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

[Gravity Defier]

This. Will. Change. Your. Life.

Maybe? I will probably really love it at some point but right now, having used it some last night, I am still reaching for my physical books first. Maybe it will be my travel book.

[LilBee91]

As a user of the Kindle iphone app rather than an actual Kindle, I will attest to its awesomeness as a travel book. And as an I'm-away-from-my-library-and-am-too-cheap-to-buy-hardcovers book.

[Young Val]

I still can't bring myself to buy books on my Kindle, but almost all of my library loans are now exclusively e-books. Having just brought it to Boston and back, I can say that it's AWESOME for travel.

[Gravity Defier]

I probably won't make the transition to library ebooks any time soon (again, unless I know I'll be traveling and plan accordingly). I've been thinking about it and it just makes me feel more...accomplished, I guess, if I read a physical book. I'd bet this has a bit to do with me being a slow and altogether not great reader.

I seem to need to see what I've read so far and how much I have left to go; before the Kindle, the few times I read on my computer, I could see page numbers and do the math on how much was left to go but I almost got an anxiety of sorts from not having a more concrete way of seeing what was left.

I also really like the idea of physically stacking my books I need to get through. I don't know. It's a weird tactile, mental, psychological thing that I can't really explain but I'm not not-liking my experience with the Kindle so far. It's just not a life-changing thing for me right now.

[LilBee91]

Next up: Chaos Walking!

Just finished the first book. I might need to go into the screaming anger thread. Seriously. THAT'S how he ended it?! But, there are few good things:

1) I am grateful I did not read this series when it was brand new. I hate those year-long gaps between books.

2) Perk about reading it on the kindle app: book two is just a tap away. Mind, I would only have gotten these from the library if I could have gotten all three at once so that wouldn't have been an issue.

3) 'Twas a great book.

[Luet]

How does the ebooks do with the weird fonts and placement on the page and stuff (for the "thought" text)? I was wondering about that because I just recommended these to someone who uses a Kindle.

[LilBee91]

They were in there as images between the lines. They were kind of small, but they got the point across, and I can zoom in on them if I need to. If I had it set to black text on white they actually fit in really well.

[Luet]

Cool.

[Petra456]

I just bought "25 Favorite Novels" volumes 1-3 for 99 cents each on my Nook. I probably haven't read 80% of them so i'll have stuff to read for quite a while.

[Bean_wannabe]

How does loaning ebooks from libraries work? For starters, how does returning them work?

[Gravity Defier]

They are auto-returned. They sometimes give you an option of 7-, 14-, and 21-days but the default, if you have no choice, tends to be 14 days, and the good news is, never any late fees. You just have to clear the leftover shell from your machine or whatever after the functioning file is gone. Most libraries have some sort of limit on what you can check out at a time; it's been 5 at both places I've worked, which may be an Overdrive thing, come to think of it, to "ensure" there isn't any pirating.

[Young Val]

So, LEGEND by Marie Lu.

David and I started reading it aloud in January and only just finished it last week.

Mostly it took us so long because we really didn't like it. And I wanted to. I'm friends with a lot of the editors who bid on this book at auction (though I don't know the one who won it), and I have vague ties to the author, who is the friend of a friend. It got some starred reviews when it came out, and I'd heard good things, so I was hopeful. I wanted something action-y, which is must for read-aloud books for me and David, and this promised to deliver.

What it didn't deliver was anything else that was even remotely interesting. I'd say for the first 50 pages, we were totally hooked. An intriguing (though ultimately unexplained) dystopian America, terse, unimaginative prose, and a tepid, superficial romance (and I have it on good authority the romance was only added at the insistence of the agent and the editor, and wasn't present in any of the original drafts. I HATE agents and editors who amp up or fabricate romances to sell books. They are almost always crap. STOP DOING IT).

Our newest read aloud book is Tamora Pierce's TRICKSTER'S CHOICE, which I am sooooo excited about. Of course, I've read it a million times before, but the Trickster books are my favorite of Pierce's many, and David's been teasing me for so long about liking her so much. He's never read any, of course, but we're only one chapter in and he's admitted to liking it a lot so far. Yay!

I just got SELECTION and INSURGENT on my Kindle from the library, so hooray for some mindless reading coming up!

[LilBee91]

I still haven't read Trickster's Choice. It has been on my list since sixth grade, no joke, and I somehow never get to it. I've liked all the Tamora Pierce I have read, so I really don't quite know what my hold up is.

[Gravity Defier]

Currently up to bat: Insurgent
On deck: Glamour in Glass, the sequel to Shades of Milk and Honey
And in the hole: The Problem Child, the third in the Sisters Grimm series

I'm really excited about the To-Read list I have built in my library account, too.

[Gravity Defier]

Finished Insurgent last night and I enjoyed it but I don't think it lived up to Divergent. Tris started to annoy me a bit, as did Tobias/Four. I would still recommend the series to anyone who likes YA dystopian books, though.

I'm also now signed up for the Summer Reading Club at the Nazi library. They couldn't answer any questions I had and referred me to the sheet I already read...but whatever. I have nothing to lose by trying to participate.

[Young Val]

I'm about halfway through INSURGENT and I agree with you about Tris/Four being annoying.

I was also slightly lost, as the book picks up IMMEDIATELY where the previous one left off. I read DIVERGENT once, a year ago, and while I enjoyed it, I don't remember a damn thing about it other than the very very basics. There is NO summary of the first book for those of us who haven't reread it a billion times. I have no idea who Will is. Can't remember him to save my life. But apparently Tris shot him? In the head or something? I have no idea. I also only sort of remember the way her parents died, respectively. And I don't really remember Peter or why/in what ways he's just a dick. Basically, I don't remember anything and the author isn't helping me out at all

[Gravity Defier]

Basically, I don't remember anything and the author isn't helping me out at all

Oh, good, I thought it was just me and I was being dense or something. I, too, read Divergent about a year ago and remember only the basics. I think the only thing you need to remember about Will is that he, Christina, Four, and Tris were a clique in Dauntless and when the Dauntless folks were turned at the end of Divergent, he, not being a divergent and thus not immune to the simulations, attacked Tris and she was forced to kill him to save her own life. Peter was a Dauntless initiate, I believe, who tried to kill Tris by dangling her over the underground river and maybe even attacked her separately on his own? I know another initiate who actually was her friend at one point got jealous of her success and tried to help that group of people kill her (top X made it into the Dauntless, the losers were kicked out and became factionless) and he ended up dying, though I don't remember if it was a suicide or something else.

But...that's mostly stuff I pieced together after finishing this book and I may be misremembering in an attempt to have any clue whatsoever how the story goes. :)

[Young Val]

Glad I'm not alone.

I also TOTALLY forgot about the existence of the Candor faction. The others: Dauntless, Erudite, Amity, and Abnegation are all mentioned often right at the beginning and most were part of the major plot of the first book. But at about 80 pages in someone suddenly mentions Candor and I had honestly forgotten all about them.

[Luet]

That's why I usually reread books in a series before reading the newest one! I didn't know Insurgent had come out but I'll probably reread Divergent now.

[Gravity Defier]

I don't do particularly well with re-reading books. Even if I know just enough that it feels familiar, I tend to be unable to finish it a second time. The only series that seems to be immune to this issue is the Ender Quartet.

[Young Val]

I love rereading books and do it often. But if it's not a book I would read over and over again on my own, I won't reread it just because a sequel has come out. DIVERGENT is a fun read, but it's not reread material for me. Not mention, I don't own it.

[Luet]

I only buy books that I want to read over and over again, regardless of whether they are sequels or not. But I have a horrible, terrible memory so I really have to reread everything if I'm going to read a sequel and remember anything. I'll just get them both from the library.

[fawkes]

I don't do particularly well with re-reading books. Even if I know just enough that it feels familiar, I tend to be unable to finish it a second time.

^This. It doesn't matter how long ago I read it, I just can't do it again. I tried reading a Stephen King book I read over 10 years ago, and couldn't read more than a hundred or so pages. It just isn't exciting, I guess? It seems kinda pointless when I already know exactly where it's going.

Reading Gracling right now. I'm enjoying it, but I'm kind of over any and all romantic drama. Do we always have to read about how it's absolutely tearing the main characters apart that they just can't love that one person for one reason or another? So done.

[Young Val]

I agree with you whole-heartedly about romance being the focus of recent novels (often to their detriment) and that most of those romances are poorly executed at that. But I didn't feel that way about GRACELING at all, funnily enough.

I didn't feel as though the romance between Katsa and Po was the main point of the story. In fact, I think the romance really existed to support Katsa's quest for identity. Her struggles with the romance aren't external, they're internal. She doesn't believe she can be her true self and still have a relationship with Po, and she isn't willing to sacrifice the one for the other. I thought it was very well written and an integral part of the story.

[powerfulcheese04]

I really enjoyed the Trickster books, but found the next set (Beka Cooper) really offputting.

[Young Val]

I really liked the Beka Cooper trilogy. Not as much as the Trickster books, but still quite a bit. I thought Beka was a pretty fab character (but then, all of Pierce's heroines are, though I think Daine and Aly are my favorites). And I love Goodwin and Tunstall and the rest of the secondary characters in that series. (Although, god, Tammy, WHY DID YOU MAKE TUNSTALL'S ARC SO TRAGIC IN MASTIFF? OH MY GOD I WAS SO UPSET).

The Protector of the Small series (those are Keladry's books, yes?) is my least favorite. I do quite like the Circle books, though, with Briar and Sandry being my favorites there.

[Dr. Mobius]

John Scalzi is made of awesome. Anyone who hasn't read Old Man's War yet needs to do so right away. I'm about 90% through The Ghost Brigades and then I'll be moving straight on to The Last Colony.


I never did get around to reading any of Tammy's books even though I was on her forum for a few years, maybe I should fix that. The Trickster series sounds like a good place to start. Of course, Claire told me I need to read the Alvin Maker books too. So I guess my reading list just filled up for the next few months.

[CezeN]

Does anyone have any book suggestions for me?
I have a week until my summer program is done.

Afterwards, since I'm already in the learning mood, it'd be great to immediately jump into starting some summer reading.
Usually I go for fictional, entertaining books - and I'd love those suggestions as well - but I'm looking for some more nonfictional, informative books. I don't ever read nonfiction, so I don't know where I'd start.

Something interesting to read about, yet will also increased my understanding of some aspect of the world. Somethinng that I don't need prior knowledge to understand - so no quantum physics or organic chemistry(I wouldn't consider that interesting anyways). I don't know if anyone will even read this post(since I think I asked for book suggestions earlier in this or another thread, but no one answered. Or maybe it was movie suggestions), but I'd really appreciate any interesting nonfiction!

[Luet]

Some of my favorite non-fiction on a variety of topics:
Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think by Brian Wansink
Bad Science: Quacks, Hacks and Big Pharma Flacks by Ben Goldacre
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War by Nathaniel Philbrick (I've read this one twice!)
The Private Life of Chairman Mao by Zhisui Li
Unbroken: A WWII Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption by Laura Hildebrand
anything by Malcolm Gladwell (Tipping Point, Blink, Outliers)

[Mich]

My favorite nonfiction book in the whole-wide-world is The Illusion of Life. It's half how-to manual on animation, half history of Disney, and half history of the overall craft, told from the almost omniscient perspectives of the last remaining two men from the Nine Old Men animators that formed the backbone of the company for many years. You can find it in most libraries and bookstores, although it tends to be pretty expensive. Extremely fascinating.

EDIT: Made it a link, since everyone else was doing it.

[Syphon the Sun]

How to Measure Anything: Finding the Value of Intangibles in Business by Douglas Hubbard

Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics by Henry Hazlitt

Human Action: A Treatise on Economics by Ludgwig von Mises

Restoring the Lost Constitution: The Presumption of Liberty by Randy Barnett

[Young Val]

SALT: A WORLD HISTORY by Mark Kurlansky

Anything by Michael Pollan.

[locke]

I love my Kindle Touch a ton. Some of my summer reading always includes Terry Pratchett, the footnotes are tricky, because the touch screen isn't super sensitive, but it works with minimal frustration. I'm trying to control myself and not go buy all the discworld kindle titles immediately... in part because Pratchett is one of three authors on my 'automatic buy and collect everything list, so I already have invested a lot into him and do enjoy reading physical books...

It's also great for scripts, though they read better in horizontal mode, still, it was a great way to breeze through the Django unchained script on the plane.

I also read The Rent is Too Damn High by Matthew Yglesias, which is a great, fast read on housing policy and how most of the time people shoot themselves in the foot--regardless of what party affiliation or policy they're promoting--because they don't grasp the fundamentals of the housing market and the forces that it is direct and constrain it.

I also got The Grasshopper Trap, my favorite McManus book. I haven't read any of his stuff since high school, but the collection of short humorous essays/stories is perfectly suited to the kindle and perfectly suited to me collecting and rereading him on the kindle since I never bought any of his books. The Crazy Eddie Muldoon and Rancid Crabtree stories still make me laugh as much as they did when I was much younger.

And apparently amazon prime people get to borrow books from amazon for free, so I borrowed the hunger games and am about two chapters in.

***
Nonfiction books: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
A Mind of It's Own - cordelia fine
Anything by Stephen Pinker
1491
Mayflower

[Luet]

I see that Locke seconded my rec for Mayflower. I did also read 1491 and while it was very interesting material, it was presented in a more academic fashion that made it harder for me to get into. Mayflower is a much easier and more entertaining read, while still being educational.

[Gravity Defier]

And in further news, Nazi library is about to become the Uber-Nazi library; they've instituted a policy that requires us to have our pictures on file to use our cards.

They also require us to read their books to participate in Summer Reading, which is less troublesome than the picture thing but annoying all the same because their selection sucks and it's easier to get books at work.