What's everyone reading?

I commute on the train 1 or 2 days a week now, and it's giving me time to use my nook and actually get some stuff read. I recently finished Unbroken, which is something I think should be read by those of us who haven't lived through a World War. What those guys went through was astounding, heartbreaking, and inspiring.

I needed lighter fare after that, so I read a new biography of Queen Elizabeth, which was pretty interesting. I think it must be so strange and confining to have your job built into your life from basically day one. But it's also been quite a fascinating life, and one well-lived, I think.

What's everyone else reading?

I am currently reading The Long Goodbye and kicking myself that I hadn't tried any Raymond Chandler before now. His books are awesome.

Currently "Last Rituals" by Yrsa Sigurdardottir.
Only just started it but looks to be quite a gruesome tale.

Quite like the Scandinavian writers. Just got started on them before the bandwaggon went that way.

My daughter bought me a selection for my birthday that I still have to tackle but had this from the library, along with a dozen others, to see off first.

Best on was "The Lacuna" by Barbara Kingsolver.
Beautifully written and a very fascinating almost true story.
Much enlightened about Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Lev Davidovich Bronshtein(Leon Trotsky). Not as black as he was painted, apparently.

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Originally posted by Sarahfeena

...I needed lighter fare after that, so I read a new biography of Queen Elizabeth, which was pretty interesting. I think it must be so strange and confining to have your job built into your life from basically day one. But it's also been quite a fascinating life, and one well-lived, I think....

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I've always been interested in the British monarchy, and have read two bios of Queen Elizabeth II so far this year: Elizabeth the Queen by Sally Bedell Smith, and The Real Elizabeth by Andrew Marr. Both were pretty good, well-researched and readable. They weren't entirely flattering, but seemed pretty balanced, all in all.

Right now I'm reading a collection of quotations and observations over the centuries about George Washington, a book about the battle between the USS Kearsarge and the CSS Alabama off the coast of France in 1864, and Dick Cheney's autobiography (unabashedly conservative, but with a surprisingly wry sense of humor).

The Sally Bedell Smith one is the one I read. I wanted to read the Andrew Marr one, but the e-version is a little pricey, so I read the Smith one first. I agree it was well-balanced. Which one did you think was better overall?

I actually thought they were rather complimentary to each other. I suppose I'd give the Smith book a slight edge, but they were both worthwhile. This is also an excellent book on how the Queen actually does her work over the span of a year, and gives a very interesting look at the "Buck House" (Buckingham Palace) staff behind the scenes: http://www.amazon.com/A-Year-Queen-R...2824139&sr=8-8

I finally got my hands on the last chapter of the Malazan Book of the Fallen. It's the 10th 1000+ page book in what has to be the most epic fantasy series ever, and only 50 pages in I'm reminded of everything that's made the previous books great. It's good to the point that I'm already choking up a bit. Heh, I'm afraid to get comfortable, because I know I'll get caught up and lose a day...

I'm now just over halfway through American Dervish, a novel by Ayad Akhtar. It seems semi-autobiographical, and is about a teenage Pakistani-American boy growing up in Wisconsin in the Eighties and grappling with his Moslem faith, his unhappy family life and his place in society. So far it's OK; not sure I'd recommend it to anyone.

Moby Dick. I'm continuing my trend of filling the holes in my classic literature Great Wall, thanks to Project Gutenberg and the trusty Kindle. Where a lot of those classics have been, to me, mostly interesting snapshots of the time and place they were written (e.g. The Last of the Mohicans, Frankenstein, etc.), this one has been a flat-out great read. Other books recently finished:

The Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
Darling Brenda, Richard Herley
A Princess of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs
The Talisman, Stephen King and Peter Straub
The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka
Beowulf

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...m_1639726f.jpg

It has its moments, especially early on but I'm finding parts of it a slog. I think the theme is just too wide as to be next to meaningless. He would have been better off either doing a genuine miscellany or perhaps short articles on a variety of home related topics. It seems like it could have been edited better. A pity as I usually enjoy Bryson's books, even if you have to take what he says with a pinch of salt, his fact-checking is notoriously shaky.

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Originally posted by The Original An Gadaí

It has its moments, especially early on but I'm finding parts of it a slog. I think the theme is just too wide as to be next to meaningless. He would have been better off either doing a genuine miscellany or perhaps short articles on a variety of home related topics. It seems like it could have been edited better. A pity as I usually enjoy Bryson's books, even if you have to take what he says with a pinch of salt, his fact-checking is notoriously shaky.

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I found the same of that one. I went on a Bryson kick over the last couple years, in which I read A Short History of Nearly Everything, At Home, A Walk in the Woods, Made in America, and The Lost Continent.

OCS, which version of Beowulf? I like the Seamus Heaney translation a lot.

I just picked up The Bear: History of a Fallen King, which is fascinating so far.

Orual, that looks a lot like the bear from the Berlin coat of arms: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_berlin

I've read two slim but good books about George Washington over the past week or so. The Essential George Washington by Peter Hannaford is a collection of observations about GW from those who knew him personally, those who lived not long after he did, and those who thought about him long after he was gone. Mostly praise, but some criticism too. George Washington: The Founding Father by Paul Johnson is an English conservative's brief take on GW's life. Some minor factual errors I noticed, but otherwise a well-written, concise bio that's worth a look.

I just finished reading a bunch of Joe Hunter books. If you don't know who Joe Hunter is, he's kinda like Jack Reacher* only a less interesting hero who faces some damn fascinating villains. For mindless action books involving a lone vigilante punching bad people, they are quite enjoyable.

I'm currently reading X-PERTS - The Paranet, which is among the most awfully written pieces of crap I've ever read. It's translated from German so I can forgive a certain degree of unpoetic language, but the structure and pace of the story is woeful. But it's not caustic-bad, so it's still readable. But barely.

*If you don't know who Jack Reacher is, I can't help you

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Originally posted by Orual

OCS, which version of Beowulf? I like the Seamus Heaney translation a lot.

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It was the John Lesslie Hall translation from the turn of the 20th century, mostly because it was in the public domain and therefore free on Gutenberg. :)

I've heard very good things about the Heaney translation.

Raymond Chandler is still awesome. I'm in the middle of The High Window, and just finished The Lady in the Lake. Philip Marlowe is such a surly, caustic jerk. <3

My recent book disappointment is The House of Silk. I gave it a chance because it's an "authorized" Sherlock Holmes story, and Anthony Horowitz is responsible for Foyle's War, which is a really good show. But it's just lifeless. And plodding. And as far as mysteries centered on the plight of impoverished children in 19th century cities go, The Alienist beats it silly.

I'm just finished Fire Logic by Laurie Marks. The actual writing was okay, but the dialogue felt a little...overly affected. The actual story and the characters were wonderful, though. Once I really got into it most of the flaws just weren't that noticeable. If you like Ursula le Guin, you'll probably enjoy this.

Now I'd like to get a few audio books that are fairly mellow and good to listen to when I have a migraine and can't focus my eyes. Any suggestions?

I picked this up cheap on my holidays. I'm hoping to then be able to know something about the various piles of rocks I go to see. I studied a lot of this stuff in highschool but of course half of it is long forgotten.

http://images.word-power.co.uk/image...1845887155.jpg

Just knocked out The Wind in the Keyhole, also known as Book #4.5 in Stephen King's Dark Tower series.

I'm reading a chapter book to my daughter called "The Mysterious Benedict Society." It is quite bizarro and yet oddly compelling. It's about these four kids who are recruited by a guy who says that there's an evil man who is transmitting messages via TV/radio/phone waves, which are heard by everyone at a subconscious level. He has figured out a way to record these messages, and they are kind of nonsensical and creepy. He thinks there's something worse to come...something very bad...and so he sends these kids to the "institute" which is run by this evil guy to figure out what to do about it. So far we're about halfway through, and we are dying to know how the story comes out. It's extremely strange for a kids' book, and I thought my daughter would want to stop when it started getting kind of creepy, but she is pretty intrigued by it.

Personally, I am reading a recent book by Jeffrey Archer called Only Time will Tell, which I've been meaning to get to for a while. I heard the second one in the series is out, and he's done writing a third, so I thought I'd better get started on it. Really enjoying it so far.

I've long liked Archer's early writings, but haven't liked his recent stuff much. His First Among Equals, a political thriller that traces the careers of three (four in the British edition) members of Parliament as each rises to become a contender for Prime Minister, is terrific.

This weekend, I read Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition. It was interesting to get a different look at pirate history, but I didn't find the author's arguments compelling throughout. There's some great research in there, but there's also a lot of stuff along the lines of, "Well, pirates were very misogynistic and looked down on men who worried about women too much, so they were obviously gay."

I also picked up a couple of secondhand Star Trek novels and read Firestorm last night. It was Uhura-centric and a pretty fast read. The fact that the alien race Uhura is dealing with is one that's recently come up in our TOS game on here was a nice bonus, too. It wasn't one of the better TV show based novels I've read, but it was entertaining enough.

May I ask what the alien race was? PM me, if you like. My favorite ST novels are Dark Mirror, Doctor's Orders and Imzadi. All very different, but all worth a read.

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Frank Herbert's The White Plague, a 1982 novel that just isn't all that good.

Spoiler (mouseover to read):

It's about a terrorist attack that unleashes a custom-made plague which only kills women. It's certainly not as good a book as Dune. I guess Herbert wanted it to be semi-mystical post-apocalyptic saga like The Stand or something, but he just didn't have the writing chops for it. Too much happens offstage - Herbert didn't grasp the importance of "show, don't tell." Meh.

I just started a book called Territory, which appears to be a low-fantasy take on the gunfight at the OK Corral. So that should be right up my alley.

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Originally posted by Elendil's Heir

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Frank Herbert's The White Plague, a 1982 novel that just isn't all that good.

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That's too bad. It is hard to do that kind of book well, though. I've read a lot more of them that went off the rails than managed to make it from beginning to end satisfyingly.

I'm rereading the first three books of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. These were the best she wrote in my opinion and it has been years since I read them.

I just reread The Valley of Horses by Jean M. Auel (not as great as I thought it was as a teen, but far better than her last book). Needing something with a bit more substance, I just started on The Greatest Show on Earth by Dawkins.

Still plugging along through Frank Herbert's The White Plague but still not digging it.

This weekend I've also been skimming another bio of the British monarch, Queen Elizabeth by Ben Pimlott. He doesn't break much new ground, but does have a lively writing style.

I've read "The White Plague" but can't remember anything other than the title :(

I've read most if not all of the books of Henning Mankell (who, unbeknown to me, was a neighbour many years ago).

My eldest daughter bought me "The Man Who Smiled" and "Italian Shoes" a few days ago. She knew that I had read both but that I had been very impressed with Italian shoes as they don't come into it until the last chapter.
The best part was The Man Who Smiled - actually Mannen Som Log as it is in Swedish :)

It's ages since I read anything in Swedish, last thing was "Älsklingsleken" (Leonard Cohen, The Favourite Game").

The first few pages were difficult as I was subconsciously translating into English then realised what I was doing and started reading in Swedish.
It was a bit like going back home after many years away, a journey of rediscovery.

Apropos that there was an episode of the British "Wallander" knock-offs on last night, with Kenneth Brannagh.
Appalling!
They can't pronounce the simplest of Swedish names correctly, even "Wallander", despite it being filmed in Ystad (which they can't pronounce).
God help us.

The Swedish ones are so much better.

A few weeks ago I read "Quicksilver" (Neal Stephenson) which was rather tough going but fascinating, again uncovering lots of things learned years ago and forgotten.
The most curious thing was that something prompted me to look for James Burke's "Connections", found on YouTube.
As I watched the various episodes of that, it mirrored exactly the expositions of the book.

Rather eerie.

I just finished City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare. Now, I'm torn between Agatha H and the Airship City or The Skin Map, which both look promising in different ways.

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Originally posted by Elendil's Heir

Still plugging along through Frank Herbert's The White Plague but still not digging it.

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It's a shame that it's no good. I finally started reading Herbert's non-Dune books in the last five years, and Whipping Star, The Dosadi Experiment, and Destination: Void were all outstanding.

I'm reading The Alloy of Law, the newest book from Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn series.

I finished The White Plague a few weeks back and, despite some interesting bits, I really can't recommend it. Far more dross than gold.

As I posted in the "strange things you've read" thread, I just read The Secret State by Peter Hennessy, about British Cold War espionage and planning for World War III. Chilling stuff, and yet all with a bizarrely "veddy British" detachment and cool wit. Ministry of Defence experts estimated that just ten Soviet H-bombs could devastate the country, but in the early Sixties Khrushchev told the British ambassador (perhaps exaggerating, as he was sometimes wont to do) that several dozen had been targeted on the UK. Yikes!

I'm about two-thirds of the way through George R.R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons, and am really enjoying it. It's huge, though, and it's taken me a long time to get this far.

I didn't think The White Plague was all that bad, but it's true there are better books around. And it's definitely not up to Herbert's other stuff. I actually forgot he wrote it.

Right now I'm reading Among Others by Jo Walton. It's a love letter to Science Fiction. Set in the late 70s and about a teenage girl dealing with being cut off from those she loves. It's also a world where magic is real (and works essentially by retcon).

Also working through Gulliver's Travels since I'd only ever read the bowdlerized kids' version.

I haven't read for fun in quite some time, so I'm making my way through some books I have and haven't touched in a while. This means I'm going to end up reading some odd things.

Right now I'm working through Diyanni's Fifty Great Essays, which is an old English textbook of mine and full of some diverse and interesting writing. I just finished Dave Berry's "Road Warrior", for example. The book features work from Francis Bacon, Charles Darwin, Frederick Douglas, W.E.B. DuBois, Gretel Ehrlich, Richard Feynman, Langston Hughes, Machiavelli, George Orwell...I could go on. It's a great collection.

I should probably read something fun next.

Since I'm mostly reading on the subway, and want stuff that doesn't require a lot of thought, I've been continuing my rampage through public domain, early 20th Century pulp fiction.

And...my God. People who mourn for the good old days when people read instead of watching TV have no idea what people were reading before there was TV.

Stupid plots, racism, violence, bondage and beatings....

And yeah, OK, I'm reading it. But at least in part out of my fascination with history.

In addition to A Dance with Dragons, I've been leafing through Frustrate Their Knavish Tricks (the title is from the second verse of "God Save the Queen") by Ben Pimlott. It's a pretty interesting collection of essays on British politics and literature, much of it from the Eighties. Pimlott was very clearly no fan of Margaret Thatcher, and to some extent he anticipated the kind of Labour Party reforms that Tony Blair had to make in order to win, win and win again.

I just started The Violinist's Thumb, which tells the tale of human DNA. I'm really enjoying it so far.

And for our Stephen King fans: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-iXJ...feature=relmfu

Sarahfeena, in keeping with my royal bio habit this year, I just finished Robert Lacey's The Queen: A Life in Brief, a very short (166 pages) profile of Elizabeth II. If anyone here wants to read a once-over-lightly take on Her Majesty's life, this is a good one.

I think I'll check that one out, thank you!

I'm in the middle of Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. Did he ever write a book that didn't prominently feature an irascible, know-it-all, cockbasket?

I'm about two-thirds of the way through The Good Father by Noah Hawley, a novel about a smart but emotionally-cold doctor trying to figure out why his estranged son might have shot a rising Obamaesque political candidate. Part mystery, part political thriller, part character study. Not bad.

Just finished The Good Father. It's better than I thought it would be, with an odd but genuinely touching ending.

Returning now to Peter Hennessy's The Prime Minister, nonfiction about British political leadership at the top since WWII. Good stuff.

I changed my mind - Professor Challenger is significantly more obnoxious than Sherlock Holmes. (Of course this book has SO MUCH MORE awkward Colonialism. And racism!)

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Originally posted by Elendil's Heir

...Returning now to Peter Hennessy's The Prime Minister, nonfiction about British political leadership at the top since WWII. Good stuff.

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Just finished it. Quite impressive. A lot of it is about how the job has evolved since 1945, esp. with the advent of nuclear weapons and the 24/7 news cycle. Hennessy gives Clement Attlee (Labour) and Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) top marks as the most capable, influential and powerful PMs since World War II, although of course towards completely different ends. Next I'm reading Hennessy's Muddling Through, a collection of essays on contemporary British politics. He has a very lively, interesting style.