Reading

[Thomaston]

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell

Underworld by Graham Hancock

I read recently that Hancock is working on an updated, revised version of Fingerprints of the Gods, if you've read that.

I think I've either developed ADD, or I've become a lot more picky about what I read. Lately I go a couple of months between books, and a lot of what I start I don't finish. The last books I read were Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood. And those were back in June/July.

[Whistling Willie]

Voices from the Grave by Ed Moloney.I would imagine this would be the first in a series,as they are based on accounts given to researchers for Boston College by combatants from both sides of the divide in Ireland.It was stipulated beforehand that none of these would be allowed to be published until after the participants deaths.
An interesting read,and very controversial at the time of it`s publication.

Link to a review http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/ ... 090439.ece

[Hotblack]

Just finished Therese Raquin by Zola (I thought Germinal was much better) and The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet by David Mitchell (excellent as always). Currently reading Heartstone by CJ Sansom. I have about 50 novels sitting in the 'waiting to be read' pile so no idea what I'll read next.

[chas]

So now I'm reading a book by a Canadian woman (can't call up the name) whom a lot of Jane Austen fans like. She doesn't have Ms. Austen's subtlety, but so far it's a good read.

It's called Tracy Park , by Mary Jane Holmes. I finished it yesterday, and it was a truly fine read. Partway through I thought it was more reminiscent of the Bronte sisters, but in the end it was more like Charlotte Bronte meets Jane Austen. I'd recommend it to anyone who likes authors in those veins.

[Tunborough]

Most recent book: The 4 percent universe : dark matter, dark energy, and the race to discover the rest of reality, by Richard Panek.

Recently enjoyed: Being wrong : adventures in the margin of error, by Kathryn Schulz, which I picked up thanks to Denny's TED thread.

Currently sitting on my computer desktop (believe it or not): Production de son par couplage écoulement/résonateur acoustique: Étude des paramètres de facture de flûtes par expérimentations et simulations numériques d’écoulements, par François Blanc. ("Production of sound by coupling flow with an acoustic resonator: study of parameters in the making of [recorders], by experimentation and numeric flow simulation.") His PhD thesis. I don't read much French, so it's real slow going, but if you want to know what's really, really, happening in the window of your whistle, this is one of the places you have to look.

[Protean]

Currently: A Dance with Dragons, George R. R. Martin

I'd held off because I didn't want to spend $15 on it, but I caved last week after about 3 weeks of indecision. Sooo... yeah.

Recently, aside from the Song of Ice and Fire series, I've enjoyed Ghosts of Belfast and Collusion by Stuart Neville. Don't remember how I came across Ghosts of Belfast, but it hooked me hard. I read through it in about 4 days and immediately went on to read Collusion, it's sequel. I also read the most recent Avery Cates novel, The Final Evolution. Love those books.

[weedie]

This morning I finished reading 'The Asylum of Howard Hughes' by Jack Real..
A sad and tragic story which I likened to the story of Elvis...People who were there supposedly to look after him and his interests bled him dry in their own quest for wealth and power..... terrible stuff indeed.
My next read was supposed to be The House on Garibaldi St, but as it has'nt arrived as yet,I'm going to read Need More Love:A graphic Memoir.. by Aline Kominsky Crumb.
She's the wife of genius artist Robert Crumb (and a cartoonist herself) who gave us Mr.Natural (Keep on Truckin'), ZAP Comix and other 'out there' comics from the 1960's..
The first impression I get is that she is a pretty 'out there' gal herself !

[ancientfifer]

Recently: The Fall of Giants, Ken Follett. Historical novel of the 20 years leading to WWII. 1000 pages, couldn't put it down, finished it in 5 days. Highly recommend.

[Peewit]

Currently re-reading The Letters of E.B. White. He was a self-effacing, warm-hearted, and screamingly funny guy. I may re-read Charlotte's Web afterwards - one of the best.

Recently finished: Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, possibly my favourite author. Her characters always seem like people I'd like to meet. I also just finished her non-fiction Animal, Vegetable, Miracle about her family eating only local food for a year (with exceptions for coffee and a couple of other staples). When the year was up, they didn't want to change back.

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier, which I thought was fiction until I got to the end and discovered the two women fossil-hunters in the story are real historical figures, which made it even more fascinating. It was especially interesting because I live near the Joggins Fossil Cliffs, a UNESCO Heritage Site on the Bay of Fundy, and visited there for the first time last summer.

A classic I read before that was Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited. I've seen part of the TV series on DVD and it inspired me to seek out the book, which was wonderful.

I spend a lot of time on children's books. Some of my favourite authors, along with E.B. White, are Dick King-Smith, Susan Cooper, Joan Aiken, and Rumer Godden. I subscribe to Cricket, which used to call itself a magazine for children, but has wised up and realized it has a wider appeal. When my kids grew up, I got my own subscription.