What book is everyone reading at the moment?

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Just finished reading The Ghost by Robert Harris. It's about a ghostwriter who is hired to finish the memoirs of a British ex-PM - the previous "ghost" having met a sudden death. It's a thriller, and a rather good one, so I won't post any spoilers. The ex-PM is a ringer for one T. Blair (that's so obvious that it's not a spoiler) and Harris does a rather good job of demolishing him; the book also offers just about the best - albeit most improbable - theory that I've seen so far as to why Blair stuck so solidly with US foreign policy over the years.
It's also very informative on the whole job of ghostwriting - I might just take it up as a career!
 
triple-post! Damm, the forum was so slow in posting.....
 
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Just finished Michael Palin’s Diaries and "The Road” by Cormac McCarthy.

Finishing up "A Vietcong Memoir" by Truong Nhu Tang.

Just beginning "Free Culture" by Lawrence Lessig and "Resistance, Rebellion, and Death" by Camus.

I’d also appreciate suggestions anyone might have for the first Martin Gardner book I should read, (not the math puzzles, but essays, etc.)
 
Vanda said:
Just finished Michael Palin’s Diaries and "The Road” by Cormac McCarthy.

Finishing up "A Vietcong Memoir" by Truong Nhu Tang.

Just beginning "Free Culture" by Lawrence Lessig and "Resistance, Rebellion, and Death" by Camus.

I’d also appreciate suggestions anyone might have for the first Martin Gardner book I should read, (not the math puzzles, but essays, etc.)
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Wow, I just finished The Road, too.

As for MG suggestions, how about something like The Night is Large, which is sort of a best of collection of his essays.

Since two of the last three books I've read have been by Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men and The Road) I could use suggestions of something uplifting, but not sappy, to read.

A
 
aofl said:
Wow, I just finished The Road, too.

As for MG suggestions, how about something like The Night is Large, which is sort of a best of collection of his essays.

Since two of the last three books I've read have been by Cormac McCarthy (No Country for Old Men and The Road) I could use suggestions of something uplifting, but not sappy, to read.

A
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Apparently, a film version of "The Road" is in production with Charlize Theron and Viggo Mortenson.

Thank you - I'll start with "The Night is Large." His list of books is so long, I didn't know where to begin!

Whenever I need uplifting (and I can't get it anywhere else except from the written word), I read Wodehouse.
 
I'm taking a trip next week, so I ran by the library to pick up a book. I checked The Modern Library's 100 Greatest Novels list before I left, and got a good chuckle.

http://www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100bestnovels.html

There sure is a lot of Ayn Rand and L. Ron Hubbard on The Reader's List. I can understand Dune by Frank Herbert and The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien being voted more highly by readers than librarians, but Fear by L. Ron Hubbard? It looks like the Scientologists and Objectivist skewed the list a tad bit.

What did I get at the library? Well, I looked for James Joyce, Kurt Vonnegut, Chuck Palahniuk, and Vladimir Nabokov. I found Brenda Joyce, Rosemary Rogers, and Kathleen Woodiwiss. I was on my way out, frustrated, when I saw Christopher Hitchen's God Is Not Great, so I grabbed that.
 
HawaiiBigSis said:
I haven't read that one yet, but I have read a couple others of hers. I've enjoyed them, and Peony is on my list.

My current reading material is Bury Me Standing: The Gypsies and Their Journey, by Isabel Fonseca.
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I haven't read any of her other books, but I'm enjoying "Peony" so far. I've heard good things about "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan"--have you read that one?
 
Just Finished No country for Old Men and The Road by Cormic Mac Carty,
Reading Carry on Jeeves by Wodehouse , for some comic relief, also reading
Next by Crinton , How to rebuild your motorcycle, how to paint your motorcycle and Yahama 650 service manual...and lots of wiring diagrams.
Just downloaded The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, to listen to on my Ipod.
 
Back When We Were Grownups, by Anne Tyler. Yeah yeah, I know, REAL MEN DON'T READ ANNE TYLER! But it was two dollars at the used-book store, and I was running out of reading fodder.

Yesterday I got City Primeval by Elmore Leonard for 25 cents, a nice clean read-only-once copy too. When I'm done with Anne, I'll plunge into it. It's about Detroit, by a Detroiter. (Well...he now lives in one of the 'burbs, but he knows this old place real good.)
 
Bonk by Mary Roach.

I really enjoyed Stiff and Spook. This one not so much but still a fun read.



Boo
 
And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie. It's ... surprisingly bad, actually. I mean, it might not surprise you but I'd always though it was supposed to be some sort of classic of the genre.

In particular, I would like to draw attention to the fact that Christie sets off virtually every line of dialogue with "x said:" Occasionally, she adds a name or an adverb, or uses a synonym but it doesn't really help. On page 88 alone, opened to entirely at random, we have

"He said:"
"Vera exclaimed:"
"Mr. Justice Wargrave, his eyes narrowed, said in his small precise voice:"
"Vera said:"
"Dr. Armstrong said dryly:
"Emily Brent, her lips tight and hard, said:"

The entire book is like that. Every. single. page. Is all of Christie's stuff like this? How on earth did someone who wrote like that gain such popular success?
 
Irreligion: A Mathematician Explains Why the Arguments for God Just Don't Add Up by John Allen Paulos. My father loves the "A Mathematician" 'series' that Paulos does, and picked up this book from him as well. I took it off him while I was at his house, and I've been through about 80 pages in 1 day.
 
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