I've lost the currently reading thread - so here's number errr lots

I've just started Elantris some year late for the group read, but I'll read those threads with pleasure when I get that far into it. I'm enjoying it so far, though I haven't quite got my head round the some of the background yet.

You can go to the group home page and there's a link to the list of group read threads.

Well, I'm reading Midnight's Children for a paper I'm writing, and I just got There's a (slight) chance I might be going to hell, and I'll probably start it by the end of the day. Yay! Yay for spring break, and suddenly having some time to read.

I started I Am Legend, but it was actually frightening, and I couldn't stand the tension.

LOL ... now I'm starting Company byRobert Littell. (touchstones are off)

That's ok reading_fox, I'm FINALLY halfway through Foreigner. I guess I'm just in a rut where no reading is coming easily to me right now. Everything seems a struggle. Next up will likely be The Return of Merlin for the Arthurian thread. Or maybe I'll finish off Betrayal first.

I am reading Three Cups of Tea. I had to set the Arthur book aside.. again.

I have had to decide to let the Arthurian theme go, however interesting it could be. I've noted some books for future reference/read, though.
Finishing off tagging: Peoplepowered metadata for the social web. On to either of the 8 read now books waiting for me stacked on the shelves. Not decided which yet.

I'm finding everything is getting set aside right now, my knitting is way behind, the sweater I'm working on will definitely not be ready for a friend's baby that is being delivered in just a couple of days (c-section). Reading anything, let alone The Crystal Cave is on hold too.

I think I'll get my life back in a month or so. I find I'm missing the GD and reading the most. Thank goodness the group reading threads never die, they don't even fade away. I know I'll join in again someday - I did get the second book of the Foreigner series too Busifer, so that's another thread I'll want to catch up on ... someday!

I have the second book of the Foreigner series sitting right here next to the computer and next to The Translator, neither is finished. I am on page 178 of Invader. I have been reading it in the bath tub so now everytime I go near the bath tub I think - ah, I should be reading Invader but I am also reading The Winter King mostly in bed. Sigh. It is hard to read when you are rocking a baby or chasing a puppy, huh?

8^o)

!!!!!

Yeah, I think it's fun how we both have babies in our lives at the moment maggie.

I'm up to The Saxon Shore for the Arthurian read, but I read a short graphic novel in the library today, called Mother, Come Home. It was beautiful and achingly sad. Another on the to buy list, because I want to lend it to everyone.

The books I'm currently lugging with me everywhere are:

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly (excellent)
The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke (good so far)
The Dragon Never Sleeps by Glen Cook (not his best,but entertaining)
Hood by Steven R. Lawhead (too soon to tell)
The High King's Tomb by Kristen Britain (a series I'm very on the fence about)

#12 - I'll be interested in what you feel about Hood, when you've got into it. I find Lawhead has written some great stuff, some mediocre stuff and some downright poor stuff. I wonder where Hood falls?

I've nearly finished Elantris. I took a long while to get into it, but the second hald has been much better.

#13 - I'll keep you posted; my experience with Lawhead has been the same, but I decided to take a chance.

I'm with you on Lawhead as well. I loved The Song of Albion Trilogy and Byzantium, and used to enjoy the Pendragon cycle (not as much anymore), and wasn't overly happy with the Celtic Crusades. I haven't read Hood or Scarlet, but they seem to have potential, judging by the blurbs.

Finished Elantris. Onto Memory - hey the touchstone worked first time! Staggered.

I had promised myself to read The Man who knew too much (intriguing that there's one book with that title about Robert Hooke and one about Alan Turing! Mine is about Hooke...) now but after having struggled with my previous read (Tagging, which was interesting, but no page-turner) I told myself that I needed to read a work of fiction... but a short one, so not to put the Hooke book too far in the future.
I ended up choosing Wave without a shore :-)

I'm about 2/3 of the way through a reread of Flesh and Spirit followed quickly by Breath and Bone. (Touchstones being weird...) It's as good as I remember the first time, and I'm looking forward to the next. Fortunately I get to read on the Metro tomorrow going into DC, so I should be able to finish the first one up!

Finished Wave without a shore (actually didn't start it until yesterday) - now on to The man who knew too much; Hooke, here I come :-)

ETA - I really enjoyed reading Wave... A very special kind of story.

Working on Search of the Moon Kings Daughter having finished Fallom's Secret have piles and piles more TBR

#19 - Hooke after Wave? That may have some interesting philosophical ramifications!

I'm on Curse of the Mistwraith by GD's own Janny Wurts only read a small amount but it's gripping and intreuging so far!

I'm listening to Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game in preparation for baseball season.

#21 - I'm in a daring mood ;-)
And I like the philosophical aspects; it makes my brain stay alive! I only hope the Hooke book is as good as it sounds...

Well, I'm about to leave on a 2.5 week Mediterranean tour, and with plenty of reading to catch up on before my exams, so I'm bringing with me:

The Plague by Albert Camus
The Trial by Franz Kafka
The Europeans by Henry James
McTeague by Frank Norris

I'm also going to bring some fun books with me:

The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

*jumps up and down excitedly* I finally finished Foreigner. I've been in a bad rut where everything was going so slowly. Next up is finishing Betrayal, the first book in the Legacy of the Force series. Then I'll consider moving through one of my other current reads or start up another couple of things I'd really like to get to.

#24 - Although maybe not a 'fun' read I remember The Plague as worthwhile.

I'm reading Jake Arnott's He Kills Coppers, the second volume in The Long Firm trilogy, ahead of the dramatization beginning on ITV1 tomorrow evening.

It's scheduled against the BBC's The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, directed by the late Anthony Minghella. Thank G-d for my HDD recorder!

Decisions... Decisions...

Current books I have from the library...

Twilight by Meyers
Lirael by Nix
Silver on the Tree by Cooper

I gulped down Archangel by Shinn yesterday afternoon.

I'm about to start my first Heinlein book The cat who walks through walls

I wouldn't chose Cat as a first Heinlein, personally. I think it's one of the last of his books that you should read as the final chapter(s) heavily reference the other books and you won't get it at all.

(Edited: Nevermind, I'm thinking of Number of the Beast.)

I've gotten the impression it isn't the best book to start with of his but it's the only one I've got. We'll see how it goes.

I'm currently reading To Green Angel Tower, part 1 by Tad Williams. It's huge, as is part 2, and I plan on reading them in a row, so I'm set with the reading for at least a week or two. =)

ETA: Touchstones just do not come up. Interesting.

@28 Morphidae - I just finished Twilight....IMO you should just return it to the library without being read. I just don't get why this novel is so popular. Its 500 pages of a who lotta nothing. Well unless you count Meyer's ability of being the first author in history to use every synonym in the book for the word beautiful....over and over and over again.

I'm most of the way through Twilight and really don't see it as anything more than a good book aimed at teenaged girls. It's lightly romantic, there's a little danger and it can be read in an afternoon. The main character isn't anymore boy crazy than any other teenaged girl and seems to otherwise have a good head on her shoulders. The vampires are tame in comparison to the many others I've read in vamp-lit.

#26, I have no doubt about that. I have read some Camus before and really like his style and his ideas-- that one could have been on either list.

After weeks of not finishing anything, this week I finished In a Sunburned Country, M is for Magic and The Crystal Cave, all books I really enjoyed.

I'm a quarter of the way into The Stand and thinking about picking up Monster of God by David Quammen for my non-fiction read and I have to get my but in gear and read The Somnabulist for the Early Reviewers program.

I'm enj*ying the 8th b**k in the Deverry series by Katherine Kerr called A Time *f War.

Cayman what's with the o's?

I finished Mistwraith, 4 days completely absorbed. If you liked the group read Hell's chasm you should read this!

Now onto Fool Moon which is thin in comparison. (I've skipped storm front because it's not the best, it only really introduce Harry and Murphy and I've read it a few times. I can do without the major introductions prior to setting up for White night )

#37 & 38: Have 'book' and 'of' become naughty words? Cool!

I'm about 15 pages from the end of The Saxon Shore (and being very good about not reading at work), and am also reading Casting Shadows (Technomage Trilogy) and Genius Squad (sequel to Evil Genius).

For those of you who were interested in Hood by Steven R. Lawhead; I started it this morning (I'd read a few pages before getting distracted by The Sky People by S.M. Stirling), and to my surprise I was very engaged. I'm about 200 pages into it, and I'm enjoying it quite a bit. Doesn't seem to be quite as cumbersome as some of his other works.

I have moved on to A Tough Guide to Fantasyland as well as Bailey's Cafe and have even started to peek into Mr. Lincoln's Wars *sigh* I think I've started down that dangerous path where I am reading 7 books at once (been a long long time since I've done that)

FINALLY! I've finished Moby Dick. I feel as though I've been on a three year whaling adventure. I finished by giving in and skimming a lot of the middle chapters that were just pontificating. The end was great. All in all, I enjoyed it.

Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - I'm a little embarrassed that I can't really get into these; my mind wanders every time I pick the book up, but I'm sticking with it to the bitter end!

The Eye of Cybele - Just started this one, but so far it's pretty good. Historical fiction (although I think it's more fiction than history) involving Pericles, Alcibiades, Aspasia, along with various fictional characters and a smattering of other historical ones.

The Red and the Black - Just started this one as well. Good so far - the characters are all pretty interesting and complex.

I started Bangkok 8 by John Burdett late last night. It's too early to say for sure, but I'm looking forward to reading more. It's pretty different than anything I've read lately... but considering how disappointing most of March's reads have been, that's a good thing!

I've just started The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski, a book that I probably should have read ages ago...

Just finished up a read of Flesh and Spirit followed by Breath and Bone by Carol Berg. Wonderful stuff!

I'm just about to finish Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve

I finally got through the DAW 30th aniversary Fantasy anthology last wednesday, it felt like it took forever though!!! I did enjoy a few stories & find a few new (to me) authors in there, but short stories really arent my thing... I've just started Ursula K Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness. I'm a bit nervous, it seems to be a favourite of a few ppl on here, so I figured I ought to give it a go & I really want to enjoy it, but I’m nervous coz Science fiction’s not usually my thing… Anyhoo, I’m enjoying it so far, but I am a bit confused, I think this book could really do with a glossary of terms, eg: what is shifgrethor?

Seanie; you are meant to be in the dark, to stumble on meanings, just like Genly did. But if you stay with the book you'll find out.
And really - it's a short one, written long before PC's and the neverending story ;-) so it should be possible to read it through even if it don't get to you.

Busifer, I think the next book I'm going to read will be Tigana. I will be reviving threads, so watch out!

(See, I really didn't dislike The Lions of Al-Rassan as much as you think I did.)

But I know you didn't dislike it; only you a) didn't like it as much as I did, and b) you thought ibn-Kairan a spineless jerk while I thought him ...errrr... interesting!!! ;-)

I'm slogging through Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food (touchstones are wonky). My inner philosopher has a serious desire to write "bad argument!" "idle sophistry!" and "empty rhetoric!" all over it in red marker. The OH made me set it aside the other night because I was getting agitated every time Pollan referred to nutrients as "invisible," which is quite frequently.

I'm reading The Somnambulist. I really like it so far. Something in the writing style makes me think that it's a little like the Series of Unfortunate Events for adults -- quirky, sometimes freakish characters, a narrator who seems close to the story but not quite in the story (at least, at the point I've read to), remarks occasionally directed straight to the reader, a rather dark tone to the whole book. . . . I'm intrigued by it.

I'm reading Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling which has been great so far. I'm having trouble leaving it alone and am currently fighting a "reading hangover" from being up so late last night and picking it up every spare moment I can today. I can't wait to leave work and go home to finish it!

Last night I read until 4:00 am, started and finished The Novice's Tale by Margaret Frazer. I had to restore my confidence that I could read a book quickly since I've been working on most of my other reads for two months now. I liked it. Reminded me of Ellis Peters without me feeling it was a copycat. I was immersed.

picked up Tigana based on recommendations somewhere in the GD...I am about 200 pages in and I love it forever already!

#54 - foggi, I'd be interested in hearing what you think of The Somnambulist when you get done. I loved it, but others thought differently.

Rushing on through the Harry's just finished Summer Knight and onto #5.

Just started my Arthur book and Monstrous Regiment

MrsLee - get out of my bookshelves ;) I have been putting off A Novice's Tale while I hunt down the rest of the set and have read and finally purchase Monstrous Regiment :)

evedeve - Oops, you caught me!

#58 -- I liked it, but like many of the reviewers, I was left feeling that maybe I missed something. A lot of somethings. But the atmosphere was great, and it was a very gripping story.

I just finished Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg (no Touchstone for the title for some reason). It was really good. I have the next one, Breath and Bone, on my nightstand, but I'm taking a little break in between and reading Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar. It's kind of silly and strange at the same time.

I've been very busy at work, with plenty of work related reading going on (plus my head didn't allow for reading while I was sick last week) so I'm still reading The Man Who Knew Too Much, a bio on Robert Hooke. But I have to say it's very good - well written and interesting.
But then Hooke was active during a very hectic time when it came to scientific inquiry and discovery!

I recommend this to anyone interested in science history.

#64 - just finished the Berg books back-to-back. Fantastic stuff! In both senses...8^}

I'm now dipping into a little nonfiction - Looking for Hamlet is a pretty good (at least through the first couple of chapters) study of where the play came from, what is means and why it's been so popular. Nonacademic, but not dumbed down...

Just started digging into Small Favor by Jim Butcher after finishing My Boring Ass Life: The Uncomfortably Candid Diary of Kevin Smith. The Smith book was engaging enough to make me postpone starting the new Dresden Files installment, which is high praise.

While reading The Skystone for the Athurian themed read I zipped through Robert Fulghum"s Maybe (Maybe Not). Love his books-he has a great sense of human nature as well as of humor. And he tells tales on himself as well as every body else. 8^)

I finished Betrayal and even though I had to be up early this morning for a court date, started up with My Bat Boy Days in honor of baseball season beginning. Between waiting for my lawyer to talk to me and, later, for a badminton match to start, I finished that off (already reviewed) and then began The Outlaw Demon Wails. Next will be my Arthur read, I think. I just couldn't resist seeing what was next for Rachel Morgan.

Last night I started The Years of Rice and Salt. I've a thing for Mongols, and for alt. history, and for Plague stories so this seems right up my alley. I needed a little fiction to cleanse the palate between my usual nonfiction reads anyways.

#70 That's supposed to be one of KSR's best works, I'v enot yet tried it, and although I don't normally like alt history I'm curious how it works out.

I've finished reading White night the last of 8 Harry dresden's back to back. Good, fun and fast reads - but essentially fluff.

I'm now onto Sorcerer's treason.

I've just recently finished both Pompeii by Robert Harris, which was underwhelming compared to the rave reviews it's received, and The Venetian Mask by Rosalind Laker, my Early Reviewers book, which was readable and enjoyable but not spectacular. I'm now reading Belladonna by Anne Bishop, which I'm liking a surprising amount more.

Just starting The Arthurian Omen, so far so good.

Too lazy to go look up the title, but I've started reading The Letters of Dorothy L. Sayers 1899-1936. She wrote great letters even at age 7!

So did my grandmother. I don't think that happens much anymore. Sad. I love pouring over my grandmother's letters, it's like having her in the room.

Finished Fraud, a humorous essay collection by Rakoff, last week. Enjoyed it a lot, it's very reminiscent of David Sedaris' work.

Couldn't get through the 1st chapter of The Thirteenth Tale, which was very disappointing to me because it sounded like such a promising book. The narrator of the story just goes on and on and on and on with inner monologue and expository, and I am not a patient woman.

Tried Middlesex next, but it didn't grab me. After that I started Then We Came To The End, but the audiobook reader is a woman with a far too-proper-sounding voice for me to accept conveying the cynicism and biting, sometimes profane wit of the book's author.

Have now begun Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, and liking it a lot. It strikes just the right balance between historical accuracy/detail and strong pacing.

I've yet to finish The man who knew too much - it's good but five days of alternating between three languages (been away at a conference) and some weird accents had my brain out of sync and I couldn't take one more paragraph of 17th century english - I had to pause it, and so I picked up The Faded Sun omnibus. So far I like it :-)

I'v started Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy...

I'm rereading my Deverry quartet, currently on Dawnspell, but I'll be on to Dragonspell by this evening.

#77 Good move, seanie, you won't regret it.

I've finally finished Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco, which has taken me a couple of months, and have moved onto Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children as my selection from 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die, which looks like its going to be another slog.

Hmmz - not really into it so far, I'm about a quarter of the way through & its taken me 3 days to get this far, usually a book this thin would be finished within 3 days or so... Does it get better as it goes or am i just not like the millions that have loved it???

#80 - Maybe it's a bit dated? I remember liking it in the early 90's, but his Dirk Gently books (Dirk Gently's holistic detective agency & The long dark tea-time of the soul) are much better.

80-81>

I personally loved the Hitchhiker's Guide, but my brain works in a special way, so I can't help you there.

I think the Adams books fall into the love 'em or hate 'em category. Some humor is just like that. The Dirk Gently books do indeed have a different flavor, so give them a try if the Hitchhiker books don't work for you...

Its not that I hate it, it is getting better as I go along, but its just not as great as I thought it would be - maybe its a case of having too high expectations...

I was talking to my boss about it today after I posted that comment & he was surprised that I'm not really into it, he also said that the humour may be a bit dated & that I'd prob like Adams' other work more, he montioned the Dirk Gently books too, I'll put them on my TBR list :)

Well, I'm about half done with The Years of Rice and Salt. It's not at all what I expected, but that's not a bad thing.

#84 - I didn't really like them either, so don't feel bad, Seanie.

I'm reading Doctor Zhivago. Currently more than halfway through and liking it more as I go along. It's a bit tedious in parts, but I think it will be worth reading. Since I was too lazy to get the book out of my bag last night (I had a tiring day), I also started Beneath a Marble Sky by John Shors, which I'm liking a lot.

I'd never read any Tom Wolfe, but I'm really enjoying The Right Stuff just now, and will have to check out some of his other works.

I'm on The Omnivore's Dilemma so far it's bleak!

Also skimming thourgh When Jack sued Jill which is caustic poetry, for the Go Review That Book Group.

Just finished Shadows in Bronze by Lindsey Davis, which is fun and filled with an understated hero, some totally nuts dry humor, fashioned against a vivid and thoroughly done historical setting.

This was a bright spot, between a few flat disappointments I'd had high hopes for.

Now in the unenviable position of "between books" - mulling over what to pick next...time for let down reading being viciously short, and the truly top-notch books (to my taste) flipping radically between the wild hit to complete miss to rabid crash sort of coaster ride, lately.

When you can't trust the hype in the blurbs, they're like the oft quoted Lethal Weapon movie line about taking the restaurant drive window....

I really was going to go back and finish Tigana after I got distracted by The Lightning Thief (which was fun), but then amazon delivered The Name of the Wind and I made the fatal mistake: "I'll just read the first chapter to see how he writes."

100 pages later, I can't wait to get home for lunch to keep reading it. Sorry GGK, you're just not as compelling.

You've all been warned. The Rothfuss is like crack.

Started Jasmine's Tortoise which was my free ER book. Cookies to Picnic for shipping it so quickly. It's been printed on really thick decent paper, so it's a plesure to hold. Despite being historical fiction which I don't usually much enjoy this proving to be complex and entertaining.

I'm reading Love's Labours Lost. It's so full of one liners, wisecracks and verbal duelling, I have to read it very carefully to get it. I'm loving it.

I'm reading The Sunne in Splendour by Sharon Kay Penman, and once again I am completely engrossed in her books.

I'm reading K. E. Mills's The Accidental Sorcerer - Loving it :) In fact I'm trying to read it slowly for a discussion on annother site (with the author herself - fun) that starts on may 1st, but there's no way I'll be able to string it out that long...

I'm reading A History of Civilization: Prehistory to 1300 by Messrs. Christopher, Wolff, and Brinton, a textbook that feels like a guilty pleasure. I know the basics, and the book says straight out that it's focusing on European civilization, so it's not likely to broaden my horizons – but the writing style is so pleasant! Unusual in a textbook.

Most recently finished re-reading Train Man (there is no touchstone for the novel, so here's the Manga version which I also own).

The book version is more complicated than the Manga, and a lot more revealing about the nature of the man who saved a woman on a train from a drunk old man. There's also a lot more tension in the book version, which has the actual posts from the original 2Channel forum, than the Manga, which changes significant plot details.

Now it's on to Wrong About Japan by Peter Carey. So far it's a fun read about the author and his son going to Japan and missing the point of all the culture they experience.

Noel Coward was right: "Why do the wrong people travel, when the right people stay at home?"

I finished The Faded Sun yesterday (loved it); now back to The man who knew too much, with Sunfall as a side :-)

Presently I am reading The War of the Lance Tales V. 6 and am on the story War Machines. I really like that DL has short story series as well because it allows you to miss a few days...or longer of reading and still remember where you are, assuming you finished the previous story and didn't begin another before taking a break. Anyway that's what I'm reading for now.

Onto The Prefect set in his revalation space universe, sometime before(ish) his other works. Intriging so far.

Finished up The Basque History of the World yesterday, started Well of Ascension last night.

Currently reading Lonely Werewolf Girl by Martin Millar. Another author I can't believe I'd never heard of before.

I'm almost done with Mark Helprin's Freddy and Fredericka, which I picked up at a library book sale because I liked Winter's Tale so much. What a fabulous read! I can't think of anything to compare it to. I think the closest I can come is A Confederacy of Dunces, in the type of humor, but there's much, much more to F&F. He goes a little slowly in a few places, but there are so many wonderful scenes that I'll forgive him that quite easily.

I'm finishing up the Gemma Doyle trilogy by Libba Bray. It starts with A Great and Terrible Beauty. I am almost done with The Sweet Far Thing. I love these books. I want to read them forever.

I'm a bit behind the times and am only now reading Eragon. I am enjoying it so far.

I'm about halfway through Tigana. I'm enjoying it even more now than I did the first time. This book rips into me in so many, many ways. I absolutely love it.

It IS pretty intense, though, and as much as I love it I find that I don't always feel like immersing myself in it. That said, I've been dipping into the first few Babysitters Club books for a bit of nostalgia/pure fun in between GGK binges.

I'm almost done with the latest Rachel Morgan book, but have already started in on The Zombie Survival Guide, which I was told would be beneficial to read before I start World War Z.

I've also begun Baseball Between the Numbers, which would only interest hardcore baseball fans who are interested in statistics. It started off with a statistical discussion of whether Barry Bonds is better than Babe Ruth. It's really interesting to see what they come up with to put the statistics on a level playing field, adjusting for different eras of play.

I'm reading the Road by Cormac McCarthy. Its the first McCarthy book I've read, and, as disturbing and dark as it is, I'm really enjoying it. I'm also reading Esoteric Psychology Volume 1 or rereading it rather, the first time I burnt out about 2/3 of the way through. the Hero With a Thousand Faces and the Masks of God: Oriental Mythology both by Joseph Campbell are both on the back burner as well.

Train travel is good for reading, I'm now about hlafway through Karen Miller's Empress - her new trilogy. Even better than her first two books, this is deeper and darker.

I have just started Elantris .....when I'm through I'll probably wander through the threads about it.

I'm reading A Time of Exile, The Gunslinger and Dies the Fire. They're three quite different styles.

I finished Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency by Douglas Adams. Fun stuff. Now I have to go refresh my memory on Samuel Taylor Coleridge poems.

#107 - Oh, I want to hear what you have to say about The Road when you are done. We talked about it a smidge in this thread:
http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=34174

I'm struggling with Sunfall - it's a slim volume but this far it's been more work than pleasure to try to read it. Therefore I decided to pick up The Other Wind for rereading. It was talked about a while ago in one of those drowed threads; about the books of Ursula K Le Guin (I've stopped trying to touchstone her - it NEVER works anyway).

Sadly the book, a hard cover, got involved in a slight bath tub accident about an hour ago so right now I'm trying to prevent it from bulging out...

Just finished Terrier! Can't wait for Bloodhound to come out!

I finally finished The Geography of Bliss which is just wonderful, even though the touchstone is malfunctioning. I needed some humor in my life, so I started History of the Millennium (So Far)* by Dave Barry (again, the touchstone is busted) and I have been LMAO. Sometime silly is just what the doctor ordered!!

*

Just started Renfield after finishing up The Well of Ascension. I'm only 3 chapters in, but so far it's a pretty good interpretation of Dracula.

I'm almost done with Lamb by Christopher Moore. I know a lot of people around here loved it and I have to agree that Moore is one of the silliest and wittiest writers I've ever read. :)

I've almost finished In the company of cheerful ladies and am about to start blue shoes and happiness both of which are appropriately titled books for GD!

I spent the beginning of the week trying to slog my way through The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray. I tried very, very hard to become involved with it, but it just wasn't working for me. Sigh. I normally wouldn't abandon the third book in a trilogy, but I just could not see myself reading another five hundred pages of this behemoth. I'll just find a summary online or something if I ever decide that I MUST know how things turned out for Gemma et al.

Instead, I'm reading The Secret Countess by Eva Ibbotson, and it is FANTASTIC! I wish I could just sit and read it straight through from cover to cover, but unfortunately I've also got to read (and mark!) a thick stack of first year exams. Some of them are actually quite interesting, but I wish I were able to devote my full attention to Ibbotson's colourful cast of characters.

Finally I've picked up Making Money - it've been waiting for me, looking down from that shelf, sitting with its brethren Pratchett books feeling unread and unloved...
Only on page 31, but so far so good :-)

(I had to abandon Sunfall. I'll not elaborate here - anyone curious enough can read my review. yes. I review abandoned books. I think I should tell why I couldn't manage to finish them...)

Over the weekend, I finished The Red and the Black, which was not what I was expecting, but was still an OK book. Yesterday I started Oliver Twist (another book from the Banned Books list), and I'm really excited about it, since I've never read it before.

Bad luck and Trouble another superb offering (so far) of Jack Reacher.

#120 - Do you know what stories are in it? The cover is the same as my Collected Short fiction of CJ CHerryh which was superb, but I'd have to check what the actual stories were. Is there one in particular you disliked?

Sunfall is not a collection... it's more like thematically connected short stories, taking place in different cities on a dying earth ('sunfall'). The stories are -

The only death in the city (Paris),
The haunted tower (London),
Ice (Moscow),
Nightgame (Rome),
Highliner (New York),
The General (Peking)

I finished the first and got halfway through the second. That took me two weeks, for 40 pages. It was then I had to realise it was time to quit...

ETA - did some research and I think Sunfall is included in Collected short fiction. Sadly I have really really tried to finish it. But reading should be a pleasure; not a chore.
I will pick it up again some time later, though.

I finished The PreHistory of The Far Side: a 10th Anniversary Exhibit by Gary Larson last night, but am still reading Going Postal by Terry Pratchett, a book of poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a devotional and Hamlet, a Prince of Denmark.

I'm just starting Night Train to Rigel. I hear it's pretty good, so far I agree...

I just got back from a short holiday. While away I finished off The Amber Spyglass, Lyra's Oxford and Once Upon a Time in the North, (all by Philip Pullman), Storm Front by Jim Butcher, and Water : Tales of Elemental Spirits by Robin McKinley and Peter Dickinson (Pool of the Desert by McKinely was wonderful! It's partly set in the same world as The Blue Sword which I now really want to read again though I just read it last year).

Now reading Wide Sargasso Sea which is less of a chore than I thought it would be. It's amazing how such a lush and tropical setting can also be made to feel so uninviting. I'd listened to Jane Eyre recently and was recommended this to go along with it.

I'm reading Agatha Christie an Autobiography, Beowulf - sorta stuck on it actually since I can't get good QUIET reading time - and Pirkei Avos With a Twist of Humor - my March ER book that just arrived on the 5th of May.

#126 - I read Water: Tales of Elemental Spirits a few weeks ago, largely because I'd read "A Pool in the Desert" in another collection. It's definitely one of the best short stories I've read since I got back into short fiction.

I started Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde this morning. I'm not very far in yet, but so far it's great!

I just finished This Rough Magic at lunch; I liked it more than I expected to. Next on the list is Summerland by Michael Chabon. Unless something shiny distracts me. I've become a Michael Chabon addict thanks to reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union last month.

#127 - I really liked the Agatha Christie autobiography!

I recently finished The Wind-up Bird Chronicle (a masterpiece) and The Well of Lost Plots (not a masterpiece, probably my least fav Fforde book so far). I bowed to pressure from the fangirlz on Hogwarts Express and am half way through Stephenie Meyer's Twilight. So far it is utter trash and not in a good way.

I'm reading a YA fantasy called Amber in the Over World by Jonathan Fesmire.

Littlegeek - Re: Twilight It is so funny that one person's trash is another person's treasure LOL

#130 MrsLee. Glad to know somebody else has read it. I'm seriously thinking of re-reading ALL her books again, in chronological order, in honor of finishing the autobiography.

#108 reading_fox - I've got Empress of Mijak & The Riven Kingdom on my TBR shelf, but I'm waiting til the 3rd book is released before I dive into them :)

#119 xicanti - I've got a couple of Iva Ibbotson's on my TBR shelf, looking forward to them even more now :)

I've just started Carole Wilkinson's Dragonkeeper & am definately enjoying it so far :)

#133 - karenmarie - It made me want to find her non-fiction books to read, though I've yet to do so.

#134 Riven Kingdom isn't out here yet, let alone the third, I'll re-read a few times quite happily. Karen is Definetly a name to keep an eye on.

Just about to start priestess of the white so that I can in due course read the last in the trilogy voice of the gods

I love the "Gemma Doyle Series" I cant understand why people dont like the book "The Sweet Far Thing" !

I'm reading 2 works on the same subject simultaneously and finding it very entertaining. Eighth Army plus An Army at Dawn and The Day of Battle. So two views from the same side of the same campaign from North Africa thru Sicily and into Italy. One griping about the British and the other slagging the Americans. I know, not much interest to you GDers.

#135 MrsLee - I only know of one for sure, Come, Tell Me How You Live, about their time in Syria.

Do you know of any others?

#135 MrsLee - I only know of one for sure, Come, Tell Me How You Live, about their time in Syria.

Do you know of any others?

I'm reading my ER book, Shades of Glory. I posted some thoughts about it on my "experimental" blog.* I am still sneaking in bits and pieces of my current Poirot novel, The Clocks. Agatha has become an addiction.

* I stopped blogging for real years ago, way back before Google owned Blogger and when Greymatter was the journaling platfom du jour. But lately I've needed a place to keep track of bookish things, hence the experimental blog.

#137 mmmgirl - personally, I found the entire series somewhat frustrating because I could never quite believe in the friendships Gemma built up with Felicity, Anne and Pippa. I had a hard time seeing why she wanted to be friends with any of them in the first place, and once the friendships were established, none of them rang true for me. As the series seemed to be built, in large part, around the whole idea of friendship and sisterhood, I had a hard time buying into it.

I also felt that Bray was unsure of how her magical system worked. It never felt real to me. As the series progressed, I found myself raising my eyebrows more and more often. It started to seem just plain silly to me.

#139 - That was the one I was particularly interested in, the book mentioned some other things she had written, but it's been a long time since I've read it. :)

The restaurant at the end of the universe, Warriors , The Singing Sword. My grandaughter is reading the Warriors series & wanted me to read them too, so i told her that if i read at least one of them then she had to read @ least the first in the Redwall series. I've read several of that series & enjoy the variety of species in those books. In the Warriors its just cats & it gets me very confused about which cats are in which clan. Must be my Part-timers problem i.e. part of the time my mind works & part of the time it doesn't! 8^)

#143 MrsLee - I've been snooping on the Internet some and so far that's the only other official non-fiction she wrote besides her autobiography.

On the way out of the house this morning I grabbed The Mysterious Affair at Styles, her first book. I may go back and re-read everything in chronological order just for the heck of it. I have everything except her UK-only books and, for some strange reason, the last Miss Marple, Sleeping Murder.

#141 fleela - I got Shades of Glory as my April ER book, but also received my MARCH ER book on the same day, so feel obligated to read it first. Can't wait to get started on Shades.

I'm reading Through a Glass Darkly by Karleen Koen. It's okay, but it's probably not going to be one of my favorites. The really emotional bits don't seem to move me and the relationships are mostly based on air. You can see how they might have grown, but the author doesn't do a very good job of showing it.

I've started A Play of Isaac by Margaret Frazer and Hamlet.

Parable of the Sower by Octavie E. Butler. Again. It's a worrying book, but I can't get enough of it.

It took me some days to actually start reading Making money, but when I did I finished it soon enough = yesterday.
Not one of Pratchett's finest, but still worthy of a chuckle or two.

Now I'm on to Mistborn, which has been waiting to be read ever since the Elantris group read. Haven't actually started it yet, though, but its handy size (paperback) makes it portable, so I hope to have some nice moments with it in the next couple of days :-)

I'm reading my ER book Time Bandit, so far I'm finding it a very good read.

ETA: I thought Mistbor was an excellent book.

I'm giving up on Wide Sargasso Sea. Way too oppressing for me, and it probably doesn't help that I already know how it ends. I will say that Jean Rhys was one skilled writer, the way she made the lush Caribbean seem as oppressive as any English gothic setting. This was a paper copy, I wonder if I would have finished Jane Eyre if I hadn't been listening to it on audio. I was glad to finally have read Jane Eyre, but I did immediately delete it from my player.

Since starting Wide Sargasso Sea, I read Extras by Scott Westerfeld and started Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley. I'm only into Rose Daughter for a few pages but I really like McKinley's writing and am looking forward to sinking into this without WSS holding me back.

I'm still on an Agatha marathon with Thirteen At Dinner AKA Lord Edgware Dies.

The solution to Thirteen at Dinner is one of my favorites.

I've nearly finished Voice of Gods which has so far failed to tie up all the loose ends from the previous two. It might be cataclysmic finish in thelast 100 pages though.

I've started The Love Secrets of Don Juan by Tim Lott on audiobook. So far, it is less racy than the title might suggest.

Finished Alice and just started Across the Face of the World. I think next up will be Ad Infinitum: a Biography of Latin.

I'm reading a mystery given to me by a friend, called The Tooth of Time, and a book by Theodore Rooseveldt which is eye opening and interesting. Though I can't swallow his wisdom whole, it is refreshingly blunt. :)

I'm reading The House of Lost Souls which is turning out to be a creepy horror/ghost story. So far not too bad, although the author is using way too many references to contemporary music for my liking, I find it gets in the way of the flow of the story and it's really irritating.

Flee, you are inspiring me to reread Christie again, I haven't read her books since high school - actually I got rid of all mine in a much regretted purge (never again!!!). I think I'll have to start haunting the used bookstore and read her over the summer. Last summer it was Lord Peter thanks to MrsLee, this summer Poirot and Miss Marple.

Yay!

Maneater- which doesn't touchstone by Thomas Emson which also doesn't touchstone. Apparently it's a pseudoname for a welsh author, but I've been unable to find the real name so far. Urban Fantasy, so far nothing special, but not bad either.

Finished up Thirteen at Dinner and have started at the beginning with The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Finished The House of Lost Souls, meh, some creepy moments, but not enough for me to keep the book and want to ever read it again or recommend it. I'll take it to the used book store and see if I can find some Agatha Christie books.

Now I'm starting The Girls, my birthday present from my sister (back in March), about conjoined twins. She enjoyed it so much she got it for me, so I'm really looking forward to this read.

The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. Now this is how to do goth, people.

I love Wilkie Collins lg. You might like the book I just finished The Meaning of Night, it's written in Collins' style albeit by a 21 century author, and very good too.

OOh, sounds cool, katylit. Another wishlist item.

I'm finally reading Good Omens after having it since Christmas! :)

re#150
I'm about a third of the way through Time Bandit that I got as an ER too. The stories are very entertaining but the style is well awkward.

I've just finished Where Demons Dare by Kim Harrison (which appears to have been published under another name in the US) and am about to start Lamb by Christopher Moore

If I don't finish Trigger's History of Archaeological Thought soon I might go mad and not get to finish the other one though, its just so dense.

I'm finally reading Sojourners by Philip J. McFarland. It's "finally" because I had Philip McFarland as an English teacher in highschool (he was great!), so I should have read this long ago.

Oddly enough, when I'm reading the book, the voice I hear is not Mr. McFarland's but that of NPR's Scott Simon.

Not on the label for two reasons, I promised my mum I'd look into it when it came up for discussion at a bank's AGM, and GRtB group asked me to.

littlegeek I am reading the women in white as well, and I am really enjoying it :-)

I must confess to struggling with Alice in Wonderland, and have put it aside for the moment. I also working my way through the middlesea slowly and finished the owl service the other day

Just finished reading Vols 1, 3, and 4 of Read or Die (Kinokuniya didn't have Vol. 2). I CRIED, I really did. Over a MANGA comic. Almost as much as I did at the end of Apollo's Song, which was even sadder, but for different reasons. Poor Yomiko got betrayed...

I started Ysabel yesterday. I've put it off for a while, based on other people's negative critique, but I must say that this far I'm enjoying it.
Not one of his best, but definitely better than Last light of the sun.

I finally picked up Mad Ship, the second in the Liveship Traders trilogy. It's a little long-winded, but has excellent world building and characterizations. Plus pirates. I love me some pirates.

I keep forgetting to read Alice in Wonderland. I have to actually transfer it physically to my TBR or it may never happen.

Just finished The Black Tower by Louis Bayard, my first ER book! Really good historical mystery. I read it through in two sittings, which nearly never happens with me.

Reading "The Magician of Lublin" by Isaac B. Singer and (bedtime story for my little boy) "The Dark is Rising."

The Greener Shore by Morgan Llywelyn

>173 Busifer: Busifer - I have to agree with your assesment

I've been plowing through lots of books recently. Several I have skimmed, others I've given up on about half way through, peeked at the end to see if I missed anything, decided not and put it down. So now, I'm reading Behind the Screen, by Samuel Goldwyn, very fun about early Hollywood celebrities. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, I keep hearing his name come up, so thought I would try it. Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett, no reason needed, but I picked it up to get the memory of a real stinky book out of my mind. The Prince of Pleasure and His Regency by J.B. Priestly, very interesting history stuff. Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton, this is an audio book, and I'm loving it, but it's taking me forever to finish because it's hard for me to listen carefully while I do anything else. Thought I would finish it on my trip this weekend, but I always fall asleep in the car.

MrsLee, let me know what you think of The Name of the Rose. It's been quite a while since I read it, but I loved the long debates about whether or not God would be happy with poverty or wealth in the mediaeval church. I could see both sides and other people I talked to would look at me, just aghast, at these long, tedious (to them) diatribes. I found them fascinating. Oh, the mystery is good too ;-)

Behind the Screen sounds good too, Sam Goldwyn sounds like he was quite the character.

katylit - I'm only two chapters into the Umberto book, but I'm chewing on it and enjoying it already. I like the homage to Sherlock Holmes. :)

Sam Goldwyn must have been protecting his investments, because he only has nice things to say for the most part, I have to Google for the dirt. ;)

I just started The Pillars of the Earth yesterday for my women's book club. Since it's so fat we're reading it in halves. Oh, it's just like gourmet popcorn in print! :o)

I have just started reading the final volume of the Otherland series. I'm a little upset that I didn't know those books were out until this year and they pretty much have sucked me in. I don't know what my next book will be but the summer semester is about to start so my reading shall start dwindling.

clamairy - Oh, it's just like gourmet popcorn in print! :o)

You mean fat and spicy? ;)

I read that in high school and still have vivid memories of it. Very good book.

Isles of The Blest by Morgan Llywelyn

I have Pillars of the Earth.. it is somewhere on that TBR pi... mountain.

#184 - Sort of. Maybe more along the lines of "so rich and tasty you want more." :o)

#186 - I asked for it for Christmas. In fact, I think I even ordered it from B&N myself. Just getting to it now, and that's only because my book club picked it. I'm glad, though.

Hogfather

Must read all Discworld books asap.

Hilarity ensues.

watch out for his other books clam they are quiet different - my sister was crushed she had love pillars, and rushed out and brought another of his books and was sooo disappointed.

I do believe though he has written a sequel - must tell sis

Fluff and more fluff, Ludlum, then one of the Cat Who mysteries and now Maclean. Which I'll probably finished today, adn then my TBR pile will be 0 and I'll have to start re-reading something.

Daemons Are Forever by Simon R. Green, the follow up to The Man With The Golden Torc. It's typical over the top Green, but kind of fun.

I'm reading The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell and loving it. I have unquestionably found a new favorite author.

I started Flora Segunda by Ysabeau S. Wilce this morning. I recently read a couple of her short stories and decided that I need to read everything she's ever written. I'm a little disappointed that the novel isn't in the same twisting style as the stories were, but it's still very good. I'm enjoying it so far.

#190 - Yes, I actually read Lie Down with Lions back in the 1980s and I wasn't impressed. That's one of the reasons why I put off reading Pillars for so long. Your poor sister, SpicyCat. :o/

I finished Interesting Times (LOVED IT) and Behind the Screen (fun, now I'm going to increase my queue at Netflix). I've started The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexandar (is it my imagination, or is this a LOtR rip-off?) and The Silent Traveler in San Francisco by Yee Chiang.

Just started A Game of Thrones by George R R Martin. I'm loving it so far!

#196 - actually, The Chronicles of Prydain are a Mabinogion rip-off.

I think I'm going to try Wild Magic by Tamora Pierce next. I read another of her books a while back and wasn't too impressed, but I've heard so many good things about her that I'm not willing to give up just yet. Maybe this series will change my mind.

#198...

I love Tamora Pierce! Wild Magic was the first book by her I read and I was hooked. That was in fourth grade...now I'm going to be a senior in college and I still lover her stuff.
Which book did you read and not like much? Was in a Circle of Magic book? Because those aren't as good as her Tortall based books. Well I hope you like Wild Magic.
I don't know how old you are but just keep in mind that these books are for YA's (if you're older than that) and maybe you'll enjoy them more.

brought the black tower on Friday and finished it at 2am this morning.

I decided today that I will do a comparative reread of the two editions of The hobbit that I own - the swedish original translation and the 1951 english edition (a 1979 reprint).

Edited to correct myself - the swedish edition is the 2nd one (of 3, instead of 1st of 2, which I thought).

Just finished The Forger and am almost done with 99 coffins. Enjoyed both of them.

Reave the Just after burning through to kill a mockingbird in a day.

#201 comparative re-read! wow. How do you do that? read them side by side, or finish one first and then the other or ???

Starting Holy Smokes by Katie MacAlister. Hopefully it will be as good as the others of the series.

#203 - First I thought I'd read them in parallel, one chapter at a time. But then I decided I'd read first one then the other because the risk of mixing the editions up, in my mind.
I have yet to see the outcome. But it feels kind of nerdy ;-)

I'm on another Terry Pratchett kick, which is always disastrous for my reading list. Currently reading Mort, then Sourcery, then I want to go buy the rest of Discworld, because it makes me inordinately happy.

I'm finishing up Roma by Steven Saylor, which has been pretty good, and then today I'll be moving on to Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey, which just arrived in the mail and which I am very excited to read.

Just finished The Bone Key on my flight to California yesterday. Really good! I'm about 1/3 of the way through The Story of the Stone, will probably finish before I fly back home. Also brought The Cavern of Black Ice for the trip home.

Finished up Three Act Tragedy (aka Murder in Three Acts - a Poirot mystery) last night, and started Dark Visions. I'll probably start The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns today too.

I'm reading The Mercedes Coffin for Early Reviewers and A Dog Among Diplomats, which is also an Early Reviewer book, but I didn't get it as an ER book. I've just started both, but am happy so far.

ETA: *Well, that was weird. It posted a blank message, but when I clicked edit, everything was there. We'll see if it shows up this time.*

I started Sabriel by Garth Nix which reminded me a little of Harry Potter right at the first, but is totally branching off in a completely different direction.

I just finished Well of Ascension - felt like I had to put something in between my two readings of The hobbit or it'd feel a bit repetitive.

I really enjoyed reading it - now I only have to wait for the last part of the trilogy!

I'm also on a Christie re-reading kick: Nemesis and The Body in the Library. Just finished Murder in Three Acts and I have The ABC Murders in the queue next. I've got to get my hands on The Murder at the Vicarage though, I love the way that plays on our assumptions about reading mysteries. Speaking of, has anyone read The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher yet? It looks like the sort of thing I'd find fascinating.

I'm reading The Kestrel by Lloyd Alexander. I can't believe it's taken me so long to read this series; I'm enjoying them very much. Oddly enough, though, I find it hard to pick them back up after a break. Once I'm in, they're excellent, but it's tough to make that leap back into this world.

I just finished Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman, and I've moved on to Dark Hollow by John Connolly.

I got the Death Trilogy by Terry Pratchett. I've already read Mort and Reaper Man, now it's on to Soul Music. Just what I needed. So funny!

#211 - What did you think? I really enjoyed that book, but I haven't read the rest of the trilogy. My daughter has and she said the third book is the best of all. I think Nix has a wonderful imagination. :o)

I'm reading The Last Lecture. It's not maudlin at all. Quite funny and sweet, actually...

...and as the swedish translation of The Hobbit that I own seems to be a word by word translation of the UK original (thus not managing to translate the poetry and tone of said original, as sentences etc. aren't built in the same way in swedish) I felt I had to take yet another break... so 5 minutes ago I decided I'll reread Lions of Al-Rassan.
*blushes*
With TBR pile and all (ie. more than a few books that I really want to read!) this seems like idiocy. But I need to reread it. OK?

#219 - Is this the second or third time, Busifer? It doesn't seem like idiocy to me at all...

217> I think I'm still in the "build-up" part of the book, nothing too exciting has happened yet. I'm only up to page 66. It is interesting though.

Clamiary my sister has the sequel to the Pillars of the Earth and is enjoying it.

#222 - Glad to hear that, Spicy. I'll probably wait for it to come out in paperback. I have found that if I read to much of one author back-to-back I end up unhappy.

#220 - The fourth, actually....
*blushes some more*

I'm about halfway through The Undead Kama Sutra, sequel to X-rated Bloodsuckers, which is the sequel to The Nymphos of Rocky Flats. Vampire PI, secret government research programs, conspiracy involving aliens...What more could Acevedo throw in?

I'm reading The Firemaster's Mistress, historical fiction about the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. It's sort of "eh" so far. I like it, but I'm not compelled to continue reading it.

I am currently reading the 6th Chronicles of Narnia book, The Silver Chair. I have never read the series and I am really enjoying it! :D

I decided to continue the reread spree - I'm about to start A song for Arbonne right now. Haven't reread it at all, yet, actually...

Most recently finished: Phule's Company by Robert Asprin. Got it out the library on Saturday and finished it that night.

Big thankyou to the GD for the heads-up to this author.

Dumb question: did he write anything else about the adventures of Mr Phule?

I'm wading through Eclipse One, a collection of new science fiction and fantasy stories edited by Johnathan Strahan. I borrowed it from the library intending to read only the story from Ysabeau S. Wilce, but I figured I'd give the rest of the book a go as well. I wish I'd stuck to my initial inclination. There have been a few good stories, but I've either been indifferent to or have outright disliked most of them. I'm finally at the story I came for, though, so I'm hoping things'll pick up from here. I lovelovelove Wilce's style, and I'll be just heartbroken if this story disappoints.

Hm, I'm reading The Harlequin's Dance by Tom Arden and I don't know what to make of it. It's number one in a five book series, and well, to tell the truth I'm kinda wondering when something is going to happen.

I love character novels, but this doesn't have the feel of a character-based novel. It has the feel of a plot-based novel with a slow plot. It's odd, I actually quite like his style, and don't actually mind slow plots for that matter. Something just feels a teeny tiny bit off...a small niggly worry is creeping in that the only reason there are 5 books is because the guy likes to fill in space.

Anyone else read this series?

We shall see. Haven't decided if I'm going to read all 5 in a row or not yet. (As always I read one fantasy, then one lit. fic., so by 'in a row' I mean...oh jeez, shurrup K now you're rambling).

The bafut beagles didn't last long, Feet of Clay was almost as quick, and I'm now on Galactic north because I needed to read some short stories on the train, although I didn't actually get around to more than 1 or 2 of them.

I'v got reviews to write fro the first two, but I'm still catching up on talk instead.

I'm reading Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon and Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories by Agatha Chrisite. I love MIss Marple!

I'm listening to A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.

Just started Holmes on the Range. Ok, the title's a bit hokey, but it's a pretty good (at least, so far!) Holmes pastiche set in circa 1890 Montana. Cowboy detective and all that...

#233 I love MM too, but I don't think the short stories work as well as the longer novels do, although it's been quite a while since I read them.

Now on Levkas man yes it's an action adventure thriller about paleontology. Drama and tension over old bones. Actually quite good so far.

Finally reading The Inheritance of Loss from my to be read pile.

I am reading The Collector by John Fowles because Booksloth recommended it to me and it is really, really good. The villain of the story is really very creepy. I can't believe I never discovered this book before, but I'm really glad Booksloth recommended it to me.

I just finished The Book of Negroes yesterday, which was an excellent, excellent book. I wanted to take the rest of the day to just let it sink in. Very satisfying read.

Today I'm going to start The Fellowship of the Ring with my new paperback edition *big grin*. I am so looking forward to this. It's been way too long since I read these books. Middle Earth here I come...

I've got 70 pages left to go in The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

My one word review so far: meh...

The God Delusion on the iPod
On the Origin of Species in email from DailyLit
Baseball Between the Numbers in the bathroom.

I haven't yet decided on my living room/bedroom book.

#238 - w00t! Go katylit! Summer is just about the best time of year to read about Hobbitses frolicking in the Shire!

#240 - Oh flee, how is The God Delusion so far? And who is it read by?

>242 clamairy:
My neck hurts from nodding in agreement. Granted, he's preaching to the choir, so to speak. ;)

Dawkins reads some of it and quotations and various parts are read by a lovely British English-accented lady, Lalla Ward.

#238, that's what I think clam. I am so excited about this. My husband looks at me a little bemused but smiles and says "I'm glad you're happy honey."

The afternoon is ahead of me, I'm pretty much caught up on GD threads, so off I go to read now. :-)

I've recently finished:

The Religion by Tim Willocks - one of the most provocative opening paragraphs EVER. If the rest of the book had lived up to it - sigh - still, a reasonably OK read.

The Winterking by Bernard Cornewell - this was his stab at an Arthurian - should have gone into the shared read thread? - quite down and dirty gritty and barbaric. Stood a few of the "legends" characters on their heads in a fun way. If you like to laugh at dogmatic institutions, this book has some fine moments.

Saturnalia by Lindsey Davis - always a fun author, with exceptional sly wit. I got particular hoots out of the afterword, where she describes her loonie altercations between editors, copyedits, and fast and free usage of language. American editors and British editors don't always see eye to eye, and that can be quite funny in a challenging way.

I've been whipping through The Virtu by Sarah Monette. I absolutely love character-based stories, and this definitely fits the bill. I can't get enough of it.

Counting Sheep by Paul Martin. Everything you ever wanted to know about sleep and dreaming =)

I finished Oliver Twist last night and I'm starting Manifesto of the Communist Party today. Both are from a list of banned books that I'm working my way through.

I'm listening to World War Z by Max Brooks and it's amazing! The readers include Max Brooks, Carl Reiner, Alan Alda, Mark Hamill, Henry Rollins, John Turturro, Rob Reiner, and a few others not listed on the description. This is one of my free downloads from my public library. Yay!

Thanks to Kawika for suggesting this one. I'm hooked.

I just finished Pride and Prejudice, which I loved actually. I'm not one for classics, even though I own quite a few, most of which I haven't read. I have to be really in the mood for them. But I was inspired by previously reading The Jane Austen Book Club and watching the movie after that. And various conversations around here. I adore Austen, I really do, but yes...the mood thing has to strike.

I'm shortly to start The Last Days of Dogtown by Anita Diamant.

The Lady in Blue by Javier Sierra which I found on a bargain table at B&N a few days ago. Just starting in, so not sure how I will like it yet.

I'm actively reading a History of God, Under the Banner of Heaven, and Insomnia. Armstrong is one of my favorite comparative religion authors, and I'm finding that King deserves all the praise he gets. The man is an amazing author. I'm also dipping into the Dangerous Book for Boys and wishing I had a son or a little brother or something to do some of the activities with. Its a great book.

Witches abroad didn't last long. Nor did Slay-ride and my GoReviewThatBook request is another thriller Killing floor which I've just started. After this it's time for some serious Fantasy/SF I think. Maybe even LoTR.

I've been reading slowly, drawing out every word, relishing it as a morsel of goodness. But all things do eventually come to an end, and I've finished The Fellowship of the Ring and have now started The Two Towers ;-) Now I get to start relishing all over again.

I'm working my sorry a** off at the moment, so I lack the energy to add new experiences... therefore I'm rereading Tigana.

Soon I will be off on vacation though and I'm shuffling the TBR stack to decide what to take on next... the anticipation!
*drools*

I finished my ER book, Swordmage, last night and I'll finish The God Delusion this evening. I think Do You Speak American? will be next in line.

I'm reading Ship of Destiny, the third Liveship Traders book. Really loving this series, it's the first Robin Hobb for me. Dragons, sea serpents, pirates! Woo hoo!

Finished The Peter principle today -- should have read it many years ago, and often! Finished M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link a few days ago -- hilarious.

I've just started reading Interview With the Vampire for the eighth time. I felt like I needed something gorgeous and familiar to help me cope with my Sarah Monette withdrawal.

I'm reading The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters by Gordon Dahlquist and 吴语处衢方言研究 (just to show off, of course). I'm psyching myself up to reading The Wealth of Nations.

Read Snuff on Tuesday, which was so disappointing it actually made me sad.

Today I read When You Are Engulfed In Flames, which made me giggle a lot and generally happy.

Am currently reading The Three Musketeers (which I read years ago, but want to reread now), and Bright Shiny Morning, because I like James Frey.

All I can seem to read lately is children's literature. Give me an adult book and it gets dusty, but if it's juvenile, I love it.

*shrug*

Anywho, I'm currently readiing The Candy Shop War and Fablehaven: Rise of the Evening Star, both by Brandon Mull. CSW is great and the first Fablehaven book was amazing as well.

I just finished In the Belly of the Bloodhound and since I don't have the next book as it is still in hard cover I am going to be starting Twilight in about, oh, 15 minutes. *grins at the thought of a new book*

Blazing Saddles by James Clarke -- touchstone still won't believe that this author spells his surname with an e. Six elderly gents from Africa cycle various routes around Darkest Europe, with hilarious results. Highly recommended.

For bath time today, I started my ER book - Is Christianity Good for the World?.

Just finished elantris which I loved in a total escapism type of way, now I am reading emma part of my filling in the classic blanks in my reading history.....

Just in at the local library, the penultimate book in the Devery series by Katharine Kerr is 'The Shadow Isle'
I am thoroughly enjoying this series. This is book number 14 . I highly recommend it.

I'm about halfway through Blood Debt, the final book in Tanya Huff's Blood Books series. I've gotta say, I think the series peaked right in the centre. The first one was good, the second one was very good, the third one was awesome, the fourth one was very good, and this one's back to just good. Sigh. I hope it grabs me soon.

Finished Good Omens, enjoyed it a lot. Starting The Dead Man's Knock by John Dickson Carr.

After I was done with Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche, I thought it's about time I go into The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by Howard Phillips Lovecraft.

I just want to point out that since over a month, the "currently reading" thread is this one -http://www.librarything.com/talktopic.php?topic=42332

:-)