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

Clete rules! I want an old junker convertible just so I can be like him! I always want to go wherever Burke sets his novels--I was dying to go to Louisiana when I was reading the Robicheaux books, and Bitterroot is making me want to drive the family to Montana this summer.

Blacula, I'm only about 100 pages in but I'm enjoying it. So far it's not really fast paced, but that 's not a problem for me. I'll post again about this book once I've made more of a dent in it.

I just finished MYRREN'S GIFT, the first installment of a new series called THE QUICKENING by Fiona McIntosh.

It's a fairly standard fantasy with a revenge-quest as its plot.

NOT standard is the featured twist on mind/body switching that I've never encountered and find quite fascinating.

I believe the author is Australian, though I'm not sure if the book was published there earlier. I've noticed there's been a mini-wave of Australian fantasy writers 'crossing over' to the USA, lately.

Anyone who's a fan of politically oriented fantasy (as opposed to magic as the central driver of plot) might enjoy this one.

You might try the first volume on audiobook. King's revised version is supposed to be a little easier to get into, but before it was published the first book was supposedly pretty daunting. I listened to it on tape, which pulled me in better than reading it might have. From that point on I read the rest in reasonably short order.

Hey, buddy, have you guys ever read Fevre Dream by
George RRR Martin?

Now I'm listening to Cimarron Rose by Burke. Good stuff. I'm going to tackle Last Car to Elysian Fields on my trip next week.

I just finished The Time Travler's Wife.

I started a little bit slow for me but midway through I couldn't put the book down and finished it pretty quickly.

Not ashamed to admit that I was welling up near the end. Good book. I hihgly recommend it.

I have a few books I'm reading.

David Limbaugh - Persecution, How Liberals are Waging a War Against Christianity
David Bach - Start Late, Finish Rich

RTVU2, I also liked the Time Traveler's Wife. It takes a bit of getting used to the jumping back and forth n time, but once you get the hang of it, it's a fun book.

I recently finished "The Shadow of the Wind" by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It's an enjoyable book, although it has it's flaws. One of the problems is that it is weak on character development. The villain is a major-baddy, but even by the end, the author hasn't really given a convincing explanation of his motivation. Some of the other supporting characters are a little weak as well. Nevertheless, I think Zafon shows great promise as a writer and I look forward to his next novel.

At the mo I'm reading "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", thought I might brush up on my non-existant English History a little. Pretty interesting reading.

HI Blue Cutie!!!! Actually, the first time I went to Wendover (the casino town bordering Utah/Nevada) where Scott was working when we met, his mother gave me her copy of Fevre Dream. So, to me, the book means even more because Ruth Sharritt took it down from her shelf, talked about it, and gave it to me, a virtual stranger. It was a big moment for me, something I will never forget. We had hardly met, and I was this strange Goth girl allegedly in love with her son. When Ruth gave me that book I felt it was a gesture of acceptance. I only wish that Ruth were alive today. She left our lives so shortly after Scott and I were married, and she left this world so young, 54.

Just got a new book!!

Dr. James Beall - Straight Talk about the Holy Spirit

Dr. Beall is the emertus senior pastor at the church I go to. This man is very good.

Hey LL, i read Niven's Lucifer's Hammer. It was aight. I heard he just wrote something good. What is his latest book?

I'm reading two books right now - "Ilium" by Dan Simmons is a SF tale based on the Iliad among other things. "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell is a non-fictiion book about the power of first impressions (basically a re-working of the left brain/right brain theory).

Wow, did we read the same book? I loved it. It think it is a great book!

The book had so much going for it. It's about friendship, love lost and love never to be returned. It's about identity. It's about trust. It's about not taking things at face value. It's about growing up. It's about misdrection. It's about hatered and happiness. It's just all encompassing.

I thought all the characters were fully realized. Down to all the incidental characters. They all had rich stories to share and a lives that begged for more. I laughed out loud, I was surprised and I got chills reading this book.

I thought the words just flowed of the pages and where almost lyrical in nature. Which is surprising considering this is a translation from the orginal Spanish. I thought I was living in the story of the book. That I had been really transported into the novel.

I have to say this is been one of the better books I have read in awhile.

Well Niven and Jerry Pournelle have written another book together that was just released, Burner Tower, a sequel to The Burning City. That came out earlier this year.

And I think Niven just released another Ringworld book, Ringworld's Children.

Have any of you Burke readers read "Last Car to Elysian Fields?" It was a bit of a downer. Either Burke's getting tired of writing Dave or the end is near.


Spoiler, just in case....


I missed Bootsie. Did she die "off-panel," or did I miss a book somewhere?


Also, I just started Memoirs of Cleopatra. Pretty good so far.

Also, Dan Simmons is a genius. Any SF fan who hasn't read the Hyperion books is missing a talent on par with anyone in the field. Matter of fact, may be time to reread Hyperion...

I did enjoy the book RTVU. I just felt that it was lacking in some areas. For example, I still don't have a good sense of whether Julian Carax was a good writer or not. What was Clara all about? She almost seemed unnecessary. She was introduced in the begining, dropped for most of the book and then appears at the end so that the writer can bitterly tell us that she's lost her looks and been unsuccessfull in love. Nyah-nyah-na-na-na! I guess I was just left a bit unsatisfied becasue I think this writer is capable of a lot. But I assure you, we did read the same book.

Semi, I hope you didn't think I was trying to bash you or anything. I just love this book so much.

I think Crax being a good writer is shown in the book by the devotion that the other characters share for him. Nuria, Miquel, Daniel, Penolpe, Jacinta, Bea and others show that he is a good writer through their love and devotion. Also made the writer is trying to tell us that only one person has to love your writing for you to be succesful. And I think it is beside the point because the book is more about Daniel and his journey into manhood and how the book effects who he will become.

Also I think Clara is there to show us how much first love can be wonderful, hated, confusing and overwhemling. Just in real life you lose contact with the people that mean the most of you. Daniel made a decision not to see her because it hurt him.

I didn't think that.

"Well Niven and Jerry Pournelle have written another book together that was just released, Burner Tower, a sequel to The Burning City. That came out earlier this year."

Thanks LL. I will check that one out.

I am STILL reading Shogun. Haven't had much time lately. Ohwell I am enjoying it greatly.

I liked all of Clavell's books, even if they are a little melodramatic. I just wish I could eliminate Richard Chamberlin circa 1980 from my mind's eye when I read Shogun.

She died off-panel. She had cancer in one (or more?) books, but I don't remember a deathbed scene.

There's a new Robicheaux book out this summer: Crusader's Cross - "It deals with a new phase in the life of Dave Robicheaux, one in which he becomes involved with a remarkable Catholic nun and a family who claim descent from the Roman knights who defeated Attila the Hun at the Battle of Chalons. Unfortunately for Dave, this particular family considers Dave the modern equivalent of Attila. Dave also finds himself the target of a smear campaign waged by a local television personality who may or may not be the Baton Rouge serial killer."