What are you currently reading? Showing 1-50 of 1,833

[Werner]

A couple of the other Goodreads groups I belong to have threads where people can post (and discuss, if anyone wants to) something about what books they're currently reading; so I thought it might be fun to start one here. For starters, although I read more fiction than nonfiction these days, I'm currently reading a nonfiction book, The Lost Gospel of Judas: Separating Fact from Fiction (Eerdmans, 2007), by two Canadian scholars. I expect it to be a quick read.

[Vicky]

I enjoy nonfiction also, currently I'm reading The Spiritual Guide from Miguel de Molins and it's translated from Spanish to English .I've heard things of doomsday (sorry only know the title )and that is fiction .I guess it deals with the papal timeline of yesterday and today ,and has a grime ending hence the title .

[Werner]

I'm currently reading New Moon, the first sequel to Twilight. I got a copy last month for my birthday. :-)

[Nicole]

I'm in a fantasy phase at the moment. Switching off among The Silmarillion, a book about Gwenevere called The Dragon Queen, and finishing up the 4th of The Vampire Diaries (published back in 1991 and revived in the last couple of years because of Twilight).

[Vicky]

Happy Belated Birthday Werner. Just finished the third volume of Twelve Kingdoms "The Vast Spread of the Sea ." It's all fanasty too, I liked for the Japanese culture input ,the author is Japanese and the story lines have been really neat.

[Werner]

Thanks, Vicky! The Twelve Kingdoms series sounds interesting; glad you're enjoying it!

[Reggia]

Hi everyone! For the first time in a long time, I'm not getting much reading in at all. I can't believe I have nothing new to report for books although I do still have a stack from the library that I just renewed (with hope). ;) A Tale of Two Cities is in the stack...

I am still very eager to read something from Carl Hiassen as well as Bill Bryson (the library never has the titles I'm interested in so I need to do a request).

[Werner]

In addition to the books I read to, and by, myself, I usually also have one that I'm reading out loud, at intervals, to my wife. So besides New Moon, which I've just about got finished, I've been reading through Orson Scott Card's Tales of Alvin Maker series to Barb. We've just finished the third of the six volumes, and started the fourth one, Alvin Journeyman, today.

[Werner]

This past week, I finished reading G. K. Chesterton's The Napoleon of Notting Hill (which is pretty short), and have started reading Haunted Lily by Goodreads author Sidney Fox. That one is the October common read for the Supernatural Fiction Readers group.

[Nicole]

I'll be interested to hear what you think of that book, Charly.

[Nicole]

The movie is one of my favourites, but I haven't gotten around to the book.

[Nicole]

You couldn't go wrong there! $1! and it supports Friends of the Library! It's a bonus if the book is good. :)

[[deleted user]]

I just recently found Charlaine Harris as someone on goodreads mentioned her to me. She has a great Southern style which I sure enjoy. I first read one of her vampire books as I like stories about vampires. I am having a hard time finding the first one in the series tho.

[Nicole]

We have local library friends sales here, too. I confess that I'm a member of the organization, though I've yet to make it to one of the sales.

[[deleted user]]

Finishing New Moon (not worth the time on it or Twilight) and now reading several Valerie Wolzein mysteries - The Fortieth Birthday Body and All Hallow's Evil.

[[deleted user]]

Syra wrote: "Finishing New Moon (not worth the time on it or Twilight) and now reading several Valerie Wolzein mysteries - The Fortieth Birthday Body and All Hallow's Evil."

I am a BIG fan of Twilight and going to read New Moon for the 4th time before the movie comes out. I can't be on any of the groups for it tho as they are mostly little teenagers and I am 60. I just bought myself one of the New Moon book marks today when I got the first copy of Sookie Stackhouse series. I like most vampire books altho Dracula and some Anne Rice scared me to death.
Stephenie Meyer is very classy in that she never tells too much disgusting trash you never wanted to know in your whole life. Unlike Diana Galbadon or however its spelled....GAG! I made the mistake of buying 2 of her paperbacks brand new and never opened the second one after reading the first one. The last story in Stephen King's latest collecton of short stories is also disgusting and sickening. He starts out well and goes downhill. I saw a coffee table collection today with his picture on front (not a good one) and its a collecton of his letters, etc. If they had put a good picture of him on the front I might have been tempted. I tend to like beautiful things. I once ran into him or his double at a gun show in ABQ but when I tried to get his autograph he ran off. LOL!
Sometimes today trash passes for art. I will be glad when the pendulum swings again.

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

I can't wait for New Moon the movie to come out. I just finished reading "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher"
so good. Now finishing Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts. Really liked the one titled "Pop Art" hated the one about the Locust Sings. Made me sick to my stomach. I have a weak stomach, though.

[[deleted user]]

Carol wrote: "I can't wait for New Moon the movie to come out. I just finished reading "The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher"
so good. Now finishing Joe Hill's 20th Century Ghosts. Really liked the one titled "Pop Art..."

I have a weak stomach too. Reading the wrong thing can make me really sick. You sure read fast. I just got to page 43 in The Great Gatsby and feel sorry for Daisy.

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

It's my son's favorite book. I will have to look at the last story in Just Before Sunset. Sometimes Stephen King can get into some icky stuff. I get freaked!!!

[[deleted user]]

Carol wrote: "It's my son's favorite book. I will have to look at the last story in Just Before Sunset. Sometimes Stephen King can get into some icky stuff. I get freaked!!!"

Oh, I was thinking you liked it. So far it just seems to be about rich people but I already feel for Daisy.

Don't look at the last story!!! its too horrible and will make you GAG! I was so very sorry I read it.

[[deleted user]]

So what do ppl think about Laurie Hamilton's Vampire books? A friend met her at a writers' conference and loved talking to her, found her interesting but when she bought her first book she threw it away.
?????

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

Carol wrote: "It's my son's favorite book. I will have to look at the last story in Just Before Sunset. Sometimes Stephen King can get into some icky stuff. I get freaked!!!"

Canary wrote: "Carol wrote: "It's my son's favorite book. I will have to look at the last story in Just Before Sunset. Sometimes Stephen King can get into some icky stuff. I get freaked!!!"

Oh, I was thinking ..."

Oh I love it too. But I think my favorite is To Kill A Mockingbird.

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

Carol wrote: "It's my son's favorite book. I will have to look at the last story in Just Before Sunset. Sometimes Stephen King can get into some icky stuff. I get freaked!!!"

Canary wrote: "Carol wrote: "It's my son's favorite book. I will have to look at the last story in Just Before Sunset. Sometimes Stephen King can get into some icky stuff. I get freaked!!!"

Oh, I was thinking ..."

Oh I love it too. But I think my favorite is To Kill A Mockingbird.

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

Carol wrote: "It's my son's favorite book. I will have to look at the last story in Just Before Sunset. Sometimes Stephen King can get into some icky stuff. I get freaked!!!"

Canary wrote: "Carol wrote: "It's my son's favorite book. I will have to look at the last story in Just Before Sunset. Sometimes Stephen King can get into some icky stuff. I get freaked!!!"

Oh, I was thinking ..."

Oh I love it too. But I think my favorite is To Kill A Mockingbird.

[Nicole]

Syra, someone whose opinion on the matter I can trust warned me that Laurel Hamilton's books are essentially pornographic. Since that sort of thing isn't my cup of tea, I've avoided them.
I've found I have to beware some of the recommendations that get stuck in blurbs, such as, "If you like Jim Butcher, try Laurel Hamilton" or "If you like JK Rowling, try Phillip Pullman or Paul Park." Not sure why certain things get lumped together, beyond a vague, general similarity of genre.

[Nicole]

BTW, I'm currently reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which so far is delightful. I recommend it to anyone with an interest in good YA books, Greek myth, urban fantasy, and Harry Potter and/or Artemis Fowl.

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

Sounds like a good choice. I've heard that about Laurel Hamilton books. Some books aren't for everybody. I have too many on my list to go to the dark side.

[Werner]

Syra and Callista, I haven't read any of Hamilton's Anita Blake series. However, one of my Goodreads friends (who's not in this group) has; and he says it started out as a pretty good series of the paranormal type, without R and X-rated sexual content. The devolution into pornography started at a later point (I think he said around the fifth book), and was rapid from then on. Hamilton's later series all sank into the pornography pit almost from the beginning.

[[deleted user]]

Thanks for the comments.
My sister has suddenly caught the sf bug and asked me for some authors. Naturally my mind went blank but I did remember Greg Bear, Walter Jon Williams, Elizabeth Moon, Roger Zelazny, Dean Wesley Smith & Kristin Kathryn Rausch and maybe some more, mostly from conferences. I would appreciate your top two pics (don't want to overwhelm the woman) other than these. Thanks.

[Werner]

Since I read more speculative than descriptive fiction, I've read a pretty fair amount of SF, and it's hard to limit myself to just two recommendations! But my first one has to be Walter M. Miller, Jr., who won the Hugo Award in 1961 for A Canticle for Leibowitz, which is my favorite SF novel. (The lists of Hugo and Nebula award winners are available online, and would be good sources --especially the older ones-- for reading suggestions, too.) There are a lot of good choices to pick from for the second, but I'll go with C. S. Lewis, for his Space Trilogy (his Narnia series is fantasy). The second installment, Perelandra, might be a bit heavy going for a reader new to the genre (especially if she's not into Lewis' theology) but Out of the Silent Planet and That Hideous Strength are much easier reads and don't require reading the second volume to appreciate. (His posthumous collection Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories would be of interest to an SF reader as well.)

[Nicole]

Thanks for the feedback, Werner.
Syra, I recommend Walter Jon Williams to certain readers of SF, too; his work is really complex and thought-provoking. Though he can get racy, so his books are not suitable for all readers.
I've been curious about Greg Bear but haven't read him yet.
I'm currently reading book four of The Dresden Files. October is a good time to read about wizards and beasties.
I'm also reading Anne Perry's first Thomas and Charlotte Pitt Victorian-set mystery. I like the character of Charlotte so far, but I haven't met Thomas yet. I'm currently in the middle of a section from the point of view of Emily, the youngest daughter. She is clothing, hair, and courtship-obsessed like Kitty Bennet, so I'm hoping there are not huge chunks of narrative devoted to her.

[Werner]

Yesterday, I finished reading God on a Harley by Joan Brady. That was a very quick, light-weight read, recommended by my wife (who'd picked it up for a dime at a yard sale). I've just begun reading John Buchan's classic espionage/intrigue novella The 39 Steps (1915). It's been on my to-read shelf for some time, and promises to be a very quick read as well. (Except for his fantasy story "The Far Islands," I've never read any of his work.)

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

You will love the 39 steps, I think.
I've just finished Patricia Highsmith's "Found In the Street" and "The Black House." Found in the Street could have been written today except for the absence of cellphones and laptops. I think Highsmith was way ahead of her time. The story is great--Ralph sees certain things happen where he lives in New York and he draws his own conclusion as to what is going on but he isn't even close. Also just finished 20th Century Ghosts and think Joe Hill has inherited his father's talent for the macabre and the chiller.

[[deleted user]]

Reading Valerie Wolzein's mystery series with Susan Henshaw protagonist. Finished The Fortieth Birthday Body and on the All Hallow's Evil.
I loved Chocolat also. A friend told me it is a catagory called something like "fantasy realism" in which the two are merged so you don't have all of one or the other. also liked the movie.
Read Patricia Highsmith's books a while back but liked them very much.

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

Valerie Wolzein I will have to start that series. I love a mystery.

[Nicole]

Thanks for the 'thumbs-up x 2' for Chocolat!

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

Just got a hold of Drood it's going to be a long read, but thinking it will be good. Also reading In the Night Room by Peter Straub

[Vicky]

I like mystery myself. Just finished "A Great Deliverance" and choose to continue with the grouping of volumes but just skip around a bit ,so now I'm on the forth installment . Not lost with the characters currently.

[Mary]

Carol wrote: "Just got a hold of Drood it's going to be a long read, but thinking it will be good. Also reading In the Night Room by Peter Straub"

Carol, are you referring toDrood by Dan Simmons? It is a long read, but very absorbing! Perhaps not *quite* as good as The Terror. Don't you just love a long, weighty book?

I just started The Wrong Mother this afternoon. So far, so good.

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

I do love a long weighty book. I was in seventh heaven when I was reading The Count of Monte Cristo.

[[deleted user]]

Finished Wolzein's 40th Birthday Body and All Hallow's Evil. Now reading her one with a picture of Old Faithful on the cover but can't remember the title!!!? Also trying to finish New Moon. The previews for the movie look right on from the book.
I read a lot of mysteries and true crime (love Ann Rule; she is such a nice lady). She actually working a hotline with Ted Bundy on the night shift and he would walk her to her car so she would be safe! How wierd is that?

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

It's weird. He actually lived in a small community in SLC in the avenues and was one of the leaders of a group of boy scouts. I drove through the avenues all the time where he lived and didn't even know he was there. It's creepy when you think someone in a close neighborhood could be that twisted and doing the things he did and not be aware of it.

[[deleted user]]

Indeed. We had a marijuana dealer next door. I also have a friend who has since moved who was a former police officer and worked for State Attorney General's office. He told me you'd be surprised how many meth labs there are all over the city in all types of communities. He always said if you smell a chemical that is not usual and is constant, call police.

[[deleted user]]

Peter Straub's Ghost Story was good. They made a movie of it with good cast including Fred Astaire!

[Werner]

I haven't seen the movie version of Ghost Story, but I gave the book five stars! It was a common read for the Supernatural Fiction Readers group this past winter; and after reading it, I regretted that I'd waited so many years to do so. :-)

[[deleted user]]

The book was definitely better. Ghost Story.

One more comment on meth labs: Police get out quick when they see anything suspicious now. We've had at least two blow up in motel rooms. Now that is really scarey.

[Nicole]

New Mexico has lots of meth labs. You hear about it all the time. Very scary.
Vicky--I've read A Great Deliverance, too. Liked the main characters a lot. I guess I shouldn't feel I have to stick to the order the books were published in, since I've seen some of the PBS Inspector Lynley episodes based on later books.
I'm *still* reading The Cater Street Hangman. I want to know whodunnit, but getting there's something of a trudge. But I'm not giving up!

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

Hate the trudge! Who wrote it? Sometimes they put in way too much detail..snooze

[Nicole]

The author's name is Anne Perry. A lot of people must like her, because she has had a ton of books published. I know what you mean about detail sometimes (depends on the type of detail), but that isn't the problem here. I'm not very fond of many of the characters, and the way some of the social commentary is delivered is starting to sound like a lecture.

[ღ Carol jinx~☆~☔ʚϊɞ]

Oh I see what you mean. Yes, I know who Anne Perry is so I will have to check this one.