What are you reading the week of October 4, 2009?

[DUgosh]

Black Ice Michael Connelly

[JackintheGreen]

1. The Reavers by George MacDonald Fraser

[ensho]

2. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

was a tad bored until Crake entered the scene

(had previously read books on the same subject as the beginning of O and C so was kinda bored)

now I've gotten to the point of not wanting to put the book down.

and yes I like reading Atwood's books.

[Mira]

3. "a mercy" by Toni Morrison N/T

[JitterbugPerfume]

17. I read that one recently

---really enjoyed it

[Staph]

4. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

Re-reading, actually!

[azmouse]

5. In the Company of Ogres by A. Lee Martinez

Very odd and very funny.

[safeinOhio]

6. God is Not Great, How Religion Poisons Everything

by Christopher Hitchens

[frylock]

7. i drink for a reason by david cross

[bain_sidhe]

8. No new books in the house :-( so re-reading "High Frontier" - Chris Claremont

It's actually an omnibus SFBC edition combining First Flight and Grounded!. "Space opera" type action adventure.

[hippywife]

9. Will the Circle Be Unbroken:

Reflections on Death, Rebirth, and Hunger for a Faith by Studs Terkel

I found it on sale for $2.99 at the grocery store.

:hi:

[hippywife]

28. I highly, highly recommend this book.

It's an incredible collection of interviews with various people, some famous, others not, about their views on death and their beliefs or not (mostly not) in an afterlife. Very, very uplifting given the subject matter. I thought it was going to be depressing but, even though there were some pretty heavy tales, it was very affirmative overall to know that there are some incredibly, actively caring individuals out there.

[Aggie KMK]

10. The Trial by Franz Kafka. nt

[fadedrose]

11. Good one - I've read all of his books except the newest...

NINE DRAGONS...am on the list..

[fadedrose]

12. HOLLYWOOD STATION (2006) , Joseph Wambaugh

Nice read if you like cops, which I do...great dialog and characters (some I needed a translator to go from "cop" to "english"..

Sad, funny, poignant and I have the next book in the series already.

[Jim__]

13. I used to read Wambaugh all the time.

I haven't read him in years though. I thought his best was The Onion Field.

[fadedrose]

20. He's very prolific...

I chose HOLLYWOOD STATION because it seems to be his newest series - I'll go to the series ONION FIELD is in next...am using this as a guide to which ones to get:



http://www.stopyourekillingme.com/W_Authors/Wambaugh_Joseph.html

[Forkboy]

14. Memorial Day by Vince Flynn.

So far I'm kind of meh on it, but I think my politics get in the way of just enjoying these kind of stories anymore (political/terrorist thriller). My father is as left wing as me, but he's able to put his politics aside and enjoy certain things that I struggle with. This is one of them. It's not that it's a bad book, it's actually a decent page turner, but the main character is too much of the Jack Bauer type for my taste. And it doesn't exactly help to have blurbs by both Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh saying how great it is.

The plus to all of this is that by reading a book my father lent me I can now tell him to read one from me. I hope he likes World War Z. :)

[BOSSHOG]

23. I've recently discovered Flynn

and while his politics and mine don't jive, I do his enjoy his "page-turners." I'm currently reading "Term Limits" from 1997. Lots of pricks to hate. No limbaugh, no O'reilly and its so far (half way through) a damned good "stemwinder."

[Forkboy]

31. My father loves him, and he's a solid Democrat.

I used to have no problems with these books. I used to read all the Clancy books, Craig Thomas, etc. But since 2000 I have to admit that I have a hard time separating my politics from the books now. The fact that it's still a page turner even with my reservations speaks to how good he can spin a tale, I'm just uncomfortable with the tale I guess. Surprisingly, the only author like this who doesn't bother me is Richard Marchinko. He's more psychotic than any of the other authors combined, but he just cracks me up.

[MaineDem]

26. Is this a new one?

I must admit I've read most of Flynn's books.

[Forkboy]

30. I don't know, my father lent it to me.

It's the only one I've read so far, so I don't know what else he's done. The copyright is 2004, so I'm thinking there newer ones.

[fadedrose]

15. THE TOMB (1984) F. Paul Wilson

I got up to page 112 in this old paperback I got from interlibrary loan, and didn't like it at all. No more Repairman Jack for me.

It's got supernatural creatures from India called rakoshi (like Transylvania has Dracula, I guess), and these rakoshi seem to be in all five Repairman Jack novels that I picked up a few days ago and I'll return them unread.

Don't care much for supernatural villains. Repairman Jack reminds me of Dexter though, they both kill/get revenge on people outside the law. Dexter cuts people up and enjoys it.

I think Reacher is so much better (Lee Child). Have read all of his books, the first 6 or 7 being the best, and I liked almost all of them.

[fadedrose]

16. GRAY GHOST (2007) William G. Tapply

Just started and am enjoying lightening-struck Stonewall Calhoun's new murders to solve. Lots of fly-fishing, which I know nothing about.

[fadedrose]

32. THE PRICE OF MALICE (2009) by Archer Mayor

I have read all of the "Joe Gunther" books in Mayor's series. Enjoyed some more than others, but this last one was a dud.

I found sentence structure to be too awkward for me, having to read so many sentences two or three times to figure out what the author wanted to tell me takes too long and they weren't worth the effort. Dumb plot. Tired...

[JitterbugPerfume]

18. Margaret Atwood

I am re reading Cats Eye , Orrex and Crake, and if i get to it , The Blind Assassin, but that one will probably be for later because I can't find it . I must have put it in the wrong bookcase!

[justiceischeap]

19. Books I've read so far this week

Whiskey Sour J.A. Konrath
The Body Box Lynn Abercrombie
Last Breath Michael Prescott

I'm currently reading Dark Hollow John Connolly

[WCGreen]

21. Motherless Brookly by Jonathn Lethem....

[fadedrose]

22. Change question to include "and did you like the book?"

I've picked up a few new authors since coming to "Books: Fiction," like Carl Hiaasen, James Lee Burke, William Bernhardt, Tony Hillerman,and a few others I can't think of right now. Thanks to the folks who posted that they liked these authors.

Maybe people would feel free to put in their opinions and a line or two about the subject of the books they read. I'd appreciate it, don't know about the rest of you.

[LWolf]

25. I like the two I'm reading this week.

Of course, I usually do. I'm picky, but I generally screen things well enough ahead of time to know if they will suit.

:hi:

[LWolf]

24. Briar Rose

by Jane Yolen

For a book group I'm facilitating for middle school readers. We are all fascinated, so far. The prologue itself used up an entire session of discussion about the history of fairy tales, and the evolution of the fairy tale into modern fanatasy.

"Turn Coat" by Jim Butcher, at home for fun. I like Harry Dresden; his personality reminds me too much of my youngest son.

[hippywife]

27. Read Mudbound yesterday, the entire book.

It's only 324 pages long and not all of them full as it's broken down into small chapters written from the perspective of each of the primary characters. A gut-wrenching tale and sooooo difficult to put down to do anything else. Hillary Jordan's writing is incredible. She's quite a talent and will have a long, successful run ahead of her if she writes anything else even half as riveting as this book is.

I started Rose's Garden by Carrie Brown last night after I had finished Mudbound. Her book Confinement is waiting on the coffee table.


:hi:

[japple]

29. I had much the same thoughts about this book, too, HW. It is

quite an accomplishment for a first book. I hope to see more from Hillary Jordan.

[DemoTex]

33. I read "Mudbound" in the lookout tower this summer. Fantastic book.

My relief lookout also read it and loved it. Hillary Jordon is the niece (or some relation) to a DUer. That DUer recommended Mudbound to me when I was compiling my library for the Oregon wilderness.

After the first chapter, I thought: "Faulkner's As I Lay Dying." But not so. Jordon's is a unique story of hardship. Not unlike Wallace Stegner's great Angle of Repose. I'm into that genre now.

Although it is totally different, I'm reading Zane Gray's Riders of the Purple Sage. Like Angle of Repose and the movies Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, and The Molly McGuires, the year 1876 seems to be fairly central.

Mac

[Araxen]

34. The Ghost King

and I finished it the same week and it's one of the best books in the series.