Which book are you currently reading?

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I could totally see her posting it somewhere that is secure, or e mailing it to a few peeps... but, I don't blame her for wanting to keep it from everyone. People do rip off others ideas... but, there are THOUSANDS of writers who put their stuff, online, and no one touches them.

I JUST finished reading Sherry's book... and it was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO good! NEVER saw the ending at all. AWESOME, Sherry!

Whew! I was worried that my ending would be corny or obvious. She liked it! She really really liked it!

Oh yeah... I totally LOVED it, and sent you a pm, back, with more details!!!

I sucked it up and bought that james frey book. Just to see what all the big fuss is about. i mean b/f the lies were exposed, everyone and their mother loved it so I'm sure it's still good.

I think that it's the fact that he lied about things, saying that it all happened, and then, as the truth was found out, little by little, people were discouraged about that. I don't know about you, but I won't buy it because I'm not putting money in his pocket.

I'm reading Psycho 2 by Robert Block. It's not bad. A lot more people die in this one than in the first one.

The Closing Of The American Mind by Allan Bloom

Wanted to mention, after I read Psycho 2, I read Psycho House, the last book in the Psycho series. Wasn't as good as the other 2, but well written (like most of Bloch's books).

Now I'm reading Danse Macabre by Stephen King. I didn't really absorb much of it the first time I read it, but now I know a lot more of the books/movies he's going on about its actually pretty damn interesting.

I'm now reading Derailed by James Siegel... its not that brilliant, but lucky it seems like a quick book to get through.

Foundation series by Isaac Asimov

I'm on the last one

Good stuff dude.

-HECK!

1984 by George Orwell

great book

I really like it so far, but we're reading it for school right now and that always takes some of the fun out of a book. Right now I really want to keep reading but I have to stop and take qiuzes and write journals and discuss before I can go on

Sorry to hear that Pippin.

Derailed turned out to be pretty crap. Reading The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub now.

I just read the short story called The Whore Of Mensa by Woody Allen. Man, that was genius!

In the Eye of Heaven by David Keck

It was not bad at all. It is a medevil type book in another world with its own mythology.

I just read the kids book Septimus Heap: Magyk by Angie Sage. It was a good read, but totally predictable as to who boy 412 was. I know once Damon is bigger, he is going to love it.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
In Outlander, a 600-page time-travel romance, strong-willed and sensual Claire Randall leads a double life with a husband in one century, and a lover in another. Torn between fidelity and desire, she struggles to understand the pure intent of her heart. But don't let the number of pages and the Scottish dialect scare you. It's one of the fastest reads you'll have in your library.
While on her second honeymoon in the British Isles, Claire touches a boulder that hurls her back in time to the forbidden Castle Leoch with the MacKenzie clan. Not understanding the forces that brought her there, she becomes ensnared in life-threatening situations with a Scots warrior named James Fraser. But it isn't all spies and drudgery that she must endure. For amid her new surroundings and the terrors she faces, she is lured into love and passion like she's never known before.

I was lame and sore in every muscle when I woke next morning. I shuffled to the privy closet, then to the wash basin. My innards felt like churned butter. It felt as though I had been beaten with a blunt object, I reflected, then thought that that was very near the truth. The blunt object in question was visible as I came back to bed, looking now relatively harmless. Its possessor [Jamie] woke as I sat next to him, and examined me with something that looked very much like male smugness."
Gabaldon creates characters that you'll remember, laugh with, cry with, and cheer for long after you've finished the book. --Candy Paape --This text refers to the Mass Market Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Absorbing and heartwarming, this first novel lavishly evokes the land and lore of Scotland, quickening both with realistic characters and a feisty, likable heroine. English nurse Claire Beauchamp Randall and husband Frank take a second honeymoon in the Scottish Highlands in 1945. When Claire walks through a cleft stone in an ancient henge, she's somehow transported to 1743. She encounters Frank's evil ancestor, British captain Jonathan "Black Jack" Randall, and is adopted by another clan. Claire nurses young soldier James Fraser, a gallant, merry redhead, and the two begin a romance, seeing each other through many perilous, swashbuckling adventures involving Black Jack. Scenes of the Highlanders' daily life blend poignant emotions with Scottish wit and humor. Eventually Sassenach (outlander) Claire finds a chance to return to 1945, and must choose between distant memories of Frnak and her happy, uncomplicated existence with Jamie. Claire's resourcefulness and intelligent sensitivity make the love-conquers-all, happily-ever-after ending seem a just reward. Doubleday Book Club main selection, Literary Guild alternate.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

"It felt as though I had been beaten with a blunt object, I reflected, then thought that that was very near the truth. The blunt object in question was visible as I came back to bed, looking now relatively harmless. Its possessor [Jamie] woke as I sat next to him, and examined me with something that looked very much like male smugness."

Is this any good? Kinda sounds like one of those novels with the shirtless dude on the cover with his hair blowing in the wind...

-HECK!

Nope, there isn't a picture on the cover. Actually, despite the hard to read Scottish dialect, I really like the book.

That's cool. Sounds interesting, and quite an epic at 600 pages. That's like two books, or a crap load of FHM's for me

-HECK!

The second book is like 1000 pages. And so far, she's got 5 books to this series. Another Stephen King, with the long ass winded books.

No doubt. Makes you wonder what was edited out of it? Did she ever stop and go, you know, that's cool, we're done. Then the publisher was like, yeah, can we have another 500 pages? Thanks.

-HECK!

I'm reading The Handmaid's Tale right now.

I'm reading Doctor Zhivago right now, but it's a slow read. I started it two weeks ago and am almost on chapter three.

I am flicking through the Sharpe books again, while trying to find a copy of Horatio Hornblower in my local libary having failed to get interested in Master and Comander.

Now i'm starting to read Isabelle Allende's Portrait in Sepia. It's supposed to be good, we'll see.... it's a slow start.

I'm trying to get through this month's issue of FHM. It has a speldid pictorial of Jenny McCarthy. Just a literary triumph from cover to cover.

-HECK!

A book called "Balances." It's the third in a trilogy about a line of vampires, and humans.... really cool.

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

I just checked out Black House by Stephen King and Peter Straub

I love that book so much!

The Princess Bride...isn't that the one with Andre the Giant in?

Yes, it is. It's a GREAT flick! Awesome cast... awesome story.

"My name is Ignigo Montoya... you killed my father... prepare to die!"

"Now, a clever man would put the poison into his own goblet, because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given. I am not a great fool, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you. But you must have known I was not a great fool, you would have counted on it, so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me."

"You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line... hahahaha ... hahaha.. haha-----"

I have decided to put down my Allende book and started reading My Friend Leonard. Here's hoping it's as good as the first one.

Rincewind the Wizzard by Terry Pratchett

I am currently reading "Cell" by Stephen King. Hard to get into and doesn't really get good for me until the middle of the book, but I'm a sucker for Mr. King and would read anything he wrote.

"Peeps" by Scott Westenfeld

Still crawling through 'Doctor Zhivago,' plus I started 'Bad Twin' by Gary Troup

I've moved on to Jack Kerouac's On the Road

Im half way thorugh dr seuss its a hard read ...

Only joking,

Im reading the asti spumante code ... which is a parady of The davinci code

Is that the one I saw before? On the blurb on the back it says '"I am an amansnasert" but he meant to say "I am an anagram master"' - because it looked awesome.


I'm reading The Revelation by Bentley Little. I hadn't heard of this author until the other day, when I saw his recommendation on a Richard Laymon book. Thought I'd give him a try.

the blurb:

Reading American Pictures by Jacob Holdt

awesome book

Starting "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"

There are three books out, so far... which we just purchased.
The fourth book will be the girls last summer before college.

I'm reading "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer.

READ IT.

Also read "Everything is Illuminated"
same author.

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, now that I'm done with Bad Twin.


WOW

I just finished "Chew on This" about fast food. The writing wasn't as spotless as other things I've read, but it was extremely enlightening. I don't think it will be easy for me to step foot into a mcdonalds, kfc, burger king, or pizza hut ever again.
but burgerville and in n out are still good in my book! (cept for the fact that i don't eat meat cept for fish).
anyway, be sure to read either "chew on this" or "fast food nation". these are things people really should be in the know about.

Finishing up a book called, Shadows of the Soul, while waiting on my next book.

I ordered this book, because they were sold out... "Can You Keep A Secret" by Sophia Kinsella. She's written those books called, "Confessions of a Shopaholic." Anyway... Can You Keep A Secret is about this lady who's flying on a plane and they are all told that it's going to crash. So, she shares ALL of her secrets, including some pretty dark ones. Well, the plane doesn't crash, and she goes back to work, and the CEO arrives at their office, and it's the man that she shared her secrets to. It can't get any worse.... until it does! I can't wait for this one.

Just finished up a book called Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn. Totally loved it. I just got a sequel/prequel to it called My Ishmael for my birthday, and I'm going to start it up tomorrow on the way to work.

After that, I'll take a crack at The Alchemist.

Merrick by Anne Rice

Well, I just did my first thread post on this site for a book that I just finished: Beneath a Marble Sky. This is a beautiful new book (inside and out) that retells the story behind the creation of the Taj Mahal. It's the best novel I've read so far in '06.... I am about to start Bel Canto, which I also hear is quite good. - AW

Welcome to INR, a w.


I'm currently reading, "Can You Keep A Secret" by Sophia Kinsella.

It's about this woman who's on a plane, and they believe that it's going to crash.
So, she tells the guy next to her all of her secrets.
The plane doesn't crash....
She goes back to work, and that guy ends up being like the CEO, or something, of her company.
It can't get any worse... right? Until it does...

Dragonspell by Donita K. Paul. I found the book after searching in the sci-fi section for an hour with nothing grabbing my attention. Entirely too many books were about a quest with dragons against evil wizards. This gem of a book was by the check out, and I really enjoyed it.

I finished this week

The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula Le Guin
and

Mythago Wood by Robert Holdstock

I'm reading Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin. Again. I need to go book shopping soon... Before this I read a "best of" book by Roald Dahl. A few stories in there I hadn't read, but most of them were the oldies that I read as a teenager (Colonel's New Coat, Pig, Lamb To The Slaughter).

I'm reading a textbook I found in the trash called "European Democracies"

exciting, I know...

Flyte by Angie Sage

1049 Club


It's about a group of people, on a plane, that crash, and end up on an island... and try to survive.

Hmmmmmmmmmm, LOST anyone?

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. It's fun to see the differences in language compared to the Sorcerer's Stone.

Are there many differences in the language? I've heard they change it here and there...

The spellings are different. I had no idea that pajamas here are pyjamas there. And in Sorcerer's Stone Harry fixes his glasses with Scotch tape, not Sellotape, so we Americans didn't get the joke of Spellotape.

But for the most part the language is the same.

You guys spell it Pajamas? I didn't know that either...

What the heck's scotch tape?

Scotch tape is a huge tape company here. Though it's a trademarked brand name, it's become pretty much a generic name for any kind of tape. Like all tissues are called Kleenex whether they are really Kleenexes or not.

I know most of the different spellings between American English and English English, but pajamas/pyjamas and tire/tyre did surprise me.

I just finished Stupid and Contagious by Caprice Crane. I just about laughed my butt off on every other page. I couldn't put it down. Read it in two days. One of those mindless reads that just pure entertainment.

Why no demons?

-HECK!

They are hokey and boring. How many times must we read about actual demons? I prefer to read about characters fighting the demons within.

Don't know that I've read a book with demons. Is your book like a fantasy deal?

I read Angels & Demons... not one demon

-HECK!

It is a fantasy book. It is about a young mage who discovers a set of books on Wild Magic. It is outlawed in his city, and he is banished and ends up fighting the demons who want to take over the world....... You know wizard boy, misunderstood, mischeif gets him into trouble, death attempt, finds new peeps, ends up hero in a war type of book series.

Sounds interesting, if not a bit like the same ol' song and dance.

I want to get into another book. I just blazed through "Promise Me", Harlan Coben's new one. He is one of if not my favorite author right now. Dude can spin a yarn.

But everytime I crack a book it reminds me of all the time I'm not spending writing my own book. So I don't read, but conversely, I don't write either. Boy do I hate irony.

-HECK!

Boy do I understand that. I took a hiatus from my book, and now I am working on it again. I'm at the stage where I feel it is utter crap, but still it is my story, and I am not giving up.

I've realized that the way I have been going about it, say the past decade, won't enable me to finish anything. I need to just get everything out on paper and flesh it out from there. I don't know why I have this need for everything to work out from start to end or else I get frustrated and put it away. I need to focus or else my growing library of one chapter manuscripts I've written is going explode.

-HECK!

I wrote my book by getting the storyline down as far as dialogue and basic scenes. Now I am going back and filling in all the background information and scenery. It's a strange way to work, but that is how I have to do it. I spent 3 hours after the kids were asleep working on the book. Still it is not done. Book one is almost there I'd say about 90%. Book two is at 70%. Yep it is a trillogy.

I got the paperback of HP and the Half-blood Prince. Started rereading that.

I'm reading "Veronika Decides to Die" by Paulo Coelho.
So far, it's good. I like everything by Coelho.

"Laguna Nights"

Hello, new to the site so hello everyone. I'm reading Brokeback Mountain & short stories...Fantastic. Read after seeing the film (which I actually preferred - controversial on a book blog I know) - but the book is something totally different. It appeals on a different level. Such a great set of stories though. Anyone read them?
x

I read Brokeback Mountain, and I wasn't all that impressed. One of the few books that I've read, where I preferred the movie adaption.


Currently, I'm reading a book called Sedona Rain.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey

I totally agree Lawless. The Brokeback Mountain film adaptation was much better, but the book had merits of it's own. The film totally understood the book & enhanced exactly the right parts I thought.

I'm also reading various biographies (Kenneth Williams, Jane Fonda). Anyone else enjoying a good bio?
x

I'm now reading The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera.

i've never even seen the movie so i have NO CLUE what this is about.

It was a movie?

Just went to IMDB, sounds like a chick book.

-HECK!

The Regulators by Richard Bachman (Stephen Kings alter ego)

Is Jane Austen related to Stone Cold Steve Austin?

-HECK!

yes, she's his sugar momma.

Oh gods.. I'm about to pee myself.

Okay, that book was pretty good.

Now i'm reading "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger

Exposure

Pipofamom read The Time Traveler's Wife. She said it was good but not great; I'd like to hear your opinion on it when you're done

Why would you read a book about the time traveller's wife? I want to know what the time traveller's doing! It's like having a book on dracula's milkman!

I read a book on dracula's milkman. It was a short story... he only made one delivery..........

I have heard a lot of good things about the time traveler's wife. Some people are absolutely obsessed with it, others are just MEH about it. I'm assuming i'll be somewhere in the middle. I'll let you know how it is. BUT, it may be a while considering it's OVER 500 PAGES!

jeepers.

I'm still working on One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. I can't even remember how long I've been on this thin little book. Months. College is gonna kill me--I'm the slowest reader I know.

Time Traveler's wife was okay. I liked it, but i didn't LOOOOVE it. I'm glad i read it though. I'd recommend it.

Now I'm reading Mitch Albom's For One More Day.

and Wuthering Heights - at the same time. i'm weird.

I'm reading 2 books at the moment too

Except they're not chick lit.

John Saul's Creature and Stephen King's Dark Tower VI.

Which reminds me, I have to go into the King forum and give Whidden crap about it.

uh oh. am i reading chick lit? THAT'S NOT chick lit. Chick lit is "the devil wears prada" or poop like that.

oh man, am i reading chick lit? noooooooooooooooooooo

I dunno. For One More Day just seems like a chick's book. The name doesn't allude to any monster, darkness, blood or any kind of mystery...

The title makes me think of some fellow who's about to die but his love for some silly woman gives him the ability to hang around for a bit longer. If I wrote that story, it'll end with the woman doing the fellow's best friend. (Yes, I'm giving a new ending to a book I just made up the synopsis for... doesn't really make sense, does it?)

I just re-reading my all time fav book... The Engravings of Wraith, by Kiera Dellacroix. I swear, I read it like once every couple months. It's THAT GOOD!

Temeraire by Naomi Novak.

It's o.k. It is the story of the Napoleonic Wars but they all have dragon corps to help them fight. She writes very well, but I saw all the stuff coming. I love a book where the author can surprise you with a plot twist. JK Rowling is wonderful at that.

I saw the Astronauts Wife book at the store on Saturday, and I thought, "okay, let's see." I read the back and it begins A tender love story...


Yeah, right like I'm gonna waste my money.

but a lot of book summaries start like that... just like a lot of movie trailers start with "in a world..." or "in a time...."
haha.

Home Is Where The Heart Is... part of the Journey of the Soulmates books.

Darcy's Story... by Janet Aylmer.

I'm reading A Canticle for Leibowitz , which was really the first adult type book I ever read. (vs. Lord of the rings, Narnia, Wizard of Oz, etc)


The book disturbed me deeply when I first read it in high school. It was over my head, I didn't even understand half of what was going on. The death of main characters in the storyflow was sudden and unexpected. I wasn't ready for it.

I have read it several times, each time I get more out of it.

I find it, like 1984 , a depressing book, one that gets me down, but full of interesting ideas about how and why people think the things they do, and how religion and science clash, the egos of men, the deep darkness and finality of death.

The book is set in 3 acts. The first is about a monk that finds some documents about 800 years after a nuclear war.

The second is about monks in the same monastery, years later, as science is starting to slowly creep back to what it was pre nuclear war.

The third act is about the monastery after full technology is back in full swing, and there is another nuclear war, even though the world had seen what the first one had done.

Throw in a Jewish hermit, that is immortal, and this book is the kind of book you read and can't quite figure out what the hell was going on. In that way, it's like Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep or 1984. Depressing to read, but full of emotion, and characters that you care about and emphasize with.

Who writes in Whidden? It sounds interesting.

Sounds like L. Ron Hubbard to me...

-HECK!

It sounds pretty interesting though. Do you think it's movie worthy?

-HECK!

I don't know. If you boil it down, it would be a bunch of monks sitting around after a nuclear war. I'm not sure how they would translate it to a movie format.

It's more of an idea book, like 1984 . I thought the movie version of that sucked.


Much of the time is spent with the thoughts of whoever the protagonist is at the moment. There is some good dialog, and a decent screenwriter could make it work. Those are so hard to find. It would take a major effort to translate an idea based book like this.

A Canticle for Leibowitz is an enigma to me, I can't figure out, after many readings, if the immortal Jewish hermit is Lazarus, whom Christ resurrected,

or if he was a Jewish business man, who was drinking radioactive milk from blue goats, and forgot who and what he was.

I also can't figure out if the book is anti religion or pro religion. A movie version would piss off the Catholic Church, I think. I don't know.

I was very attached to the main 3 characters, who were totally different. The first was a humble child like idiot, who believed almost everything with pure Faith, even some very ludicrous ideas, like that Fallout Shelters were to protect you from Monster like Demons who were named Fallout.

The second, a strong leader in time of war, in what amounted to cowboy days in the time line.

The third, a deep philosopher, whose questioned almost everything, and whose faith wavered as the second Nuclear War was beginning.


The Wandering Jew, who is present in all 3 acts, is very hard to figure out, like Mercer from Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? At points in the book, it implies he is a man, who after the first of the bombs were dropping, found religion, and started a Book legging deal, where he saved knowledge from the anti education mobs. His name was Leibowitz.

The monks 800 years later still have the books and papers he was able to save, and the old hermit hangs around the monastery, out in the wilderness.

It's possible, he is the same guy that founded the order, though other parts of the book make you doubt it, and imply he is either a Wandering Jew whom Christ cursed to live forever (I'm not really familiar with this myth) or Lazarus from the bible, who was resurrected.

I never have figured it out, which is part of why I like the book so much. It's deep doo doo, and still at the age of 38, just a little over my head.

I'm starting to think that the book is neither pro religion or against, but like the movie Forest Gump, as it just shows you events, and the reader/viewer is left to make up their own mind as to what they are witnessing.

The immortal Jew is left to the reader to decide which is correct, the religious or supernatural reader might go with the miracle aspect of who he is, while the secular would go with the radiation mutated blue goats giving him long life.

There is also a mutated two headed chick at the end, one of her heads is dead and just hangs. She is a sport, or genetic misfit fo the first nuke war 2000 years before.

After the bombs start dropping and the area is irradiated, the live head goes dormant and the smaller weirdo freak of nature growth head perks up. It's some kind of new creature, and again, you are left with two ways of looking at this, that she is the New Eve, the birthmother of a new enlightened pre fall from Grace human race, one that is without sin,

or that she is simply a new race of man, that radiation has produced in the evolutionary chain.

But apart from all that rot, whether the book is for the church or not, it raises a lot of deep questions on Faith, state assisted suicide, death and what it is, politics, government, how people think, philosophy.

I find it interesting, that I'm a religious fellow, and believe in the supernatural, but every time I read the book, I just automatically read it secular. I see the old hermit's immortality as a byproduct of the radiation, and all other events as non miracle.

It would be neat to try to change my point of view and go for the other angle as I read it this time around. Try to see the events as miraculous in nature.

All that and it's sixty something years old. Trip out. I might have to give it a whirl. It's not all long and drawn out like Lord Of Them Things is it?

-HECK!

I think that Tolkien and Stephen King are excellent writers, but William Miller, George Orwell and Philip Dick are beyond them, on another level.

All 3 had mental problems, Orwell just depression, Dick was skitzo, and Miller some form of bi polar, he committed suicide later in life. I think Dick did too, I need to research that.


Their minds operated different, made for big ideas and some deep thinking books, but they didn't have good mental health.

Right now I am reading a book by Sharon Short called Death by Deep Dish Pie. It is one in a series of books about a lady who is a stain expert and runs a lourndromat in a small town. Someone dies she investigates and finds the killer. They are really quite enjoyable quick reads. I really like them


I've also been reading some of dan browns books. LOVE THEM. I've read davince code and angels and demonds. REALLY GOOD!!!!

Everything is Illuminated by Jonathon Safran Foer

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

I simply can't believe it... but I've not picked up a book to read since I was i the hospital. It's hard enough, sometimes, staring at a computer monitor. My vision isn't the same on these meds. But, I sure do miss reading... a lot.

Books on tape?

The Pleasure Of My Company by Steve Martin.

Actually listening to it on CD. Read by Steve Martin so that's cool.

-HECK!

Artemis Fowl :the lost colony by Eoin Colfer

I just finished/read it today. It was good.

Now on to The Dream Thief by Shana Abe

I finished Everything is Illuminated yesterday and can now watch the movie. I got it for Christmas and it looks really good. It's got Elijah Wood as the main character

I don't know what to read now, though. Something short or a fast read because next semester is fast approaching and I'll have a reading class with muchos libros. Any suggestions? I might just read Equus. I hear it's really good, plus it's short, plus I think that we'll be reading it next semester and I can get one of the books out of the way. But since I'll be reading it anyway, I'd like to read something else.

I recently finish ERAGON and am now reading ELDEST ... there good books.

I have also read lots of books by Anthony Horowitz. I am on the last book of his series "diamond brothers" and read all the alex rider books.