Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine So what are you READING?

A Tale of Two Cities and A Wrinkle in Time are both on my on deck circle. Along with a hundred other books.

I plan to read most if not all of Dickens. (and Patricia Highsmith, and Henry Miller, and Kafka, *groan)

Yes sir, that's where I got it from.

Aha!

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I just finished reading G.K. Chesterton's The Man Who Was Thursday. It was good, but I'm not sure what to make of it. I think I'll need to read it again.

Just finished The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. Some pretty powerful stuff, though the ending was actually a bit blah.

I am finishing up Secret Daughter - a mixed race daughter and the mother who gave her up

It is a memoir. The author's mother ended up marrying Larry Storch of F-Troop fame.

The rumor and gossip about Quislet, Esq. Thread... some juicy stuff there...

But nothing about me and Larry Storch.

Found time to read Guilty Pleasures by Laurell Hamilton.

This was the first in her (wildly popular?)Anita Blake, Vampire Killer series. I don't know much about the phenomena this series has become. I know fans liked it pretty well up until about book 9 or so... but I'm going to stick with what I thought of this book.

Overall: Not bad. Decent plot, but not out of the ordinary (might have been when it was first published though). Great pace to the book. Action sequences were fast and easy to visualize, characters were a little shallow, but I think that was more a result of the narrative choice than poor writing. My main gripe is that the book seemed terribly anti-climatic. I'll read some of the follow up books though.

Grade: B+ to A-.

I'm trying to read Michael Chabon's "The Yiddish Policeman's Union." Unfortunately, it's not "Kavalier and Clay" -- but then, what is? It's an alternative history -- Europe's displaced Jews end up in Alaska, not Israel, after WWII. But it's also a noir murder mystery. I'm not that fond of the noir genre, but love alternate histories. So I'm torn.

Continuing on with the works of Carson McCullers, I've read Reflections in a Golden Eye and Ballad of the Sad Cafe, both of which were incredible!

Reflections in a Golden Eye is kind of a murder mystery in reverse, where you're told at the beginning that a murder is going to happen, but your left guessing who exactly is going to kill whom until the very end.

Ballad of a Sad Cafe is pure genius, and has one of the grooviest epilogues I've ever read.

I finally finished the latest Harry Potter! Damn, that took a long time. The first third was good the last third was great! The middle? Man it just seemed to drag on and on!

Anyways, started reading the Great Gatsby. I read it in high school and never revisited it. I don't remember much so I am giving it another go.

I just started on the Charles Schulz biography Schulz and Peanuts, and I had to tear myself away from it to go on the computer. From what I've read so far, I don't think it portrays him negatively like a lot of people are saying -- I think it humanizes him; I mean, everyone is more complicated than they appear.

How about Poul Anderson's Three Hearts and Three Lions?
I've heard good things about it so I picked up a copy and I'm taking it on the road with me this week.

Lately _Around the World in 80 Days_ has been my book of choice while I'm hitting the exercise bike.

Reading _Runes of the Earth_ again in preparation for Fatal Revenant_

Finished reading _Runes_ and started on _FR_.

Man, the Sci Fi book club edition has small text.

Just finished Darkwalker on Moonshae by Douglas Niles

Darkwalker on Moonshae is one of the first novels (if not the first) that was written in the Forgotten Realms setting.

It scored well on Amazon.com and I’ve read a few other FR books and most have been very good… if not great. I think ‘Darkwalker’ has this nostalgic/first written thing going for it because it was not as good as advertised. Putting expectations and comparisons aside though, the book is competent.

The plot is fairly standard fantasy fair. Powerful lost sword is mentioned by a wandering bard. About 100 pages later you know what the lackadaisical prince is going to stumble upon. Of course he’s going to need it to fight the ‘Darkwalker’.

The book also suffers from generalities in general. For instance most of the battle scenes are described like this… “The good guys rode their white horses through the bad guys on their black horses. Blood flew and warriors on both sides fell to enemy lances. The heavily outnumbered white horses turned and rode away while the bad guys followed.”

This causes the book to be too impersonal even though it is almost 400 pages long. I know I said the book is competent and I’m coming off pretty harsh here, but those are about the only things wrong with it.

Even through the generalities the characters are likable when they are supposed to be and the bad guys are despicable. Also some of the visuals and fantasy ideas are endearing.

Final Grade: Strong B

Worlds of Amano An artbook of Japanese fantasy artist Yoshitaka Amano.

Men of Tomorrow "Geeks, gangsters and the birth of the comic book" by Eisner winner Gerard Jones.

I started that a while ago! (It was a gift from Joe-Boy when I visited him in Australia. ) It's really interesting and I've definitely enjoyed it. I haven't had the chance to finish it yet, though, so don't tell me how it ends!

I'm stuck reading Introduction to Latin America History at the moment because, even though I'm a senior, I put off taking a few of my intro classes. It's so boring it should be a crime to inflict it upon poor unsuspecting students. As is, though, I will have to suffer through since my midterm's tomorrow.

Oh, don't worry about it. I have no idea how it ends. I've read only 20 pages so far. And it IS interesting. I like the narration. It's laid back and comfortable like talking with a friend who *knows* stuff, like funny and obscure stories, anecdotes, an incredible amount of details and trivia etc.
I love this kind of book!

Finished reading _Fatal Revenant_. Much better than _Runes of the Earth._

I finished the Great Gatsby and Fahrenheit 451 while on long trip I just took.

Started Lord of the Flies. Yes I am rereading my high school reading cause I forgot most of the details cause it's been many many years AND I wasn't paying too much attention the first time around.

There was a time at which I could quote passages from Lord of the Flies from memory. It was really the book that made me take reading novels seriously back in high school. I haven't read it in ages, though. I suspect I wouldn't be that impressed by it, now.

Rereading Dennis Hensley's hilarious Misadventures in the (213). (His other book, Screening Party, is even funnier.)

I don't know EDE. Lots of those old high school books I've been rereading are impressing me. The Great Gatsby and Fahrenheit 451 did.

Fahrenheit 451 had some spots I thought were a bit...juvenille? Not sure. But a good portion of it is great social commentary. I did not care for the ending though.