I just thought it would be interesting to hear what everybody else is reading.
I Just finished Elantris by Sanderson (Thanks to OSC on the heads up there) Currently reading: Good to Great by Collins and starting Magic Street
Posted by MandyM (Member # 8375) on :
The Second Summer of the Sisterhood by Ann Brashares----cheesey YA fiction to gear up for the school year.
Actually I think Brashares does an amazing job creating realistic teenage girls.
Before that I was rereading the HP series so I could read #6.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
The Eschaton Sequence by Frederick Pohl.
I'm about to give it up as second-rate crap. Definitely not on par with some of his other stuff.
Posted by JaimeBenlevy (Member # 6222) on :
1984, by George Orwell. It's for school, but I'm loving it.
Posted by Goo Boy (Member # 7752) on :
Erm, a thread on Hatrack?
Aside from that, last night I finished reading The Color of Magic, by Terry Pratchett, and I just started Conquistador, by S. M. Stirling. Thus far I am unimpressed.
Posted by Crotalus (Member # 7339) on :
The Blood of Heaven by Bill Myers.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
*grumble* my history texbook and study guide, I have a final tomorrow.
But then I'm done with history! No more history, I've finished all my history credits!
*dances*
Actually, history isn't all that bad, I haven't really minded it. I've just had a bad instructor and the extremem misfortune to get him two semesters in a row.
Posted by Crotalus (Member # 7339) on :
You know I read Conquistador by Stirling and I wasn't impressed either. Great premise, but the guy really isn't much of a writer. I remember reading it, esp some of the dialogue, and thinking...my writing is better than this. Now I just have to get my novel completed and published to prove it.
Posted by kojabu (Member # 8042) on :
Slowly making my way through Seventh Son (I think I get a page or two a day, if that)
and Eye of the World by Robert Jordan
Posted by amira tharani (Member # 182) on :
"Politics UK" - also for school. On the plus side, I just read Tarka the Otter for the first time, and I liked it.
Posted by Brinestone (Member # 5755) on :
Nothing right now, but recently The Neverending Story, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and Crystal City.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Robert Silverberg - Roma Eterna
^ | One of this year's birthday gifts. Not enjoying it very much though... Posted by Irami Osei-Frimpong (Member # 2229) on :
The Nice and the Good by Iris Murdoch. I'll get through it out of a sense of duty because I recently finished A Fairly Honorable Defeat and found it wonderful and wise and provocative.
Poetic Justice by Martha Nussbaum. The book trots out compelling arguments for the novel as a cultivator of public wisdom and for legal education to acknowledge the partial-- but essential-- role of the moral imagination in the judicial process.
Posted by Architraz Warden (Member # 4285) on :
Hyperion Cantos (Hyperion and Fall of Hyperion) - Dan Simmons. Second time through, as I'm preparing to read the Endyimon books).
afr: Where are you in the trilogy? The first book is indeed... well, it's dismal. I recall the other two being passable, but nothing that meets his average I'm afraid.
Posted by Megan (Member # 5290) on :
Re-reading A Storm of Swords and beginning Magic Street.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
I'm reading A Confederacy of Dunces at the moment. It's pretty funny, but I have yet to encounter a character I remotely like.
Actually, I have yet to encounter a character. Nearly everyone central enough to get fleshed out is still pretty much a charicature. That's not so much a criticism as an observation. It doesn't seem to be the author's intent to craft a story about real people.
Posted by UofUlawguy (Member # 5492) on :
I just finished the new Harry Potter, and now I'm in the middle of Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.
Posted by Lyrhawn (Member # 7039) on :
I usually have a couple books going at once. I'm rereading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, rereading Les Mis, and starting the complete collection of short stories by Joseph Conrad.
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
quote: I'm reading A Confederacy of Dunces at the moment. It's pretty funny, but I have yet to encounter a character I remotely like.
Actually, I have yet to encounter a character. Nearly everyone central enough to get fleshed out is still pretty much a charicature. That's not so much a criticism as an observation. It doesn't seem to be the author's intent to craft a story about real people.
I don't know, I actually quite liked the character of Jones. Also, the cop (can't remember his name at the moment) is a pretty good guy. The great thing about the book is that the least likeable character is the main one. Not many authors are gutsy enough to do that.
Oh, and right now I'm reading Demons by Doestoyevsy, Olympos by Dan Simmons and Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
quote:Olympos by Dan Simmons
Grrrrr... Someone already bought me a copy but it won't reach me until late September. Posted by Jhai (Member # 5633) on :
I've been reading a bunch of old Economist articles on Russia, China, Inda, and Brazil. And by "a bunch" I mean I've at least scanned ANY article written from 1985-2003 that mentions one of those countries. It's for an economics study I'm doing...
For fun, I recently read The Bone People by Keri Hulme (Booker winner in 1985). Harry Potter, of course...
I'm currently "reading" Teach Yourself Beginner's Hindi Script. Mostly just struggling with hearing a difference between an aspirated and unaspirated b or d. I've also started reading my book list for my ethicial theory class. Right now I'm on Passions Within Reason: The Strategic Role of the Emotions by Robert Frank. It's a very, very interesting book.
On the fiction side I've been reading or rereading some of the books up at Baen's Free Library. I really enjoy the 1632 series by Eric Flint. Might just have to go out and buy the next ones in the series that aren't posted at the library. Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Architraz: I'm fairly close to the beginning. They're all sitting in the 6-walled prison being waited on by the Dopey.
The characters are so wooden and cliche. It's awful.
Contrast that with The Diamond Age by Neil Stephenson, which I just finished, which was an awesome book in all respects right until the very end. All the characters were so much more round and vibrant.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I'm reading Sophocles' Philoctetes, Michael Chabon's The Final Solution: A Story of Detection, and C. S. Lewis's Out from the Silent Planet. I just finished Chabon's Summerlands: A Novel, which I enjoyed quite a bit, S.M. Stirling's Dies the Fire, which was entertaining but not especially good, and Silverberg's Roma Eterna, which sucked badly enough that I returned it to the library after reading only a third of it.
I've read a fair amount of Stirling's work; I typically enjoy his ideas and just kind of put up with the writing. Conquistador was by far the worst of his books that I've read, I have to say.
Posted by hansenj (Member # 4034) on :
I'm reading Catch-22 for a class that's starting in the fall. I've wanted to read it for quite a while, and now I have an excuse.
I'm also in the middle of Bel Canto (can't remember the author off the top of my head), but it's not keeping my attention very well.
Posted by Corwin (Member # 5705) on :
Phew, so I'm not the only one who thinks Roma Eterna isn't much of a book!
Posted by romanylass (Member # 6306) on :
I'm re-reading Goblet of Fire , and will start Blue Shoe by Anne Lamott next
Posted by SC Carver (Member # 8173) on :
Rereading "Eargon" by Christopher Paolini to get ready for the release of "Eldest" book 2 in the series later this month.
I just finished Harry Potter HBP and
Bono's book (sort of a auto bio in an interview format)
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
A Vintor Vinge novel. It's okay, but only okay.
Posted by johnsonweed (Member # 8114) on :
I just finshed The Historian, and I am finally getting around to Heartfire by OSC. I also have Master and Commander on the nightstand, but can't read that for very long before I dose off.
Posted by Eaquae Legit (Member # 3063) on :
I'm re-reading Magician: Apprentic by Raymond Feist. It's more sword-and-sorcery-esque than I remembered.
Posted by Carrie (Member # 394) on :
Roma Eterna didn't impress me at all. Then again, I am such a Philhellene that anything vaguely Roman just bores me to death...
Like the Aeneid, which I'm currently reading for class.
I'm also (re-)reading Olympos, which, incidentally is amazing, and Harry Potter.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
quote:Originally posted by His Savageness:
quote: I'm reading A Confederacy of Dunces at the moment. It's pretty funny, but I have yet to encounter a character I remotely like.
Actually, I have yet to encounter a character. Nearly everyone central enough to get fleshed out is still pretty much a charicature. That's not so much a criticism as an observation. It doesn't seem to be the author's intent to craft a story about real people.
I don't know, I actually quite liked the character of Jones. Also, the cop (can't remember his name at the moment) is a pretty good guy. The great thing about the book is that the least likeable character is the main one. Not many authors are gutsy enough to do that.
Oh, and right now I'm reading Demons by Doestoyevsy, Olympos by Dan Simmons and Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb.
I like Jones, too, but he's (so-far) still a bit of a cliche and hasn't been directly in the plot enough to matter. The cop would be very likeable if I could slap a spine in him. However, I haven't finished the book so I reserve the right to modify my opinions. Posted by Rico (Member # 7533) on :
Right now I'm in the middle of reading:
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King.
The October Country - A collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury.
Posted by Sopwith (Member # 4640) on :
No Phule Like An Old Phule by Robert Lynn Asprin
The Name by Franklin Graham
and The NIV Bible
Posted by Rohan (Member # 5141) on :
The Fort at River Bend by Jack Whyte. Just finished Jumper by Steven Gould and Cut and Run (I think that was the name) by Ridley Pearson. Liked them all.
Posted by Beanny (Member # 7109) on :
Middlemarch by George Eliot (AKA Mary Evans).
Posted by His Savageness (Member # 7428) on :
quote: I like Jones, too, but he's (so-far) still a bit of a cliche and hasn't been directly in the plot enough to matter. The cop would be very likeable if I could slap a spine in him. However, I haven't finished the book so I reserve the right to modify my opinions.
Yeah, I guess I am making my assessment based on the end of the book which, I won't go into any major detail at the risk of spoilers, comes together quite nicely and in quite an amusing fashion.
Posted by Enigmatic (Member # 7785) on :
I'm reading The Complete Sherlock Holmes in the evenings and listening to Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince audiobook while driving.
--Enigmatic
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
About halfway through Magic Street. Next on my list (I think) is going to be Eragon but that may change.
Posted by digging_holes (Member # 6237) on :
I've started re-reading all the Harry Potter books as I wait for the new one to become available through the library. When I reserved it, I was number 1481 on the waiting list. Now I'm...
*goes to check*
... number 1106. Yoopee!
So I'm halfway through the first one right now.
Posted by Mrs.M (Member # 2943) on :
How to Mother a Successful Daughter by Nicky Marone
Baby Bargains: Secrets to Saving 20% to 50% on Baby Furniture, Equipment, Clothes, Toys, Maternity Wear, and Much, Much More! by Denise and Alan Fields
Dr. Spock's The First Two Years : The Emotional and Physical Needs of Children from Birth to Age 2 by Benjamin Spock
The Baby Book: Everything You Need to Know About Your Baby from Birth to Age Two by William and Martha Sears
I've just about gotten through the first 3. I have a huge stack that I'm working my way through.
Posted by Space Opera (Member # 6504) on :
I just finished The Last Report on the Miracles at No Little Horse by Louise Erdrich last night. I'm a big fan of Erdrich, so I wasn't too surprised that I really liked it.
Not sure what to read next. I've never gotten all the way through Emma despite two attempts; I might give that a try again.
space opera
Posted by Goo Boy (Member # 7752) on :
I thought Roma Eterna was okay. It helps to know that it is not, in fact, a novel, but a collection of short stories.
-o-
I really thought Confederacy of Dunces was terribly overrated.
Posted by Promethius (Member # 2468) on :
The Stand by Steven King
Posted by Goo Boy (Member # 7752) on :
Ooh, I just finished that recently! Are you reading the restored (1150 page) version?
Not a perfect book, but King is such a great writer of characters that it rips my heart out sometimes.
Posted by Joldo (Member # 6991) on :
Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. It's a magnificent book, and reading about the five women it focuses on is simply fascinating. Even more, Kingsolver creates a distinctly different voice for each character's narration and manages to create five very central and very well-developed characters.
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