Ha, when I read that, the whole time I was thinking “this book is too hard for me!” I think I was 32 years old at the time – maybe I’ll grow into it.
I’ve got quite a bunch of books cracked open and am reading them as the mood strikes:
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Silmarillion
I’ve had that for a while in the German edition, which is okay but not great. Part of the appeal is the flow of the language, which the translation just doesn’t seem to be able to get right. The English one is fun, though.
David H. Donald: Lincoln
Brillantly interesting biography of the most fascinating U.S. president. I’m up to the Lincoln-Douglas debates now.
Richard B. Sewall: The Life of Emily Dickinson
Tough going, but really interesting as well. I’m in need of this for my finals in the spring, and it’s certainly much more enjoyable than many, many other books I’ve read for school.
R.W. Franklin, ed.: The Poems of Emily Dickinson
Reading edition of the three volume variorum edition. Dickinson’s just a brillant poet, what can I say.
William Dean Howells: The Rise of Silas Lapham
Two chapters in, and so far so good. It’s much more enjoyable than I thought it would be, as, indeed, were most of the realism & naturalism authors I’ve had to read in the last few months. The sole exception was Upton Sinclair.
and finally,
Joseph Heller, Catch-22
That’s a re-read, but it’s still as great as it was when I first read it. Maybe a bit more, since you know the characters better.
I’m currently reading Melusine by Sarah Monette. I’m finding that it has touches of the “fantasy and political intrigue” flavors that I loved in the Kushiel’s Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey, so I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s nice to have semi-intelligent popcorn novels to read, and I’ve got the other two in the series lined up for when I finish this one.
I finished reading The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer at the end of December. It’s a self-help book that deals with spirituality and is based upon the poem Invitation, which deals with enjoying the subtler aspects of everyday life, being more enriched in your understanding of yourself and not becoming entrenched in “baggage” and “drama”. It was okay, but I generally am not a fan of self-help books and have a hard time taking new age types seriously. It did, however, help me think about some of the things I need to do for myself these days.
That book made me really angry. I ended up feeling the author wanted me to be titillated by what happened to Felix.
Back in Bangkok and while gone I finished Winesburg, Ohio, by Sherwood Anderson. An excellent read. Short vignettes of the good folks in a small Midwestern town around the turn of the 20th century, with many of them trusting their stories to the young reporter George Willard, who leaves for the big city at the end.
Have started The Good Soldier, by Ford Madox Ford. Deception and sexual intrigue in Edwardian times, although set mostly on the continent.
I’m reading The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova. I’m a sucker for a good vampire story, but I’m 200 pages in and so far there hasn’t actually been a vampire.
I’m also reading The Botany of Desire, but not enjoying it nearly as much as The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I’ll finish it, though, because I’m a white urban liberal and this is one of my people’s holy books.
I tossed Child 44 last night. Stupid, stupid plot twist and a totally unbelievable HEA ending. It wouldn’t surprise me if M. Night Shamalyan (sp?) does the movie.
Started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which sounds twee but I’ve been assured there’s some meat to the book. It’s about the German occupation of Guernsey during WWII, and it’s epistolary. I like epistolary novels.
Silverfin an young James Bond book, first in the series. Fast paced, well written. Enjoying it.
Population: 485. Meeting your neighbors one siren at a time.. This was recommended to me by another doper when I was looking for books (fiction and non) set in small towns.
This book is part Garrison Keillor with interesting real life people and anecdotes; part heart break as this writer, a real life EMT tells the tales of what he has witnessed and worked on (lots of medical and fire fighter jargon without being asphixiating.) ; Part history of town and parts of the world and part meditation. His writing is hypnotic to me. He nails small town Anywhere beautifully.
I am planning on buying copies of this book for friends.
This book has been recommended to me on so many different levels and I know I want to read it.
I’m a third of the way through re-reading A Fine and Private Place by Peter S. Beagle. I’ve also just started Glass Soup by Jonathan Carroll.
I also have on the docket:
**Three Men and a Boat ( To say nothing of the dog.) by Jerome K. Jerome. I didn’t finish it (not from lack of interest, but Life Intruded.) so, I thought I would return to something that I really was enjoying and have to see how it all pans out.
The Man Who Was Thursday by CK Chesterton. Recommended by a Doper when I was looking for Conspiracy Book Reading.
I like the book I’m reading enough to just copy my post from the December thread:
I’m now reading Metaplanetary by Tony Daniel. Really really good modern space opera. Evil villains, dubious science, a fantastic world, plenty of action, and sypathetic characters you really care about. There are scenes in a concentration camp (sort of) that are heart-breaking. It’s very well written. My only complaint is that he over-explains his absurd science, which doesn’t do anything but make it seem more absurd. After I get further in it, I might start a thread about it. It’s a shame it’s out of print. I haven’t been this entertained by a fantastic fiction author since Mieville or Stephenson.
Both are, in their way, simply excellent books. Much as I love Tolkien (whose birthday was yesterday, by the way), it took me three readings to really appreciate Silmarillion. The first time I was baffled by all the names; the second time I began to understand its structure and how everything fit together; the third time it all clicked for me and I was totally caught up in it. It’s probably time I re-read it again, come to think of it.
David Herbert Donald’s Lincoln is the best one-volume bio of the 16th President I’ve ever read: well-researched, thoughtful, very readable. This is Lincoln’s bicentennial year, so I hope Donald’s book gets a lot more attention. If you like it, you might want to have a look at Garry Wills’s Lincoln at Gettysburg or Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, both of which are also terrific.
FWIW, one of my best friends read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society and loved it; my wife read it and thought it was just OK.
I thought it was definitely twee, but in a sincere way that made me like it.
Just re-read Jake’s Thing by Kingsley Amis and halfway through re-reading Wonder Boys by Michael Chabon. Damn, Chabon is good, although I do find him a bit cold.
Next up is Dry Store Room No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum by Richard Fortey, as he’s doing a reading at the local bookstore in April. Also the excerpts from letters between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell in one of the poetry magazines a friend sent me - if I like them, I will blow my Christmas money on the full collection, Words in Air.
I just started Don’t Stop the Carnival, by Herman Wouk, prompted by this thread.
It better be good, Mr Bus Guy! 
I’m currently reading The First Crusade: The Roots of Conflict between Christianity and Islam by Thomas Asbridge and Making your Case: The Art of Persuading Judges by Justice Scalia and Bryan Garner. The Crusade book is definitely not the best book about the Crusade(s) I’ve read, but I like the authors digressing writing style and his willingness to include conflicting historical interpretations and accounts. Making your Case is pretty good, but not the best book about legal arguing I’ve read. It’s well-written though and includes quite a bit of Scalia’s great sense of humor.
Next on the docket, so to speak, is Billy Collin’s The Trouble with Poetry and maybe I’ll FINALLY get around to reading The Federalist Papers, just to see why so many judges/justices quote them.
I finished Odd Thomas, by Dean Koontz. What a wonderful story that was! Warm and touching, horrifying and suspenseful, I loved the POV voice. While I’ve heard that the following books are not as good, I will be reading them, even if they capture a portion of the charm that this book had.
Next up: The Ghost Brigades, by John Scalzi.
It was fun spending a little time with Scalzi and Paolo Bacigalupi together at the Pyr party at Worldcon last fall, along with the rest of Pyr’s writers and friends. They’re both really clever individually, but together, even more fun. Photo:
The Anglo Files: A Field Guide to the British by Sarah Lyall. Non-fiction, comprehensive, amusing/horrifying observations about the English by an American journalist who married a Brit. I can’t put it down! Two things I learned: 1) The English are very heavy drinkers. I used to be skeptical watching Eastenders in TV, whose live simply revolved around that pub. No more! 2) Read about the (male) members of Parliament and what they get up to and how they have reacted to women joining up. “Drunken 12 year olds” about covers it.
Hey, I just read Old Man’s War and now have The Ghost Brigades on my bedside table. Can’t wait to start it!