What Are You Reading?

[Blondie Bear]

I've found that one of the best ways to find new, awesome authors you may not have otherwise picked up is by talking to other people who love reading. So here's where we can try to get each other hooked on our favorites (so we can squee and ramble and generally drive those who haven't read what we're reading nuts 😀). OR warn each other off of books that we thought were trash.

Right now, I'm reading Charlaine Harris' Dead Until Dark. I'd been looking at the series in the bookstore for awhile, and thought the premise sounded kinda kitschy, so I never picked it up. But after the raving going on in the TrueBlood thread, I figured I'd give it a try.

I started last night, and I'm now a little under halfway through the book. It's amazing. I am absolutely hooked, and wishing now that I got HBO so I could watch the series. The writing is precise and manages to convey the seriousness of the situation while still keeping a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. The main character is strong, but not in an Amazonian, boring, cavewomanish kind of way--she has a core of fragility that keeps getting poked at, and she keeps overcoming the pokes and moving on. I like her a lot.

So now that I've raved, what about you guys?

 

[Skanky Vamp]

I am reading:

Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail by Christopher Dawes
Shamans of the World, edited by Nany Connor
and
Primitive Skills and Crafts by Richard & Linda Jamison (i think everyone should check this book out, muy bien)

 

[Sweetescape]

OK i mentioned this trilogy to a few people but i'd like to get the masses reading it..just so i can talk about ti to someone!!!
So its called the "age of five trilogy" by Trudi Canavan and there amazing. Here's the blurb from the aurthor website.

Auraya has just been named a Priestess of the White, to serve as sword and shield of the gods "” one of only five so honoured. She finds her unique talents tested to the limit when she travels far from home as an ambassador enlisting others to follow the White.

But Auraya's relationship with a member of an outcast sect of sorcerer-healers risks bringing her into conflict with others of the White ... and possibly destroying her future.

Overshadowing all this is a powerful and mysterious black-clad sorcerer who seems to have a single purpose: annihilation of the White. And he is not alone.​

and a link to the wesbite:Trudi Canavan :: About Trudi's Books

This trilogy is not your average harry potter wizards and witches its much more "grown-up" it deals with what a society would be like under one rule and what happens when people try and oppose it bringing up questions of religion and duty. Simply amazing! plus there's relationships and cliff hangers a thoroughly good read, i've bought all the books and they sit happily in my room. I don't think my ramblings really do the book justice....just check it out.

 

[Bluebird]

Right now I'm not reading anything but hopefully I'll get round to reading all the new books I've bought recently. Might not have the time though.😉 I've got a load of Buffy and Angel novels that I bought from a charity shop for 60p each, but they're still lying on the shelf unread. I got so many Buffy books now, I should really stop buying them until I get through the ones I have, hehe.

The only books I buy regularly are the Discworld novels. I know a lot of people don't like them but I love the style of humour.:biggrin:

And I bought this book. Haven't had time to have a look through it yet but I'm looking forward to reading it. 🙂

 

[atticus]

I'm reading fear and loathing in las vegas again, it's good stuff.

 

[Friendly Lurker]

Right now I'm reading The Blade itself. It's part of a trilogy called The First law by Joe Abercrombie. It's not your usual fantasy and I've heard a lot of people compare it to A Song of Ice and Fire, which I would kinda have to agree on! I'm liking it a lot so far but it can be a bit disturbing at times so it might not be for the younger readers. 😛

Oh and if you haven't read the aforementioned A Song of Ice and Fire do so right now, it's the best fantasy series ever!

Another very good series to check out is The Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb. It's about a boy being trained to be the king's assassin with a few twists and some love stories too!

 

[Tueuse de Vampires]

I'm reading Dolores Claiborne right now. Love the Steohen Kind novels.

 

[Sweetescape]

I've just thought of another good trilogy set, very good not fantasy as such, more baised on history and then bending the facts a bit.
Across the Nightingale Floor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

Well, at the moment, the main book I'm reading is Harry, A History by Melissa Anneli. I'm loving it. It's not you're average commentary on the "Harry Potter Phenomenum" or any of that rubbish, but it's a study of the Harry Potter fandom. It's really interesting, as she spoke extensively with Jo Rowling about it. Seeing an Author's reaction and thoughts on fanfic, shipping and everything else is very illuminating. It's a great read, even if you only have a passing interest in HP - simply by being here, I'm sure you'd all be able to relate somewhat to the discussion of Fandom.

But that's NF. In the fiction(ish) category, the main books I'm reading atm are Paradise Lost (I know, I really should have read this by now) by Milton, and Vellum, by Hal Duncan. I'm in an angelic frame of mind, I suppose.

Vellum is ridiculous. Completely not what I was expecting. It's like he wrote 6 different stories on cue-cards, then shuffled them up and called it a book. On one page, you can have a good 5 or so characters, written in completely different styles and language, placed in different settings, dealing with different events, and living in different millenia. But...it works. So. Damn. Well. And, hey, who can fail to love a story about gay, nanotech wielding angels studying in Glasgow. Or was it Sumer? No..wait...I think it was the Deep South of the USA.....

But...you might notice I said that those were the main books. I'm reading/rereading quite a few more atm. At a glance, the ones that I'm still going back to every so often and will get finished when I have more time include:

The History Of Middle Earth, Volume 1 - Christopher Tolkien
The Lost Continent - Bill Bryson
Moab is my Washpot - Stephen Fry
The Ode Less Travelled - Stephen Fry
The Illiad - Homer
Death du Jour - Kathy Reichs
Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
The Aeneid - Virgil
The Tamilui - David Eddings (This may take a while...)

I need more TIME!
[br][/br]
Edit:
[br][/br]
Ok, this is what happens when you get distracted mid word. What the HELL is a "phenomenum"?!?

And Cangel, no, I didn't know that. That makes the end of DH even MORE cruel!!

 

[Veyron]

child44

I've just finished reading this thriller by Tom Rob Smith. It's his debut book and I've got to say it's a fantastic story. It meanders slightly in the early going, but once you get past the halfway mark it goes up a notch and ends up being a very good book.

Quote from official website:

An amazingly assured and exciting debut set in Soviet Russia in 1953, with a wonderfully realised sense of all-pervading fear and the desperateness of a chilling race against time. How do you solve an impossible crime?

MGB officer Leo is a man who never questions the Party Line. He arrests whomever he is told to arrest. He dismisses the horrific death of a young boy because he is told to, because he believes the Party stance that there can be no murder in Communist Russia. Leo is the perfect soldier of the regime.

But suddenly his confidence that everything he does serves a great good is shaken. He is forced to watch a man he knows to be innocent be brutally tortured. And then he is told to arrest his own wife.

Leo understands how the State works: Trust and check, but check particularly on those we trust. He faces a stark choice: his wife or his life.

And still the killings of children continue...

 

[Relic]

I'm re-reading the Dark Elf trilogy by R.A. Salvatore, I'm into book two, Exile and I'm never suprised on how this series holds up. I re-read it every couple years.

It is a story about redemption and prejudice, friendship and goals. A story about overcoming your environmnets limitaions and finding your own fit. it has both very well written characters and fight scenes, but I am a big Drizzt fan boy. 🙂

If you like fantasy stuff from time to time, I highly recommend giving it a go.

 

[Faith]

I'm currently reading:

If This is A Man - Primo Levi
The Silmarillion (been on it for over two years but it gets heavy I put it down and forget things and have to start again)
Breaking Dawn (Twighlight series) - I loved the first books but felt the others went downhill and didn't grab me as much.
Two Women - Martina Cole - I usually read these on the train.

 

[Friendly Lurker]

I'm re-reading the Dark Elf trilogy by R.A. Salvatore, I'm into book two, Exile and I'm never suprised on how this series holds up. I re-read it every couple years.

It is a story about redemption and prejudice, friendship and goals. A story about overcoming your environmnets limitaions and finding your own fit. it has both very well written characters and fight scenes, but I am a big Drizzt fan boy. 🙂

If you like fantasy stuff from time to time, I highly recommend giving it a go.

I still like a lot of Salvatore's books even though they can be quite "silly" at times. But I have to say that Homeland, Exile and Sojourn are VERY good, probably the best series he has written.

If you like Salvatore, you should check out Elaine Cunningham's Songs & Swords and Starlight & Shadows series. They're very enjoyable but they're not dark books like A Song of Ice and Fire so they're good to read if you're feeling a little down!

 

[hannahfngrl26]

I am sure you are all going to make fun of me but I am currently reading the Twilight series. I just finished the first book and am starting the second one tonight. Go ahead, start making fun of me......

 

[Nix]

The Vampire Chronicles
Blood and Gold

The Vampire Chronicles continue with Anne Rice's spellbinding new novel, in which the great vampire Marius returns.

The golden-haired Marius, true Child of the Millennia, once mentor to The Vampire Lestat, always and forever the conscientious foe of the Evil Doer, reveals in his own intense yet intimate voice the secrets of his two-thousand-year existence.

Once a proud Senator in Imperial Rome, kidnapped and made a "blood god" by the Druids, Marius becomes the embittered protector of Akasha and Enkil, Queen and King of the vampires, in whom the core of the supernatural race resides.

We follow him through his heartbreaking abandonment of the vampire Pandora. Through him we see the fall of pagan Rome to the Emperor Constantine and the horrific sack of the Eternal City itself at the hands of the Visigoths.

Bravely, Marius seeks a new civilization in the midst of glittering Constantinople, only to meet with the blood drinker Eudoxia. We see him ultimately returning to his beloved Italy, where after the horrors of the Black Death, he is restored by the beauty of the Renaissance. We see him become a painter living dangerously yet happily among mortals, giving his heart to the great Botticelli, to the bewitching courtesan Bianca, and to the mysterious young apprentice Armand.

Moving from Rome to Florence, Venice, and Dresden, and to the English castle of the secret scholarly order of the Talamasca, the novel reaches its dramatic finale in our own time, deep in the jungle where Marius, having told hi slife story, seeks some measure of justice from the oldest vampires in the world.

 

[JenniferAlice]

Right now I'm reading This Perfect Day by Ira Levin

 

[Ripper 08]

the last book i managed to start was funland by richard laymon

i really want to try and get back into reading it as i was enjoying it but i cant read very often so thats kind of annoying

 

[LorneyTunes]

I am Currently Reading 3 books

Mistrals Kiss - Laurell K Hamilton

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman


The Princess Bride - William Goldman

 

[Joan the Vampire Slayer]

Well, I just finished the last Twilight book...which I must say, disapointed me. Who ever heard of a vampire story with a happy ending? Blah.

For class, I'm reading "Evelina" by Fanny Burney, which is really quite delightful, and some August Wilson plays, which are brilliant.

 

[Blondie Bear]

Just finished reading Dead Until Dark (and watching the first episode of True Blood--thank God for online TV!). A few hours ago, I went to Barnes & Noble and picked up the boxed set of the Sookie Stackhouse books (the only way I could get ALL of them, which unfortunately meant that I have 2 copies of Dead Until Dark now, but oh, well).

So now I'm going to start on Living Dead in Dallas. Let's hope it lives up to the first one!