What are you reading?

wrombola

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
461
Reaction score
23
Website
wrombola.wix.com
The Historian by Elizibeth Kostova

It's a vampire mystery, history lesson, and guide to European cuisine all wrapped into one cozy 650 pages of small type. Some people disliked the long sections of letter reading which I can understand. After all how much drama can you have when you know the person survived to write the letter.
One thing I will say about the author, she has a talent for describing exotic people and places that far exceeds my own. My biggest problem with the novel was the time devoted to describing meals. I swear, it seemed like the protagonist was constantly sitting down to a meal. Very realistic, and in the context of the story it works since it gives the characters a chance for relaxed dialogue.
 

ejaycee

knows nothing of your ruined garden
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Aug 23, 2009
Messages
1,384
Reaction score
313
Location
in a house in the clouds.
Snowcrash, by Neal Stephenson.

Incredible that he wrote when the internet barely existed. And all those new words fit in so well I find myself using them in everyday conversation. :D

Plus, the MCs name always makes me giggle.
 

Diana W.

I'm evolving
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jan 17, 2008
Messages
11,981
Reaction score
4,152
Location
Freehold, New Jersey
Death Most Definite by Trent Jamieson. Seems it's his first novel and I only picked it up by accident. I'm glad I did though as it's a fun read.
 

Becky Black

Writing my way off the B Ark
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
2,163
Reaction score
176
Location
UK
Website
beckyblack.wordpress.com
I'm about to start reading The Princess Bride. My American friends are all going "You've never read it before?! What are you, from Mars?" and my British friends are going "Yeah, I think I've heard of that. Wasn't there a film?"
 

Satori1977

Listening to the Voices In My Head
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
5,975
Reaction score
662
Location
I can see the Rocky Mountains
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I know, I am like the last person to read it. Ha dit on my TBR pile for years (with a hundred other books), and saw it at the library and decided to finally pick it up. A day later and I am almost done with it. Really enjoying it!
 

DragonHeart

Oerba Yun Fang
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 16, 2005
Messages
2,479
Reaction score
245
Location
New Hampshire
Website
www.thefinalfantasy.com
Started The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen this afternoon and I'm almost finished with it. I've seen the previews for the TV show several times but I didn't realize it was a book series until I was browsing and saw it on a bestseller list. The male vs. female thing is irritating but aside from that it's well worth the read, imo. It's amazing in a really horrifying sort of way. Definitely not for the squeamish. >_>
 

wrombola

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 3, 2010
Messages
461
Reaction score
23
Website
wrombola.wix.com
Frankenstein-Lost Souls, Dean Koontz

Just started it and I am already impressed by the pacing and his descriptive abilities. Nothing too elaborate but I can see why he is successful.
 

milly

seeing sparks
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 12, 2010
Messages
8,443
Reaction score
2,818
"Marry Me" by John Updike
 

Gugland

Sufficiently downsized
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 20, 2010
Messages
488
Reaction score
146
Location
Davis, CA
The Black Echo by Michael Connelly.

Not the sort of thing I normally read. But I was having a yard sale this weekend (I'll rant/whine about that in another thread) and it was the only book I didn't have for sale, so I thought I'd try re-reading it. The first time I read it was a few years ago, before I started writing and/or found AW.

Talk about telling rather than showing! And some of the dialogue was so stiff and unrealistic, I am amazed that he was so popular.

I'm not complaining - as I recall from the first read, it was entertaining enough, but now that I view it with a more critical eye (thanks to what I've learned here at AW) I can't help but feel a bit more confident about my own writing in comparison (not that I have the cahones to post anything in SYW...yet).
 

Paperback Writer

Learning the craft
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Dec 2, 2009
Messages
431
Reaction score
46
Location
It's like I went back in a time machine to the 60'
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. I know, I am like the last person to read it. Ha dit on my TBR pile for years (with a hundred other books), and saw it at the library and decided to finally pick it up. A day later and I am almost done with it. Really enjoying it!

Nope not at all, I just got it yesterday and I read the first chapter at the bookstore. Then I closed the book and looked to my right and guess what? Another girl was reading the beginning too!
 

LordMoogi

Purveyor of Oddments and Fantasies
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 12, 2010
Messages
136
Reaction score
8
Location
Darkest Virginia
Website
moogi-constructivecynicism.blogspot.com
I'm working on Soulless by Gail Carriger, which has to be the most entertaining vampire book I've ever read (not the best, mind, but certainly the funniest). I've also been reading bits of The Hero with a Thousand Faces- Joseph Cambell's ideas have been a major influence on me for years, so now I'm finally reading the book that started it all. After that, I've got Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five (a present from my lady friend) and Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Allies to read. I'm a HUGE fan of Star Wars books, and this series is really good so far.

I also read all of the first nine volumes of Hellboy in rapid succession and am currently planning on buying the tenth.
 

Baryonyx

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 6, 2010
Messages
725
Reaction score
124
Lord of the Rings :)

I love that book, one of my all time favourites. Especially Smeagol :)
 

Ehab.Ahmed

Drifting Silently
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 2, 2009
Messages
1,132
Reaction score
150
Location
Somewhere up there
Time's Eye by Arthur C. Clark and Stephen Baxter. I just started reading today, only read 20 pages so far. Can't formulate an opinion by what I've read so far. Later, lol.
 

Rammstein

New kid, be gentle!
Registered
Joined
Jul 30, 2010
Messages
39
Reaction score
1
Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger (Haven't read it before, not kidding)
Cryptonomicon, Neil Stephenson
The Insidious Dr Fu Manchu, Sax Roehmer
 

Satori1977

Listening to the Voices In My Head
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
5,975
Reaction score
662
Location
I can see the Rocky Mountains
Nope not at all, I just got it yesterday and I read the first chapter at the bookstore. Then I closed the book and looked to my right and guess what? Another girl was reading the beginning too!

I actually just realized this myself. Finished the book in two days, and thought it was very good. Movie really stuck with the story as well, and that was refreshing. So I went online to put the 2nd book on hold, and there were already several holds on it! Looks like I have to wait to read the next book.

Right now I am reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter, because I adore the show. Not a bad story, some differences though (some good, some not so good IMO).
 

thewakingself

Plays with fire.
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 11, 2009
Messages
1,446
Reaction score
336
Location
In the slush.
Drood by Dan Simmons.

Simmons is a great writer, and it should be right up my alley (unreliable narrator! Horror! Victorian England!). Something just isn't clicking for me, though. I keep trying to power through it, but after a week I'm only on page 59--I can usually finish a book this size in less time. I'm not sure I'll be able to finish.
 

DragonHeart

Oerba Yun Fang
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 16, 2005
Messages
2,479
Reaction score
245
Location
New Hampshire
Website
www.thefinalfantasy.com
Finished The Sinner, now on Body Double. This series is so strangely addictive. The ever-present masculine vs. feminine thing continues to annoy me to no end but aside from that I find these books so very compelling.