Read any good books lately?

Beyond Secularism – Neera Chandhoke

I’m working on Naked Lunch and The Fountainhead right now and I’m really enjoying both of them.

“The Rembrandt Affair” by Daniel Silva.

Two books I’m currently reading:
The Portable Edgar Allan Poe (a collection of the author’s short stories , essays, poems and letters)
and The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories by HP Lovecraft (another collection of short stories)

The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah

Needful Things by Stephen King

@Michael_Huntington, points for H.P. Lovecraft.

“The Passage” by Justin Cronin. “Monster” by A. Lee Martinez. The first one is very long, but impossible to put down. The second is a quicker, lighter read with more humor.

Harry Potter, I am currently reading the first book. Then I watch the movie and then I continue. I am really enjoying even though I don’t really read everyday now. Always on the freaking computer!!!!!!!!!

I just finished reading this “Jewel From Atlantis” by Gena Showalter. I’m about to read “Wolf Totem” by Jiang Rong today.

I’m reading one right now: In the Woods, by Tana French. I think it’ll hold your attention.

My profile page also lists and rates my recent reading.

I’m currently reading The Little Giant of Aberdeen County. I’m not too far in but am enjoying it thus far.

Water for Elephants by Sarah Gruen
The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
The Kite Runner by Khalid Hosseini

Inherent Vices by Thomas Pynchon

I just finished a well-written and juicy biography of Maria Callas, by “Anne Edwards”: http://www.amazon.com/Maria-Callas-Biography-Anne-Edwards/dp/0312269862

It was a nice change from fiction and it led me back to the recordings of Callas in concert. She had an operatic life.

I second (surprise) all of @janbb‘s suggestions. And if you’re interested in a Swedish detective who suffers from melancholia, try the Kurt Wallander series by Henning Mankell

Well, my faves are by Neal Stephenson but I think that once you get past 800 pages you get into books that qualify as “wordy”. That and there are a few chapters near the end of Anathem that are still bending my brain four months later. Neal has a habit of doing that.

I found The Physics of Superheroes to be entertaining and surprisingly light since the author made a deliberate effort to keep it in terms that a regular person as opposed to a science geek could understand. I also find any of the Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher to be good; I like his writing style.

I’m reading Eaarth, about global warming. Yes, the title has two A’s.

Rereading War & Peace – highly recommend it.

@jerv, I liked Anathem too, for its world-building quality, and might even consider it worth a second read someday, but I wouldn’t take it on a plane. You’d have to leave half of your luggage behind. I saw the ending coming, though: predicted it shortly after that weird character with the strange eating habits showed up. Probably I saw too many episodes of The Twilight Zone in my youth not to anticipate a reversal.

@jerv @Jeruba Favorite book, Anathem.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I preferred Cryptonomicon myself, though The Baroque Cycle was as good overall and only falls to second place due to the fact that it’s so long. Snow Crash and Diamond Age were also better than Anathem as far as I am concerned, and I wish that both were either longer or had sequels. At least those two are regular-sized books so you don’t need a luggage cart to haul them around :D

@jerv I have ‘em all in my kindle so it’s not a problem. For me it goes like this: anathem, the diamond age, cryptonomicon, snow crash, the baroque cycle, zodiac.

I thought Snow Crash was brilliant and Cryptonomicon interesting but overblown, with unfulfilled promises. Are we hijacking this thread?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Hardcover first-printing Baroque Cycle, gold-cover Cryptonomicon, a preference for actual pages, and an unwillingness to buy a second copy of a book I already own.

@Jeruba That is why we are whispering ;)

I don’t think the OP is likely to become a Stephenson fan anyway.

@jerv @Jeruba Well this is why I asked this.

Missed that one completely, Simone, sorry.

@Jeruba Like I said, too wordy, at least his later works.
@Simone_De_Beauvoir I thought this conversation seemed familiar! Shutting up now….

if you want to read something quick and dirty, try Choke by Chuck Palahniuk.
(you’ll get a laugh out of it, especially if you know about medicine)

I am reading an older Stephen King, Duma Key. It is pretty good, just weird enough that it is almost believable, but will keep you wondering what is next!

Most of the stuff listed above, is way over my head, heheheh, I prefer easy and entertaining.

High Fidelity – Nick Hornby
No Country For Old Men – Cormac McCarthy
The Lessons of History – Will & Ariel Durant
I, Lucifer – Glen Duncan
Replay – Ken Grimwood

The Beginners Guide to Acting English – Shappi Khorsandi

Anything by Michael Crichton makes pretty good airplane reading. Well, maybe not Airframe, but most others.

Oh, yeah, and @janbb ‘s list.

For a short, deceivingly light read, try Slow Love: How I Lost My Job, Put On My Pajamas & Found Happiness by Dominique Browning. She was editor-in-chief of House and Gardens magazine until it went belly-up and she found herself jobless.

The style is that of Eat, Pray, Love, the essays by Nora Ephron and the poems of Judith Viorst, but a good book for a plane ride.

I love this website:
http://www.librarything.com/unsuggester

It’s not so helpful…but, it’s fun. You put in the title of a book you like and it tells you what not to read (what you will not like).
More useful is the link on the side of the page (library suggester). When you type in the name of a book you do like, it suggests other books you may like.

‘The Catcher in the Rye’, by J. D. Salinger

I bought it yesterday, and finished it today :)
it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read

I just read “Shutter Island” and thought it was really good. Although, if you’ve seen the movie you’ll know how the book is going to end. I had to read it before watching the movie just to make sure it wouldn’t be too scary. I’m a wimp. The book was better.

Why I Still Believe by Joe Boot.

‘Trainspotting’, by Irvine Welsh