I just finished Ed McBain's The Gutter and the Grave and am starting Lynda S. Robinson's Murder at the God's Gate. It is a murder mystery set in ancient Egypt. The protagonist/sleuth is Lord Meren, an advisor to Pharaoh Tutankhamun. It has lots of fascinating details of post-Amarna period Egypt, wrapped in a mystery package. It seems like a good historical fiction. McBain, on the other hand, wrote a frothy '50s femme fatale mystery, which I enjoyed but was disappointed because I compared him to Raymond Chandler. Chandler has comparatively more weight and less sensationalism in his writing.
Just started in on Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. I'm sure it's allready been mentioned in this thread, but it's new for me. finished "The Colour of Magic" yesterday and i'm going to read "Equal Rites" while I wait for my FLGS to get "The Light Fantastic" in (Yes, my FLGS doubleas as a fantasy/Sci-Fi bookstore, and yes, they carry Planet Stories).
Depending how long it takes them, I may re-read "Ender's Game" in the Interum.
By the time I finish these three I will have had the time to stop in back home so I can retrieve my copy of the Anubis Murders which I ordered.
Finished "Equal Rites", "Light Fantastic", "Mort" and "Sourcery", as well as "Ender's Game", a humourous book on being Canadian, the "NeoRhino.ca manifesto" and the "Book of the SubGenius". I am currently reading "Wyrd Sisters" and when I am done this I will move on to "Guards,Guards", and then hopefully "Pyramids".
non-diskworld books on the lineup include "Helltown", the "Gospel of the Flying Speghetti Monster" and Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion"
Just finished Naomi Kleins "Shock Doctrine". Waiting patiently for Anathem (Neal Stephenson) which amazon has delayed by 2 weeks :(
How was that? Did she present some convincing arguments?
Oh and you are not alone in waiting for Stephenson :(removes boot , looks inside, finds nothing)
Reading Peter Robinson; "Playing with Fire", and "The Pursuit of Glory,Europe 1648-1815", by Tim Blanning.
I finished Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson the other day.
Just started law school, so it's all casebooks all the time for the next little while...
James Keegan(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber)
Read through The Hounds of Ash: Tales of Fool Wolf by J. Gregory Keyes, reprinted from Dragon magazine in one book. I honestly think these stories are the best things that Keyes has written. Just long enough to be satisfying, doesn't drag anywhere. The editing is a bit sloppy ("every" often becomes "very", "Fool Wolf" was "Full Wolf" at least once) and while I like Julie Dillon and her cover...the Justin Sweet paintings from Dragon are just phenomenal and I would have liked to see those. (They are on his website though.)
The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty for third time. Great stuff, addictive and easy reading. Onto "Nightmares and Dreamscapes" by King after that. Getting in the Halloween mood.
The Cybernetic Walrus, Book 1 of the Wonderland Gambit by Jack L Chalker. Interesting stuff. Even more interesting is the preamble by the author where he tells you outright that the entire first book is simply an introduction to set the stage for the next two (its a trilogy).
I've also been reading the Black Library's Horus Heresy series. I'm not a big fan of the Warhammer 40K game but I absolutely love the 40K universe and its history. These books have been some great stories by the giants of the Warhammer design team.
"Child 44", by Tom Rob Smith. USSR - 1953, a child is found dead and the government says it was an accident. Because a communist can't possibly kill a child...
Anathem , by N. Stephenson - its a good read but-
http://xkcd.com/483/
Chakka(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber)
Just finished catching up on the Malazon Book of the Fallen series by Erikson, and have started rereading the Honor Harrington series by David Weber.
James Keegan(Pathfinder Adventure Path Charter Subscriber)
Necronomicon: Weird Tales of H.P. Lovecraft is my current train book. It's brick-thick, has almost all of his stories as far as I can tell (and novellas like At the Mountains of Madness) all in one place. Nice b&w illustrations, too. My only issue is that the Penguin collections, while not as complete and encyclopedic, had a lot of great annotations and footnotes discussing Lovecraft's rampant racism, anecdotes from his life and discussions of recurring themes which are missing from this edition.
just finished "dracula," and am almost finished with the midshipmen hornblower, i havent rolled my dice yet to see what im going to read next. i have a stack of 7 or 8 books which includes do androids dream of electric sheep, all quiet on the western front, memoris (sp?) of a midevil (sp?) woman, chronicles of narnia and like 3 or 4 others.
Just finished Anathema (Neal Stephenson) - not what I expected but very clever alnd enjoyable, especially the philosophy
and moved on to
World Made By Hand by James Howard Kunstler
Basically about the world after peak oil, post-industrial with small communities and none of the mod cons we love. Recommended by boingboing, liking it so far.
Finished "Equal Rites", "Light Fantastic", "Mort" and "Sourcery", as well as "Ender's Game", a humourous book on being Canadian, the "NeoRhino.ca manifesto" and the "Book of the SubGenius". I am currently reading "Wyrd Sisters" and when I am done this I will move on to "Guards,Guards", and then hopefully "Pyramids".
non-diskworld books on the lineup include "Helltown", the "Gospel of the Flying Speghetti Monster" and Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion"
Okay, update from last time:
- I finished "Guards, Guards", "Helltown", all three "Elenium" novels and all three "Tamuli" novels (both series by David Eddings), "Grant Morrison: The early Years", "The Anubis Murders", "Soon I Will be Invincible" and "The Wizard's Handbook". I have the feeling I forgot at least one...oh well
- Currently reading: "Ciaphas Cain; Hero of the Imperium"
- Up next is "Eric", "Reaper Man", "Witches Abroad" and "Small Gods" by Pratchett (Unless I get "Pyramids" and "Moving Pictures" in the interum, then it's just the first two of those and the two I just named), "Eon" by Greg Bear, "Good Omens" by Gaiman and Pratchett and then possibly on to "Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel depending how I feel at that point.
- Wasn't able to get to either the "Gospel of the Flying Speghetti Monster" or Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion" due to being limited in funds.
Good choice! did you enjoy it as much as I did? (I enjoyed it rather a lot. lots of laughing and amusement at the parodying and explanations. "There's just something about being a genius that turns you evil.")
Good choice! did you enjoy it as much as I did? (I enjoyed it rather a lot. lots of laughing and amusement at the parodying and explanations. "There's just something about being a genius that turns you evil.")
It was awesome. It was a lot like The Watchmen, just done with humor.
Finished "Equal Rites", "Light Fantastic", "Mort" and "Sourcery", as well as "Ender's Game", a humourous book on being Canadian, the "NeoRhino.ca manifesto" and the "Book of the SubGenius". I am currently reading "Wyrd Sisters" and when I am done this I will move on to "Guards,Guards", and then hopefully "Pyramids".
non-diskworld books on the lineup include "Helltown", the "Gospel of the Flying Speghetti Monster" and Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion"
Okay, update from last time:
- I finished "Guards, Guards", "Helltown", all three "Elenium" novels and all three "Tamuli" novels (both series by David Eddings), "Grant Morrison: The early Years", "The Anubis Murders", "Soon I Will be Invincible" and "The Wizard's Handbook". I have the feeling I forgot at least one...oh well
- Currently reading: "Ciaphas Cain; Hero of the Imperium"
- Up next is "Eric", "Reaper Man", "Witches Abroad" and "Small Gods" by Pratchett (Unless I get "Pyramids" and "Moving Pictures" in the interum, then it's just the first two of those and the two I just named), "Eon" by Greg Bear, "Good Omens" by Gaiman and Pratchett and then possibly on to "Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel depending how I feel at that point.
- Wasn't able to get to either the "Gospel of the Flying Speghetti Monster" or Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion" due to being limited in funds.
I am reading "War of the Worlds" by HG Wells, and Herodotus' Histories. And in case you were wondering, no, I am not reading it for a class. I just like old history books. And I got a really nice copy for Xmas last year.
Eh, Jeffery Steingarten's "The Man Who Ate Everything" is next, I think, along with "What You Eat", a book about grocery stores and the madness behind it. Used book stores are awesome.
Just finished this. What did ya think? His intro was very funny, the rest of the book more informative than funny though some great lines throughout. He comes across as an ass on Iron Chef but in print, funny guy. I skimmed the "why food X is not really bad" chapters, past over some things not of interest, but certainly a book going through for a foodie.
I've been working on "Vellum" by Hal Duncan for about a year, on and off. He's got a very strange writing style and the book unfolds in a very disjointed way but the idea is so cool (and I've put so much time into it) that I'm going to finish it.
Almost done with "Sea Dragon Heir" by Storm Constantine. I liked the first half waaaaay more than the second.
Next up: "The Good Fairies of New York" by um....some guy. Neil Gaiman liked it, my roomie liked it, I'll read it. "Battle Royale" by um...someone. And Conan stories.
A lot more accessible than his Bas-Lag books and so far it's BRILLIANT! Plus it's got me listening to Jungle again. (London Elektricity Essential Mix was awesome)
I just read Empires of the Sea, an awesome breakdown of the war for the Mediterranean between the Ottomans and the various Catholic factions ending with the epic battles of Malta and Lepanto. Great stuff.
Now I'm reading Six Frigates, a book on the founding of the U.S. Navy back around 1800.