Recently finished books:
Osama by Lavie Tidhar. Very strange book, but it kept me turning the pages. It is set in an alternate universe without terrorism, and the main character is being hired to look for the author of a series of pulp fiction novels about a certain Osama bin Laden. He travels through Europe and meets a whole plethora of strange people. Recommended.
Two novellas by George R. R. Martin:
The Hedge Knight and
The Sworn Sword. The former was actually a reread, it made me pick up Martin's
Song of Ice and Fire series years ago. The two stories tell the adventures of the hedge knight Dunk (Ser Duncan The Tall) and his squire Egg, who is a very interesting character in his own right. They are set about 100 years before "A Game of Thrones", and I really loved to meet a bunch of living Targaryens other than Dany and Viserys.
Highly recommended. There is a third novella in this series which I will read very soon.
Currently reading (I am a very messy reader and have usually at least half a dozen books going, but here are the ones that hold my interest right now):
The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman. This is a YA story about a girl who is projected into the past by a mysterious creature. Enjoying it very much so far (I have read about 45% of it).
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J. K. Rowling. I have been a Harry Potter fan for 12 years now and I am very happy to finally have them all on my Kindle.
Lancaster and York by Alison Weir. This is a non-fiction book about the Wars of the Roses. I picked this up to do a bit of "background reading" for
A Song of Ice and Fire.
Lightspeed Magazine May 2012. Read 5 of the 8 stories so far and like them a lot better than those in last month's issue.
This year, I am also trying to read most of the short fiction on the Hugo and Nebula ballots. I am currently reading
Sauerkraut Station by Ferrett Steinmetz, liking it so far.