What are you reading?

[mike alexander]

Davy is good, very good; my opinion.

And Still I Persist in Wondering is a fine collection of Pangborn's shorter material. And the novel A Mirror for Observers is excellent.

[AndreasJ]

Read CAS's "The Dark Eidolon" as the thunder rolled earlier today (most considerate of the weather gods, I must say). Good story, altho I could have done without some of the names. (highlight to read comments below)

Namirrha, the sorcerer, is Ahriman, the Zoroastrian devil, backwards and with an extra 'r' for good measure; the country, Xylac, is a straight reversal of calyx, a Greek word for "cup" used to refer to various cup-like features in biology. There may be more, but those are the ones that leapt out at me.

[Parrothead]

Have mostly finished Italy in the Age of the Risorgimento 1790 - 1870

Book broken down into parts: The conflict over interpretations of sources, breakdown of Italian provices and their political, economic and social structures during the late 18th - early 19th c., figures and events during the formation of the Italian nation-state, Beyond nationalism and the Risorgimento. An interesting read.

Next up a piece of historical fiction Libra by Don DeLillo - Centres on life of Lee Harvey Oswald and the shaping events leading to his assassination of JFK. James Ellroy cites this work as his inspiration for writing American Tabloid

[grant hutchison]

Davy is good, very good; my opinion.

Likewise. Although I preferred The Company Of Glory last time I read them back-to-back, it was only by a short neck.

Grant Hutchison

[Buttercup]

Along with 3 other books (previously mentioned) pertaining to the era: Marie Therese, Child of Terror: The Fate of Marie Antoinette's Daughter by Susan Nagel (2008). It's a well documented/written exhaustive biography, arrived via mail order yesterday. It also deals with "The Dark Countess" mystery, including use of DNA and handwriting comparisons.

http://www.madame-royale.de/en/speci...-nagel2008.htm

[LaurelHS]

I've been reading some of Peter Robinson's novels about Inspector Alan Banks lately. I was visiting relatives and there was a shelf of these books in my room, so I started reading them.

[Gillianren]

During the two and a half weeks from first weekend to third weekend of faire, I tend to read my own books so that I won't take library books to a very, very dusty site and possibly leave them there during the week. There's a chance of rain damage, too, if things go wrong. So I'm reading Murder Must Advertise, by Dorothy L. Sayers, on the grounds that, if I lose it/damage it, I can get myself a new copy for very little.

[Cougar]

On a long road trip, I just listened to (all 16 CDs of) The Warded Man, a fantasy novel written by (1st time author) Peter Brett. It is the first part of a Trilogy, the 3rd book of which is not yet completed. According to reviews, the second book, The Desert Spear, was largely disappointing, but most everyone praised The Warded Man. I also liked it.

[CJSF]

I finally picked up A Superior Death, the second Anna Pigeon Mystery by Nevada Barr, from the library today.

CJSF

[AndreasJ]

Between moving across town this Monday and general inefficiency, I've read little during the last week, but I did read CAS's "The Seven Geases" today.

[Paul Beardsley]

Between moving across town this Monday and general inefficiency, I've read little during the last week, but I did read CAS's "The Seven Geases" today.

Not one of his better stories, as I recall.

[AndreasJ]

Not one of his better stories, as I recall.

Oddly, I'd been told it was one of his best - and presumably so thinks the editor that chose it for inclusion in the "best of" collection I'm reading -, but I agree with you; it's somewhat weak.

[HenrikOlsen]

I've been perusing documentation related to SOAP RPC over HTTP, to see if it was a fitting solution to a problem in a program I'm spec'ing at the moment and for which I've just started prototyping some of the core functions.

[jamesabrown]

36 Argument for the Existence of God, by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein. Quite possibly the first book I've ever read in which I stopped reading at the end of Chapter One, flipped back to the Appendix and read that in its entirety, before returning to Chapter Two.

[ABR.]

I'm not sure whether I'll get the time to read this any time soon, but I thought I'd mention that a book I received in the mail today has Paul Beardsley's current avatar for its cover.

[Paul Beardsley]

I'm not sure whether I'll get the time to read this any time soon, but I thought I'd mention that a book I received in the mail today has Paul Beardsley's current avatar for its cover.

Good on you, ABR.! I was going to change my avatar this evening (back to the default, or else a rope or a ball bearing) but I think I'll leave it as it is for a while.

See if you can crack the secret message on page 75.

[ABR.]

See if you can crack the secret message on page 75.

Okay, I'll try. But if the secret message is "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine" or the like, you go right on The List next to Little Orphan Annie. Just so you know.

[HenrikOlsen]

I'm not sure whether I'll get the time to read this any time soon, but I thought I'd mention that a book I received in the mail today has Paul Beardsley's current avatar for its cover.

I have no idea who it's supposed to be, but have to admit that to me the center figure looks like Eddie Izzard in drag mode.

[Paul Beardsley]

I have no idea who it's supposed to be, but have to admit that to me the center figure looks like Eddie Izzard in drag mode.

It's not supposed to be anyone you've heard of. She appears in the novel, and nowhere else.

Okay, I'll try. But if the secret message is "Be sure to drink your Ovaltine" or the like, you go right on The List next to Little Orphan Annie. Just so you know.

Thanks for the warning! It's not quite that, but it's not hugely more exciting.

[CJSF]

I finished A Superior Death. I have to say, the author sure comes up with some odd supporting characters. Despite some of that, I really enjoyed this book. On to the next, Ill Wind, which takes place in Mesa Verde National Park.

CJSF

[Fazor]

I finished 'A Little History of the World' by E.M. Gombrich last night. Loved it -- I love his writing style. Conversational, which is how I write. It's not a very in-depth book -- and it's aimed at school children. But gives a nice overview of, well, everything (mostly European history.)

The weekend before last I was at the bookstore in the mall and I found 'A Short History of the World' by John M Roberts. This is a shortened version of his larger work. I took a quick glance through it and confirmed that it is more in-depth than the Gombrich one, so I thought it might make a nice follow-up. And it was on sale for like $4, so the price was right.

After finishing Gombrich's book last night, I debated on what to get into next. Finish the Darwin stuff I started? Re-read Lord of the Flies to see if I still like it as much as I did in Highschool? Don Quixote*? Finally I decided since I was in the world history mood to just jump right into Robert's 'Short History'. I was excited that it would be more detailed (though of course that's relative, as the amount of detail on a comprehensive human history is rather limited when only filling 530-ish pages, even if it's really small print.) But I expected it to be rather dry. He's an Oxford professor after all.

Much to my surprise and enjoyment, he also seems to have a very conversational and fun writing style. At least, so far it's been as entertaining as it has been informative. I didn't get a start on it 'til 11:00 or so, so I've only made it through the chapter on pre-history.

*Because I already had it, and spurred by a conversation on another forums, I've started reading an English-translated version of Don Quixote that I have on the eBook reader on my phone. It's not the most ideal way to read -- particularly not for a novel of such length. I want to see if I can find this translation in paperback, but an Amazon search for this particular translator's version only returned a collector's edition hard-cover that was like $95. No thanks.

[Gillianren]

Bill Bryson has a similar conversational style that you might enjoy.

[Fazor]

Bill Bryson has a similar conversational style that you might enjoy.

I did a search for his name on Amazon.com to see what kind of things he writes/wrote/whatever. One of the titles that caught my eye was "The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America". I did a quick read through the first page (through the "search inside this book" feature.) Does look promising. I'll have to keep him in mind.

[Gillianren]

I bought a signed first edition of The Lost Continent at a library book sale for about fifty cents a few years ago and was delighted, because it meant one of my friends was getting a great birthday present. Graham's mother suggested I might sell it on eBay. My response? "But then what would I give Mele for her birthday?"

[parallaxicality]

A lot of Americans don't like "The Lost Continent", because they feel it bashes small-town America. Those same Americans don't seem to mind when he bashes other countries.

[Fazor]

A lot of Americans don't like "The Lost Continent", because they feel it bashes small-town America. Those same Americans don't seem to mind when he bashes other countries.

I find a lot of people are too sensitive to see things how they really are, and prefer to see things how they picture they are in their head. I only read the first paragraph from Amazon (there's more posted, but I'm at work. I should at least spend 20% of my time working ). I thought it was funny, and that he head put into words about Des Moines the exact same thing we all said growing up in central Ohio.

[HenrikOlsen]

I find a lot of people are too sensitive to see things how they really are, and prefer to see things how they picture they are in their head.

I'm reminded of when Poul Henningsen make his Danmarksfilmen (The Film of Denmark) back in 1935. Instant scandal, universal condemnation. Mainly because he'd deliberately neglected to wear the official rose-tinted national-documentor glasses, but also because he used jazz instead of folksy or classical music for the soundtrack.
Expats hated him for killing their idyllic imagery of the're lost homeland and the tourist board though he'd scare away tourists, and the export board hated that he was honest about the country still being a mainly agricultural-, rather than industrial-, or technological exporter.

These days it's generally seen as one of the best documentaries ever made in and of Denmark.

[Extravoice]

I finally finished the Complete Shelock Holmes collection (which I mentioned that I was reading somewhere earlier in this thread). Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed the stories and books. However, I found the later stories less interesting than the earlier ones. Not because the theme got tired, but because times & technology changed. Somehow, they were more interesting and exciting when Holmes and Watson traveled via Hansom cab, messages traveled by telegram, and gas lighting ruled the night. A considerable amount of attraction was lost to me with the introduction of electric lighting, telephones, and automobiles.

I'm glad I read the whole collection, though. That's one more item to check off the bucket list.

[AndreasJ]

Finished "The Holiness of Azédarac", also from the CAS collection. Not bad, exactly, but I generally don't appreciate stories about time travel

[jamesabrown]

Your Hate Mail Will Be Graded, by John Scalzi. Long-time blogger (www.scalzi.com/whatever) and SF writer collects some of his popular blog posts, ranging from child-rearing, politics, religion, and writing SF. He also has a conversational style that's engaging and clever.