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What Are You Reading

Sertsa

One of the Regulars
Messages
195
Location
Ohio
I just finished Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams. I have a very close friend who loves that book, and now I can see why.
 

Nigel Fisher

New in Town
Messages
40
Location
Eugene, OR
I am reading the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, A Song of Fire and Ice by George R. R. Martin (soon, anyhow) and soon to start reading some China Mieville.

Also addicted to the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, and the Xanth series by Piers Anthony.
 

jayem

A-List Customer
Messages
371
Location
Chicago
SamMarlowPI said:
1984 for a soc. class...ugh...v for vendetta has spoiled me...i didn't care for it at all even though it is the leading book for futuristic societies...could have honestly summed up the whole thing in like 10 pages...

1984 is by far my favorite book of all time. Sigh, HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE IT?!

I'm reading Bunny Tales by Izabella St. James. She was one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends (back when he had 7), and is an inside look at how things work in the Playboy Mansion and such. It might be the most poorly edited book I've ever set eyes on, but it's interesting none-the-less. Like, did you know the girls get an allowance and have a 9 PM curfew? Also, they can't enter the kitchen themselves (I guess past butler hook-ups) and aren't allowed to directly receive phone calls.
 

Helen Troy

A-List Customer
Messages
421
Location
Bergen, Norway
After finishing Ellroy's "The big Nowhere!" , which (off course!) was good, sad and sordid. To recover from the overwhelming misanthropy, I am now catching up on the "Ladies detective agency no.1"series. I know no other books that can make me feel so good, they create a need to smile to my to the world and move to Botswana!
 

Sunny

One Too Many
Messages
1,409
Location
DFW
I just finished Alistair MacLean's When Eight Bells Toll (it was okay) and Puppet on a Chain (much better, albeit with a particularly horrifying scene). Now I'm on The Dragon Lensman, a follow-up to 'Doc' Smith's Lensman series. At the moment I'm very angry at it because we just had a revelation that completely violated a vital part of Lensman canon. Until now it was pretty good. But now?!! :mad:

Patrick Murtha said:
4. Rex Stout, The Rubber Band -- I'm reading the Nero Wolfe series in order; this is the third. I just began it the other day, and was immediately re-hooked by Archie Goodwin's narration. Archie is my hero, attitudinally, sartorially, and otherwise. If I could be anyone...
That's one of my favorite Nero Wolfe books.
 

SamMarlowPI

One Too Many
Messages
1,761
Location
Minnesota
jayem said:
1984 is by far my favorite book of all time. Sigh, HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE IT?!

oh i dunno...i guess because nothing changed throughout the book...society was the same in the beginning as it was in the end...i know thats the point but...felt like i got robbed lol
 

imoldfashioned

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,979
Location
USA
jayem said:
1984 is by far my favorite book of all time. Sigh, HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE IT?!

Orwell is one of my favorites--essays, short stories, novels he wrote them all wonderfully. I've memorized his rules for writers:

Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

Never use a long word where a short one will do.

If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

Never use the passive where you can use the active.

Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
 

imoldfashioned

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,979
Location
USA
CharlesB said:
Orwell's essay on the english language is utterly brilliant. One of my favs

I agree, I think I like his writing in that form most of all. Eric Blair is high on my "if only I could have lunch with you, oh historical figure" list.
 

CharlesB

Suspended
Messages
1,100
Location
Philly, Americaland
imoldfashioned said:
I agree, I think I like his writing in that form most of all. Eric Blair is high on my "if only I could have lunch with you, oh historical figure" list.
I prefer his essays to his novels. His essay on boys schools is great as well
 

carebear

My Mail is Forwarded Here
Messages
3,220
Location
Anchorage, AK
Starting Loren Estlemen's Amos Walker detective series from the beginning, 3 books in so far.

Also just read A. Lee Martinez "The Automatic Detective". Noir in a dystopic future starring a self-aware robot killing machine. Nice story.
 

Randy

Familiar Face
Messages
72
Location
Kentucky
I just downloaded "Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s", by Frederick Lewis Allen, on audiobook to listen to on the drive to and from work - it has lots of potential I think... And, I've just finished Robbing the Bees by Holley Bishop (lots of fun if you have any interest in history, or honey for that matter), Shadow & Claw: The First Half of 'The Book of the New Sun' by Gene Wolfe (classic science fiction), and Elmer McCurdy by Mark Svenvold (a romping fun story about a guy who failed as a train robber in the old west and ended up as a traveling mummy).

- R
 

Lancealot

Practically Family
Messages
623
Location
Greer, South Carolina, United States
Raising Hell in the Nightside by Simon R. Green it's a book club edition of the second three novels of his Nightside series.

I'm also starting to listen to Rhett Butler's People by Donald McCaig it's part prequel, part sequel and Gone with the Wind told from Rhett's point of view.
 

Harp

I'll Lock Up
Messages
8,508
Location
Chicago, IL US
Robert Welch's Irish Poetry From Moore To Yeats.

Welch teaches Renaissance and Anglo-Irish lit at Leeds,
and is probably the type of prof to take late-nite pub crawling,
but his grasp of poetry is more technical than heartfelt.
Hardly a disappointment, but much more was expected from a Corker. :(
 

AmateisGal

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,126
Location
Nebraska
Just about ready to dive into Round Up the Usual Suspects: The Making of Casablanca and I'm also reading Souvenir, the debut novel from one of my blogging buddies, Theresa Fowler.
 

AdmiralTofu

One of the Regulars
Messages
180
Location
_
The Badge, by Jack Webb. A collection of police officers' perspectives on being a cop in general, and specific crime stories too "true and terrifying [...] to be presented on TV." Published in 1958 (I'm reading a recent re-issue with a foreword by James Ellroy). Fascinating stuff. Using it for research for a Dragnet-related project I'm working on. That and I'm just a huge Jack Webb fanboy anyway. :fedora:
 

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