What books are you reading right now?

Finished Words Of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson.

Love how he develops his characters and they stay interesting over (now) thousands of pages and how he weaves bits from his other series into this one (though you don't have to have read them--they are akin to Easter eggs).
I enjoy how despite how bad things happen, sometimes horribly bad, the characters are multi-dimensional--no definitive bad guys and good. I really like how his 1000-plus page books are page turners that I devour, then go back and re-read my favourite parts. He creates amazingly detailed, fascinating worlds.

Took a break and caught up with The Walking Dead comic book series through Volume 20 (books #103 - #120).

Just finished Patricia Cornwell's Dust, a mystery-thriller. I've been reading this series for years; this installment was not her best, but was far from her worst. I'm not a fast reader and it was an easy 100 pages a night.

Now Stephen King's Doctor Sleep has arrived.
I liked some of King's early works and I've found I've liked most of what he's written since he quit drinking about 10 years ago, with Under The Dome my most recent favourite (couldn't finish 1961(3?). With modern King, it is hit or miss for me.

 

For a second there I thought you might say, the only books I've been reading these days are the ones I'm writing. Guess I got a tiny bit ahead for a moment.

 

Reading Brian Sanderson's Words of Radiance, which is excellent. If anything, it's even better than the first book in the series. I'm enjoying the shit out of it, and trying hard not to think about what it will be like when I'm done with it, and then have to wait God only knows how long for the third book to be published....

But I'm looking forward to a number of books coming out this year by some of my favorite authors: Jim Butcher has a new Harry Dresden book coming out, Seanan McGuire has a new October Daye book coming out, Will Thomas has a new Barker/Llewellyn book coming out, Terry Goodkind has a new Sword of Truth book coming out, Kevin Hearne has a new Iron Druid book coming out...I dunno, there might be a couple of others, too. I love years like this for books.

 

The word on the street (meaning what my son the book-junkie/ Sanderson enthusiast said) is that because The Wheel Of Time series is finally complete, Sanderson can get back to a normal schedule of book releases. We have maybe a two- year wait for the next book. Sounds like you are pretty well set, otherwise!

 

I decided to set The Borgias aside for now, went with Memoirs Of An Invisible Man by H.F. Saint.

In brief, a securities analyst is involved in an accident at a lab that is working on alternate energy sources, and becomes invisible. My tolerance for improbability is very low, even when reading science fiction, which explains why I don't read sci-fi very often. Much to my surprise, Saint actually does a pretty good job of making it believable, at least for laymen. I'm just about past some awkward dialogue in which the author uses a conversation to present a debate over For The Benefit Of Science And The Government verses The Rights Of The Indvidual.

Teaser--The train scene is both incredibly erotic and funny as hell.

 

Just started:

I Remember You - Yrsa Sigurdattir

I have to own that I was into the whole Scandinavian crime thing before it got trendy, I read all the Martin Beck books when I was in my 20's and loved them. I like detective stories in general, the whole flawed and tainted warrior in the cause of good and almost lost causes thing, and I also really like how Swedish (and Icelandic I guess for the above) translates into English. the kind of staccato, sparse, feeling of the way it reads.

+I like Wallander a lot, and his daughter (he is basically a viking; a highly cultured oaf; a fat and violent pedant with a strict inner moral world, who relies on sheer effort of will rather than intellect)
+I like Erlunder, the finder of lost people.
+Martin Beck is definitely my favourite, he is easily the most diffident character in all of literary history. The kind of man who can barely be bothered to shrug his shoulders at you, not because he is physically lazy, just that he doesnt see the point.
+I HATED the whole "The Girl who played with fire/kicked hornets nests/had a tattoo series. I found them unbelievably trite, melodramatic but lacking any emotional depth, and the female lead as a pointless male sex fantasy (for a certain type of man) rather than a human being. The male lead nothing more than an empty headed yuppie. I have nothing against sexual fantasy I suppose, but a book that is supposed to have a strong female lead, that character has to have depth.

 

Started Confessions of a Fat Marathoner last night. I didn't realize until after I bought it that it's mostly in blog form. The punctuation is killing me.

 

I grabbed a book out of one of my boxes because I don't want to go to the library with the moving and all.
It's The Lies of Locke Lamora.
I've read it many years ago but I'm enjoying it even more even with reading all the sequels.
If you like well written fantasy I highly recommend it.

The Lies of Locke Lamora - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



...seriously.

 

I got about half way through Behind Jail Bars by Octavio Antonio Ballesteros. It's signed, a HB with DJ. It's not marked as a 1st edition, but I can't imagine this book having multiple printings/editions because it's very regional (Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, Texas) and it's not very well written. Ballesteros makes many interesting observations and useful suggestions; much of what he writes has been confirmed by more extensive and more scientific studies. This book isn't horribly written, not at all, but it would've greatly benefitted from having a professional co-author and/or a better editor.

I've started Life, by Keith Richards with James Fox. I'm not a big fan of celebrity autobiographies, even though I like music (Clapton made an interesting life sound boring, Kiedis came across as a dick) and I'm not much of a Rolling Stones fan. Hopefully Richards' dry humor will continue to add something worthwhile to the book.

 

I just read a captivating tale called Aurum Shield. The author is just some weirdo from the internets I think. Great story tho!

 

In re: Life.
Best celeb autobiography I've read in recent memory. Last year I read Life, Neil Young's AB, Heart's AB and Pete Townshend's AB and Linda Ronstadt's pseudo AB.
"Life" isn't just about Keith. It's about his appreciation for his musical roots and mentors. I had minimal expectations of the book but his wealth of knowledge enriched mine. Can't say I learned much about the Rolling Stones (which is fine) but I do know that I'd pick Richards to interview over Jagger in a New York minute. Interesting guy, to put it mildly.
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Finished Steven King's sequel the The Shining, Doctor Sleep.
Firstly, I'd not read The Shining, probably because I saw the movie and was too chicken. Now that I've read a bunch of King I could probably read it but I don't see the point.
King was very unhappy with the Jack Nicholson-fronted adaption of his book and he still is, according to his notes.
What's most important though, is that Doctor Sleep is good!
I zipped right through it as it is a page-turner with a lot of momentum that builds.
Even if you don't usually like S. King-type books (and I don't read many) it is easy on the brain. A beach book, if you will.

 

Thank you.

 

So far Life has pleasantly surprised me.

As for musician/music industry ABs, I've read the ones by/sort of by: BB King, Eric Clapton, Kiedis,
and the only one I really enjoyed so far, This Wheel's On Fire by Levon Helm.
In the stack waiting to be read: Clive Davis, David Crosby, and John Phillips.

The Phillips book is signed (with a personal message to Don), HB with DJ, 1st edition. It has some $$ value, but might be worth more if JP hadn't been such a pervert (the incest accusations have been disputed)

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If King's horror novels aren't your thing (I'm not a fan of the genre, period, regardless of the author), try reading Delores Claiborne and The Green Mile.

 

I added some books to my collection. All are hardbacks with dustjackets in great shape that I found at a couple of thrift stores. I'm very happy at finding them since I'm familiar with the authors.

Ape House by Sara Gruen. I enjoyed Water For Elephants, I hope that AH is at least as good.

No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy. I've read it twice, and I was finally able to replace my PB copy with a HB (tired old eyes). I've enjoyed most of his other books.

And The Mountains Echo by Khaled Hosseini. I enjoyed The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns.

My War by Andy Rooney. This should be a good read, apparantly Rooney wrote this straight. I haven't read any of Rooney's books.

 

I just finished The Storied Life of AJ Fikry.... the owner of a small out of the way bookstore coping with personal and business struggles until a small packages is delivered to his bookstore.

This would a great book club book.

I have Ape House on my list.

 

Life was an interesting read, and Richards is a good storyteller. Like many/nearly all ABs we only hear one side of the story, and I'm sure that there many people who have called "Bollocks!" to many things Richards wrote. If you're a serious Stones fan, I'd say Life is a must read. If you're a casual fan like me (only know the radio hits, maybe own an album or two, etc), parts of the book won't mean much to you. There are parts where you can almost hear Richards laughing because he knows what he's writing is bullshit. If you're a parent, parts of this book will make you want to strangle him.

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The Man In The High Castle by Phillip K. Dick.

Note: One of my favorite movies, Blade Runner, is based on the Dick work Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?.

I was very pleased to find this for .50 at a resale shop ran by a coalition of area churches. I'm about halfway into this, and so far so good. From what I read researching Dick's writing, his works can be quite erratic and difficult to follow. I don't know, this is my first Dick book ( ).