What are you reading?

That's not going to work. I never avoided algebra homework.

--Ken

Calla Lily said:

. . .
Recommendation: Avoid these final 4 books like you avoided Algebra homework back in the day.

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Devil Ledbetter said:

The Book Thief.

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Read this a couple of months ago. Loved it.

Just finished Beggar's Opera, now reading I've Got You Under My Skin.

Just finished Lexicon by Max Barry which was really good. My favorite part though was the acknowledgements in the back.

Recently finished (in 2 days) The Girl With All the Gifts, by M R Carey (Mike Carey).

Would have read it straight through - kept my interest - except I started it too late in the day to finish.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption. So far, it is very good.

Procrastinating before work...

Last Finished: Evidence of Trust, by Stacey Joy Netzel. A contemporary romantic thriller, with a heartbroken city girl meeting a jaded ranger as a poacher stalks a nearby national park. More romance than thriller, but it delivered what it promised and moved decently.

Currently Reading: Warbreaker, by Brandon Sanderson. A world's magic involves color, "Breath" drawn from the living, and possibly immortal gods. Just started, and though I'm intrigued, I keep being too busy to read on.

Tarot for Writers, by Corrine Kenner. Using Tarot cards to break blocks, build stories, and so forth. So far, not bad.

I'm also a few chapters into The Untamed by Max Brand on my Nook. So far, it's about a possibly-inhuman young man with preternatural gifts who could become a great man or a terrible danger to himself and others. An older title, so some allowances must be made for attitudes and style, but I'm curious enough to press on.

Tom Wolfe - Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. Disjointed and trippy, which of course is the point.

I visited the cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde a few weeks ago. Incredible! Go if you ever get the chance. As we were walking to the site, a Park Service employee past us going the other way. I smiled because his name tag said "Tom Wolfe," who's one of my favorites.

"That was Tom Wolfe, the writer," our guide said. "He spends his summers volunteering out here."

"THE Tom Wolfe?" I sputtered. "Bonfire of the Vanities Tom Wolfe?"

"That's him."

I almost chased him down until I remembered what the BFOTV Tom Wolfe looks like. The literary world's resident metrosexual isn't going to magically become thirty years younger and grow a two inch beard every summer to volunteer at Mesa Verde. Either the guide was funning us, he didn't know who the BFOTV Tom Wolfe was, or there is another writer by the same name (Amazon says no, and Thomas Wolfe has been dead since the 1930s).

I'm a teacher and one of my students is doing his dissertation on "The Pilgrim's Progress" so just about to read that (some people seemed horrified that I've never read it before). Urgh, I am so not looking forward to it...

Just finished Marilynne Robinson's newest - Lila.

And it was perfect.

juniper said:

Recently finished (in 2 days) The Girl With All the Gifts, by M R Carey (Mike Carey).

Would have read it straight through - kept my interest - except I started it too late in the day to finish.

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Dude. This book was amazing. I keep getting crazy eyes when I try to convince people to read it.

annapalooza said:

Dude. This book was amazing. I keep getting crazy eyes when I try to convince people to read it.

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Right there with you. I've given it as a gift to a few friends who like post-apocalyptic lit.

Just started The Story Hour by Thrity Unmrigar.

I'm reading three books. I don't know why. Well, yes, I do, but...

(1) My non-fiction choice is 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus - because I'm writing a book with a global perspective on magic, and am wanting to avoid a Euro-centric view on magic - so ancient, pre-colonial mesoamerica it is.

(2) 100 Years of Solitude - on audio book. It fits with the latin theme and I can listen to it on the subway.

(3) The Flower Reader by Elizabeth Loupas - I was in the mood for romance.

I actually don't like reading more than one book so having three is a bit of a disaster, but at least they're in different formats?

annapalooza said:

Dude. This book was amazing. I keep getting crazy eyes when I try to convince people to read it.

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This looks good. I'm adding it to my list.

I'm reading Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson.

Ghost Planet by Sharon Lynn Fisher, a science fiction romance that is starting off just weird enough to draw me in.

Swann's Way by Marcel Proust. The language is chillingly beautiful, but I'm a little frustrated with how little at stake there is, at least so far.

I just started The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Great so far.

THE KILLING OF KAREN SILKWOOD by Richard Rashke.

This took place 40 years ago, but like so much in history, it will still make you angry.

Finished Wool tonight. Not bad. Might check out the other two books in the series. Started reading Robert Bloch's Psycho about five minutes after (bought the book yesterday after ordering it in) and I am totally loving it so far. I can tell Stephen King was very influenced by him.

Calla Lily said:

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

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Sounds like something I should read.

I've got three books going on at once

My Brother Sam is Dead by Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier

A Leap in the Dark: The Struggle to Create the American Republic by John Ferling

Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert Massie