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What book is everyone reading at the moment?

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Still on my classic mystery kick; just finished Pamela Branch's "The Wooden Overcoat" (very good, funny and well plotted) and am reading Margery Allingham's "More Work for the Undertaker". Nick Polotta's Bureau 13 books (secret FBI division fighting supernatural threats) are queued next.
 
The Farthest Shore, Ursula LeGuinn, 1972. Poor man's Tolkien -- moreover, Tolkien at his worst, i.e., when he was trying to improve on Mallory by dousing him heavily with Walter Scott.

Oh well, there was a flood of bad fantasy literature back then, and who can blame Ursula for wanting to cash in on it? She's a good enough writer at times, though, that I wish she hadn't done this.

I have a lifelong disability: an irresistable need to edit as I read. Can't help it; I just have to fix up a lamentable style as I go. Ursula and her gaspy, gulpy, oh-how-feminist-we-are manner almost gives me the dry heaves, and if it weren't for her occasional knack for visualisation, I don't think I could read this stuff. And I'm a tough reader, disability and all.
 
Cyburbia by James Harkin.

It's a bit spotty. There are sections of the book that were absolutely fascinating, then there were other sections where I just had to skim read to get past it. I interrupted myself for two other books while leaving this one on the burner, but I've now finally just about finished it.

Three stars. No, two and a half.
 
pnerd said:
A minor coincidence: I am currently reading "The Life and Times of Hercule Poirot" by Anne Hart.
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I've been watching Hercule Poirot movies recently; that's what motivated me to read And Then There Were None.

In the last two weeks I've watched "Murder in the Orient Express," "Murder in Mesopotamia," and "Evil under the Sun." My votes for them on IMDB: 7, 6, and 8 respectively.
 
I just did a book exchange. I took about 15 books that I've already read off my shelf and out to the library, and brought a similar amount back in. They include Julian May's Exiles/Milieu series, which I haven't read for a long time and always enjoyed, plus Mary Gentle's Rats and Gargoyles, and Lucifer's Hammer by Niven and Pournelle. What can I say? I've been reading a lot of nonfiction recently and felt the need for some escapism. On my iPhone I'm also reading 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. I wish my dad had made me read more of the classics when I was young. I read Treasure Island a couple of years ago and wished I'd read it when I was 13.

Hey - my son's 13 right now...
 
Careyp74 said:
How is it so far? I wanted to try writing, is it a good tool?
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It is great! I'm about 40 pages from finishing it.

First part is a sort of brief autobiography, very interesting actually. Bare in mind he is not only a best selling author, once he worked as a teacher of Creative Writing. The second part is a systematic commentary on writing tools and techniques. He talks about the toolbox every writer has to develop, and he describes his particular ways and methods, what has worked for him and what hasn't. His basic recommendation is to read and write a lot, and if you are serious, to take it seriously. He closes with a reading list: books he liked the most that he read during the three-four years before publication of On Writing.

Certainly an excellent read for anyone interested in writing in general, or in how Stephen King writes, in particular.

Similar books I've been recommended are Ray Bradbury's Zen in the Art of Writing, and Gianni Rodari's The Grammar of Fantasy, which are next on my reading list.
 
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I've decided to start my latest batch with Lucifer's Hammer. I have a vague memory of having read it in my youth. I know I read The Mote In God's Eye, but the first couple of chapters has not sparked any recognition. I'm going to enjoy it, I think.
 
You've read Footfall right Arthwollipot? That's probably my favourite of Larry Niven's oh noes, the world is F'ed books. Lucifer's Hammer is good too, of course, it just doesn't have that baby elephant in platform shoes element. :)

I'm currently reading The Androids Dream by John Scalzi, it's beginning to take off now, but initially it was a bit wall-of-names. You know where you get introduced to a raft of characters in scene 1, then in scene 2 you get introduced to a whole raft more. Then in scene *3* a character from scene 1 pops up again by which time you can't remember if he's the son or the father or the janitor or the alien ambassador!
 
Last night I started reading Bram Stoker's Dracula for the first time. I've been meaning to read it for years, but finally got around to buying the book over the weekend.
 
CriticalSock said:
You've read Footfall right Arthwollipot? That's probably my favourite of Larry Niven's oh noes, the world is F'ed books. Lucifer's Hammer is good too, of course, it just doesn't have that baby elephant in platform shoes element. :)
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I believe so, but it was certainly a long time ago. Like twenty years long time. (makes mental note to go out to the library and bring in Footfall to add to the stack)
 
I'm finishing PTerry's Hogfather, which I didn't really like as much as I'd hoped.
I'm also reading 'Gone with the Wind' and it's turning out more interesting than the movie, even though the casual racism is kind of disturbing.

Lastly, I'm on the second book (Stone of Farewell) in the 'Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn' trilogy by Tad Williams who is by far my favourite fantasy novelist. It's a re-read but it's still as good as the first time.
 
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