What Are You Reading Right Now

[doggo]

I think we need a proper book topic! I skimmed through the Off Topic and it looks like we don't have one like this. I think it's a great way to gain tips on good books, plus I'm always so curious to see what my fellow SFers read.

So what is it? Is it good? Bad? Not yet failing your expectations? Better than you first thought? Funny? Sad? Life-changing?

--

Right now I'm in the middle of -

Italo Calvino, Cosmocomics. I first loved these little stories, then I lost the book, found it a couple of months later from some random pile of stuff, and right now I'm feeling a bit bored with it. I'm going to finish it anyway but the joke gets a bit old after the first 200 pages or so. I still recommend this to anyone who's into cosmology... and comedy.

Jonathan Littell, The Kindly Ones. Just started this a couple of days ago and I have to say, this is going to be some read. Tough and deep and horrifying. A story of a former SS officer. TYS, if you're reading this, I advice you to write the name down.

[VoOs]

Trust Shiny to start these lovely book threads <3

Ahem. Right now I'm in the middle of Song of Susannah, book six in The Dark Tower-series by Stephen King, and things are getting darker and darker by the page. I like the mix of horror, sci-fi, western and fantasy in The Dark Tower - this is King creating Epicness with a capital E.

[Trillium]

I have two books going right now:

"Straight Man," by Richard Russo. A hilarious story about an ironically smart-ass English professor in a dysfunctional English department in a 4th-rate college out east. I'm not a book critic, but I can play one. . . .

"How We Decide," by Jonah Lehrer. The neuroscientifical basis for human decisionmaking -- why we decide some things based upon emotion, some based upon reason, and why we're correct to use both bases for decisionmaking in different contexts. Books about the workings of the brain always fascinate me.

[shy guy]

I recently finished "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" by Michael Chabon. A great book, the kind you'll race through to see what happens, and then go back and read again to understand why. Even if you don't agree with the decisions Art (the protagonist) makes, you'll certainly sympathize with him as he wrestles with his choices.

I'm not reading anything right now, but I'm hoping I'll get some good ideas from what everyone else is reading.

[katia]

I'm rereading "Speaker for the Dead" by Orson Scott Card. It's part of the series starting with Ender's Game, which is my all-time favorite book.

[The Mute Poet]

I'm three quarters of the way through "The Waverley Novels" by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1899. I just happened to come across it while routing around in my great-grandmother's old bookshelf (I love doing this), and my affinity for beautiful old books instantly drew me to it. It even has that wonderful old-book smell; the same smell any decent sized library has, which to me represents what knowledge would smell like.

So far I've really enjoyed it. The volume is split into 3 shorter stories, and all are set in 1600-1700 Great Britain, a period I'm finding I didn't know much about at all, so I'm loving the chance to learn more about the time, country and ideals (even if it is through romantic fiction). It's also so liberating to see the range of vocabulary and artistry in the writing - it's like looking at a fragment of a forgotten better world.

Gah, I love books...

[Sneesee]

I recently finished a regency romance that was really good called, "Enchanted," by Victoria Malvey. Its several years old, I got it from a friend. But it was an enjoyable read.

I switched gears a little and am currently reading a NASCAR romance novel, "A Taste for Speed," by Dorein Kelly. I like both books because I escape all reality, and get engrossed in a fictional character's problems, and see two different worlds than I'm used to.

Edited October 21, 2009 by Sneesee

[Honkytonklagoon]

Mysteries of Pittsburgh was excellent (the movie was pretty good, too) and How We Decide sounds fascinating. Right now I'm reading Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh -- a tale of the sea, India and opium in the 1830s.

[Guest]

In addition to the random crap I'm asked to read every week, currently getting into Jane Eyre.

[Healer]

Catch-22, I'm ALSO reading So Long, and Thanks For All the Fish... OH! And A Storm of Swords (a book so big it was split into TWO books... both released at the same time, and each one about the length of any other book in the "A Song of Ice and Fire" series)

[Bubbles]

I'm reading The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath... then I have lined up the new Richard Dawkins book, and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas! VoOs, I loved the Dark Tower series at the start, but didn't enjoy the last few books as much. I really loved Wizard and Glass though. It could stand on its own as a story, without the series!

Edited October 21, 2009 by Bubbles

[Lynne]

I'm currently reading Eye of the Tiger by Wilbur Smith - no, it has nothing to do with Rocky Balboa, or the Survivor song - it was actually written before either of them existed

[Nicole]

Shiny, I love these topics. You really get to learn about people!

I just finished Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs. That was one of the most excellent books I've ever read. Currently in the middle of Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters by Peter Vronsky. I dream of becoming a profiler someday.

[confetishcake]

I put the three I was reading on hold to get through To Kill A Mockingbird for English class. (Didn't want to be distracted)

But I was reading The Plains of Passage by Jean Auels Earths Children series, Ice Land by Betsy Tobin (I think that was her name - too lazy to rummage for the thing now) and The Sight by David Clement-Davis. TKAM is actually alot better that I thought it would be. I'm only on chapter 8, though.

[Lynne]

I put the three I was reading on hold to get through To Kill A Mockingbird for English class. (Didn't want to be distracted)

But I was reading The Plains of Passage by Jean Auels Earths Children series, Ice Land by Betsy Tobin (I think that was her name - too lazy to rummage for the thing now) and The Sight by David Clement-Davis. TKAM is actually alot better that I thought it would be. I'm only on chapter 8, though.

Ooooh Char, wait until you get to the last Jean Auel novel - Plains of Passage gets a bit long at times, but the last book is SOOO worth it (and worth the FOURTEEN YEAR wait!)

[melonbun]

Night by Elie Wiesel. I literally just started and am already about half-way through. I'm actually reading it for my english class. It's not long at all, but from what I've read, it's pretty gruesome.

Besides that, nothing else at the moment. minus manga :3

[obsessed]

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury.

The Truth About Forever, Sarah Dessen.

And of course fanfictions... .

Edited July 22, 2012 by obsessed

[Trillium]

I'll have to pick up "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh," then, if two of you say it's worthwhile, since I've enjoyed other Chabon works. Though I have to admit that I only half-finished "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," and it's sitting there on the bookshelf eyeing me and making me feel guilty about starting a new book when I haven't finished some of the ones I already have.

Edited October 22, 2009 by Trillium

[Celeb Obsessed]

Villette by Charlotte Bronte. I was excited when I learned it's about unrequited love because I can totally relate to that. The book is pretty slow, though, so I don't know if I'll continue.

I don't know what's wrong with me lately. No book I take up seems to be fun enough. I'll try Pride and Prejudice and Zombies later and see how that is. Oh, and The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. Anyone read it?

[Lynne]

Haven't read it yet, Celeb, but I can't wait to get my hands on it I have the new Stephen King short story collection to get through first

[Song_Bird]

Well, I just finished the first two amazing books in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, and anxiously awaiting number 3! In the middle of Nightmares and Dreamscapes, one of Stephen King's short story collections, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson. I'm such a sucker for eerie horror and any kind of mystery novel!

[doggo]

Just started The Raw Youth by Dostojevsky. Although it's said to not to be that good, I couldn't care less because I love the style, and the narrator, Arkady Dolgoruky, is perhaps the cutest little thing there is - vain, ambitious, bitter, and wonderfully innocent to boot. He cracks me up.

[Demon327]

Just finished Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn. It's the third (fourth?) in the Mitch Rapp series of political based spy thrillers. I read way to much spy stuff (Clancy, Cussler)

[Lynne]

Just finished Transfer of Power by Vince Flynn. It's the third (fourth?) in the Mitch Rapp series of political based spy thrillers. I read way to much spy stuff (Clancy, Cussler)

You're welcome Granted, I can't take credit for Flynn...

I recently finished Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, and I'm currently reading Just Here Trying to Save a Few Lives by Dr. Pamela Grim. About to start the new Stephen King short story collection as well.

[Trillium]

Vince Flynn is good. I just finished the latest James Patterson novel -- "I, Alex Cross" -- I'd recommend that no one bother with it, since the plot is thin and the characters mere caricatures.

Still wading through 2009 Best American Short Stories and 2009 Best American Essays. And "Strength Training for Women," a really exciting read, lemme tell ya.