What books are you reading right now?

The Ghost Map: A Street, an Epidemic and the Hidden Power of Urban Networks. by Steven Johnson

really interesting stuff... its about cholera and the guys who first figured out how it was spreading.

 

I am reading Zanesville by Kris Saknussemm. It's about an America that has been overtaken by a corporate apocalypse. The main character is either a industrial terrorist weapon or the second coming of a ex-porn star messiah. Either way, he has to travel across a media drenched landscape to unravel his amnesia.​

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I'm reading a book on Objective C to learn about iPad/iPhone app programming. It's been over 20 years since I programmed games, and it's different now. But I'm enjoying the book, and basic concepts are coming back quickly.

 

Just finished Into the Silence, about Mallory and the early Everest expeditions.
Turns out WWI was the big formative influence on their young lives and I realized I don't know nearly enough about it so now I'm starting a WWI history that I got from the library.

 

'Beauty Queens' a YA satire by Libba Bray. Was curious to see what was appealing to girls of a certain age. It's not bad. Quite big on girl empowerment.

 

'Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)' by Mindy Kaling. It's really different than 'the Tina Fey book' but just as good.

 

Its the best (some would say the only really good) book Martin Amis has written.

(I personally liked London Fields and Success a lot, and pretty much everything he wrote up to The Information I read and enjoyed - The Information to me is when he crossed the line and it just became "all surface, no feeling")

There are parts that are generously hilarious, but I think its regarded as his best because it is the book he best finds the balance between the brilliance of his prose and all of the clever intellectual jokes, with actually telling some kind of story. And he actually gets the balance of sympathy/dislikability about right with John Self.
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Well, I havent seen it/read it, but it sounds a lot like a cross between The Long Walk and The Running Man.

 

just finished reading The Drop by Michael Connelly. It was good.

 

A Clash of Kings by Geo. R.R. Martin. I couldn't stand not really knowing what was going on with the show. Honestly, I wouldn't recommend watching Game Of Thrones until you've read the books. My spouse is totally not getting it and will probably quit the HBO show. Me, I'm more invested since beginning the books.
Also reading a scifi tome: When She Woke by Hillary Jordan.

 

Atlas Shrugged (I wasn't aware that it was 1069 pages. This should be an interesting month)

 

Just finished:

Alexander the Great - Philip Freeman

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Didn't think much of it, the guy was too biased against Alexander.

Was planning to start "Final Empire" next. Its by the guy who took over writing the Wheel of Time books after Robert Jordan died.

 

Have you tried Mary Renault's Fire From Heaven and The Persian Boy? They are her two fictionalized accounts of the life of Alexander, and lovely bits of writing they are. She also wrote a very nice nonfiction biography of Alexander called The Nature of Alexander. Well worth reading.

This is the first book in the Mistborn Trilogy! I enjoyed the hell out of those: very creative, inventive, and engrossing, I thought.

 

Vin is one of my very favorite fictional characters ever, and I love the way Sanderson kind of redefines magic. Enjoy, it's a great book, and a terrific trilogy.

 

The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction Vol. 3 which features stories originally published in 2009. I'm always open to good sci-fi (I prefer "hard" sci-fi rather than space zombies) and I got this collection at the Library. It has short stories by two of my favourites (Stephen Baxter and Alastair Reynolds) so it seems like a good bet.

So far I haven't been disappointed. Stephen Baxter's Artifacts is about the Universe itself as a consciousness with the evolution of planetary life forming part of its sense of self. Naturally it's facing an existensial crisis. Like, far out Man!!

 

I am reading The Faith Club, which is essentially a creative dialogue of three women (a christian, jew and muslim) who are attempting to find a common point in order to create a post 9/11 childrens book. It feels like an emotional tug-of-war almost as the characters are attempting to touch on sensitive issues in order to better understand each other.