What are you reading?

Let's hear what everyone is reading!

I just finished reading my ARC of The Long Look by Richard Parks. A fabulous fantasy in his world of the Twelve Kingdoms.

I just finished Atwood's The Blind Assassin last weekend on vacation. Great book, the SF parts in it were well done, and the characters were complex. There are a few story lines running through this, so it's not to light a read. The pacing is good so it was hard to put down, it just required paying closer attention.

I'm planning on reading Luanne Rice's Cloud Nine next. My mom lent me two of Rice's books ( Dance with Me being the other one), and I enjoy her style. Romance where the characters felt more fleshed out and relatable.

I'm reading The Yiddish Policemen's Union.

I recently finished The Thirteenth Tale, which was really good. I don't read a lot of mainstream, but I joined a book group at the library, and it's good to broaden my reading. The Thirteenth Tale was a bit pretentious in parts, but the uncovering of the mystery (the life story of a famous writer - the book is her telling the story to another woman) was fascinating. Very well done characters.

That does sound interesting.

I don't read much in mainstream, either. I hope that a group like this will give me ideas of what else might interest me.

I just finished the The Montefeltro Conspiracy by Marcello Simonetta, a non-fiction look at the Pazzi conspiracy in 15th century Italy based on some coded letters the author (and descendent of one of the people involved) decoded. Interesting read.

Right now I'm reading Knights of the Black and White by Jack Whyte. It's going slower than I had hoped...

(This is "Myrddin" from FMW)

The Montefeltro Conspiracy sounds interesting!

I've just started the final volume of the Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia. Reading about Rhinos as the moment! I think I'll have this one done by the end of the month.

I also picked up Appaloosa by Robert B Parker. I wanted to see what a modern western was like. It's been okay so far. I'm interested in seeing how it goes! It should be a relatively fast read, I think.

I finished Cloud Nine a short while ago and started re-reading the Harry Potter books. My husband got me the international box set for our anniversary, and I'm about 1/3 through Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Cloud Nine was an enjoyable read, and ended a bit differently then I'd expected. (I'm not sure if that book would be considered genre romance or not, though I tend to enjoy romantic stories outside of the romance genre more then genre ones).

I'm reading Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman, because I've watched the movie with Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock about a thousand times. Anyway, the book - of course - is very different from the movie. :P

Snoopyfan

I've just started The Avatar by Poul Anderson. One of my old books which I haven't read in ages. Begins in an interesting way...

I haven't read that one. I wonder if I have it. (Eyes boxes of books again....)

I finished The Yiddish Policemen's Union and enjoyed it. I attempted to read A Respectable Trade for a library book club and didn't like it.

Now I'm reading Any Given Doomsday, which was an Early Reviewers book - someone who "won" it sent it to me when she was done. It's entertaining but not particularly good.

I'm still in reading books again mode and have progressed on to Fairyland by Paul J. McAuley

Good Book. But it seems to be set a hundred to maybe a couple of hundred years into the future - could be closer to our time since some of the characters have experienced things I've heard about. The time thing makes the story somewhat non-believable for me. I can't believe the drastic changes the world has undergone. Story is exciting all the same, and I guess that's what counts.

I lucked out and got an ARC of Carol O'Connell's latest stand-alone mystery Bone by Bone, which I couldn't resist reading right away even though I'm doing NaNoWriMo this month and have promised myself not to read any books until I have written 50k words.

Anyhoo, it was a really enjoyable, well-written mystery, though I have to say it's not quite as good as her last two, Judas Child and Find Me, both of which are top-notch and two of my particular favorites.

I'm reading The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama. I recommend it for anyone who is wondering how he will govern. Published three years ago, he sounds like the same person who campaigned this year - consistency, a hopeful sign.

I just snagged an Early Review copy of Moving Your Aging Parents: Fulfilling Their Needs and Yours Before, During and After the Move. We're in the process of moving from our house to a small apartment after forty years of marriage. I hope it arrives soon!

finally made it over here . . . been meaning to for ages, but kind of lost the will to live on the cataloging front. (Hello!)

I've just started reading Suskind's Perfume . . . I've wanted to read it for ages, and spotted a copy in a local charity shop yesterday - EXCITED!

Hey, ellsea ~ I just picked up a copy of Perfume too! I'll probably start it during the Christmas holiday. Let me know what you think.

I'm currently reading The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. The writing style is just awesome, it really surprised me. I'm trying to partition it out over the holiday and make it last longer.

I finished Payback by Mike Nicol last night. Enjoyed it, especially recognizing so many of the landmarks - it's mainly set in Cape Town - but the few inconsistencies really jarred. I'm South African and am trying to alternate between reading local authors and 'others' :)

Will be starting Twilight by Stephenie Meyer next. Don't really think this will be my cup of tea but one of my teenage nieces has lent it to me, assuring me that I'll enjoy it. We'll have to wait and see.

Just want to wish everyone a very Happy New Year! May your 2009 be blessed with good health, prosperity, lots of wonderful books to read, and dozens of intriguing ideas for writing projects, along with ample time with which to write.

I am reading The Secret History by Procopius, about Byzantium during the reign of Justinian and Theodora. Fascinating stuff, reminiscent of Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars and I, Claudius by Graves. Lots of grist for the mill, should I ever consider using that era for a story.

Just finished Guide to Writing Fiction by Phyllis A. Whitney, which I found concise and practical. Though somewhat dated (it was written in 1982 and talks about handwriting your ms. and then having it transcribed on a typewriter), the basic material on plotting, work habits, techniques, and rewriting remains timely.

BTW, I found Perfume to be a fascinating but disturbing novel.

I am reading Cyteen by C. J. Cherryh. She has been my favorite author for a long, long time. I read Cyteen when it first came out and she only recently released a sequel to it calledRegenesis. I decided I wanted to reread the original -- huge -- book first. I'm glad I decided to. It's fascinating.

I'm also reading Volume 5 of the Great Books of the Western World and Voume 2 of the Grolier's Encylopedia... but that's just because I'm strange.

Not a bit, zette. Those (Great Books of the Western World and Grolier's Encyclopedia) are the kinds of things I read, or at least thumb through, when I am in need of story ideas.

Oh yes, great for story ideas! I read at least 5 pages a day in the Great Books and then write down a line that drew my attention and do a sort of 'free write' playing with whatever ideas spawn from it. I direct those ideas towards a specific project. The current Greek plays are helping me create a new fantasy that has absolutely nothing to do with them. It's fun.