benedict

Come this New Year I still find myself with a few chapters to read in China Miéville's lengthy but rewarding "Perdito Street Station"; a science fantasy.

I am resolving, once more, to make a substantial dent in my "to-read" shelf during 2003....

Bean-si

'Playing the Moldovans at Tennis' by Tony Hawks (English comedian). As a by-product of a drunken bet, the author must play and beat all the members of Moldova's National football team at tennis.

starfish

Delirium's Mistress by Tanith Lee and The Devil in Me by Christopher Fowler.

alyxstarr

Finished Dracula. Even knowing how it ended, I was still completely engaged in it, feeling the tension mount and having everything finally come to a head. Wonderful, wonderful read.

Then I ripped right through The Great Gatsby. I can see now why this is so highly acclaimed. The prose just flows over you, the dialogue is spot-on, the atmosphere is perfectly created. The further you get into the novel, the more evident it is that everything will inevitably go to hell (even if you haven't figured it out from summaries/reviews), but you can't help but be pulled into that downward spiral and follow it to the end. [Insert trite, punnish car-wreck simile here.]

Now I'm reading (sigh) Fellowship of the Ring on my bus commute and Secret Windows by Stephen King at home. Secret Windows is a companion to On Writing and has essays, interviews, a few short stories, etc. It's much more cobbled-together than the latter, composed mostly of already-published stuff (e.g. intros to other books, the section on horror fiction from Danse Macabre), but it's still a fun read. It's not widely available; as far as I know you can only get it through Book of the Month Club or some bookstores that specialize in Stephen King stuff. At least, that was the case when I got it.

Mutley Hyde

Alyx, I know what you're going through, haha. I just finished Fellowship the other night, and there were times I wondered if I would ever make it. It's a good story, but dang if there isn't a lot of walkin' in that book. [Rob Schneider]Stick with it... you can do it![/Rob Schneider]

And I said it in the last thread, but I loved Dracula.

Now reading; The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving. This is actually a very humorous and well written story. I know, it's Washington Irving, critically acclaimed early American author, and LOSH is an American classic, and blah blah blah, but no, I was seriously surprised at how accessible the writing is, and at Irving's wit and descriptive narrative. I'm really enjoying it.

Darren H

Mutley, "Rip Van Winkle" is even better. Seriously.

A week ago I walked past my wife's bookshelf and decided that it was finally time that I read Lord of the Rings. So, like several hundred thousand other people (probably), I spent the holidays pouring through all 1000 pages of it, enjoying every minute, and choking back tears for much of the final chapter.

Now with the holidays behind me I have to return to school-related stuff, so I'm just beginning Don DeLillo's Mao II, Tony Kushner in Conversation, and Kevin Mattson's Intellectuals in Action: The Origins of the New Left and Radical Liberalism, 1945-1970.

Alyoshka

Right now I'm reading two books: one by a European author and another by a Japanese author, both are brilliant.

The Japanese book is by Ryu Marukami Coin Locker Babies. Very intelligent, well thought-out, and interesting book about two very different friends who met in an orphanage because they were placed in coin lockers to die by their mothers. It follows them into the beginning of their adulthood. It is an extremely dark novel though.

The European author is Jens Christian Grondahl Silence In October. If you like movies by Bergman then you'd probably appreciate this novel. It is an art historian's recollection of his relationship with a wife of 18 years who has walked away from his life. It's very stream of conciousness writing. Also extremely thoughtful and will make you think about art, relationships, and life in a bit of a different way.

On the backburner ready to go: T Cooper's Some of the Parts, Stephen Dixon's Frogs, all sorts of collections of short stories (typically I read one a night before falling asleep) including Ana Menendez, Ha Jin, Haruki Marukami, and "Best of ____ Short Stories" anthologies, and finally John Reed's Snowball's Chance, which is short and looks very clever.

Mutley Hyde

Those sound cool Aly. Silence in October sounds like it should be read by every man, or at least every man who has ever had to deal with a situation like that (either with a marriage or just a lover), which I assume would be a pretty high percentage.

I'll get around to RVW Darren, thanks for the suggestion. All I have right now is LOSH, in this little Wal-mart 2 for a dollar edition that I got at a used book store for 25 cents, oh yeah, but I'm currently looking to get a few collected editions of his works from the Library of America, although I'm not certain that RVW is in there. I'm thinking it should be, but haven't checked yet. At any rate, he's definitely an author I'd like to read more of, and I'm sure to read RVW soon.

And you say you just breezed right through LOTR?? Wow. Would you say that the first book is any slower than the second or third? What are your opinions of the series, comparing the books to one another? I'm trying to decide whether to jump right back in with Two Towers, or maybe take a break.

Darren H

If I breezed through LOTR it's because I had a week of vacation along with a real desire to simply read a great story free from other distractions. My wife has been obsessed with all-things-Tolkien for the last year, so I was also motivated to finish it quickly because I wanted to share in her enthusiasm. We celebrated my finishing the second book by going to see the film together.

FOTR is the longest book, but TT might have been the slowest read for me. Not sure why. ROTK is a good bit shorter and a wonderful read. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was choking back tears through the last chapter.

I'd recommend forging on. I found that, after a few days, I was even dreaming of Middle Earth -- not a bad place to spend the night.

Mutley Hyde

Thanks Darren!

fiver

I just finished re-reading Lord of the Rings for the 3rd or 4th time over the holidays. Then I went on to quickly devour Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty. Now I'm reading The Film Noir Reader 2 & 3. Then on to a couple of Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe books I've been wanting to get to.

Fun stuff all around

Michael

Geofferson

In the middle of Michael Crichton's Airframe. Pretty damn good (better than Prey, IMO).

Shawn

Catch-22.

fallow

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Publishing Magazine Articles (free lance journalism stuff).

Braddok

I have about another 50 pages of Cujo to go. I would give it 2 out of 5 stars. Kind of dissapionting (For me anyway)

Gonna start a Louis L'Amour book next. Not sure which one though.

SpacemanSpiff

finished a brave new world by huxley (pretty good)
and readin the diamond age by stephenson

lysander

Noble House by James Clavelle

Cedar

Just finished Ridley Pearsons Art of Deception and currently working on Patricia Cornwells Portrait of a Killer Jack the Ripper book. After that it will be Harlan Cobens Gone for Good and Tami Hoags Dark Horse.

Josh-da-man

I seem to recall Stephen King saying he couldn't even remember writing "Cujo."

Lord Crumb

I'd like to second that, Darren, as you answered many questions I would've asked you about the LOTR trilogy, as well.

In any case, I just finished Fellowship, and it was a bit of a difficult read. I've decided to break from the trilogy for a little while, but I'll begin reading TTT soon. As of now, I've recently begun reading Stephan King's "Rose Madder". I'm not sure what I think of it so far, though.

Yeah, I recall him saying that, too. I believe he was heavily addicted to cocaine and various other drugs at the time, so it's no surprise, really.

Hank W.

Right now I'm reading Jim Goad's "**** Magnet. One man's miracoulus ability to absorb the worlds guilt". Pretty hilarious stuff.

Pointyskull

Just finished:
Lovely Bones
by Alice Sebold

Just started:
From A Buick 8
by Stephen King

Next up:
In Harm's Way: The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis
by Doug Stanton

Bust

On The Road by Jack Kerouac

Liver&Onions

Current: Tom's Clancy's Powerplays': Cutting Edge
Ongoing: Smart Couples Finish Rich
Next Up: Dreamcatcher - King
The Stand - King
The Subtle Knife - Pullman
The Day After Roswell - not sure

Liver&Onions

Is this worth it? My Wife is in the midst of breaking to Freelancing(doing quite well already), and if this is worth it, I might pick it up for her.

drop me an email: [email protected]