What are you reading?

Ended "Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett.

Everyone who wants to know how economy *really* works, should read it, imho.
 
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Just finished a book that combines my love of the Gothic with some sweeping history and geography of the Balkans and the Ottoman Empire, called The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova. Basically it's a reworking of the Dracula tale, with a lot of historical detail on Wallachia, Transylvania and the Byzantine forays into eastern Europe.

It's a first novel, so at times it overreaches itself, but by and large, the author does a credible job of providing atmosphere and plot, with some genuine creepiness that makes you glad the lights are on. Good by the fire stuff for those autumn evenings when the night and the cold are drawing in, and the darkening shadows begin their seasonal murder of the flowers of summer. [ insert evil laughter]
 
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I'm reading Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. Our oldest son wants all of us to catch up on the series. Everyone else is working through the Twilight series ... and my younger son is finishing up Fellowship of the Ring so he can get to Twilight before the movie hits.
 
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txa1265 said:
I'm reading Brisingr by Christopher Paolini. Our oldest son wants all of us to catch up on the series. Everyone else is working through the Twilight series ... and my younger son is finishing up Fellowship of the Ring so he can get to Twilight before the movie hits.
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Jesus, why are you doing this to yourself/your family? Brisingr and Twilight are among some of the most putrescent ordure that have ever been inflicted on the general public in the last few decades. Surely you have better books on hand? And if your kids actually like that stuff, I... I'll just offer my condolences right here. Are you okay with encouraging your children to read a series that portrays (without irony whatsoever) creepy stalking, extreme possessiveness, abusive behavior and pedophilia as the stuff of great, star-crossed romance--the stuff of a perfect relationship?

I've just finished reading Frederik Pohl's Gateway. An interesting book, though it's yet another one of those older sci-fi novels that's all about the travails and neurotic problems of an everyman character common to the period--white, male, American, rags-to-riches and all. Amazon has just dispatched my copies of Blood of Elves (the second Witcher book) and Roger Zelazny's Chronicles of Amber, so I anticipate good times ahead!
 
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I just finished William Gibson's Idoru.

It's definitely a William Gibson novel, so if you're a fan or have never read him it's worth a read.
 
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Just picked up Doris Kearns-Goodwin's Team of Rivals about Abraham Lincoln's presidency and his controversial cabinet composed of those in his own party who ran against him for president. Lots of parallels to the current situation, of course, as you hear touted by all the news analysts lately, but it's also well written and interesting in and of itself. It's also nice to read about a time in history that was even more dire than the one we're in now. ;)
 
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reading The Last Wish, and having a good time w/ it!

I'm really liking reading fiction based around the Witcher, I wonder if I'd like other game-lore books as well. Noticed there's a lot of Warcraft and Warhammer books on the shelf at the bookstore.
 
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The difference is, however, that the Witcher RPG was based on the books, not the other way around. Whereas Warhammer/Warcraft/D&D novels are based on the game, and as such tend to be of a much lower quality.
 
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Finished Across the Face of the World by Russell Kirkpatrick. Fairly good stuff, so I figure I'll pick up book 2 of the series soon. Started Making Money by Terry Pratchett, and it's off to a roaring start. It's a horrible shame that Discworld will die as Pratchett's Alzheimers kicks in.
 
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Reading Coe's 'Rules of Ascension' first of a 5 part series. Not bad, though I prefered his Owl Mage trilogy.
 
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Just finished Team of Rivals- quite the hefty tome. Hopefully Obama's efforts along those lines will work out better for him than Lincoln's did, because it was definitely a mixed bag. Fascinating book though--especially maybe if you have a long commute, or are a hardened political junkie with the time to read 500 pages of devious and intricate political ploys from over a century ago related in loving detail.

Next, I'm looking at Alter's book on FDR's first 100 days, The Defining Moment, but I'm going to slip in a mystery or two for pure recreation first.
 
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I didn't mean to be different, honestly I have no book to read at this moment. I am currently reading the answers here in this topic thread. I hope that counts. :D
 
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I'm reading just now Olympos by Dan Simmons (in Czech translation). Dan Simmons is probably my most favourite author of sci-fi (I haven't been reading a classical fantasy for a long time - at most the China Mieveille's "new weird" or Neil Gaiman's books.

But I like reading sci-fi, space-operas and deep thoughted alike.

But back to Dan Simmons. He's (among others) an author of Hugo awarded Hyperion.

The Hyperion and The Fall of Hyperion or the whole so called Hyperion Cantos is /for me/ the greatest sci-fi I have ever read (and I have read a lot of books..)

edit: except, as some might say, the most important Book of Books :) But I'm working on it as some surely noticed - in my own godless way :).
 
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Finished The Defining Moment: FDR's 100 Days and the Triumph of Shlock Journalism...er, HOPE by Newsweek flack Jonathon Alter, and all I have to say is don't waste your time unless you want to read a bunch of reporter's third hand gossip about Eleanor Roosevelt's lesbian love life. Yeesh--though it is full of odd historical details and snappy quotes, and gives a certain feel for the Great Depression, it's obvious the author's only aim was to get into print a bunch of anecdotes he'd dug up, mostly scurrilous, on Hoover and FDR.

So I've abandoned serious literature and am now reading Aztec Gold, a sleazy Clive Cussler adventure I stole from my husband. :)
 
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Finally finished Brisingr (Eragon book 3) ... not bad, but the writing is very uneven and the author seems so young and sheltered most of the time ... the interactions feel 'learned', not natural.

Now finally going to finish 'A House for Mr. Biswas' by VS Naipaul ... which means restarting at this point. Naipaul's prose is so nice that it is a fun journey.
 
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My next six months will be spent on reading up natural science. Since I am taking the basic and advanced course at the same time I decided to read the entire book for the basic course during my christmas holliday. It was a bit more basic than I had anticipated though.
 
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I'm giving barack obama's The Audacity of Hope a go, although for some reason I felt embarrassed buying it like a geeky fan boy.
 
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Benedict said:
I'm giving barack obama's The Audacity of Hope a go, although for some reason I felt embarrassed buying it like a geeky fan boy.
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It's worth a read--there is definitely a slightly self-serving tone at times, but also it's hard to hide who you really are when you write about the things you most care about. At least unlike most politicians he has regular flare-ups of a self-deprecating sense of humor.
 
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Not reading yet, but for Christmas I got myself Karl Marx Capital and John Stuart Mill On Liberty.
 
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I wanted to pick up the last book in the 'Night Watch' series with a gift card I got, bu apparently it got delayed into late January ... ah, well ... back to Mr. Biswas ...
 
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