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

Yes! Got the 500th post in this thread!!

I'm re-reading _Dragon Knight_ by Gordon R.
Dickson.

The Historian. It's a good book, a vampire story more like Davinci Code than Dracula.

Jasper Fforde, The Eyre Affair. It's pretty funny, but I don't know if a whole series of this will maintain interest.

The second book is pretty good...the sort of trail off in the next two. Im yet to read the latest.

Just finished "Shantaram" by Gregory David Roberts www.shantaram.com ...It was a bit of a chore to read (anything that long is in my opinion) but definately worth it.

Was Given "the Truth about Diamonds" by Nicole Richie for Christmas...Ill let you know how bad it is when I read it. but first Im going to put it next to "Confessions of an Heiress" and see if I can make them fight like fighting fish.

Finally finished The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America by Erik Larson a few weeks ago.

It's about two non-fiction stories that happened in Chicago in 1893. One is about the World's Columbian Exposition (The Chicago World's Fair) and the other about a serial killer called H.H. Holmes.

Two very interesting stories yet it was a very boring book. I credit the author for being thorough with the details...but it slowed down my interest big time.

cool things about the world fair. Story mostly looked at the architects involved. Great minds and all of that. Just last August I saw Hunt's Vanderbilt mansion in Newport RI...so I appreciated some of this stuff. The fair had lots of American history I never knew about. The first Ferris Wheel named after Mr. Ferris. The wheel was giant (compared to most version we see today...save the awesome one I've seen in London). The wheel was an answer to Paris' Eifel Tower which debuted the year before at the Paris World Fair. First hamburgers in the USA, Quaker Oats, Cracker jacks, Aunt Jemima syrup, cream of wheat, juicy fruit. lots of famous people came through the fair...countless.

The other story? The serial killer known as H.H. Holmes. Truly chilling. He did it for profit and sport. Killed mostly women and children but some men. All in horrible fashion. At the end admitted to 27 killings but was suspected of dozens more.

Stranger still it was around the same time as Jack the Ripper who killed 5 (that we know of). Jack had more flair and became famous. Holmes usually killed innocent young women in their late teens to mid twenties that he'd date. He was also a doctor...of sorts. sick.

Sorry for the book report. In the boring details there was some very good stories. Now reading The Basque History of the World : The Story of a Nation by Mark Kurlansky. The friend who gave me both books is basque. She knows I love history and I gotta say I love this book. I love european history more than american...especially anything with Spain.

I just finished "Going Postal" by Terry Pratchett

Next Up:

"Thud" again by Terry Pratchett

I think I have now read everything this underappreciated comic genius has written...

But, actually I hope I'm wrong...

"Where's My Cow?" hee hee hee

Have you read "Good Omens"? with Neil Gaiman?
theres also a few short stories and such you can find online.

Im a bit obsessive...I even have "Nanny Ogg's cookbook"

Me, too.

I don't have Nanny Ogg's Cookbook, but I'll be looking for it,

Yes I have read "Good Omens" Which I didn't think I'd enjoy and wouldn't have bought without Terry Pratchett's name on the cover, needless to say, I loved it!

Have you read the Johnny and the Bomb books? How about Truckers, Diggers and Wings? I could be way off on those titles.

I'm reading an Agatha Christie right now called "Murder Is Easy" - and I think a TV movie starring Bill Bixby and Lesley Anne Down was adapted (more or less) from it. Helen Hayes had a cameo role...

Truckers etc are called the "Bromelaid"? trilogy? theres a stop motion animated series of Truckers. there's also animated series of both "Soul Music" and "Wyrd Sisters"...

like i said Im a bit obsessed

TEEN TITANS COMPANION!!! WOOT!

Theres also "Only you can save mankind" which seems a little dated with its 80's computer game references

No, but if you're giving me hints at to where to find more Pratchett, I'll be looking for them...

"Mr. Shine, Him Diamond!"

The Last Hero?

I've read most of the Discworld books and the collected Bromeliad trilogy thanks to a friend in Ireland. I've got Going Postal at home and still need to pick up Thud.

Terry Pratchett\'s Homepage

There's a section to help you find all of his books you may have missed.

Me? Currently I'm reading A Feast For Crows by George R. R. Martin. Up next is the new Robin Hobb book, I don't recall the title right now.

Jamie

Try the young adults section of the bookstores, he's written both Discworld and non-Discworld books in that category.

I still haven't gotten Feast of Crows.
It's my own fault, I'm way behind on my book orders.

Theres a Companion picture book to THUD called "Wheres my Cow" where Vimes tells a story of Ankh Morporke to his son using all the familiar Characters (Foul ol' Ron, Dibbler etc)...
It cost me $35 which was a bit of a rip-off - but I couldnt NOT buy it.

Arachne, while I enjoyed Feast for Crows, it really wasn't that great. Lotsa buildup, and not much payoff. It did have some great cliffhangers, none of which will likely be resolved in the next book. Gonna have to wait a looonnng time to see how those turn out.

What!!! this thread is impermissibly languishing. Is nobody reading anymore? Let's see - Christmas was my time for light reading so I read a fun John Grisham paperback, but I can't remember the name. It was about a young guy who bought a local newspaper in rural Mississippi. There was of course a trial and a murder or two or three involved. Mostly it was atmospheric. He's always easy to read and I have to admit I enjoy him.

Next I read another light novel called "The Traveller" about these people who are able to travel to other dimensions to bring enlightenment to humanity, and the group of warriors called Harlequins who protect them from the people who want to control the Earth and destroy the Travellers. The nasty folks are suspiciously modelled after the current Republican administration and its corporate cronies. Great fun --- and it's a trilogy.

The next book was "Making History" by Stephen Fry. It was recommended to me by our very own Quislet Esq. (although not in this thread, I think). Quis --- I loved this book. It's about a Cambridge history PhD candidate who gets together with a physics professor to send something back in time to prevent Hilter from being born. Instantly, the world changes and our intrepid doctoral candidate finds himself at Princeton (I think). He alone remembers the former world and gradually learns that Hilter's non-existence allowed a more competent and charismatic fascist to rise to prominence and lead Germany to victory in WW2 --- oops!!! Along with these startling discoveries, our hero also discovers a new love to replace the female geneticist who left him --- a cute male Princeton undergrad. Rest assured, it never gets sordid. Apparently, America remained opposed to Germany but because of the cold war, things like civil rights, the 60's anti-war movement, and gay rights never occurred. To top it off, all of Europe is facsist. (Tamper and Arachne, breathe deep and relax -- Canada remained neutral. Apparently, it was the new Switzerland.) Anyway, our hero seeks out the new version of the physics professor and together they set off to restore the world to it's original state. This book is great fun.

Now I'm reading "Mara and Dann" by Doris Lessing, one of my very favorite writers, and one who has been shamefully overlooked by the Nobel Prize Committee, in my opinion. This novel relates the adventures of a brother and sister in Africa several thousand years into the future as the world teeters on the brink of another ice age. Lessing frequently sets her novels in a science fiction milieu, but the focus is always on how her characters deal with their situation. The sci-fi is always secondary, and almost always implied rather than explicit. She uses it to isolate her characters in a situation unfamiliar to us, to explore the human condition. I had the great pleasure of meeting Lessing in 1985 and chatting with her for about 15 minutes. I realized even back then that I was in the presence of a very special person.

The only book that I'm reading at the moment is a Discovery Channel / Insight city guide to New York.
Billy and I are planning to head over there next year for our 15th anniversary - leaving the kids at home with the in-laws. So we thought it would be an idea to check out what we wanted to see.
Top of the list at the moment is the Chrysler building followed by Times Square and various museums.

Over Xmas I read 4 out of 5 of David Feintuchs Seaforth Saga books. All good, but I should probably have interspersed different books between them. Still got to get ahold of the last one.

Prior to that I started reading Johnathon Strange and Mr Norrell.
Got bored after a couple of hundred pages and gave it up as a bad idea. Very atmospheric, but I didn't find that enough to keep my interest.

But recently it's just been magazines I'm reading - the usual SFX and Total Film.

Just finished listening to the unabridged HP and the Order of the Phoenix book on tape and went straight into HP/Half-Blood Prince. Still REALLY like the series, it continues to get better and better. I haven't finished HB Prince, just got through the part where they figure out about the horcruxes. Gotta say, it may end up being up there with Thomas Covenant and the Wheel of Time in series of books that I will return to again and again.

Just started 1491--a survey of what was going on the Americas before European contact. As someone who has taught 8th grade American History for six years, it's amazing how much more we know now than just a few short years ago. I can't wait to teach it again next year! The book is written very well, would appeal to the lay person who's interested.

"LAst night a DJ saved my life"..its about the history of Dance Music. Its Neat...I got it from the Uni Years ago and never finished it. (what with Uni work and all) But I figured I might aswell buy it...Came with a Kick Arse CD.