What books are you reading right now?

I'm starting "Why Can't I Get What I Want" and "Schema Therapy" for class next Friday and Saturday. Two of my professors wrote the first one. I think it might be personally helpful, too. Based on how to change dysfunctional thought processes. It's been a rough few months.

 

Dead Dwarves Don't Dance by DJ Canyon, on the recommendation of a fellow TFPer. It's not painfully bad so Im going to grind through it but I feel like the character and plot development isn't living up to its potential - certainly not the hype. It's kind of like getting your first beej.

Then again it could be that I just finished up the Alastair Reynolds 'Revelation Space' trilogy and so was expecting something on that level.

 

The River of Doubt....Teddy Roosevelt's post-presidential exploration of the Amazon.

 

"Sin and Syntax". As much as style advice is inherently doomed to contradiction, it helps to know what is expected.

 

Have you read the Artemis Fowl series? I enjoyed it much. Also: Night of the Solstice by LJ Smith, Whores on the Hill by Colleen Curran, Song of the Lioness quartet by Tamora Pierce, Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver, and the Uglies series by Scott Westerfield.


Edit: Forgot to add, I picked up The Ultimate Harry Potter and Philosophy last night. I only got a chapter in before I had to go to bed, but I like it so far.

 

Do you ever think that Tom Clancy's books are "Life imitates Art"? I remember the climax of "Debt of Honor" where the bad dude commandeers a 747 and flies it into the Capital Building, killing the President and Congress. Date of publication? 1994. Do you think Bin Laden read Tom Clancy?

 

Now that I think about it, snowy , you have middle schoolers, right? Before I Fall is definitely a good read, but there's drinking, smoking, and references to sex, which may not go over so well in a younger classroom setting.

I'm trying to remember the books I actually read while I was IN middle school... Maniac Magee (Jerry Spinelli), the Forbidden Game trilogy (LJ Smith), the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Patricia C. Wrede--more fantasy, sorry), Remember Me to Harold Square (Paula Danziger), With You and Without You (Ann M. Martin), Pig City (Louis Sachar)...they're all older, but they were all particular favorites of mine.

 

For YA, my go-to is Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series, which I think it a magnificent piece of work. Madeline L'Engle's A Wrinkle In Time series, also. Ursula K. LeGuin's original Earthsea trilogy. Kids this age are usually ready for Tolkien, too. Oh, and definitely Patricia McKillip's Riddle-Master trilogy. For younger YA (Grades 4-7), Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles series, his Westmark trilogy, and his Vesper Holly books, and sundry other of his works (e.g., Time Cat, and The Iron Ring).

For older YA (Grades 9-12), Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy-- though that one needs some discussion to contextualize and analyze, since it is complex, and Pullman is virulently, aggressively anti-religious and anti-authoritarian, which can be good material for some kids that age, but needs balancing out in discussion.

I love the Harry Potter books, of course.They're really wonderful. So is the Hunger Games trilogy. And Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy was very creative, I thought. But I cordially dislike Paolini's Inheritance books, Riordan's Percy Jackson books, and others of that sort. I feel like they're kind of pale imitations of better art. Also, I loathe the Artemis Fowl books: poorly written, heavy-handed, with flat and unlikeable characters. Why they're so popular is really beyond me.

And of course there are other classics. Never Cry Wolf, by Farley Mowat. The Diary of Anne Frank. Huckleberry Finn. On the Road. Nearly anything by Dickens. And so forth.

 

50 shades of gray, hoping someone will touch me down there.

 

brion gysin, the process.
really fun, really smart.

recently, journal articles on the following dorky topics:

the legal justifications a state can adduce to wage war on a non-state entity
the topologies of the security state
a blah blah blah piece that tries to define fascism

 

I thought the movie looked interesting...but once I saw it was Stephanie Meyer, I was all, "nope." When you say "better," do you mean, "well, anything was better than Twilight," or, "hey, this was actually kind of good"?​

 

I've actually been trying to read a lot more YA fiction so I can make better recommendations at work.

One I've really gotten into is "The Maze Runner" series by James Dashner. Thriller, action, adventure, awesome. I think there's 4 right now.
Definitely read uglies. I read that in middle school, and loved the whole series.
Everything John Green is amazing. I read "Looking for Alaska" when it came out awhile ago, and it's great. He has a few other ones out that are just as good, and I just picked up "The Fault in Our Stars", and it's great so far.
"Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher is one of my recent favorite YA novels. It has some heavier themes, like suicide, but it's written amazingly for a teen book, and I stayed up all night just to read it.
I also really recommend "Unwind" by Neil Shusterman (wrote "The Downsiders", os he's pretty well known). It's another teen book that makes you think, it's more of a dystopian society book. It's really hard to describe, but I couldn't put it down.