What are you currently reading?

[SteveSly]

I just started Greg Allman's autobiography this weekend. So far it is really interesting.

Steve Sly

[SteveSly]

I thought it was a totally interesting story about Greg and Duane and lots of others. Very honest.

I just finished it and really enjoyed it. Yes, he is very honest and does not pull any punches. It was a little bit slanted towards the early years in my opinion, but still a great read.

Steve Sly

[wideopenears]

well, I finished the final Robert Jordan (/Sanderson) volume.....meh. It was okay, but.....WTF is the deal with the "Sharans," were they even introduced before this book?

Currently reading poetry--Peter Balakian's "Ziggurat," and Seamus Heaney's "Human Chain," though I'm thinking of starting "Slaughterhouse Five," which I've had for a while but never read......

[hippypants]

Bukowski's Post Office was awesome. Now reading Salinger'sNine Stories.

Yes, I like him a lot too.

Picasso at the Lapin Agile and Other Plays by Steve Martin

Rick Atkinson's second book of a trilogy, The Day of Battle. It is an historical account of the invasion of Sicily and Italy during World War II. My father was in the army and was part of the invasions of North Africa, Sicily and Italy. I guess that's why I am interested in that history.

[spellbound]

Back To Blood - Tom Wolfe
Grow Girl - Heather Donahue

[wideopenears]

Slaughterhouse Five-

First time! Can you believe it?

[NogbadTheBad]

Iain M Banks - Use Of Weapons

[No Pride]

Michael Crichton - Micro

[NogbadTheBad]

Michael Crichton - Micro

Read that last year, not bad, reads like a movie treatment rather than a book. Beach reading.

[No Pride]

Read that last year, not bad, reads like a movie treatment rather than a book. Beach reading.

I thought the same of "Jurassic Park" before I knew that it was going to be made into a movie.

[Scott Bails]

Michael Crichton - Micro

I thought I'd read most of Crichton's stuff, but I've never heard of that one. I'll have to check it out.


Between Chrichton and Stephen King, who's worse at ending their stories?

[SteveSly]

I thought I'd read most of Crichton's stuff, but I've never heard of that one. I'll have to check it out.


Between Chrichton and Stephen King, who's worse at ending their stories?

I don't know who is worse, but would agree that they both have that problem.

Steve Sly

[SteveSly]

Michael Crichton - Micro

Is this the one that was finished after he died? I think I have it in a pile of books my dad gave me, that I have yet to read. I loved most of Crichton's stuff, but was curious about if this one was worth the time.

Steve Sly

[NogbadTheBad]

Is this the one that was finished after he died? I think I have it in a pile of books my dad gave me, that I have yet to read. I loved most of Crichton's stuff, but was curious about if this one was worth the time.

Steve Sly

Yes, it's the join they finished after he died, I couldn't see the join but I'm not expert on him

[Jerjo]

Iain M Banks - Use Of Weapons

Just finished Banks' State of the Art a couple days ago.

[Lopez]

Am currently reading Gideon's Sword by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. No great literature, but these guys can sure write a "page-turner."

Recently I finished reading Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road. Man, that's just about the most disturbing book I've ever read.

[firth5th]

What am I currently reading? Your emails! I work for the NSA.

Jk

[polmico]

Slaughterhouse Five-

First time! Can you believe it?

Great stuff. I read most of Vonnegut's work when I was about 16 or 17, in just a few months. I've gone back and revisited a few novels here and there, and they're still brilliant. Love his writing style.

Still reading Borges' collection of short stories. Very odd writing style but absolutely awesome.

[polmico]

Recently I finished reading Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road. Man, that's just about the most disturbing book I've ever read.

Care to shine a light? What's it about?

[philsunset]

Just finished Banks' State of the Art a couple days ago.

Banks died recently. RIP.

[Big Ears]

A novelisation of the Bond film, Licence to Kill, by John Gardner. The author is a good writer in his own right, as he wrote The Liquidator, which was made into a film starring Rod Taylor. Gardner does well to write in Ian Fleming's style, while having to novelise the film, which, like most of them, has little to do with the original stories.

I read that Fleming died during the making of the second Bond film, From Russia with Love. He visited the set and, by all accounts, was happy with the production. However, it seems that, following his death, the producers saw an opportunity to make their own films. Don't get me wrong, I love the series, but they bear little relation to Fleming's superior books.

Having worked my way through the Fleming stories held at the local library, I have started on the Gardner versions. I even read a collection of Daily Express comic strips, called The Golden Ghost by an American writer, Jim Lawrence. The illustrations by the talented Yaroslav Horak are excellent, but the original stories feel wrong and the dialogue is bizarre.

[PeterG]

Read 2 or 3 of the John Gardner novels a few years ago, very enjoyable actually, well on a par with Fleming.

[Lopez]

Care to shine a light? What's it about?

It's about a family in depression-era Georgia. They are sharecroppers who haven't planted in years, though the father says he's going to and never does. Their house is falling down and they don't care. The grandmother is run over dead by the good-for-nothing son in the front yard and they don't care. The good-for-nothing son marries a preacher's widow and proceeds to destroy her new car after running down a black farmer on the side of the road and they don't care. The daughter apparently is gorgeous (a real Ellie Mae Clampett type), but she's got a hare lip. The father is constantly saying he's going to Augusta to get it fixed so he can marry her off and never does. The son finally assumes the farm and does nothing though he talks big like he will.

I found it disturbing because I know people like this.

[willyswing]

Zone One-Colson Whitehead

[BobM]

Tried to read "Gods War" by Kameron Hurley, but gave up after the first 100 pages. Too much unexplained strangeness and a disjointed story line. Personally I can't stand some of these "modern" writers who think it's OK to be all over the place and disjointed.

Moved on to Steve Berry's "The Third Secret", which is a story of intrigue within the Vatican, involving the secrets of Fatima and the next papal election. An easy read and it is holding my interest.

I've got Brandon Sanderson's "The Way of Kings" lined up next. Damn, I hope it is better then the mess he made completing the Robert Jordan series.