What's in your reading queue?

[deer of the dawn]

I always have a stack of books waiting to be read. Okay, some of them are already half-read but then I got interested in something else...

Anyway here is what's on my nightstand:

Imitation of Christ- Thomas A Kempis ([s]almost[/s] finished)
Bible (that's always there anyway)
How Your Teenager Is Wired- Katy Brazelton
Heaven- Randy Alcorn (half-read)
The Passion of Jesus Christ- John Piper (almost finished)
Streams in the Desert- Mrs Charles Cowman (read and need to put away)
The Bait of Satan- John Bevere
The Ambler Warning- Robert Ludlum
The Two Towers and Return of the King (finished these, have to put them away...cried through "Mt Doom" and "Fields of Cormallen" again...)
The Mediterranean Cookbook- Anna MacMiadhachain
EDIT: Just added: Our Stories, Our Songs, African Children Speak Out About AIDS by Diane Ellis

Then I have Swan Song on Kindle by Aliantha-- that's my next fiction read. They always go quicker than the non-fic, I have to admit. And soon all the religious stuff is going to have to give way to more professional development reading.

[Holsety]

Post Captain and other Patrick O'Brian books.
Justine (slight progress made) from the Alexandria Quartet
Bhudda's Brain (recommended by mom's whatchamacallit, the people who stick needles into you for healthful reasons)
Just Like Someone Without Mental Illness Only Moreso
Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xuequin. When I'm done with this, I'll only have Journey to the West before I will have read the four classics of Chinese literature!
The Island of Dr Death and Other Stories and Other Stories

[aliantha]

Hope you like the book, DotD.

My pile grew huge after WFC due to all the free books I got there. The others came from a friend.

Threshold, Sara Douglass
A Darkness Forged in Fire, Chris Evans
Hawkmistress, Marion Zimmer Bradley
The Habitation of the Blessed, Cathrynn M. Valente
Snow White and Rose Red, Patricia C. Wrede
Unplugged: The Web's Best Sci-Fi and Fantasy, 2008 Download
Real Unreal: Best American Fantasy Vol. 3
Heroes Arise, Laurel Anne Hill
The God Stalker Chronicles, P.C. Hodgell
The Phoenix Endangered, Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory (which I will probably give to Shara_Lunison, who is a big Mercedes Lackey fan)
Beowulf, a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avery (which I will probably give to Batty)

[I'm Murrin]

I've shown my bookcase full of unread books before. That's about 1/3rd of the total amount, I just grab something from under the bed to refill the gap when I finish reading one. (Six books in that picture are no longer on the shelves, but it's still full.)

Buying books takes significantly less time than reading them.

[Holsety]

I've shown my bookcase full of unread books before. That's about 1/3rd of the total amount, I just grab something from under the bed to refill the gap when I finish reading one. (Six books in that picture are no longer on the shelves, but it's still full.)

Buying books takes significantly less time than reading them.

And reading them probably tends to take significantly less time than writing them.

[Frostheart Grueburn]

On top of my reading list, sans a definite order:

Försvunnen Värld: Om det största arkeologiska utgrävningen någonsin i Sverige, (A lost world: about the largest archeological excavation ever in Sweden) Maja Hagerman, in Swedish

Suomalaisten runojen uskonto (The religion of Finnish lays), Kaarle Krohn, Finnish mythology, in Finnish

The Gap into Ruin, SRD

Eesti muistsed jumalad ja vägimehed (Ancient Estonian gods and hero-giants), Matthias Johann Eisen, Estonian mythology, in Estonian

Valhall-Den samlade sagan II (Valhalla-the collected stories), Peter Madsen, a comic book in Swedish

The Alloy of Law (Mistborn, #4), Brandon Sanderson

Cloth And Clothing in Early Anglo-Saxon England, AD 450-700, Penelope Rogers

Nestorin kronikka (Russian Primary chronicle), Russian pseudo-mythology, in Finnish

A re-read of the first 5 books in the Wheel of Time series, with a plan to continue onwards

[Holsety]

The Gap into Ruin, SRD

Is that Chaos and Order? I don't remember the subtitles of the gap books.

Nestorin kronikka (Russian Primary chronicle), Russian pseudo-mythology, in Finnish

What do you mean by pseudo-mythology? Myth that never had people proclaiming themselves to be believers?

[Frostheart Grueburn]

The Gap into Ruin, SRD

Is that Chaos and Order? I don't remember the subtitles of the gap books.

Nestorin kronikka (Russian Primary chronicle), Russian pseudo-mythology, in Finnish

What do you mean by pseudo-mythology? Myth that never had people proclaiming themselves to be believers?

It's the fifth book, This Day All Gods Die.

Y'know, I'm so used to talking about 'pseudo-mythology' (pseudomyytit/näennäismyytit) in my mother tongue that I didn't realize the word 'pseudo' would have a slightly different meaning in English (just checked an online dictionary). I actually meant stories that may have a historical basis beneath all the embellishments. Don't really know what the case is with this particular book, as I haven't opened it yet. However, is there a better expression for this?

[Holsety]

The Gap into Ruin, SRD

Is that Chaos and Order? I don't remember the subtitles of the gap books.

Nestorin kronikka (Russian Primary chronicle), Russian pseudo-mythology, in Finnish

What do you mean by pseudo-mythology? Myth that never had people proclaiming themselves to be believers?

It's the fifth book, This Day All Gods Die.

Y'know, I'm so used to talking about 'pseudo-mythology' (pseudomyytit/näennäismyytit) in my mother tongue that I didn't realize the word 'pseudo' would have a slightly different meaning in English (just checked an online dictionary). I actually meant stories that may have a historical basis beneath all the embellishments. Don't really know what the case is with this particular book, as I haven't opened it yet. However, is there a better expression for this?

Hmm. I'm not sure. I guess legend would be a better word for it.

[Orlion]

Sheesh, sooo much. I'll start with what I'm actively reading:

Stonewielder- Ian C. Esselmont
A Clash of Kings- George R. R. Martin
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy -(re-read, I'm on Two Towers at the moment)
The Counte of Monte Cristo- Alexander Dumas
The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (re-read, all of them. Currently on LFB)
The Pickwick Papers- Charles Dickens
Stuff I kinda want to get to:
The Green Pearl-Jack Vance
No More Parades- Ford Maddox Ford
The Aegypt Cycle - John Crowley


I'll add more when I think of them.

[Avatar]

Bah, you're all so lucky. Piles of unread books?

I don't think there is an unread book in my home that I have any interest at all in reading.

I do know however, what I'll be reading next. Dhalgren is going slowly, but I've already decided to read Rushdie's The Satanic Verses next.

--A

[Cagliostro]

I've already decided to read Rushdie's The Satanic Verses next.

--A

If you've not read Midnight's Children, you should. It is superior.

[Avatar]

Haha, thanks, I have. Also The Moor's Last Sigh, Haroun and the Sea of Stories, and The Satanic Verses.

But it's been a very long time.

--A

[deer of the dawn]

The Gap into Ruin, SRD

Is that Chaos and Order? I don't remember the subtitles of the gap books.

Nestorin kronikka (Russian Primary chronicle), Russian pseudo-mythology, in Finnish

What do you mean by pseudo-mythology? Myth that never had people proclaiming themselves to be believers?

It's the fifth book, This Day All Gods Die.

Y'know, I'm so used to talking about 'pseudo-mythology' (pseudomyytit/näennäismyytit) in my mother tongue that I didn't realize the word 'pseudo' would have a slightly different meaning in English (just checked an online dictionary). I actually meant stories that may have a historical basis beneath all the embellishments. Don't really know what the case is with this particular book, as I haven't opened it yet. However, is there a better expression for this?

I think it's in The Tolkien Reader, or maybe the preface to Farmer Giles of Ham in which the beloved professor explains his theory that pantheons begin with retellings of local legends being embellished for entertainment purposes; larger-than-life characters and their exaggerated heroics evolve over time into gods and goddesses. I don't know what the word would be, though.

I should make a separate thread for what I wish was on my nightstand. I've gotten to be good friends with the librarian at the school where I teach and been giving him the names of books to order-- like the first book in the Gap series (which is missing) and other SRD; some China Mieville, etc. If I lived in a civilized country, my nightstand would look a lot different.

[wayfriend]

Is that Chaos and Order? I don't remember the subtitles of the gap books. What do you mean by pseudo-mythology? Myth that never had people proclaiming themselves to be believers?

It's the fifth book, This Day All Gods Die.

Y'know, I'm so used to talking about 'pseudo-mythology' (pseudomyytit/näennäismyytit) in my mother tongue that I didn't realize the word 'pseudo' would have a slightly different meaning in English (just checked an online dictionary). I actually meant stories that may have a historical basis beneath all the embellishments. Don't really know what the case is with this particular book, as I haven't opened it yet. However, is there a better expression for this?

Hmm. I'm not sure. I guess legend would be a better word for it.

Semi-Mythology?

There is a term "semi-mythical" which means having some qualities of a myth, or can mean almost mythical. "semi-mythic" is also a term. So why not "semi-mythology"?

[Avatar]

I tend to agree with Holsety...a legend is a story with a basis in fact, whatever dramatisation may have been added over time.

I suppose semi-mythical could work, but I think legend means the same thing, only the other way round, if you know what I mean.

--A

[danlo]

1/2 of The Algebraist & 2/3rds of Use of Weapons-Iain M. Banks
98th/100dreths of Tigana-Guy Gaviel Kay
1/2 of Outlander-Diana Gabaldon
Django~the life and music of a gypsy legend-Michael Dregni
1/3rd of Memories of Ice-Steven Erikson
1/2 of The Man Who Risked Partner, The Man Who Tried to Get Away & The Man Who Fought Alone-Stephen R. Donaldson
Neverwhere-Neil Gaiman (but I'm not going to sweat it...)
The Praxis (Dread Empire's Fall series)-Walter Jon Williams

Currently 1/2 way through Revelation Space-Alistair Reynolds & almost ready to dive into the 2nd book which, I believe, is called Chasm City.

[Frostheart Grueburn]

'Legend' it is. Thanks!

Just mightily annoyed there's no up-to-date English translation of the Primary Chronicle (guess I have to thank the Cold War & pals for this...) anywhere. I believe one of my English-speaking friends would've loved to peruse through it, particularly as she's interested in Finnic prehistory and it talks about recognizable F. tribes every once in a while. Oh well.

[deer of the dawn]

Hope you like the book, DotD.

My pile grew huge after WFC due to all the free books I got there. The others came from a friend.

I loved your book!! And I am jealous of that pile of unknown, all-new stuff. Enjoy!!

[Shaun das Schaf]

Reading now:

-Psychoanalytic Diagnosis: Understanding Personality Structure in the Clinical Process. Second Edition. Nancy McWilliams. I've read most of her books and read the first edition of this one a couple of years ago. She could teach many a 'text-book' writer about communicating ideas clearly without sacrificing depth.

-Winterstrike, Liz Williams. Found it in a $5 bin, never read any Liz Williams before. So far so good.

-Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman, James Gleick. Gleick's Chaos remains one of my all-time fav non-fiction reads and I've read almost everything else of his apart from this one. I seem to be stuck 50 pages in though.

To be reading:

-Iron Council / Looking for Jake and Other Stories, China Mieville. Enjoyed my first foray into Mieville territory with The City & The City, thought I'd try some more.

-The Book of the New Sun: The Sword of Lictor & The Citadel of the Autarch. Took a break after the first two books, hoping to get back into this series soon.

-A Clash of Kings (and the rest of the series!), George R.R. Martin. I don't know why but I stopped after Game of Thrones.

-Black Swan Green, David Mitchell.

-The Cello Suites, Eric Siblin.

-Larry's Party, Carol Shields.

-Girl with a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier.

Loads more, but that'll do for now. I found a 'All books $5' place which has some really good stuff, so my to-read pile is actually rather large!