What are you reading right now? Showing 1,151-1,200 of 2,326

[Karen]

Since I have read nothing by David Foster Wallace, I am putting The Pale King at the top of my list. Still reading The Painted Girls, Hello, Gorgeous: Becoming Barbra Streisand and Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief

[Karen]

Whitney wrote: "Mark wrote: "I have The Master and Margarita on my shelf waiting. What did you like about it?"

Great characters and story, and a hilarious parody of the arts and society in Soviet Russia (even tho..."
This sounds really good. I am always up for a pistol packing cat!

[Leo]

I've been waiting to start The Corrections for a while now. Whether he's a rubbish author or not, I'll finally know! :-)

[Tracy]

Mark wrote: "Whitney wrote: "...and The Master and Margarita (which I highly recommend)"

I have The Master and Margarita on my shelf waiting. What did you like about it?"

One of my favorites. Satire, magical realism. My favorite thing is Bulgakov's vision of Jesus in the beginning of the book. You will never forget it, whether you are religious or no. (I am not--hard fallen Catholic..). The love story is good too. Oh, yeah, the devil isn't really a bad guy here.

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Karen wrote: "This sounds really good. I am always up for a pistol packing cat! ..."

Amen to that!

I just stumbled across a copy of Brave New Worlds today - a dystopian short story anthology with an amazing collection of stories and writers (including Shirley Jackson,Ursula K. Le Guin,Neil Gaiman,J.G. Ballard,Cory Doctorow,Paolo Bacigalupi,Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Orson Scott Card and more.
Since I just finished The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making last night, I've jumped on the new anthology right away!

Also I'm waiting on my copy of The Pale King to arrive for he group read, and reading A Corner of White, which is an excellent YA Kindle read. You can read it in little bursts and still remember what's going on, but it's fast moving and engaging enough to keep me interested.

[Swati]

Finished with Bring Up The Bodies :) , awesome book :). Currently reading Gone Girl.

[Jan]

gave up on The Gravedigger's Daughter started The Painted Girls and put The Master and Margarita on my to read list. It sounds really good!

[Tracy]

Jan wrote: "gave up on The Gravedigger's Daughter started The Painted Girls and put The Master and Margarita on my to read list. It sounds really good!"

:)

[Nigel]

Just finished The Ethos Effectand am now either going to continue with Marcus Aurelius Meditations, The Autumn of the Middle Ages or The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory...
I never seem to get enough time for good fiction....

[Karen]

I have finished Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief and recommend it highly to anyone who is interested in why people who should know better embrace psycho mythos and how that mythos is constructed. Here is my review.
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/.... I am now concentrating on our next group read - The Pale King

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Hey Karen. Since you have a copy in front of you, do you think 15th March is a reasonable timeframe for that group read? I'm starting to doubt it, as I've heard it's a slow going one. What do you think?

[Nicholas]

Ruby wrote: "Hey Karen. Since you have a copy in front of you, do you think 15th March is a reasonable timeframe for that group read? I'm starting to doubt it, as I've heard it's a slow going one. What do you t..."

I can tell you there's about a 0% chance I'll finish by the 15th.

[Karen]

Nicholas wrote: "Ruby wrote: "Hey Karen. Since you have a copy in front of you, do you think 15th March is a reasonable timeframe for that group read? I'm starting to doubt it, as I've heard it's a slow going one. ..." He has a pretty dense style. He packs a lot on a page and you can't speed read here. I would say more like the 25th than the 15th.

[Alison]

Grendel by John Gardner. Anyone read it?

[Whitney]

Finished Boneshaker. Some entertaining window dressing, but not much depth. Which was pretty much my view of Steampunk before I started it, so my prejudices may have unfairly biased my opinion.

Now rereading The Mouse And His Child before starting up with Faust again.

[Tracy]

Alison wrote: "Grendel by John Gardner. Anyone read it?"

Yes. Modern, Freudian view of the Beowulf legend, thru Grendel's eyes. A little like Frankenstein--sympathetic monster.

[Theo]

I finished A Storm of Swords today, which may be my favorite of the series so far. I'm almost finished with Where Things Come Back.

Now I'm starting Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened and O Pioneers!.

[Whitney]

Theo wrote: "I finished A Storm of Swords today, which may be my favorite of the series so far. I'm almost finished with Where Things Come Back..."

That was definitely my favorite of the series!

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Whitney wrote: "Finished Boneshaker. Some entertaining window dressing, but not much depth. Which was pretty much my view of Steampunk before I started it, so my prejudices may have unfairly biased my opinion.

No..."

So disappointing, isn't it? It had all the potential in the world with those story elements: zombies, airships, alternative history etc etc. She just didn't do enough with it.

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Mark wrote: ".I hate it when that happens. ."

Yeah. I think wasted potential is worse than it just being a bad book.

[Tracy]

Mark wrote: "Tracy wrote: "I am reading "

I have The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien on my short list."

I think The Things They Carried is a superior read. More profound?

I am presently readingEverything Is Illuminated. I don't want it to end.

[Lolis]

Reading

[Whitney]

Whitney wrote: "Finished Boneshaker..."

Ruby wrote: "So disappointing, isn't it? It had all the potential in the world with those story elements: zombies, airships, alternative history etc etc. She just didn't do enough with it. "

Yeah, disappointing is the word. I really thought the problem was just shear authorial laziness. She wanted to write about all the cool stuff (the rotters, the walled city containing the blight, the obligatory Steampunk accouterments) but wasn't willing to put in the research and the work to really give it any solidity. It would have made a good Seattle Steampunk halloween haunted house, but as a novel it fell short.

[Leo]

FInished La ruta Joyce, charming wee graphic novel where a Spanish guy goes to important places in James Joyce's life. I liked it even better than Dublinés the Joyce biography, and think it would still be good fun for a non-Joycean travel fan :-)

Also Childhood's End, a ridiculously well-time-test-standing sci-fi book, highly recommend it :D

Now started Umbrella, my first Will Self, which for him is not as sesquipedalian as I thought it would be thank bejeezus haha! Really enjoying so far..

[Lesley]

Going to start this one!Kept in the Dark

[Riona]

Leo wrote: "Now started Umbrella, my first Will Self, which for him is not as sesquipedalian as I thought it would be thank bejeezus haha! Really enjoying so far.."

Curious how Umbrella will be for you! I've only read one Will Self novel so far, Great Apes, which I didn't like anywhere near as much as I expected to. I do have a few of his other books on my TBR pile, though...

[Riona]

I'm still making slow-but-steady progress through Infinite Jest, but I feel like I may need to take a break soon for some lighter fare. I did just get Code Name Verity out of the library, so maybe that will be next up!

[Whitney]

Bird Brian wrote: "I'm reading The Atom Station by Halldór Laxness. I hadn't heard of this before; it was recommended by a non-GR friend, and it's pretty good. I hadn't known, but this guy got a Nobel Prize for liter..."

Let us know how you like it. I read Independent People and loved it. I hadn't heard anything about this one but it looks good!

[Jan]

got The Master and Margarita from the library but already started The Witching Hour and it is really good. Good thing there's such a thing called renewals.

[Petra]

Alison wrote: "Grendel by John Gardner. Anyone read it?"

Alison, I read Grendel a few years back; just after reading Beowulf. I really enjoyed it. Hope you're liking it.

[Mike]

I'm reading Moon Dance by J.R. Rain

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

My copy of The Pale King arrived today! Squee! Still under halfway through Brave New Worlds, (it's a bit of a "kitten squisher" as a certain Melki would say) but I actually think I'll finish this anthology.

[Maria]

Quo Vadis by Sienkewic :) Or at least i think you spell it like that :)

[Joanne Farley]

I am reading Gathering Blue, it's not as great as The Giver but I am still enjoying it.

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Hey guys. Just a reminder to please use the GR book title links in posts. ("Add book/author" above the comment box).

Cheers

[Theo]

Recently finished O Pioneers! and Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened.

Moving onto Christine and Company Of Liars.

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

My copy finally arrived, so I've started The Pale King. Problem is, I've just adopted a 3month old kitten from the local shelter. It is VERY hard to read this with a kitten bouncing off the walls!

[Leo]

Ruby wrote: "My copy finally arrived, so I've started The Pale King. Problem is, I've just adopted a 3month old kitten from the local shelter. It is VERY hard to read this with a kitten bouncing off the walls!"

YAYYY!! What's his/her wee name?

Riona wrote: "Curious how Umbrella will be for you! I've only read one Will Self novel so far, Great Apes, which I didn't like anywhere near as much as I expected to. I do have a few of his other books on my TBR pile, though... "

One of my new faves! His material appears to be really different book to book, so I think he could be hit and miss, but just started The Book of Dave and bloody love it :D Hope you're enjoying Jest, although I appreciate it can be a bit cementy sometimes (just invented that but think you know what I mean :D)

My Franzen experiment did not go well, but beasted past it with a
Will Self/Elfriede Jelinek book sandwich :-) Love reading different authors, but there's something to be said for knowing the kind of books you like and just reading loads of them, I'm book'd out ma nut! :D

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Leo wrote: "YAYYY!! What's his/her wee name?.."

Heehee. Her name is Swanky: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubytomb...

[Whitney]

Ruby wrote: "Leo wrote: "YAYYY!! What's his/her wee name?.."

Heehee. Her name is Swanky: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubytomb..."

Awesome laser cat! Congratulations to both of you!

[Riona]

Ruby wrote: "Leo wrote: "YAYYY!! What's his/her wee name?.."

Heehee. Her name is Swanky: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rubytomb..."

OMG, adorbs.

[Riona]

Leo wrote: "One of my new faves! His material appears to be really different book to book, so I think he could be hit and miss, but just started The Book of Dave and bloody love it :D Hope you're enjoying Jest, although I appreciate it can be a bit cementy sometimes (just invented that but think you know what I mean :D)"

Good to know. I've heard good things about
The Book of Dave and How the Dead Live so those will be the next Will Self books I try.


I'm about a quarter of the way through Infinite Jest and the past few chapters have been pretty boring, so I'm taking a quick break and have just started Code Name Verity. It's pretty good and suspenseful, but maybe a little too YA at times.

[Ruby , Mistress of Chaos]

Mark wrote: "I love how the first picture says "Take me home, I dare you." ..."

That's EXACTLY what she did!

[Stephanie]

Riona- I was recommended Infinite Jest by a friend of mine, but was hesitant to start it without another opinion. What do you think of it specifically?

[Whitney]

Ruby wrote: "Mark wrote: "I love how the first picture says "Take me home, I dare you." ..."

That's EXACTLY what she did!"

She definitely looks like she has her fair share of catitude!

[Whitney]

I finished reading Faust Parts I & II. I think I would have preferred a prose translation, as I rarely love reading translated poetry. Overall really great if you read it in the right mood, as it more poetry than play, especially part 2. Also finished rereading The Mouse And His Child, which is a great kids book with plenty of philosophical complexity for adults as well. Starting rereading The Master and Margarita.

This brings up a question I have. Is there a way to also mark a book you have already read as 'currently reading'? Do you just have to delete 'read' and start over? It's only an issue since I decided to do the reading challenge this year. Thanks.

[Petra]

Theo wrote: "Recently finished O Pioneers! and Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened."

I haven't read all of Willa Cather's books but of the ones I've read O Pioneers! is my favorite.

[Petra]

Riona wrote: "I'm about a quarter of the way through Infinite Jest and the past few chapters have been pretty boring,.."

Riona & Stephanie, I'm also reading Infinite Jest and have about 200 pages & 4 pages of footnotes to go. It's a very detailed and dense book. I'm really enjoying it but it is a time commitment, for sure.
The way it reads rather reminds me of Life, in a way. At times Life just rolls along, nothing happening, then one little incident will start things rolling and stress, action, consequences happen. I'm really interested in seeing how DFW pulls all this together.

[Derek]

Whitney wrote: "Is there a way to also mark a book you have already read as 'currently reading'?"

Just put it on your currently-reading shelf, and when finished set the "read" date (which will overwrite any previous read date). If you want to actually keep a record of all the read dates, most people shelve different editions.

[Riona]

Stephanie wrote: "Riona- I was recommended Infinite Jest by a friend of mine, but was hesitant to start it without another opinion. What do you think of it specifically?"

Petra wrote: "I'm also reading Infinite Jest and have about 200 pages & 4 pages of footnotes to go. It's a very detailed and dense book. I'm really enjoying it but it is a time commitment, for sure.
The way it reads rather reminds me of Life, in a way. At times Life just rolls along, nothing happening, then one little incident will start things rolling and stress, action, consequences happen. I'm really interested in seeing how DFW pulls all this together."

That's a really good way to put it. I'm not that far in (about a quarter of the way, maybe a little more), but so far I've found parts that were highly entertaining and then more boring parts where nothing really happens. I'm at one of the boring parts now and my mind keeps wandering.