The "list the books you've read as you read them" thread
 

Minimal comment, just a list.

I think there are threads a bit like this... but not one just like it - so everyone who reads can post here what they have just read, even if it isnt comment worthy!

Me:

The London Monster: Terror on the Streets in 1788 by Jan Bondeson

I just finished (for maybe the 20th time) the Complete Works of Jules Verne.
I'll be rereading the Foundation Series by Asimov in the coming weeks. I've been in a scifi mood lately.

Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher

god my reading list is tedious.

merleau-ponty: seminars on husserl's "origin of geometry" (1960)
paul klee: notebooks
marcel proust: cities on the plain.

Tedius, you say? Why, who doesn't like to curl up on a Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and a good read by haughty French philosophers that are hung up on dead German mathemetician/philosophers? I mean, it's just not the weekend unless I get to snuggle up and read a few chapters of Philosophy of Arithmetic.

Rhett Butler's People.....hated it

I have two chapters left in The Amber Spyglass. Next up is Darkly Dreaming Dexter.

After I sign off, I'll finish up rereading "Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal" by Christopher Moore. It's absolutely hilarious, probably Moore's best work.

When i'm not sidetracked by video games, i'm currently reading "The Road to Reality: A Complete Guide to the Laws of the Universe" By Roger Penrose

Currently immersed in Special Topics in Calamity Physics and How I Became Stupid.. Both are quite spectaular and I find myself reading them slower than usual to spread out the enjoyment.

Just Finished 'The Kite Runner' by Khaled Hosseini and skimmed through 'Pillars of the Earth' by Ken Follett (read it years ago and wanted a quick brushup before tackling the sequel when it hits paperback in a few months).

A Nancy Drew mystery called "The Sign of the Twisted Candles"--a reprint of the original edition from the 1930s. Very cool and a fun read.

just finished Nelson DeMille's "Wild Fire" the other day.
currently reading Orson Scott Card's "Empire"

Promise of the Witch-King, The Sellswords Book II, by R.A. Salvatore

Fantasy nerd alert :)

Just finished up "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom. Not sure what I'll pick up next.

Finished "Phantom" and "Debt of Bones" by Terry Goodkind recently. Currently reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy and "Neuromancer" by William Gibson

"The Road" is awesome.

Just finishing up The Ceremonies by T.E.D. Klein. Next up: Cold Moon Over Babylon by Michael McDowell.

Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky, not quite finished with it. I started reading it a while back, really enjoyed it but finals got in the way. Lately I've been craving to re-read Thirty Years That Shook Physics: The Story of Quantum Theory by Gamow. That was an awesome book, but I'm starting to think I've lost it and that would be a very big shame.

Just finished Darkly Dreaming Dexter. Next is Last of the Mohicans.

Just finished One Hundred Years of Solitude by Marquez which was beautiful and Microserfs by Douglas Coupland, which was highly entertaining, very quirky.

Picked Follett's book up before Christmas to read over the break. I cannot imagine why a sequel was green lit. I'm not much the discriminating reader, but I didn't enjoy it all.

Just finished two books by Steve Berry (The Amber Room and one about the Templars) and they were alright. Nothing to write home about, but if you're looking for a poor man's Dan Brown, then he's your guy.

Wow! A poor man's Dan Brown. That's saying something! :) I read The Da Vinci Code. I didn't like it very much.


Last week I read Stardust and Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. Neither was particularly heavy reading. I enjoyed Anansi Boys. I wasn't that fond of Stardust.

Crime and Punishment is a favourite of mine. If you want to read more Dostoyevsky I'd recommend The Brothers Karamazov. I've got The Idiot sitting on my bookshelf. I'm currently reading The Seven Pillars of Wisdom so it'll have to wait until I've finished that.

Thanks to willravel mentioning them in the James Bond thread it I've been making my way through the classic Bonds again.

Currently reading: Thunderball by Ian Flemming.

Bridget Jones Diary...for the first time in my life I think I can say I enjoyed the movie more than the book

I know. Avoid them at all costs. :no:

The Prize - The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power

By Pulitzer Prize winner, Daniel Yergin

It's a long read, 884 pages but awesome. I learned so much.

Confessor by Terry Goodkind. Hate to see the series end. :(

I read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini and The Love of the Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald while I was on vacation.

I think I'm going to start reading Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer tonight. But I'm not sure. I might opt for something non-fiction. My sister gave me a copy of The Children by David Halberstam and I've been wanting to read that...

choices, choices :)

Just finished The Last Life by Claire Messud, story about an American expat woman and her children in France (I read it in Lebanon, which helped me cope), and am currently in the middle of the great memoir, An Invitation to Laughter: A Lebanese Anthropologist in the Arab World.

I am also plodding through a rather slow book, The Gospel of Judas by Simon Mawer. It's the first novel in a long time that I don't think I'll finish.

Last 4.

The Red Queen

The God Delusion

The Ancestors tale

Genome

and I'm working on The Selfish Gene right now more for historical perspective.

Isn't it absolutely wonderful?!

Edit: Please, please do not bother reading the third book in the series, Dexter in the Dark. It's absolutely horrible. Trust me, I'm saving you hours of your life. The second novel, Dearly Devoted Dexter, is good, though.

City by Clifford D. Simak - it's a series of short stories, presented as ancient legends told by the dog-descendants that eventually replace humankind.

Just finished Chainfire by Terry Goodkind. now about 200 pages into Phantoms (same author)

I am getting really tired of this series, its like Goodkind invents these stupid problems that don't need to be there so that he can write more best sellers. I am glad the series is done, I am not happy in the direction he has taken it. For anyone reading these I highly recommend the first 2 books then just stopping there.

jacques roubaud: the great fire of london

reading samuel beckett: watt

Just finished Confessor by Terry Goodkind.....the last of the Sword of Truth series. WOW! I have to disagree with blahblah.....the whole series is good.

Call of the Wild - by Guy Grieve

my mrs thinks im going bush

I thought Dexter in the Dark was interesting, at least. I'm not sure I like the direction Lindsay is taking with the dark passenger, but it's still better than that Showtime nonsense (since when did Dex actually care about Rita?)

Anyway, Dearly Devoted Dexter > Darkly Dreaming Dexter > Dexter in the Dark.

Am currently reading Different Seasons, by Stephen King. Crompsin's constant Rage references got me wanting to read it again, but I can't find my copy so I settled for this instead.

Last night I finished Summerland by Michael Chabon. Meh.
Early this week I read Persepolis 1 & 2 by Marjane Satrapi. I enjoyed both.

Showtime has to humanize him in order to make him relatable to the audience, which they underestimate. The result is an inconsistent sociopath.

With Dex in the Dark, the whole thing suddenly goes from reality to fantasy. The thrill of reading about serial killers is that they could actually be doing this. As soon as the mysterious supernatural force is introduced, the entire story changes. While I appreciate that Lindsay was taking chances, it wasn't in a direction I was comfortable with.

"A Very English Hangman: the life and times of Albert Pierrepoint" - Leonora Klein

Kind of felt a mixture of revulsion and respect. He was by no means a good man, but he did a job that most people were not man enough to do: he wore the blood that was on his hands because the majority of people who supported the death penalty could not bare it to be on their hands.

Underboss

Sammy Gravano's story of life in the mob. Decent book, read it years ago when it first came out then found it again recently. He tells his story as he sees it I suppose. He was a true gangster who got caught up with possibly the worst Cosa Nostra leader of all time John Gotti. If Gotti hadn't have been so in the public eye and constantly talking Sammy would have never turned IMO, but he did what he had to do to survive.

The ecstasy ring is a whole other story on it's own the silly fucker.

Ive read that same book

Sammy the Bull.. or Sammy the Rat!

A little bit of both I think, I reckon he killed more than the 19 people he admitted to, and the 5 years was light for that, but the Feds made the deal to get the Underboss of the Gambinos to flip, he kind of had them over a barrel.

Then he goes and starts the whole ecstasy ring and gets his entire family involved, wife, son, daughter, even after saying Gotti was an idiot for having Jr. Gotti made in the Gambino family.

Guess it's hard for a gangster to leave the life totally. What impresses me most about Sammy though is that he's still alive, although gangsters in this day and age just don't seem to be the same as they used to. It all went downhill when Jr. Gotti was de facto boss when his old man was in jail.

On a side note Jr. apparently 'retired' from the mafia, we'll have to wait and see how long that lasts.

Taking a brief Bond break.
Now reading: Hey Rube by Hunter S. Thompson

Just finished the Foundation series a few days ago and Ender's Game by Orsen Scott Card yesterday. Yes, again. Awesome book. We all have a little Ender in us, don't we?

Well, the "true" mafia are the ones you never heard of, the first generation Sicilians who come over and disappear... Gotti was as much of a clown as Sam Giancana.

Men like Anthony J Accardo, Carlo Gambino, Bernardo Provenzano... they are real gangsters!

Just stop reading at Enders game.

It goes down hill VERY VERY quickly from there.

I've read the whole series. I was just rereading Ender's Game for the millionth time. You really didn't like Ender's Shadow? It was a great change of perspective on the original story. Bean's Game!

Exactly, I've always been a fan of Vincent 'The Chin' Gigante, Aniello Dellacroce, Carlo Gambino built such an empire yet kept such a low profile like true mafia were supposed to.

The Gum Thief By Douglas Coupland

Awesome book! written in a way that I could read it forever and not stop. after reading the 1/5 of the book, the rest was just non stop really. I don't know what to say about the last chapter though. it really killed the mood of the book. for me it stops just before that chapter.

anyways, it's about 2 Staples employee writting letters to each others about work and life. very well made.

I rate this my favorite book (fiction): 9.5/10

The Rule of Two - Drew Karpyshyn

From Hell - Alan Moore

I read that a couple of months ago. I didn't like it as much as some of his other work.

There, finished Terry Goodkind's Phantom a couple of days ago and Confessor about 5 min ago. I thought the series managed to wrap itself up okay, if a little conveniently. Overall it was an enjoyable series.

Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 by Hunter S Thompson

Lisey's Story - Stephen King
Brother Odd - Dean Koontz
Enjoyed both of these.

(if you like your horror with a bit of wry wit thrown in, Koontz' three books featuring the character 'Odd Thomas' are worth a look.)


Listened on CD to The Innocent Man (non-fiction) - John Grisham

Currently reading some pulp by James Patterson and Andrew Gross called The Lifeguard

King: 'Salem's Lot (Less the last 6 pages which my dog destroyed in his puppyhood. Grr.) Finished this morning.

Pratchett: Eric (Second time through) Finished an hour ago

Breathed: Tales too Ticklish to Tell (Bathroom reading) Will be finished in the next half hour.

Robinson: Callahan's Crosstime Saloon

"Before the Dawn" by Nicholas Wade - all about the efforts to recover the deep history of mankind via a variety of disciplines: genetics, archaeology, anthropology, linguistics, zoology, sociology, etc. Does a great job of tying a bunch of different threads together in a pretty compact little book.

If you grew up in Iowa in the 50's you'll love "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson.....a funny quick read

xoxoxoo

Spider's a great casual read. My only problem with reading his works now is Spoiler: wondering if the conclusion of each story will involve either time travel or hive-mind. Or both. It's almost never neither.

I have to agree. My son finished Ender a few days ago, and started Speaker for The Dead last night. A couple of chapters in, he came to me and said "I don't like this one nearly as much as the last one."

I don't know what it is about Card's work, but the first book (maybe the first two) in a given series is always much better than the rest. Even with the Homecoming books, which were clearly planned out fairly far in advance fell flat for me after the first one.

The Ender's Shadow series held up better than the others I've read, but still seemed a bit tired by the time I got to Shadow of the Giant.

Only one of his I've ever read. Not science fictiony enough for me in High school. Liked it well enough this time, though. Good puns.

For just the Callahan's stories, there is also:

* Time Travelers Strictly Cash (1981) (contains several non-Callahan's stories as well)
* Callahan's Secret (1986)
* Callahan's Lady (1989)
* Lady Slings the Booze (1992)
* The Callahan Touch (1993)
* Callahan's Legacy (1996)
* Callahan's Key (2000)
* Callahan's Con (2003)

Very light SF. But try Mindkiller, I found that one very well thought out.

I worry a little when a series goes that long. I've found some that work (Brust, Rice, Feist), and some that don't (Drake, Goodkind, starting to get frustrated with Martin). In any case, thanks. I'll give Mindkiller a try, and I may just have to get Lady Slings the Booze, just because it sounds right up my alley.

In any case, we've drifted far afield from SF's purpose in starting this thread, so my apologies to him. /end thread jack

God Project - John Saul

I read this when I was about 13 and I liked it at the time. I Just reread it. And it really isn't that good. Good premise, but terrible writing.

currrently reading "Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne" by David Starkey

that period of European history has always been interesting to me.

I read Life and Times ... too, Bobby. I found it to be an informative impression of America in the 50's. Being a child of the 70's, I found myself wishing I had been born 20 years earlier.

Awesome book.

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c3...ardtulaneL.jpg

I'm a sucker for a well written kids book, especially one that features a lost china bunny who learns about love.

I'm reading 'Great Expectations'. Yes, that one. I've decided I need to read more classics. So far, it is Freaky. More details to follow.

I'm towards the end of Sarah Vowell's collection of essays titled "The Partly Cloudy Patriot." It's a fascinating read. I'm truly enjoying it because Vowell's mind works similar to the way mine does.

Gaiman - American Gods

The Colorado Kid - Stephen King (A hard case novel.. kinda pulpy/noiry an ok read)

Blaze - Richard Bachman ( More Noir than than the above.. a good read)

The Road - Cormac McCarthy (Wow... read it!! I loved this book)

No Country For Old Men - McCarthy again (just started.. seems good so far)

Reading Rilke: Reflections on the Problems of Translation by William Gass.
Ends with the 10 Duino Elegies, which can hardly be beat.

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Great book! it was however not as good as it should be since i saw the movie about 20 times. I knew the story before it happened which ruined a bit of it for me. But it was overall very good.
There was some parts that didn't make sense but apart from that, I recommend it to anyone wanting to read a good story. Just don't expect it to be just like the movie. There are some major differences.

My rating for this book is: 8/10

Cook - A Cruel Wind (First Dread Empire Trilogy)

Currently plowing through Evanovich - Four To Score, with High Five on deck. If I'm not done with both by Wednesday, I am suing Evelyn Wood. (I kid. I wish I could make books last longer, but I go through a mass market paperback in about a day without making any effort to read quickly.)

I have a shelf of books that I go back to when I have nothing else to read. This is on there.

If you haven't read Choke by Chuck Palahniuk, you ought to. Very good.

I've really never been a fan of Palahniuk. Fight Club was okay, but I thought Choke was kind of pointless and, frankly, stupid. Neither was what they were hyped up to be.

I'm currently staring at the copy of War and Peace that a friend gave me today. She said she thought it was something that might last me more than a week. I've never read it. I'm debating whether I want to start in on it tonight or not.

All of his series did that last 2 chapters not knowing what he was doing Richard somehow came up with some new Wizard ability and saved the day. I liked the beginning of the series and read all of it but just for closure not because of quality.

Finished High Five.
Varley - The Ophiuchi Hotline (Good Stuff - sort of Bester-ish - High weirdness) Finished Friday
Stephenson - The Big U (3rd or 4th read through) Finished Saturday
Currently reading Gaiman - Smoke & Mirrors (Short stories and Poems)

I just finished "Deep Ancestry - Inside the Genographic Project" by Spencer Wells. It is a short study of human history using genetic information to try and determine our ancient ancestors origins and migratory paths out of Africa. I find books like this very interesting and read almost like a mystery novel.

Currently reading "Full House: The Spread of Excellence from Plato to Darwin" By Seven Gould.

Over all not very impressed. Seems to belabor points which seem pretty self evident to start with.

The Cloud Messenger - an Indian love lyric translated from Sanskrit. It is a beautiful book/poem.

As an aside, let me transcribe the editor's note which bears repeating:

The object of the editors of this series is a very definite one. They desire above all things that, i their humble way, these books shall be the ambassadors of good-will and understanding between the East and West--the old world of Thought and the new of Action. They are confident that a deeper knowledge of the great ideals and lofty philosophy of the Oriental thought may help to a revival of that true spirit of Charity which neither despises nor fears the nations of another creed and colour.

That's too bad. I've read a couple of his essays and found him to be an entertaining writer. Aside from a possible writer/audience mismatch, how do you find the writng? Is it pop evolutionary theory or is it sound stuff? (I've always wanted to read more Gould but don't know where to start.)

Reread Cook - Tyranny of the Night and Lord of the Silent Kingdom
Just Finished Stewart et al - America (the book) (Laugh out loud stuff)
Currently reading - Curtis - It's not News, It's Fark (Also a scream)
Next Up - Harris - Imperium

Last book I read:

Uncle Jack; The True Identity of Jack the Ripper - Tony Williams

(utter crap)

My default facebook is still a pic of me with one eye crossed out after reading that book last year.

Im pretty impressionable to be honest....

That Harris book was pretty good. Life of Cicero told from the point of view of his secretary.

Gotta love Gaiman, and, if you do, you should check out Tim Powers. Same sort of take on the world, little less poetry, little more veritas, about the same sort of humor.

In any case,
Finished Bester - The Demolished Man last week. (Should have been Bestest - the man was a frickin Wizard. Writes like PK Dick would write if he hadn't OD'ed on Joyce at some point.)
Finished Robinson - Red Mars yesterday.
Working on Green Mars (Downstairs) and Niven-Ringworld (Upstairs) (Also the New Tropical Fish Hobbyist and Zymurgy came in the last couple days, so I'll be going through those pretty soon).

Mr Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester. Great action-adventure. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series. I rather like Hornblower; there is something appealing in his awkwardness.

Right now I'm working on Oliver Sacks' The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat for pleasure, and finishing off Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me for school.

Since my last post:

Batgirl: Destruction's Daughter - Anderson Gabrych
Fables and Reflections (Sandman VI) - Neil Gaiman
Jack the Ripper - Mark Whitehead and Miriam Rivett
Five on a Trail - Enid Blyton
Five on Kirrin Island Again - Enid Blyton

Just finished "The Ghost Map" by Steven Johnson - an account of the great cholera outbreak in Victorian London and how John Snow used statistical analysis and mapping to discover the cause of the outbreak before anyone really knew what bacteria was. An important historical incident that is well treated here.

Lessee, Finished Green Mars and Ringworld.
Read Giaman - Endless Nights (Last Sandman)
Just Finished Buckley - Thank You For Smoking (and what a scream that one was. He's no slouch.)

I just read Duma Key, by Stephen King, on my mother's recommendation. It wasn't terrible, and was much better than the rubbish he put out in his last few books. You don't pick up a King and expect prose on the level of Hemingway, but it was a pretty fun little romp in the vein of Bag of Bones, for those who like that sort of thing.

The Graduate, Charles Webb.

Do you know what was left out of the movie?

I just read "The Lovely Bones" and thought it was fascinating. It had been sitting on my shelf for awhile, I'm glad I finally picked it up.
Also, I'm having a hard time imagining this book being turned into a movie, but mainly due to the casting I've read about.

I just finished Survivor By Chuck Palahniuk

This book was recommended because I liked fight club a lot but it's not really the same feeling i get from the 2 books. this one had a really odd story behind it and the characters never popped out in my mind. they were very boring and cold. Still, it was well written but dragged on at a few places which killed the mood for those chapters.

Overall, i would only recommend it if you love the writing style of Chuck Palahniuk.

I rate this book a 7 out of 10

Just read all three books of Eddings - The Elenium (The Diamond Throne, The Ruby Knight, and The Sapphire Rose.)

The Berlin Stories, Chris Isherwood

Add to that the three that come after as well. Decent set of books