Books

[CoM_Solaufein]

Yes that is the one.

[Missy]

Hi folks, it has been a while. *waves*

 

Since last week I have read:

 

The Ladies of Grace Adieu and Other Stories by Susanna Clarke - an excellent read, and I now feel like re-reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell all over again.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman - a re-read of a book that is every bit as brilliant as I remembered.

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson - a book I had overlooked previously and enjoyed a great deal.

 

I posted about The Ladies of Grace Adieu on my blog at the weekend, and will probably post about the others before the end of the week. In other recent reads I've revisited Neil Gaiman's Stardust , Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie (Charles Vess illustrated edition), and read a couple of Dean Koontz novels.

 

I'm about to start reading One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey (love the film, have never read the book), and have Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time lined up to follow.

[Pidesco]

I'm reading Kafka on the Shore. It's the first recently published novel I've really enjoyed in a long time.

[Missy]

Finished A Wrinkle in Time, which I enjoyed a great deal. Am now on to Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest, which got bumped to the top of my reading pile on account of my being utterly in love with the cover art by John Jude Palencar. Also re-reading Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality by Paul Barber.

[Guard Dog]

Just finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Overall I'd give it 4 stars. Good story but it drags a little. Children of Hurin is next.

[Missy]

Just finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Overall I'd give it 4 stars. Good story but it drags a little. Children of Hurin is next.

 

I have Water for Elephants on my list of books to get, after reading a friend's review of it. Sounds interesting, and the cover intrigues me.

 

I have the yummy slipcased edition of Children of Hurin waiting on my reading pile. I did have a flick through when it arrived, so I could check out Alan Lee's illustrations...awesomeness.

[Guard Dog]

Just finished Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen. Overall I'd give it 4 stars. Good story but it drags a little. Children of Hurin is next.

 

I have Water for Elephants on my list of books to get, after reading a friend's review of it. Sounds interesting, and the cover intrigues me.

 

I have the yummy slipcased edition of Children of Hurin waiting on my reading pile. I did have a flick through when it arrived, so I could check out Alan Lee's illustrations...awesomeness.

Gruen did an excellent job researching her subject (depression era traveling circuses) and she really captures the "feel" of it. But the story gets away from her a little bit. The plot develops quickly then slips into limbo in the middle. It finishes nicely though. The only one of her characters she could have done a better job with was August (the main antagonist). She should have read The Sea Wolf or Heart of Darkness before writing his parts. Wolf Larsen is one of the best "villains" an any book IMHOP.

[Shryke]

the first book in the Song of Fire and Ice series

 

i've been told by squillions of people i should read it, so i've finally gotten round to it. my sister gave me the first 3 books in the series

[WITHTEETH]

I finished The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Now I'm onto reading Enders Game for the second time.

[Missy]

the first book in the Song of Fire and Ice series

 

i've been told by squillions of people i should read it, so i've finally gotten round to it. my sister gave me the first 3 books in the series

 

I finally read A Game of Thrones recently, and enjoyed it a great deal. How are you liking it?

 

I finished Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest, which I found extremely enjoyable. Very creepy and intense in parts.

 

At the start of the weekend I read My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Not a brilliant book, but reasonably enjoyable, and quite sad.

 

I'm now revisiting The Hobbit.

[Morgoth]

The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

 

Totally recommendable.

[Musopticon?]

China Mieville's Perdido Street Station

 

Bernard Cornwell's(sp?) The Lords of the North

 

Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn

 

English trans of Battle Royale

 

This rather boring book called Siege of Heaven

 

Buddhist cooking manual called A Higher Taste

 

And still my entrance exam books, Montgomery's Ways of Reading and Yule's Study of Language, both a mainstay of linguistics study.

[Xard]

I am like, totally, reading again after a while. This is what I'm currently reading

 

Esa Saarinen: Sartre - Pelon, inhon ja valinnan filosofia (Sartre - philosophy of fear, anxiety and choice

 

Yeah yeah, that anxiety is wrong translation but more fitting IMHO (just saying before some finn decides to mention it) - Well, I dare to say I know sufficient amount of information about existentialism even though I haven't read any full book about it, but now is finally time for it

 

Engels - On origins of Christianity

 

I don't know "official" english name for the book, only finnish and german, but you should get the idea which book I mean. I just saw book's title in shells of Library. Only when I got back home I noticed I was going to read something from one of the founders of communism. Oh, well

 

Bo Giertz - Book of Revelation

 

Exegesis, something else to say?

 

Kari Cantell - Tiedemiehen mietteit

Edited May 28, 2007 by Xard

[metadigital]

I have prioritized my text books above my recreational reading, so I have just finished:

Teach Yourself Planets, and

How The Universe Works (not published for the public).

[Qazplm]

Thinking about rereading the wheel of time series after i have reread the Tawny man series and maybe i should read the second book in the soldier's son trilogy.

[Baley]

That Steve Martin novel, The Pleasure of My Company. Uh, The Last Night of Love, The First Night of War (Ultima noapte de dragoste,

Edited May 28, 2007 by Baley

[metadigital]

I just finished 1759: The Year that Britain Became Master of the World.

 

This book isn't perfect, but I found the character sketches alone worth the admission price.

 

My knowledge of this part of history is not substantial; nevertheless McLynn manages to give the reader a sufficiency of human goings-on around this pivotal year, which only helps to give weight to the costs and benefits of the achievements and losses. Some more maps would be a better investment than the monochrome plates that are reproduced, to no advantage (McLynn even debunks some of them in the text!).

 

The battle between the two colossi, the nascent British Empire and ancien r

[Shryke]

the first book in the Song of Fire and Ice series

 

i've been told by squillions of people i should read it, so i've finally gotten round to it. my sister gave me the first 3 books in the series

 

alright i'm on the third one now. it's been rather slow going as i haven't had all that much time to read recently

 

stopped by a book store on my way home last night and bought the 4th book in the series for like $12

 

i'm liking it so far. no clearcut good and evil characters, and the author sure as hell isn't afraid to kill characters off

[metadigital]

I found a book I bought to read on a recent plane flight Extreme Science Fiction.

Some highlights:

• Death in the Promised Land (Pat Cadigan)
  
• The Girl Had Guts (Theodore Sturgeon) ... a spiritual precursor to Alien
  
• Wang's Carpets (Greg Egan) ... a story that I wish I'd written.
  

[Tale]

Wolves of the Calla - Stephen King

 

Not as diligent in reading as I should be. I have a hard time finding free time lately.

[metadigital]

All that vigilantism, no doubt, and backpack flying.

 

The short story by Sturgeon, The Girl Had Guts, was written in 1957, too.

[Tale]

Not all of us were born lucky as sentient AI, y'know. We actually have to move around and get jobs.

Edited June 21, 2007 by Tale

[Baley]

The Girl Had Guts

Literally?

 

(I've been reading Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King.)

[Guard Dog]

Dogs Don't Bite When a Growl Will Do by Matt Weinstien. Can't honsetly say I'd reccomend it. Way too touchy feely and it over intellectualizes dog behavior. Also bought To Have and Have Not by the master Papa Hemingway. One of the few I have not read.

[metadigital]

The Girl Had Guts

Literally?

 

(I've been reading Saul Bellow's Henderson the Rain King.)

You want me to comment on the plot of a short story?