Tell us what you are reading now, Part IV

I just finished off The Double Bind last week, which was okay and I started Water for Elephants, which is simply wonderful so far!

I'm in the process of finishing Deliverer, the 9th Foreigner-book. This was in no way planned but the group read kicked off a reread of the whole series ;-)

reading Brandon's Mistborn and absolutely loving it!

gave up on Flashman and started Fat, Forty and Fired and Small Steps...

I finished Love in the Time of Cholera yesterday and found it underwhelming. I just don't think I understand the fuss about Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I'm currently reading Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik. I'm a bit uncertain about the Temeraire series. I like them enough to keep reading them, but they're not really anything special. I mostly like the dragons and the way the characters talk.

Next up I have Chocolat and The Girl with No Shadow, my ER book, both by Joanne Harris. I hope I like them both, it'll be a nice change from my prior ER books.

I'm reading Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot, Labyrinth of Evil, Ice Age Mammals of North America, and still wading through the voluminous The portable Atheist.

Gentlemen of the Road. Got to love any book with the working title "Jews With Swords". Frankenstein over lunch for the rest of the week. The Spy Who Loved Me on the elliptical trainer at the gym.

Next up is probably Mistborn

#5 littlebookworm - I read Love in the Time of Cholera for a RL book club. I don't see what all the fuss is about; I didn't care for the book.

I just finished the Early Reviewer book The Translator: A Tribesman's Memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari. It was amazing! Everyone should read this book. I'll be starting The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters by James Dashner tonight. It, too, is an Early Reviewer book.

I'm reading through a stack of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction issues I got from the going-out-of-business sale at the last bookstore we had here in town. Hopefully when I'm done I can find a GDer who wants them (for free of course!)

I'm also listening to a Teaching Company course entitled Between the Rivers by Alexis Q. Castor. It's about ancient Mesopotamia. Go Go Gilgamesh!

Hey, I enjoyed Love in the Time of Cholera, but it was nowhere's near as good as Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. Okay, drneuton, I am adding that to my wishlist! Michael Chabon is another one of my personal gods*.

*This is not an invite to jargoneer to commence telling me what a putz he is, thank you very much.
;o

Still working on Foreigner. Finding this a little slow going but only 100 pages left to go and then I can finally join everyone else in the spoiler thread.

Also listening to All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot and reading The BFG with my son. Both are wonderful :o)

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that I'm listening to Jane Eyre (read by Susan Ericksen) on my iPod and loving it!

Sandragon - Oh, I am still working on Foreigner too. I did finally get hooked and I checked and realized it took 150+ pages to catch me. So I'll make a big effort to get finished today or tomorrow.

Clamairy - I think Water for Elephants is one of my most memoriable books read in the recent few months. I truly loved it. I liked the author's time shifting technique and I am impressed that I even remember that after many weeks and several books in the in between. See - Good Books Stick in the Mind!!!!

I'm in the middle of Un Lun Dun and loving it; Mieville transitioned into young adult fiction very well.

#5 littlebookworm - I'm glad to hear someone else feels the same way about the Temeraire series. I don't dislike the books; but there's something missing in them for me.

#9 Fleela

That is one of the most pitiful statements ever made -- "the last bookstore" -- it makes it almost sound like a post-Armageddon movie title!

I'm reading Foreigner and Goblet of Fire and also listening to Neverwhere on the pod.

Neil Gaiman's reading is fantastic. I think it's better than his writing. (Interesting given I just saw Chris Moore talking about how he doesn't read. I love his writing!)

#5 & #14 Same here. I think they are just so bloody depressing with absolutely NO relief. But there's something about them that keeps me reading.

I'm working on The Bondwoman's Narrative by Hannah Crafts. It was "discovered" by a professor of African-American studies, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. I've got a podcast of a speech given by Gates, and I'm trying to decide whether to listen to the podcast now or wait until I finish the book.

I just finished The 13th Reality: The Journal of Curious Letters last night GeorgiaDawn. I loved it. What a treat, I found it a fun, light read, great kids book, much better ER experience than my last. I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Next up The Other Boleyn Girl, 'cause a friend lent it to me and Henry VIII has always been an interest. And I'm glad someone lent it to me as I don't think I would have bought this one. *sigh* the print is dreadfully tiny though.

I really enjoy Neil Gaiman's reading too, I loved his reading of Coraline - excellent! Another good reader of his own work is Orson Scott Card I thought, he did a wonderful job of Ender's Game.

I listened to Water for Elephants last year and it was a great audio book, the two readers did a superb job, and I agree maggie, the story really stays with you, that's a book I want to get.

I'm going to start listening to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time tonight and I'm looking forward to that.

I'm reading When We Were Bad by Charlotte Mendelson at the moment and enjoying it very much. It's the story of a Jewish family whose mother is a Rabbi and who are described as being "doomed to happiness."

The eldest son deserts his bride on their wedding day, as she is halfway down the aisle, to run off with another Rabbi's wife (the Rabbi officiating the wedding) and the family starts to fall apart as their secrets and problems are exposed.

Katylit I've just ordered Coraline and am waiting for it to arrive. I saw some good comments about it on here and I can't wait to get it now. My only problem is I ordered three other books at the same time and don't know which one to start first once they arrive. I have to wait for two of them to come by special order from the publisher which has slowed things down (you get free delivery if you wait for them to be sent in one go.)

But another book I ordered is due tomorrow, The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas and I am very excited about it.

Just finished the third book in the Foreigner series, titled Inheritor and currently reading the fourth one Precursor. The fourth is the best so far.

Don't let the first book deter you GD'ers! Persevere and continue with series!

I hope you enjoy it Jody, it's a neat story, the audio book was fun, the intro music used was suitably creepy, introduced good atmosphere. I just added Neverwhere to my wishlist on my audiobook site.

And I haven't let the first Foreigner book deter me TheaMak, the second one, Invader arrived last week and will be read soon. I had planned to read it next, but then my friend lent me the Boleyn book, and I do want to finish another book I'd been reading and then... gah! that TBR pile - it just gets too much fertilizer here on LT, especially in the GD ;-)

I'm in the middle of listening to the radio dramatisation of Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, and they've done a good job of it, I believe they're working on more. On the written page I've just this minute finished volume 6 of the Sandman series of graphic novels, and I'm about to start reading The Palace of Heavenly Pleasure, that one should keep me going for a while.

#21 - Thea, I will try to whisper in here... but Precursor REALLY made me think 'Star Trekky' the first time I read it ;-)

#1 Clamairy--I enjoyed The Double Bind but had to go back and re-read as I had many questions and still sort of do. What's your take on it? I loved Water For Elephants--just a great read. Enjoy!

I finished Ironside by Holly Black on my lunch break, so now I've started At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie. I find myself in the mood for a nice little mystery.

Fool's Errand (Robin Hobb)
*comfort reading*

Edited for embarrassing typo if you speak Chilean Spanish

#25 - I'll leave you a message, momom. I don't want to spoil anything for those who might still read it.

Finished up A Clash of Kings at lunch. Will be starting The World Without Us tonight before bed. I'm also reading John Everett Millais (British Artists) and Moments of Being.

I'm not advancing through books very quickly these days. I'm only really reading on my lunch break and a bit before bed. Hope that approves soon. I'm blaming that on the February blahs as well.

I'm about half done with The Meaning of Night and it's been quite enjoyable. It's a pretty hefty, weighing in around 700 pages, and was a little rough to start, but the author hits his stride about 50 pages in. I've had to save it for longer reading periods because I hate setting it down.

Sometimes it hurts to read these threads. I keep reading about books which are on my TBR pile which others are loving, but I know it will be awhile before I can get to them. Sigh.

I just finished The Translator: A a tribesman's memoir of Darfur by Daoud Hari, and second GeorgiaDawn's sentiments. Loved it.

I am reading Barchester Towers by Trollope (loving it) and Moby Dick, enjoying that a lot more than I thought I would. Listening on my MP3 to Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton. Very good, only people at the gym look at me funny when I'm laughing on the eliptical thingy.

rec'd my copy of Early Reviewer's The Translator (not by John Crowley, the one about Darfur) and will start reading it tonite along with Foreigner and some other stuff. So much to read.

Reading I Celebrate Myself, realising that if I was of the same persuasion as Ginsberg was I'd probably have felt the same way about love in the situation he was in. And he had "issews" off the scale, but he was a great poet. I haven't even gotten to the part where he starts writing poems, but it's still very interesting.

I'm up to book 4 of Katharine Kerr Deverry series. Not a bad read. Bit hard to keep all the different times and characters in my head though. Nice cliffhanger at the end of book 3.

Glad to know you're enjoying them. It gets easier to keep track of the times and characters after a while, expecially if you have the tables in the back to help (not all editions have them).

Um, it made me do it. I opened Thus Was Adonis Murdered by Sarah Caudwell tonight and started it along with the others. It made me.

Meh. Reading "Young Writer's Showcase 4" which is a collection of Bodies of Work that the Board of Studies have given their seal of approval.

It's some of the most depressing stuff I have ever read, not just because of the subject matter that students get awarded high marks for writing about, but also the fact that stories like that even get high marks. Many of them to me are difficult to follow and comprehend, some of them don't even follow grammar rules. It's " " for dialogue, not - blah !

Honestly some of this stuff makes me really mad about the direction English is going as a subject in schools.

I'm making my leisurely way through Naguib Mahfouz, Palace Walk (first of his Cairo trilogy). Not very far along with it, but an engrossing look inside family life and society in Cairo, circa WWI.

I'm reading my first Culture book, by Iain M. Banks, Player of Games. It's wonderful!!

I'm into Robin Hobb's Renegade's Magic & I'm finding it harder to put down than the first 2 in the series, but its still slow going & not up to Hobb's previous standards IMO...

Read Batman: The Killing Joke in preparation for Heath Ledger's crack at playing the Joker. Read this and the darker portrayal of the character actually makes sense.

Finished Gentlemen of the Road last night, started Mistborn. I'm three chapters in and hooked. I love a good caper/rebellion story...

Also finished The Spy Who Loved Me at the gym yesterday and am starting On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

I got bored with Foreigner (sorry, Busifer) and I'm now reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. aaaahhhh, humour, mystery, suspense, character development, sentence structure!

I finished At Bertram's Hotel on my lunch break today. It started out well, but didn't do a whole lot for me overall. Sigh.

I plan to start The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner on my lunch break. I really enjoyed the last book in the series, so I've got high hopes for this one.

#43 - No need to make excuses - not everyone likes the same things!

I am trying to get through The Amber Spyglass right now, but I'm really losing speed on it. I loved The Subtle Knife, but this one just seems a kind of let down after that.

Next up: Sergei Lukyanenko's Night Watch. My friends have been gushing about the whole series, so I'm hoping it'll be good.

I'm still working my way through The Judgment of Paris by Ross King. It's about the shift in artistic thinking in Paris in the latter half of the 19th century. Very interesting if you have an interest in art and social history.

I have to finish it soon however since I have to do a library book talk on something else entirely in two weeks!

Add me to the "gushing about Night Watch" list. Both it and The Day Watch are high on my list of recent favorites!

clamairy, Chabon is one of my gods, too. I hadn't even heard of The Gentlemen of the Road until drneutron's post and it's now on the wishlist, but when will I be able to read it?

katylit, I'd be interested to know how you find The Other Boleyn Girl.

Chabon is great. And he's hawt!

I'm going to have to add Night Watch to the old TBR. It's so damn high right now!

He is kinda hot, but almost too pretty. But it's his words I'm in love with.

Yeah, he's one of those guys that ruins you for scifi and some of the other stuff we read around here. I swear I'm becoming an old grump, and I blame Chabon & TC Boyle & Jonathan Lethem.

*sigh*

40 - I agree, it just didn't catch me as much. But it was still pretty good. Her bad isn't as bad as some authors' good.

Rereading The Subtle Knife. Just what I need, light and easy to sink into.

Anna Kerenina. It's been on my list forever...so, no time like the present. I'm also working my way through the Complete Grimms' Fairy Tales.

And, last, but still, probably least, *gulp* Casanova's Memoirs.
Hey - somebody's got to read it.

There's probably a Smut Preservation Society somewhere in the world that has Casanova's Memoirs on their book club list. Keep the quality, culturally significant filth from washing away into the gutter I say!

Once, in the university village (they call it 'town' but, hey, 5000 inhabitants don't make a town!) of Corte, on Corsica, I saw a house with a plaque saying 'This is the house where Casanova was born'.
I always wondered if this was another case of 'Cristoforo Colon was born here': that guy apparently have more birthplaces than I have socks ;-)

#49 citygirl, I will let you know, so far so good. I can't help but think of TeenAuthor and his disillusionment with biography spoilers, I sort of know what happens to Mary Boleyn but I'm finding the story fun reading.

Always makes me tremendously thankful I didn't have to live in such an atmosphere of intrigue, deception, deviousness and manipulation when I read about King Henry's court (among others). Yuck.

on chapter four of The Book of Air and Shadows by Michael Gruber. It's good, but it's getting wordy. I suspect the story could be about 100 pages less. Time will tell.

dangit, posted on the wrong thread.

Crosspost! :(

I kind of embarrassed myself as I finished Fool's Errand on the bus this morning. If you've read the book you'll know that there is something particularly dramatic wrt the larger story arc at the end. I've read the book a few (>5 littlebookworm:?) times before and knew what was coming. Still, I had to struggle to stop myself from bawling my eyes out in public. I'm such a softy. I just hope that people thought I had... er... something in my eye.

Now I'm starting Fool Moon, which should be a somewhat lighter read.

Presently reading 'Powers', by Le Guin. The touchstone's way weird...
And just now I decided I will jump my tbr-list when I've finished this - instead of those I'll read The man who knew too much, a bio about Robert Hooke, on extended loan from my father.

I guess he got intrigued when he read The Baroque Cycle (Cryptonomicon, which was a gift to him from me, had him reading into crypto history; he's that kind of person) and as my parents can't store one more book he gave it to me, guessing I'd share his curiosity.
He was right.

I started The Red Tent last night and couldn't stop reading it, read into the wee hours and woke up this morning all headachy and very tired and grumpy. Which was okay 'cause I didn't have anything to do luckily. Wow! What a book!!! I think I'll be finished this one very quickly, but at the same time I don't want it to be over.

#49 citygirl, I did enjoy The Other Boleyn Girl much more than I thought I would. Philippa Gregory writes well, her descriptions of Tudor life are interesting. It was a satisfying read.

Reading Poetics by Aristotle. Then I watched Donnie Darko again. Because I read Poetics a little, the movie actually started to make sense.

Thank you, you crazy Greek beardo, for making a previously incomprehensible film perfectly aligned with how Greek Tragedy works...

#62 - YAY! I'm glad you're enjoying it. :o)

#63 - Oh that reminds me, I saw the preview for the movie version of that yesterday. It does look wonderful. I wonder if I should read it first...

Read "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex" essay by Larry Niven. It sounds like a horribly sexist title, but it relates to the fact expressed in the essay that Superman's "more power than a locomotive" would crush Lois Lane to death in the bedroom, making his species unable to reproduce not just with her but any Human woman at all. Hi-larious!

Now moving onto another classic Fantasy/SF essay, "Epic Pooh" by Michael Moorcock, where he dares take the mickey out of LOTR. With a premise of comparing LOTR to Winnie the Pooh, you KNOW it's a page turner!

Started The Well of Ascension last night.

#66 - I just visited the website and watched the trailer. I think it's funny - as in odd. The book alters the actual historical facts - or at least what's known of them, the movie seems to change the story in the book (what's new in that?).

So going to the movie will be a treat for the eyes certainly, the costumes and sets look amazing, I like the lead actors, but I'll have to suspend my disbelief for the duration I think ;-)

I've been working my way through The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror, Sixteenth Annual Collection. So far, it's absolutely wonderful. The stories are all very literary, but they're also a hell of a lot of fun to read. I'm having a great time with it. I know it's going to take me ages and ages to finish, (larger books always do, simply because they're heavier and more difficult to lug around), but I can't begrudge it that. Something this good is worth spending more time on.

Children of Men is my current one, grabbed on the way out the door this morning. So far it seems a lot more introspective and philosophical than the movie. I may have watched/read them in the wrong order. I *love* the movie, and may find the original book a let down, which would be very weird.

69 - I know what you mean. I'll see the movie for the sheer look of it, but I'll be suspending my disbelief as well. I wonder about the choice of mostly non-English actors, but that's a personal gripe that I have to deal with myself.

Edited to avoid double post

#71 I did the same thing. Saw the movie, then read the book. Though they are so different, I stopped comparing them at some point while reading the book. The title is almost all that they have in common.

I'm never going to read everything on my TBR.
:o/

I don't think I'll ever manage to read everything on my TBR list either. Maybe everything I own right now, but there are so many books out there and I'm sure there's not enough time in anyone's life to read everything.

Nevertheless, I'm trying hard. I'm on a week break from school, different than all of my friends, so I've been spending most of my time reading. (I should do some work, but it's hard to motivate myself here). So, I've read a lot since I last posted. Right now though I'm just about to start The Alchemist's Apprentice by Dave Duncan.

How would it feel to have no more books that you're excited about reading? I don't think I'm in danger of exhausting my list, but even if I had the chance, I wouldn't want to.

I just started Gene Wolfe's Pirate Freedom. First few chapers are intriguing. Work is starting to take more time, just when I was starting to get more of my library added. Oh well.

Oh, let us know how the book goes, Jim. I never heard of Gene Wolfe until I joined LT and all my Thomas Wolfe books showed up as being authored by Gene. I had a hissy fit until I figured out how to separate them.

I've been reading some of the most wonderful pulp fiction lately (at least I call it pulp). Vampire of the Mists by Christie Golden. It's a Dungeons and Dragons novel, based in the Ravenloft Campaign world. I just finished the novelization of the computer game Baldur's Gate. The novelization was fun, but crappy. As for the Golden book, there are moments when some real craftsmanship shines thorough. Here in Athens I don't have a coterie of Dungeons and Dragons buddies, so I have to sate my desires by reading and rereading these trade paperbacks.

Finished Mistborn last night, loved it as very nearly everybody who's reviewed it on LT has. Started The Somnambulist - this is one freakin' good book! Part Sherlock pastiche, part occult mystery, part plain weird.

78 - Glad to hear about The Somnambulist drneutron. I've yet to read it, heard some so-so reviews, and have been putting it off. I like your description!

The Somnambulist really does sound intriguing. I like your description too, weird is good :) And I almost always enjoy books set in that era. Another for my wishlist.

Speaking of Early Review books, I'm a hundred pages and change into The Translator.

Having finished Un Lun Dun (loved it, BTW), I've now moved on to The New Weird and Winterbirth.

OK, I knew I posted a message earlier in this thread stating that I was reading Powers (no touchstone: I'm hardlinking), but really the only thing that happened was that it moved from the shelf to my bedside table; I got caught up searching all 9 Foreigner books for a certain snippet of information, due to the extended discussion going on in that other thread. Not that I found it... ;-)
Anyway, now I've started reading the book, and so far it's good AND disturbing. I wonder how I'd reacted if I'd read this when I was in the intended age bracket - the book is marketed as YA/children's...

I just finished End Game by Kristine Smith which provided a great wrap up to a fine series with well developed world, conflict and characters. Then I plunged into Jennifer Roberson and read Karavans and Deepwood without stopping - gripping stuff, too, though if you like to catch your breath without cliffhanging, get both books at once, the finish point after the second is much more satisfying.

Next up will be Carol Berg, Breath and Bone - once I catch back up on stuff I have to do.

And yet another whap to the 'half baked' loading of the touchstones...sigh.

Finished The Somnambulist yesterday evening. I've got a review up if anyone's interested, but in short, I liked it. Started Lost in a Good Book, am about halfway through. I have to finish this one before the wife gets back from the quilt festival tomorrow evening since she's reading it and I'm cutting in line...8^}

Still working on Heart-Shaped Box.

#85 - Dr Neutron if your wife forgot to take an in demand book with her on her trip and you start to read it you get the reading rights to the book. It's only fair.

I finally started my January ER book today, Shadow of Colossus. So far it seems okay. I'm only a couple of pages into it.

I read So Much To Tell You yesterday, and Winter today. Also reading Larklight today.

#87 - Heh, no worries, I finished this afternoon before she made it back! Now I'm finishing up Frankenstein, which is supposed to be my lunchtime read, except I've been working through lunch lately...

BTW, I thought Heart-shaped Box was pretty good!

I liked Heart-Shaped Box as well, the appearance of the ghost was very creepily done and the rest of the story was believable and gripping. I bought 20th Century Ghosts at the beginning of the year and enjoyed those stories too.

I'm almost finished Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures. I finally got into the groove of it but it took me a while because I hadn't known it was a collection of short stories.

I was going to read The Stand next but I'll put that off if GD decides to do a theme read.

I finished Robin Hobb's Renegade's Magic on saturday, a very satisfying finish - I definitely liked the conclusion better than the 1st 2 books in the trilogy :)

I read Brandon Sanderson's Alcatraz & the Evil Librarians over the wknd - what a fun read, i definitely recommend it :)

Just started Elantris, to early to comment :)

Just finished Mistborn, starting Well of Ascension tomorrow before work - it'll be my commute read. Must say that Allomancy is my newest favorite magic system EVER!

I have Elantris waiting at my library desk (I love my new job) for lunchtime reading. Very happy that Sanderson is going to be finishing Jordan's work. May even inspire me to re-read the whole bloody long thing so I remember what the heck is going on...

Oh, also some kids fantasy - The Lost Flower Children, Children of Morrow and Treasures of Morrow. The last two are better than the first.

I'm supposed to be reading Moby Dick and my Oaxaca cookbook, but I picked up Wednesday the Rabbi Got Wet by Harry Kemelman to take to the basketball games...

#89 -- Oh, Larklight was fun!

#94 -- I introduced my brother to Mistborn and his reaction was the same as yours.

I'm rereading Terrier by Tamora Pierce, as my teen book club selected it for next month's read.

I'm reading Daughter of York by Anne Easter Smith. I think this may be 15th century overkill, since I'm also doing a lot of thesis work this week, but I like the book so far.

mess 63

Katylit

I too, enjoyed The Other Boleyn Girl more then I expected. Do you like The Red Tent? I read it a while ago. Have you read The Gilded Chamber by Rebecca Kohn? lots and lots of research goes into those stories.

I started Back to the Stone Age by Edgar Rice Burroughs this morning. It's entertaining enough, but it's definitely not one of his best efforts.

Today I finished Heart-Shaped Box, which I really enjoyed, and read Coraline, which terrified me inordinately (maybe because I live alone).

I'm writing now (in theory), but I'm starting Stardust next.

96 - Yes, Larklight was great! I'm going to be reading Starcross as soon as I can get my hands on it, and I'll be investigating Mortal Engines as well. Philip Reeve seems quite the author.

I've come close enough to finishing The Translator that I brought other reading for lunchtime: Alison Weir's The Children of Henry VIII.

I'll get a review of The Translator posted by the end of the week.

#76 Clam, I just finished Pirate Freedom last night and posted a review. Fun read, which I'll have to go back to in order to figure out some stuff. That's pretty typical for Wolfe.

I'm halfway done with The Voices of Morebath: Reformation and Rebellion in an English Village. It's always fun when it's Anglicans vs. Catholics!

Finished The Red Tent the other day and had to give myself a day to just bask in it before I started another book. What a lovely, wonderful book.

#98 yareader2, I haven't read The Gilded Chamber, but it sounds interesting, another one to add to the wish list, thanks for mentioning it! :-)

I'm now reading Icefields by Thomas Wharton and enjoying it more with every page turned.

Next up will be The Crystal Cave for our theme read.

Right now one of my reads is Tagging: Peoplepowered metadata for the social web. Typical work-related read. Anyway, I open up the book and what do I find?!?! On page 2 there's a snapshot from LT!!! On page 2!!!
I just had to tell someone (and husband's out meeting a friend from out of town).

OK, you can now all continue doing whatever you did when I interrupted you ;-)

>106 Busifer:
Can you see a post about cheese? That's how you can tell if it's really LT.

#105 - Katy I loved the Red Tent when I read it for my book group a couple of years ago. I went out and bought two copies of it, one to keep and one to give to my mum because I knew she would love it too. Since then I've read it three more times and love it just as much each time.

On my first reading of it I took it in the bath with me and it was responsible for me shouting downstairs for my husband to "fetch me the bible now please." He was startled to find out we even had a bible in the house and more startled that I would need it so urgently in the bath. I just wanted to read Dinah's story as it appeared in the bible.

What is the theme read theme?

Well, no it's not the GD, it's an ordinary library view ;-)
You can't have it all!

The snapshot features one of those left top notes, this one saying 'Subjects will be wonky for a few hours' ;-)

I can't decided which I'd rather read right now, so I'm reading all three: The Stand, The Crystal Cave and In a Sunburned Country plus listening to The Silver Chair. I usually stick to just one book and one audio but I'll try reading the book books on alternate days. Then we'll see if I'm wired the right way to do this or if it'll drive me batty.

I'm reading Stud Terkel's The Good War. It's like eating potato chips. I can't stop!

Finished Daughter of York and liked it, although it was kinda slow. I'm now reading Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay. I haven't decided how I feel about it yet, I'm only 50 pages in. I'm trying not to expect anything of it, i.e. comparing it to his other brilliant books, so that I can enjoy it if it doesn't measure up.

Working on Stephen King's latest, Duma Key. I'm about 100 pages in, and so far it's pretty good. I've felt he's been off his game for a bit now, but this one may turn out to be on par with his early stuff that I like so much. It's turning out to be a good choice for airplane ride anyway...

I started Kakan ni Shinkou: Star Trek The Manga, Volume 2 tonight, but the hydrocone I"m on isn't too conducive to a long attention span.

Oooh! Shiny!

114>

Spock: And you thought my EARS were funny looking. Who's laughing now, big-eyes?

Kirk: Shut up. Your peepers are huge too. And why is everybody in funny looking outfits?

Scotty: That's normal, captain, apart from the schoolgirl uniforms everything's usual.

Sulu: You know for some reason this doesn't seem strange to me at all... does anybody get that feeling where you remember places you've come from that are nothing like what you think they're like?

Uhura: Wasn't that in last week's episode?

#112 Ysabel is definitely different, I had to stick with it for a little while, but I ended up liking it quite a bit, maybe not as well as some of my favorites, but better than Last Light. If it hasn't happened yet, you're going to meet some old friends.

I did like seeing those old friends, but overall was disappointed in the book. I'm not sure if it's the book's fault or that I couldn't relate to the teenage male narrator, but something just didn't click for me.

I also sometimes think that I'm the only Kay fan that really liked Last Light of the Sun, but that's another story.

I'm reading Duma Key by Stephen King now. He's another of my favorite authors, and I'm very much enjoying the book. I'm about halfway through.

Just finished up Duma Key yesterday evening. I thought it was Stephen King's best in a while.

#106 it's featured in a Thingology blog post somewhere.

I'm finally starting Deliverer having read my way up through the series to get there, which wasn't a chore, but as I've been waiting close to year to read this I'm excited to eventually get there.

Jim53 and littlebookworm - I also really liked Last Light of the Sun. I'm always disappointed to hear another person doesn't like it (but I'll live :o)) I also feel the same way as bookworm about Ysabel. It felt a little flat to me. I can get pretty teary eyed reading GGK but Ysabel did nothing for me at all.

I don't remember who recommended Outlanderto me but I could kiss them! I am really getting into it now and I can't put it down. Wow.

The Origin of Language - yummy laymen's linguistics

Just started A Drink Before The War. I want to read Gone, Baby, Gone but thought I'd start at the beginning and get caught up with the characters.

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco
The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James

After months of (not-so) patient waiting, I can finally enjoy Reaper's Gale.

I started in on The Sword and the Stone this morning. It's pretty good so far.

I'm almost finished with Tiny Deaths by Robert Shearman who is Library Thing Author. It is really very good and has put me in mind of Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts because it is a collection of surreal short stories.

The stories aren't exactly scary but they have this eerie feeling that has stayed with me even after I have finished them. I'm only reading one or two at a time because of this and so far all of them have been very good.

Mortal Coil, Ashes to Ash and Damned If You Don't have been my three favourites so far and all three keep popping into my mind at odd times when I'm not expecting them to.

Black by Ted Dekker. It's a reasonably good apocalyptic (or trying to prevent an apocalyse, anyway) thriller. Drug company is selling an aerosol vaccine for almost everything, evil bad guys are going to turn it into a plague and hold the cure for ransom. Guy sees all this in his dreams, tries to stop it...

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and a comfort read, Republic Commando: Hard Contact.

As I mentioned in another thread, I'm reading 6 at the moment, with a potential 7th starting on Monday.
With my students: The Once and Future King, Little Women, For Whom the Bell Tolls.
For my pleasure: Plain Truth and Espresso Tales.
Required school reading (yawn): Fair Isn't Always Equal. It's about grading. Yawn again.

I've been looking at Immoral for days now without doing much about it. I think I'll have to set it aside until I'm more in the mood for crime. So now it's a choice between Wit'ch Fire and Memnoch the Devil.

I've been reading The Dragonbone Chair for a while now. I abandoned it once at some point in high school because the beginning is slow and boring, but now that I'm more than halfway through, I'm enjoying it a lot more. Things are happening, yay.

I love The Dragonbone Chair! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I've been thinking of rereading it again...

Back to reading The Stolen Child again. I think after conquering Fight Club it seems more possible for me to continue the massive task of taking on what is proving to be my "Most Favorite Fantasy Book that Isn't a Pratchett or Gaiman Story".

What is fascinating is the way the guy who wrote Stolen Child creates a believable setting, instead of heaps of magic, there's more emphasis on what Tolkien identified as the primal connection with nature that Faeries have, instead of them being all twinkly and magical, this author dude makes them powerful, but vulnerable in an age of change.

Even more interesting is the links of the 20th Century now past that develops in the book, referencing everything from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (the Changeling's drunken revelation that he's a hobgoblin to his friend is dismissed as pod-people paranoia, showing us that in that part of the book the 1950s ideologies are present) to various celebrities such as Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor.

And what else do I like about it? This book shows that growing up is difficult for both Faeries and Switched children, and a lot of stuff happens to the switched child that could happen to any young man growing up. Also, an exposure to the world has made the Faerie children develop from mere savagery to a knowledge of what human life is, and memories of what they were pop up reminding them of their former lives before the Faeries took them and made them Changelings.

I am currently reading Heal your Headache as well as Fallom's Secret with a smattering of Manga thrown in - in the form of MagicRayearth Knights

I just finished The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass and can't wait to pick up book 2 in the series. I hesitated to start a new series as I haven't finished George R R Martin's Fire and Ice books yet.

I finished Elantris about a week ago, loved it, must get my hands on more of Brandon Sanderson's work!!!

Then I read Terry Pratchett's Soul Music which was a fun read, I guess my sense of humour has changed coz there weren't any laugh out loud moments, but there were a fair few giggles :)

I'm reading the DAW 30th Anniversary anthology atm, short stories are hard for me to comment on, coz I move on to the next one so quick that they very rarely stay in my head, but I have enjoyed the stories so far :)

I'm about 1/2 way through The Splendor of Silence by Indu Sundaresan but am going to put it aside in order to read the early reviewer book Alive and Well in Prague, New York the I snagged from Harper Collins as it has a deadline.

Brave New World. It's been 28 years since I last read this novel. How do I know? Because it was a set book in my English Lit GCSE when I was at school. :)

140>

Argh, SAME. Brave New World is certainly a relevant novel, especially since less intelligent students write exam essays on how "Aldous Huxley's literary imagining of a perfect society gives valuable insight into how our society can be run efficiently and to the benefit of human beings".

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when my teacher told me about getting responses like that.

~141

I don't think I could have penned a response like that, wish I could remember what I did say exactly. I seem to recall writing about 'utopian society' and 'social interaction' during the month of examinations, maybe it was in relation to this book. Mostly all I remember is sitting at a desk in the Gym along with the rest of my year for hours on end, wishing it wasn't quite so hot.

I started Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt this morning. It seems interesting so far, but I have a feeling it might start to grate on me after a while.

Leviathan, the final part of The Illuminati! Trilogy; selected writing of Thomas Nashe, Herman Melville's short stories, As I Was Going Down Sackville Street by Oliver St John Gogarty,
and just finished Sparkling Cyanide by Agatha Christie.

#140

GCSEs, 28 years ago? Are you sure? I sat most of my O-levels in 1986 (I did a couple the previous year) and I think my academic year were the penultimate ones to sit them.

"Brave New World" was not on the syllabus, more's the pity.

#145

O-Levels yup, GCSE's now if you're applying for jobs like me as the people interviewing look at you in wonder at what the hell an O-Level is. In fact I got 5 O Levels and 2 CSE's. Some of them were classed as, I believe it was, 16 plus - where if you failed the O Level you still got a grade in the CSE, Chemistry was one and English Lit was another, which was the forerunner to GCSE's I think, but I may be wrong, usually am.

I was studying for my A Levels as well but left school because I just wanted to have a life beyond, English Lit, Economics and History - funny how things work out :)

The Rover by Mel Odom

Yes, it does remind me a lot of The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings and others... but hey, it's about a hobbit Librarian who gets caught up in the current affairs of his world. Not too shabby so far.

I also have Culture Warrior by Bill O'Reilly that I have yet to start yet... will probably do so today.

Letters from Alf by Gladden Schrock - gorgeous use of language - it's a pity that most of our genre tends to fall far short in this area - well, maybe not, at least with M. John Harrison

Maybe it's my mood (?) but I really miss that creative use of language seems to be falling into eclipse, even regarded as shameful, either because readers are - whatever they are (pick your label, I'd say lazy or on a nicer note, rushed) - or because there's a general trend to label word use as "unnecessary" to the story. The contrary, I find that it adds a certain flavor and mystique, and makes the page worth savoring. Like the difference between drinking Kool Aid for thirst, and savoring a complex, fine wine.

I hear you, Janny. I love descriptive language, and maybe it's not necessary to a story, but I just enjoy it. It's part of the reason I don't read too much modern "literary fiction". Almost too spare.

I'm reading The Onion Girl by Charles de Lint. I really like it, so I suspect I'll be seeking out more of his work after this, when I can buy books again. I've also just started The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke for when I don't have much time and just want a short story.

Finished reading Odd and the Frost Giants, I got two extra copies to share with friends, it was that good. You really don't understand how good it is, until you read it yourself. Like the Matrix, only far less rubbish and with a better and vastly different plot.

Currently:
Theory for Classics: A Student's Guide - no touchstone?
Historicism - Hamilton
Culture and Imperialism - Said
Greek Historical Thought - Toynbee
and Stormwarden - Janny Wurts
Guess which one I am closest to finishing.. clue it ain't any of the ones it should be

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon - I've been trying to get through the last 50 pages for weeks now. It's not that I don't like it, it's just too long and I have too little time...

And because it's so long, I needed to read something else, which at the moment is I Am Legend by Richard Matheson. So far, very good.

Bridge of Birds - speaking of fantastic use of language, the interplay between story and lyrical language in Hughart's books is wonderful for me. I love the feel of the story as it's unfolding and desperately wish I could write like that instead of stuff that reads like an engineering study.

psst... has anyone told you it's because you're an engineer? ;-)

Rats. I knew there had to be a reason...8^}

I just started The War of the End of the World by Mario Vargas Llosa this morning. So far, so good.

I just finished Pride and Prejudice. I started off not liking it at all. I didn't like the characters and I thought taking one page to say, for example, "I went for a walk" boring. But about halfway through I started getting into it and by the end I was sneaking reading in at work.

Austen's writing can be like that. I had similar trouble with Emma.

#149 - Littlebookworm - my all time favorite by Charles de Lint has to be Moonheart - it delivers what every one of his stories does, but in spades.

#151 - Littleknife - wink?

#153 - drneutron - Barry Hughart does write a nice turn of phrase.

So, in fact, does Barbara Hambly. All her work is gorgeously constructed, though I find the plot lines of her earlier works less of a downer. She has done a little known mystery set in ancient Rome, Search the Seven Hills if you find the recent paperback, or The Quirinal Hill Affair if you get the older hardbound.

These works don't make the story subservient to the prose, in the way that Letters from Alf or M. John Harrison do - but the flashes of human insight and the sheer command of language of the latter are just as exciting, to me.

Apologies - some of the touchstones seem not to be present and accounting, today...

Oh, Moonheart has been a long-time favorite of mine too. It's by far the best de Lint I've read. I've got this yellowing, battered paperback copy that I ought to reread soon. If it's still intact...I'll have to check.

I will add Moonheart to my list as my next prospective de Lint. I'm making a trip to the used bookstore this week and sincerely hoping I can find several of the fantasy books that I want because I can't really afford full price right now.

I think I'm going to start reading Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams either tonight or tomorrow, depending on when I get time. I quite liked The Dragonbone Chair after all and I'm wondering what's happened to Simon more than I'm focusing on anything else.