I recently started Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
I have the same book. Bought it a month or so ago, found the first 20 pages very quick and interesting reading but then I got busy. I plan to get through it in May though.
Finished it last evening – solid throughout. (And, since I’m an unabashed liberal, literally laugh-out-loud funny in a few places once we get to the McCain campaign).
Recommended to anyone with any interest at all in the dynamics of the '08 election.
There were several things. I’ll check my correspondence file and PM you.
I’ve wanted to read Game Change and you guys are giving me even more reason to do so! How does it compare to the New Yorker or Newsweek post-Election Day campaign-in-review coverage, if you read that?
I picked up Dave Barry’s I’ll Mature When I’m Dead last night. If I hadn’t been so tired, I would’ve finished it.
I saw it last weekend behind the counter at a bookstore, but they refused to put it out or sell it until its official release date this week.
Finished Stephen Leather’s Private Dancer. An excellent read. I can see why it’s so popular here, and I agree with those who say this should be required reading for all first-time single male visitors to Thailand. Could save some guys a world of trouble. Zombie Bar in the book is obviously Voodoo Bar in real life. Can’t quite get a handle on which bar Spicey is supposed to be. The author has already stated Fatso’s Bar is the fictional version of the real-life Brit hangout Jool’s. All other bar and hotel names in the book are real. And the character of Big Ron is based on the real-life Big Dave, owner of Jool’s.
Now I’m going to start on John Dos Passos’ USA trilogy, the first of which is The 42nd Parallel.
Didn’t read either, so can’t comment.
I read it in one fell swoop Friday night. As usual, I literally laughed aloud at times. Dave’s still got it! I thought one of the funniest parts was the Twilight parody, although I haven’t read the original.
I spent the rest of the weekend reading Changes, by Jim Butcher. (Yes, I got a big wodge of time-to-read for Mother’s Day!) I liked it, as I have all the others, though of course I’m a little worried as to where things go from here.
Finally getting around to The Story of Edgar Sawtelle.
My mistake. The Arlington book I had in mind was a different one, Barbara Brownell Grogan’s Where Valor Rests.
OK. After I finish Edgar Sawtelle, in my TBR pile is The Last Stand: Custer, Sitting Bull, and the Battle of the Little Bighorn by Nathaniel Philbrick. It may be some weeks before I get to it as I have other things I must read first.
Currently reading Nathanael West’s “The Day of the Locust”. I finished “Miss Lonelyhearts” earlier this month. The book has both stories on it. I love his writing, and have at times trouble believing both novels were written in the 30’s.
Currently reading The Full Facts Book of Cold Reading: A Comprehensive Guide to the Most Persuasive Psychological Manipulation Technique in the World by Ian Rowland*. Fascinating. I’ve never been to a psychic, but long ago, my mother had a friend who was so impressed by a psychic that she paid a hundred dollars for my mom to have a session. Mom was surprised that the woman “knew so much” about her, but the psychic also predicted that Mom would one day have her own radio or TV talk show, and that hasn’t panned out (yet). My mom has a tape of the session somewhere…I would love to get it and compare it against the techniques in this book just to hear them in action.
*Our own Ianzin.
Wow, 90 dollars at Amazon! :eek: It looks interesting, but I guess I’ll have to pass.
Yeah, I used the interlibrary loan.
I’ve got the big brain on for May. I’m reading A People’s History of the United States, by Howard Zinn.
Currently reading Stuff : compulsive hoarding and the meaning of things, by Randy O. Frost and Gail Steketee. Really interesting, with some in-depth interviews and actual insight into how people become hoarders.
(Finally) Finished Thirteen Orphans by Jane Lindskold. Lindskold helped complete Zelazny’s last book Donnerjack - which was terrible. However, I enjoy Changer and Legend’s Walking so I thought I would try this.
The Thirteen Orphans are wizards whose magic is based on the Chinese Zodiac and mah-jongg. I suspect players of mah-jongg would have appreciated the book much more. The book started slow, slowed down in the middle and then improved in the last chapter. In this book Lindskold move the plot almost solely by exposition. Her characters spend almost the entire book setting up the back-history, with the plot being mostly secondary. It is possible that, with the history having been set, the other books in the series will move forward more quickly and interestingly. I am doubtful that I will find out. (However, the excerpt from the next book at the end did have some promise.)
I enjoyed Thirteen Orphans but thought she spent too much time expanding on the system of magic used… The 2nd one, Nine Gates, is out recently in paperback, but I don’t know if I’ll read it.
She has written some great stuff - I don’t know about her wolf books, but Child of a Rainless Year was excellent and The Buried Pyramid was a great Mummy-like romp…
Just finished Kraken by China Mieville and thoroughly enjoyed it!
Finished The Drawing of the Dark by Tim Powers. 5 stars.
Starting All This, and Heaven Too by Rachel Field, a novel based on Ms. Field’s great-aunt, who was accused of murder in France in the 1800’s. The book was a Bette Davis movie – one I haven’t seen.