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

I'm reading The Camelot Chronicles by Jack White, it's up to seven books right now. Anyone ever hear of these?

And I try to read anything by Noam Chomsky and as much as I can by Eric Hobsbawm (a historian).

Just got "The Song of Arthur" from the library. It says it's "Celtic Tales from the High King's Court". It's a King Arthur thing. Short stories.

I'm currently reading two books:

"Star Wars: Spectre of the Past" by Timothy Zahn

and

"Who's There? The Life and Career of William Hartnell" by Jessica Carney

Now I'm reading Blood Canticle by Anne Rice...

Next up,,, Armageddon from the Left Behind Series (It's funny, I never would have picked this up myself, but I received the entire series as a gift and could not put them down...)

umm...i've been distracted with work, my writing, and "smallville" on dvd...

the last book i read (or rather re-read) was "rats saw god" by rob thomas. up next: ayn rand's "the fountainhead" and then "the divinci code" (yes, i know...i'm waaaay behind).

Being newly unemployed, it's "The Dilbert Principle" for me. What a riot!

I recently gave up on "Focault's Pendulum"...maybe some other day.

My new books "Case For Christ" and the sequel "Case For Faith" just arrived so that's probably next on my list...

Well it's summer again and time for some beach reading material. I just finished "Rule of Four" which is quite fun and rather well-written for a number 1 best-seller. Now I'm into "War of the Flowers" by Tad Williams. It's a guilty pleasure about a San Francisco singer, down on his luck, who gets transported into the fairy realm and embroiled in the war between the ruling families. And for good measure, he then finds out that he was never really mortal at all ...

I've read a few things lately:

-"Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield, my favorite book of all time. It's about the 300 Spartans who died at the pass of Thermopolyae, and I try to re-read it every three or four years. I've never seen a better description of valor, comradarie, or honor in my life.

-"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman, which I'm actually in the middle of. Very, very cool stuff and great reading.

-All five Harry Potter books, which I loved so much, I started my own thread about.

-Since summer and Christmas are the only times I get to do any non-comic book pleasure reading (school kills that), I'm hoping to read "Mystic River", which my girlfriend got me for Valentine's Day, and Bram Stoker's "Dracula", which I just got a free copy of when I bought an indie horror magazine.

"War of Flowers" sound very cool Semi!

Cobie, I was never able to get through "American Gods." I think I read about 150 pages and just never cared. I gave my copy away to someone at work. It's too bad, because I had really looked forward to it and was expecting to like it a lot. The reviews were great, and most people I know have really enjoyed it.

Semi, thanks for the heads up on "War of the Flowers". I've always enjoyed Tad Williams books so I'll have to pick that up.

Semi, I think a lot of Gaiman's writing is hit or miss. I know my Dad never liked Sandman at all, and dropped the series after the first 30 issues, leaving my brother unable to finish reading the series until he buys the trades (I read the trades in college). I've been reading "American Gods" for awhile now, and stopped reading it altogether for about a month. I think sometimes I have to be in the right mood for Gaiman's writing, which can make it very satisfying and enjoyable.

I just finished Storm Constantine's Wraethu trilogy. She has a poetic style to her prose, but it's not the most effective for storytelling. Judging from her shift by the end of the third book, I'm guessing that's not the first time she got that comment.

Summer reading:

Bikini Planet, an intellectual treatise on... yeah right.

Master and Commander: I've not seen the movie, but the book was excellent. Lot's of ship-tech and period language. A tough read for a math teacher but well worth the effort. Anybody read any of this series? Is it worth going on?

Two Cussler Dirk Pitt novels. Mind candy, nothing more.

I checked the library for any graphic novels. We got nothing and the money budget isn't letting me do an Amazon.com order.

In the middle of The Two Towers.

I picked up all five (at least I think there were only five) of the Wild Cards series of books edited by George R.R. Martin. I'd heard of this series for years but had never read it before. Wonderful stuff.

BB- I read the whole Aubrey/Maturin series - obviously, I'm biased! Great stuff if you like the details of history, from the big events to everday life - frequently funny - I skimmed over most of the sea battle descriptions.

Right now I'm reading a strange and funny sci-fi novel, Galactic Rapture by Tom Flynn. Set in 2344, a very backward Earth is granted membership in the Galactic Confetory. The galaxy goes wild for Earth's religions, especially Catholicism - the Vatican is granted its own planet and takes religious exploitation to new heights (or lows).

The other big Earth export is "senso" - undercover agents with bio-implants become human cameras, conceal themselves among primitive and savage societies and broadcast scenes of gruesome daily life to eager audiences.

After I finish War of the Flowers (which I am loving, immensely), I'm going to read "Factoring Hunamity" by Robert J. Sawyer, a prolific Canadian Sci-Fi writer. It's seems to be a fantasy summer for me (reading-wise).

Just finished The DaVinci Code. It's been awhile since I 've read a suspense thriller, but this was so much more. I can't believe that all that historical research he found out is for real..or is it? Does anybody out there know how legitimate the author's findings are?

I just started The Lovely Bones by Anne Sebold. -not exactly uplifting, but I was curious to see why it was so successful.

Owl Lad, I read "The Da Vinci Code" a few months ago and did some online research. There are several websites and also books that explore just how accurate Dan Brown's depictions of history and art are.

One example that stands out to me is the passage from an apocryphal text in which Jesus is described as kissing Mary Magdalene on the mouth. This passage does exist, according to one site, but it's incomplete. Brown apparently fabricated the "on the mouth" bit, among other things.

What! But that's when body limbs fly and cannon balls cut off heads, you know, the good stuff. Living on the Lakes as I do, the battle maneuvering are actually the best parts.

Since most of my non math/tech reading is smoltz like Cussler, I'm amazed when I pick up a real book, at the efficiency of the prose. Every sentence is useful, nothing wasted in this book.

The vast majority of the author's "revelations" are invented. Some are expansions of ideas others have had in the past; many are complete fabrications. There was an article in the Boston Globe around the time the book came out last year that outlined the most important invented plot points.

It's funny reading everyone's comments above about The Little Friend. I too enjoyed The Secret History immensely and haven't been able to get into the new book. Oh well.

Instead, I'm reading Beyond Belief: The Secret Gospel of Thomas by Elaine Pagels. It's about how many early Christian texts were discarded in the second century, and how the division seems to be between texts that say that only Jesus was truly divine, and texts that imply that the potential for divinity is in everyone. Interesting, well written stuff.

Currently: "The Wee Free Men" and "A hat full of sky" by Terry Pratchett.

Currently "Not the End Of The World" by Christopher Brookmyer.
Black humour, sarcasm, porn stars, religion and tidal waves. And not necessarily in that order.

Superb stuff.
As are his other books.

Numf - I just finished "Boiling a frog" - Christopher Brookmeyer is the funniest thing since fake vomit! And that's a good thing

Yeah, H, this is the fourth of his books I've read in a row -
Quite Ugly One Morning
Country Of The Blind
Boiling A Frog
and now Not The End Of The World

All excellent. Very funny indeed. He has a great turn of phrase.

A Big Boy Did It And Ran Away next for me I believe.

NB We both spelt his surname wrongly - it's "Brookmyre".