I got some good recommendations last time someone posted this question – thought it might be worth another go.
I just finished the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons (and by the way, would love someone else’s take on the ending).
Started Memoirs of a Geisha, and after that, have a bunch of Joe Lansdale books to catch up on.
What are you guys reading?
I’m reading Girl with Curious Hair by David Foster Wallace. It’s a short story collection; I like it. I just finished naked by David Sedaris, a very good book by a very good author.
I’m reading Paul Levinson’s THE SILK CODE, but am only part way.
Before that, I read HOGFATHER by Terry Pratchett, the perfect book for the holiday season. 
What exactly do you mean about the ending of the Hyperion series (I assume you mean THE RISE OF EDMYNION)? I wasn’t particularly surprised by the revelation at the end, but overall it was pretty good.
“East is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.” – Marx
Read “Sundials” in the new issue of Aboriginal Science Fiction. www.sff.net/people/rothman
RealityChuck – it’s the time warp thing with Aenea – she’s going to have a couple of years with Raul, have a child, etc. – is she then going to die again? I’m getting dizzy, picturing this endless loop.
I’m a little bit familiar with time travel paradoxes, but this one has me stymied.
I just finished Brian Jaques’ Redwall and just started Richard Adams’ Watership Down.
I really reccomend both books. (Redwall’s the first of a series, and I plan to read them all. I can’t praise the book high enough. And of course, Watership Down is a classic.)
Eschew Obfuscation
I just read “Cryptonomicon” by Neil Stephenson-- damn good.
Just finished ‘The Professor and the Madman’ (“A tale of murder, insanity, and the making of the Oxford English Dictionary”). This was an interesting account of OED history, and also a ‘thumping good read’ from a dramatic POV.
‘Memoirs of a Geisha’ – I thought it was interesting from a historical/cultural POV, but I was disappointed in the ‘resolution’ of the main character’s romantic fantasy.
Tom Wolfe’s “A Man in Full”. Love Tom Wolfe – absolutely ‘out there’ as far as current events satire.
<subliminal> Miracles! Happen! </subliminal>
Just finished “Sickles the Incredible” by W. A. Swanberg, a bio of Dan Sickles, Civil War General, con man, politician, murderer, diplomat and all round bizarre guy. And “How the Irish Saved Civilization” by Thomas Cahill. (I already knew that, of course).
Currently reading (Yeah, I’m obsessive):
“The Seven Pillars of Wisdom” by T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia) about the Arab revolt and WWI.
“Greece and Rome at War” by Peter Connolly, an illustrated history the Greek and Roman classical military systems.
“Groucho and Me”, an off the wall autobiography by the illustrious Julius Marx.
“Bayonet Forward” by Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. Civil War commentaries by the guy who, among other things, held the left flank at Little Round Top.
JB
Lex Non Favet Delicatorum Votis
If you like fantasy/magical adventure books with a bit of romance tied in, try The Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce. It’s a 4 book series about a girl who want to become a knight. I loved them.
I also recently completed a 5 book series by series by Laurie R. King. They series is from the point of view of a girl named Mary Russel who stumbles across a retired beekeeper named Sherlock Holmes. The stores are written as if Holmes was a real man who despises Arthur Conan Doyle for writing such exaggerated stories. The books, in series order, are The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, A Montrous Regiment of Women, A Letter of Mary, The Moor, and O Jerusalem. I’ve read the first 4 books 3 times now, and the last (and most recent) I just finished on Sunday. Very clever books.
Just started re-reading “The Source” by Mitchener for the 5th or 6th time. Also reading “Reef Fish Behavior” by DeLoach. Great book but a little pricey at $40. Still, the photos are superb.
Pam:
Which Joe R. Lansdale are you working on now? Have you got the new one, FREEZER BURN? Whooooo-EEE, that’s some fine readin’!
Currently on my bedside table:
Charles Dickens; HARD TIMES
Arthur Asa Berger; LI’L ABNER: A STUDY IN AMERICAN SATIRE (published in 1969; supposed to be the first work of literary/sociological criticism based on a comic strip.)
Dwight Goddard; A BUDDHIST BIBLE (dates back to 1934…the first collection of Buddhist texts and sutras commonly available in the U.S. The one Kerouac and Ginsberg read.)
Uke
Just finished reading The Club Dumas by Arturo Perez-Reverte. Nice murder mystery involving a first edition of The Three Musketeers with horror overtones. Highly recommended.
Next in line is Nightmare Disciple by John Pulver but I’m only a few pages into it.
“Drink your coffee! Remember, there are people sleeping in China.”
Dennis Matheson — dennis@mountaindiver.com
Hike, Dive, Ski, Climb — www.mountaindiver.com
Try Frank Herberts’ Dune Pentalogy.
With five books you can’t call it a trilogy anymore! I’ve read it several times since it came out in the '70s, and found it fascinating. It will keep you going into the spring.
Dune
Dune Messiah
Children of Dune
The God Emperor Dune
Chapterhouse Dune
VB
When you are lost, or in doubt, run in circles! Scream & shout!
One of these days I’ll get the hang of UBB!
I’m nearly through an amusing 1996 novel, Gregory Maguire’s “Wicked,” a biography of the Wicked Witch of the West.
Since I am dating a Younger Man, I am also re-reading Colette’s “Cheri,” hoping to pick up some tips.
Im just not like other people, Im reading the tv, the phone and the computer.
Currently reading…
I just started the Outlander series and am also reading “Taltos” by anne rice and “zen and japanese culture”
Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.
Ike – Freezer Burn is one of them. Also Act of Love, the Drive-In Omnibus, Bad Chili, Waltz of Shadows and Writers of the Purple Rage. Soon as my budget recovers, I want to get all the Hap and Leonard books.
Lansdale’s good, isn’t he? If he doesn’t watch out, he’ll find himself out there in the mainstream.
He often has short stories in some small press magazines – and his story was by far the standout piece of the much-hyped 999 anthology.
My current reads sound like Comic books compared to some of the titles I’ve read!
I’m currently reading:
The First Elizabeth by Carolly Erickson;
Sanibel Flats by Randy White (billed as “the next John D. MacDonald”);
The Simple Truth by David Baldacci;
Letters of the Century --can’t remember author;
and a couple of other “fluffy” books.