“Grace and Grit” by Ken Wilber, given to me by a friend. It’s about his wife dying of breast cancer. I ordinarily stay away from those kinds of books, but this one is very insightful, mainly because a lot of it is her journal entries.
As I had feared, I have had limited access to the internet. It is interesting to me what I take for granted in the States. Over there, it would be very unusual for a hotel to not provide free internet access. Here, it was 15 pounds a day. I have gone ahead and paid it for today and likely will tomorrow, but cannot justify it for the days I am at work.
In any case: Finished The Healer by Sharon Sala.
Jonah Gray Wolf has the mysterious ability to heal people and talk to animals. He is being stalked by a wealthy industrialist who he healed in the past. The rich man want to exploit Jonah in the hopes that Jonah can help him live forever. While fleeing, Jonah stops in a sleepy little W. VA town where he meets and falls in love with Lucia Andahar - who has a stalker of her own.
This book had a Dean Koontz feel to it - a little bit of mysterious power, a little bit of suspense and action and a whole lot of schlock. I happen to like all those things, and so I enjoyed it. While I give it a solid B, I’m not sure I’ll make a special attempt to seek out her future books.
Finsihed World’s End (Age of Misrule, Book 1). This book sort of had a Dungeons and Dragons feel to me. Being from Mythology are returning to the world and 5 people from Modern day U.K. - the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons - are brought together to go on a quest, find 4 legendary items and save the world.
The book started slowly, but picked up some speed later. The incorporation of Celtic (and other European) myth was interesting, but the premise is somewhat tired and I’m not convinced this brought much new to it. I give it a C+ and may read the rest of the (I’m assuming) trilogy.
More later, as I believe I may take a brief nap.
I’m readin’ Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett. It’s hilarious. What can I say? It’s Pratchett.
And also Doubt: A History by Jennifer Michael Hecht. As the subtitle puts it, The Great Doubters And Their Legacy from Socrates and Jesus to Thomas Jefferson and Emily Dickinson. I already read half of this superb nonfiction work a few years ago, but I decided to start over again in hopes that the actual historical information will stick.
Finished The Alchemyst: The Secrets of The Immortal Nicholas Flamel. I believe this was recommended in one of our threads. I’m feeling both lazy and am about to run out of intenet time, so I’m going to link to the amazon listing.
Even though I mocked an earlier book for having a tired premise, I have to confess that this one’s premise is probably a little tired too. For all that I really enjoyed the book and will definitely read the rest. A solid A for me on this one.
I finished “Water for Elephants.” It was pretty good, but didn’t make a huge impression. I am now starting “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.” I’m not expecting much, so we’ll see.
The last few weeks, I’ve been trying to finally read a few classic novels I somehow missed over the years. I finished *The Great Gatsby *and *Heart of Darkness *last week and just started One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
*The Great Gatsby *was the biggest surprise. I tried to read it as a teenager and stopped due to boredom after a couple of chapters. Amazing what the experience of 30 years does to one’s perspective. Heart of Darkness was an incredible read and I find myself still thinking about it often, as I digest the many layers.
I just finished The Good Earth, and that’s what it was about, and it was fantastic.
Now I’m reading The Time Traveler’s Wife.
Hope you enjoy The Time Traveler’s Wife. I read it based on recommendations here and liked it a lot. The wife is reading it now and likes it, too.
I finished When the Women Come Out to Dance, a collection of short stories by Elmore Leonard. The title of the book is the title of one of the stories. The wife and I really like Leonard.
This may sound boring, but a new Lonely Planet Thailand guidebook has come out, just like it does every two years, and I always like to read through the sections that are relevant to me. Also helps keep me up on the tourist stuff. So I’ll be doing that for a couple of weeks. (Lonely Planet actually gave me a free guidebook to the country of my choice – I picked Nepal – one time when I pointed out all the errors in a previous guide years ago; and I even merited a special “Thank You” in the next edition two years later. :D)
I was on vacation, so I took light reading with me. I finished Naomi Novik’s third and fourth books, Black Powder War and Empire of Ivory. It’s getting a bit tangled there, and I’m not sure if she’ll be able to extricate herself from the tangle that she’s produced – or at least, not creditably. But I’ve still got the fifth to read and then the series is not finished…
I also had with me Jim Butcher’s Storm Front, first of the Dresden files. I liked it, though it was too quick a read – finished on the train without having had a day of vacation…
Returning, I bought myself a copy of Richard Holmes’s Marlborough, which is very interesting, but perhaps a bit too dense for the kind of cursory reading I can readily devote to it. So, surprisingly, I rather started on Black Shoe Carrier Admiral, by John Lundstrom, a biography of Admiral Frank Fletcher, not famous as the victor of Midway. A very good book, and more easy to follow (because of greater knowledge on my part) than the Marlborough book.
I just finished Illium and Olympos by Dan Simmons. Started out good, became less so. Too many plot threads dropped, mysteries left unexplained, and actions that were utterly pointless.
I’m starting Greg Bear’s Dinosaur Summer. Looks promising
I just finished The Magicians. Best novel I’ve read all year.
I’m just getting into The Elegant Universe. Yes, I will read a nonfiction book on string theory for fun. It’s pretty good - I had seen part of the Nova special but didn’t really like it much. I’m liking the book much better.
I’ve ordered a signed copy of The Magicians. It hasn’t come in yet.
Currently reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, it’s the author’s preferred version. Next up are Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, Walking on Glass and excession both by Iain Banks
Finished George R. R. Martin’s Fevre Dream, and it was really good. I don’t know why you guys didn’t tell me to read that sooner. 
Now I’m starting on Join Me.
sigh…in expectation of the release of the next book, I’m re-reading the Wheel of Time series. Even from the grave I am Robert Jordan’s bitch.
I’m slogging through 1491, which is fairly interesting but slow going. I’ve got yet another James Lee Burke novel in the queue, however.
Hey, both books I’d suggested! What good taste you have. 
Hope you like Join Me.
Because of Gamehat, I’m now on waiting lists for Magicians and The Elegant Universe.
I did a quick reread of Pratchetts Lords and Ladies because the atlas is too big to read on the treadmill.
Next is the expirgated version of Olsens Standard Book of British Birds.
I read that. Very compelling; I think I recommended it here a while back.
I picked up *You remind me of me *by Dan Chaon. Too busy to crack the cover yet.