Reading anything?

[Sleepyskull]

I finished reading Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley

This book was hilarious! I want to read more by the same author now.

[3mnkids]

The name of the wind~ Patrick Rothfuss

This is the 3rd maybe 4th time I have read this book. Its my favorite book of the last few years. Its just amazing.   

[ChaosTheory]

I just read DAVE BARRY TURNS 50 .  Barry is always funny, and even though the book is a bit dated (written in 1998, that means Dave is about 15 years older than I am), as a 46 year old adolescent, I can identify with much of what he is saying.  His "history of the boomers" is pretty hilarious.  Not as good as DAVE BARRY'S COMPLETE GUIDE TO GUYS or my favorite, DAVE BARRY HITS BELOW THE BELTWAY, but still good for some nice hard belly laughts.

DAVE BARRY'S BOOK OF BAD SONGS is one my prized possessions 

Recently purchased/finished The Killing Joke.  Still not sure how I feel about slapping a backstory on The Joker, but it's one of the most gorgeous-looking graphic novels I've ever seen.
I'm about halfway through AJ Jacobs' THE KNOW-IT-ALL.  The author decided to read the entire Encyclopedia Britannica and the book is kind of his "journal" of the experience.   I'm enjoying it so far; it's pretty funny and I'm picking up all kinds of ridiculous trivia.   I just picked up HOUSE OF LEAVES too, interested to see if it lives up to its hype.

[InformationGeek]

Batman: No Man's Land The Novel

Man!  What a story!  The premise just sucked me in from the beginning!  Gotham City is abondeon by the U.S. after a 7.6 earthquake and leaving over hundreds of billions in damages.  Now, only the police, Batman, and a few of his allies are left in town and have to face down a city overrunned by gangs, cannibals, and many dangerous villians still left in the city, like Two-Face and the Joker.

So far, so good!  I'm on chapter 8 now and I am just eating this story up!  I cannot wait to see how this all ends!

[indianasmith]

I just finished Laura Bush's memoir, SPOKEN FROM THE HEART.

She is an all-around classy lady, whatever you may think of her husband, and this inside story of their life and marriage, and the ups and downs of his political career, is very, very interesting.  I wish some of the knee-jerk Bush-haters would read it.

[Sleepyskull]

I just finished The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

I started reading yesterday afternoon and finished at about 9:15 this morning.
 My thoughts:
Wow! This book was hilarious! I loved the goofy humor and I finally understand all the quotes people use from it. I don't know how to put into words exactly why it's so funny, but I loved every second of it. I will definitely finish the entire series.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Ye-es.

Lois H. Gresh's "The Twilight Companion"

Actually, the fact that I read this is something of a misapprehension. I saw "Twilight" on the cover and thought "The Twilight Zone," but it is actually about the other "Twilight." Still, if one wants to understand the "Twilight" phenomena, without reading any of the books or seeing any of the films, this is the book for that.

The Good
As a heterosexual female, she really gets down as to why this series appeals to people like her.

And she gives a good explanation on how both vampire and werewolf, both literature and films, have morphed from their beginnings to the "Twilight" series."

The Bad
She is a heterosexual female. So, if you are looking for the viewpoint of the heterosexual male, the lesbian female, the gay male, or the bisexual male or female, you aren't going to get it in this book.

The Interesting
She doesn't treat the characters in the series as fictional, but as actual people. Thus, she has figured out, if you are a vampire and active, then you need to feed every night.
But, if you are a more sedentary vampire, then you need to feed only every other night.

This is not the only one she has written. She has also written books on Dragonball Z, Eragon, Indiana Jones, James Bond, Lemony Snicket, the Spiderwick Chronicles, and the world of Phillip Pullman. And she has n upcoming book on Artemis Fowl coming out this year. All written in the same manner as "Twilight," I presume. Treating the characters not as fictional, but as actual people. Or, you can see the movie, as they've all been made into movies, except for Artemis Fowl.

Next time: a double review. Nicholas Sparks' "The Last Song" and "The Simpsons."

[AndyC]

I might have to check out some of Gresh's other books. Sounds interesting.

[Raffine]

I'm currently reading the 'Peculiar Crimes Unit' series by Christopher Fowler. While these novels are fun reads, his short fiction is superb - very darkly humerous and disturbing.

EDIT: I've just discovered Fowler's blog.

http://www.christopherfowler.co.uk/blog/

[Mofo Rising]

I just finished my last batch of books, which unfortunately featured a few stinkers. Luckily, I can move on to the next batch, with the sole holdover of Gravity's Rainbow and it's annotations, which is a very long, but wonderful, project.

So here they are:

The Savage Detective by Roberto Bolano - A peculiar trip through Mexican literature of the latter half of the 20th century. We follow two disreputable "poets" through their travels in the world over the course of thirty years through recollections of the people they knew him. Very good, but halfway through I'm not really sure what this book is about.

American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph J. Ellis - This is not a history of Jefferson, but more of an exploration of why he was the person he was. I am not a fan of Jefferson. To simplify Ellis' simplification, he is America's eternal adolescent. But, agree with him or not, Ellis has some interesting things to say. Not a good place to start if you want to know Jefferson, but interesting nonetheless.

The Great Derangement by Matt Taibbi - I like Taibbi, he's fearless in his excoriation of both parties in the sordid world of American politics. He's strongest when he is the court jester mocking the palpable fallibility of our elected officials, less so when he tries to figure out the lost state of Americans. I can admire that he never fails to include himself in his indictments.

Biological Inorganic Chemistry by Robert Crichton - An introductory book to the role of transition metals in biologic systems. Not bad, but it doesn't really work as an introduction. If you weren't familiar with both the chemical and biologic concepts he introduces, this book wouldn't help you. If you already are familiar, the book is too basic. Might serve better as a supplemental to a course, which may be why he wrote the book.

Songs of a Dead Dreamer by Thomas Ligotti - A collection of short horror stories. Pretty damn good so far. Ligotti is clearly influenced by Lovecraft, but he also treads on the territory of psychological and philosophical dread. This is exactly what I'm looking for in a writer. An unholy mishmash of Lovecraft and Philip K. Dick, I'm pretty excited to see what he does with the rest of the book.

[Moreau]

quote]I just read Monkey Girl.  It's about Intelligent Design and the Dover case which basically trashed its hopes of being taught in the USA.[/quote]

i'll have to check that out. i'm a religion and philosophy teacher and it always disappoints me how uninformed people are about the great science vs. faith non-debate. at my last school, the science department didn't go near evolution because they were so unconfident about discussing its alternatives.

[InformationGeek]

Going through the comics I checked out at the library, I have been reading the following:

Power Girl:  It is a collection of all her origin stories.  She really have a confusing past that is hard to follow admittedly.  Although, she is still a fun character and I like her.  Not for the obvious reasons mind you...

Batman: Long Halloween:   Another pretty darn good story that actually kept me guessing on who was the real killer.  Still a little confused in the end though...

The Dark Knight Returns:  Just started reading and I am really sucked into the story.  Frank Miller sure knew how to write some great stuff back in the day.  Not so much now a days.

[Jim H]

quote]I just read Monkey Girl.  It's about Intelligent Design and the Dover case which basically trashed its hopes of being taught in the USA.

i'll have to check that out. i'm a religion and philosophy teacher and it always disappoints me how uninformed people are about the great science vs. faith non-debate. at my last school, the science department didn't go near evolution because they were so unconfident about discussing its alternatives.
[/quote]

Highly recommended then - the book also covers the history of evolution and creationism in the world in general and the US in particular, both legally and socially.  It's not flawless, but it's a very good and very well-written overview.  It does get into how very few science teachers are willing to get deeply into evolution because of all the trouble it leads to in the US. 

I found it particularly interesting that evolution and other science was taught much more strictly in the Cold War days - you know, to compete with the Soviet Union.  In other words, when science was on the line and was felt to be truly important to the country as a whole, in large part the country allowed evolution to be taught.  It was only when we felt it wasn't as big an issue that religion intruded so strongly into the science classroom.

[Rev. Powell]

I just started on the Tao Te Ching.  I haven't really read any Eastern religious/spiritual/philosophical texts before, and this one is the shortest and easiest! 

[Fausto]

I just started on the Tao Te Ching.  I haven't really read any Eastern religious/spiritual/philosophical texts before, and this one is the shortest and easiest! 

I'm reading an introductory book on Buddhism, as I just started attending a Buddhist group at the UU Church. Unfortunately, I'm having trouble following it. They gave me it and another book, although the second is just a loan. Unfortunately, the loaner was lying facedown in an awkward position on the floor of my truck when I noticed the back said something to the effect of "this book contains sacred Buddhist teachings and should be treated with respect." Crap.