The Gormenghast trilogy, The Amber Spyglass by Phillip Pullman, Uppity Women of Medieval Times by Vicki Leon, Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul by Douglas Adams.
Most recently finished Stewart O’Nan’s The Night Country: an excellent read, best described as a ghost story written by Douglas Coupland. On a wet and cold Halloween, ghosts gather to watch their friend, the only survivor of the car crash that killed them, prepare to commit suicide on the anniversary.
Other recent reads that entertained or informed: The Winter War (William Trotter), a thorough and readable history of the 1939-1940 war between Finland and Russia; The Subterranean Railway, a meticulous - if occasionally overly dry - history of the London underground, and David Maine’s The Flood, an amusing and sad account of the Great Flood, written from the points of view of the unnamed wives of Noah’s sons (a literary equivalent of Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead).
Currently trying to read Richard Holmes’ reprinted Acts of War, a study of the psychology of soldiers in and out of war, and Richard Dawkins’ Unweaving The Rainbow, his paean to science. The former reads occasionally like a university essay - lots of quotes and little critical analysis - and the latter has passion, but has failed to grip me so far (it’s occasionally a little too evangelical, even though I agree on pretty much every point he makes).
I recently finished The Mad Cook of Pymatuning : a novel by Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, which I read because Stephen King supposedly enjoyed it. I thought it sucked ass. It’s a story about a boy’s camp where one of the counselors is a psycho, but the narrator was just a whiner from the get-go. There was a lot of “I felt something was wrong, but I couldn’t put my finger on it, and I didn’t want to tell anybody.” :rolleyes: Also, there was something which I think was meant to be a twist, but I saw it coming a mile away.
I liked Glass Castle too. Speaking of parents you’d like to wallop with a brick, I just finished Angela’s Ashes and 'Tis, by Frank McCourt. Angela’s Ashes was decent, 'Tis, not so much. I’m liking Frank less as he gets older and follows in his father’s footsteps. I’ll still read Teacher Man, though.
I’m about halfway through the Chronicles of Prydain, which I’m reading for the first time. And like Auntie Pam, I am about to read Cell, so tomorrow I will put all else aside and blaze through that. Oh, it’s going to be a fine weekend.
I’m 3/4th into this one and loving it…with every chapter I feel like emailing/calling my friends and share the things I read about. The only thing preventing is the backlash I’d get from my friends
These look great! I just came from the library website, where I snapped up all the Sapolsky I could find. 
Philosophy for Dummies and Philosophy Made Slightly Less Difficult.
I love this series! I have six of them and have read the first four. The series strength is (IMHO) the character of Abel Jones, and a weakness might be Parry’s penchant for including snippets of famous historical figures. He could leave those out.
I love his digs at the French. He doesn’t apologize for those, like he apologizes for his other prejudices.
I loved Here Be Dragons, but I don’t remember if I’ve read the others. There were so many different Llewellyns – three or four in the book I just finished, and I think Penman’s Llewellyn came later. Or maybe earlier.
I’m reading Harold Pinter - Collected Works, Vol. 1: 1959 - 63. I read the first volume just prior to this, and James Joyce’s Ulysses before that. It’s great stuff, but my brain is going into ‘ponderous heady intellectual overload’ mode. After all this heady, cerebral British lit, i’m due to read something mindlessly fluffy next - along the lines of a Jackie Suzanne novel or even a ‘Star Trek’ novelization.
Well, now I wonder who Doug Coupland might be.
Have you read any other O’Nan books? Prayer for the Dying creeped me out so bad I couldn’t keep the book in the house. Speed Queen is good too. O’Nan never goes quite where I expect him to go – I’ve learned to stop being a back-seat reader and just let him drive.
It’s the first O’Nan book I’ve read. Coupland’s the author of Generation X, among many other books: not everyone’s cup of tea, but I love his writing. Usually writes about disaffection and indecision in modern life; not in a depressing way, but snappy and easily quotable novels that date quickly (although his later novels have seemed far more mature).
I’ve not read Origin, or anything else by Darwin. Voyage of the Beagle is pretty decent. A nice travelogue. The thing that strikes me most about it, is Darwin’s keen eye for detail and his ability to describe exactly what he’ seeing in a clear concise manner. And also Darwin’s vast knowledge of geology. I’m thinking I might try Island Life by Alfred Russel Wallace soon. Maybe get a bit broader picture of natural selection. After reading Dodo, I’m thinking Wallace was a pretty fascinating guy.
On the other hand, I’ve got Brian Greene’s, The Elegant Universe sitting around. And a history of Gutenberg and his little invention. And Victor Stenger’s Has Science Found God. And about a hundred other books I’ve purchased but not read yet. So who knows.
For those interested in Darwin, I highly recommend This Thing of Darkness by Harry Thompson. It’s a dense, thorough dramatisation of the voyages, careers and later lives of Darwin and Robert FitzRoy. It’s more focused on the latter - the upright moralist who slips into decline and death while Darwin’s star rises. A bit drawn out in places, but nonetheless a fascinatingly evocative read.
I just finished two novels I got for Christmas: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaman and Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke.
Now I’m working on The Emerging Democratic Majority by John B. Judis and Ruy Teixeira.
I’m about halfway through The Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins. Fascinating reverse history of life, starting with Homo Sapiens and tracing our evolution backwards to points of divergence from other species. Next up will probably be Voodoo Science.
Thanks – I’ve added it to my wishlist!
I currently reading The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin (a popular choice right now, it seems) and American Gods by Neil Gaiman.
I’ve been on a ‘polar explorers’ kick lately. Lately, I’ve read Alone by Richard Byrd, Endurance, about Shackleton’s last voyage, and now I’m almost finished with Tragedy and Triumph, The Journals of Captain R.F. Scott’s Last Polar Expedition. Next up, I have Ice Bound, by Dr. Jeri Neilson, the female doctor who had to give herself a mastectomy at the South Pole.
“The Service of Clouds” by Delia Falconer. My word, it is magnificent.
mm
I’ve been on a Manly Wade Wellman binge lately. I’m currently reading The Devil Is Not Mocked (and Other Warnings). I’ve always enjoyed his John (often called Silver John or John the Balladeer) stories in particular, and I finally went online and bought all 5 books of collected stories (including the John Thunstone, Lee Corbett, and Judge Pursuivant stories as well as Silver John).
For those not familiar with his work, Wellman wrote mainly occult/horror stories, and featured prominently in the horror pulps during their heyday. His stories are a mix of classic occult investigation pulp and distinctly regional horror set in the southern U.S. John Thunstone and Judge Pursuivant commonly dealt with vampires, werewolves, and urbane diabolists. Silver John tended toward more homely horrors rooted in Appalachian folklore–things like gardinels, hoodoo men, and plain old haunts.
I’ve been reading stuff from Project Gutenberg lately, and right now mostly the travelogues of various travellers and explorers of the 19[sup]th[/sup] and early 20[sup]th[/sup] centuries. I just finished How I Found Livingstone by Sir Henry Morton Stanley, and am currently working on The Art of Travel or Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries by Francis Galton, a sort of 19[sup]th[/sup] century “how-to” manual on the organization of a gentleman explorer’s caravan, and various techniques useful in wilderness areas. A neat perspective on the technologies of the day available to the traveller. The one thing that strikes me about all of these accounts is the absolute utter contempt the European traveller had for the indigenous peoples of the countries they explored.
I had planned on reading The Last Journals of David Livingstone by David Livingstone next, it overlaps the time period both before and after Stanley’s work and it would be interesting to see their encounter and time together as told from Livingstone’s perspective. But since so many are reading The Voyage of the Beagle, and the fact it’s available through Gutenberg, I may read that one next instead. Definitely on my short list.