Tell us what you are reading now, part III

I thought the previous post had got a bit long.

I've recently finished two of the best books I've read in a long time, Occupational Hazards by Rory Stewart, which is about the author's experiences as a provincial governor in occupied Iraq, and A People's Tragedy by Orlando Figes which is about the Russian Revolution and Civil War. Actually, the two books were quite similar. I totally recommend them!

On the F&SF side, I just finished the first volume of the manga series Negima! Magister Negi Magi by Ken Akamatsu, which is best described as what a crossover between Harry Potter and St. Trinians might be like if it were written by a complete pervert, and I'm coming to the end of Conquistador by S. M. Stirling which is, I guess, a right-wing utopia. I can't wholeheartedly recommend either of them but they are certainly original. I'd love to know what other people thought of them.

Currently reading:

Contemporary Paganism: Listening People Speaking Earth - which is on loan from a friend so I'm rattling through it a bit. It seems a good overview (not too Wiccan) but a bit waffly enough for my tastes.

Sergei Lukyaneko's Day Watch (touchstone for the first book in the series. sigh.) I am enjoying it, not quite as much as Night Watch though. It is even more bleak which I am not really in the mood for so I'm taking it slowly.

Oh and I'm still reading Maya Angelou's collected autobiographies. At the moment I'm on Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas, which is fun and interesting.

In honor of 4th of July, today I'm reading Norman Rockwell Illustrator.

I've just started Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as part of my Harry Potter Read-a-thon. It's one of my favourites, so I'm really looking forward to diving into it.

I'm also casually reading Beyond This Dark House, Guy Gavriel Kay's book of poetry. I'd originally planned to skip it as poetry isn't normally my thing, but the few poems in The Lions of Al-Rassan convinced me to give his a try. I'm only one poem in, but so far I'm very pleased with my decision.

(edited because I realized I cited the wrong HP book; d'oh!)

I'm reading some poetry! It's The Licorice Daughter: My Year With Ruffian by Lyn Lifshin.

I JUST finished reading A Long Way Down, which I loved. I didn't expect to, either, so it was a pleasant surprise.

Now I need to read Seize The Night for work, because I disliked The Taking, and when/if I end up having a meeting with Dean Koontz, I'd like to say something positive about his work.

A silly fluff read at the moment. I've giggled outloud on nearly every page. Had to stop reading in front of DH the other day because I was beginning to feel like such a goon.

"We Thought You Would Be Prettier: True Tales of the Dorkiest Girl Alive" by Laurie Notaro

I'm reading Order of the Phoenix too, but I'm taking a quick HP break to read The Shipping News. It came highly recommended from 2 wonderful people (Clam and Georgia), so I had to start it. I'm about halfway through, and I love it!

I just started Les Miserables. The unabridged version is quite...dense.

#9 Oooooo, my new favorite classic! Have a lovely time and don't be afraid to lay it down and read something else now and then. It's better to savor that way. Hope you like it.

Recently finished rereading all 6 HP books. Finished Skydog, the biography of Duane Allman (founding guitarist of Allman Brothers). Really enjoyed it, as I think Duane Allman one of the top guitarists. The bio included a nice breakdown of Allman's recording s and session work with others, including insight into the Derek & the Dominoes sessions with Eric Clapton.

I am also reading The Long Arm Gil Hamilton by Lary Niven. Very interesting angle on the topic of organ transplants/organ donations.

I'm still reading Cyteen. It's very good, but at current reading speed it will take more than a week to finish it - loads of work to do, and then we go south to visit my mother in law for a week (leaving this saturday).

To Serve Them All My Days by R. F. Delderfield.

I'm enjoying the early 20th century feel, but am not keen on how little the main character's wife and children feature in his internal life.

Just biding my time until July 21. :)

Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by
Douglas Adams
Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K.Rowling
rereading both
Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion By J.R.R. Tolkien

Just beginning my first ever reading of the HP series. Only a few years late!!
Used to read one book at a time...but never gonna get them all read that way...so stepping up the pace!!

Currently reading The Fire Thief by Terry Deary.

I'm reading Earth by: David Brin....its really good.....

mamachunk

Reading through The Seven Basic Plots by Christopher Booker, this is a mammoth book that explains the common ground and basic plot elements that all stories have. At first I disagreed that everything's been done, but then I realized that it was not so much ideas that had been done before, as I read the book more carefully, but it is the plot formulas that have remained in the subconsious of humanity since the dawn of time that are similar. For example, Jaws is like the Beowulf myth in that it pits a hero against a monster which is terrorising a community, and Star Wars is based on the supposed "monomyth" explored in The Hero Of A Thousand Faces, which is a book by a different author that claimed that there is a single myth that is part of all cultures.

I'm reading Sunshine by Robin McKinley since everyone seems to sing her praises, and liking it so far. I'm also going to start To Ride Hell's Chasm today for the group read.

I've discovered Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series... and am in the middle of the first book Over Sea, Under Stone. I'm still waiting for my To Ride Hell's Chasm to arrive... sigh...

I'm actually working on To Ride Hell's Chasm and Middlemarch. Both of these books are for LibraryThing shared reads! :o) One for in here, of course, and the other for my Connecticut Nutmeggers group.

I love Middlemarch! Do you have to live in Connecticut?

Nope! I don't think so...LOL

What's the deal on the name?

Well, I don't think you need to live in the state to post to the group. We have former residents who've posted. It's not a "members only" can post sort of group. Like the GD. Anyone on LT can post.

I'm gonna go check it out. Any group that tackles Middlemarch has got to be cool.

(Like I have time for a re-read of a 1000-page book!

Bwaa haa haa!!! Well, the font in my copy is flea turd sized. :o

I was exaggerating for effect. (who, me?) (sorry, I know I'm a poor speller)

I just posted over there my willingness to reread Middlemarch and my impressions of CT, not all of which were favorable. I hope they don't kick me out of the club!

No, I meant my copy is only 600 pages, hence the itty bitty font. LOL The rest of the crew seem to have books that are closer to 800 pages. So, you're not exaggerating by much.

Finished Hell's chasm, currently on the Enemy with The Magicican's Guild and the Novice next up.

Some great titles being read - it's always fun scrolling through and thinking, yep read that, what a great book when will I get around to re-reading it?

Hi All,

I'm new, thought here was as good a place as any to start posting :)

What am I reading: I'm about 3 quarters through The Shadow of Tyr by Glenda Larke & I'm loving it :)

well I've just polished off JRR Tolkien Author of the century which has been waiting to be read for a little while now, and whilst I'm still on a J R R Tolkien vibe at the moment, I think I'm going to launch into the Silmarillion soon, as I've never read it (shame on me)... but of course there's a certain Deathly Potter (I know the touchstone isn't right, but I got bored scrolling through the millions of Potter related tags) book to get through first ;-)

I'm putting off reading Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier since I'm waiting for the last Harry Potter. My reading speed varies like crazy and sometimes I can be really slow getting through a book, and I don't want to risk having to put Potter on hold to finish something.

I just finished Marillier's Wildwood Dancing, though. It's a young adult fantasy and I just adored it. Inspired by the fairytale the Twelve Dancing Princesses. It's interesting to see how she takes details of the old tale and work it into her new piece.

#32 - I loved Daughter of the Forest. I just recently read it for the second time.

I'm reading Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik. It's been a while since the group read, so I hope I remember His Majesty's Dragon.

I've just started Out of the Silent Planet by C.S.Lewis. I'm only about 30 pages in, so it's too early to say for sure, but I think I'll really like it. I really enjoy Lewis's style.

#32, 33
I love Daughter of the Forest as well! It's a great trilogy-one of my all-time favorites. My name (Darragh) actually comes from my favorite character in the 3rd book. Maybe it's time to reread those books...

Right now I'm rereading On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony. I loved it when I read it the first time. The whole personification-of-Death thing really caught my interest. It's about this guy in an alternate 20th century who kills Death and then has to take on the role of Death for himself. The religious points are kinda grating on me this time though. Well, I've changed religions since then so I guess it is to be expected. Haha!

I'm also waiting for a trip to the library right now to pick up The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan. The 3rd one just came out in this series and I want to refresh my knowledge of what happened in the first 2. The books are actually meant for kids around the age of 10-but I like to please my inner child. Kids have some of the best fantasy writing (and some of the worst!).

I am so ready for HPand the DH now I can't settle on any one book. I'm reading mostly short books and magazines

#34 xicanti - I'm also reading Out of the Silent Planet. I started it several weeks ago and put it aside. I picked it back up this morning. Let me know what you think when you finish.

I started Ender's Game last night because it's on the 8th grade summer reading list, and I haven't read it before. When a student does a project on it, it would help to know what the book's about. I really like what I've read so far.

I'm finishing up OotP and have Half-blood Prince ready to go in anticipation of DH coming out.

I should have waited and posted once. :)

#38 - I love Ender's Game! I've read it a couple of times. The sequel is good, but they go downhill after the first two books in the series. Ender's Shadow is also very good.

I've set aside Janny's book to read A Lantern in Her Hand
by Bess Streeter Aldrich for one of my Real Life book clubs. :o) So far I'm loving it!

I'm reading Dermaphoria. Love it. Not entirely sure what the hell is going on, but I'm OK with that.

Hells Chasm for the group read, and Teach Yourself Visually Knitting (ever hopefully it will make sense one day) and Captive of Gor, book sale find!

Keep at it noonlight. Knitting is the bomb!

I'm rereading Middlemarch, and it's clamairy's fault! Well, until Deathly Hallows comes out that is.

GD & HP - Ender's Game is really good!

I finished Cyteen last night and haven't got around to chose what to read next - I'm on some kind of vacation and spends most of my time socializing with my family... VERY rewarding :-)

I should add that I really enjoyed Cyteen.

Busifer - CJ Cherryh is writing the sequel as we speak, from her blog its at 139412 words which probably means more or less finished apart from editing it back to a sensible amount. Published? soon hopefully.

I've just raced through Trudi Canavan's Dark magician series (8hrs on a train finished two books) and am now on a change of genre to Ruth Rendell

Just finished a YA chick lit thing and now I'm moving on to Twilight by Stephanie Meyer :)

Next up will probably be Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - need a refresher before the weekend!

reading_fox - I'm not surprised! The ending felt like a cliffhanger... only curious the 2nd part took some time coming around, 20 yrs later is a loooong time!

#44 Busifer - I really struggled with Cyteen and never completed the book. Is it just a slow start (I read about 1/3)? Maybe it just didn't click with me.

A few pages away from finishing Dermaphoria - seriously, this book is incredible and beautiful. Go read it - but I'm stuck at the office! Then I have to read Squashed for work. Then I don't know.

#48 - One can't like all books there are, can one?! ;-)
I felt the 1/3 slow going as well but not hard enough to stall me for more than a day or three... and when it got going IT GOT GOING!
I think it helped that I enjoyed the Foreigner:-series as much as I did, I kind of knew what I thought her capable of.

But. There are so many books out there, spending times with those you don't like is such a waste. And Cherryh writes in a special style, I imagine you either like it a lot or not at all.

BTW I decided to read Fourth planet from the sun. It's an anthology of very short stories, and I figured it would be easy going/not need much concentration/give me time to do other things than read or thinking about what I'm reading ;-)

I actually found the beginning of Cyteen: the best, to me it stalled about halfway through before a massive finish. However I know many readers do find the beginning slow. CJ Cherryh's style has sometimes been described as "strict third person" - you don't get any clues to the rest of the world, only what that character can see/hear, and even worse things that are 'normal' in their world aren't much described because one doesn't notice normal things!
It can make her books hard work until you've grasped how that particular world works.

The reason I felt the beginning slow going was that I had to put the book down every now and then; I felt I had to distance myself from the protagonists, to avoid getting too involved; they hurt, and I didn't want to spend my waking time worrying about them.

The short "chapters" helped me in this - I read one, put away the book, took it on again...

You put it down?! I couldn't. Really. I didn't want to either, I was so gripped by the beginning I had to conciously remember go and eat and live. I get sucked into books quite often, but this was on a completely different level to just about anything I've read before. I can't remember if the Real World forcibly intruded in the middle or if it was the book that faded every so slightly, but I found it easier to put down after a while.

I just hope it re-reads at the same level of intensity.

Yes, it sounds bad, doesn't it?! But I had to put some reality between myself and them, I'd be off on some other planet else and the other half compares that state with the behaviour of drug addicts... and as we where travelling together, staying in a one room apartment for a whole week, when I read that part I felt I had better stay sane ;-)

Reading The Undercover Economist during lunch and have just finished The Innocent Man and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Partly filling in waiting for next week and partly I was back in the UK last week and did 3 for 18.99 in the airport bookshop on the way home. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is the pick of the bunch and one of the best books I've read in a while. I'd read a review in, I think, the Economist, but was nearly put off by the sticker on the front "Richard and Judy's summer read" but perservered and enjoyed it. The political message was a bit laboured at times but the story rattled along and the different approaches worked quite well.

I'm reading Harshini by Jennifer Fallon, and very impressed by how her writing has improved since Medalon. Reviews say the characters change a lot, particularly the main character, R'shiel, but I haven't noticed much of a change yet.

#37 GeorgiaDawn - I found it interesting, and I'm glad I read it, but I don't think it's something I'll ever need to return to. And, contrary to what I'd heard, I found the allegory much more obvious here than in the Narnia books. I think this was because Lewis was working with broad themes of belief rather than Christian-specific ideas. The latter only works if you recognize the stories he'd built off of, while Out of the Silent Planet was more universal.

I've now started The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, mainly because of how often it's mentioned on LT. It's interesting so far, but I'm not yet hooked.

I'm reading Peter Robb, Midnight in Sicily. Fascinating, and brilliantly written and paced. Elements of travel memoir, appreciation of a place and people. But also elements of a political thriller, as he shows (with details you don't know unless you followed the Italian press Minutely for the past 40 years) how the mafia runs like a red thread through so much of Sicilian life -- and the whole political history of modern Italy.

He shows, for example, how central several mafia-related characters are in di Lampedusa's The Leopard -- something that can slide past you when you just read that as a novel. And how little things had changed in rural Sicily from the era of The Leopard (1860's) to the 1950's-60's.

Robb's book has great continuing relevance (and its perception is affirmed), considering a news item just this week. After the major crackdown on the mafia in the 1990's, considerable land was seized from imprisoned mafia owners as fruits of crime and given over to farmer cooperatives. But those coops find it difficult, to this day, to interact with other local farmers and local businesses. And difficult to fend off re-infiltration by mafia elements in the surrounding community.

> 56, littlebookworm have you read the other Jennifer Fallon books? IMO her writing gets MUCH better in the later series... In fact I think each book she releases is technically better than the one before, always a good thing in a writer! I have a LOT of affection for Second Sons (Dirk is one of my fave characters of all time) but I have a feeling Tide Lords (The Immortal Prince is book one) will be my new fave by the time it's fully released. (I'm in Australia so have a head start - disclaimer: I also run Jennifer Fallon's website -- needless to say it's lovely having direct access to one of my fave authors!).

I'm still reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows plus the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. :) Lots of lovely, lovely reading atm!

Meanwhile, I can't believe there's no correct touchstone for HP7!

#59 - Not yet, but I'm going to. I've heard good things about the rest of her work, and I did like that trilogy, so I think I'll be looking for more.

I'm currently reading Black Powder War by Naomi Novik and soon finishing Richard the Third by Paul Murray Kendall. I can only take my facts in small doses, so that one's been going slowly, but very enjoyably.

No idea what to read next, I have plenty of great books waiting for me in my TBR piles ... I did promise myself that I could reread the Kushiel trilogy in preparation for Kushiel's Scion when I have my wisdom teeth out on Tuesday, though.

I just finished In This House of Brede which I thoroughly enjoyed. I do like Rumer Godden's style of writing. I'm listening to Busman's Honeymoon on my iPod and am going to start Strong Poison today as well as To Ride Hell's Chasm so I can join in the group read (belatedly). MrsLee sent me a link to a Lord Peter site that explains all the references in Dorothy L. Sayers books, so that will make re-reading Lord Peter great fun.

Reading this thread makes me think of JPB's moon discussion, how we're all enjoying the same moon. I read through these postings and think, hey I just finished that, I've got that one to read next (or soon), or yeah, I just listened to that one. It makes me feel connected with all of you, and it never ceases to amaze me how similar our literary tastes are, all across the world! We come from all walks of life, different backgrounds, cultures and yet we find this wonderful commonality in our books.

It's delightful.

Go katylit! I just finished The Five Red Herrings. Won't be starting Have His Carcase until Sept., so that gives me a chance to go after my TBR pile.

Am presently reading The Living Reed by Pearl S. Buck, Bob Hope's Confessions of a Hooker (I don't golf, I just love Bob Hope), and Jingo by Terry Pratchett. All of which are very good and hard to pick and choose between each day.

Hmmm. Touchstones were working just fine, then phuttt. Nothing.

I'm almost finish with Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner. I was a little leery of it at first as I'd heard very mixed reviews, but I'm loving it. I want a personal copy, (this one is from the library), and as long as the ending holds up I'll definitely be checking out more of Ms. Kushner's work.

Century rain - An alternate future/past history SF work by a great english author. I don't normally like alternate history very much, but this is quite different and very good, like all his work.

Freedom and Necessity by Steven Brust and Emma Bull. I'm enjoying the narrative technique (the novel is told through a series of letters written between characters). I'm also a fan of both authors, so picking it up was a no-brainer.

Began and finished Whale Song: a novel by Cheryl Kaye Tardiff today. It is a YA novel and I didn't expect it to be so cathartic. My emotions were wrung out by the end and I had to read some Pratchett to collect myself. Whale Song was great, dealing with some huge issues, such as assisted suicide, racism and school bullying. I would be happy to share it with any teen or adult I know.

Just started Possible Side Effects by Augusten Burroughs.

Wonky touchstone.

I'm reading Bangkok Haunts, third in a series of detective stories set in Thailand, and narrated by a Buddhist Thai cop who runs a brothel with his mother. The Buddhist point of view alongside the seamy sex trade is always really interesting, and this book shows the more supernatural elements of Thai culture.

As a longtime reader of fantasy and sf, I'm finally caving in and reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 9 years after reading the first.

Finished Possible Side Effects, and am now reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union.

(Wonky touchstone for second book, made wonkier by non-wonky nature of first touchstone. Go figure).

#69 - I await your review of the Michael Chabon book with bated breath, ellevee. :o)

#70 So far, it's a weird time to be a Jew or a chicken.

#71 - A cryptic message if I ever read one.

Having finished Jingo (loved it) and the Bob Hope book I was reading, (fun, but pretty topical) I've begun Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs, (the first chapter made me want to visit that tea room so badly!) and Oars, Sails and Steam (it's one of the large books which doesn't fit on my TBR shelves and I've promised myself to get off the floor) which will come in very handy when I read my sailing adventure books which I love. Ships and all their parts are illustrated and defined very clearly.

*edited: Typos be gone!

Currently reading Destination Mars - an YA piece from my youth that I found and bought recently. It's only a 109 pages so I decided to squeeze it in even if I've also started on The summer tree (you know - my quest for reading everything by Guy G Kay...)

Edited to fix touchstone.

I've been trying to start The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud ever since yesterday afternoon, but I keep getting distracted.

I'm currently reading Josephine : A Life of the Empress by Carolly Erickson and Titus Groan in my collection of The Gormenghast Novels by Mervyn Peake. I'm also tempted to start Sebastian by Anne Bishop, but I don't know if I want to be reading three books at once.

xicanti @ #63, Do you listen to Ellen Kushner's Sound and Spirit radio show? I get it on my public radio station every Sunday (times vary around the country, so check local listings). It's a wonderful mix of music and commentary on a different specific theme each week.

I'm reading Betrayal - there are several books with that name! But I've selected the right touchstone.

Its an author new to me, picked up on a whim at Waterstones. The start of a trilogy its OK, probably good enough that the rest of the trilogy will go on my books to keep an eye out for list, but probably not on a must get this now list.

Fairly standard boy finds he is the destiny of the gods in a world of filled with persecution style plot. So far anyway.

I just started The Hard SF Renaissance, which was a birthday gift from my sister earlier this summer. So far, there are some good stories and at least one I didn't particularly care for.

I finished my ARC of Tipperary yesterday, and I'm back in the middle of Middlemarch. I may have to set that aside for two real-life book club books, though.

#76 Linkmeister - it sounds like a good show, but it's not available in my area. :(

I couldn't get into The Last Novel or Yiddish Policeman's Union, so I switched things around and am now reading I Like You: Hospitality Under The Influence and Oracle Night, both of which immediately caught my interest.

When I grow up, I want to be Amy Sedaris.

I've been binging on Scott Westerfeld over the past month. I've read his Uglies trilogy and have one more to go on his Midnighters trilogy. In between I also read Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey and HP7.

At the moment I'm reading Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracey Chevalier. I watched the movie a while ago and really enjoyed it and heard wonderful things about the book. Usually I try to read the book first, oh well. The book is starting out nice.

Kushiel's Dart.

A wonderful read so far, but I confess I am struggling with people and place names. I keep flipping back to find out who these people are who are conquering regions or attending parties.

She needs a guidebook, kind of like the ship guides to the Patrick O'Brian series.

Artic, at least she has a dramatis personae in the front. That really saved me.

You needed a ship guide? I don't know a frigate from fromage, nor do I care, but I enjoy PO nevertheless. It's all about the characters!

Yeah, I do a little sailing, and so I am one of those people that wants to know which mast is the mizzen, and which is the foresail.

I finally get to read my ER copy of The Guardians!

I've done a bit of sailing myself, but I have to say that I tend to be like Stephen. I'm just along for the ride.

I'm reading Crow Lake, given to me by my cousin and am totally thrilled to have discovered a wonderful new author. This book is a complete delight. I've been reading all day and just had to take a break for a bit, but I'll be going back to it shortly.

Artic and lg, when I discovered the Horatio Hornblower series as a teen I bought a gorgeous, huge poster of an old sailing ship with all the masts and sails labeled - I finally found out what a bowsprit was, so I know what you mean. My dad built a trimaran when I was little and we spent glorious summers sailing Lake Ontario.

#79. I was going to grab my copy of Tipperary to read it as well, but heck, it's a long way...

I'm reading Just Play Ball by Joe Garagiola. This is a fun and silly book with wonderfully goofy anecdotes and cool baseball insight to boot. There's even a chapter on Yogi-isms that have some that I'd never heard before. Here's a sample of a classic that I had heard before:

With perfect logic, Carmen, Yogi's wife, asked a simple question: "Yogi, you were born in St. louis, but you played in New york, and we have lived most of our life in New Jersey, and our kids and grandchildren live here. Where do you want to be buried, St. Louis, New York, or New Jersey?

"'Surprise me," : Yogi said.

>89 mrgrooism: That song's been in my head since the book was announced as an Early Reviewers title. Now it can go away since someone else has mentioned it. Thank you!

I'm reading Nightlife by Rob Thurman. I picked it up at a library sale for 25 cents. It was a great deal. It's about a guy who's half demon...and yeah. It's really funny. I find myself giggling on almost every page. Even when some of the characters are almost dying. It's quite an odd writing style but it matches my weird sense of humor so all's well.

>59 ph8:-I love John Flanagan. His series is great...even though it's meant for younger kids I still love it. I read the first 2 books a year ago. I really want to go back and reread then now that the 3rd one is finally out. Well, it's been out in Australia forever. I think they're up to book 5 or something. Which just really bugs me...knowing the book is there and I can't read them.

I need to make some friends from the land down under.

mrgrooism - I see there is a welcome back thread for you, but WELCOME back! You have been sorely missed and thought of by this user.

I took some books on my trip to mom's to read:
Death by Darjeeling by Laura Childs
Gunpowder Green
Baghdad by the Bay by Herb Caen

Herb Caen's book was by far the best. Love his way with language, even though the book would have meant more had I been born about 70 years ago.

The mysteries...well, let's just say they fulfilled their purpose of mindless reading when my mind was full of other things. Not very good mysteries IMO.

So OK, I'm not reading it right now - as a matter of fact I've just finished it - the Fionavar trilogy (The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire & The Darkest Road).
Most of you know of my quest for reading (almost) everything Guy G Kay has written. I have to admit I don't know exactly what draws me to his books, but something there is; I really like them (except Last light of the Sun which felt OK while I read it but not afterwards).

But right now I'm totally irked by his treatment of his female characters. YUK! What era does he live in?!

*SPOILER ALERT!*
Here I am, having followed the emerging romance between two of the characters, one of whom is central to the plot. Then the guy is doing the typically manly thing to do - ie something totally braindead and unnecessary. As a result, he dies. And *ping!* she disappears! We hear small words of her father, but what has become of her, who "couldn't love any other", no word.
More could be said, because I think ALL the female characters in Fionavar is reduced to pawns and objects, not living beings.
I realise this is what, in retrospect, irks me about Tolkien as well, but at least he WAS from another age than ours, no? ;-)

So. This is high fantasy. It is about the big picture, of good and evil; not about individuals. But even so.

Still enjoy his writings. Still gave Fionavar high ratings. But this really got to me.

I totally agree Busifer, much as I enjoyed Fionavar, I did NOT like Kay's depiction of the female characters. I think that's why I was so pleased with his later books, he made his women a lot stronger. I've just chalked it up to his being fresh from working with Christopher Tolkien on The Silmarillion and that rubbed off on him ;-)

>> 93

I agree, MrsLee. I just finished Jasmine Moon Murders and have started Chamomile Mourning. Not great mysteries. Not page turners. But I like to read them when Real Life has my mind on overload. They are a nifty little diversion from that. Plus I will admit I am a sucker for a novel that comes with recipes. And I've got a whole new wishlist comprised of tea blends to acquire since reading these books!

NB: These touchstone are acting wonky. No idea what will happen once I hit the submit button.

Forever Odd
The Omnivore's Dilemma

I've just started on Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud. It's quite good so far; very readable. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of my questions answered, and it'll be interesting to see if Stroud can really bring all these issues to some sort of conclusion by the end of the book.

Finished up Girl with a Pearl Earring last night. I really enjoyed Chevalier's descriptions of the paintings and her imagined stories behind some of them. Also interesting was to see the process of a painting being created. I've got a great urge to watch the movie again.

Now reading Blue Noon, the last of the Midnighters trilogy by Scott Westerfeld. I've also picked up Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman to dip in and out of.

Just finished The Eyre Affair based on recommendations from here, and loved it!

I'm reading A Dragon lover's treasury of the fantastic at the moment & there are some really good stories in there... As a general rule short stories frustrate me. because I like to get caught up in the story with the characters & short storys dont seem to give me enough to get caught up in. However, I have enjoyed the stories so far & a few author names have been added to my "to read" list :)

I'm almost done with The Eyre Affair, too, and it's really cute.

#95 - Thanks Katylit, it makes me feel better that I'm not alone in this!

I finally finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, now I'm moving onto my newly acquired hardcover limited edition of Neil Gaiman's Stardust, then I might start Salman Rushdie's East, West.

I've just finished the Innocent Mage by Karen Miller. A cracking good read, well worth looking out for. Lots of humour, in a good fantasy story. I'm looking forward to the second part.

I'm more than halfway through Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson. I like it even more than Elantris. It's darker, but he writes really great characters that are easy to care for. I've found myself smiling at their interactions more than once.

Also, the magic system is really cool.

Currently reading A London Family - an autobiography of a family in Victorian London. Its a really sweet story so far.

I just picked a pile at the used bookstore and I'm eager to sink my teeth into the Fairy Stories of George MacDonald next!

I'm reading White Oleander and the characters feelings are hitting far too close to home for comfort. A powerful book for me.

I'm reading When Christ and his Saints Slept and enjoying it tremendously. Woohoo, I love discovering new authors and now I've discovered Mary Lawson and Sharon Kay Penman. Regretably Lawson only has one other book - which I picked up yesterday, so have that to look forward to. But I believe Penman has lots more books for me to read.

And I enjoyed Stardust the movie so much last night that I'm going to be joining you soon teenauthor and reading that too. Lucky you in that edition - sounds lovely.

#103, Busifer, I don't think we're alone, I believe I've read elsewhere on LT that others objected to The Fionavar Tapestry for exactly the reasons you've mentioned. There are worse though. My nephew was a huge fan of Terry Brooks and I read one of his books and was totally turned off by the ineffectual women, much worse than G.G. Kay in my opinion. But that was years ago, maybe Brooks has improved too?

I need some help. It's time to start a new book, and I can't choose. Should it be The Wanderer's Tale or Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg (touchstone not working)?

That is IT. I need to find The Eyre Affair. Somewhere. Out there. OK, that's enough rhyming.

Wow, you all have such access to books where ever you are. I make note of the titles and ask around it see if anyone can loan me some. We have no garage sales, thrift shops or second hand stores that cary books in English. I usually mooch off my English speaking friends who belong to book clubs. I get the end-of-the-year borrows. Just finished the Namesake by Juhumpa Lahri, The widow of the south, by Robert Hicks, the new HP (loaned by a lazy student who hasn't read it yet) and am in the middle of the lost painting by Jonathan Harr (on Caravaggio) a mixed bag indeed, but beggars can't be chosers. What else are you reading?

I just finished The Fox which is sequel to Inda by Sherwood Smith - which I liked a lot. More than a pretty cover -- the politics and the characters are very well rounded. I will definitely be looking forward to the sequel. (balky touchstones, sorry)

Now I am reading The Children of Hurin by Tolkein, which is a real change of pace.

I just placed a request at my library for The Eyre Affair based on all the posts here. I hope it comes in soon!

>100 foggidawn:
>102 littlegeek:
>111 ellevee:

I, too have succumbed to the overwhelming number of glowing recommendations here for The Eyre Affair. I finished it last week and just today picked up the next in the series Lost in a Good Book from the library.

By the by Jasper Fforde has a really fun website. Give it a visit if you have not already. It was worth it for me just for the 'photo' of Thursday's sports car. Not at all the paint job on it that I had imagined!!

I, too, really enjoyed The Eyre Affair. The more I think about it, the more I like it. I'll definitely be keeping a lookout for more of Jasper's stuff.

As far as current reads go, I'll start The Privilege of the Sword by Ellen Kushner either later this evening or tomorrow morning. I'm really looking forward to it.

Finished The Living Reed, which I loved! I never knew much about Korea, other than where it was on a map and there was a war there. This was sad though. Also finished Oars, Sails and Steam. Liked it too.

Now reading The Cat Who Dropped a Bombshell by Lillian Jackson Braun (is it just me, or is that title suggestive of something unappealing that a cat might do on a carpet?) and Vanity Fair.

Started Letters from the Earth this morning while waiting for the boat.

Note to myself: With all this talk going on about Jasper Fforde I'll have to look him up some day.

I've also added The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde to my wishlist - perhaps as a treat when I finish a significant number of TBR books. =)

I'm reading Inkspell by Cornelia Funke and The Life of Elizabeth I by Alison Weir. I only started them yesterday evening so not too far in yet.

Finished reading The Invention of Hugo Cabret, since my Mum bought it for me to help with my book illustration and design HSC Art project. It's a really good book, which blends early cinema with the tale of a clock repairing boy, who finds an Automaton in the burnt ruins of a museum...

Will start Stardust soon, since my HSC is dominating my reading time.

I'm now reading The Truelove by Patrick O'Brian, book 15 in the Aubrey/Maturin series. It begins with a cranky Jack feeling his age. Seems about right.

#120 TA, please excuse my ignorance, you've mentioned this before and I keep wondering...what IS HSC?? High School Curriculum? It's not a term used here in Canada.

And I'm glad to hear you enjoyed Hugo Cabret, that's definitely a book I want to get.

It's the High School Certificate. In Australia they make you EARN your High School Diploma, through Herculean feats such as 3 hour exams, ridiculous assignments that are clumped together at similar times, and worst of all... they don't have emphasis what you think of books you read for English, you have to write depersonalised essays that are hollow and wooden, using words like "composer" instead of Author, and "text" instead of book/film/artwork.

ahhh, the joys of school. Thanks for clearing that up for me. Poor boy, think how good it will be when you graduate :-) Is this your last year?

Reading The Eyre Affair. Finally! And still going through The Omnivore's Dilemma.

124> actually it's not, due to my Asperger's Syndrome I went on the "Pathways" program, which means I do my HSC over several years. :'(

Forgive me, it's this "pollyanna" syndrome of mine, but I guess I see it that while your HSC will drag on for a few years, it's great that the Pathways program is available for you. It does sound challenging with multiple assignments, and weird specifications about essay writing, but perhaps conversely that helps you with your creative writing?

I hope you get to squeeze in Stardust soon, it's on my to-get list, but I want to whittle down my TBR pile a bit first.

Finished The Cat Who book. It was what I expected. I only read these because of the Siamese cats in them. I find the author's description of them and their characters very apt.

Just opened Steppenwolf last night, to get some relief after doing plumbing in very tight quarters. Still working on Kushiel's Dart.

Started ATreasury of Grand Opera today. The touchstone didn't give the one I'm reading. I know next to nothing about opera, have never seen one live. Already the introduction has helped me understand why opera is the medium of choice to convey thoughts and emotions of an individual in a story. I love learning stuff.

After more than a month of waiting, (other things kept getting in the way), I'm finally ready to start Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb. I've been looking forward to it since the second I finished Assassin's Quest, but I'm also sort of dreading hauling it around. My copy is a hardcover, (there was an unfortunate miscommunication on BookMooch; I really appreciate that the person sent it to me, since it cost them so much, but I wouldn't have mooched it had I known it wasn't a paperback), and it literally weighs more than my dog. I'm not looking forward to toting it around for the next few days. (I always carry whatever I'm reading around with me, as I've got a lengthy bus ride and quite a bit of time to kill on my breaks).

I've finished up Midnighters:Blue Noon. I've just been blowing through Scott Westerfeld's books; they're quite light reading and I find I can't stop with just one. I have Peeps and The Last Days already from the library, but I will restrain myself and and start Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks next.

My dips into Gaiman's collection Smoke & Mirrors have been fun so far. I'm finding I like him better in these smaller doses. American Gods and Stardust were fine but nothing that made me run to pick the next novel up. But they are nice to pick up for something really different from my usual fantasy fare!

Also started The Foxfire Book last night. A collection of articles from a magazine produced by a high school in Georgia. The students collected memories, folklore and craft lore from the elderly in their community and published a magazine full of it. I'm not sure how many years they did this, but I have three books of it.

Ever heard of this GeorgiaDawn?

133 sandragon

I did the same thing with Scott Westerfeld - I just read his books one after another. Very well written YA fiction (note to self: find his adult fiction, I know he wrote some).

I just finished Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley (which I didn't like much better than the last time I read it) and now I'm onto The Blue Sword. I need to get back to new reads, but that means finding the library and/or bookstore...hm.

I just finished Abracadabra by Stephen Gresham and still working on Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson and The Battle of Alamein by John Bierman. Tonight I will start Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander, then the rest of the series.

I just got Night watch finally from the library and have Dusk watch ordered on interlibrary loan. Devoured the first few chapters on the bus home. They are every bit as driven as the movie based on the novel.

I'm currently working on Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper, and it is absolutely brilliant. I hope the rest of the series is as good as this one.

And the H.P. Lovecraft omnibus 1. Currently reading At the mountains of Madness. Lovecraft is a bit of an aquired taste, but it is suprisingly interesting.

#134 - Georgia may not know about the Foxfire books, but I remember them. There's quite a few more than three if I recall. My grandmother lived on a lake in north Louisiana, and I used to hole up on the back porch reading those when I wasn't fishing.

#134, I remember a collection of Foxfire books, large sized paperbacks with grainy covers in different solid colors. They had an interesting mix of different types of pieces, none very long as I recall, so you could try each one and skip on if it didn't grab you. My brother in law kept a set in a room suitable for reading short pieces.

Glad to see lots of folks getting into Jasper Fforde. I've been re-reading the Thursday Next books in anticipation of First Among Sequels, which I haven't gotten yet because I prefer paperbacks.

Busifer, I agree emphatically with your criticism of GGK's descriptions of women, particularly in his earlier works. There's been some improvement, but he hasn't given them equal prominence or roles. I guess one could argue that he comes close in Arbonne or Lions.

Speaking of gender roles ;-), I'm about 80 pages into Terry Pratchett's Equal Rites. I decided I had to give him a try because of all the enthusiasm about him here on LT, and I followed some recommendations that I saw to start with this book rather than The Colour of Magic. So far I'm underwhelmed, but there are enough hints of things to come to keep me reading for a while.

#139 & 140 - I am loving the Foxfire book. Reminds me of talking with my grandfather who was 99 before he died in the early 80's. Last night I learned how to build a log cabin.

Now if someone would give me a reason to continue reading Vanity Fair?

I'm putting aside When Christ and His Saints Slept with a twinge of regret, so that I can read Tipperary and get my review up. I've been reading a little slowly recently and I'd like to be able to review before the November release date.

The Foxfire books have been around for a long long time; I think they began about the same time as The Mother Earth News and The Whole Earth Catalog, which would put them in the late 1960s to early 1970s.

They all appealed to the Back to the Land movement which was a bit of an offshoot of the environmental movement back then.

Last night I started Havenstar by Glenda Noramly (who is actually Glenda Larke) & I'm finding it hard to put down allready...

Its interesting to me that I find this so much easier to get stuck into than the Anthology I just finished (A Dragon lover's Treasury of the Fantastic)... I dont think I can appreciate short stories as much as I would like to, they dont stick in my head & i find alot of them confusing because there's not enough time for me to get to know the world & setting of the story... There have been a couple of author names I've added to my "to read" list, but apart from that I really didnt get alot out of the book :(

#133 sandragon
#135 bluesalamanders

I've just started the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld. I haven't read any of his work before, so hope I enjoy it as much as you did.

#134 and 139 - I do know of the Foxfire books and have copies of some at my mother's house. Next time I'm there I need to add them to my library since they are, technically, mine. I love those books!

Sorry for the late reply. I haven't been around much lately.

>141 MrsLee:, Mrs. Lee:

Here are two reasons to keep reading Vanity Fair:

1) Becky Sharpe is one of the most interesting female characters in all of 19th century fiction. Thackeray can't quite make up his mind whether he dares to approve of her independent-woman brashness, and willingness to do whatever it takes to rise from poverty and obscurity. She is a woman entirely making her own way (through various relationships) at a time when that was totally socially unacceptable in "society."

2) There is a wonderful portrait of a real time and place in the chapters dealing with the English society "camp followers" who go to Brussels when Napoleon has returned from Elba and is marching to meet Wellington in southern Belgium -- ultimately at the decisive battle of Waterloo. These society types expect Wellington to squash Napolenon easily. When instead the battle goes on for several days, and there are rumors that Napoleon may break through a key point in Wellington's positions and sweep into Brussels, panic ensues. Watch for the role played by Becky's ownership of a horse and carriage.

Later in the book than that, things do get a bit slow; you could stop after you are past the Waterloo episode and not lose much.

pechmerle - Thank you. I will continue for a bit, it becomes sort of addicting, but also my paperback copy has lost it's glue binding and is falling apart, so I'm having fun tearing off the pages as I finish them....O.K., I don't have much of a life.

Also started reading The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett. Cynicism which is funny and not morbid like Thackeray.

I'm reading The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon. It's very Chabon--ethnic, bizarre, disaffected main character, strong female. It's nice to luxuriate in the wonderful prose. (esp after reading several fantasy novels...sigh...)

I just recently finished The Yiddish Policemen's Union as well. I gave it 4.5 stars. Boy was it a good read...

I've just started Mad Ship by Robin Hobb. I thought I might like a bit of a break between this one and Ship of Magic, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

The Two Towers

finally!

I am reading "Island on the Edge of the World," by Charles Maclean. . . Serendipity notice: I had just read "The 21 Balloons," by William Pene duBois. BOTH are about remote islands (21 is fanciful, Edge is serious/true). I had grabbed them at random from storage shed yesterday. Esta1923

The Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Hearn.

I can't read anything until I get my HSC Art project in tomorrow... if I could be reading, I would catch up on the books in the Book Club At The Center Of The Earth group, if I don't read them, and everybody else does, I'll be looked down on for not reading the books that I SUGGESTED...

I'm almost finished Peeps by Scott Westerfeld, a light and fluffy vampire novel. (My brothers in law guffawed at that description.) I REALLY like this book. Every other chapter describes another type of parasite and its quirky habits, which appeals to the biology geek in me (and brings back fond memories of Invertebrate Zoology 201 where my husband and I met), though it does make it hard to snack and read at the same time.

I'm rereading Elantris to see if I can get over my objections of the first read. Also I'm listening to Wyrd Sisters.

#154 littlegeek, let me know how you like it. I devoured the other books in the series, really enjoyed them and have been trying to get my husband to read them 'cause I think he'd really like them too, but *sigh* he's just not a reader :-(

I've been eyeing Harsh Cry at the bookstore, but I have such a huge TBR I just can't bring myself to get it yet.

I'm still slogging through Tipperary. While it was tremendously delightful to get a free book through LT, I'm not finding this book delightful yet. I keep hoping it will get better 'cause the story has potential.

I've just started Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb. I've had a great time with her Liveship Traders series, but I'm looking forward to taking a short break after I've finished this one. Much as I love her books, they're all quite hefty tomes. I feel the need to read a few things I can whip through in a day or so.

Phoenix by Steven Brust. I'm trying to read the Vlad series in order, which means I have to take four books back to the library today to renew them. I didn't get Taltos until Friday.

Just finished Kushiel's Dart and am taking break before hitting Kushiel's Chosen. So for now, it is The Beatles by Bob Spitz.

#160 - I can remember reading the Vlad series a couple of times, first in publication order, then in chronological order. But there was one book that covered time periods both just before and just after another one of his Vlad books (not that I can remember the title of either) and it's been nagging at me ever since; I like putting my series in chronological order and I've never been able to decide in which order to put these two.

Ahem, enough blabbing...

These are fun books aren't they? I longed for a jhereg for a while after reading these.

katylit #158 I agree w/ Tipperary--great to get a free book but man it is not a page turning read. I too am struggling with it. I read some pages and then put it aside for another more exciting book. At least we have til early Nov. to finish it. I'm thinking I might be down to the wire on this book. Happy reading!!

#163, Oh I'm so glad to hear that momom248!! I've been feeling kinda guilty about not liking it (seems sort of ungrateful I guess). I'm so glad to hear that you're finding it's not a page-turner either.

I've been sneaking back to my When Christ and His Saints Slept 'cause that's just so much better reading, lots more interesting.

I'm reading Cobb, which is fascinating. He wasn't a very pleasant person!

The Pale Blue Eye by Louis Bayard.

Have you ever started a book and only a few pages in you realize that you'll have to read everything that author has ever written?

Me too, and I'm there with Louis Bayard.

Sandragon, there are five or six books which are outside the Vlad series. Most of them take place centuries earlier than the time period Vlad's in.

I picked up several of them when I renewed the others today.

Oh, per Mr. Brust himself, the latest Vlad book went to the publisher (Tor) about two weeks ago.

I confess, I gave up on Vanity Fair. I'm just too old and grouchy for it. Started Have His Carcass for a group read, and am also going to start When Worlds Collide.

I've been trying to finish The Letters from Earth for what feels like a millennia or so. The first story (title story) was fun, but then... well, let's say I have procrastinated. My TBR's are burning in the shelves, yearning to be read, but I want to finish this one in good order. Only...
*sigh*

#168, MrsLee, I haven't read When Worlds Collide in years and years and years. That would be a fun re-read after all this history I'm reading right now.

*sigh* we have two eyes, why can't we read two books at the same time! ;-)

we have two eyes, why can't we read two books at the same time!

Hee hee, I'm visualizing this bookish creature in sci-fi film. :)

LOL, my brain cant handle reading 2 books at the same time at the moment, let alone one from each eye, i would be sooooooooooooooooo confused...

I just finished Havenstar by Glenda Noramly (aka Glenda Larke) which I loved, I'm slowly learning the virtues of stand-alone fantasy novels :)

Started Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay, which I'm really looking forward to getting into, it was added to my "to read" list because one of my favourite author's said if she could only take one book to a desert island where she would be stuck forever, it would be Tigana :)

Edit: Guy Gavriel Kay touchstone is wonky

#172 - But now you've got to let us know which favorite author said that. Someone we should be trying out? Tigana is one of my favorite books.

#172/173 - Yes, I wonder too! Tigana may not be my favourite book (very good, though!) but Kay definitely is one of my favourite authors (as if anybody could have missed that, eh) :-)
So, come on and tell!?

Fiona McIntosh (touchstones dont seem to like me much lately) was the one who said it & I would definately recommend her work to anyone who hasnt read it :)

>168 MrsLee:, Mrs. Lee: Oh no! Please tell me you at least got through the Brussels/Battle of Waterloo chapters?

#175 - Thanks, Seanie! I'll make sure to check her out. Which book would you recommend to start with?

Still having a hard time settling into a book. I'm reading The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke but I have it on audio too and I think I will actually listen to it after all (I've already gone back and forth a couple of times). I'm in the mood to read something more meaty. Maybe Kushiel's Avatar.

#178 -- I listened to The Thief Lord; the version I had was quite good.

I'm currently reading I Capture the Castle, which I'm enjoying very much.

pechmerle - *hangs head* I just couldn't. I tried skimming, but I just couldn't. I would rather read a history book about it. In fact, I have several of those on my TBR shelves. Thackeray was so cynical and he painted all the characters in such a way I couldn't bring myself to care what happened to any of them. I haven't had that severe a reaction to an author in a long time. The last one was Jack London. I confess, London is a fantastic author, but his books put me in a bad place. I just can't read them. Perhaps because he's such a good author, that's why if affects me so. ??

#177 I started with her "Trinity" trilogy, but thats her earliest fantasy work so perhaps not her best, but its still one of my faves so I'd recommend it. I also loved her 2nd trilogy "The Quickening" so I'd recommend that too... I havn't read her newer series yet...

#177 I recently picked up Betrayal as my first read of her work. It was better than average, I've reviewed it if that's of interest. Have a look at Mcintosh's website (link on her author page) its very pretty.

*why does McIntosh work as a touchstone and not Fiona McIntosh? grrr.

Thanks Seanie and reading_fox. More fodder for my tbr pile :o)

Thanks, Seanie. Anyone who would say that about GGK is worth a look. Right now I'm reading Local Custom. I'm trying to remember where I saw a recommendation for it. It has a long loving intro by Anne McCaffrey and I'd say it's roughly comparable to what I've read of her stuff: moves along ok, not taxing. Next it's The Hound of the Baskervilles for my library group, then I think I'll look into McIntyre. I just peeked at her Web site and it has a cool design. And my library has several, including all the Quickening series. yay!

katylit, I'm sorry to say I gave up on Harsh Cry of the Heron about 1/2 way through. It seemed like nothing was happening besides Takeo travelling around to different lords and feeling them out about an impending war. I felt like I had figured out where it was going and (this is something I almost never do) I skipped to the end just to see how it all came out. The ending seems very Japanese to me for some reason, but was rather unsatisfying to this Western mind. And I had pretty much guessed everything, anyway, so I don't feel like I missed anything.

Anyhoo, on to Mistborn tonight!

I'm about a third of the way through Fool Moon by Jim Butcher. Storm Front didn't exactly blow me out of the water, but I figured I'd try another book or two. So far, this book has just confirmed my opinion: this is okay stuff, but nothing worth keeping for ever and ever.

I'm also reading Fables: Wolves by Bill Willingham et al. I really like parts, but others seem to move too fast or to be a bit disjointed. Hmm.

Finished A Treasury of Grand Opera. Someday I'll actually get to attend an opera. This was kind of like reading Shakespeare or The Bible, when you read it you realize how many references there are to the stories in other stories you've read.

When Worlds Collide is bizarre. Not sure how I like it yet.

#182, #183 & #184 - Yay, LT rocks, it makes me smile to introduce people to some of my faves, I hope you enjoy her work as much as I do :)

My reading has stalled for the past week, getting back together with my friends and starting my senior year of college (!). So, I've been reading The Life of Elizabeth I and Middlemarch for some time now. I'm also reading A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce and Russia : a history by Gregory L. Freeze for classes, which slows me down even further.

I just finished Storm Front which I REALLY liked. Hopefully, hubby will like it, too. I'm about to start Little, Big.

>135 bluesalamanders: The only adult novel I've heard of by Scott Westerfeld is Polymorph. I've been looking for a copy of it, but it isn't an easy book to find. I might have to order it from one of the amazon merchants eventually. I hate spending that much money on a book.

>156 sandragon: Peeps is still my favorite Westerfeld novel! I just read his So Yesterday which kind of reminded me of Peeps because he put in a lot of different trivia, but this time instead of biological diseases and such, it was more historical facts.

Last night I started Tanya Huff's Blood Price. I've been watching Blood Ties On Demand, which is tv series based on the books, and thought they'd be interesting to read.

#191 - So Yesterday was the first Westerfeld I read (actually, listened to) and I also enjoyed it because of all the bits of trivia. He's also got two other books which I think are for adults, Evolution's Darling and Fine Prey. My library doesn't have either (or Polymorph) so I'll have to hunt them down another way.

A Storm of Swords - I'm enjoying this series way more than I thought I would.
Singularity - free audio book read by the author, which is enhancing the story for me
Origin of the Species - reading this in pieces via DailyLit.com

That Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows everybody's been talking about.

>192 sandragon: Thanks for the info! Fine Prey looks interesting too. I still have to check out Evolution's Darling.

Spam name, spam book, spam, spam, spam. I do not like green eggs with spam.

195

I just read Evolution's Darling. It was...ok. I like his YA fic a lot better.

I did really like the very end of it, though.

I started Fool's Errand by Robin Hobb last night, and am a little surprised to see that I'm already almost halfway through it. It's excellent; probably not the best place to start with her work, since there's a lot of reference to the first two trilogies, but I absolutely love it.

I'm finishing Conspiracy in Death and moving on to Loyalty in Death next.

I like these, but I kinda wish that once in a while there'd be a single murder instead of constant serial killers for Eve to look for. However, I've got about 12 books in the series still unread, so maybe there's hope.

I just finished Foucault's Pendulum and Tolkein's Finn and Hengest lectures and I am battling through good ol' Paradise Lost and skimming death du jour but I am at a bit of a loss as to what to read next.
I should pick up something academic and challenging and something fantasy and fast. The shelves aren't inspiring me and my budget is not friendly to sprees. sigh - it should not be complicated!

I'm on Michael Crichton's Next which is an improvement over his last few offerings. The various plots are moving along well, and the science is kept at a reasonable level. Lots of social comment about where biotech is and where it might be going. Can't wait to see how the ending pans out.

STILL reading Fragile Things as HSC is easing.

Gaiman's short stories are more coherent than mine are.

Finished When Worlds Collide eh. Interesting idea though.

Have begun:
Have His Carcass by Dorothy L. Sayers
Don't Shoot, It's Only Me by Bob Hope
From Dust and Ashes by Tricia Goyer

Have decided to restart my reading list, because I have been so frazzled I've lost touch with reality.

So. I have made myself a cup of tea. I have music playing. I am going to drink tea and finish American Gods. Then I am going to read... something else. That is my plan for this lovely day.

At least I finished Amy Sedaris's book.

I just finished Peter Robb, Midnight in Sicily. Excellent.

After that fascinating but dead serious work, just getting into Christopher Buckley, Florence of Arabia. Recommended by several people over on the Humor group, and rightly so. Has me cackling to myself almost every paragraph.

Just finished up a mystery novel, The Hellfire Conspiracy, now starting The Brotherhood of the Wolf.

Looks like it's been a while since I posted in here! In the last couple of weeks I've finished off The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, Summer Reading by Hilma Wolitzer, Middlemarch by George Elliot, Stardust by Neil Gaiman, The Ladies Auxiliary by Tova Mirvis, and now I'm reading On the Road, by Jack Kerouac.

I picked up Territory by Emma Bull over the weekend. So far I'm really enjoying it. It's a re-telling of the Wyatt Earp story with sorcery thrown into the mix.

Just picked up Mappa Mundi by Justina Robson.

I'm about a third of the way into The Golden Fool by Robin Hobb. It's fantastic; I'm totally stuck in OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK!!!!one!!!!1!!!! mode. I'm going to be so sad when I finish the series.

Currently reading The Dress Lodger and am really enjoying it. It's more historical fiction than fantastic although the main character, a prostitute, does have an uncanny ability to predict exactly what kind of sex a man will want at a glance.

As stated in another thread, I've begun Two-Part Invention by Madeleine L'Engle. I'm finding it very interesting, though I'm not very far into it. I'm only to the part where she is acting and writing on Broadway.

I've finished The Thief Lord on audio, which was light and fun. I've started listening to The Prestige now. I'd watched the movie a couple of weeks ago and really liked it and want to see how it compares with the book.

I'm finally more than halfway through Kushiel's Avatar (whew!). Some distressing topics are touched on (having to do with children) but overall I'm enjoying this book. I really love Jacqueline Carey's writing. Lyrical, almost like Guy Gavriel Kay.

sandragon, I'll be interested in hearing what you think of The Prestige. I read it about a year ago and really enjoyed it, though I felt that certain plot twists were handled much better in the movie.

Yesterday I finished Fool's Fate by Robin Hobb in a marathon reading session. (I kind of got the point where I said to myself, "This is what I'm doing for the rest of the day.") It was excellent, even though it bloody well killed me.

I really felt like I needed a follow-up that I could read critically rather than emotionally, so today I read Toni Morrison's Sula. It was worthwhile and really got me thinking about the nature of self, but I doubt I'll carry much of it with me.

Now that that's done, I think I'll launch into The Princess Bride by William Goldman.

Just started John Berendt's City of Falling Angels, which I believe I will enjoy as much as I did his Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, if the first hundred pages are a sufficient example of what's to come.

Renegade's Magic by Robin Hobb
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris (guilty pleasure... no, not Anita Blake - this is more pg, well, not too explicit, anyway...)

hmm...my most recent would have to be...
Voyage of Slaves ~ Brian Jacques
Dragonspell ~ Donita K. Paul
The Angel's Command ~ Brian Jacques
Salamandastron ~ Brian Jacques

yeah I'm really into BJ right now, but I just discovered Donita K. Paul as a GREAT fantasy author! Highly recommended! This has been the past 2 days...I don't know what I'll read tomorrow...

#215 - sandragon, I'll be interested in hearing what you think of The Prestige. I read it about a year ago and really enjoyed it, though I felt that certain plot twists were handled much better in the movie.

I agree. I saw the movie first, then went back and read the book. Turns out that by doing it in that order, I enjoyed the movie and the book. If I had read the book first, I would have been disappointed with the movie. The book was sooo much better.

I'm really on a book reading/buying kick.

I've bought:

Mistborn 2
Alcatraz and the Evil Librarians
A Nameless Witch
The Curse of Chalion
Jumper: Griffin's Story
Kushiel's Dart (my copy fell apart)
I preordered Dragonhaven
Sabriel
Majestrum: A Tale of Henghis Hapthorn
Territory
The Name of the Wind
Red Seas Under Red Skies
Paladin of Souls ...and another Bujold I can't remember. Haven't read yet.

Stupid touchstones aren't loading. I think I broke its brain.

Last night I finished Tigana, it's such a beautiful story! Many thanx to Fiona McIntosh for her recommendation :)

I was at a bit of a loss about what to read after something as moving as Tigana, so I decided to go for short stories (that way I wont be making comparisons), so I've just started reading Legends (Volume 1)

Just finished The Well of Ascension last night, another great one, Brandon! How will I stand it until book 3 comes out!

I needed something non-fantasy after that, so it's another Aubrey/Maturin, this time The Wine-Dark Sea.

Reading On the Road by Jack Kerouac.

too perfect, its the 50th anniversary of its being published. National Public Radio had a program on that last night and featured some contemporary "beat" type jazz group - jazzy saxaphone with beat poetry recitation. Way Cool, Man.

I can actually understand it without drugs. The "Beatific Halo" actually means the feeling of light within your head at the time of self realisation.

When I was maybe 19 I tried it. I thought it was a real brick. Slow-paced, lots of yaddayadda. 22 years later I've had no reason to re-evaluate that impression.
It's like the film Easy Rider. Maybe cool when it first saw light, and a few images have stayed etched to my retina; like the ending. But for the most part it's a trudge'n'yawn.
Had nothing to do with weed or not. And I may say that for the most part it wasn't weed that they used, either, to my memory (but I can be wrong).
And - I'm not saying no-one should be able to enjoy it. Just that I sure didn't ;-)

Anyway, I'm starting Downbelow station by CJ Cherryh right now. It was a choice between that or The Cave by Saramago but I felt I needed something of Cherryh's intensity after reading The Letters from Earth, a Twain-collection for what feels like forever...

/The touchstones was WAY bad, especially for the Saramago-piece.../

Finished Don't Shoot, It's Only Me by Bob Hope and have begun Warrior Scarlet by Rosemary Sutcliff

I feel like I'm plodding through The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley. It's a reread that I last tackled a little more than ten years ago, and I find that it moves in fits and spurts. One moment I'm hard into it, the next I'm bored. Hmmm. It's such a tiny little book, but I keep making excuses to read other things instead.

Blood child by Octavia Butler. It's the first I've read by her; I'm liking it a lot. Very imaginative and slightly disturbing. Just how I like my fiction.

Finished Two-Part Invention by Madeleine L'Engle. Absolutely loved it. Still reading Warrior Scarlet, If Death Ever Slept by Rex Stout and Their Finest Hour by Winston S. Churchill.

The Caves of Steel for our group read, followed by The Bottom Billion for a bit of nonfiction.

I'm half way through American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis which I like a lot and then I'll move on to Amerika by Franz Kafka.

I got Priceless : The Vanishing Beauty of A Fragile Planet by Bradley Trevor Greive in the mail this morning, so i read it today on my breaks at work... Its absolutely stunning! I definately recommend it to any animal lover & any1 who likes photography... Its a truly beautiful reminder of what we (as a species) may lose if we dont start working to protect it...

I'm currently reading The well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson and I'm really enjoying it - every time I start reading, I have trouble putting it down.

I'm finally finishing The Life of Elizabeth I (wrong touchstone), at least a month after I started it. I'm also reading Murphy by Samuel Beckett for class, not really enjoying it too much. I'm not sure how to take it. After I finish both of those, I'll be reading The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.

Kil'n People by David Brin I'm not sure if it is supposed to be read as an abrieviation for killing People or not. It does feature duplicates baked out of clay in kilns though. Supurb SF with some really innovative thoughts and references to todays life.

#236 - Weird, I read Kiln People when it first came out. Don't remember the appostrophe. I don't remember the book being about killing people but it has been a while since I read it. I do remember finding it interesting reading about the different levels of kiln people and the issues about self awareness and cloning.

#237 might be a UK/US cover edition change? Quite a few dittos and the odd realperson die in it - but probably no more than in the average thriller/mystery/crime. Part of the point is that 'killing' the dittos isn't really a crime, the realperson had to pay a small fine ...

I do like Brin's imagination, he has some really interesting takes on where we might be heading.

I gave up on Caves of Steel half way through. It's just so poorly written and juvenile. And I figured out whodunnit on page 9. Really. (I checked the end before I tossed it.) Ike was fun when I was a kid, but it's just not worth it now.

Anyhoo, I started Talyn and by page 20 I'm already fascinated . Interesting magic system and use therefore.

#238 - I do like Brin's imagination, he has some really interesting takes on where we might be heading.

I agree. He's one of the few authors whose short stories I really enjoy reading, because he has such great ideas and can get them across whether in a novel or short. The only books of his I've had problems reading was the second Uplift Trilogy, but that may have been because I felt overloaded by the physics which went way over my head. I do plan on rereading it someday, to see if more sinks in the second time around.

Is Kiln People the one with people/dinosaur busses, which I guess would be dittos? Seeing your post triggered a memory about busses but I can't remember if it's this book or another.

#240 yep that's the one with dino buses in.

I've not read any short stories by Brin - is there a collection you'd recommend?

The second Uplift Trilogy is abit odd, nothing like the first as it basically contains the same characters in all three books. If the physics is troubling you just skip it, there is nothing earthshaking there, he focuses more on a society trying to abandon technology until Gillian and co mess it up for them. A few fun concepts but definetly not as good as some of his work.

The two of Brin's collections that I really liked were Otherness and The River of Time. Not so much Tomorrow Happens. You can read some of his stories from his site .

Someday I'll read the second Uplift trilogy, and try to remember not to compare to the first. I wanted more about the dolphins and the gorillas and the chimps and I felt let down when they weren't there.

Dead Heat by Dick Francis arrived today from Amazon. His son Felix is credited as co-author, which is new. It was generally known that his wife did a lot of his research, but she was never credited before her death six or seven years ago. Hmm. Patriarchy? ;)

Blood Trail by Tanya Huff. I'm really enjoying it so far; it's an interesting take on werewolves.

LG - I read Talyn and enjoyed it, but it was a little disturbing in parts. Don't say I didn't warn you...

Reading more of Salman Rushdie's East, West, a little bit of Edgar Allan Poe in my very nice hardback of The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Stories, and I might revisit the copy of Fragile Things that I never finished, (or more likely, barely started) reading.

At the moment I've been reading a lot of articles by Oscar Wilde, as my serial story sequence I'm writing features him in aspects. His De Profundis is heartbreaking, he contemplates the nature of his being sent to prison (For "the love that dare not speak its name", of course).

Generally due to my recent exams I'm dipping into lots of books of short stories and articles, since I can't afford the Wilde books, I look them up on the Gutenberg Project.

Yep, I'm a busy, busy man. And I still haven't finished Kerouac's On the Road...

I got stuck in the middle of Wicked this past winter, so I guess I'm technically still reading it. ;) I'm reading A Wrinkle in Time to our daughter for her bedtime story. And textbooks. :P

Finished Florence of Arabia. Very funny. And a bit morbid when you think about some of what you've read. And some seriousness under all that excellent witty satire.

Now, back into a longer-term read of Stendahl, Rouge et Noir (The Red and the Black). Not light reading. But an enlightening, and sometimes amusing, look at class and psychological tensions in post-Napoleonic France. Very modern for a novel published in 1830.

I'm finally getting around to reading You're Not Fooling Anyone When You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop by John Scalzi. It's a book on writing (or on the business of writing) and it is kind of an odd topic choice for bedtime reading for me, but I love his writing style and it's been fun to read so far.

Finished reading Apollo's Song by Osamu Tezuka. It blew me away, it really did. The main character is a mental patient who is transformed in mind for the better, however he has commited crimes against love, and is doomed to love the same woman over and over throughout the eternal cycle of reincarnation. It's deep, even by contemporary Manga standards.

I just finished reading The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien for a literature class. I'm not a fan; retrospectively I can appreciate what O'Brien is doing, but not enough to make me ever want to touch the book again. I just don't like books I can't understand even superficially without external assistance.

I'm now reading Eugene Onegin by Alexander Pushkin, who is always a favorite, and The Red Tent by Anita Diamant.

I loved The Red Tent. I just finished The Killing of Major Denis Mahon: A Mystery of Old Ireland (touchstone isn't loading properly) -- it was a heavy read, but worth it.

Still deciding what I'll read next, but meanwhile, I'm listening to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

Edited to try and fix touchstone

I'm about a hundred pages into Kushiel's Dart. It's okay so far, but I'm still waiting for that wonderful point where everything clicks and I realize that I really and truly care about what's going on.

#185, thanks for the feedback littlegeek, guess I won't be in such a hurry to read it now. Sorry I didn't reply earlier, computer problems.

I'm almost done When Christ and His Saints Slept, will be finished today I think, and then I'm going to start The Thirteenth Tale. I'll be dipping into my ghost stories too, always start this time of year.

I just finished Wolfstar Tour of the Merrimack #2 by R. M. Meluch
This book was just great screaming fun, superbly paced and characterized space adventure - I thought I'd split with laughter.

The TBR pile is just about melted down....time for another trip to the bookstore to stoke up.

I'm about a hundred pages into Kushiel's Dart. It's okay so far, but I'm still waiting for that wonderful point where everything clicks and I realize that I really and truly care about what's going on.

It took me that long. But I finished it, which says a lot. (I had started it three times previously.)

X-rated Blood Suckers. It and it's older brother The Nymphos of Rocky Flats are pretty good vampire reads.

#253, 256 - How interesting, I think I fell in love with it from the first word! I did realize that the first segment was slower than what comes after on a reread, though, so it makes sense. Hope it "clicks" for you soon, xicanti.

I'm reading The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky; I need to have it finished within the week, so no time for anything else unfortunately.

The Mark of the Horse Lord by Rosemary Sutcliff, Their Finest Hour, finished If Death Ever Slept and Not on My Shift, by 'Dr. Rap'. Also reading Blue Genes, by Paul Meier, M.D..

Like so many others, I'm reading The Caves of Steel. I'm only just into it, but haven't read nearly enough Asimov, so I'm enjoying it already.

#'s 256 and 258 - I'm about 375 pages in now, having read veeeeery slowly over the weekend, and I think it finally clicked about twenty-five pages ago. Right now I'm just hoping this wasn't a false start. (Er, false... middle? Third-way point? Whatever it is). I can see myself getting into it from here on in, as long as it stays in the same vein.

Reading Man and his Symbols by Carl Jung. Very, very interesting. Neil Gaiman makes a whole lot more sense after starting to read this. Yet nobody seems to be reading this these days...

The Nixie's Song by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi! Yay!

I started reading The Lovely Bones on Monday -- what a good book so far! I'm breezing through it, which is a relief after the book I just finished -- The Killing of Major Dennis Mahon. Apparently, I'm on a bit of a murder kick though -- it's a quite accidental.

Finished The Mark of the Horse Lord and began Knight's Fee by Rosemary Sutcliff. I must say, she's very good at pulling you into a story. These three stories would all be great for boys to read, seeing as the heroes are all young boys/men.

I finished Talyn, which I liked pretty well. It is disturbing, and the wheels kinda come off in the last 3rd, but it does have an interesting culture clash thing going on.

I'm on to Runaway Horses. I just can't read another fantasy book right now with all the world building. Sometimes it's nice just dealing with characters, plot, style. Pre-war Japan, ok, go!

#264 missylc, I saw The Lovely Bones at our local bookstore last night on sale and almost bought it. Now I guess I'll just have to go back tonight and get it.

The Thirteenth Tale is shaping up to be a very good story, I'm enjoying it so far.

I haven't read any Rosemary Sutcliffe since high school MrsLee but I remember I really enjoyed her writing. It would be fun to read some of her books again.

Finished A Feast for Crows, can't wait for the rest of the series. Started on an English translation of The Epic of Gilgamesh last night. It's very short and I expect to finish it today. I was distracted by baseball yesterday and couldn't pay proper attention to the book.

The Spiritual Brain a book about science and spirituality. So far it does not look that good.

#267, katylit -- I think you'll enjoy it if you get it!

Whilst reading that, I'm also listening to Steve Martin's reading of Shopgirl. It's quite good too.

I finished reading Legends (volume 1) touchstone is often wonky for this book on friday night, loved it, particularly loved Robert Jordan’s New Spring, does anyone know if the short story is an excerpt of the novel New Spring??? I havn’t read the prequel yet (& wont until the last book is released & I can read the WHOLE series in order), but after the short story, I’m really looking forward to it…

I read Caves of Steel over the weekend & I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I usually read fantasy, so was a bit unsure if I’d be able to enjoy something without magic, but yeah, I’ll leave the rest of my opinions to the book discussion :)

This morning I started Lian Hearn’s Across the Nightingale Floor & am really liking it so far, its so smooth & easy to read…

#271 - I believe the novel version of New Spring is an expanded take on the novella included in Legends. I haven't read the longer version either, for the same reason. :)

I'm just about done with Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik. It's very good, but I sort of wish I'd started it during the week instead of over the weekend. Strange as it is, I find that I have less time to read on weekends than I do when I'm at work all day, with the attendant bus rides and breaks.

#215 - xicanti, I finished listening to The Prestige last night and I really enjoyed it as well. I watched the movie first and I felt the book fleshed out the movie story and added to it, even though the book was more purposely vague about who was who. But maybe I preferred this vagueness because I already knew what was happening!

*SPOILER*
I think the book gave a better sense of the assimilation yet loss of the twins' individual personalities in order to become one person.
*END SPOILER*

And the ending of the book was definitely more creepy! I was listening to it in the dark last night and there was a ghost story around a campfire kind of feel. Five minutes from the end I had to pause the recording in order to give my heart a chance to calm down!

Xicanti, please let me know what plot twists you felt were better in the movie.

***SPOILERS FOR THE PRESTIGE BELOW***

I actually thought that the movie handled the twins twist much better. I found it unsatisfying in the book; I was sure it couldn't be the real answer. I bought into it in the movie, though, perhaps because of all the little visual hints that the character(s) just couldn't write into their manuscript.

#273 & 274 sandragon and xicanti, I was so creeped out listening to the ending of The Prestige! It was late at night and I ended up waking up my husband 'cause it just freaked me out. Very cool ending. I listened to the book before seeing the movie and found it really spoiled the movie for me 'cause they changed so much. I really prefered the book. I think I'm going to have to listen and watch both again.

The Zenith Angle by Bruce Sterling

Only 2.5 stars on Amazon, but i'm still enjoying it as a light, fast read.

I started Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey this morning, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I found Kushiel's Dart rather disappointing, but this is much, much better. There's some great tension, good emotional stuff, and the promise of some highly involved intrigue to come. I have high hopes for it.

I loved Dart, but was disappointed, a little bit, by Chosen. It's my least fav of the first three. But to each his own.

I just started The Amulet of Samarkand. It's so fun! Very Roald Dahl-like. The 10-year-old in me is loving it.

I finished Rain and have started The Tea Shop on Mulberry Street

I'm listening to The Poe Shadow (really wrong touchstone coming up) in the car and The Glass Menagerie.

#274 -275 - xicanti and katylit,

I think I managed to do it right by watching the movie first. I found I really enjoyed both the movie and the book. The book was different enough overall and the ending very different that I was still left guessing about how it would end, even knowing about the twist.

Just finished A Thin Dark Line by Tami Hoag and now on to The Proteus Operation by James P. Hogan. I'm hoping I can get more into this one then I have to the books I've been reading recently. I seem to be in a finding good books slump.

On the advice of several people here, I am about to start Housekeeping by Marilynne Robinson.

Finity's end I wish I'd read the intervening books between Downbelow station and this though. It does work as a more or less standalone, but there are a lot of ideas which I think (you can never be sure with Cherryh) are referenced from earlier tales. I don't even know if Tripoint et al are even in print anymore?

Well, I stopped by our local SF book store yesterday in hope of finding those two (Finity's end & Tripoint) + Merchanter's luck without finding any of them :-(
The store was jam packed so I didn't get around to ask specifics, though.
Guess I'll have to give it a broader search (maybe Abe or places like that).

I read Rosemary Sutcliff years ago, and still have a title of hers on my shelf.

My recent C. J. Cherryh fix was Deliverer -- loved it -- next up, Jennifer Roberson with Karavans and Deepwood back to back.

I am debating whether to try Brandon Sanderson's Elantris after that.

Sorry, the touchstones seem cranky...

I think you'll get a few recommendations for Elantris around here Janny, we had as a group read a while back, with Brandon providing us with some great author-reader feedback (much like you did for us :-)

It's a good book, and certainly worth a go... have you read any Guy Gavriel Kay? Tigana is a great place to start.

I am enjoying Alan Furst's The World at Night. It starts out in Paris just before the Germans arrive. That is one of my favorite times for historical fiction...and Furst does extensive research, I'm told, so I imagine this will be a great read.

Just finished Fledgling by Octavia Butler and started in on When you wake and find me gone by Maureen McCarthy and finally getting around to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Yes, I still haven't gotten to it yet. Somehow I missed it, being out of range of bookstores that store English books, and then got distracted. *ducks shocked looks and promises to start immediately*

I had to take my boys to their soccer game and wait 45 minutes in the car while they warmed up, so I finished Knights Fee by Rosemary Sutcliff. The last four chapters I sobbed like a baby! Good thing I could wear sunglasses at the game or everyone would have tried to offer me comfort.
Am beginning Murder Must Advertise by Dorothy L. Sayers and Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen.

Finishing up Sandstorm. It's a thriller a few years old from James Rollins. I want to read the latest Sigma Force book of his, but felt the need to go back and catch up on the previous ones before diving in.

*Boy, the touchstones seem wonky this morning...*

Behind the curtain, a book about football in eastern europe. Looking good this far :-)

*what's with touchstones right now? have to come back to fix it later*

#287 - thanks for the thumbs up on Elantris - as to Guy Gavriel Kay - I discovered his work at the very beginning, on publication of The Summer Tree and have bought everything he did since, the moment it was released...and more...

(Fun Trivia, for Kay readers, who seem to be in abundance, here) Don Maitz (my husband) and I collaborated on the cover illustrations for the ROC trade paperback edition (reissue) of Fionavar Tapestry, by Guy's request.

The 3 book covers were done as a single painting, sort of a tapestry of the three volumes, that Roc then split into the three cover images.

The full painting can be seen on the website, which has a collaborative section that straddles my page, and Don's. There was also a puzzle issued...

This is a comment I I found at my site this morning: Yes, I kept "The 79 Squares." It made a HUGE impression on me, and continues to influence my thinking to this day. It definitely holds up well to the passage of time. I had my husband read it a few years ago, and he loved it as well. I wonder if anyone else around here has it? Maybe I'll go search.
posted by fidoknits at 9:32 am (EST) on Oct 5, 2007 I am posting it to show one of the joys of LT! ***After I finished my review of this book I noticed 5 have it. On a whim I wrote to 2 of them (too tired to write anymore!) Now I'm hoping to interest some of you in reading the book: Check local library for "The 79 Squares" by Malcolm Bosse. . . and let me know what you think!! Esta1923

Janny, your covers for The Fionavar Tapestry are my favourites. Unfortunately, I didn't have much choice when I bought my own copies of the books, I've been keeping an eye out for the ROC tpb editions as an upgrade, of sorts.

And to keep on topic: I'm still reading and loving Kushiel's Chosen. This is exactly what I hoped the series would be like.

#293 - I had no idea of it when I bought those books a while ago but was delighted when I found out. Those are nice covers. But then I think all of Kay's ROC covers are in tune with their respective stories.

#293
Janny, I've just checked out that painting on your site, it's beautiful, and I can see how it would work really well as three covers.

Well, I just finished Skinny Dip yesterday, and I really enjoyed it. :o) I needed something lighthearted after Red Zone Blues (touchstone busted) and The Caves of Steel. Now I'm reading the Anderson Cooper book, Dispatches from the Edge for one of my Real Life™ clubs.

Wow! He can write! :o)

I've started listening to The Time Traveler's Wife and reading The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue (thanks to whoever recommended The Stolen Child, I'm pretty sure it was someone from the GD). I'm enjoying both stories so much and definitely losing sleep over them. I have to use extreme force each night to make myself turn off the light/mp3 player. What a dilemma :o)

I went straight into the second Bartimaeus book (The Golem's Eye), which I hardly ever do. I love this series!

I'm also listening to Stephen Colbert's new book I Am America (And So Can You), which now touchstones, yay! Stephen is hilarious.

I've gotta download his appearance on Terri Gross last night. I missed it.

#299 - Oh, I enjoyed both of those! I may have been one of the ones who recommended The Stolen Child. What an original premise! :o)

#300 - The Golem's Eye is on my 'to read soon' list. It really is... along with a few hundred other titles, I'm afraid. :o/

I'm about halfway through The Golden Compass to get ready for this winter's movie. The wife's interested too, which is unusual for her. She's not usually a fantasy fan.

#301 - The funny thing about having the both of these going at the same time is both books are told by two alternating narrators, all in first person POV. I'm managing to keep them all separate but sometimes it's like 4 people are trying to tell me something at the same time, all clamoring for my attention. (Hmm, sounds a bit like life with 2 boys and a hubby...)

#300 - ooh, horray for Bartimaeus! He's one of my favourite narrators.

I'm about halfway through The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It's quite addictive; I'm not exactly emotionally involved with it, but I'm still having a bloody good time.

Half the Day is Night by Maureen F. McHugh. I enjoyed the spot on descriptions of some things Chinese in China Mountain Zhang, so I figure it's worth trying something else of hers.

I'm about 100pages from the end of Brilliance of the Moon by Lian Hearn which is the final installment in her Tales of the Otori trilogy... I'm loving it, its so smooth & easy to read, but its still got depth & I'm really enjoying how its all coming together :)

While waiting for a review copy to arrive (since the imprint was unfamiliar) I got from the library a book from the same publisher. . .This book,"House of the Dead," by Lamar Herrin, was not uninteresting, but its title puzzled me. It does not give a clue to the plot, and, having finished reading the novel, I cannot, by any stretch relate title to content!! (An American student, studying in Spain, is killed in a bomb attack. Her father, and later her sister, go there in search of closure of some sort.) If anyone has read it and can tie together plot and title I'd appreciate being enlightened. (Meanwhile I plan to reread Hellenga's beautiful "The Fall of a Sparrow," and write a review of it.) Esta1923

#306 Seanie, you know there's another book after the trilogy, right? It's called The Harsh Cry of the Heron. I didn't like it as much as the original three, but it's still worth a read. Apparently, there is a prequel coming out soon.

I started The Hippopotamus Marsh by Pauline Gedge earlier today. I've loved her past work, but I'm finding this one slow going. I think I might abandon it if it doesn't pick up reeeeeeeeeal soon.

The Name of the Wind I'm almost finished with it, and so far I like it a lot.

Grand Conspiracy b/c I have to reread the series before I get the new book.

Thanx littlegeek! I didnt know, but u'v corrected that I've ordered it :)

I'v just started Alison Croggon's The Gift & am enjoying it allready :)

#311, Seanie, I loved The Gift (although my copy is called The Naming) and very quickly read the next two, The Riddle, and The Crow. There's a fourth and last one coming out next year.

edited to fix touchstones...or not

Reading funny books at the moment:
Life With Jeeves
I Am America (And So Can You!)

I'm sick today, so I'm lying in bed listening to Madama Butterfuly and reading Life With Jeeves, waiting for my stomach to stop hurting so freaking much.

I'm a bitter angry person today, so I'm reading Takeover:The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy by Charlie Savage. For some reason the touchstone doesn't work.

Savage is the Boston Globe reporter who first uncovered and reported on the hundreds of signing statements Bush has been using to circumvent parts of laws he refuses to obey; his reporting won the 2007 Pulitzer.

Finished Northanger Abbey, loved it. Also Murder Must Advertise, my favorite Sayers book. Still reading the Churchill book.

Started a Pearls Before Swine book, Sgt. Piggy's Lonely Hearts Club Comic, and one called Dawn of the Dons, a story of the history of California.

#312 - Doh! I usually wont read a series until its complete, but the last 2 series' I'v read have been incomplete without me realising it (I have The Riddle & The Crow but didnt even know there was a fourth!)...

But yeah I am enjoying it lots, the blurb thing at the start confused me though, I'm not sure if it's part of the story or if it's telling me that the story is based on texts of an actual ancient civilisation...

Re-reading The Tempest by William Shakespeare, Selected Poems by Gwen Harwood, and The Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft for school study. I hate my HSC life!

Wish I was reading:

Man and his Symbols by Carl G. Jung
You Only Live Twice by Ian Fleming

Having recently bought Snow blind I've started on a re-read on the series Want to play and now on live bait. I'm not sure this series has the depth to cope with a long run of the same characters, but I'll try it this time around.

I've just started The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. I really like it so far; it weaves in and out and backwards and forwards in the most beguiling way.

I'm trying out some authors new to me: The Court of the Air by Stephen Hunt and Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

#316, yeah, that kinda confused me a bit too, I'm pretty sure it's all part of the story. And I hear you about series, I'm very impatient for the 4th one to come out!

Finished Merchanter's Luck a couple of minutes ago - enjoyed it very much! Only problem now is - what to read next? I've got Finity's end sitting on the shelves, but Tripoint should be on its way and that is were I REALLY should start (as it precedes Finity's)...

Decisions, decisions!

Maybe I'll go with The Cave by Saramago (odd touchstones...) or Mistborn...

I finished Furst's book and moved on to Morgan Howell's trilogy. I finished Book I: Queen of the Orcs King's Property and Book II: Queen of the Orcs Clan Daughter and I am about 1/4 the way into Book III: Queen of the Orcs Royal Destiny. I am enjoying them and look forward to finishing. I also started reading the introduction to The Heart of the World. Not Conrad's Heart of Darkness - bad touchstone!

I made up my mind - when I browsed the shelves I realised that I bought Spook Country some time ago with the intention to read it immediately. So that's what I'm planning to do, albeit a bit late ;-)

The others (mentioned in #322) will have to wait.

Today I finished The Princess and the Hound (which does not apparently touchstone right now) by Mette Ivie Harrison, which was all right, and started Elantris, which I'm really enjoying so far.

Just now finished book 3 of the Queen of the Orcs trilogy and am started on Clapton. He was born a scant 4-5 months after I was. My dad was in England at the time as was Clapton. Well I am looking forward to a good read. The first few pages have pretty well grabbed me.

I finished The Truth by Pratchett and am beginning Death of a Dude by Rex Stout.

Still reading my non-fictions. Dawn of the Dons is incredibly boring and repetitive. I'm skimming it now to find out if there is anything there I didn't know before. Guess I'll put it in my special "to sell" pile because I looked it up and it has value. Why, I don't know. Maybe because it was published in California in the 1920's?

I'm reading Creme De La Phlegm by Angela Bennie, it's about the state of Australian criticism, and why critics give scathingly bad reviews with more hyperbolic adjectives than a H.P. Lovecraft story... essentially, it collects a bunch of cruel reviews, and combines them in a book with essays about the context of the time of the reviews. It's challenged my perception of what literary criticism is, dramatically, I picked it up thinking it was a fun book of scathing reviews, I found in it a book that challenged my views about what a review should be. Yes, there are some writers and artists who deserve scathing reviews, like Dan Brown, but really, most don't deserve the unbridled scorn that Aussie critics give them.

And scathing reviews are also happening elsewhere, as the book explores in one essay, but the book mostly focuses on Aussie reviews and criticism.

A brain-grabbingly good read!

I'm about sixty pages into Second Nature by Alice Hoffman. It flows very nicely, and I'm sure it'll be great once I can sink into it, but it's just not what I feel like right now. Sigh.

I'm reading Elmer Gantry for the Happy Heathens group read. I sure hope others will read it. It's really good. Much different from the movie version (of course).

I'm busy re-reading Janny Wurts's series The Wars of Light and Shadow in anticipation of the release of Stormed Fortress. I'm about a third of the way through Fugitive Prince, so not sure I'll make it by the time Stormed Fortress arrives. It's amazing the little nuances that you pick up on with a re-read.

I polished off Second Nature and have started in on Charmed Life by Diana Wynne Jones. A friend recommended it, but so far I really don't like it. It's quite mean.

Finished the boring Dawn of the Dons, and have begun Abigail Adams by Janet Whitney. It is good so far. Still working on my others.

Xicanti - stick with it. She gets her just deserts.

I finished it earlier this evening, and it had really grown on me by the end. I'll probably give the next one a shot.

I liked some of them, but others were more annoying. But my favourites were Deep Secret and The Merlin Conspiracy which are a slightly different universe, but still has the parallel worlds thing going. Deep Secret is partly set in a fantasy convention, and it's hilarious.

I'm ploughing through deadhouse gates. I read Gardens of the moon some months back and although i useually read series back to back I didn't have DHG then, and I don't have the heart time space or energy to replough through GotM this time. These books are too long. I like long books but these are over the top. SO far its okay, but not been good enough to persuede me that the rest of the series is going to be worthwhile. At 1/4 of their length I might have considered it.

I've just started Inkspell by Cornelia Funke. I enjoyed the first book, Inkheart, very much and am looking forward to reading more adventures in that world :)

#335, 336 -- my favorites were Dark Lord of Derkholm and Year of the Griffin, though I like most of her stuff.

339 - I haven't read those ones. I'm off to the library catalogue...

If you don't like them, I don't want to hear about it! ;-)

(That's what I always tell people who are brave enough to read books from my recommendations!)

Still working through Life With Jeeves.
Also reading The Crimson Petal and the White.

I'm rereading the Pagan Chronicles by Catherine Jinks. It's comfort reading.

I'm in the process of reading Dragon Rider, which is actually quite good despite the unsophisticated writing.

Finished Death of a Dude, am beginning The Mousetrap and other Plays by Agatha Christie. I love to direct plays in my head.

Still ploughing through the ripe fields of Creme De La Phlegm, though there are a few snakes among the corn in the form of really horrible reviews that stress the point of the book that criticism needs to change.

I just finished Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress which I absolutely despised. If the book were a person I'd put on football cleats and kick it in the shins.

I tried this earlier (obviously) and LT totally froze up on me.

Currently I'm reading a relatively new fantasy called Magic Lost, Trouble Found (Touchstones not working) by Lisa Shearin which is really good.

I'm also slowly working my way through Love in the time of Cholera and am about halfway through the manga Tsubasa Volume 3 by Clamp.

Finally finished the brilliant Life With Jeeves.

Am currently reading:
Food: A Culinary History
Good Omens
The Crimson Petal and the White

I just pulled Battlestar Galactica: The Official Companion off my shelf. I'm trying to zip through some of the shorter books in my TBR pile.

I'm about halfway through Master & Commander by Patrick O'Brian. I was really looking forward to it, going in, but it hasn't really grabbed me yet. It feels like something I'm reading because I think I ought to, not because I really want to. :(

I have been thinking aobut reading that, xicanti.

I love Patrick O'Brien, but they're not to everyone's taste. Give 'em a try, MissTessa.

Cool, maybe I will, littlegeek, thanx

I read Master and Commander and it never really grabbed me either. I enjoyed it, and started the second one in the series, but for some reason never finished it.

Right now I am in my zombie phase, so it might be a while before I am ready again for the high seas.

I was prompted by something I read to re-read The Lonely Silver Rain (McGee and a daughter? I'd forgotten!), and now I'm going back to the other Travis McGee books; It's been a while since I read MacDonald.

The Heretic Kings by Paul Kearney

I started Mistborn last night while dealing with fluish symptoms and a sinus headache. I still have to finish Clapton and a couple of other books.

Oh, joy.

Just finishing up City of Dreaming Books (the touchstone shows the German origianl, but I'm reading the English translation...) and it's fantastic. It's about an entire city of book dealers and Bookhunters and Fearsome Booklings ...

By the way, we all qualify as Booklings, I suspect, except that we have more than one eye...

I just finished The Remains of the Day and completely loved it. I was really taken by surprise, strangely - I read it for a class in which I have despised all but 1 of the books we've read so far, so the idea that I would fall in love with one came out of left field. I need to take a day off reading now so that it doesn't ruin whatever I read next, it was that beautiful. Unless I go read it again ...

#361 -- That's been on my TBR list for a while; I need to bump it up to the front of the list.

Right now I'm reading His Majesty's Dragon -- I'm about halfway through, and so far I love it!

I finally finished deadhouse gates, blew through sixty days and counting on various trains over the weekend, and have just started Fortress in the eye of time as a reread prior to the new fortress of ice which I'm eagerly awaiting.

Finished reading The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler, just in time for the First Tuesday Book Club on the ABC in Australia, and also for my Extension 1 English unit of Crime Fiction.

It was good, but as hard to follow as a 90 km/h terrier dog. ARGH the metaphors ingrain into your system from that book! (though I came up with the terrier one, it's the Style of metaphor that sticks in your brain)

Here is the link to the First Tuesday Book Club:

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/firsttuesday/

Enjoy!

I've just started The Queen's Fool by Philippa Gregory. It's still too early to tell for sure, but it seems good so far.

I'm rereading Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce but it's really irritating me. I find I'm skipping whole sections because I know they'll annoy me - the main character is an awful Mary Sue (I'm sorry, no 16-year-old is a master spy - not to mention that and an amazing fighter, and a perfect strategist, and, and, and...) and I'm not sure all the things I like about the book (the overall plot, the other characters, the world, etc) are making up for that this time around. I am thinking I will not read the sequel again just now.

Just got a book in the mail to review for another site, 1106 Grand Boulevard by Betty Dravis. A "faction" of a woman's life. She was married seven times and in some ways reminds me of a couple of my great aunts who were the quintessential "flappers". Sounds interesting and fun.

I read Singularity Sky over the weekend. It's a good story. Stross throws technical space opera engineering terms around like dandelion floss, which makes it a little hard to follow at times (unless you skip those paragraphs), but it was ultimately a good political/space-battle/world-in-crisis story.

Continuing my current re-reading of Catherine Jinks' books, I'm reading The Notary and will pick up The Inquisitor once I've finished.

I'm a hundred pages into Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey and it looks like it's just about to pick up. I'll give it another 25 pages or so but I may be putting this one down. That'll be very disappointing because I really like her Kushiel books and the premise is great. It's kind of like LoTR but from the point of view of the evil side and how they've been pushed into that role by the good side.

I'm reading The Hours right now. I never saw the movie, but I did read Mrs. Dalloway a couple of years ago. I wish I hadn't waited so long to read The Hours, but I think I'm getting it.

#370 - sandragon, I really liked the Sundering books, because it really intrigued me the way that Carey turned around the basic LotR story, but I also think her Kushiel books are much better. It was a bit so-so.

Speaking of Jacqueline Carey, I've decided to start rereading Kushiel's Avatar. I've reread the rest of the trilogy, so it's just this last one and then Kushiel's Scion and then Kushiel's Justice. Yay. =)

Having, at last, finished Spook Country (slightly disappointing) I feel the need for something fast and easily chewable. Thus I now will embark on rereading The naked sun, and I predict that I will post again on this thread VERY soon, announcing another choice - a choice I'm effectively procrastinating while waiting for another book to arrive in the mail ;-)

I really couldn't get into Banewreaker. I tried, I really did. Love Kushiel, tho.

Just a comment on Patrick O'Brian. I would NEVER recommend Master and Commander as a starting point, even though it is the starting point. I'd start with either no. 2, Post Captain, or even the third book. I started years back with Master and Commander and had a hard time with it. I don't think that's a unique reaction, by any means.

Still, I kept on. Post Captain is where the series starts to get its legs, and it just takes off from there.

In the end, O'Brian has the reputation he does for a reason - his writing is really second to none. You just need to get into the swing of it, and that takes more than one volume to do. YMMV.

#375 - I definitely plan to try one or two more of his books, at the very least. I've heard too many good things about O'Brian to give up too easily! I found Master & Commander interesting, but not really engaging. A lot of the time it felt more like I was reading nonfiction; I learned a lot, but I didn't feel a lot. Disappointing, given all I'd heard about the amazing friendship O'Brian develops between his two leads, but I figure you've gotta give the author some slack with the first volume in a long-running series.

xicanti, wait til you get to the sloth.

Soon you will be giving people joy and saying things like "the bottle stands by you, sir."

Have just begun "The Melancholy Fate of Capt. Lewis" by Michael Pritchett (September book for Early Reviewers, belatedly arrived just as I headed for surgery). It's off to an odd start, but we shall see. . . . . Esta1923

The book I'm waiting for has yet to arrive so having finished The Naked Sun I have to chose another "in the mean time"-read. I just decided that it will be Space Cadet, hoping the book will arrive tomorrow... how long can it take for a book to journey across the North sea? Really? Maybe it's at the pick up place and they have forgot to tell me? Arghhhh!!!
Home with a fever but I think I'll venture out to check before this day is over.

Now I'm on to watching First Contact on my laptop. I need some Star Trek to pad my brain with ;-)

I've just started Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler. I've read less than 30 pages and I'm already well hooked in. It's powerful and challenging stuff; I'm really looking forward to finding out where she's heading with it.

I've just started The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson.

I am a true lover of fantasy and I tend to find myself reading a lot of middle school age books. I get them from my media center and then read and reccommend. I have turned a few "hard bully" types into avid readers. I will conquer them all!!!

I am currently reading "The King of Attolia" by "Megan Whalen Turner"

I do love adult fantasy though and am looking for some good ideas.

The Thirteenth Tale, by Diana Setterfield---and Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix (I know, I'm way behind)

Still no Tripoint in the mail... so today I decided to start reading Finity's End anyway, despite my intent to read them in order... they are stand-alones, so it's not that it's necessary, but...

I'm reading The Harsh Cry of the Heron by Lian Hearn

Still reading the same books... I have no time to read!

Right there with ya, ellevee. Though I've somehow found time to buy more books to add to the TBR pile!

i've been reading some Amanda Quick, right now "mischeif". I just finished Nevada Barr's " Liberty falling" and tonight I plan to start on a janny wurts novel "Fugitive Prince"

I finished Mistborn and went immediately to go buy The Well of Ascension but bookstore was out of it. So I bought Elantris and started it. I obviously like Brandon Sanderson's style. I really have to get off the fantasy kick and touch back to my TBR pile of autobiography, history, etc. But later....

Started The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers, a re-read with a group. Love it.

The length of this thread is getting, uh, long... IV, anyone?

#391 - Yup! I'll start it now. (Three months later.) ;o)

forbidden city

It is just a romp. Think of it as an action movie on the page.

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 clamairy:?) 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.