What book is everyone reading at the moment?

[Slimething]

Guards, Guards -- Terry Pratchett

 

[HawaiiBigSis]

Pastwatch by Orson Scott Card
Just finished: Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Previously: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

And then will probably end my brief sidetrack in fantasy fiction, and get back to my usual -- historical fiction...

 

[Elind]

Blackbeard by Angus Konstam.
It's a biography.

Try The Republic of Pirates, by Woodard if you like that one. Blackbeard is in it too.

 

[Blank]

The mysterious flame of queen Loana by Umberto Eco. Not necessarily the best Eco book out there, but I'm still enjoying it a lot.

 

[JQH]

"A Tale Etched in Blood and Hard Black Pencil" by Christopher Brookmyre

 

[Nucular]

The Cave of John the Baptist.

If I understand Gibson correctly (and I don't), a decent translation of 'Baptist' would be 'the Big Dipper'.

 

[bruto]

Just about to finish A Spot of Bother, by Mark Haddon. Not quite as original as The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, but nicely written, with sympathetic characters, etc.; an engaging, quick read.

Before that, Benjamin Franklin, An American Life, by Walter Isaacson. Nothing startling or unexpected here, just a good basic even-handed biography of one of the more interesting and influential characters in American history and culture. If your familiarity with Ben is only through the filter of high school history, folkloric images of the eccentric old geezer with the kite, and his popular aphorisms, this is a good corrective.

 

[-Fran-]

Collected works by Anna Maria Lenngren. 18th century Swedish poet with a sharp mind, and "a sharp pen dipped in poison of satire and wiped off with cotton of tenderness" as the back cover says.

 

[sackett]

Modern Tanks, by George Forty. This is the 2005 edition. (What? I finished Grant's memoirs without warning, and had to fossick around in my bookshelves for something I've only read once.) Forty leans heavily on British sources, and mentions the Centurion many times and always favorably,* but it's still an okay survey. Now I see that there's a 2007 edition, described as "authoritative." Aren't they always?

* With good reason. It was and still is a brazen chariot.

 

[SusanB-M1]

The Bible.

I'm listening to The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins (read by Dawkins and his wife). I read the book about two months ago so it's really interesting to hear it in Dawkins voice (and Lalla Ward's, whom I remember seeing as Ophelia in Hamlet and the second Romana on Doctor Who almost thirty years ago).

I listened too and very much agree with you that he read it exactly right; similarly, 'The Ancestor's Tale'.

When I did the Alpha course (in order to criticise from a position of knowledge) I was challenged to listen to St John's Gospel. The Library could only provide me with the whole of the New Testament, so I just listened straight through! This experience was actually very funny, especially the letter by Paul to somebody or other almost entirely on circumcision!


I haven't looked at this board for quite a while but came to say that I am now listening to 'Imperium' by Robert Harris - very good. I enjoyed his'Pompeii' a while ago.

Oh yes, and I'm looking forward to the new TP and for my name to come up on the list at the Library for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

 

[sackett]

Population 485 by Michael Perry. His style is lurid-effusive-journalistic at too many times, but overall a good read about a topic -- volunteer firefighting companies -- that isn't well enough known.

Actually, I just finished it. Now I'm reading a 1963 edition of The Big E, about the carrier Enterprise in WW2. Plenty of that lurid-journo style, but high-class for the genre, and it covers the entire war, from the early raid on the Marshalls right through to Tokyo Bay.

Damn! The close calls in those early months of the Pacific war! Sure, the final outcome wasn't in doubt -- but final in 1946 or 1947 instead of 1945 was a real possibility.

 

[J_E_R]

John Cassavetes lifeworks by Tom Charity. It's hard to think of a greater American film director.

 

[ranson]

Guards, Guards -- Terry Pratchett

Just finished that for the first time, myself.

Also reading the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. It's wasilty the most original and expansive fantasy I've read in a decade or two.

 

[Slimething]

Just finished that for the first time, myself.

Also reading the His Dark Materials trilogy by Phillip Pullman. It's wasilty the most original and expansive fantasy I've read in a decade or two.

I'll keep the recommendation in mind. Guards, Guards is keeping me in stitches and I stay too late reading it. I'm nearly finished but I don't want it to end. Luckily, Pratchett has written a lot of books. Thanks.

 

[Slimething]

John Cassavetes lifeworks by Tom Charity. It's hard to think of a greater American film director.

Orson Welles comes to mind. IMHO, Citizen Kane is the best film ever made, even better than Animal House. Of course, that's only one genre but I marvel at its perfection every time I see it.

If you want a good cinema-related read, try "The Moon is a Balloon" by David Niven. It's just hillarious.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Just finished the last Potter book, on to something else. I liked it. I heard all these bad reviews but they were wrong. Only one of the books was bad, that was the book where Harry did too much whining and complaining. And the last book didn't seem as complete as the rest. But this one was fine.

Great escape.

 

[Spidey13]

A Devil's Chaplain by Richard Dawkins

 

[J_E_R]

Orson Welles comes to mind. IMHO, Citizen Kane is the best film ever made, even better than Animal House. Of course, that's only one genre but I marvel at its perfection every time I see it.

If you want a good cinema-related read, try "The Moon is a Balloon" by David Niven. It's just hillarious.

As art, I think Faces or A Women Under the Influence beats Citizen Kane any day. But then again, I like movies most people can't sit through...

 

[Jorghnassen]

The Oxford book of victorian ghost stories.

/and, as of today, I will officially never bother to read the Wheel of Time series...

 

[Slimething]

As art, I think Faces or A Women Under the Influence beats Citizen Kane any day. But then again, I like movies most people can't sit through...

Well, whatever. You probably have finer tastes than I do, as hinted at by my mentioning Animal House. You posted that it was difficult thinking of good American film directors and I was trying to help.

Getting back to the topic, I'm now reading Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett. Just finished Guards! Guards! by Pratchett and enjoyed every syllable. I hope this one is just as good.