just such a great gift for me! I keep thinking the positive feedback will train them and others to always give me a Borders gift certificate. So far I’m not convinced that people are getting it.
I read Neal Stephenson’s The Baroque Cycle earlier this year and am now about 2/3 of the way through Cryptonomicon and loving it. I’m in the sort of weird position of reading the books out of the order in which they were published – I already know the “backstory” and I’m getting so much pleasure out of seeing what the Waterhouses and Shaftoes are up to.
I’m also reading Hellboy in between (when I get a Borders coupon and can get one of the novels for 30% off!) and am waiting to get #4.
Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, same as everyone else.
I’m re-reading The Last Colony by John Scalzi. I bought the fourth book in the series, Zoe’s Tale, when it came out in paperback this month and decided to re-read the third book to refresh my memory of the plot.
I’ve heard that’s good – maybe I’ll check it out next. Thanks for the recommendation.
Hey, I just finished The Last Colony and really liked it. My favorite line: “In other news, holy shit! We pulled this off.” 
Zoe’s Tale is sitting on my bedside table but I haven’t cracked the cover yet.
Currently reading “MW” the crime thriller manga by Osamu Tezuka (creator of Astro Boy).
Infuriating and fascinating.
Now reading Station Chief, Congo which my wife got for me for Christmas. It is written by the head of the CIA station in Leopoldville at the time of independence, in 1960.
Example of a story he tells. The Congolese Army was running around out of control after independence. When the Belgians sent some troops to protect the remaining Belgian nationals, the army went nuts. One group went to the American Embassy and pointed a machine gun at the entrance. They had collected some weapons, but there were no Marine Guards at the time. The Ambassador went to the door and right up to the jeep with the gun, and said “Thank you for coming to protect us from the Belgians.” He then pointed to a statue down the street and told the guy in charge that that would be a good place to set up. The guy nodded, and the soldiers moved off down the street.
When I read this to my wife, she didn’t believe it - but I lived there starting in November 1961, and that is exactly how the Congo was.
Great stories, clearly written. I was 10 when I lived there, now I can find out what was really going on which my parents (my father was with the UN mission) didn’t want to tell me.
I just started Sin in the Second City by Karen Abbott. So far so good.
I finished Daniel Pinkwater’s Neddiad, it was great. I would recommend it to any Dopers looking for a good read-aloud book for kids about 8 - 11. A strong reader could certainly handle it on his/her own. I love Pinkwater’s crazy, funny, filled with reptiles world.
I started Austerity Britain 1945-1951 – I’ll probably be reporting on this on in the Whatcha Readin’ Dec 12 Edition … it’s pretty hefty. It’s sort of a comprehensive history of daily life in Britain during this period. It goes over what was happening politically, and then uses excerpts from diaries, newspapers, and correspondence, from both famous people and run of the mill people, to show how things were playing out. It’s interesting, but wow, dense.
How does Clement Atlee, Churchill’s successor, come off? I’ve always wanted to learn more about him.
Just in case you haven’t read it, Pinkwater’s The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death was pretty much my favorite book for the majority of my childhood. Out of print, but you can certainly pick it up used on Amazon.
As for me, I just finished Knockemstiff which I saw recommended on here. Sordid, depraved, authentic… I liked it, but I don’t think I’ll give it to my mother as a stocking stuffer this Christmas. I’m now working my way through Bloody Business: An Anecdotal History of Scotland Yard. So far, so good.
Just finished White Night, by Jim Butcher. I don’t think this was one of the better books in the Dresden Files series. The politics between (among?) so many factions are getting too confusing and dull, and I found myself skimming the big fight scene. Anyway, taking a short break from that series to catch up on other stuff.
Starting on The Unlikely Disciple : a sinner’s semester at America’s holiest university, by Kevin Roose. Nonfiction about a “regular” guy who decides to go to Liberty University, a Christian college founded by Jerry Falwell.
I’ve got this in my queue. I was thinking of reading it in January but decided that might be a bit grim. My father, who grew up in Wales during WWII, totally devoured the book – that was his life, when he was a boy.
I burned through Matt Ruff’s Bad Monkeys in two days. Me likee very much. It’s a mystery/thriller. The thriller part is how the main character, Jane Charlotte, works for a secret organization that takes out “Irredeemable Persons,” the Bad Monkeys of the title. The mystery is whether that’s true or if she’s made the whole thing up.
While I’m here I want to put in a plug for the Dopers Read 50 community on LiveJournal if any of you are on there. I’m tired of being the only person posting most times. I know I read a lot but damn!