What are you reading?

[Noclevername]

Ah, but they'll be very intelligent, dextrous single cells!

[Disinfo Agent]

The Wooden Ships, by Bob Shaw.

Years ago I read The Ragged Astronauts, the first book in the series. Do you need to remember much about it to enjoy the second book?

Hello, Paul.

I'm still halfway through the book, but I think I can safely say that you don't need to remember much about the first book in the series to enjoy the second (and I am enjoying it). Just having an idea of the basic plot is more than enough. There are a few helpful tips here and there in The Wooden Spaceships about what happened previously, so I think you could even read it well if you'd never read the first story. A couple of characters return, but most are brand new.

[Paul Beardsley]

Thanks for that, Disinfo Agent. Nice to know I can dive straight in.

[mike alexander]

After years sitting on the shelf (the book, not me) I'm reading the Travels of Marco Polo.

[AndreasJ]

Fraustadt 1706 by Oskar Sjöström

[gzhpcu]

Just read The First Quarry, by Max Allan Collins. Something in the Mickey Spillane vein...

[Gillianren]

The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar Man-Bats in Nineteenth Century New York, by Matthew Goodman.

[gzhpcu]

I would like to try reading an X-files novel. Anybody know of one that is a starter and introduces Mulder and Scully?

[Gillianren]

I own three--Goblins, Ruins, and Whirlwind. I haven't read any of them in years, but I recall that they aren't terrible. Not very good, but not terrible.

[Fazor]

I was looking at the DVD "No Country for Old Men" and decided I'd rather read the novel it's based on.

Ended up ordering it and Oil! from Amazon (Along with a Harmonica, so I can play Mary Jane's Last Dance like it's suppose to be played. But that's neither here nor there).

[Fazor]

Well, my books arrived on Monday, and I read 'No Country' last night. The fact that I finished it should indicate that I did, indeed, enjoy the book. I've never read any of McCarthy's work.

I started to read Oil! after I finished the first book; but considering I only had 4 hours of sleep the night before, I couldn't keep my eyes open for it.

[Gillianren]

Snake Oil Science: The Truth About Complementary and Alternative Medicine, by R. Barker Bausell. Much emphasis on properly-run clinical testing, though he acknowledges the difficulty of doing so with some techniques--for example, the difficulty of a properly placebo-controlled study of acupuncture.

After that, I will be reading Picasso and the Lapin Agile and Other Plays, by Steve Martin, probably followed by Gypsy Rose Lee's autobiography.

[Taeolas]

Just picked up the latest Dresden book "Turn Coat" and reading that now. Also picked up the latest Codex Alera book which I hadn't gotten yet (picked up and read the first 4 books over the past few weeks though).

I've got Canticle for Leibowitz about half done as well, but it's on hold for this. Also got Greg Bear's "Slant" and Reynold's "Revelation Space" (I think) started to various degrees but not enough to hook me to finish yet. I think I may have a few more books started as well which I've forgotten.

[R.A.F.]

I'm right in the middle of a few books right now...

Just finished Two sides of the Moon by Dave Scott and Alexei Leonov. An excellent read, and I particularly liked Scott's recollections from Apollo 15.

Just about finished with X-15 Diary by Richard Tregaskis. It's a day by day "diary" (hence the title) of the early days (it was written in 1961) of the flight testing of the X-15.

...am getting ready to start reading Rocket Man by Nancy Conrad and Howard A. Klausner...the biography of Pete Conrad.

[Gillianren]

Just picked up the latest Dresden book "Turn Coat" and reading that now.

I think I'm fifteen on the library's hold list. It'll take a bit.

[cjl]

Right now, I'm nearly finished with "Riding Rockets", by Mike Mullane. It's an excellent book - I would highly recommend it. Great look at the Shuttle program from an astronaut's point of view.

[D11011101]

The Dynamic Universe by Theodore P. Snow, The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton (which I am really enjoying) and I just finished Job: A Comedy of Justice (which I didn't enjoy as much as others) and trying to memorize The Linux Bible.

D11011101

[R.A.F.]

Right now, I'm nearly finished with "Riding Rockets", by Mike Mullane. It's an excellent book - I would highly recommend it. Great look at the Shuttle program from an astronaut's point of view.

Saw it last time I was at the Library...it's on my "to read" list.

[Nick Theodorakis]

Son of the Morning Star: Custer and The Little Bighorn, by Evan S. Connell.

At first I was put off by the style of writing: very informal, with many jumps and tangents, but I grew into it and now I think it works to keep my attention.

Nick

[Parrothead]

Finished Three Bags Full during the week, yikes, 2 plus months to read 300+ pages. The mid-part of the book dragged, so I wasn't really reading as much. This sheep detective story I found to be more amusing, than mystery. It had some lol moments, the being mostly from the sheeps' perspective different, but not enough to make up for the sluggish spots.

Bought years ago, but never read, I pulled a 3 books in 1 compilation off the shelf. Game, Set & Match - Len Deighton's Berlin Game, Mexico Set and London Match. I like Berlin Game, so far. I have the first book of the Hook, Line and Sinker trilogy somewhere, too. Read The Ipcress File ages ago, have seen the film based on it and the film version of Funeral In Berlin.

[Gillianren]

Dry Storeroom No. 1: The Secret Life of the Natural History Museum, by Richard Fortey. Good stuff. Scholarly, but a lot of sly jokes.

[schlaugh]

Currently re-reading Patrick O'Brian's The Hundred Days (but only for the first time vs. the third or fourth for the rest of the Aubrey-Maturin canon).

Durn, that man could write!

[Gillianren]

It turns out so can Fortey. He also concludes with an impassioned argument for bringing back the days where a person could work on just one group of species for an entire career without having to spend half of it cajoling money from somewhere and the other half trying to write enough to get enough published to keep the job in the first place.

[Graybeard6]

I'm re-reading "A world Lit Only by Fire" by William Manchester and have started the Honor Harrington series by David Weber. The series is essentially "Hornblower in a Galactic Empire" with a female protagonist. Weber's writing is not as wide as Forrester or as deep as O'Brian, but 'twill serve.

[geonuc]

Currently re-reading Patrick O'Brian's The Hundred Days (but only for the first time vs. the third or fourth for the rest of the Aubrey-Maturin canon).

Durn, that man could write!

I just finished Master and Commander and while I agree, O'Brian can definitely write, I often found myself asea (pun intended) with the terminology. The book does at least have a drawing of a three-masted ship with all the sails indentified, so those terms are easily referenced, but the other nautical jargon often left me wondering what was going on. There was one point towards the end where I wasn't even sure whether the Sophie was engaging in a battle or not.

[Paul Beardsley]

I just finished Master and Commander and while I agree, O'Brian can definitely write, I often found myself asea (pun intended) with the terminology. The book does at least have a drawing of a three-masted ship with all the sails indentified, so those terms are easily referenced, but the other nautical jargon often left me wondering what was going on. There was one point towards the end where I wasn't even sure whether the Sophie was engaging in a battle or not.

I am one of those people who simply cannot read his books. I've tried more than once, and given up.

However, I did get an excellent companion book called A Sea Of Words, which is effectively a dictionary of all the terms used in his books, and which is consequently interesting in its own right. If I ever get round to writing a sailing story (be it historical, transplanted into space as everyone seems to be doing, or set in an ocean on another planet) it will count as useful research.

Meanwhile, I am reading Peter Ackroyd's The House of Doctor Dee, a rather unusual haunted house story by a figure of great intellect. (I gave up on John Dickson Carr's The Hollow Man as too many months had passed between sittings (because of my Open University maths course) and so I couldn't remember who did what.)

[GeorgeLeRoyTirebiter]

The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour, by Andrei Cherny.

[Gillianren]

Names on the Land, by George R. Stewart. It's a second edition, rereleased because, when the first one was written, there were only 48 states. It also, to my great delight, gives the origin of the name of my hometown back in California--Altadena--which most people have never even heard of. It also verifies the story I learned in California history class as to the origin of the name "Pasadena," which someone here once called into doubt--because I couldn't immediately produce a website with the story.

[geonuc]

However, I did get an excellent companion book called A Sea Of Words, which is effectively a dictionary of all the terms used in his books, and which is consequently interesting in its own right.

Yes, the person who lent/gave me Master and Commander also recommended A Sea of Words if I had trouble with the terminology. Sadly, I didn't heed her advice and struggled though the book on my own.

[Mellow]

I'm right in the middle of a few books right now...

Just finished Two sides of the Moon by Dave Scott and Alexei Leonov. An excellent read, and I particularly liked Scott's recollections from Apollo 15.

...am getting ready to start reading Rocket Man by Nancy Conrad and Howard A. Klausner...the biography of Pete Conrad.

Hi R.A.F. I too have read 'Both sides of the Moon' and found it really enjoyable. Rocket Man also a good read.

I think I've mentioned "Moondust" by Andrew Smith before... excellent (maybe i'm biased in my opinion of these books).