What Are You Reading

[Sertsa]

I just finished Barbara Kingsolver's Animal Dreams. I have a very close friend who loves that book, and now I can see why.

 

[CharlesB]

this blog is completely addictive
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/

 

[Nigel Fisher]

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]

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]

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]

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?!!

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]

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]

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.

 

[CharlesB]

Orwell's essay on the english language is utterly brilliant. One of my favs

 

[imoldfashioned]

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]

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

 

[Diamondback]

Never use the passive where you can use the active.

Yes, Orwell is great, but he also fails to consider that there are times when a certain amount of obliqueness and "passive voice" are necessary... like distancing oneself from an action and its consequences. lol

 

[carebear]

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]

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

 

[Diamondback]

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

Sounds almost like it coulda been the inspiration for The Terminator...

 

[Lancealot]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Justdog]

Martin Gilbert

The Professional W.C Heintz
History of the 21st century Gilbert

That was the 20th century A History of the 20th century by Martin Gilbert

 

[AdmiralTofu]

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: