What are you currently reading?

[jayson]

Absolutely, the story of the Rohirrim's coming and their alliance with Gondor is great stuff. I wish there were more stories about Numenor, but the lack of detailed stories about it only adds to the appreciation of the whole "lost society" thing.

I'm planning on doing a Silmarillion re-read myself fairly soon, which then usually puts me in mind to read Unfinished Tales and the Books of Lost Tales.

[Darkthoughts]

3 DOORS - I tried reading the Tawny Man series last year because my sister loved it, but I couldn't get into it. Did it pick up after a while?

[Brice]

Have finished Machen collection, absolutely delightful! Now am at last, for the first time in my life, reading Lovecraft.

Brilliant! Read every word he wrote.

[jhanic]

There was a mention of Donald Hamilton's Matt Helm series in the Wall Street Journal a couple weeks ago, which piqued my interest, so I've started rereading the entire series. I first read these while I was serving with the Army in Vietnam and have all of them. These are a real good read and, surprisingly, don't seem THAT dated. (The first one was published in the early 1960s, and many of them have as the "bad guys" Soviet spies.) If you like good, adventure-filled spy stories, these are the ones!

John

[fernandito]

I just ordered Sirens of Titan and A Storm of Swords off Amazon

[jayson]

Whoo hoo. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on Vonnegut Feev.

[3 DOORS DOWN]

Hi Darkthoughts,I first read the Farseer trilogy then the Liveship traders trilogy before the tawny man trilogy.You dont say if you read the first two trilogys ,all the books contain some old characters which i think makes the later books better to read.I'm enjoying the tawny man but if i had to pick the best trilogy i would go for the Farseer.

[theyspunaweb]

gosh I'm only about 200 pages into insomnia...I wish I had more time for reading! It's the hardcover so it's pretty huge (I don't know how it compares to the paperbacks)

[theyspunaweb]

Absolutely, the story of the Rohirrim's coming and their alliance with Gondor is great stuff. I wish there were more stories about Numenor, but the lack of detailed stories about it only adds to the appreciation of the whole "lost society" thing.

I'm planning on doing a Silmarillion re-read myself fairly soon, which then usually puts me in mind to read Unfinished Tales and the Books of Lost Tales.

Re-read of the Silmarillion huh? I tried to read that after LOTR since I loved the series so much, but it just (obviously) wasn't the same and I couldn't get into it. You liked it enough to re-read?

[jayson]

Re-read of the Silmarillion huh? I tried to read that after LOTR since I loved the series so much, but it just (obviously) wasn't the same and I couldn't get into it. You liked it enough to re-read?

I've re-read it at least once a year since I was 12. I'm a bit of a Tolkien geek. Ok, more than a bit.

[Candice Dionysus]

Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey, and Sophie's World by Jostein Gaarder.

[Kes]

Picked up "I Am Legend" by Mathesson and was completely taken by surprise, having seen the movie and knowing nothing about the book.

I'm plowing through it, will finish it tonight.

Also re-reading Insomnia.

[Emily]

I just started Redwall by Brian Jacques and Sirens of Titan. I'm not good at simultaneous reading though and I'm having trouble deciding which to finish first

[jayson]

If I get a vote, it'd be Sirens but I'm a Vonnegut freak.

I am currently (re)reading Babylon's Burning by Clinton Heylin. It's the perfect follow-up book to his From the Velvets to the Voidoids and both should be required reading for fans of punk music and it's precursors. They're history books of the highest caliber rather than the same old "rock journalism" that leads people to not understand the music they listen to. :steps off soapbox:

[Emily]

I can't wait for you to read Time Traveller's Wife. That's all I'm sayin'

[jayson]

I should have it by this weekend. You shall be the first to know when it's finished. It's the least I can do for my Ambassador to NYC.

[obscurejude]

I just finished Child of God by Cormac McCarthy.

Sick and disturbing, but very fascinating in a graduate seminar.

[jayson]

How was McCarthy's writing style in that one Ryan? All I've read of him is No Country... and while I thought the story was great, I found his style so distracting that I've avoided reading more of him. Your opinion might change that.

[obscurejude]

How was McCarthy's writing style in that one Ryan? All I've read of him is No Country... and while I thought the story was great, I found his style so distracting that I've avoided reading more of him. Your opinion might change that.

The Approach is still minimalist with no quotation marks which I know you've expressed issues with. The thing about reading him in a seminar is that you get into all the reasons why McCarthy does what he does and you begin to really enjoy it as your appreciation for his craft grows. He is a very deliberate writer and has good reasons for doing the things that make him an eccentric writer, both in craft as well as content.

[jayson]

Sounds like I should go with my idea of reading further McCarthy via audio so as not to face the distractions of his stylistic choices.

[obscurejude]

Sounds like I should go with my idea of reading further McCarthy via audio so as not to face the distractions of his stylistic choices.

See, that's the thing. Maybe you should learn to appreciate the "distractions" becasue I assure you there's a rhyme and reason. McCarthy via audio would significantly take away from his original intentions. Even small things, like how he never numbers chapters is very significant.

I'll be writing four research papers on him as well as 3 page responses on 8 of his books. I can e mail you my thoughts if you're interested. I won't be insulted if you're not.

[jayson]

Of course I'd be interested. Currently I find that whatever his intention is, his stylistic choices break the rhythm of my reading and for me, rhythm is everything.

[Brice]

Besides Jayson, when you play the audio all you're gonna' hear is the reader saying He said over and over and here the author chose to ignore the fact that he's supposed to put an exclamation point, this is where a new chapter would begin if anyone else wrote this book...etcetera...ad infinitum.

[jayson]

[obscurejude]

Of course I'd be interested. Currently I find that whatever his intention is, his stylistic choices break the rhythm of my reading and for me, rhythm is everything.

But at the expensive of substantive idealogical content? I would think that your insanely over analytical mind would crave such things, even if the rhythm is a little choppy.

relatedly, when McCarthy has a sentence that is, say, perfect iambic pentameter, it stands out for a reason. I'm surprised, honestly, that its such a big deal for you specifically.