What are you reading now?

[LaydNimue]

On a vampire/horror trend at the moment, and currently working my way through the complete works of Stephen King. I'm halfway through The Stand, which is marvellous, and will probably read Salem's Lot next. Just finished The Long Walk, and the Swedish novel Let the Right One In (which is wonderful!).

The movie was really good - I didn't know it was based on a book!

[crazyforkate]

The movie was really good - I didn't know it was based on a book!

The book is very well-written, would highly recommend if you liked the movie (which I saw in a film class - the students applauded at the end!). Wasn't so fond of the American remake, but really, if you liked either movie you should totally check out the book.

[LaydNimue]

The book is very well-written, would highly recommend if you liked the movie (which I saw in a film class - the students applauded at the end!). Wasn't so fond of the American remake, but really, if you liked either movie you should totally check out the book.

Thanks. I tend to really enjoy Swedish movies but not like teen-type vamp romance books/movies. It was quite a surprise to watch this one and find it to be so unlike most of the current stuff out. I'll give the book a go!

[already hungover]

I just started A Song of Ice and Fire. Not my usual thing but everyone I know likes it so I'm going to give it a try before watching the show.

[happy atheist]

I just started A Song of Ice and Fire. Not my usual thing but everyone I know likes it so I'm going to give it a try before watching the show.

I found that one really slow to get going. I enjoyed it in the long run, he just takes a long time to get stuff set up.

[already hungover]

I found that one really slow to get going. I enjoyed it in the long run, he just takes a long time to get stuff set up.

Good to know. I'll slog through. People really rave about it, so I'm trying to temper my expectations.

[keen23]

I just finished Mr Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore, and it was wonderful. A very fast read, somewhat magical, and really great.

[CrankyCatLady]

I just started reading Richard The Third by Paul Murray Kendall. It's supposed to be the definitive biography. It's definitely better-written than a lot of other biographies I've read, which can skew towards the dull, pedantic side of the spectrum.

[hearyoume08]

I'm about to start When She Awoke, which should be interesting.

[LaydNimue]

Has anyone read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children? A "haunting and out-of-the-ordinary read" I'm trying to decide what about it is out of the ordinary before I buy.

[happy atheist]

Has anyone read Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children? A "haunting and out-of-the-ordinary read" I'm trying to decide what about it is out of the ordinary before I buy.

I read it. It's okay, but not great. The unusual thing about it is the pictures. It is illustrated with creepy vintage snapshots.

It's very obviously a setup for a series, which rubs me the wrong way a bit.

[RandomTrivia]

I finished Death of a Gentle Lady (one of the Hamish Macbeth series) today. I need to track down the rest of the series and start at the beginning. The library's paperback sale is this weekend, so I'll have to put these on my list to look for.

Recently: Finished Going Clear (the Scientology book), an e-book called Ride a Dead Horse which ended kind of abruptly I thought, and a blitz of celebrity autobiographies during the snowstorms - Babylon Confidential (Claudia Christian), True Strength (Kevin Sorbo), and Confessions of a Prairie Bitch (Alison Arngrim) are finished, and I've still got Tony and Me (Tony Randall & Jack Klugman) to go. Prairie Bitch was the most fun, True Strength was mostly about the health problems and very little about either Hercules or Andromeda, and Babylon Confidential was just something else.

Coming up: I've got a 1930s-era Nancy Drew book (Mystery at Lilac Inn) and the revised version from the 90s to compare, and I just got The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II from the library yesterday. And I've got Neil DeGrasse Tyson's new book on hold at the library, along with Phil Plait's Death from the Skies (so I can remember why I shouldn't like either Eta Carinae or the Crab Nebula).

There are a few more; I just finished a stack of YA and juvenile books that I borrowed, and I'm sure there are others wandering the house half-read. It's a bad habit, I don't think I'm capable of reading one book at a time.

[Mary C Doates]

I read it. It's okay, but not great. The unusual thing about it is the pictures. It is illustrated with creepy vintage snapshots.

It's very obviously a setup for a series, which rubs me the wrong way a bit.

I liked it. It's a fantasy-adventure, which I normally don't go for, but the writing style was very evocative and the photos/letters added to the "atmosphere" (not quite the word I'm looking for, but my brain is fried at the moment).

[Rarity65]

I'm reading The Grapes of Wrath of Wrath righ now.

[GodsKnickers]

Read The Great Gatsby a couple of weeks ago. I've also been working my way through the Outlander series again, whilst impatiently waiting for the 8th book to come out. Will start on An Echo In The Bone soon. First I want to read Catch Me If You Can (Frank Abagnale Jr) and Defending Jacob, which are both sitting on the nightstand.

[LilMissMetaphor]

Just finished The Olive Farm, by Carol Drinkwater (otherwise known as James Herriot's wife in All Creatures Great and Small). I like travel memoirs/fiction that's heavy on setting and characterization. Another good one like that is A Year In Provence.

[lagenialester]

Good to know. I'll slog through. People really rave about it, so I'm trying to temper my expectations.

Yeah, that one was actually not as slow-starting as the second book in the series. I enjoyed both of them, but agree that they take a lot of patience to get through.

[Bethella]

I started Crown of Vengeance by Mercedes Lackey yesterday. I normally like her stuff but this one has really drawn me in, I stayed up most of last nigh reading it and am currently about half way through. (It's the first book in a new prequel trilogy to the Enduring Flame and Obsidian Mountain trilogies.)

[Sky_Diamond]

Just finished The Olive Farm, by Carol Drinkwater (otherwise known as James Herriot's wife in All Creatures Great and Small). I like travel memoirs/fiction that's heavy on setting and characterization. Another good one like that is A Year In Provence.

A year in provenance is very good. Have you read vikram Seth's travels in Asia. I think it's called heaven lake. It's brilliant with beautiful description of settings.

[ceg045]

I'm currently on the third book of two series:

The Crown (Book 3 of the Kristin Lavransdatter trilogy) in paperback and Montfort: The Revolutionary on my Kindle.

[Iokaste]

"Just Kids", Patti Smith, about her development as an artist and friendship with Mapplethorpe. It's well written and interesting even if you, like me, are not very familiar with the work of either. Their world might be a bit more crazy than most, but I think there is a lot of general growing-up and coming into your own-experiences that are very relateable.

[Mela99]

I can't read just one book at once, so my current line up:

Death at SeaWorld by David Kirby (Keeping orcas captive is NOT COOL)

I am Nujood, 12 and Divorced by Nujood Ali (equal parts devastating and inspiring)

Laurel Canyon: The Inside Story of Rock n Roll's Greatest Neighborhoodn by Michael Walker (my Jackson Browne obsessed self loves it)

[laura oz]

Just finished a coffee table book about Pompeii called Bodies from the Ash: Life and Death in Ancient Pompeii. I just started Ancient Egypt 39,000 BCE, and am just captivated so far. Ancient Civilizations are my "thing".

[norabrimstone]

Book Books - The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins, and A Tiny Bit Marvellous By Dawn French

On Kindle - Dracula by Bram Stoker, and Summer Falls by "Amelia Williams"

On Audible - Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, and the Michel Thomas Method: Dutch Foundation Course.

Plus various magazines, both physical and on kindle featuring short stories.

[Salamander]

Catherynne M. Valente's The Orphan's Tales: In the Night Garden, a feminist fantasy novel written in the style of 1001 Nights. The narrative consists of interweaving stories that branch off into more stories, with characters that pop up across various story arcs. A lot of the individual stories are fairy tale retellings and subversions of genre conventions. Valente's prose is also really lovely. It's a great read so far.