What books are you reading right now?

I read a lot of non-fiction. I also like to dig through the bargain bin at the bookstore, or hit up church sales and garage sales to unearth hidden gems I might not have sought out on my own.

Recently picked up a book called The Kindom of Mathias. It's an account of an American religious leader and the cult that grey up around him in New York in the early 19th century. Apparently the historical events sparked a well-publicized trial that became a tabloid sensation in its day. The book is also a fascinating window into the general religious life and customs of America at the time, as well as an account of The Great Awakening.

 

So I put Buddhist Boot Camp by Timber Hawkeye down months ago and have picked it up again in the last few days. I like his non-sectarian approach to things and I'm still really enjoying it. I will probably look into some more in depth Buddhism books in the future. Hawkeye recommends Thich Nhat Hanh's For a Future to be Possible, so maybe that would be a place to start.

I'm also reading the final book of Traci Hardings series. This one is called AWOL and is about some members of the Timekeepers making a time jump without Tarens knowledge or approval, so she is the one in the dark & having to trust for a change. I'm trying to read it slowly & savor the story, I don't want it all to end!

 

So I finished reading American Psycho and it has probably the most graphic violence I've ever read in a book. If you liked the movie I'm sure you will like the book, parts of it can be tedious because of the amount of description the narrator gives to people's clothing or his own material objects but part of the point of the book is how big a part materialism plays in our lives. All in all a solid read.

 

I added a few more books to the Will Get Around To Some Day stacks:

Raymond Chandler, four Philip Marlowe novels in one volume--The Lady In The Lake, Farewell My Lovely, The High Window, & The Big Sleep. I've read at least two of them before, but it was a very long time ago.

L. Ron Hubbard's The Invaders Plan. Some quick browsing and the Author's Introduction leads me to believe this book should contain a fair amount of tongue-in-cheek humor.

Capitol Offense by Hill Kemp. It's a second printing, but is signed by Kemp. It's a novel about power & corruption in Texas politics, and Kemp is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives and a former lobbyist in Texas. This is next on my list after I finish Follet's Edge of Eternity, the last book in the Century Triology.

 

I love love love Chandler. I wrote a bunch of papers on him in high school and college, and it was his work more than any other's that made me really love hardboiled detective fiction. Ross MacDonald once said that Chandler wrote like a slumming angel, and I think that was a fairly accurate summation. Chandler's The Little Sister is, IMO, probably the single finest exemplar of the whole genre. But The Big Sleep has got to take a close second, and is in some ways a more beautiful piece of writing. Though all his work is worth reading.

That said, I've read two or three books by Hubbard, and various snippets of others, none of which make me want to rethink my initial conclusion, which is that he may be one of the worst science fiction authors-- worst authors in general-- that I have had the misfortune to read.

 

Old Mans War - John Scalzi

One of those ones that has been on my stack forever and for some reason I keep skipping it.
It's been really good so far.

 

@Levite, I also very much like Chandler's writing. Have you read any David Goodis? The Library of America of printed a series of books dedicated to different genres, and I have a volume titled Five Noir Novels of the 1940s & 50s which contains five of David Goodis' novels. Side note--The FNN book is a nice hardback that came in a sturdy sleeve, and apparantly was offered to LOA members.

If Hubbard's The Invaders Plan sucks, I have no problem adding it to the Will Never Again Try To Read It stack. I've learned that stubbornly wading through poorly written books is a waste of time (I wish that I had had that attitude when I read A Suitable Boy), and SciFi isn't on my Favorite Genres list.

 

Galilee by Clive Barker

 

The Magicians

Lev Grossman

 

Some books I recently finished.

Ken Follet's Edge of Eternity, the last book in the Century Triology. As I previously mentioned, Follet includes way too many characters. Some parts had me shaking me head thinking 'that was way too easy.' I would've thought that EOE which covers 1961-1989 would be the best in the triology because that is more of Follet's generation, but that's not the case.

Capitol Offense by Hill Kemp, a novel about power & corruption in Texas politics, and Kemp is a former member of the Texas House of Representatives and a former lobbyist in Texas. A fast read, pretty entertaining, but it has a way-too-convenient ending.

Rogue Island by Bru DeSilva A Pulitzer prize winning journalist slogging along at small newspaper in Rhode Island won't stop investigating arsons in his old neighboorhood. If you like how Dennis Lehane writes about Boston, you'll probably like how Desilva describes Providence, Rhode Island (a cesspool of corruption). Another entertaining and fast read, but yet again a way-too-convenient ending, which did leave an opening for a sequel, but I haven't checked to see if there one.

I'm currently reading Zorro by Isabel Allende; I previously read her Daughter of Fortune. I have mixed feelings about Z. It's entertaining enough to read, but it isn't expecially well written. I don't know what response the author was aiming for with the character of Juliana, but I reached the point of thinking 'I'm sick of that fickle bitch, fuck her, get her out of the book.' This'll probably be my last Allende novel.

 

Land (Stranded Book 1) by Theresa Shaver ; A group of teens on a class trip to Disneyland are left stranded. An EMP over North America has destroyed everything electronic. No cars, no planes, no phones, no electricity. Refusing to wait for someone else to help them, ten courageous young people take charge of their future and choose to begin the long journey home. 1500 miles of adventure and lawless country await.
Starting to shape up to be a good book, subject worth thinking about.

 

I just don't read enough and have a hard time fitting it in One a month or so depending on how many pages. however I love to read and write, really helps my mind

 

I am currently working through the Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steven Erikson. The world is a bit complicated but the story and characters are pretty awesome so far. I just started the second book.

 

A novel about Renoir's painting, Luncheon of the Boating Party, and more broadly about the impressionists and Paris in the late 1870s-80s, told from the perspective of Renoir and the models (his friends) in the painting.

 

Have you read The Road by Cormac McCarty? A father & his son travel on foot in postapocalyptic US. If your reading time is limited, the movie follows the book very closely.

 

I've just downloaded the first three books of the Frontiers Saga onto my Kindle for free. It's by Ryk Brown and i have no idea what its about, but it was recommended for me by amazon and it was free. So even if it's crap i can't complain.