Finally got a copy of Haruki Murakami’s Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. Some of the stories are very good, much like his usual fare of short stories. I even started getting a little misty-eyed at one of them. But then again, I’m a sap for depressing existentialism.
It’s by Audrey Niffenegger (spelling?). LOVED LOVED LOVED it! Can’t think of another book like it. I keep wondering how she kept it all straight as she wrote it. I’m picturing a large bulletin board with post-it notes being moved around for chronology’s sake.
This is on my “pending” pile and may have to move up, given this rave review!
Damn you, server problems! Damn you to Hell!
Sorry. B-movie madness takes its toll.
Currently caught up in The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson and my god has it been a slow one for me to get through. Reads like one big acid trip.
Agreed. I never finished it.
It is a wonderful book, I really enjoyed it and it’s quite interesting how the travelling itself works out. It’s well written too, I listened to it on audiobook and whereas some books reveal their flaws I found it revealed depths that I had skimmed over or missed while reading.
Agreed about Devil in the White City. The Columbian Exposition was a important advacement in city planning and I particularly enjoyed that part of the story.
As to those of you who have read (or are reading) Gravity’s Rainbow , please tell me your secret. I’ve tried - God knows I’ve tried - but I can’t do it. I’ve also started Mason and Dixon a few times and I feel like I’m wading through molasses.
As for me, I’ve just started Updike’s “Rabbit” series.
plnnr, I haven’t read any of The Big Three – Cheever, Roth, or Updike. I’m interested to know what you think about Updike.
I just started a big fat fantasy, Acacia by David Anthony Durham, well known for a straight historical, Pride of Carthage, about Hannibal (which I haven’t read).
It’s too early to give an opinion, but one reviewer said that characters poised to take center stage are killed off, so I think I’ll like it. I like writers who aren’t afraid to get rid of major characters when the story calls for it.
[QUOTE=ZoggieI’m also trying to get through Unholy Birth, a cheesy Rosemary’s Baby type rip off. (Except this time they’re lesbians.)[/QUOTE]
So it’s porny. 
[hijack]
Does: Except this time they’re Lesbians sound like a tag line for something out of Hollywood.
Ocean’s 11: This time they’re Lesbians.
3:10 to Yuma with Lesbians.
[/hijack]
I’m reading a pretty good family-saga type novel called Keeping the House. It’s about three generations of a family, and skips around from one generation to the next, across the first half of the 20th century. It’s setup as a page-turner, with little cliffhangers ending many of the chapters, and I’ve found it pretty entertaining to read.
Started the Lemony Snicket series, just for the heck of it, have finished The Wide Window. Still reading the Aubrey / Maturin novels, am currently waiting for Treason’s Harbour.
Alternately (so far): The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Oliver Sachs; Fragile Things, Neil Gaiman; The Children of Hurin, J.R.R. Tolkien; Ysabel, Guy Gavriel Kay; Haroun and the Sea of Stories, Salman Rushdie; Lives of Girls and Women, Alice Munro; Something Rotten, Jasper Fforde.
The War Against Miss Winter by Kathryn Miller Haines. Debut mystery set in NYC in 1942. One of the most atmospheric novels I’ve ever read. While I was reading it, I was *in *NYC in the middle of WWII. Rosie Winter is the epitome of the sassy heroine.
Next up: The Electric Church by Jeff Somers. I read it earlier this year (we have the same agent), and I couldn’t wait to get it in print form to read it again. Techno-thriller noir about a hired killer who is forced to assassinate the founder of the Electric Church, a religion that converts by transplanting your body into a cyborg.
After that, 'Scuse Me While I Kill This Guy by Leslie Langtry. Humorous mystery/romance about a female assassin who is hired to kill the client of her new boyfriend.
Yeah, I have a thing for assassin fiction.
After slogging through the last of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, I decided that rereading George RR Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” series would cheer me up.
Presently on "A Clash of Kings " but when my (autographed) copy of The Bonehunters by Steven Erikson arrives in the mail, Mr. Martin will be put aside for a wee bit.
We used Rick Steve’s book during our trip to Italy this June/July.
My advice? Take everything he writes with a serious grain of salt if not the entire shaker. He has strong opinions that you may not always agree with. Oh and if visiting Capri, do not, I repeat DO NOT take the funicular up to the top and then attempt to walk back down to Anacapri. He describes it as a pleasant stroll. The way back is not paved and is difficult if you are less than skilled hiker. At the end of the hike I could do is mutter “I’m going to kill Rick Steves.” My feet were a mass of blisters and red spots and so were my husband’s.
I just finished Anthony Bourdain’s The Nasty Bits: Collected Varietal Cuts, Usable Trim, Scraps and Bones. A well written series of amusing and interesting short essays.
I have moved on The Ladies Auxiliary: A Novel by Tova Mirvis. So far I’m finding it very well written.
I’m about 600 pages into Gravity’s Rainbow. I think I’ll throw myself a party when I finish it.
I did just read The Postman Always Rings Twice to take a break from GR, but it only took a few hours to finish.
Next up is The Amalgamation Polka, by one of my favorite authors, Stephen Wright. Also, I’ve got a shitload of physics/science books I’m constantly perusing.
Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas, by John S. Burnett.
Thunderstruck, by Erik Larson
Just finished the above, as well as a second reading of John Wyndham’s Day of the Triffids
I loved that book.
Water for Elephants was a fantastic read! I couldn’t put it down and stayed up until 2am to finish it.
Currently I’m reading the next installment of the Black Dagger Brotherhood because I’m on a huge paranormal romance kick.
Next will be Lovely Bones and when 20th Century Ghosts comes out later this month, that’ll be next.
I finished The Professor and the Madman today and I’m glad to say that Winchester redeemed himself. This was organized much better than the previous book of his that I read and the story was great. Schizophrenic murderers helping put together the OED. If you wanted proof that English is an insane language, there you go.