What are you currently reading?

[U'ilani]

Re: What are you currently reading?

Never read a Neal Stephenson book yet. Which one do you recommend? I see he's got a new one just out called Anathem which looks like it might interest my daughter.

[Honoruru]

Re: What are you currently reading?

Anyone tried reading Neal Stephenson?

I read Cryptonomicon, probably his best-known work. It's kind of a wild ride--part sci-fi, part adventure story, part historical fiction. It revolves around 4 or 5 seemingly unrelated story lines from different time periods, but somehow it works in the end, at least it did for me. But be aware, it is a long book (900+ pages) and it requires your attention (lots of mathematics and cryptology).

Stephenson reminds me of William Gibson in a way (just finished Gibson's Pattern Recognition--a bit disappointing, despite an interesting start). I think I like Stephenson better. I haven't read any of Stephenson's other books, but I intend to. I also want to re-read Cryptonomicon whenever I have a large block of free time, like if I ever find myself bedridden (heaven forbids ).

[surlygirly]

Re: What are you currently reading?

Started reading Jodi Picoult's Plain Truth. My second Picoult book... don't really care for her writing style.

Good to know. I keep seeing her stuff everywhere, but I haven't picked any of it up yet. I'm still out of books, which is unusual for me, but hopefully I can wrangle a trip out to the huge Half Price Books tomorrow....

[kanahina]

Re: What are you currently reading?

went to Border's yesterday and bought Marley & Me by John Grogan to read on the plane when we go to Florida in a couple weeks.

http://www.marleyandme.com/

[Enamorada]

Re: What are you currently reading?

Just finished Cold Fire and now I'm reading The Husband. Both Dean Koontz books. I will probably read a few more of his books until I'm bored with his style and then move on.

Oh! - but I'd really like to read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood..hmm wonder if the library has it.

[timkona]

Re: What are you currently reading?

The Age of Faith

world history from 325 - 1400....basically the fall of the Roman Empire and the ensuing dark and middle ages, while Persia flourished and invented modern mathematics.

[Adri]

Re: What are you currently reading?

http://www.amazon.com/One-Thousand-W...3255502&sr=1-1

One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus

[Honoruru]

Re: What are you currently reading?

I’m three-quarters of the way into Watchmen, a graphic novel by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons. This is new grounds for me.

Though I was an avid comic-book reader as a kid (I collected boxes and boxes of them), I stopped reading them when I entered high school. I’ve not read any comics (or manga or graphic novels for that matter) since then. The books I’ve been reading since then are mostly “literary.” But in the last three or four years, whenever I went into Borders or Barnes & Nobles, I’ve noticed a large group of young people (and young-at-hearts) gathered around the manga/graphic novel section, which seems to be growing larger and larger every year. They were all throughly absorbed in these books. And I was curious.

Then with all the attention that the upcoming Watchmen movie has been getting, and Time Magazine calling it one of the 100 best English-language novels since 1923 (I wonder what happened in 1922), I decided it’s as good a time as any to revisit the land of comics, albeit a very long comic book.

Verdict: it’s much more complex and compelling than the comics I remember from childhood. It also felt as if I were reading a movie; you can’t help but think “cinematic” when reading it. However, I don’t think it’s one of the best 100 English-language novels since 1923.

[Vanguard]

Re: What are you currently reading?

NTC's Dictionary of Japan's Cultural Code Words

[Seeking Penance]

Re: What are you currently reading?

The painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski (second edition)

Didn't realize halfway through the second edition there was a first edition.

I would recommend it to anyone.

First and Second edition.

Mahalo

[Honoruru]

Re: What are you currently reading?

The painted Bird by Jerzy Kosinski (second edition)

Didn't realize halfway through the second edition there was a first edition.

I would recommend it to anyone.

First and Second edition.

Mahalo

Generally, a first edition is the first print run (or the printing of the first setting of type, no matter how many runs). Second edition is just that, the second printing, and most definitely the second typesetting, which probably includes corrections, and may include updates or additions. For collectors, first edition is definitely the first print run (typos included) and is the more desirable. If you had a first edition of The Painted Bird, it would probably be rare, maybe even valuable. BTW, if you like The Painted Bird, you’ll also like Steps by Kosinski.

As for me, I just started Prey by Michael Crichton, which I bought at this year’s Friends of the Library Book Sale for $2.00. It’s a first edition hardback, but it is not valuable by any means. It is another of Crichton’s science-documentary-turned-fiction production. The subject matter this time: nanotechnology gone amok. Crichton is one of my guilty pleasures. I have many.

[cyleet99]

Re: What are you currently reading?

Got a couple of books for my birthday:

Shore fishes of Hawai`i by John Randall (my family feels sorry for me that my favorite North American bird field guide is shelved, so they are trying to help....)

and Chicken Soup for a Mother's Soul. I read a couple of the stories every few days, then have to take a break. They work on my heart.

I like the local birds, I do. I just miss the ones on the mainland. Oops, that was the other thread.

[Seeking Penance]

Re: What are you currently reading?

BTW, if you like The Painted Bird, you’ll also like Steps by Kosinski.

Thanks Honoruru

[Kouko]

Re: What are you currently reading?

I recomend anything by Carl Hiaason. Mostly about Florida and the Environment. Light fiction and one of the few Authors who make me laugh out loud while reading

[Honoruru]

Re: What are you currently reading?

It’s been perfect reading weather these last couple of days--rainy, misty, cool, and grey. I’ve just begun The Road by Cormac McCarthy (soon to be a movie). I’m enjoying it immensely, a book to be read slowly, carefully, a book to be savored. I am also struck by how much McCarthy (at least in this book) reminds me of Hemingway.