Finished Robert Harris’ Pompeii in the hospital and got halfway through his Imperium. Both are excellent books, and I am now a big Robert Harris fan.
Fatherland is even better, if you can believe that. 
Finished Rant, plus Warren Ellis’s Crooked Little Vein (in one night, no less!) and Nicci French’s The Red Room. Enjoyed the Pahlaniuk and Ellis and, in all honesty, just read Red Room because it was on my bookshelf and I wanted to get it on Paperback Swap. It was taking up valuable space on my bookshelf, and one read through confirmed it wasn’t a keeper.
I’m now reading Fahrenheit 451 for the first time.
So sorry to hear you didn’t enjoy The Raw Shark Texts. I don’t know anyone else who’s read it, and I really liked it.
Strongly seconded. One of my favorite alt-history books. Chillingly realistic view of Nazi Germany c. 1964.
I finished Quicksilver, which I liked, but not as much as Cryptonomicon. Book one was amazing, but then book two really bogged down in spots, and I didn’t like Eliza very much. Book three was good.
I’m in the middle of Joe Haldeman’s newest book, Marsbound. It’s ok, not one of his best. I’m nervous about the ending, because it has aliens, and I’ve been sometimes disappointed with what Haldeman has done with aliens in the past.
I’m going on vacation in a week, and I’m trying to hold off on Naomi Novik’s Victory of Eagles so I can take it with me.
I ran across a copy of Flashman and the Redskins at my local used bookstore the other day. I went ahead and bought it, although I’m only up to Flashman at the Charge.
Does he seem to come out of character to you in FATC?
I’m skimming through Thomas Frank’s The Wrecking Crew, which is a polemic against conservative think tanks and corporate lobbyists. It’s OK, if a little overheated. I like Frank’s writing style.
I haven’t started it yet. I’ll read it soon, and let you know what I think.
I can’t recall where Flash for Freedom falls into the line-up, but whereas I normally say you can read the Flashman books in pretty much any order, I always say the exception is you should read Flash for Freedom before Flashman and the Redskins, just for the background as to why he’s found himself in the US.
Finished Last Call, by Tim Powers. Like Anubis Gates, it was densely plotted and had a few more characters than I was able to really keep track of, but despite that it held my interest and I enjoyed it very much. Right in the middle of it, my husband asked me what it was about and I just had to answer very vaguely because to take a stab at a real answer would take too long and also make me sound like a lunatic. I plan to read the rest of Powers’ books, but it’ll be slow going for me because I don’t have much of the total-immersion reading time I’d like to give them.
I’m about halfway through You Want Fries With That? : a white-collar burnout experiences life at minimum wage, by Prioleau Alexander, nonfiction about an ad executive who quits his job to work as a minimum-wage pizza delivery driver, ice cream scooper, medical tech, construction site cleanup guy, fast-food worker, and cowboy. Humorous and only mildly irritating.
As has been my habit, I have started the Oct thread a day early.