what are we reading?
 

i tend to read mostly fantasy with a bit of sci-fi and mystery thrown in. im currently reading 'the hunt for the horn' (book 2 of the massive freaking wheel of time series!) by robert jordan. after the first two books im thinking i may need a break before starting the next. so i was thinking maybe some non-fiction or at least something i dont typically read. this group seems well-read, so i ask, what is everyone else reading?

~james

I tend to fiction and action-adventure.

Favorite authors are Clive Cussler, Stephen King, Anne Rice and whoever is writing the Executioner these days.

Brian

Admittedly, I haven't picked up a decent book in ages. I really should pick one up...I live right down the street from the library.

Re: what are we reading?
 

I used to read these, and loved them. In retrospect, most were horrible. After 5 books of "Nynaeve tugs her braid and makes a mad face.," you will realize that this is the WORST. SERIES. EVER. Well, not quite, but it's boring.
Try Dune. There are some striking similarites when it comes to plot elements, but Dune is much better.

i read dune a long time ago. i really enjoyed it. so far i like the wheel of time series, but i think certain characters could be done without. funny you should mention nynaeve, because shes at the top of the list. i dont really feel that the series compares to lotr, as the covers of most of the books proudly proclaim. dont remember the quote offhand, but its something like 'robert jordan has come to dominate the world tolkien began to reveal'. bah. i think the shannara series by terry brooks comes closer to that mark, and that series misses by a longshot (although i really loved the shannara series, especially the new trilogy). i was thinking of giving tom clancy's novels a try, the movies based on his books were always pretty good. and its been a while since ive read any vonnegut. 'mother night' is probably my favourite vonnegut. just a great story.

wow. that was a directionless rant.

~james

"Galapagos" is the last book I remember reading, circa 1997.

okay, in the past month or so i've read about 5 books...hm, let me count, and then i will list them for you. six. okay. this may be a month and a half or so, if i were constantly stocked with books i'd read them at the rate of one every two nights. this amazes paul, but it's only because i stay up late reading :)

the books, which i will assume (because of the previous content of the thread) will be of no interest to anyone else on the cellar, are listed below.

jane eyre by charlotte bronte. this book is one i've now read twice, infact it is the ONLY book i've read twice. i first read it 6 years ago, and figured i had forgotten enough of the details to safely read it again without getting bored. and i'm quite sure i couldn't ever get bored of this book, reading it at a normal pace. it's a really good book. if you are going to read this one, read wuthering heights as well (that one is by emily bronte, charlotte's sister). these books, if you know nothing about them, are basically love stories. but they're very well written love stories, and go far beyond typical "romance" plots.

missing marlene by evan marshall. this is the first in a series of mystery books, in which jane stuart and her cat winky are the crime solvers. besides the fact that there's a cute cat thrown in there, they're pretty good reads because they're suspenseful. probably (definitely) not for everyone, but i needed something to read and the cat on the spine of the book caught my eye at the bookstore :)

hanging hannah is the second in the jane stuart/winky series. i bought this one when i bought the first, and had read them both in 3 days.

stabbing stephanie is...the third in that series. i read this book and refused to read the teaser for the next, which is due out in november (hardback). i don't want to wait that long.

the yellow room by mary rinehart roberts. this book is another mystery, set and written during WWII. the solution gets a bit twisted and confusing along the way, but it was an enjoyable book. this book had me looking down towards the bottom of the bed to make sure there wasn't anyone there. i'm a wuss, what can i say?

where are the children? by mary higgins clark. after going a week or two without reading, i decided it was high time to find something else. i'm the type of person that finds it hard to read a book without first being recommended something, so i headed once again to the mystery section with the mindset that i'd find nothing. but alas i remembered that my mom was a big mary higgins clark fan, so i picked up one of the titles i knew she didn't own. i must say that i enjoyed this book and i'm now looking forward to reading more of her work.

--

now, if you've sat through my terribly written "reviews" of those books, you can sit through my recommendations.

neverwhere by neil gaiman. this book is a wonderful book, if you're into fantasy. it's not fantasy like i typically think, with unicorns and fairies, but it does have "creatures" :) i love this book, love it love it love it. and tori amos did too. so i suggest reading it. it has a great storyline and awesomely developed characters. A+.

watership down by richard adams. if you haven't read this book, DO. yes, it's about rabbits. yes, they "talk" to one another. but it's about their fight for survival after being pushed out of their homes. oh, what an endearing book and wonderful characters. i cannot give this story enough praise. A+.

the end.

ah, watership down. i win for forcing it upon you.

yes, paul wins credit for that book. i started reading it on the plane to virginia this past christmas, and i was a bit weirded out at the fact that it had TALKING RABBITS, but of course one must understand that they are not speaking english. i still think it's amazing how the author was able to learn so much about their actual way of life and then make up things to go along with what he learned (i.e., i doubt rabbits actually utter the word "hrududu" when speaking of motorized vehicles).

but anyway, paul told me it was a good book, and i am glad he was right.

HRUDUDU! paul, a HRUDUDU! heh. dork :p

what's wrong with talking rabbits? do you know for a fact that rabbits aren't speaking Lupine as i type this, jeni? well, do you? DO YOU?
anyway, as for that one mystery book that made you look under the bed in fear and... another word for fear, you can just wake me next time. i, in a tired stupor, will hop out of bed and be murdered immediately, giving you a chance to escape. good deal for everyone. but me. oh well.

awwww...nerd, you can't even kill a spider. how true. you're cute :) for the record, i'd be terribly sad and depressed and lonely if you died. that's no good. besides, no one can fit under the crouton anyway. and if ANYONE can, it's ABV and i don't think he has it in his heart (or mind) to kill anyone.

HHAAaaIIIiiIi!! JennERZ!! I'm ABV!! I'm GOING to WORK IN THE baKERY wiTH YoU!!

[/"inside" joke]

ok, so maybe i wouldn't jump out of bed due to bravery, but, as we've both seen, i am mostly braindead for the first half hour after waking up. anyway, i killed a big bug today in the shower. so whatever.
ABV is scary. if he is ever in here, i don't know what i will do. oh well, i'll just talk to you in real life now. we've already probably ruined this thread. suckers.

For excellent informative and entertaining reading, may I suggest a little book called "Who in Hell". It is written like an encyclopedia but it contains the names of every demon mentioned, in most religions, as well as human beings who are now thought to be in hell and why.

Names like 'Hitler' and 'Stalin' shouldn't surprise you. But according to the book, Walt Disney too is in the eternal depths. Go figure.

It is full of information about each person and demon and it gives great insight as to which religions think what of Hell. It is high on my list.

Until they thaw him anyway... ;)

Hmmm... to start with the books I'm reading now: Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand; I'm liking it the more I read it, but it took about the first 500 pages or so to really get into. Death of Ivan Ilych by Tolstoy; all I can say is I still haven't figured out why I read Russian Lit. I guess I'm just a masochist. As for recommended reads: They came Before Columbus by Ivan van Sertima; a historical account of travel between Africa and South America that predates the Vikings by about a thousand years. Island by Aldus Huxley; my favorite of his and one of the best of the utopian genre. Anything by Thomas Pynchon is good but beware I don't care how fast of a reader you are, his plot lines are so convoluted that these take forever and make Vonnegut look like Dr Seuss. Tom Robbins is another author that I have been getting into. I place him sort of between Vonnegut and Pynchon. The Literary Mind by Mark Turner; came out as a theory of mind/language in about 1997, the rest of the world will learn about it in a couple of years, I have no doubt so be the first on your block. Its a little on the technical side but really readable. As far as poetry goes read Saul Williams if it is the last (or only) book of poetry you ever read (this goes for any one of them you can get your hands on). In the sci fi realm Octavia Butler is really good and writes in a manner different from most of the rest.