Books

[Mr. DS]

I'm finally listening to the Half Blood Prince on CD right now.  I'm finding it, much like Order Of The Phoenix, a bit slow and dragged out.  Thats pretty much why I stooped reading Order but I'm going to stick this one out so I can finally read the last story. 

[Neville]

I've just finished reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road", thought it was fantastic. I was a bit worried I wouldn't even finish it, because I tried hard to like other books by McCarthy like "All the pretty horses" or "Sutree", but couldn't. For me he's one of those love / hate authors. I often like the stories he uses, and his approach, but his prose is so spartan and dry I feel I need to stop before I reach the ending.

Luckily, not the case this time. It's not that his style in "The road" is any different than usual, it's that for some reason I feel it suits the story better than in other books of his. The book is about a young kid and his father, who travel a deserted, apocaliptic America trying to head South, were things may or may not be better.

It's a story Stephen King could easily write one of these days (and considering how prolific he is and that "Cell" touched similar issues, maybe he already has), but McCarthy struggles to move it from the conventions of horror or post-apocalipse novels, and focuses instead on the characters and their relationship. Most of the novel consists of nothing but shallow (or apparently) shallow talking between both characters and descriptions of the landscape.

Think of a deserted place, then imagine one or two haikus depicting it, and pretty much you're done, but McCarthy really excels at those. Not only the book is full of nightmarish imagery (at one point father and son cross miles of ashes and bodies, the place where a large group of refugees were killed by a electric storm), but McCarthy always finds some way of expressing piety for the lost world.

[Mr. DS]

Actually this one just came in to the local library.  Fun novelty stuff inside...

[Patient7]

I just finished Angels and Demons, great stuff.

[Killer Bees]

I'm in the middle of reading "Quake" by Albert Alletzhauser.  No, I'd never heard of him before either.  I bought the book for $2.50 (hardcover!) at a trashy book sale and promptly forgot about it.  It's about what could happen to Japan if an 8.6 earthquake hit Tokyo.  The story follows a handful of characters before, during and after the quake.

I didn't think I'd like a book solely about Japan, but this one is really good.  The author lived and worked in Japan for many years so he knows what he's talking about.  A unique and sometimes surprising insiders look at their culture and social structure.

I also started reading Scott Adams's Dilbert book "The Way Of The Weasel".  I own heaps of his stuff and this one, as usual, has me laughing out loud.  I have to be really careful when reading this one on the bus!

[Shadow]

I'm wrapping up Cohesion, the first book in the Star Trek Voyager "String Theory" trilogy. I am such a sucker for Trek books. This one will be the 21st trek book in  row for me.

[Niolani]

Actually, I'm reading Jim Butcher' Storm Front from the Dresden Files series. That is my kind of books!

[KYGOTC]

I just finished reading WATCHMEN for the second time, and now I'm reading SPAWN again.

[indianasmith]

I just finished Erik Larson's DEVIL IN THE WHITE CITY, an account of the Chicago World's Fair of 1892-3 and the vicious serial killer who was stalking the city while it was going on.  An EXCELLENT read!!!!!  This is a book of history for people who don't like history!

[WingedSerpent]

I finished State of Fear by Michael Criction a few days ago.  I'm moving on to either a non-fiction book called Monkey Girl Its an account of a town called Dover that decided to teach evolution over creationis or Brimstone by Douglas Preston

[indianasmith]

STATE OF FEAR was excellent, a real eye-opener.  I love all the Preston and Child books, especially the Agent Pendergast series.

[moman]

Not a big reader but I am reading Lemmy's White Line Fever at the moment and it is good.

[indianasmith]

Let's see . . . in the last week I finished TYRANNOSAUR CANYON by Douglas Preston and A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES (that one is an EXCELLENT read; don't let the dry title mislead you!).  I'm currently wading through a very large biography of Alexander Hamilton, one of my favorites of our founding fathers.

[Rev. Powell]

I'm rereading SELECTED STORIES AND POEMS OF EDGAR ALLEN POE for the first time since my teens.  The classics "Telltale Heart" and especially the dark "Cask of Amontillado" are still classics, although the lesser stories can disappoint.  I love the fact that it's overwritten; my thought is, if you can actually pull this kind of prose off, you have a duty to do so.

[Mofo Rising]

Let's see . . . in the last week I finished TYRANNOSAUR CANYON by Douglas Preston and A CONCISE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES (that one is an EXCELLENT read; don't let the dry title mislead you!).  I'm currently wading through a very large biography of Alexander Hamilton, one of my favorites of our founding fathers.

Is it the Ron Chernow book? I'm reading that right now. It's a fascinating read, but it covers a lot of ground. I'm also reading McCullough's book on John Adams.