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October already?
I've decided to read the Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris. It's mindless fun and I'm sure I will breeze through it quickly. I read the first book in a few days and just started the 2nd.
I just finished Dead Man Walking by Sister Helen Prejean. I found it well written and really thought provoking. I've always been (mostly) against the death penalty, and this book cemented it for me.
What are y'all reading?
Still trudging through London's The Iron Heel.
As it is widely considered part of the distopian trilogy (the others being 1984 and Brave New world) I thought
I'd give it a whirl.
It's, frankly, ponderous.
I've just finished Kim Stanley Robinson's Sixty Days And Counting which was kinda about an Obama-like president's early days in office, and the trials and tribulations that go with trying to get an entire country moving in a new direction.
9/1O for thought provocation and 6/10 for entertainment.
I'm about to start A Journey Through Ruins: The Last Days Of London, by Patrick Wright - a look into Thatcher's effects on the capital.
Maybe this will change my impression of her as a power-hungry witch, but I doubt it.
I'm slogging, slogging I tell you, through Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon.
470 pages into the 900+ page book, the plot is still broadening. It's massive in a way that A Storm of Swords or Red Storm Rising were. All the math is making my head spin. I can't wait to see how he manages to close this all up in satisfactory fashion.
After this, I'm going to go for some breezier reading.
I've just started reading Every Patient Tells a Story, by Lisa Sanders. It's about the art of making medical diagnoses and it seems pretty fascinating so far.
I sped my way through Their Eyes Were Watching God for my ethics class. It was rather engaging for an assigned reading. I may hang on to this copy. I also read a short play yesterday called A Devil Inside. I thought it seemed like a cross between Edward Gorey and Christopher Durang. Very much a black comedy but there's a sadness to it.
Other than that, I'm still working my way through Words and Rules by Pinker.
After you've had some time to digest Cryptonomicon try the Baroque series. It's a continuation of the ideas in Crypto set 400 years in the past.Quote:
Originally posted by OneCentStamp
This is also sitting on my shelf waiting to be read. But based on my previous experiences with Stephenson, his ending will be a whimper.Quote:
Originally posted by OneCentStamp
The series is on the shelf (artifex has all his stuff), and I intend to try them in a few months.Quote:
Originally posted by Glazer
Really? I've only read Snow Crash, The Diamond Age, and Interface, but I hadn't thought of his endings as noticeably poor.Quote:
Originally posted by Jeff
I've read Snow Crash and it really felt like it died with a whimper, especially after a strong start. I've also read The Diamond Age, though come to think of it I can't remember how it ends or approximately 90% of the plot.
I picked up The Best American Science Writing 2009 yesterday. Lots of very interesting essays, and most are just long enough for me to get through in a single sitting, say, at lunch time.
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I'm currently working my way through Niall Ferguson's The Ascent Of Money, which is a couple of years old, although updated recently. It is a layman's guide to finance and financial history. I won't recommend it until I've completed it but I find it illuminating and entertaining, and painfully relevant in these times!
I've been re-reading the Discworld novels. I just finished Guards! Guards! and am now reading Moving Pictures (I decided to skip over Eric). It's gotten a bit difficult at this point, because Guards! Guards! was a real turning point in the series and everything went dramatically upwards in quality in that book. Then, Moving Pictures just feels a whole lot like the other earlier books. It's better than the Rincewind novels, but it's a bit of a letdown with Guards! Guards! so fresh in my mind.