What book is everyone reading at the moment?

[rastamonte]

Has anyone read James Clavell's "Shogun"? It was recommended by someone (whose literary tastes I prety much trust) as "one of the greatest books ever". But he's a history geek and sometimes goes for really dry boring crap that nobody else cares about. Any thoughts on "Shogun"?

I liked "Taipan" a lot better. It's one of my favourites.

 

[Chris Haynes]

I just spent the last week and a half on a vacation... mostly through the north coast of Oregon (we wandered into the Willamette Valley to taste wine and to check out the Evergreen Aviation Museum, http://www.sprucegoose.org/ ).

So... I read the latest Harry Potter book, The Half Blood Prince (I actually stayed up one night in the light of the hotel room's kitchenette light until after midnight to finish the last 3 chapters ... now I need to know how she ENDS the series, AAGH!)

And I have now started Jared Diamond's Collapse ... I am about a third of the way through that book. I will have to suspend reading it though. I have a few library books to go through. I will begin with John Steinbeck's Sweet Thursday, a sequel to Cannery Row. A couple of days ago I went through the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It brought back memories of living in the Monterey Bay area in the mid-1960's, including going through what eventually became their aquarium (I saw Doc's large preserved squid in there... which was on display when I saw it AGAIN in the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the mid 1980's!).

Of course... we came home from Oregon before 5pm... I then spent several hours reading my email on two listservs (the Healthfraud one was over 300 emails) AND then going through some blogs (like Orac's and the one by JREF's own RichardR, http://skeptico.blogs.com/ ... and a few others).

 

[rastamonte]

I spent last week on vacation in the outer banks of North Carolina. I read Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince, which was the best HP book so far, IMO. I also read Digital Fortress, by Dan Brown, the Da Vinci Code guy. This book was similar to the Da Vinci Code in that it was very fast paced, with the plot carried along by a string of very lucky (read contrived) coincidences. That annoys me, but otherwise I enjoyed reading it.

 

[hgc]

I liked "Taipan" a lot better. It's one of my favourites.

I like it too. But even more so the sequel, Noble House, set in the 1960's.

 

[Terry]

In non-fiction, I just finished The Ancestor's tale (Richard Dawkins), and in fiction, The Iron Council (China Mieville).

Both okay, not spectactular. I was a little underwhelmed by the Dawkins, I think maybe because much of the material was already somewhat familiar. I didn't know about the ring species of salamander around the Central Valley in California though, or the fact that part of the "irreducibly complex" bacterial flagellum is used for something completely different by some other bacteria. (Ha, take that, Behe.)

--Terry.

 

[ungoliant]

i am currently reading a magazine, "military history."

but i just finished "the coming of conan" a compilation by robert howard.

next up an agatha christie novel i wa recommeded.

ever notice how when someone "recommends" a novel, it is more of a direction than a recommendation.

"i think you should read this one."

"no thanks, don't think i'd be interested."

"i think you SHOULD read this one."

"no thanks, don't think i'd be interested."

"READ THIS BOOK NOW!!!"

ps, i LOVE shogun.

 

[tim]

Just finishing "Them" by Jon Ronson. A romp through a variety of extremists and conspiracy folk, from the Rev. Ian Paisley to David Icke, via the KKK.
Next up, "The Men Who Stare At Goats" by te same author.
I love nutters!

 

[Mariah]

Here's a book to look out for. Won't be out for a year or so:

David Sloan Wilson's HOW TO BE A GOOD EVOLUTIONIST, which shows how evolutionary theory is increasingly being used to explain the pageant of human life.

 

[headscratcher4]

Just finishing "Them" by Jon Ronson. A romp through a variety of extremists and conspiracy folk, from the Rev. Ian Paisley to David Icke, via the KKK.
Next up, "The Men Who Stare At Goats" by te same author.
I love nutters!

Good book, scary. There is another you should loof for called:

Utopias Elsewhere by anthony daniels.

It details the Orewllian state of a number of vanished and waining dictatorships...

I am currently reading "Almost French" by an Aussie journalist who married a french man and moved to Paris. Very nicely done, very insightful of the Franco-mindset for us Anglo-Saxons...she's a good writer and makes Paris seem as interesting as I have always thought it to be....

 

[kirwar4face]

I'm reading one or another book of essays by poet and critic Kenneth Rexroth, along with his biography. When I got to the end of his autobiography, An Autobiographical Novel, I knew I was gonna miss his company, so I ordered several of his essay collections. Although I don't comprehend much of his poetry, Rexroth seems to me to have been a tremendously intelligent man, as well as, as his biographer points out, a thoroughly selfish one, who apparently didn't realize how he betrayed his own spiritual ideals by emotionally abusing women. For instance, after weeks of begging his future third wife to join him in Paris, when she finally showed up he cheerfully pointed out to her on the boulevard all the women he had slept with during her absence!

I like (Tai-Pan) too. But even more so the sequel, Noble House, set in the 1960's.

Tai-Pan is still his best as far as I'm concerned. Noble House is a great read, but the second time I read it, I thought the ending was too much like Michael O'Donoghue's "Suddenly everybody got run over by a truck. The End." I still haven't been able to make it through Shogun, BTW...the plot got too dense for me at some point.

 

[Jon.]

I'm reading The End Of Faith by Sam Harris. A very good book, arguing that we cannot afford to have beliefs that are unsupported by evidence in a world with nuclear and biological weapons. The last couple of chapters do bog down a little as he gets into his philosophy of ethics and then off into a discourse on meditation, though.

 

[chipmunk stew]

Tai-Pan is still his best as far as I'm concerned. Noble House is a great read, but the second time I read it, I thought the ending was too much like Michael O'Donoghue's "Suddenly everybody got run over by a truck. The End." I still haven't been able to make it through Shogun, BTW...the plot got too dense for me at some point.

For fans of James Clavell, check out Musashi by Eiji Yoshikawa, the so-called "Gone With the Wind of Japan". It's a fictional account of real-life samurai Miyamoto Musashi, in his quest for total mastery of the samurai way and is written with total mastery of the storytelling way.
You should read it...
No, I'm serious you have to read it...
Don't argue with me, JUST READ IT!!!

 

[hgc]

Started Linked by Alert-László Barabási this morning. I'll report back.

I can definitely recommend Linked for all you math/sci/tech-interested folks. Not much to hold the interest of the rest of you.

I am reading Gregory Maguire's 4th novel, Mirror Mirror, and it's great -- as expected. The evil queen is Lucrezia Borgia.

 

[Morwen]

I'm some 130 pages into "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke; I'm enjoying a lot the Jane Austen/Gaiman feeling so far, we'll see how far that goes.

Non-fiction, next in my list is Diamond's "Collapse". I liked, but was not swept off my feet by, "Guns, Germs and Steel", so I'm looking forward to check out his new book, see if I like it better. I've just finished "Stiff", a fun and somewhat shallow book on human cadavers, so I'm ready for something more challenging.

 

[Piscivore]

I am reading Gregory Maguire's 4th novel, Mirror Mirror, and it's great -- as expected. The evil queen is Lucrezia Borgia.

I liked that one. Mostly. Didn't care much for the way the dwarves were done.

Originally posted by Morwen
I'm some 130 pages into "Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell" by Susanna Clarke; I'm enjoying a lot the Jane Austen/Gaiman feeling so far, we'll see how far that goes.

Read that one this summer. I really liked it. Her characterization is outstanding. Let me know what you think of how she ends it.

I've just read "Caves of Steel" and "Naked Sun" and am now finishing "Robots of Dawn."

"Lolita" and "The Female Man" are on the way from Amazon/ebay.

 

[LibraryLady]

I've decided to m ove beyond the Tudors in my long running pursuit of the history of the English Monarchy, and am now in the middle of "The cradle king : the life of James VI & I the first monarch of a United Great Britain" by Alan Stewart. It is verifying my belief that with very few exceptions (Elizabeth I being the standout) these guys were mostly idiots.

 

[Jon.]

Just finishing up Shadow Of The Giant by Orson Scott Card. It's the fourth in his "Shadow" series which started with Ender's Shadow, a parallel to his justly famous Ender's Game.

I have found this one better than other late-series books by Card. The original Ender series got really stupid about halfway through the third book, and the Homecoming series dragged badly after about the third book, and ended with a totally unjustifiable deus ex machina. This series has kept my interest, with interesting geopolitical situations and likeable characters.

The one drawback it does have is that there is too big a gap in intelligence between the Battle School kids (especially the "good" ones - and they're nearly all "good") and the rest of the world. I just don't see some of the "regular" people acting as stupidly as Card has them act.

Anyway, if this is the last book in the Ender/Shadow series (and he has left himself openings for sequels or spinoffs) then it's a pretty good ending, and a much better one than in some of his other series.

Next up is the latest from Phillip Kerr, if I get it in time. Otherwise, I'll probably reread Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

 

[Morwen]

About Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell

Read that one this summer. I really liked it. Her characterization is outstanding. Let me know what you think of how she ends it.

I will! So far it also reminds me, in some of the most ironic passages, of Patrick O'Brian's prose. I'm really, really enjoying it. I'm not in any hurry to see what happens, because I'm enjoying her style so much! Well, okay, a little bit of a hurry. I've just met Jonathan Strange and he has met Mr Norrell.

 

[Dogdoctor]

I am reading Micheal Shermer's 'The Science of Good and Evil'. Just started and don't have much to say but it seems pretty good so far.

 

[Piscivore]

About Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell


I will! So far it also reminds me, in some of the most ironic passages, of Patrick O'Brian's prose. I'm really, really enjoying it. I'm not in any hurry to see what happens, because I'm enjoying her style so much! Well, okay, a little bit of a hurry. I've just met Jonathan Strange and he has met Mr Norrell.

Yeah, I can see the O'Brian comparison- it will get a lot stronger later on!