What are you reading in general?

[lhaughlhann]

The onion girl by Charles de Lint, it revolves around a woman "Jilly" and what happened to her and her sister when they were children, incorporating the things you see in the corner of your eye and spirit/dream worlds.

[Dragonlily]

THE TWELFTH VULTURE OF ROMULUS by Boris Raymond. It is a novelization of the end of the Western Roman Empire. Raymond is a retired history professor who has worked out an very interesting story and group of characters -- I'm rereading the book -- but don't read it for writing style.

[Damelon]

I've been rereading parts Shelby Foote's history of the Civil War for the last few days.

[Avatar]

Never read anything by him, but by all accounts he provides an excellent historical look at the Civil War.

Must keep an eye out for it.

--A

[Roland of Gilead]

I've just begun Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon, winner of the Philip K. Dick Award. Too soon to judge, but if it's anything like Market Forces, I'm in for an excellent mind-bending read.

[Encryptic]

Just started reading the illustrated edition of The Da Vinci Code. I finally managed to get my hands on a copy of it at the library, in spite of the fact that it's been constantly checked out for who knows how long. It's pretty good so far, IMHO.

[Variol Farseer]

This hardly qualifies as literature, but I've just received a copy of Joseph Wright's Grammar of the Gothic Language — a revised version of the book that first got J.R.R. Tolkien interested in philology. It won't be precisely a fun read, but I may learn some very interesting stuff about the deep roots of modern fantasy.

[drew]

I've been struggling through thie book called:

Lady Gregory's Irish Mythology.

It's more than interesting; just impossible to read, I've been trying since the new Year, and I've read 6 novels at the same time, I think I'm on page 40 right now.

Here's a sample:

And they had a well below the sea were nine hazels of wisom were growing; that is, the hazels of inspiration and of the knowledge of poetry. And their leaves and their blossoms would break out in the same hour, and would fall on the well in a showerthat rasied a purple wave. And then the five salmon that were waiting there would eat the nuts, and their color would come out in the red spots of their skin, and any person that would eat one of those salmon would know all wisdom and all poetry. And there were seven streams of wisdom that sprang from that well and turned back to it again; and the people of many art have drank from that well.

[Variol Farseer]

Last night I read The Stars' Tennis Balls by Stephen Fry. (The U.S. title is Revenge: A Novel.) Deeply, deeply disturbing book. Very good reading, mind you, but extremely twisted.

You know how some authors always make their lead character a Mary Sue? In this book, it almost feels like everyone but the lead character is a Mary Sue. I can see bits of Stephen Fry's expertise and personality coming out in all of them, and here's this one poor guy who just doesn't fit in. No wonder he needs to take revenge!

The original title, by the way, comes from Webster:

We are merely the stars' tennis balls, struck and banded
Which way please them

John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi, Act V Scene 3

(Hullo, Duchess! Didn't expect to see you in a Stephen Fry novel!)

[Khaliban]

Currently, Night Falls Fast : Understanding Suicide by Kay Redfield Jamison.

If you have any interest in psychology, you will find this book interesting.

[Lord Mhoram]

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Hemingway and Fitzgerald's translation of "The Odyssey."

[dennisrwood]

i just reread 'Watership Down'

it's about bunnies.

[Reisheiruhime]

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. Please shoot me. No, not you, you big, scary, sneaky alien monster with dreads......

[onewyteduck]

i just reread 'Watership Down'

it's about bunnies.

Was the centerfold good?

[dennisrwood]

she was a fertile doe...

[Dragonlily]

About to start Joseph Finder's conspiracy thriller HIGH CRIMES. Research.

[I'm Murrin]

(The glitch, it spreads. Time to call Vain in again, I think.)

[Nav]

I'm currently dipping into Robert Graves' The Greek Myths, re-reading Douglas Adams' Dirk Gently Omnibus, making my way through Richard Woodman's 15 Nathaniel Drinkwater novels (he's better than Patrick O'Brien, IMO), battling bravely against all that bloody walking in Fellowship of the Ring and I've just started Richard Morgan's Woken Furies.

It's been suggested that I might get through more books if I read them one or two at a time, but I like to read whatever book matches my mood. I think I probably get more reading done i the long run that way.

[Lady Revel]

I've got several going on at once.

The Cat From Hue, a Vietnam War story

The Fate of the Romanovs

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell

The Lord God Made them All
(if you have never read James Herriot, RUN, do not walk to your local library and read him!!!!)

and

Golf Annika's Way

[Dragonlily]

Lady Revel, I absolutely agree with you about James Herriot. To the rest of you: he writes charming animal and people stories from the viewpoint of a vet. They are so realistic I'm still not sure how much of them are are true and how much fiction. Don't judge them by the TV series, which fell totally flat by comparison, imo.

(Edge, especially, don't miss James Herriot!)

I'm reading THE QUEEN'S CONJURER, a biography of Dr. John Dee, scientist and mystic and advisor to Elizabeth I.