Currently Reading / Just Read (Books/stories/whatever)

[steph]

I just devoured a book called Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson. I seriously haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time! It's a YA book about a 16 year old girl during WWI who inherits a homesteading property in Montana and she has less then a year to meet the final requirements to keep the property. I think it won the Newberry a couple years ago. If you haven't read it, I'd highly recommend it!

[^Peter]

I just finished Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. It was good, really fast paced, and I enjoyed how Brown wove each character together.

I was grossed-out by one of the antagonist's motives. Sleazy old man!

[elfprince13]

I just finished Digital Fortress by Dan Brown. It was good, really fast paced, and I enjoyed how Brown wove each character together.

ehhhhh. Dan Brown doesn't understand jack about the things he writes about. He doesn't even do basic research on the his real world settings. For example....his description of the drive to NSA headquarters does not in any way resemble the actual terrain/scenery you'd see driving that route.

Side rant about Angels and Demons (movie version anyway, not sure if this crap is in the book too): antimatter has never EVER been referred to as "The God Particle," especially since antimatter isn't even a single particle, but rather a whole class of particles made up of oppositely charged quarks from normal matter. The so called "God Particle" is the Higgs Boson, and the only Standard Model particle which has not yet been observed.

Anyway, I just finished The Light Ages. It's amazing. I mentioned it already in this thread....but you really should find a copy.

[^Peter]

Thanks for that bit, elfprince13. I was wondering why they were calling antimatter the "god particle". It was a loooong stretch from the book, and the book stretched it a lot, too.

[Dr. Mobius]

I've been reading Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series. Just started book four, "The Shadow Rising."

[LilBee91]

I'm currently reading The Watchmen. It's a lot different than I expected, but I rather like it.

[Jayelle]

I just finished the Twilight series. Yes, I read the whole thing. Yes, it was so much worse then anything ever.
The first couple books were almost fun, like... candy, no, more like giant pixie sticks that almost taste good while you're eating them and then make you feel ill immediately afterwards.
The last two books were like a Big Mac, covered in Gravy. You don't want to eat it, but you're curious... what will it taste like? Turns out, not so good with a worse aftertaste.

[elfprince13]

I just finished the Twilight series. Yes, I read the whole thing. Yes, it was so much worse then anything ever.
The first couple books were almost fun, like... candy, no, more like giant pixie sticks that almost taste good while you're eating them and then make you feel ill immediately afterwards.
The last two books were like a Big Mac, covered in Gravy. You don't want to eat it, but you're curious... what will it taste like? Turns out, not so good with a worse aftertaste.

You win the quote-of-the-week award.

[BonitoDeMadrid]

Just finished Power Play by Justin Finder. A good, thrilling book, though it sorta turns into a description of a video game near the end (too much description of action, too little dialog and plot advancement)

[locke]

over the weekend (on the plane) I finished In Our Time (very good, but the first stories are best, still one I will reread) and The Lathe of Heaven (one of the best books I've ever read and couldn't put down once I got past chapter two).

I also finished my reread of A Mind of its Own, perhaps it was an even better experience the second time around. I wouldn't be suprised if I read it a third time.

I've currently got a list of many of the books that I own but haven't read and I'm going through them. I can't buy another book til I've read at least 75% of them.

Same rule for DVDs going on. :-p

[Luet]

I absolutely love, love, love Lathe of Heaven. I can't say the same for some other LeGuin books that I've read. I need to reread Lathe soon.

[locke]

I could see Lathe of Heaven being a book I'd reread once or twice a year. so astonishing and beautiful.

I'd never fallen in love with a LeGuin book before, now I"m going to have to read more.

[Young Val]

I've read far too many books lately to review them all here. Asterisks note books I particularly enjoyed (for a variety of reasons).

INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH by Luis Alberto Urrea *

PAPER TOWNS by John Green ***

TROUBLE by Kate Christensen

THE RIPLEY NOVELS (all 5) by Patricia Highsmith *

CHRONIC CITY by Johnathan Letham

MISS HARPER CAN DO IT by Jane Berentson ************** Jane is a dear, dear friend of mine. And I can honestly say that I don't recommend this book our of loyalty to her. I recommend it because it is delightfully funny, a little bit sad, and completely whimsical. I ADORE this book.

[elfprince13]

Raft by Stephen Baxter. evidently this is part of his Xeelee Sequence, but you really don't have to know anything about that to enjoy this book. Good hard sci-fi, in a universe where the gravitational constant is absurdly high, to the extent that a human body exerts noticeable pull, stars are only a few miles across, and burn out after a year or so. And Baxter has the physics background to pull it all off realistically.

[Syphon the Sun]

PAPER TOWNS by John Green ***

Eh, it wasn't as good as Looking for Alaska. But John is a great guy.

[Rei]

I just finished reading The Master and Margarita the other day. It only took me some four months. It was very good, though, and is the kind of book I'll need to go back to, especially as I only realised in the last few pages that the whole thing is probably a retelling of the Passion (which I suspect would help make more sense of it, or at least give it greater power).

And I'm currently re-reading Night Watch, as my brain needs a break, and it was just the twenty-fifth of May.

[human.]

Now that school is coming to a close, and I have a long flight to Rome coming up... ENDER IN EXILE TIEMPO!

I haven't read a book that wasn't related to school in some way in ten months... I couldn't even finish The Tales of Beedle the Bard... And the book has just been sitting on my shelf, staring at me when I sleep..

[BonitoDeMadrid]

*bump*

Don't kill me for this- Just finished the first two Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, and currently reading the third. They are actually a really fun read, although they end quickly.

[Jeesh_girl15]

Love the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books!

[Rei]

There are a number of things that I should be reading, but instead I'm reading Pratchett's City Watch books. I'm kind of in love with Vimes.

[locke]

yeah Vimes is pretty much made of awesome.

I was a bit annoyed when Daniel Craig suddenly got popular, because I'd been picturing him as Vimes for years. and then he became James Bond and made it impossible that he'll ever be in a Pratchett movie or TV adaptation.

[locke]

Finished reading Partners In Command: Dwight Eisenhower and George Marshall in War and Peace by Mark Perry. It's an excellent piece of work that focuses on Eisenhower and Marshall's efforts to maintain and forge a unified high command and the pressures they underwent from the British and Americans who wanted to score minor political and publicity command points at the expense of soldiers' lives. I never knew how political and backbiting the entire command of WWII's Europe theatre was, nor the remarkable story of how a nobody like Eisenhower ascended to the height of supreme allied commander Europe. It's a fascinating story. Another bit that struck me was how stupid Truman's administration was in not cultivating Ike after the war. They basically didn't listen to him and thought of him as out of his depth and politically naive (despite his being the first warrior/politician and perhaps the greatest of them having proved his political mettle over the previous four years of constant political negotiation) because that was what they expected to see from a military commander (because that's all military commanders ever were when they tried to wade into politics). Thus sidelined, Ike cultivated a 'gang' of golf buddies who did in fact listen to him, they also happened to be high powered, moneyed republicans and so he was drawn into that party rather than the democratic party. He could have easily been president for either party, he particularly hated the new brand of republicans embodied by McCarthy, but he was exactly the sort of republican I like (the kind that don't exist any more): balanced budget, small military, free markets and common deterrence.

[Gravity Defier]

Currently:

The Complete Calvin and Hobbes, Book Two, Watterson - Jan shamed me into this. I put all three books from the Complete set on hold within a day or two of that initial discussion in the DY or Confessions, wherever it was. Book Three came in 1.5 weeks ago or so and I read that, I now have book 2, and eventually, I'll get book 1. Bill Watterson is insanely creative is all I can say.


The Trial, Kafka - I heard this one was pretty good in some book recommendation thread somewhere and found it online while playing on StumbleUpon, so I thought I'd give it a try. I was hoping to find an actual book at our library so I can read on my lunch break, but the only copies there are in transit at the moment.


Online graphic novel The Meek (http://www.meekcomic.com), Helmer

The synopsis of what it'll be about and the coloring are why I'm sticking to it, mostly. It's not bad but it's a little off for me, somehow.


I'd like to get my hands on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies but our library doesn't have it and I'm not buying anything if I can help it.

[locke]

currently reading Omnivore's Dilemma, finally.

[Jeesh_girl15]

I'm currently starting the Earthsea books by Ursula K. Le Guin.

[^Peter]

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It's a summer read, but I want to finish it so I won't have to read it over break.

[locke]

My brain is hungry for books right now in a way it hasn't been in quite a while.

I'm actually finding it a chore to try to watch a movie, I'd rather read. Maybe its the weather, or the exercise.

[Gravity Defier]

I kind of want to read this: http://www.amazon.com/TwiLite-Parody-St ... 1602643814

[locke]

The Inner Game of Tennis is the book Pete Carroll claims taught him everything he knows about how to teach, listen and coach other people in sports. I've wanted to read it for a while. a monthish ago I spotted it for under $5 shipped and snapped up a copy, today it arrived and I've already inhaled about half of it. Strangely it goes quite well with other books I've read lately, like Mindless Eating, Rapt, and A Mind of its Own as well as with The Massage Book. It's sort of like the grand unified theory of interesting stuff about how the brain works that I like.

Of course it didn't help me on the weights today, but that's to be expected, but it's already improved my attitude and outlook--which is good.

[buckshot]

I fell into Vigilante Moon by Stan Lynde last night. A great western about old Montana and old Virginia city. I'm always a sucker for a western.

[Young Val]

finally got around to reading HUNGER GAMES.

oh. my. god.

so glad I have CATCHING FIRE waiting for me at home.

[Luet]

I'm so glad you like it! I loved it and am eternally grateful to Alea for letting me borrow Catching Fire from her so I don't have to wait til the fall.

[LilBee91]

I just finished The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. I've read my fair share of Holocaust books, but this one might be the most powerful.

Nazis suck.

[Rei]

I'm finally re-reading Small Gods, by Terry Pratchett.

I'm also about half-way through Planet Narnia, by Michael Ward. While the concepts of this book are fascinating and I agree with his thesis, I really dislike his form and style of arguing and writing. I will probably write a full review of it when I finish. That said, he is convincing me that C. S. Lewis incorporated FAR more brilliance into his Narnian chronicles than he has been credited with before.

[Wind Swept]

So, I spent all of last summer and fall reading my way through everything Pratchett (Well, certainly not everything. A dozen or so of his books.) and then decided I needed a break and ended up not reading anything until about a month ago. At which point, I dusted off my unread shelf and pulled down Son of a Witch.

I enjoyed the book thoroughly, but was very much disappointed by its failure to resolve anything at all. Frustrated is perhaps a better word. And when I went to B&N to pick up the third book, they'd just sold their last copy of the hardcover edition and told me the paperback isn't coming out until August. It seems I will never know what happens. At least not for a month.