June 2009 - What are you reading?

[Krug]

True History of the Kelly Gang - Extraordinary book about Ned Kelly, written in a style that would give a grammarian fits.

Next up:
Blood of Elves, the second Witcher book.

 

[Wombat]

Having read Fields of Fire: A Life of Sir William Hamilton by David Constantine and Le Grande Armee by Georges Blond (in translation -- I have no French...) ... I now desperately need lighter reading.

OTOH, I am now feeling pretty smart about the Napoleonic era

 

[delericho]

"Emperor: The Field of Swords" by Conn Iggulden. It's pretty enjoyable, but the emphasis is very much on the 'fiction' part of 'historical fiction' (which is fine for me, YMMV).

Next up is "A Sword From Red Ice" by JV Jones.

I'm also hoping to get through the "Career Compendium" for WFRP this month, but it's heavy going, being intended for reference rather than reading, I think.

 

[Elodan]

Finished The Accidental Sorcerer by K.E. Mills. It's the first of a trilogy. I found it to be a decent read. Felt a little on the long side. Not sure if I'm going to pick up the sequel.

Just started Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. First of his books I've ever picked up.

 

[Crothian]

I read the Road by Cormac McCathy (?). Ya, that was....interesting. It was not a suprising book but luckily I didn't really care about the main characters so it didn't matter how it ended. I can't see this being a movie except a boring movie if they keep it close to the book. Plus the punctuation style was annoying; I have yet to read a book I liked that does something like that.

Next up Witch's Canyon by John Keegan. It is a Supernatural novel and I need something fun and less serious after that.

 

[bento]

Daytime reading: Divorce and Money; How to Make the Best Financial Decisions During Divorce by Nolo. Needless to say its been a crappy Spring for me.

Bedtime reading: The Fall of Carthage by Adrian Goldsworthy. I feared it would be dry as paint and pleasantly surprised its not. Mr. Goldsworthy writes a lot of books on ancient history, and keeps the story going. So many books on this kind of topic get off in the weeds, but he stays the course.

 

[Rhun]

I just finished The Cry of the Halidon by Robert Ludlum. I thought it was below average...the plot seemed to be all over the place. Not my typical sort of read anyway, but my dad gave me a bunch of modern "suspense" type novels that I've been slowly working through.

 

[EricNoah]

Listening to Pride & Prejudice & Zombies as an audiobook. I find myself zoning out a lot during the non-zombie parts. It's starting to get more interesting though.

Not reading a book at the moment. Gotta remedy that!

 

[EricNoah]

Daytime reading: Divorce and Money; How to Make the Best Financial Decisions During Divorce by Nolo. Needless to say its been a crappy Spring for me.

Oh, man ... sorry to hear that.

 

[Jack7]

Oh, man ... sorry to hear that.

Me too. Very sorry.


Non-fiction

The Art of Memory - I've looked for his book for years and accidentally ran across a copy of it in Barnes and Nobles a few weeks back. then I got a very old copy of it from a University library. I'm also buying my own copy. the old copy has some fascinating and old original graphics and illustrations, such as of the Memory theatre, and other such marvels. I am studying it intently. It is without a doubt the most fascinating and mentally exciting book I have read in ten years or more. And bets of all it is incredibly useful. I find it extremely helpful with further developing my own Memory City.

The Molecules of Murder - An absolutely superb new book on molecular forensic examination in criminal cases. On the cover is the picture of an umbrella, which I immediately recognized. It is an icon in Intel circles, as it was used by the Bulgarian Secret Service to assassinate Georgi Markov, by injecting him with a ricin pellet using a fake umbrella as a weapon/poison delivery system. The assassination of Markov back in 1978 was the first real case of international assassination I ever studied (the soviets were the real culprits, the Bulgarians were just the delivery men) and I reviewed the case in minute detail back then. The umbrella on the cover naturally made me extremely nostalgic and impelled me to get the book as soon as I saw it. I haven't been disappointed, though actual criminalistic details have sometimes been lack (it seems more like an overview primer). The last case examined in the book is the murder of Alexander Litvinenko which I recently finished an in-depth book on covering the case of polonium poisoning. I have been following the Litvinenko case in detail since it first surfaced, so I have also found this book extremely useful.

The Renaissance - This is part of the history series by the Durants. The Durants are now somewhat dated in their historical writings but I still very much enjoy reading Will Durant's histories. I haven't re-read his histories in maybe twenty years, but I'm finding it every bit as interesting as my first go round.


Fiction

The Fourth Tower of Inverness - This isn't really a book, but is a radio play I'm listening to on CD. I often listen to unabridged fiction books on CD. To save time. I'm listening to it every night with my family for about half an hour right before bed. It's making me have weird and wonderful dreams, just like the first time I listened to it, maybe twenty, twenty-five years or so ago. My kids love it, it terrifies my youngest daughter, for instance she nearly jumped out of her skin when the dragon showed up, and I'm enjoying it as much as the first time I heard it. Maybe more now as I'm noticing far more details.