Amph What book are you reading right now?

The Casual Vacancy by JK Rowling

 

TCV was a good book, but its VERY different from Harry Potter.

 

I'm about 50 pages in and that is so true

 

Yeah. The descriptions of women's breasts and allusions to masturbating teenagers kind of threw me for a loop.

 

It's tough to get through too.


The library bombarded me with books, so I'm setting WOT aside for a bit and reading "The Iron Wyrm Affair" by Lilith Saintcrow. It was recced here, I believe.

 

Let's see....

1) The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan (The first book in the Heroes of Olympus series, which is the sequel series to Percy Jackson & the Olympians. I'm 384 pages in, and I'm liking it.)
2) Jedi Search by Kevin J. Anderson (Only about 50 or so pages in, but so far, it's good.)
3) Fables, Vol. 10 by Bill Willingham (Do comic books count? This is a re-read. I'm trying to re-read the whole series before Vol. 18 comes out.)
4) Invoking The Egyptian Gods by Judith Page (Because witches are never allowed to stop learning. I'm still in the first chapter, which is all about Isis. Loving this book so far.)
5) Haitian Vodou by Mambo Chita Tann (Still at the very beginning. I guess that's what I get for reading this many books at once. I've been doing research about Vodou online for quite a while, but this is the first book about it I could actually get my hands on. Can't wait to get to the more in-depth stuff.)
6) Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy (Another book I'm still at the very beginning of. It's about how the sexualization and objectification of women and girls is being marketed back toward us as peudo-"empowerment", and how it's really just the same old sexist crap. Loving it so far. It's actually kind of refreshing to read.)

So, that's my list. I'm probably gonna crack open Good Omens or American Gods soon, too.

 

Nice! I'm waiting on the sequel series until they're all out. I had a really difficult time waiting the week the library took to get a couple in after I started reading them

 

So I says to myself, "Dude, you are on a cyberpunk kick so go get more Gibson. Go get Virtual Light. It's on the shelves with such permanence to rival Asimov and Clarke. You go to B&N each week and browse the books and it is always there, for years now."

So I go to get it, The Bridge Trilogy.

....

WTF. It is not there. NOT THERE.

 

Sold out during the holiday season, maybe? I'm sure they'll get more in soon/be able to order one for you.

 

Amazon, maybe?

 

I'm going to give some Elmore Leonard a go, specifically the Fire in the Hole short story collection. I just finished the second season of Justified, and am really interested in seeing the source material for Raylan Givens.

 

Virtual Light

Found it in a used book store.

 

I haven't even hit halfway through Les Miserables. Though now I'm too stubborn to go find the Abridged version.

 

The Silmarillion.

Too many names.

 

Zeno's Conscience by Italo Svevo.

 

It's wierd but in my AP English class we didn't read the book, but my sister who is a senior in high school right now is reading it for her College Prep English class which is supposed to be easier than AP English. So alas, I have yet to read it.

 

I just got the Wilbour translation today. It's been probably five or six years since I read it. I can't wait to get into it again. This will be like the fifth time I've read it.

 

The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes, ending my read-through of all novels and short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.

Amazing.

 

About to start A Feast for Crows.

 

Bought a paperback copy of Dickens' A Christmas Carol at the local bookstore this week. I've seen various versions of the film but have never read the story. The book also has some of his other Christmas stories. I'll probably start it tomorrow.

 

The Blade Itself. A very good fantasy. It's sort of stingy with the world-building, which keeps it lean and mysterious and isn't really a problem (though I did eventually give up and turn to the internet to figure out if the Shanka were supposed to be a whole different species or just a savage race of men). It's got a big cast (more of which came together by the end than I expected), but all the characters feel vibrant and unique, even the ones that are deliberate plays on archetypes. Glokta's a compelling miserable bastard, Bayaz is mysterious smartass fun, and there's nothing better than laughing at what a colossal ass Jezal is -- Abercrombie is very good at blending various tones around his characters, fitting in vicious blood-and-guts battle, mystery, and comedy within one overarching story. As fun as the book is, though, it's looking so far like the sequel is even better, taking the pieces The Blade Itself introduces and moving them into more compelling places, so you'll excuse me if I head off to return to that.

 

"The Hobbit". I don't know if you've heard of it. It's about a small creature that lives in a hole and goes on an adventure with a bunch of dwarves. Weird, I know, but you should give it a shot! It's a good read.





"Aren't you a little short for an adventurer?"
/LM

 

I'm reading the Bartimaeus trilogy to the 9 year old. So good.

 

None.

I just turned in what I think, and hope, is the final draft of my Master's thesis in English Lit. I think I'm going to take a small break from heavy reading.