Lastblade

Just finished up Tigana over the weekend (Guy Karviel Kay is an amazing writer), and starting George R R Martin's A Game of Thrones

Tom Banjo

Just started The Vampire Lestat this weekend. I decided to skip Interview, since I've seen the movie so many times since I first read it. I've been meaning to re-read the 2nd and 3rd books for a while now. Queen of the Damned is a great book.

jdpatri

I just finished Don DeLillo's End Zone. A good read but not really up to his later works... same great DeLillo dialogue but the hurried ending left me mostly confused. Still slightly puzzled by its abruptness.

I've just begun Word Freak by Stefan Fatsis a sort of journalistic memoir on competitive Scrabble. It's truly fascinating. In fact, I can't put it down and I haven't said that about a book since... hmmm... I don't even remember... maybe I Am Legend.

DodgingCars

Started.. Rise to the Rebellion. Have to put it down for the next week though as I prepare to write 2 10-page papers for school.

So far I like it a lot though.

djtoell

Recent reads over the last month or two:

"The Corrections" by Jonathan Franzen
"The Sweet Hereafter" by Russell Banks
"The Player" by Michael Tolkin
"Twelve" by Nick McDonell (which was truly awful...)
"Concrete" by Thomas Bernhard
"Agape Agape" by William Gaddis
"The Secret History" by Donna Tartt

and pieces from the following essay/short story collections:
"The Rush for Second Place" by William Gaddis
"How To Be Alone" by Jonathan Franzen
"The Complete John Silence" by Algernon Blackwood
"Tales of H.P. Lovecraft" by Lovecraft, edited by Joyce Carol Oates
"The Voice Imitator" by Thomas Bernhard

I've also read the first few chapters of Patricia Cornwell's new non-fiction Jack The Ripper investigation book, "Case Closed" (but I haven't been in the mood for large doses of it yet). I also read about half of Saul Bellow's "The Dangling Man," but I couldn't get into it. Additionally, I read about the first 30 pages of "JR" by William Gaddis, but my mind hasn't been focused enough yet to take it in properly, so I'm putting it off until later.

DJ

TeeSeeJay

Reading "Double Fold" by Nicholson Baker -- nonfiction about Library Science's practice of destroying books in order to "preserve" them -- Baker's rant is that preservation is unnecessary since paper's self-destructive habits (acidification) is an out-of-proportion myth.

On deck: Palahniuk ("Lullaby"), Coupland ("All Families are Psychotic"), King ("From a Buick 8") and Noon ("Vurt").

Giantrobo

I'm just finishing Heretics of Dune and I will start Chaptrerhouse Dune.

Also, a friend gave me a hardcover Stephen King book called "From a Buick 8". I don't know what it's about but it's free

smokedragon

I just finished Year Zero, by, Jeff Long. Great apocalyptic novel. I love books like this.(the other day, I got The Black Death, by, Gwyneth Cravens, and, John S Marr, in the mail. The Black Plague in New York. Loved this book when I first read it back in the late 70's. Wonder how it's going to hold up to a second reading?)

Just started Hope To Die, by, Lawrence Block. It's a Scudder book. I know it's gonna be good.

Also, just got a notice from Amazon UK that they have shipped House Of Chains, the fourth book in The Tales Of The Malazan, Book Of The Fallen series. CANNOT ****ing wait to get this book.

Mutley Hyde

The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Click the links and read some yourself. (There are a bunch of other authors there too, Stoker, Shelly, Poe, Verne, Dumas, etc.). Enjoy.

tanman

just finished HP:Chamber of Secrets.

Yeah I know it will be a light month for me
now as far as text books go.....

BoatDrinks

Just finished:

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Liked it.
Four Blind Mice by James Patterson. Is suckeke.
Dirty White Boys by Stephen hunter. This was a reread and it's still a great book.

Now on my plate:
Reversible Errors by Scott Turow
The Devil's Redhead by David Corbett
Ross MacDonald - a biography by Tom Nolan

flixtime

Ouch! I was planning on reading it next and was hoping Patterson would bounce back with a strong effort for once. His Alex Cross novels have exhibited a too fast dropoff in quality from the start of the series.

Current read: almost finished with Chasing the Dime by Michael Connelly

djtoell

Oh, I forgot:
I'm currently reading Susan Orlean's "The Orchid Thief".

DJ

Absolute Zero

As far as novels:
Virgin Suicides

Those novels of the "graphic" variety:
Daredevil: Yellow

alyxstarr

I think I must be in a minority, but I have never been able to understand why James Patterson seems to be such a highly-acclaimed author. Read Kiss the Girls after seeing the movie, because I'm a fan of the genre and thought maybe I'd found an author I'd enjoy. Wow. I've read stories by middle school children that were better written. Numerous plot holes, gratuitous sexual violence, implausible characters, utterly juvenile writing.

(Side note: I can't stand it when people overuse italics and exclamation points in ridiculous amounts because they can't get their point across without them!)

The only good thing about the book, IMHO, was that it read very quickly. But I was glad when it was over.

No offense is meant to people who enjoy Patterson's work; like I said, I appear to be in the minority, so maybe it's just something that I'm not getting. I don't know. (Sorry for the rant.)

Bean-si

Just finished 'Mortal Engines' by Philip Reeve. It kinda reminded me of Luther Arkwright and/or the Von Bastable stuff that Moorcock wrote although I couldn't tell you why. Now reading 'The Future of the Past - How the information age threatens to destroy our cultural heritage' (whew!) by Alexander Stille. Looking good so far.
And on a loosely affiliated theme if any body wishes to hammer the hell out of the Alex Cross books by James Patterson, well I'm with you. Awful, awful rubbish......

cineman

I just finished Roses are Red and Violets are Blue by James Patterson. I am halfway through Four Blind Mice. I agree his novels have diminished in quality, but I still enjoy reading the Cross series. (I prefer Sandford's Prey series)

Boatdrinks: I agree, Dirty White Boys is a great book.

Xytraguptorh

I read Guardian by Joe Haldeman over the last few days. It was very good, even better than The Coming, his previous book.
Up next is Speaks the Nightbird by Robert McCammon. That book will probably take me a couple weeks to finish (it's huge). I'll probably get Prey by Michael Crichton for Christmas, so that'll be after Nightbird.

TeeSeeJay

You know they made that into a movie. Sort of

C-Mart

Well, I just finished The Two Towers, after about 6 months of reading. Most of the time I read quickly, but I have read this before, and jsut wanted to refresh it before the movie, and I just couldn't read more than a chapter or 2 at a time. Now I am Reading the final book in Terry Brooks's Voyage of the Jerle Shanarra, Morgawr. I love this series, so it will probably be finished in a few days. Then I am going to read Shadow Puppets by Orson Scott Card.

-CM-

Toxygen

I'm re-reading the foundation series, i'm on book 4 now. Also on my hiebook are a Hesse book, and some other book, and i'm planning on uploading michael chrichton's prey sometime sooon

MrKen

Just finished the 7th and final book of the Death Gate series. Boy was that a let down. Books one through six were good though.

Moving on to Little, Big- a reccomendation from this forum if I recall correctly.

darkside

Just finished reading this past week or so.

Four Blind Mice by James Patterson (it was okay)
Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton (didn't like this one very much)
Live From New York (cool history of SNL a very fun read)

I'm getting ready to read 1st to Die which is an older book, but one I missed when it first came out.

To chime in on the Patterson thing. Patterson is very hit and miss with me. I liked Kiss the Girls and then really didn't like the next few books. Then the Roses are Red and Violets are Blue books came out with the Mastermind and I really enjoyed both books. However Four Blind Mice was pretty much back to the same ho hum Patterson writing. It was an okay read, but I would take a Connelley book any day.

Grafton is kind of the same way. I liked the Alphabet mysteries early in the series, but the last few have really sucked IMO. I may not bother with any more.

Tyler_Durden

Reading Doctor Zhivago for school. On page 300 out of 500 at the moment.

Also started Palahniuk's (see sig) Choke for pleasure. Will finish during Christmas vacation at the latest.

Also reading From Hell, the graphic novel, at the breakfast table and in the john.

Samuel

I read Demon in The Freezer a week ago due to someone here posting about it so I'm just starting Hot Zone which is also by Richard Preston. Pretty scary stuff.