August 28, 2007

• 1. "The Short Life and Long Times of Mrs. Beeton" by Kathryn Hughes 2. "Teenage: The Creation of Youth Culture" by Jon Savage 3. "Betsy and the Great World" by Maud Hart Lovelace 4. "Heavy Words Lightly Thrown: The Reason Behind the Rhyme" by Chris Roberts 5. The first "Peanuts" volume that was put out by Fantgraphics.
• 1. Our Cancer Year, Harvey Pekar 2. David Boring, Daniel Clowes 3. Palm Sunday, Kurt Vonnegut 4. Space Race, Deborah Cadbury 5. Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald
• In reverse order: 1. Hunter: The strange & savage life of Hunter S. Thompson - E. Jean Carroll 2. Smiley's People - le Carré 3. The Honourable Schoolboy - le Carré 2. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - le Carré 1. Rome, its people, life & customs - Ugo Enrico Paoli But there'll always be books that I pick thru constantly on & off, reference works or such like.
• 1. Black Seas of Infinity: The Best of H.P. Lovecraft (still reading) 2. The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm (still reading) 3. Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth, by Chris Ware 4. Our Cancer Year, by Harvey Pekar (hi cappy!) 5. Ignorance, by Milan Kundera
• In reverse order: Harry Potter: the Deathly Hallows - what's her name Stone Age Wisdom - Tom Crockett Walden - Thoreau Light on Yoga - B.K.S. Iyengar Born in Flames - Howard Hampton And even though I am a dyed in the wool atheist, there's a well paged version of the King James version of the bible on my nightstand.
• "well thumbed", for fuck's sake...
• Spook Country, William Gibson Shadow of the Shadow Returning as Shadows Some Clouds Return to the Same City, the last four by Paco Ignacio Taibo II.
• The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan On Beauty by Zadie Smith Kalavale by Arto Salminen The Outlaw Sea by William Langewiesche
• 1. Currently working on Ancient Evenings by Norman Mailer. (Amazing book.) 2. Wish I Could Be There: Notes from a Phobic Life by Allen Shawn. 3. The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture by John Battelle. 4. The Great Transformation: The Beginning of Our Religious Traditions by Karen Armstrong. 5. The Chrysanthemum Palace by Bruce Wagner.
• Crazy Horse & Custer - S A Ambrose (still reading, but let's just say it appears to be 'of its time' - early 70s) Grapes of Wrath - Steinberg (the most shocking ending to a book I've read in a long time. Absolutely brilliant book) Flashman - Frazier (fucking rubbish, didn't laugh once. He's not exactly Wodehouse or Waugh) Excession - Ian M Banks (jury's out on Banks' sci-fi, for me, a good read though.) Mammoth Book of How It Happened WWII - various (sobering, exciting, humbling, easy to dip in and out of) Plus a load of graphic novels etc.
• Ooh, Ooh, camel of space! What's the new Gibson like?
• 1. "Their Finest Hour" - Winston Churchill 2. "Chronicles" - Bob Dylan 3. "The Shroud of the Thwacker" - Chris Elliott 4. "Star Wars: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse" - James Luceno 5. "Star Wars: Balance Point" - Kathy Tyers Thank you, HawthorneWingo, for reminding me what a loser I am.
• Steinbeck, obv...
• <delurks> "Imperium" by Robert Harris "The Mauritius Command" by Patrick O'Brian "Charlotte Gray" by Sebastian Faulks "Fool's Fate" by Robin Hobb "History of the U.S. Economy in the 20th Century" by Timothy Taylor (assuming audio lectures count) "War Trash" by Ha Jin (if they don't) <relurks>
• I feel all lowbrow now. Thorn - Fred Saberhagen the Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk I Am Legend - Richard Matheson the Harlequin - Laurell K. Hamilton Three of those are re-reads, the other two I'll probably never read again.
• The last 5? Tricky. I'm a very quick reader so I can easily read a book before I go to bed. I've been re-reading the entire series by Lindsay Davis, which is about an informer/detective set in ancient Rome. Also I recently read The Rubicon. And I read Harry Potter a few hours after it was released. Then I also read Transcending CSS and a book on Flash interfaces and using my digital camera cause I tend to geek.
• Hank, that's bizarre, I've been on a John le Carré kick recently, having been favourably impressed by The Constant Gardener and Alec Guinness's two Smiley dramas on DVD. I have A Perfect Spy lined up for next. Current: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling The Little Drummer Girl - John le Carré The Honourable Schoolboy - le Carré The Nothing that Is: A Natural History of Zero - Robert Kaplan Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke
• Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell - One the few books I couldn't finish. Just didn't do it for me.
• ...series by Lindsay Davis, which is about an informer/detective set in ancient Rome That sounds interesting. What are the titles?
• A confederacy of Dunces The roaches have no king The Islamist Shopped Screenburn
• In no particular order: Electric Universe - David Bodanis Thief of Time - Terry Pratchett Atlantis - David Gibbons The Broker - John Grisham Currently queued up to read: Peter Jackson (A Film Maker's Journey) - Brian Sibley
• Wilkie Collins - The Complete Shorter Fiction Steve Martini - Undue Influence (Grishamesque) Marsha Wilson Chall - Sugarbush Spring (Children's book read for work) G.K. Chesterton - Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows - JK Rowling Creepers - David Morrell A Talent for War - Jack McDevitt Polaris - Jack McDevitt Seeker - Jack McDevitt
• The Salterton Trilogy - Robertson Davies (re-read, for about the 100th time) Harry Potter IV Special Topics in Calamity Physics - Marisha Pessl Tokyo Cancelled - Rana Dasgupta The Deptford Trilogy - Robertson Davies (re-read, for about the 100th time as well)
• Yeah, roryk, le Carré is total class. I wasn't particularly drawn into Schoolboy, but Tinker Tailor is of course classic, & Smiley's People is outstanding, particularly the second half, leaves one feeling top hole. Better, I think, than the tv adaptions, even though Guinness is definitive as Smiley. I read the 'Karla trilogy' in one lump, best way to do it imho. Perfect Spy is good.. I won't spoil it, but it is in a different vein. A bit autobiographical it is said. Each of his novels seem to have quite a different feel. The Secret Pilgrim is another very good one, illuminates much more about Smiley & his past from the viewpoint of others at the Circus, check it out, it's a good 'un.
• Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson The Star Maker - Olaf Stapledon Behemoth - Peter Watts Triplanetary - Edward E Smith Stand on Zanzibar - John Brunner honestly in queue - Getting Things Done - David Allen (just haven't got round to it yet)
• Last five books that I've enjoyed reading - 1. Sound Bites: Eating on Tour with "Franz Ferdinand" by Alex Kapranos - wish he'd cut back on the music and write more about food. Seriously yummy book! 2. Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse by Ben Templesmith - I love Ben Templesmith so much. 3. World War Z by Max Brooks - recommended by a friend. 4. The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons - I like the films - I've never seen any of the tv shows but this is still a fascinating read. 5. Maverick: Extraordinary women from South Africa's past by Lauren Beukes - in the middle of reading this. Cover caught my eye in the library. Have no connection to South Africa and hadn't heard of most of the women. Amazing stories. Only annoying thing is no pictures. Had to stop reading last night so I could look online for some photos of Helen Martin's Owl House.
• When I was a kid, my Dad had a copy of Smiley's People on the shelf, and there was something about the dust jacket art thst scared me. I can't remember exactly what it was, but it created some kind of subliminal aversion to le Carré that I haven't been able to shake. Amazing what those childhood impressions can do.
• 1. Crab's Hole by Anne Hughes Jander. First-person account of life on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay from 1947-1953. 2. Seasoned by Salt: An Historical Album of the Outer Banks by Rodney Barfield. Self-explanatory. 3. The Loved One by Evelyn Waugh. A favorite--I've read this about two dozen times and it's more hilarious every time. 4. Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry. I know it's a kids' book but it evokes pre-tourist boom Chincoteauge beautifully. 5. Hell's Angels by Hunter Thompson. Another old friend, always fresh and fun to re-read. I also spent some time with Daniel Mannix's History of Torture and The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste by Jane and Michael Stern though I did not read them cover-to-cover.
• Just started: The man who stayed behind - memoirs of old Commie Sidney Rittenberg and his life in China. A re-read of Eoin McNamee's The Ultras Jonathan Spence Treason by the Book Chinese history from the master. Dipped into Chinese version of a scandal-mongering book on Mao and his women because a publisher asked me to. Sort of dull. Forget author, book called Folorn Hope; short bios of various radicals during the English Civil War.
• This Is Your Brain On Music - Daniel J. Levitin (current read) The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom (sucked) Stumbling On Happiness - Daniel Gilbert (interesting) On The Road - Jack Kerouac (re-read) A Perfect Night To Go To China - David Gilmour (very nice)
• VeraGemini: It's the Marcus Didius Falco series. You don't need to read them in sequence - because she repeats some information about it so each book can stand alone. There is the thread of him and his family though throughout the books. Series is now up to #18. Bit of mystery, bit of history, interesting characters and some humour.
• 1. Delta of Venus by Anais Nin. Woooah! Oooer, missus! 2. Memoirs of a Wolfman by Paul Naschy. I love Paul Naschy. I love his movies, his enthusiasm, and his huge pectoral muscles. If you don't, we can't be friends. 3. McSweeney's Enchanted Chamber of Astonishing Stories (ed. Michael Chabon) Hit and miss, like any anthology. Made me realize that I used to think I loved Joyce Carol Oates's stories, and now I'm starting to realize that I really don't. 4. The Ghastly Ones: the Sex-Gore Netherworld of Andy Milligan by Jimmy McDonough. If you don't know Andy Milligan, it's hard to explain. But even if you never heard of him, this is a fascinating read. 5. Tremor of Intent by Anthony Burgess. I figured this would be dated as a Cold War spy novel, but I was gripped and entertained and made to think throughout. Great stuff.
• I haven't read much since I got Guitar Hero 2, but when I do, I try to read some good ones. . . 1. Pendragon by Stephen Lawhead 2. Great Acing Teachers and Their Methods by Richard Brestoff 3. The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas 4. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux 5. If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes
• Nifty. I love historical novels with a bit of intrigue thrown in. I'll check them out, thanks. :-)
• AP poll says one in four American adults haven't read a book in a year
• Of course we simians read more. Great minds like to think.
• Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson Mr. Koko's reading that, and has been giving me highlights. It's where I got the inspiration for the Yellowstone super volcano post.
• PS I ♥ Bill Bryson
• TUM, I can't conceive of never reading for sheer joy, but I have a girlfriend that is that way. She has a Master's in Education. Scary, hunh? Hmm, my reading's been all over the board lately. Last picked up at the thrift shop: 'Havana Bay'--Martin Cruz Smith. I lubs me some Arkady Renko, esp 'Gorky Park' and 'Polar Star.' This one was ok, but not as good as his best. 'Stallion Gate' sucked. Have 'Canto for a Gypsy' on reserve at the library, am hoping. A few of the last batch of library books: 'A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'--Betty Smith. I keep getting told I need to read this, but I've never been able to finish it. Goes back unread, and I'm NOT trying again. 'Pigtown'--Wm. Caunitz. Great title for a book, blah mystery. 'Stewball'--Peter Bowen. Once again, it's the character. I adore Gabriel Du Pre and his Metis family. This wasn't Bowen's best, but still fun. 'The Singing of the Dead'--Dana Stabenow. Another great title, and I like the Aleutian P.I. Kate Shugak, but wasn't overwhelmed by the plot or the writing. Good to kill an afternoon when it's too hot to do anything else. From my bookshelves: 'The Bone People'--Keri Hulme. Another reading of my favorite book of all time. The language and images in this Booker Prize winner just resonate with me. I've finally been unpacking the 12 boxes of books still in storage downstairs. I've got a stack of Cambridges and Nortons from college that I've been going through re-reading poetry and short stories. In addition to the ones I had to buy for classes, I'd pick up others at thrift stores for a quarter. What a ridiculous price for the best literature in the world! I've got a 2 inch thick anthology, printed on that tissue-thin paper, of oodles of Middle-Eastern writing that I'm drooling to get into. Some days I revel in the good stuff, some days I like trashy mystery stuff. Any day, I like to read. I'm one of the other four Americans.
• Currently reading "The Stupidest Angel" by Christopher Moore. -"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides -"Haunted" by Chuck Palahniuk -"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini
• From The Grapes of Wrath by Jon Steinberg: In the fields the men had nothing to eat all day. Not a single bagel, not even a bagel without a shmear. On Sundays, too, the men were up before dawn, and in the fields without a chance to even glance at the Sunday Times. One day, Goldman stopped beneath a hot midday sun, and surveyed the men working around him. There was Stein, that poor schmuck, pushing his coke bottle-thick glasses up his sweat-drenched nose for the gazillionth time that day. There was Rosenthal, lost in his daydreams, comforting himself by whispering "My son, the doctor. My son, the lawyer." Wiping his brow, Godlman thought, For this, we came to California? Surely, this is going to result in years on the therapist's couch.
• Reverse order: "The Spirit Cabinet" by Paul Quarington "Alice in Wonderland" "Through the Looking Glass" "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" "Endless Things" by John Crowley Havn't been doing as much book reading as usual this summer, as I've been trying to catch up on my big pile of unread Fortean Times and New Scientists.
• Currently reading "The Stupidest Angel" by Christopher Moore. -"Middlesex" by Jeffrey Eugenides -"Haunted" by Chuck Palahniuk -"The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini Wow, topolino--two of those books were selections for my book club, and the other two I got for Xmas last year. Small library, what? I liked all but one of them. :)
• Well done, Wingo!
• kitfisto, Spook Country was really good. I liked Pattern Recognition more, but I really enjoyed this one (I'm actually still more of a fan of the Neuromancer series, though).
• "Up in the Old Hotel" Joseph Mitchell-beautifully written essays on New York in the 40's and 50's. Highly recommended. "King of the World" David Remnick-extended essay about Muhammad Ali "The Great Influenza" John M. Barry-traces the history of the epidemic of 1918. Really well written. "The First Elizabeth" Carolly Erickson-birth to death Elizabeth I. 'The Year of Mystical Thinking" Joan Didion-thoughts on the loss of her husband, writer John Gregory Dunn. Not so great, I'd have liked to care but I didn't.
• Special Topics in Calamity Physics, World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, The High Window, Farewell My Lovely, The Big Sleep
• Marisha Pessl, Max Brooks, the last three Raymond Chandler
• PS I ♥ Bill Bryson Ah, I just recommended Bill Bryson to someone the other day. I think the Short History is the one book of his I have yet to read. *Scurries off to library and/or bookstore*
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (much much loved, as was expected) Mrs Dalloway ~ Virginia Woolf (excellent) A Long Way Down ~ Nick Hornby (surprisingly terrific, did not have any particular expectations) A Long Way Gone ~ Ishmael Beah (harrowing but extremely worthwhile) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles ~ Haruki Murakami (currently reading; excellent at the halfway point at least!)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (much much loved, as was expected) Mrs Dalloway ~ Virginia Woolf (excellent) A Long Way Down ~ Nick Hornby (surprisingly terrific, did not have any particular expectations) A Long Way Gone ~ Ishmael Beah (harrowing but extremely worthwhile) The Wind-Up Bird Chronicles ~ Haruki Murakami (currently reading; excellent at the halfway point at least!)
• My brain so resembles pudding lately that I can't remember. Plus it's been a month since I read for pleasure. I do know I read Deathly Hallows, and before that Blood Meridian, but I'll be damned if I can think of what preceded them.
• That Blood Meridian, that's one violent book. I go back and forth on that one -- on the one hand, there are no real 3D characters to hold onto, on the other it's so vivid and gutwrenching that you gotta love it. There weren't any 3D characters in the Iliad either, right? So is McCarthy going for a kind of Western epic?
• there are no real 3D characters to hold onto Well, I'm not sure I agree. The vast majority of the characters are simple, I concede, but then they would be, realistically. The judge, on the other hand, is IMO one of the most fascinating characters in the last two decades of literature.
• Camel of Space - Thanks! Pattern Recognition was great. I like the way he's headed, a bit more 'tomorrow' future, rather than completely futuristic (although Neuromancer / Idoru etc do fucking rock). PR really made me think more about the world how it is now / tomorrow etc. Made me want to cut all the labels off my stuff. Still does. So thanks, I can't wait to get my hands on Spook Country.
• 5. The Ultimate Man's Guide to Internet Dating: The Premier Men's Resource for Finding, Attracting, Meeting and Dating Women Online by Howard Brian Edgar, Howard Martin Edgar, and Jr. Edgar 4. Gillian McKeith's Wedding Countdown Diet: How to Look and Feel Amazing on Your Big Day by Gillian McKeith 3. Making Marriage Work for Dummies by S. Simring 2. The Complete Guide to Protecting Your Financial Security When Getting a Divorce by Alan Feigenbaum and Heather Linton 1. Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: Overcoming Romantic and Sexual Addictions by Jed Diamond
• and you need 'em.
• Hold on, that first one's a coloring book.
• I've been juggling books lately. I'll start one, start another, finish the second, start a third, look at the first, and finish the third. And so on. I do this when I'm stressed. I am trying to read both House of Leaves and Ballard's Crash, but they're both boring. For the latter, I think it's general disappointment with post 1980 or so Ballard, and with the former, it's picked up since I decided to entirely ignore the second narrative. But after reading a lot of theory for grad school, it feels pretentious and annoying. I'd be happier with Pynchon right now, except that means another trip to the library. That being said, most recently completed books include: 1. Preacher vol. 1-9, Garth Ennis 2. Rant: An Oral Biography of Buster Casey, Chuck Palahniuk (much better than Lullaby) 3. Darkly Dreaming Dexter, Lindsay (again) 4. Topophilia, Tuan (read almost entirely in traffic court) 5. The Road to Madness, Lovecraft (again) I also read 'We Have Always Lived in the Castle' a few weeks ago, which I never had but had always meant to, and enjoyed, and this pretty nifty book a friend recommended called 'John Crow's Devil,' which has a lovely, fluid read to it and has my favorite type of character: the whiskey priest.
• Boy howdy, there sure is a lot of lip-smackin' literary goodness in this thread. *prints page for future bookstore forays*
• Ok, so we have one Kerouac so far, anybody want to confess a Clancy, Pynchon or Jackie Collins?
• There's a lot of Steven King in my past. I don't want to talk about it.
• Atonement - Ian McEwan Aerie - Mercedes Lackey (pretty awful) Absurdistan - Gary Shteyngart Descending Figure - Louise Glück The Freeing of the Dust - Denise Levertov
• Yeah, I read Clancy's Pinchin' Jackie Collins. Not enough sex.
• OK, what I want to know is how many of you cleaned up your booklist to post all the highbrow stuff here? I don't notice any romance novels, and I KNOW you people read 'em! None of the cheap mysteries that I go through like I'm crunching potato chips. Nobody admitted to perusing self-help books, except for quid, and he just looked at the pictures. No porn. Yeah, like you guys don't spend hours reading that stuff. Confess. What are your secret sins as readers?
• Yeah, MCT, that judge is compelling. He still spooks me, and it's been a while since I read the book. But he's more like a mythic figure than a real person. I think the xters are sieves, but ultimately I think that don't matter.
• I don't notice any romance novels, and I KNOW you people read 'em! No porn. Yeah, like you guys don't spend hours reading that stuff. I admitted to Laurell K. Hamilton...
• Lace
• C'mon, GranMa -- my first two were comic books...
• None of the cheap mysteries that I go through like I'm crunching potato chips. I put down my Steve Martini! Would it help if I admitted to reading it in installments, in the can?
• "New Hat, Old Hat" by Stan & Jan Berenstain "Llama Llama Red Pajama" by Anna Dewdney "My First Colors" by Eric Carle "My Two Hands, My Two Feet" by Rick Walton & Julia Gorton "I Love My Mommy Because" by Laurel Porter-Gaylord
• Use of Weapons - Ian M. Banks Conside Phlebas - Ian M. Banks Thud! - Terry Pratchett Going Postal - Terry Pratchett That Potter thing Re-reading some old favourites whilst waiting for something new and shiny!
• 1. Stumbling on Happiness - D. Gilbert - It's about why we're lousy at predicting what makes us happy! 2. The Fabric of the Cosmos - B. Greene. It's a fun explanation of the latest discoveries in particle physics! 3. Never Eat Alone - K. Ferrari. It's about getting my introverted ass out of the house! 4. Reinventing the Wheel - Jessica Helfand. It's a picture book about wheel charts! 5. "The Paris Review Book: of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, the Art of Writing, and Everything Else in the World Since 1953". It's...well, that's what it's about.
• Oo, also forgot to add "Bowling Alone" which was recommended by you, HW! It was a good read and surprisingly scholarly for a book with a populisty title. Thanks for that.
• Holee shit! That was a Carolingian!
• I did leaf through Anxiety for Dummies in the bookstore last night.
• 5. (currently)- Jo Rowling's latest 4. (currently) Weird Tales - anthology 3. The Encyclopedia of Bad Taste - Jane & Michael Stern 2. Survivor - Palahniuk 1. The Pigman - Paul Zindel And I always have the latest Onion in the lav, as well as subscribing to a metric assload of magazines.
• Last 5 books I remember finishing are: 1. The Sorceror's Apprentice - Tahir Shah (excellent, mysterious travelogue through the mystical infrastructure of India) 2. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon (the seldom seen p.o.v. of an autistic boy makes it a really compelling read for all ages) 3. Dogrun - Arthur Nersessian (I'd sooner recommend Chinese Takeout or The Fuck Up by Nersessian for more of the same type of NYC slacker story) 4. Filth - Irvine Welsh (good read and aptly titled; the p.o.v. of the tapeworm obscuring the text is a beautiful touch - roryk might get a kick out of it for the embedded ASCII art) 5. You Shall Know Our Velocity - Dave Eggers (despite the autobiographical beauty in his A.H.W.O.S.G. I thought this book had more power via its clear direction) Currently, I'm reading Blindness, by Jose Saramago; The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell; House of Tiger King, by Tahir Shah; and three tomes on Polynesian/Lapita/South Pacific culture by Patrick V. Kirch. The first three probably won't get finished for a while, now that I'm starting my master's, but the Kirch will come in handy if I ever get finished with them. My queue goes on much longer than that - and I don't even read much anymore. Thank you, education. On a related note, I've been reading The Grapes of Wrath for about 14 years now; I've restarted two times and been distracted from it a million but it isn't active in my current reading pile these days. Oh, I'll also recommend The Logogryph, by Thomas Wharton if anyone's interested in some kind of Borges-esque (Borgesque?) fantasy of wordsmithery.
• Books 1-4 of the Death Gate Cycle by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - J. K. Rowling You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening - Gayla Trail Apartment Therapy: The Eight-Step Home Cure - Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan In progress: Guns, Germs and Steel - Jared Diamond The Hand of Chaos (book 5 of the Death Gate cycle) - Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
• I don't have as much time as I'd like for reading, GranMa, so I go for quality - and I never liked romance novels anyway, nor dispensible mysteries, chick lit, or the like. Yeah, I'm a book snob, I'll admit it! Nothing wrong with it either way. That said, I have a lot of Stephen King in my past (think: entire catalogue to date in grade eight), still think Jurassic Park was a cracking good novel, am a huge fan of Harry Potter, and I've been working my way through W.E. Johns' catalogue of Worrals and Biggles books, which are pulpy British kids war adventure books. But they're old, so they count as quality. Plus, they're tremendous fun. ;)
• To be depressingly honest, I am now a Professional Craft Writer, so I'm pretty sure that the last five books I "read" were craft books, and I'm having trouble remembering the non-craft books. There are these, though: five books I have going right now. - Spook Country, William Gibson - The Old Capital: A Novel of Taipei, Chu T'ien-hsin - Lost in Austen, Emma Campbell-Brown - Fly By Night, Frances Hardinge - Bloodfeud, Richard Fletcher (VERY interesting!) I am really entirely unsure whether the newest Harry Potter is in the most recent 5 or not, but I did read it the weekend it came out. Also skimmed but haven't completely "read" the new Kage Baker. The Austen book may qualify a romance, as it is a Choose Your Own Adventure-type game book with scores in it that takes you through various Jane Austen plots and asks you obscure questions about early 18th-century England, like what "covering a screen" means. (It means to embroider over a canvas screen.)
• *19th* century. Sleepy! (That wasn't a typo, that was honest momentary confusion. Which is more embarrassing, actually.)
• Quality is always good, but lowbrow reading is a fun pastime, too. Some good book recommends here. Oh, so busy! Our local library just updated to a computerized system, and I can request interlibrary loans online. Whoot!!
• Gustav Holst- Imogen Holst Big Dead Place- Nick Johnson Orchestration- Samuel Adler Unorthodox Openings-Schiller Scurvy- Stephen Brown I love fiction but with the limited time I have to myself, I feel guilty unless I'm educating myself in some way. Big Dead Place sorta fell in the cracks- very funny in places.
• A Short History of Nearly Everything - Bill Bryson nthing other Monkeys' recommendations. Australian Summer Stories - Anthology I love short stories. Hemmingway's Chair - Michael Palin A comical thriller by the former Python. Return to the River - Roderick Haig-Brown A tale of the now sadly diminishing Pacific salmon migrations. Borrowed Time - Robert Goddard English potboiler.
• Fell Vol1:Feral City - Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith Apathy and Other Small Victories - Paul Neilan I haven't read this much since i was in middle school...
• "Break No Bones" Kathy Reichs. "The Undesired Princess and The Enchanted Bunny" L. Sprague de Camp & David Drake. "The Howling Stones" Alan Dean Foster. "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer" Edited by Joyce Reardon, Ph.D. "The Road to Mars" Eric Idle.
• Huh. Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut (finished it this morning) The Broker, Grisham Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury Education of a Wandering Man, L'Amour Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Rowling Two were purchased new and read immediately (Rowling and Grisham). One was used, a gift from my father in law (L'Amour). The other two were re-reads: Bradbury I purchased in New Orleans in '02, and Vonnegut was borrowed from my sister years ago and has never been returned.
• BlueHorse wrote: "Confess. What are your secret sins as readers?" I put the books I've read on shelves in a very specific way. To wit, the stuff I read (and want people to know that I read) is in the living room. Stuff I read that I enjoyed but feel more like it's junk food reading usually goes downstairs, out of sight. That's my secret sin. Lots and lots of Louis L'Amour in my basement. Alphabetized, even.
• Frogs: Who doesn't!! Hey, there was a summer class on Louis L'Amour offered at BSU. Guess that makes it litchur!
• Hey, there was a summer class on Louis L'Amour offered at BSU. not sure i want go to a skul called BSU
• Breakfast of Champions...finished it this morning Great way to start your day, clf
• My secret sin as a reader: romance manga aimed at 15-year-old Japanese girls. Also, that Lost in Austen book is actually by Emma Campbell Webster, not Brown. But Fly By Night is really good! (I guess I also read a lot of YA fic in general, esp on the fantasy end, but I want to write fantasy in general and literary YA fantasy in particular, so.)