Just Curious

Posted on October 8, 2011    Posted by      608 Comments

What are you reading right now?

(Aside from this blog.)

(Also, if it’s something from me, then what did you read right before it.)

Well?

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608 Comments on “Just Curious”

  2. “The Cloister and the Hearth” Charles Reade, also “The Portable Emerson”, and “Leaves of Grass”. Color me cliche but I never took the time to read the classics before.

  4. Dances with Dragons. Before that was a reread of OMW series and Agent to the Stars after seeing John in Seattle.

  8. Glen Cook’s Black Company series (book 5, to be precise – Dreams of Steel) which I don’t love, actually don’t even like about half the time, but provide some excellent background to the military fantasy subgenre of which the Malazan Book of the Fallen is the most striking recent example.

    (I also just read both of Cherie Priest’s new books, and both of those I loved. Loved!)

  9. Bad typing, sorry. I’m reading “The Lady is a Screamer” novella by Conn Iggulden.

  10. I’m listening to A Storm of Swords by George RR Martin. Does listening to an audiobook instead of reading count?

  11. All Hell let Loose by Max Hastings
    The Book of Transformations by Mark Charan Newton
    Purple Ronnie’s Ultimate Toilet Book by Purple Ronnie
    Quirkology – The Curious Science of Everyday Lives by Richard Wiseman
    Footrot Flats book 4 by Murray Ball

    all on the go at the moment

  13. “SuperVision” a text on leadership in the educational setting, and “Hot Six” by Janet Evanovich.

  14. Serious reading: Food First: Beyond The Myth Of Scarcity by Frances Moore Lappé and Joseph Collins (published in 1977, frighteningly relevant in 2011). Fun reading: Just finished Cold Magic by Kate Elliot, about to start Perdido Street Station by China Miéville.

  17. Poul Anderson’s Technic universe (I am in the middle of David Falkyn, Star Trader)
    Sharon Lee and Steve Miller’s Liaden books, I just finished Fledgling
    Fred Brooks’ The Mythical Man Month

  18. “Tonal Sight-reading for Choirs” by Nat E. Frazer. Actually I’m not just reading it, I’m retyping it. My father self-published it in 1971 and I just sold most of the few remaining copies to a choir director in Birmingham. Since the original was typed on a manual typewriter, with the music and keyboard illustrations hand-drawn, it’s long overdue for a legibility upgrade.

  22. I wasn’t reading, but so much daydreaming about become filthy rich beyond the dreams of avarice, purchasing the rights to “Robotech” from Harmony Gold, and hiring you as a consultant on how to modernize and fix the franchise.

    I’m gonna go buy a lottery ticket now.

  23. Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon and Ian Banks’ Transition. When those are done, I’ll lighten the mental weight a bit and read Fuzzy Nation.

  27. I’m juggling several books, depending on what room/mood I’m in.

    Philip Ball: The Music Instinct
    David Crystal: By Hook or By Crook
    Charles Timbrell: French Pianism: A Historical Perspective
    George R.R. Martin: Dance with Dragons
    Simon Goldhill: Love, Sex and Tragedy: Why Classics Matter
    Mike Parker: The Wild Rover: A Blistering Journey Along Britain’s Footpaths
    Lemistry: A Celebration of the Work of Stanislaw Lem (arrived in the mail this afternoon and started…)

    I’m also nerdily cataloging books on Librarything.com right now so that’s why I know exactly what I’m reading in such detail.

  30. Wizards First Rule from the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. I love your books, but I tend to waver back and forth between fantasy and sci-fi. Best of both worlds :)

  32. The Limbreth Gate, 3rd in Megan Lindholm’s (AKA Robin Hobb) Ki and Vandien Quartet and Armenian Folk-tales and Fables By Charles Downing

  34. Just finished Keith Richard’s autobiography. And currently reading stories about the people at Bletchley Park, after a trip there last week.

  35. I’m also in the middle of Moby-Duck by Donovan Hohn, and just finished re-reading Bujold’s Paladin of Souls.

  36. Hmm, the last 4 books I’ve read have come from authors on your “big idea” suggestions. Most recently, Iron Druid Chronicles #2. I figure I’ve got to stay up to date on good YA literature as a teacher :)

  37. Just finished Ready, Player One by Ernest Cline.
    Currently reading The Wooden Man by Harry Connolly and Starbound by Joe Haldeman.
    On Deck: The Unincorporated Man by Dani Kollin and Eytan Kollin.

  39. Claire Tomalin’s “Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self”. Pretty darn interesting biography so far and I’m also learning a lot about the background of the English Civil Wars and the reign of Cromwell.

  41. A collection of Theodore Sturgeon short stories, some of which I’d read before and some which are new to me. In between those I’ve been rereading Elizabeth Haydon’s Requiem for the Sun and LE Modesitt Jr’s The White Order. I do tend to save uninterrupted reading for new stories — when rereading, a passage in one will remind me of a passage in another and I will go get the other and read them both… so I’ve touched all three of those books within the last half hour.

  43. Oh, and the book I’ve got in my bag to read whenever I’ve got some boring ass waiting to do when I’m out is “A.D. 500” by Simon Young. It’s a spoof travelogue of a voyage through the British Isles in the year 500. Be warned it’s not just a comedy travelogue though, it’s actually a history book in a very clever disguise, it tricks you into learning stuff. (John, I dunno if you can merge this into my other comment, please?)

  46. Mostly Heinlen’s Stranger in a Strange Land, but I’m the sort of person who reads a lot of stuff simultaneously. The other main books I’m reading right now are The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (re-read), Garth Nix’s Grim Tuesday (book 2 of Keys to the Kingdom), and Rothfuss’s The Wise Man’s Fear (I’m re-reading it in time to Jo Walton’s Tor.com re-read). Finally, there’s Le Guin’s translation of the Tao Te Ching and the complete works of Lovecraft: the latter two I just read a chapter or two from whenever I happen to feel like it.

  48. Iain Banks’s “The Business”, Patricia Tallman’s “Pleasure Thresholds” and Charles Stross’s “Rule 34”. I’ve read all of your fiction at least once, with the exception of “The Sagan Diaries” which I own, and keep meaning to pick up.

  49. I’m reading the Horse Clan series by Robert Adams. Actually, rereading them. The first time was 20 or 30 years ago. (Wow, was it really that long? Time flys!)

  53. That I’m not embarrassed to admit I’m reading:

    Walt Disney by Neal Gabler (deep in; fantastic)
    “Shouts and Murmurs” stories on The New Yorker web site
    100 Great SF Short Short Stories, ed. by Asimov, Greenberg and Olander (“Far From Home” by Walter Tevis is my new favorite short story. Find it; it’s … I don’t even …)

  55. “Dead Six” by Larry Correia (ePub)

    and

    “The Voyage” by David Drake (treeware)

  59. Currently reading:

    Physical Book: The Lost Fleet: Dreadnaught by Jack Campbell
    Audio Book: The Temporal Void by Peter F. Hamilton
    Audio Book with Wife: A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin

  60. “Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America” by Richard White.

    But over on the bookshelf Fuzzy Nation is giving me the evil eye and intoning “Read me….”

    Dr. Phil

  65. Currently reading: “A Glass of Shadow” by Liz Williams
    Previous: “The Quantum Thief” by Hannu Rajaniemi
    Next: “Rule 34” by Charles Stross

  66. “Hitchhiker’s Guide” series and “Brave New World”. I’m trying to work my way through NPR’s top 100 SF/Fantasy list.

  67. Rough Guide to the Universe. I just started it but something jumped to my mind. Why aren’t text books like this? Maybe it’s me. It has been decades since I have read a text book. And a question, why centre instead of center. There was another one, I think it was neighbour instead of neighbor.
    God No! Penn Jillette.

  70. Just finished Chasing the Moon by A. Lee Martinez and Horn by Peter M. Ball. Currently reading The Door to Lost Pages by Claude Lalumiere and Bleed by Peter M. Ball

  72. “Falling to Earth,” autobiography of Al Worden, command module pilot on Apollo 15; “Moon Lander” by Tom Kelly, head of the team at Grumman that developed the lunar module; and “Savage Run” by C.J. Box.

  74. As far as novels go: Iain Banks’ Surface Detail. But to be quite honest, like the other more recent Culture novels, so far it’s boring me. Not enough ships/drones, too many of his inexplicably boring human characters. :/ (Transition was quite good though.) Beginning to think I should perhaps just skip future Culture novels and reread Use of Weapons every time one comes out.

  78. Just finished The Falling Machine by Andrew P Mayer
    Starting today:
    Lighgbringer (arc) by KD McEntire

    Also reading Mecanique,
    Tante Marie’s Cooking School Cookbook,
    Malifaux Twisting Fates
    And Jamie (Oliver) magazine

  79. I just finished all of your novels, and now I’m reading “Reamde” by Neal Stephenson. I’m listening to “a Song of Ice and Fire” in the car on my commute. I’m up to “A Storm of Swords.”

  80. Just finished “Ready Player One.” Working on “Dance with Dragons” but it’s slower than expected. Working on three or four others as well, but they’re so far unremarkable.

  81. Jeff Hentosz, if you’ve not read much Walter Tevis then I can recommend any of his novels; The Man Who Fell To Earth, The Hustler & The Color of Money (yep, the pool movies), and a slightly forgotten melancholy dystopian novel called Mockingbird that is my favorite of his work.

  82. Lamentation by Ken Scholes, but right after that in the reading list I have Deus ex machina by you, in the French version, my dad just read it and passed it on to me ;o)

  84. Last Week: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
    This Week: Reamde by Stephenson
    Next Week: Whatever strikes my fancy from the comments here!

  88. I’m re-reading the HHGTTG quadrilogy in parallel with a book about the computer programming language Clojure. Before that, I read Rule 34 by Stross and your Questions for a Soldier. All on my brand-new Kindle.

  89. At the moment, GRRM’s A Game of Thrones. I had bought it years ago but hadn’t gotten around to reading it. With all the buzz around the TV show (not to mention the fifth book release), seemed like a good time to open it up.

    Had also started reading Dan Simmons’ The Terror, which seems to be an interesting story, but its chapters seem to alternate between past and present tense between the two times in the story, which is just a little odd, and with as little time as I have to read right now, AGoT seems to lend itself better to reading a chapter or two here or there in a few minutes of downtime.

    As for audiobooks, I’ve got Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon on my Audible app. A good, relatively quick story that I’ve always enjoyed.

    Too many stories, not enough time!

  91. Also a Book Juggler-

    Reprobates: The Cavaliers of the English Civil War- by John Stubbs
    An Infamous Army- by Georgette Heyer
    There But For The- by Ali Smith
    Portfolios of the Poor: How the World’s Poor Live on $2 a Day- by Daryl Collins et al.
    The Dervish House- by Ian McDonald

  93. Text: Night Watch, by Sergei Lukianenko (English translation)
    Audio: The Uplift War, by David Brin (In preparation for finally getting through the second trilogy)

  95. Just finished – Zeitoun by Dave Eggers
    In the middle of Half the Sky by Kristoff and WuDunn
    Just started One Day by David Nicholls
    All caught up on Scalzi books and waiting for A Game of Thrones to be available for my Kindle as my first Kindle/library borrow.

  99. The Dark Pond, by Joseph Bruchac
    Shipbreaker, Paolo Bacigalupi
    The Potato Chip Puzzles, Eric Berlin
    Loving a Lost Lord, M.J. Putney
    Soulmate, L.J. Smith
    Grace Dance, Kalayna Price
    Room, Emma Donoghue

    On my nook I’m working on The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen. And Insistent Hunger by Lyn Gala. And there are five or six other books on my bedside table that I push ahead in a little bit at a time. I may have a bit of an attention deficit problem. These are the ones I’m planning to finish in the next week or so, though.

  100. REAMDE, by Neal Stephenson. About 800 pages in and still enjoying it very much.

  101. Re-reading Vernor Vinge in preparation for his new book. Currently re-reading A Deepness in the Sky.

  102. I am reading True Crimes and Dracula and The seventh book in The Wheel of Time series.

  103. @Jim Menard you mean the HHGTTG trilogy! No matter how many books it has, it is always a trilogy (we’re up to book six now aren’t we?)

  104. Diplomacy by Kissinger for a class.

    Book 6 of the Wheel of Time. I had never at any point even contemplated reading a WoT book (Lord knows I had read everything else) but after reading and enjoying Mistborn by Sanderson and realizing he got picked up to finish the series, I started. I am enjoying the series so far though I do believe that Jordan has a super-human like ability to use 20 pages to describe a thing that normal authors take 1-2 pages to describe. I knew this going into it and will stick with it but has made me start to skim some of the longer passages.

  105. Listening to “The Warmth of Other Suns” by Isabel Wilkerson.
    Reading “Wolf Time” by Lars Walker on my Kindle.
    Reading “Hoot” by Carl Hiaasen on my Droid devices.

  106. Germline – The Subterrene Wars by TC Mc Carthy (picked it up from your big idea)
    Palimpsest – Stross (just got it in the mail from Subterranean)
    The Tomb (Repairman Jack) – by Paul Wilson

    and just finished a Stross marathon (Rule 34, the laundry series )

  107. “The Shadow: The Murder Master”, to be followed immediately by “The Shadow: The Hydra”. Printed in magazine size, with original cover and interior art and penned by the prolific Walter B. Gibson, writing as Maxwell Grant of course. ;-)

  108. Just finished Agent to the Stars last night (well done, by the way). I’m also reading a biography of Captain Cook and Coronets and Steel by Sherwood Smith. :)

  110. “Music 000001,” a blog in which the author, Victor Grauer, offers some speculation as to the origins of music, some 100,000 years ago, as well as how such ancient music may still be heard today.

    Prior to that, I read Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles” in comic book form.

  111. Just finished Heat Rises by Richard Castle (or whoever is behind those novels).
    Moving on to Downpour by Kat Richardson while still working my way through A Clash of Kings.
    Listening to Drood by Dan Simmons, previous to that was Across the Universe by Beth Revis.

  112. KILL ARTIST by Silva
    and
    HOUNDED by Kevin Hearne (great for Dresden Files fans)
    I’ve ready pretty much all of yours, though it’s been a few weeks back.

    Waiting impatiently for the Pub Date to read SNUFF by Terry Pratchett

  113. Currently – Walden, Thoreau and
    Good Omens – Gaiman/Prachert

    I’m pretty random. I’m re-reading Thoreau because I saw 3 references to it in 2 days and decided to pretend it was a sign.

  114. Rereading “A Fire Upon the Deep” in preparation for the sequal finally coming out. Also “Science and Technology in World History” on my Kindle when I want something that fits in a jacket pocket.

  116. I’m crunching through Elizabeth Moon’s Serrano/Suiza series. At the moment I’m on Rules of Engagement (book 5). This is a re-read, but I need to conserve brainspace because I’m also reading a textbook for a class I’ll be teaching next semester and also some research articles.

  117. I just finished Southern Gods by John Horner Jacobs.
    I am starting The Map of Time by Felix J Palma.
    I am listening to Grave Secret by Charlaine Harris and am not creeped out by the narrator getting with the guy she refered to as “my brother” over 3 books AT ALL…

  118. “The Cunning and the Haunted” – written by Richard Jessup, author of “The Cincinnati Kid”. I had a devil of a time finding it since as far as I can tell it was a paperback original in 1954 and hasn’t been reprinted. It’s loosely based on his experiences living in Southern orphanages. Find it and enjoy if you can.

  120. I just passed reading page 700 of Neil Stephenson’s REAMDE in pre-release review copy. I hear the paperback launched a week or two ago. Most fun I’ve had with his fiction in quite some time. What do you think?

    As of 10 minutes ago, when I finished the neuroethical Ch. 222: “Does Evil Exist?” of the biotechnothriller novel/trilogy Alzheimer’s War, following writing two more chapters of the concurrent unrelated novel Pirates & Dinosaurs (Chapter 11: “Pillar Erect” and Chapter 12: “Sneutrinos”), I’ve written 870,300 words of fiction since 6 July 2010. Several of the 10 resultant novels in hands of expert editors. Other written because, well, the characters won’t let go of my brain lobes.

  121. The Magician King
    Bridge of Birds
    Way of Kings
    Windup Bird Chronicles
    The Silver Bow

    Maybe I keep too many books in flight at once. Strangely, no nonfiction in there right now (unless you count Yoga for Martial Artists, but I’m not really reading that, just using it as reference), though I did just go through Think Write and Live Write recently (which have some interesting ideas and information in them, but unless you’ve never read books giving advice on the practicalities of writing, I can’t actually recommend, as they cover the same bases and are oddly inward looking), though 59 Seconds, which I’d read previously was a much better read and contained an insane amount of usable information.

  122. Stephen King’s short story collection “Everything’s Eventual” which has a few clunkers, some pretty good reads and a couple pretty excellent ones where he’s firing on all cylinders.

  123. Gosh, reading several things. City and the City by China Mieville. What it is Like to go to War by Karl Marlantes. The Accidental Guerrilla by David Kilcullen. And I finished up re-reading Pride and Prejudice last night. Have three more books from the library waiting for me, so I should probably go get on that…

  127. Non-fiction: Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

    Fiction: Ganymede by Cherie Priest

  129. Actually I’m reading ‘Old Man’s War’ by Scalzi and before that ‘The Help’ by Stockett.

  132. The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett. But just before that, a re-read of Old Man’s War before leaving it and the others in that world at Dad’s place for him to read.

  134. I actually just finished Your Hate Mail Will be Graded this morning. Before that I was reading Morbo by Phil Ball (history of Spanish football) and the Cave by Jose Saramago. I think I will be reading Disciple of the Dog by Scott Bakker next.

  137. Girl the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson (In preparation for the Fincher film) – primary
    Ubik by Philip K Dick – secondary
    Audiobooks while at work: Crashlander by Larry Niven and Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

  138. Just finished: “A Dance With Dragons” GRRM.
    Currently Reading: “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” Stieg Larsson in preparation for the movie
    Next-up: “The Hunger Games”

  139. For my fun reading, I’m working my way through the R. Austin Freeman Dr. Thorndyke series. Dr. Thorndyke was an early 20th century cross between Sherlock Holmes, Perry Mason, and Quincy ME—he’s a doctor and a lawyer who specializes in seemingly hopeless cases and who has amazing powers of logic. Fascinating character, who manages to avoid being boring despite his lack of eccentricity.

    They’re quite good, except for the occasional creepily racist, xenophobic, or sexist phrase or characterization that can be pretty startling and/or offensive to me as a 2011 reader.

  142. The Naked City (I bought it just for the Harry Dresden story)
    Running With The Pack
    next up:
    an anthology about Zombies & Stieg Larsson’s Millenium trilogy.

    Should keep me busy for a few days… =)

  144. Of course, two to ten references, books, papers, and blogs, for each chapter of hard Science Fiction or Hard Fantasy that I write. And 10 to 100 references for each refereed science paper. I had over 300 citations in the Psy.D. clinical dissertation that I just ghost wrote for a client. Who emailed me this week to say that the doctorate had just been awarded. I’m not a doctor, but I play one on the hologram TV.

    Of course, I have several dozen books piled at the top of each pile in bedroom and living rooms. I graze on a chapter of John Dickson Carr, a chapter of Harlan Ellison, a chapter of John Shirley, or a chapter of John Scalzi, whenever I need to be reminded of how really good novelists do it. I presume that you don’t want to know what Math texts or Cosmology texts I am also grazing in. But, as with everything else, I could be wrong.

  145. I finished Cherie Priest’s Dreadnaught yesterday, and started rereading Elizabeth Bear’s Blood and Iron.

    In nonfiction, I’m also reading A Clockwork Universe by Edward Dolnick, and Maximum Entropy and Ecology by John Harte. The former is a readable account of 17th century science. The latter? Anyone who finds the title intriguing might like the book, but that’s probably a fairly small audience.

  146. Recently read “The Pirate King” by Laurie R. King.

    To be read: “The Osiris Ritual” by George Mann and then Mrs Beeton’s Household Manual (a Victorian manual of how a household should be run, think the Martha Stewart of the Victorian era) for a project I’m thinking about…along with her needlework book.

  147. Just finished: Ben Aaronovitch’s The Rivers of London and Peter F. Hamilton’s Manhattan in Reverse.
    Currently Reading: Neal Stephenson’s Cryptonomicon
    About to Read: Ben Aaronovitch’s The Moon Over Soho.

  150. Just finished: Storm Front, by Jim Butcher.
    Now reading: Death and the Dream, by J. J. Brown.
    Next read: Yesterday’s Gone, Episode 1, by Sean Platt and David Wright.

  151. Currently skipping between 3 different books,
    Quantum Man – Richard Feynman’s Life in Science by Lawrence M. Krauss
    Adventures in Paranormal Investigation by Joe Nickell
    The Gone Away World by Nick Harkaway

  152. Dance with Dragons. Even bloodier than the earlier ones, and I’m sure it leaves the reader hanging just as badly. But I can’t help it.

  153. THE MAGICIAN KING by Lev Grossman.

    I’m devouring it. THE MAGICIANS might be the best book I’ve ever read, and KING is turned out to be a worthy successor, no mean feat.

  157. JUST finished Daemon by Daniel Suarez, likely dropping the sequel onto my tablet soon.

  159. The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. Although, oddly enough I just received in the mail from B&N the Essential Guide to Wedding Etiquette by Sharon Naylor instead of Insidious by Michael McCloskey that I actually ordered. Is someone trying to tell me something?

  160. I’m re-reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen (currently on Memories of Ice). It makes much more sense now than it did spread out over a couple of years. Reading Esslemont’s Malazan Empire books has helped fill in the gaps, too.

  161. Chapter 35 of the WIP for the rewrite. On the iPod was Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, for both inspiration and humor research for the next book.

  162. ‘The Stone Canal’ by Ken MacLeod, though I’ll probably move on to something else, perhaps ‘1491’ this afternoon as I expect to finish it soon.

  165. Just finished Perelandra by CS Lewis.

    Haven’t decided what to start next. Maybe go on to That Hideous Strength, or maybe go back to Out of the Silent Planet, because it’s always been my least favorite of the trilogy so I haven’t read it in a while.

  168. The Forever War, for the first time in eBook (The Forward by you was a present surprise! And I can totally see the similarity between your Old Man’s War series and Haldeman’s book. The fact that it was unintentional is sort of funny)

    Other then that, I’m mostly reading prose magazines (in eBook format), Analog, Asimov, and Clarksworld in particular. I just don’t have a lot of time for novels right now. I’m still sitting on a half finished Neuromancer (eBook) that I haven’t picked up in about three months. MEH.

  169. Opening Atlantis, by Harry Turtledove.
    The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.
    last finished: Sex on the Moon (neither SF nor porn) by Ben Mezrich

  170. Currently “Boneshaker” by Cherie Priest, intermixed with “Time Enough for Love” by RAH and “Mysterious Island”, Jules Verne.
    Prior to that, “Rule 34” by Charlie Stross, Downpour by Kat Richardson and Zero History by William Gibson. I just bought “The Eye of the World” by Robert Jordan for my Nook lately so I’ll be jumping back into that soon.

  171. For pleasure, working on The Princess Curse, which I found through The Big Idea. (So glad I did– it’s a lovely read.)

    For my undergraduate capstone, Achilles in Vietnam by Jonathan Shay, and The Vietnam War in American Memory, by Patrick Hagopian. (My capstone paper deals with how American discourses of healing, particularly around PTSD, have been used to co-opt national debates over the morality of war and silence the voices of veterans.)

  173. I’m reading A Gathering of Finches by Jane Kirkpatrick. Just finished reading Thunder Dog about a blind man and his dog during the attack on the Twin Towers.

  174. Oh and just skimming the comments here dropped a new load of “want to read” on the book pile.
    I wonder if I could quit my job and just read…
    Nah, my wife would kill me. Still, might be worth the risk.

  175. _The_Trophy_ by Bill Baldwin. Before that, _Monster_Hunter_Alpha_ by Larry Correia.

  176. Text: Heart of Darkness. Beyond a character named Kurtz, the line “The horror! The horror!”, and the jungle setting, it does not, in fact, bear any resemblance to Apocalypse Now. (OTOH, I’d just gotten out of the hospital and was high as a kite when I saw AN, so maybe I’m wrong. THE WALL made perfect sense that weekend, too.)

    Audio: Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis. How did the lead singer to the Red Hot Chili Peppers even survive past 1985?

  177. Reading: Flappers & Philosophers: The Collected Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald.
    Just finished: We, The Drowned by Carsten Jensen
    Coming up: I haven’t decided but my husband just ordered Reamde by Neal Stephenson. Maybe I’ll fight him for the spine-break.

  180. The Emperor’s Edge Vol 2 by Lindsey Buroker. Just finished Cast in Ruin by Michelle Sagara and All the Paths of Shadow by Frank Tuttle.

  184. Second the motion for “Quantum Man – Richard Feynman’s Life in Science” by Lawrence M. Krauss. With all due respect to “Genius: The Life and Science of Richard Feynman”, by James Gleick, I like Gleick — his book on Chaos is what I tell every nonscientist to read first on the subject, Krauss is describing my actual mentor and co-author. Gleick did the research at the anecdotal level, but didn’t grok the guy. Alan Alda did, in a gestalt actor way. My times with Feynman were so glorious, I’ll have to write my own Feynman anecdote book someday, it’s a fruitful subgenre. Meanwhile, he’s a recurring charcter in my Science Fiction AND my Fantasy stories and novels. At California Institute of Technology, and California Institute of Thaumaturgy, respectively.
    When I reach my right hand to the shelf immediately to the right of this PC, I touch “The Little Sister” by Raymond Chandler, “Los Alamos” by Joseh Kanon, “Sacred Clowns” by Tony Hillerman, “The Monk and the Philosopher” by Revel and Picard, “Where Are the Children” by Herb Brin (Dave Brin’s late mensch of a dad, nice to remember on this day of Atonement), and “Eternity” by Greg Bear.

  186. “The First Generation Experience” by Jeff Davis.

    It’s research for school.
    In my “free time” (as if graduate students ever have free time) I’m reading “On the Road” by Jack Kerouac.

  188. Aside from my comps reading, you mean? Ha. Supergods, by Grant Morrison. It’s the most amazing history of comics / memoir / theory of comics piece. So good.

  189. “Dark Water: Flood and Redemption in Florence–The City of Masterpieces” by Robert Clark

    Really interesting mix of art history, politics, and “writer abroad” memoir.

  192. Just finished
    Reamde
    White Tiger, Red Phoenix by Kylie Chan

    Reading
    A Beautiful Friendship by Weber

    All were/ are very good.

  193. Currently reading “Thirteen” by Richard K. Morgan in addition to your book, “You’re Not Fooling Anyone When You Bring a Laptop to the Coffee Shop” and “Carnage and Culture” by Victor Davis Hanson.

    Just before this I read the amazing book, “Sex At Dawn” by Christopher Ryan and Cacilda Jetha about human sexuality throughout history.

  196. Actually I am reading a book by Daniel H Wilson, called Robopocalypse, which I read about on this blog. So far I am enjoying it, and am about 1/2 way thru it. The Big Idea is an interesting source for me now for other authors [note to self: remember to nag John Scalzi to write another great novel!!]. Big idea for the book was:

    http://whatever.scalzi.com/?s=robopocalypse

    Cheers

    Michael

  198. All the Windwracked Stars on one side, The Dragon’s Path on another, and on a sort of theoretical third hand, having finished the Kindle sample of Wildwood, strongly considering buying that and continuing it.

  200. Barbara Hamilton’s (Hambly’s pen name) Sup with the Devil. Because who doesn’t love Abigail Adams as the lead in a historical mystery.

  204. Just finished both Cast in Ruin by Sagara and two e-book shorts by Ilona Andrews, while in the middle of Temple of the Winds (Goodkind): I have had all 11 books on my shelf for a few years (since I saw and enjoyed the TV show) and started reading my way through the series last month. Since they are LONG, I tend to lighten them up by reading another book in the more tedious parts (or when picking up the kids). Next (re) read is Deadly Vintage, a wonderful mystery by Elaine Flinn, who was lost to cancer after far too few books.

  205. Beyond Band of Brothers: The War Memoir of Major Dick Winters … finished that just recently and finally getting to Fuzzy Nation right now.

  212. Just read Room by Emma Donoghue, which was amazing. It’s definitely going to stay with me for a while. I’m in the middle of The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. It’s intriguing but I preferred Tipping the Velvet.

  213. I have several in progress at the moment. I’m rereading an omnibus edition of short stories by Charles de Lint (currently in the section that was originally issued as “Moonlight and Vines”); started on “The Writer’s Journey”, 3rd edition, by Christopher Vogler; “The Comfort of Things” by Daniel Miller; and in the car, the audiobook of Neil Gaiman’s “Fragile Things”, most likely to be followed up by “Neverwhere”, and de Lint’s “Memory and Dream”, which I recently reread but hadn’t taken out of the car, and then found myself stopping for a bite to eat last week with nothing else in the car I wanted to read, so I started it again. :)

    Now to go back through the comments and see if anyone’s already asked Scalzi what he’s reading, and if so, was there an answer…

  214. Reading road signs and billboards while passing through Ohio on I-90. Otherwise, “Reamde”.

  215. The letter I just wrote my students canceling class on Monday (that noise you’ll hear in few minutes is a group of homeschoolers finding out that they don’t have to give speeches.)

    Oh, you mean books? Accedia and Me by Kathleen Norris and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, which has to be one of the most elegant SF books ever written.

  217. Sigh – I daren’t add any more to my amazon wishlist but I am so tempted!

    Just read:
    Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy [brought back memories of the 70s in England all too well]

    Currently reading:
    CS Lewis’ Screwtape Letters [on Kindle – brilliant]
    Peter Carey The Unusual Life of Tristan Smith [actual book]
    Diane Duane The Big Meow [online]
    Kathleen Norris Amazing Grace [actual book]

    To read:
    Industrial Magic Kelley Armstrong
    John Brunner Stand on Zanzibar & The Sheep Look Up
    Liz Williams A Glass of Shadow
    Terry Pratchett Snuff

  218. Recently finished the audiobooks for Clive Barker’s first two Abarat books (a re-read), and received the third book from from the printer last week. However, that’s on hold as I am in the middle of The Magician King by Lev Grossman (which I’m enjoying but reading sporadically for some reason). On the graphic novel side of things, I just read James Kochalka’s kids story Pinky and Stinky, which was cute and has now been donated to my wife’s library for other kid’s to enjoy. This will be followed up by Michael Zulli’s The Fracture of the Universal Boy, which looks gorgeous!

  220. Reamde, by Neal Stephenson.

    Also working through the Lost Fleet series by Campbell (which has some very thoughtful space-naval warfare).

  222. “Nothing to envy”, a recent book about daily life in 80’s-90’s North Korea cobbled together from a journalist’s interviews of six people who made it out of there into South Korea.

    All of the stories are unbelievable. The book itself is a bit jumbled; its contents first appeared as several independent news stories, and the seams still show. However, the personal accounts are riveting. Highly recommended. First chapter is free on the Internet (forget where I found it, you can probably read it at Amazon).

  224. “The Departure” by Neal Asher. And “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” by Charles C. Mann.

  225. Currently I am reading book 9 of the Wheel of Time, (Winter’s Heart), as I am rereading WoT for the at least twentieth time. As audiobook it is Robin Hobb’s The Inheritance. My last read is online and centers on learning C#.
    Next in line is of course the rest of WoT, Ready Player One (I want the audiobook edition read by Wil, but apparently audible Germany does not yet sell it), then some Cody McFadyen, and I suppose that about covers the next four weeks.
    To all others: Thanks, your current books will be screened for potential follow ups for my reading stack.

  227. ‘Rumpole and the Reign of Terror’ by John Mortimer.
    Also listening to ‘Don Quixote’ as an audio-book.

  228. Recently finished fiction: Williamson’s Rogue, Doctorow’s Little Brother, Weber’s By Heresies Distressed. Currently Kratman’s A Desert Called Peace; next Hogan’s The Infinity Gambit.

    Brain and Mind, ongoing: Alkbrecht’s Social Intelligence; Goleman’s Vital Lies, Simple Truths; Bander and Grinder’s early NLP works: Frogs Into Princes, ReFraming, The Structure of Magic I & II.

    Military: Sun Tzu and Gagliardi, Bing-fa Martial Arts Strategy

    Cooking: Bullock-Prado’s My Life From Scratch.

    Scalzi, what are you reading?

  229. I’m reading Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera series, currently on book 2, Academ’s Fury. I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find more depth here than I was expecting when I picked up the first book.

  230. I just finished The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. I’ll be starting Son of Neptune as soon as Amazon bothers to send it. A Wizard of Earthsea is after that.

  231. Year’s Best Science Fiction Twenty Eighth Annual Collection edited by Gardner Dozois
    What Jesus Demands from the World by John Piper
    Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn

  232. I’m reading my free download of “Revel with a Cause: Liberal Satire in Postwar America.” from the U of C. Plus I hit my library’s used book racks for $.25 reads and found Bob Woodward’s State of Denial. Not a bad writer for a privileged white guy.

  233. Second the motion on Daniel H Wilson’s “Robopocalypse.” I eagerly await Spielberg”s film adaptation. The timing of his book tour prevented Dr. Wilson from being in the elite mini-convention that I ran inside The 8th International Conference on Complex Systems in Quincy, Massachusetts, the last days of June and first of July 2011. The product of that track, “Science Fiction and Complexity”, and the edited transcripts of the panel I moderated, is to be published by Physics editors of Springer USA. This is the 2nd of these I’ve run. To be eligible, you need a PhD and to have published a science fiction novel. In the first, I had Dr. Stanley Schmidt, Dr. David Brin, Dr. Geoffrey Landis, Dr. Mary Turzillo, Dr. Marvin Minsky (yes, he co-authored that novel with Harry Harrison), and Dr. John Forbes Nash, Jr.. (not Russell Crowe who portrayed him well in “A Beautiful Mind”). This time the panel included a dazzling first novelist from MIT whom you’ll be paying more attention to in the future, was Dr. Leonid Korogodski — Author’s Website
    http://www.pinknoise.net/

  238. Re-reading the Jim Butcher’s “Harry Dresen” series. Before that, re-read Susan R. Matthews’ Jurisdiction universe novels. That was this week. Who knows what next week will bring?

  239. I just finished “The Hunger Games” and am moving on to “Catching Fire”. In between, I have a backlog of journal articles I’m catching up on (yay science!).

  240. Grr. “Harry Dresden.” The only thing I hate worse than a typo is letting it go. Sorry.

  241. Just finished Reamde by Stephenson a few hours ago. Not sure what is up next for the first time in a long time.

  243. I am somewhat stalled our in the middle of Lev Grossman’s “The Magician” so I am alternating it with Michael McClure’s latest poetry collection, “Mysteriosos” and several of the early “Fables” graphic novels (Currently on Volume 4, “March of The Wooden Soldiers’).

  248. Just finished “Blood War” by Dylan J. Morgan, reading “Devil in the White City” by Erik Larson, and listening to “The Shadow Rising” by Robert Jordan.

  253. I just finished, not 5 minutes ago, The Ghost Brigades. Before that I read “The Box-and-Dot Method: A Simple Strategy for Counting Significant Figures” from the August 2009 issue of The Journal of Chemical Education. The book before was Spider Bones by Kathy Reichs. Next up: Stupid History by Leland Gregory.

  255. Just now finished: Against All Things Ending, by Stephen R Donaldson.
    Still going:
    Textbooks, meh.
    Among Others,, by Jo Walton.
    Dividing the Spoils: The War for Alexander the Great’s Empire, by Robin Waterfield.
    The Rover, by Aphra Behn.
    Re-reads:
    Dune, by Frank Herbert.
    The Gospel According to St Mark, per King James version.
    The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame (audiobook).
    Life short, library long.

  257. Cryoburn (Lois McMaster Bujold), paperback
    plus an H. Beam Piper collection I got off Kindle

  258. Currently rereading Glen Cook’s original Dread Empire trilogy. Just started book 2 October’s Baby.

  259. Currently reading Perdido Street Station by China , Seeing Further edited by Bill Bryson, American Vampire Vol. 1 by Scott Snyder with art by Rafael Albuquerque, Reamde by Neal Stephenson, and Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson. And the Ecology of Plants by Jessica Gurevich, for class.

  260. These days, I’m reading more craft books than fiction of any kind. Last one was No Sheep for You by Amy Singer (knitting with non animal fibers, such as cotton, silk, hemp, etc.).

  264. I’m currently reading ‘A dance with dragons’, next in the queue is ‘Manhattan in Reverse’ by Peter F Hamilton, then ‘Snuff’ by Terry Pratchett..

  265. Wow after I scroll forever…I’m reading the girll that kicked the hornets nest. Obviously it is the last in the series and I enjoyed th subtitled movies a lot. U should check them out if u have read the books.

  267. Blond Bombshell, a comedy of intergalactic proportions by Tom Holt. One of my favorite british authors after Douglas Adams.

  268. Sup with the Devil by Barbara Hamilton. It’s the third Abigail Adams mystery (historical mystery) and I love them immensely. (the author may be better known to some here as Barbara Hambly)

  269. “Ready Player One” on the Kindle. Too many physical volumes in the To-Read pile to know which I’ll read next.

  270. I just finished “Naamah’s Blessing” by Jacqueline Carey. Next up is a choice from “Hellbent” by Cherie Priest, “Heart of Iron” by Ekaterina Sedia, or “Fitzwilliam Darcy Rock Star” by Heather Lynn Rigaud. I’m a bit wary of the last, but I’m hoping it’s nearly as funny and well done as “Clueless.”

  275. An Entertaining Tale of Quadrupeds. A thousand line fable and mock epic from the 14th century Constantinople by that most prolific and long lived author known as Anonymous.

  277. “The Secret History of Moscow” by Ekatarina Sedia and “7th Sigma” by Stephen Gould. Next up is “The Magician King” by Lev Grossman.

  278. Currently reading “Pleasure Thresholds” by Patricia Tallman and “The Sky People” by S. M. Stirling.

  279. I finished Fuzzy Nation a night or so ago, which was fantastic, by the way. I had been reading A Game of Thrones, but it was far too dense and serious for my mood, so I stopped it at 63% to pick back up.

    I’m trying to pick my next book now, and I’m leaning toward Deadline by Mira Grant or The Nex by Tim Pratt. Maybe even Confederation by Michael Hicks. Or Uglies by Westerfeld. Or Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

    So many choices, and I can’t decide if any one sounds better than the others.

  281. Axis by Robert Charles Wilson, but I went to Goodwill today and they had like twenty Star Trek paperbacks and I bought half and they are oh.so.tempting. I’m really finding it hard to resist Jean-Luc Picard’s gaze.

  282. Rule 34 by Stross. And before that: The Ballad of Tom Dooley by Sharyn McCrumb.

  287. Currently boning up on probability theory for the Stanford Machine Learning class that starts tomorrow. Also been reading Knapp’s “State of Decay.”

  288. Currently rereading various of the In Death series by Nora Roberts writing as J.D. Robb–Promises in Death at the moment.
    Will soon be reading Tim Powers’ On Stranger Tides for a book discussion club I’m in.
    Acquired the ARC of Ready Player One last night from a librarian friend–as she pointed out, it has a much more appropriate cover than the published version. Those things baffle me.

  289. “The Heroes,” by Joe Abercrombie. Comedy gets no darker than Abercrombie’s spin on the tropes of fantasy literature.

    Also, “The Crowfield Curse,” by Pat Walsh, a YA book recommended by my daughter.

  290. Low Town – Daniel Polansky
    The Executioner’s Daughter – Oliver Potzsch
    Choke Hold – Christa Faust

  291. Currently reading ‘No Country for Old Men’
    Just finished ‘The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest’
    Up next either ‘The Quiet American’ or maybe starting on ‘The Hunger Games’ trilogy…

  292. Other than textbooks and articles (paper on Catharine Beecher and the Grimke sisters due next weel in which I have to synthesize seven primary sources), I just finished rereading Ella Enchanted, and I moving on to rereading Mistborn. Once my finacee shows up with the books, I’m going to get started on Sherlock Holmes (not a reread).

  293. Wow, I’m intrigued by the number of people reading Reamde… out of curiosity, folks who are, what drew your attention to it? I’ve seen a lot of advertising for it, which seems to me to be a relatively new phenomenon for books, and I’m just wondering if that has any effect on what people choose to read.

    I have nothing to do with Neal Stephenson, his publisher, any marketing agency, etc (I do basic research on Alzheimer’s disease), I’m just curious.

    As for me, lately all I’ve been reading are the issues of The Economist that I’m behind on, because I started to feel guilty about having them pile up on the table and not being as “current” as I feel I should be. I’m craving a BOOK… I’m almost caught up, so when I’m through the I’m going to start reading People of the Book

  294. The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham. To be followed by Leviathan Wakes by James S. A. Corey. (I got the ebook bundle of the two.)

  296. Cold Fire by Kate Elliott
    (Second installment of the Spiritwalker Trilogy)

    Fuzzy Nation by… well, you know.

    Cast in Shadow by Michelle Sagara
    (First installment of the Chronicles of Elantra)

  297. Also, as a proud owner of a brand new Kindle (not even arrived yet!), this comments section is making for a fantastic reading list, thanks!

  298. Currently just starting ‘The Frugal Super Power’ by Mandelbaum.

    Just finished ‘The Forever War,’ before that was ‘Agent to the Stars,” before that was ‘Ready Player One,” before that was ‘Germline.’ The Big Idea posts have been doing me well.

  299. Seal of Honor: Operation Red Wings and the Life of LT. Michael P. Murphy, USN by
    Gary Williams
    A friend of mine was killed during the operation.

  301. Re-reading The Magicians and The Magician King by Lev Grossman, Just finished The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan. Picking up Radio Freefall by Matthew Jarpe when I get a chance.

  303. Just finished reading both…
    Neal Stephenson Anathem
    Jack McDevitt Time Travelers Never Die
    Moving next to…
    Felix J. Palma The Map of Time
    Appears I’m on a time travel kick at the moment.

  306. Finished A Dance with Dragons, now reading Ghost in the Wires (Kevin Mitnick’s Autobiography). A Canticle for Leibowitz is next.

  308. Almost finished: Spellwright, which I picked up from one of the Big Idea posts I think (it was in the bookstore! I wanted at least one book that wasn’t a member of Continuing Serieseses By People I’ve Already Read).

  312. Seem to be stuck on the “D”s: Finished “A Dance with Dragons”, “Dark at the End” (F Paul Wilson) and currently on “Dancing with Bears” (Michael Swanwick’s first Darger and Surplus book). If “Darkness in the Sky” arrives when I’ve finished that (it’s backordered), it’s next, otherwise “City and the city” or “Reamde”

  313. Elizabeth Kostava, “The Swan Theives” (for the second time; can’t even count the times I’ve read “The Historian” – this woman has the gift of telling an engrossing story, no doubt!)
    Dave Barry, “Dave Barry Slept Here” (nothing like a few pages of Dave Barry before bed to send you off to dreamland with a smile on your face)
    John Langan, “Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters” (love this man’s short fiction – love it love it love it love it! I hope he comes out with a second collection soon)

  314. And joelfinkle@5:28: I can definitely recommend “The City and the city”. If some books by Ed McBain and Umberto Eco had a lovechild, this just might be it. Enjoy!

  316. I’m switching between “Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child” for learning how to take care of my two month old daughter, and the collected tales of Lovecraft.

  317. ‘Black and Blue’ by Ian Rankin (re-reading)
    ‘Masters of Noir – Volume Three’ by various (reading in staccato chunks)
    ‘Austerity Britain – 1945 -51’ by David Kynaston (rumbling along in the background)

  319. Just before I clicked on this column, I was skimming a post on Wil Wheaton’s blog.

  321. Reamde. Seriously considering another wonderful trip through the Aubrey/Maturin series afterwards.

  322. I just read Stephanie Perkins’ YA novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door. I bought it after seeing her talk with Maureen Johnson at an event in San Francisco. :) Cute, fun, and captures the city pretty well.

  323. “The Keeper of Lost Causes” by Jussi Adler-Olsen
    “The Night and the Music” by Lawrence Block.

  324. I’m traveling today across the Atlantic, so since I woke up, I’ve finished The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson, started and finished One Salt Sea by Seanan McGuire and an ARC of Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear*, and have started Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal. (Also on this trip — a bunch of the Liaden nodels by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller and some short stories and novellas by Michelle Sagara-West.)

    But now I have internet, so there will be no more reading of books until I board the final leg of my trip. (Or I might just sleep.)

    * Which I now have to buy, since my ARC has a ‘put map here’, and I am such a sucker for fantasy maps…

  326. I just finished re-reading “Light” and “Nova Swing” by M John Harrison. Really great super weird space opera books. Now I’m reading Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels (classic) and “Black Hole” by Charles Burns (beautiful, creepy ink drawings).

  328. last thing I read was the instructions on a spray foam insulation kit. man, tyvek suits are hot…. its like wearing a full body plastic trashbag. doesnt breath at all

  329. @Erica: “Wow, I’m intrigued by the number of people reading Reamde… what drew your attention to it?”

    For me, it was Anathem. I’ve always liked his work, but I enjoyed Anathem so much that I automatically ordered Reamde.

    Reamde takes longer to read than other books. At any given time there will be more folks “currently reading” that 1000-page tome than a 300-page quickie, even if the 300-page quickie is just as popular.

  330. In the middle of “Phoenix Rising: A Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences Novel”. An enjoyable steampunk romp.

  331. After finishing “The Red Tree” by Caitlin Kiernan and “The Privilege of the Sword” by Ellen Kushner I am currently actively reading “The Cardinal’s Blades” by Pierre Pevel and “Johannes Cabal the Necromancer” by Jonathan L Howard.

  334. Currently in progress:

    REAMDE – Stephenson
    Being Geek – Michael Lopp
    Thirteen (Audiobook) – Richard K. Morgan

    I often have multiple books going at once, particularly one being an audiobook.

  336. A Feast for Crows. Halfway through any given book of this series I say “I think I’ll wait a little bit before reading the next one.” Then I hit the last few chapters and end up buying and reading the next one right away.

  337. Four books into a Discworld re-read – halfway through “Mort” now. First time I’ve revisited the early Pratchett books for years; wow, they feel very different to his later works.

  338. Currently reading:

    REAMDE by Neal Stephenson
    MIND OVER MONSTERS by Jennifer Harlow
    VAMPARAZZI by Laura Resnick

  339. Anything but John Scalzi.

    But specifically: Elizabeth Moon’s “Trading in Danger”.

  344. “Horizon Storms” by Kevin J. Anderson.
    And Comparative Government and Politics by R.Hague & M.Harrop, yeah it’s for school not pleasure…

  345. Alternating between:
    Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson – 31%
    How Firm a Foundation by David Weber – 17%
    The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton – 15%
    and an Audiobook: Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson, read by William Dufris

  349. I’ve had an e-book for a few years and have noticed that while I read just as much in total, I progress through fewer books in parallel than before. I used to have books scattered all over work, the house, one in the car, one in the briefcase I use occasionally… now it’s just “bathroom” and “everywhere else.”

    Just finished:
    “Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers,” by Mary Roach
    “Team of Rivals,” by Doris Kearns Goodwin

    In progress:
    Bathroom: “The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox,” by Barry Hughart
    Everywhere else: “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy,” by John Le Carré

    On deck for the long (for 2011) trip from Springfield, Oregon, to Bengaluru, India:
    “Earth,” by David Brin
    “The Forever War,” by Joe Haldeman
    “Quarter Share,” by Nathan Lowell

  350. The Dovekeepers by Alice Hoffman and Twain’s Feast by Andrew Beahrs. Next two up are book club books: the Scifi one is Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko and the mystery one is What Angels Fear by C.S. Harris.

  351. Red Mars at the moment. I plan in starting the Miles Vorkosigan and Honor Harrington series soon after. The last couple things I read were Fuzzy Nation and Ghost Story

  353. Erica says: October 8, 2011 at 5:03 pm

    “Wow, I’m intrigued by the number of people reading Reamde… out of curiosity, folks who are, what drew your attention to it? I’ve seen a lot of advertising for it, which seems to me to be a relatively new phenomenon for books, and I’m just wondering if that has any effect on what people choose to read.

    I have nothing to do with Neal Stephenson, his publisher, any marketing agency, etc”

    He is the breakout author from fantasy and Science Fiction of a decade ago, getting a half million bucks in advance for a 3-book contract (that made the NY Times bestseller list) etcetera, as David Brin was the breakout author of the previous decade. Now we have the Stross/Scalzi axis of excellence, and George R. R. Martin, and, towering above even Stephen King, Jo Rowling. Stephenson writes about the world I know, from which cyberpunk was derived. Start up software companies, like the one where I was Secretary of the Board and CIO, which was acquired by a NASDAQ form for $7,750,000 just before the Dotcom Crash (wiping out my loot, but short of having me lose my home).

    Erica says: October 8, 2011 at 5:03 pm “I do basic research on Alzheimer’s disease” — so do you want to see the 1,200+ page draft of my biotechnothriller Alzheimer’s War, which copiously cites current research, and is vetted by the man who autopsies the oldest people in the world when they die?

  355. The Physics of the Future by Michio Kaku, and The Hero With a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell. Both for novel research.

    :)

  360. Just about to finish “Nebula Awards Showcase 2007”; before that was “How Firm a Foundation” by David Weber. Next up is “Feed” by Mira Grant.

  363. Round about the end of August, I decided to read the entire wheel of time. i’m on book 8.

  364. Just finished a collection of dime novels Lawrence Block and Donald Westlake collaborated on in the ’60s. Now reading volumes 50 and 51 of Naruto, and also a collection of Ring Lardner’s baseball stories. Many things waiting in the wings, including some John O’Hara.

  365. Sooz et al, thank you! The new Pratchett had snuck up on me! Will pick that up along with Tamora Pierce’s Mastiff.

    Forgot the stuff I’m reading on Gutenberg–some of the Thorndyke stories (I particularly liked “The Red Thumb Mark”) and Mark Twain’s Innocents Abroad.

  366. The True Tale of Carter Hall, by Marissa Lingen. Before that it was Ethan of Athos, by Lois McMaster Bujold, before that A Beautiful Friendship, by David Weber.

  367. Just finished “Ready Player One” (fantastic!), now in the middle of “Windup Girl”…

  368. Mark Twain’s “Innocents Abroad”. I have to keep reminding myself that this is not fiction, this was actually his experience on a world cruise in 1869. It’s hilarious.

  371. Now done with Son of Neptune, and back into the reread of the Marcus Didius Falco books by Lindsey Davis. Up to Last Act In Palmyra.

  372. Storm of Swords …… George R.R. Martin (audiobook in car)
    The Drowned World ….. J.G. Ballard (Stanza on iPhone)
    Converted Into Houses …. Charles Fracchia & Jeremiah Brafstad (ink & paper in hands)

  373. Ready Player One by Earnest Cline at home.

    Dies the Fire by S.M. Stirling (audio book) in the car going to and from work.

  374. The Grimnoir Chronicles: Hard Magic by Larry Correia
    Warlord by Ted Bell
    Then … ww’ll see.

  376. Last night finished “Iron Council” China Mieville
    Last night started “His Majesty’s Dragon” Naomi Novik

  377. Across the Great Barrier by Patricia Wrede. Looking pretty decent so far. Also a book on ghosts across America as research material for NaNoWriMo. Sorta regretting that one, though.

  382. Life has kicked me in the nuts recently, so I am reading some childhood favorites. It is like the creative equivalent of comfort food. ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ by Madeleine L’Engle and ‘The Giver’ by Lois Lowery.

  384. “Economic Valuation of River Systems”
    “Pricing Nature: CBA and Environmental Policy”
    “Introductory Econometrics”
    “Wetlands”
    “The Last Continent”

  385. An application to be an AAAS fellow.

    Also, LessWrong, an entry on public perception of cryonics.

  386. Fiction: Tears Of The Sun (S. M. Stirling)
    Nonfiction: The Black Swan (Nassim Taleb)

    I try to keep one of each going.

  387. Katie Lung Unrolls His Mat by Ernest Bramah, and boy is it rough sledding. I was told Barry Hughart had probably read it because Katie Lung’s speech pattern when he’s listing items in a story is similar to Master Li’s, but Master Li usually limits it to a paragraph or so. There are very witty things here, but I’m developing sympathy for those folks who want to go after Moby Dick with a weedwacker.

  390. The Naming of The Dead by Ian Rankin It’s assigned reading for my English class (seriously a university course on Detective fiction is the best thing ever) I’m finding it alarming and compelling.

  391. I’m pretty much always reading Sherlock Holmes stories. Just now it’s been The Hound of the Baskervilles, then The Lion’s Mane, and Shoscombe Old Place.

    Recently finished Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card, and The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury.

  392. You probably never heard of him, really obscure author but I like his works: Neal Stephenson, new book titled ‘Reamde’ …

  393. Currently I’m reading the following:

    March of the Legion by Marshall S. Thompson (E-Pub)
    Lies, Inc. by Philip K. Dick (Trade) &
    The Unincorporated Woman by Dani & Eytan Kollin (Hardback)

    Two weeks ago I read The Sagan Diary (Hardback) followed a short time later by Questions for a Soldier (E-Pub) and before that – shortly after it was released, I read Fuzzy Nation (Hardback).

  394. The Magician King. After that, what else is there? I’ve already read everything Scalzi.

  400. This week I finished:
    Worth Dying For, a Reacher novel, by Lee Child;
    Hit List, by Laurell K Hamilton
    Still working on:
    The Line War, by Neal Asher (Kindle) (love the Ian Cormac character)

  404. Gene Wolfe’s Book of the New Sun. This is my first time reading it; I didn’t realize it was possible to have your mind blown so many times within a literary work (well, a tetralogy of works, really, but still).

  405. Well, it’s not exactly a book; but the 50th anniversary mailing of the Southern Fandom Press Alliance at 471 pages will keep me happy for a while. Alternating that with “Ghost Story” by Jim Butcher, which shows you can’t keep a good wizard down. Also listening to “Fragile Things” on CD written and narrated by Neil Gaiman, one of the best writer/narrators I’ve heard.

  406. Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett, second of his Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep of the Royal Thai Police novels.

  408. Just finished Greenthieves (Alan Dean Foster) and The Specific Gravity of Grief (Jay Lake); still in the middle of Sleight of Hand (Peter Beagle), Dervish House (Ian MacDonald), Man Made God (Barbara Walker), Tales for Canterbury (ed. Cassie Hart and Anna Caro), and probably a few others buried on this desk someplace. Glad to see I have lots of company reading several things at once. Then there are the magazines and websites… Hoping not to start anything else until I finish at least one of the above, but it could happen, probably Dancing With Bears (Michael Swanwick) and Steampunk (ed. Ann & Jeff Vandermeer).

  411. Was in the middle of “Robopocalypse” by Daniel H. Wilson when I got kind of sideswiped by the DC Comics relaunch. The excitement of the first month is over, though, so that ought to calm down pretty quickly. I’ve managed to build up a pretty hefty reading queue, too, which I’m not going to plow through at any speed so long as I’m still doing my daily writing and doing that pesky “job” thing that The Man insists I have.

  412. Just finished Herodotus’s “The Histories”, the Penguin Classics edition, for a book discussion at the library where I work. I’m also reading “Canticle,” by Ken Scholes, the second in his Psalms of Issak series. Both are suitably epic and fine reads in their respective ways.

  413. The new Scott Westerfeld steampunk alternate history, Goliath. Before that it was Laurie King’s Pirate King. Prior to that, it was Chanur’s Legacy by C. J. Cherryh.

  414. Several books… Infinite Jest is the long-term project, The Hangman’s Daughter for grown-up reading, and because I will always be a kid at heart, I am also reading The Orphan of Awkward Falls.
    All of them excellent, in their own special way.

  415. Well, since you asked…

    I’m making my way through Cy Tymony’s _Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things_, which is fascinating, but demands to be read in small chunks. I have a bookmark in Barbara J. Winter’s _Making a Living Without a Job_. I can’t tell whether it’s long on encouragement but short on practical advice, or if I’m just not in the right mindset for her style of advising right now.

    What I need is a good, fun story to curl up with and get caught up in, but everything on my stack of books to be read is non-fiction, and looks on the heavy side, to boot. A trip to the library is in order, but since I was a layabout today, it will have to wait until Monday when they’re open. Alas.

  419. Working my way through Mary Roach – Packing for Mars, Stiff, now have Spook and Bonk out from the library. Also Carrie Vaughn’s Discord’s Apple, which I think I know about from a Big Idea piece here, a while ago.

  422. I’ve been reading Neil Gaiman’s Sandman graphic novels (for the first time). I haven’t done comics in *years* but wanted to check off this box on my reading list. Enjoying ’em a fair bit.

    Also, on my nook, Hyperion, by Dan Simmons.

  424. Two books going, currently… one physical, one iBook.
    The hardback is The Heroes, by Joe Abercrombie, purchased from my local Borders before it shuttered, but at a significant discount. It’s the stoplights, sitting around, lights-on book. Nice blood-guts-and swords book, living up to my expectations of Abercrombie.
    The iBook is REAMDE, by Neil Stephenson. It’s the portable, at-night-in-bed-lights-off book. I read 100 pages of it at the Navy-Southern Miss game today. It’s more in the Cryptonomicon vein than the Anathem vein for Stephenson, and I’m enjoying it, but there’s something… missing. I’ll see if I can identify what as I finish the book :-)

  427. Just finished Mission of Honor by David Weber, now starting the latest Malazan book by Erikson.

  429. The Instructions by Adam Levin (currently reading)
    The Night Circus by Erin Morgentstern
    Reamde by Neal Stephenson

    That’s what I’ve been up to in the last 3 weeks.

  430. I can’t seem to stay focused so I’m bouncing back and forth between three books right now:
    1. All the Windwracked Stars by Elizabeth Bear
    2. Bloodshot by Cherie Priest
    3. Don’t Know Much About History by Kenneth C. Davis

  431. Just finished, per JC’s recommendation, “The Chronicles of Master Li and Number Ten Ox,” which, despite some egregious typographical errors (I believe the most recent reissue went back and fixed them, but don’t be surprised by things like random
    Paragraph breaks) contains some of the most affecting writing I’ve read in a fantasy in a long time. Absolutely stellar.

    Currently working on the latest Stephen R. Donaldson. I love how he tortures language with mad abandon, but man, this stuff is DEPRESSING.

  432. Pariah by Bob Fingerman
    The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks
    Neuromancer by William Gibson
    A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin
    The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
    (and these are just the ones sitting next to my be with bookmarks in them. This doesn’t include the ones that sat there so long that I ended up reshelving them, bookmarks and all.)

  433. Dangerous Journeys: Mythus Magick by Gary Gygax and Dave Newton. Those black school mages are nasty bastards.

    GURPS: Thaumatology by Phil Masters. Magick as a science, and how to fiddle with the workings.

    Looking forward to Dave Weber’s A Beautiful Friendship, which is the story of the discovery of tree cats.

  436. Just finished Ken Jennings’ “Maphead”. About to re-read Glenda Larke’s “The Last Stormlord” and “Stormlord Rising”, since I just bought “Stormlord’s Exile”.

  437. Just finished “Full Dark, No Stars” by Stephen King. Currently reading “Just After Sunset”, also by King (had a hankering for King in short-mode, what can I say?). Next up: “Reamde” by Neal Stephenson.

  438. The Best of C. M. Kornbluth, with a preface and story introductions by Frederik Pohl – part of a Ballantine series of “Best of” mass-market anthologies produced in the mid- to late 1970s.

  439. I actually have three books going currently. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins. The Magicians by Lev Grossman. All great so far!

  442. Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss plus two parenting books and a lot of children’s picture books for my 2 year old. Her current favorite is Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli, and I’m happy to read it since she has been eating her broccoli with far more gusto than usual.

  443. As I get older, I find that I’m more likely to have 2 or more books going at one time.

    Currently: Ghost Hero by S.J. Rozan and A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham
    Previously: Cold Fire by Kate Elliott, Silver Phoenix by Cindy Pon, and A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham

  445. at home, S.M. Sterling’s “Tears of the Sun”
    at work/lunch, Abby Sunderland’s “Unsinkable”

  446. The Maze Runner by James Dashner- YA, good so far, started this morning and I’m halfway through- kind of reminds me of Sleator’s House of Stairs with more amnesia.

  449. After a 3year ish wait I’m reading Questions for a Soldier :) My Sub Mag came today

  452. Just got done reading Brandon Sanderson’s new novella ‘Infinity Blade: Awakening’, a tie in for a game of the same name.

    Now reading Analog, December 2011, specifically ‘Hidden’ by Kyle Kirkland.

  455. I’m presently in the midst of Seanan McGuire’s One Salt Sea and Diana Rowland’s My Life as a White Trash Zombie (the latter for a book group). Just finished: Magic Below Stairs, by Caroline Stevermer (middle grade fantasy) and The Counterfeit Madam by Pat McIntosh (historical mystery, set in medieval Scotland). On deck: David Weber’s A Beautiful Friendship and Sherwood Smith’s Blood Spirits, plus William Clark: Indian Diplomat by Jay H. Buckley.

  456. Hope no offense taken. In novel manuscript sent to New Directions, viewpoint chracater had written a novel called “Old Fart’s War”

    3 books in downstairs bathroom:
    * Nelson DeMille, “The Charm School”, Warner, 1989, wife heard as audio book
    * Thomas Frank, “What Happened to Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Haert of America, Henry Holt, 2004
    * Øyvind Grøn, and Sigbjorn Hervik, “Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity: With Modern Applications in Cosmology”
    “This book introduces the general theory of relativity and includes applications to cosmology. The book provides a thorough introduction to tensor calculus and curved manifolds. After the necessary mathematical tools are introduced, the authors offer a thorough presentation of the theory of relativity. Also included are some advanced topics not previously covered by textbooks, including Kaluza-Klein theory, Israel’s formalism and branes. Anisotropic cosmological models are also included. The book contains a large number of new exercises and examples, each with separate headings. The reader will benefit from an updated introduction to general relativity including the most recent developments in cosmology.”

  457. Oddly enough, I’m reading Germline by T C McCarthy because I saw it on this site and thought it might be fun. This happens quite a lot.

  459. David Foster Wallace’s The Pale King. I’m loving it and it’s making me think so much about so many different things.
    I just finished Mark Kermode’s The Good, the Bad and the Multiplex, and the new Neal Stephenson is up next.

  460. I’ve got two going at the moment:
    The Story Book by David Baboulene (writers’ guide to story development)
    Path of the Warrior by Gav Thorpe (Warhammer 40k)

  462. Rebecca West, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (because it’s there)
    Hannah Nordhaus, The Beekeepers Lament (because it’s fascinating)
    Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Lady Audley’s Secret (because I hope it will be as good as The Moonstone)

    Will

  464. El ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha.

    AKA known as Don Quixote to english speakers.

  466. Just finished Iain M. Banks’ Consider Phlebas; going to start The Player of Games. Before that I read Sex On The Moon by Ben Mezrich.

  467. Oh, should also have mentioned Asimov’s Foundation trilogy, reminding myself why I still don’t like it much. And I just finished (again) the OMW series, this time on audiobook, as well as the Takeshi Kovacs series, also on audiobook.

  471. Neal Barrett’s “Perpetuity Blues and Other Stories”. Side by side with some Jaime Hernandez’ comics, which fit to a T.

  472. I just finished Germline, by TC McCarthy. Currently reading Ganymede by Cherie Priest (thanks, John!), Red Herring, by Archer Mayor and Learning to Eat Soup With A Knife, by John Nagl.

  473. Oh, it’s so good to see people reading more than one book at a time; most of my friends don’t understand why I do that or that it’s even possible. Just finished “Nemesis”–Jo Nesbo and moved right on to “The Devil’s Star”– also Nesbo; also “Heirs of the Blade”–Adrian Tchaikovsky, Book 7 of “Shadows of the Apt”, “A Lonely Death”–Charles Todd. Waiting on from Amazon: “Ganymede”– Cherie Priest and “Snuff”–Terry Pratchett. All good (I’m too old to stay with anything I don’t like anymore).

  474. Just finished Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang. Am thoroughly enjoying A Clash of Kings by GRRM (part of a Kindle bundle of the 1st 4 volumes of ASoIaF). Up next, probably A Fire Upon the Deep, to get ready for the next Vinge.

  475. Currently reading Divine Misfortune by A. Lee Martinez, and re-reading A Feast for Crows before tackling A Dance with Dragons.

  476. Currently reading Freedom by Jonathan Franzen, A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin and Why the West Rules for Now by Ian Morris.

  477. The Clinton Tapes, Taylor Branch
    Pelagia & the White Bulldog, Boris Akunin
    The Whisperers, Orlando Figes
    12 Geheimnisse im Kaukasus, Essad Bey

    But then I live in the Caucasus, so most of it’s local history after a fashion. Most recent F/SF was The Dervish House, Ian McDonald, and a most excellent book it was.

  478. Reamde, Neal Steaphenson’s latest (along with everyone else). Also Modern Pattern Design, a vintage pattern-drafting book, but I don’t think that counts.

  481. Red Storm Rising, Tom Clancy. I may have read it once or thrice before.
    Prior to that, Glen Cook’s Gilded Latten Bones.

  483. “The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein. Discovered it a few months ago, recently decided it was worth another visit…

  484. REAMDE by Stephenson
    Just finished A Dance with Dragons. Was slightly disappointed after the long wait.

  486. Being a student, I mostly read textbooks, but when I have the time (on the train and the like), I am currently reading “Boneshaker” and after that will be “The Stephord Wives”. Meanwhile, I will order “Pornland; how porn has hijacked our sexuality” and I expect it to arrive before I’m done reading the other two. If not – I’ll probably go for “Rosemary’s Baby”. My brother gave me some money for my birthday and I’m spending them on books that I want – as opposed to the book I have to get for studying :-)

  487. A bit off topic here, but this post and its numerous responses makes me wish that the comments were still numbered.

  489. Agreeing with JoelZ! I’ve dipped in and out of this thread as it has grown, and the lack of comment numbering is a bit trying. The posts themselves are great though, and Reamde is clearly very popular . I’m surely not the only person who keep trying to read the title as ‘Readme’?

  490. Rereading Moneyball by Michael Lewis. 10 years later, it’s still brilliant. Next is George Pelecanos’ The Cut.

  491. I am reading two books at the moment –

    The Affair – Lee Child, and The Departure – Neal Asher

  492. I’m reading Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One”, which I learned about from reading your blog. I should have it done just in time to download Vinge’s new book on Tuesday.

  494. Just finished the first three books in Jack Campbell’s “Lost Fleet” series in about a week- quick fun reads. While I’m waiting to pick up the other three in that series, I’m re-reading Spiegelman’s excellent “Maus” in anticipation of the just-released history/biography of it’s making.

  495. I agree with Sooz – both on the numbering and on trying to read “Reamde” as “Readme”. As a matter of fact – the first few times, I thought it was a typo for “Readme”, but I’ve now realised that it isn’t.

  498. “To Say Nothing of the Dog” by Connie Willis, alternating with “Feet on the Street: Rambles Around New Orleans” by Roy Blount, Jr.

  499. Just finished ‘The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms’ by N. K. Jemisin (which I heard about on this blog), and ‘Last Argument of Kings’ by Joe Abercrombie (also from this blog, iirc). Both terrific reads. Currently reading ‘Island Beneath the Sea’ by Isabel Allende. Shows all signs of being excellent, though I’m only 100 pages or so into it.

  500. Journey to the Center of the Earth
    Before that was Homeland (I’m selecting books off npr’s list of 100 Best SciFi/Fantasy books), and before that was Rainbow’s End (I also have an ongoing project to read all the novels on the Hugo awards list), and before THAT was The Princess Bride and then The Mote in God’s Eye (both npr list), and The Windup Girl (Hugo)

  502. Sorry about the late response to this but I am reading the Parasol Protectorate books by Gail Carriger

  504. Currently reading “Shadow of the Giant” by Orson Scott Card. Before that was “Star Wars Republic Commando: True Colors” by Karen Traviss. Before that was “Fuzzy Nation”, and before that was “The Complete Fuzzy”.

  507. The Slaves of the Padishah by Mór Jókai, a historical novel about the Turkish occupation in Hungary, which will go into Project Gutenberg once I finish checking it for errors; and Embassytown by China Miéville, which is enjoyably strange.

  510. Just finished Reamde by Stephenson and Heat Rising by “Richard Castle” and am in the middle of Eye of the Tempest by Peeler and The Curious Case of the Clockwork Man by Hodder.

  511. I’m about a third of the way through “Moby-Dick; or, The Whale” by Melville and half way through “The Big Two-Hearted River” by Hemingway. The latter was a recommendation from a friend as an example of clearly written prose.

  512. Old William Gibson; I just finished Necromancer and Burning Chrome and started Count Zero. Next up is Snowcrash. I have your Old Man’s war stuff in the queue too, but right now cyberpunk is ruling my brain.

  516. I’m in the middle of several books, the only fictional one of which is Joseph Conrad’s Nostromo (which I’d been meaning to read for years). I’m alternating that one with chapters of Marshall Berman’s All That Is Solid Melts in Air: The Experience of Modernity, recommended by none other than Robert Christgau. (Wonder if I’ll start looking to Michael Dirda or some other literary critic for music recommendations next.) I’m also dipping into the third volume of Poets of the English Language (Milton to Goldsmith); it seemed like I’d have more fun that way than starting at the beginning of volume one (in the pre-Chaucer period) and reading straight through (which is what I did last time I tried reading these books). I’ve also got a copy of Stephenson’s Reamde on reserve at the library, but I’m hoping to finish at least one of these books first before getting to that one.

  517. 1493; YOU BELONG TO ME by Karen Rose–it’s shelved as a romance, but is a THRILLER through and through; INSIDE OF A DOG.

  518. Just finished Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword, just started Perdido Street Station. No idea what comes next. Possibly the GRRM re-read. Possibly the 2nd Culture novel.

  519. Mortallity Bridge by Steven R. Boyett, bought after reading the Big Idea post on the book. Worth the time and money

  522. Wanted to see what all the hubbub was about Tom Cruise portraying Jack Reacher. So I’ve just plowed through the series in not quite random order. I’m on the last – ” The Affair”.
    Cruise would have as much cred portraying Travis McGee.

  524. Finished Vamparazzi by Laura Resnick and before that it was Programming iOS 4 by Matt Neuberg.

  525. I generally read several books at once. I just finished American Gods, by Neil Gaiman, today. I am also reading Deathless, by Catherynne Valente, Saving Fish from Drowning, by Amy Tan, Tooth and Claw by Jo Walton, Game of Thrones by GRRM, and the Complete Sherlock Holmes, by Arthur Conan Doyle.

  526. Just finished Cod, by Mark Kurlansky today, and have yet to decide on what next though The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Healer is sitting in the corner making me feel guilty.

  527. Just finished Life of Pi (yes, I am the last person on earth to read it) and about to start Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand tonight.

  528. Mortality Bridge, which I borrowed from the library because a friend said you liked it, and now am moving through Boyett’s entire oeuvre. Wow. And wow.

  530. Headhunters – by Jo Nesbo (personal reading) and Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945 – by Tony Judt

  531. Believe it or not, “The Second Summer of the Sisterhood” (of the traveling pants). Recommended to me by a fantasy young adult author – it’s surprisingly good.

  538. “Theories of Flight” by Simon Morden, book 2 of the Metrozone series. These are awesome btw, highly recommended. Also “The Witches” by the mighty Roald Dahl with my 9-year old son :-)

  539. I’m currently working my way through Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrel by Susanna Clarke. I actually put that one on hold when my copy of Blake Charlton’s Spellbound finally came in.

    Up next is any one of nine (!) possible books that I’ve already bought but haven’t read yet. (This trend is becoming quite inconvenient.)

  540. I’m currently reading David Weber’s “How Firm a Foundation” the fifth book in the Safehold series. An android, sailing ships and flintlocks, Yum!

  541. getting a lot of book vacation beach reading done. so far this week
    two bear mambo by joe r. lansdale
    dreadnaught by cheri priest
    bioshock: rapture by john shirley

    about to start the bottoms,also by lansdale

  543. Just finished Cherie Priest’s ‘Ganymede’ (Hey! Which I won! Courtesy of you! And the Subterranean Press! Thanks! Too many exclamation points!) and now re-reading Atwood’s ‘Alias Grace’.