What are you reading?

[jekylljuice]

Wow, this thread has been dormant for an awfully long time, wouldn't you say? Maybe it's time to dust it off a little...

Presently, I'm half-way through Never Trust A Rabbit by Jeremy Dyson, one of the co-writers of the black-comedy series The League of Gentleman (of which I should emphasise that I'm not really a fan - I was enticed to pick this up and start reading chiefly because the title had intrigued me, although, as Jeremy explains in the introduction, it doesn't really have any solid connection with the contents of the stories, having come about as the result of some random wordplay...it was a toss-up between that and Never Love a Dragon, apparently). So far, though Jeremy's writing style is certainly very engaging and enjoyable, it's been something of a mixed bag, narratively speaking. All of the stories set themselves up very nicely with intriguing characters and scenarios, but some of them suffer from an unwillingless to develop themselves any further ("City Deep", for example which had the makings for a fine ghost story but ended upon a rather cheap piece of shock value just as it started to get really interesting, with perhaps too little substance or closure for its own good), or from dipping too heavy-handedly into morality (which is especially true of the opening story, "We who walk through walls" - though naturally it wasn't helped by the rather barmy twist ending). The best and most satisfying of the first few yarns is easily the one entitled "Love in the time of Molyneux", concerning a man who cannot help but resent the perfection and unflinching humility of his flatmate, which he's convinced conceals something of a darker side that he's determined to unravel, only for his flatmate to go ahead and drop the ultimate bombshell upon him. I got quite a substantial little smirk out of the ending of that one. "At Last", which is probably the simplest and most straightforward of the early stories, is also pretty good.

As I say, I'm only half-way through - there are still six more stories left to go, and I'm going to read them all before I form any real opinions about the book as a whole.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

Currently I am Reading George Carlin's latest and last book:

When Will Jesus Bring the Porkchops?

[HerrimanWasHere]

I am reading The Ambler Report by Robert Ludlum.

Plot Summary

One of these employees, former Consular Operations agent Hal Ambler is kept heavily medicated and closely watched. But, there's one difference between Hal and the other patients - Hal isn't crazy. With the help of a sympathetic nurse, Hal manages to first clear his mind of the drug-induced haze and then pulls off a daring escape. Now he's out to discover who stashed him here and why - but the world he returns to isn't the one he remembers. Friends and longtime associates don't remember him, there is no official record of Hal Ambler, and, when he first sees himself in the mirror, the face that looks back at him is not the one he knows as his own. After meeting some of his old pals who do not recognize him Ambler goes to a cabin in certain part of country which was his lone solace even during his days as a field agent. When he reaches the place to his surprise he finds no cabin,and the landscape looked such that there hadn't been any before. A bullet nearly got him while he was off the guard.He tracks down the sniper and forces the sniper,who was a freelancer,to give him his password. He then contacts the agency that is trackinng him down. Ambler comes in contact with agents from his past in the Political Stabilization Unit. His friend is shot and killed by a Chinese intelligence officer who believes Ambler wants to assassinate the Chinese head of state. He uncovers a conspiracy involving a State Department official to kill the Chinese President. He stops the conspiracy and relaxes with a CIA officer who helped him in his search.


I had to choose a book that I haven't read for a paper, and this is literally the only book that I haven't read in my house. And the sad thing is, I was only interested (at first) because it had the words "psychiatric facility" on the back. XD But I like it.

[Ridureyu]

The following Discworld books, in order:

Guards, Guards!

Men at Arms

Feet of Clay

Jingo!

The Fifth Elephant

Night Watch

Thud!

[frankie_fan]

Do graphic novels count? Because I'm currently reading Gunsmith Cats.

I just finished reading volume 1 and I just got volume 2 today. Awesome series in my opinion.

[Carlaz]

I just finished reading this book & found it an interesting read.

http://www.amazon.com/Revolution-Din.../dp/0805082077

[Howard]

I am reading a "A Cast of Killers" which is in interesting, albeit inaccurate account of the William Desmond Taylor murder. William Desmond Taylor was a famous hollywood director of the silent screen. He was murdered on February of 1922, in light of the Fatty Arbuckle scandal of 1921. This is when Hollywood was getting out of hand and the movie moguls called on William Hayes to "control" what happened in fantasyland.

Anyhow if you want a more accurate account of a still unsolved mystery, go over to www.angelfire.com/az/Taylorology/. Read Taylorology #50 for a basic understanding of the murder. The "what," "where," and "why," are established - we still need the "who." If interested, I wish you happy hunting.

[koosie]

Good to have this thread back.

I just finished The Steep Approach to Garbadale by Iain Banks which was highly enjoyable even if it contains few surprises for anyone familiar with his work.

I'm now consuming Philip Short's Mao: A Life, a biography of the founder of communist China. This time last year I read Jung Chang's biography of this fascinating man and she gave him a thorough kicking, which while he certainly deserves for his intense cruelty, I felt he could not possibly be as incompetent as she painted him. So I've gone to Philip's Short who's treatment of Mao's protege Pol Pot in History of a Nightmare was highly illuminating and compulsary reading for anyone concerned with how terrible crimes happen and thus how than can be avoided.

[Nathander]

Aaaaw, you guys like me enough to have kept this thread up despite me being gone for so long. You're all my best friends....

Anyway, other than textbooks for classes, I've primarily been going through my third read of Watchmen in preparation for the upcoming movie. Other than that, I haven't really gotten the chance to read much, unfortunately.

[Cassini90125]

Belgarath the Sorcerer by David and Leigh Eddings

I made the mistake of picking this up while packing. I started rereading it; packing came to a stop. The Eddings wrote The Belgariad and The Malloreon, two of the finest fantasy series I've ever read; Belgarath the Sorcerer is a look at the 7000-year life of one of the central characters, told from his point of view. Deeply engrossing with well-developed characters, world-spanning plots, and a nice dash of humor, I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys the fantasy genre.