What are you reading?

[vison]

In a probably vain attempt to find something to talk about other than American politics, I thought I'd start this thread.

What are you reading right now? Is it good? Would you recommend it to anyone? Why is it interesting to you?

I just read "The Dark Reaches" by K. Landon. Excellent read, gripping story, moves along at a clipping pace, and ends most satisfactorily.

Also: Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving. Marvellous, brought me to tears several times, made me laugh, made me admire his amazing skill with language, his ability to make you SEE where his characters are. His characters are never "believable", but they are REAL and lovable and I will read it again almost right away.

The Greatest Show on Earth by Richard Dawkins: could not read this, he is an awful writer and I will just go back to Stephen Jay Gould for reading about Evolution.

Chaos, by Gleick, can't remember his first name. Wonderful, riveting, brain-twisting. Old, but relevant.

Two biographies of Alexander: one by Ulrich Wilcken, okay but not so swell, I've read it before and read it only side by side with Mary Renault's "The Nature of Alexander". Wilcken is better with maps and dates, Renault is a better writer. Mind you, Wilcken is translated from German.

The Horse Knows the Way by John O'Hara. The master of the short story.

Too Much Happiness by the divine Alice Munro, the Mistress of the Short Story and the greatest living writer in English.

And, as usual, LOTR on the table to be picked up at random. Likewise a Trollope, right now: The Claverings. Just reread The American Senator.

So come on, people!!! Smile on your brother. Everybody get together, try to post on this thread.

And, waiting for Black Diamond by Catherine Bailey which is presently in England being read not 10 miles from where it is written about, a tremendous non-fiction book about the Earls Fitzwilliam of Wentworth. Stole this from The Margarita Inn in Chicago, IL, and want to read it again.

[TheEllipticalDisillusion]

I just finished A Passage to India by E.M. Forster. It wasn't bad. I wouldn't read it a second time.

I also just finished The Children of Room E4 by Susan Eaton. It was an interesting look at de facto segregation in the North (US) school systems. It highlighted the great chasm between urban and suburban schooling. Suburban schooling is mostly white (rich), while urban is mostly ethnic (poor). The book looked specifically at Hardford, CT and its surrounding wealthy suburbs. It made a compelling case for more inter-district education and integrated schools. Throwing money and standardized tests won't fix the education system in many American cities (the poorest ones at least).

I have to read more of The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien, specifically "How to Tell a True War Story."

Next up is The House on Mango Street by Cisneros (I forget first name), and some poetry clusters that my professor assigned (random collection of stuff).

Another interesting book that I am reading chapters of is Dude, You're a Fag by C.J. Pascoe. She looks at masculinity in a school (fictional name, but real school) and how certain concepts of masculinity are re-enforced, while others are discouraged. In the same vein, I am reading The Triple Bind by Stephen Hinshaw. Another sociology type book, but this time talking about girls and this bind that society has put them into: be good at feminine things, be good at some masculine things, and conform to an ever-changing, impossible standard of beauty dictated by society (and those within it). It look at, for example, America's Top Model, the Pussycat Dolls and other depictions of the "ideal female beauty."

[solicitr]

Tristram Shandy. Still simply amazes me: 200-year-old postmodernism.

Bloody Shambles, Shores' and Cull's intricately detailed and tragic (and human) history of the hopeless, dogged air war over the East Indies and Malaya in the six months after Pearl Harbor.

Saki: when he's on, his stories are perfectly faceted gems.

[sauronsfinger]

Read the Dan Brown best seller (at least most of it) THE LOST SYMBOL on the plane coming back from California - and it certainly made the flight a fast one. Nice airplane reading - decent plot - if you liked DAVINCI you would enjoy it as well.

Also recently read the Richard Wolffe RENEGADE: The Making of A President which is the story of the 2008 Obama for President campaign. Wolffe had good inside imbedding in the campaign and has lots of good information and insight. For anyone interested in electoral politics, its a good read.

[axordil]

Just finished Dubliners again.

[Maria]

I just finished "Kitty and the Midnight Hour" by Carrie Vaughn. It was OK, but not exceptional. More werewolves and vampires. *yawn*

I need a new genre.

I'm also reading "Suddenly psychic : a skeptic's journey" by Maureen Caudill, which is interesting for all the technical details, but frustrating in execution. I mean, when someone gives you very detailed, matter of fact, and precise instructions for mental spoon bending and nothing at all happens when you try it yourself, it's a tad disappointing. I probably won't finish this one.

I'm listening to "White Night" by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters. I've read the book before, of course, but it's so much more when read by a good actor. He's the perfect voice for Harry Dresden.

I'm also reading "The Holographic Universe" by Michael Talbot. I've been on this one on and off for a while, as my tastes swing back and forth between metaphysics and fantasy- but it's interesting so far. There are some astonishing theories on how the brain stores information that keep blowing my mind each time I pick up the book, so I never stick with it for long. My thirst to understand the nature of reality has dulled of late. Whatever it is, it is. Do I really *need* to understand the "why" of it? Why not just absorb all of Joss Whedon's work instead?

[Elentári]

I've recently finished Katherine Neville's "The Fire" (sequel to her best-selling "The Eight") and Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol" - both novels set in DC, and involving speculation on the hidden meanings behind the layout of the city. The ending of "The Fire" (if you can call it an ending) was a big disappointment after enjoying "The Eight" all those years ago, but Brown delivered his usual fast-paced page turner with some nice twists. Thought the aftermath was a bit too drawn out and fanciful, though.

Am eagerly waiting to read the latest volume in Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time", THE GATHERING STORM (Vol 12) which has been co-written by Brandon Sanderson using notes Jordan left after his death, and published a couple of weeks ago. I have it on reservation at the local library (since I usually wait and buy the paperback editions) so it could be a while till I get my hands on it!

[Lalaith]

I just finished The Dark Reaches last night and highly recommend the whole series. I thought each book was progressively better, which, as I said elsewhere, is saying something, since the first book was already fantastic!

I also just finished The Other Boleyn Girl which was pretty good. I like Alison Weir's fiction better, but this was still a good read.

Because I'm still in the mood for that type of book (a rather rare occurrence), I picked up another Gregory book, The Virgin's Lover, at the library the other night. So far it's decent.

I'm always reading a book called Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation by Ruth Haley Barton. It's been quite good--one of those that you read a bit at a time and meditate upon, trying to see what you want or need to apply in your life.

And, like vison, I always have a copy of one of the LotR books on my bedside table.

[vison]

Lalaith, The Other Boleyn Girl WAS fiction. If it resembled the movie in any way - such as making Anne the elder sister?

[Lalaith]

Yes, I know it was fiction. I was saying that if you like historical fiction (that is actually quite factual) then you'd do better to read something by Alison Weir, like Innocent Traitor (about Lady Jane Grey) or The Lady Elizabeth (about Elizabeth, obviously).

I'm really looking forward to Alison Weir's non-fiction book about Anne Boleyn that is coming out in the winter some time.

[vison]

Yes, I know it was fiction. I was saying that if you like historical fiction (that is actually quite factual) then you'd do better to read something by Alison Weir, like Innocent Traitor (about Lady Jane Grey) or The Lady Elizabeth (about Elizabeth, obviously).

I'm really looking forward to Alison Weir's non-fiction book about Anne Boleyn that is coming out in the winter some time.

Aha. Now I get ya.

Did you know that Anne Boleyn had extra nipples and a 6th finger on her left hand?

[solicitr]

Well, the English nobility was rather dangerously inbred....

[vison]

Well, the English nobility was rather dangerously inbred....

The Boleyns weren't really Blue Bloods. Tudor society was pretty fluid.

I prefer to think "tha' Nan Bullen" war a witch . . . .

[Teremia]

Soli, I have an 18th-century edition of one of the volumes of Tristram Shandy, and it is absolutely mind-blowing to see the various visual tricks in a book that's so OLD. An incredible book in every respect!

I just read FINCH, by Jeff VanderMeer -- which is, officially, "fungal noir." VanderMeer is also part of the New Weird movement (at least, I think that's what they call it). Pretty good book, but not quite dark enough for me. I prefer his earlier works set in the same fungus-haunted city (Ambergris).

I also read A. S. Byatt's THE CHILDREN'S BOOK, and really loved it. It reminded me of why a person might want to be a writer. Swoon!

Before Byatt, I was on a Neal Stephenson tear, downing huge tome after huge tome, but by gum I kept being disappointed. ANATHEM (fantasy/SF mix with an emphasis on, umm, Plato) was truly wonderful, at least for the first 500 pages. Then DIAMOND AGE -- not my cup of tea. CRYPTONOMICON -- only the 2nd World War part caught my interest. QUICKSILVER -- kind of wanted it to get on with itself. And since each Stephenson book is about 1000 pages long, a person can get worn down when disappointed. Still, I highly recommend ANATHEM, at least the first two thirds of it (which I enjoyed more than anything I had read in a long time).

And lots and lots and lots of children's books. Perhaps to be discussed in Alatar's thread . . . .

[Primula Baggins]

I have to confess that I have never gotten successfully through a Stephenson since SNOW CRASH. Which I liked. I stopped halfway through DIAMOND AGE, and CRYPTONOMICON is looming next to it. I'll probably finish them both . . . someday. . . . .

Fungal noir sounds cool, though.

[Frelga]

I've been keeping up with my son's reading. The Gods of Manhattan series, The Children of the Lamp series, Prince of Fenway Park. Not bad stories, most of them, but I felt compelled to point out that they are all basically the same book over again - a young boy (sometimes boy and girl) finds that he has magical powers and must save the world or some part of it from terrible danger. That has gotten him reading Sherlock Holmes, at least.

Other than that, I have been re-reading several Pratchetts, as I usually do. Also went back to some Russian books while I still remember the language. Efremov's Edge of the Razor was the latest, a science fiction novel in which Russian doctor, Italian adventurers and Indian artist all come together loosely connected by stones with mysterious powers but really by the shared quest into the true meaning of beauty. The book is memorable from my student years for the doctor's lecture into how humans find certain features universally attractive for their evolutionary benefits.

[sauronsfinger]

This Tuesday I pick up GOING ROGUE - the Sarah Palin book. It is competing with at least one other Palin book by Conroy & Walshe. Several major sellers including Amazon are selling this one for under ten dollars which amounts to 69% off retail.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=s ... in&x=0&y=0

It is getting lots of buzz already in the mainstream media and Oprah has her on next Monday to promote the book.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

Already the McCain people are denying much of what she alleges in her book. This is going to keep getting lots of attention.

[Lalaith]

Fungal noir? WTH?


Ah, good old Anne Boleyn. I really am excited to read Weir's book.

One book I might look for is the new one by Howie Mandel. Yes, I know. Eh??? But that man is absolutely hysterical, and I so get the germ freak thing. He said it's rather serious (the book), so I'm intrigued. It'll be one I look for at the library.

[axordil]

Just went through May We Borrow Your Husband, a collection of Graham Green shorts, and about to start on The End of the Affair. Or maybe Our Man in Havana.

[Pearly Di]

I've just finished The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.

Wonderfully creepy, melancholy and atmospheric story, in the haunted English country house tradition. The novel reminded me of Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca but even more of Waugh's Brideshead Revisited , especially because of the viewpoint of the male narrator who becomes involved, even obsessed, with an aristocratic family. Hundreds Hall, the decaying Georgian mansion at the heart of the story, acquires a personality of its own, just like Manderley and Brideshead Castle.

Waters' novel is set in post-war England, in rural Warwickshire, just before the advent of the new National Health Service, and the themes of decay, class and social change provide its background.

I loved Waters' Victorian novels -- Tipping the Velvet, Affinity and Fingersmith -- and The Little Stranger is just as good.

The book is not quite as scary as I was expecting (I scare very easily ) but it is thoroughly unnerving, with many layers to it, and I am still thinking about the story and its implications even now. It sort of gets under your skin. Waters is a very rich, confident writer who always seems to know exactly what she is doing.

P.S. UK readers beware: there is a stupid great spoiler in the title of one of the Amazon UK comment threads.