Hey!! Let's get some action going! What are we reading?

[kainne]

Just finished Mockingjay & loved it. The whole series is great.
Partway through Legacies, the second Repairman Jack novel. Very good so far.

[DiapDealer]

I just finished The Virginian by Owen Wister. For all intents and purposes, this book can be said to have spawned the Western (cowboy) genre. I really enjoyed it, but it required me to slow down considerably while reading it--language and phrasing have changed considerably since the late 1800's early 1900's.

But once I adjusted to the writing style, it became quite captivating... and it romantically (while still somewhat accurately) portrayed almost every aspect of the "cow-boy" of the American West: every hard-workin', card-playin', straight-shootin', tall-tale tellin', rustler-hatin', woman-lovin', code-of-the-west honorin' ounce of him.

I'm now going to read about Vikings. The Long Ships -- Frans G. Bengtsson's epic saga about "Red Orm, a son of Skania, born during the reign of Harald Bluetooth, who first goes a-viking as a teen."

I think some Mongol Hordes rampaging across the Steppes might be in order after that.

[GeoffC]

The film of this book has been on my mind for a while, so it's just been downloaded into my soon TBR pile ...

Shute, Nevil: On the Beach

[covingtoncat73]

Originally Posted by Fbone

People either loved or hated The Alchemist. Lots of one-star and five-star reviews.

I've never read it as I generally avoid self-help style books. But it would be interesting to see which camp you agree with.

Yeah, thank goodness The Alchemist is short. I paid good money for it, too. I abandoned it with about 40 pages left to go. I'll come back to it and finish it soon. The language was lovely but I got bored with the story for some reason.

Right now I am reading The Other Mr. Darcy by Monica Fairview. It was only .89 on Kobobooks and I am really enjoying it. I've snatched 40 pages just during breaks at work. It is kind of a sequel to Pride and Prejudice about an American cousin of Mr. Darcy and Caroline Bingley. No zombies or time travel or anything, just very nice, Austen-like prose and a nice, Austen-like story, at least so far. The author really seems to get Austen. .89 well spent. I suppose I shouldn't sing its praises just yet but I feel I got a good deal and 40/262 is a fair amount of the book.

[jacksonunit]

Just finished Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead. Not as wild as Enders Game, but about twice as deep.

I was planning on continuing the series, but someone just guilted me for not reading Atlas Shrugged, and since I'm getting a new K3 Friday, I've decided it's time.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by jacksonunit

Just finished Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead. Not as wild as Enders Game, but about twice as deep.

I was planning on continuing the series, but someone just guilted me for not reading Atlas Shrugged, and since I'm getting a new K3 Friday, I've decided it's time.

True!

Bah....atlas is shrugging... Go for the SF.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Bah....atlas is shrugging... Go for the SF.

I second that Bah.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by jacksonunit

I was planning on continuing the series, but someone just guilted me for not reading Atlas Shrugged, and since I'm getting a new K3 Friday, I've decided it's time.

If you're going to read that, then be sure to do it in conjunction with Atlas Chugged: The Ayn Rand Drinking Game.

And maybe cleanse your palate with some Bob the Angry Flower after that: Atlas Shrugged 2: One Hour Later.

As for me, nearly all my leisure reading is put on hiatus for upcoming finals prep. But I did make a start on Jay Hosler and Kevin & Zander Cannon's educational graphic novel Evolution: The Story of Life on Earth, published by Macmillan's pop-academic imprint Hill & Wang, which is kind of vaguely topical for my courseload. Thus far, very cutely informative.

[kennyc]

And don't forget the classic

Spoiler:

Atlas Shagged.
http://happyvalleynews.wordpress.com...atlas-shagged/

[bZkindle]

Originally Posted by kennyc

And don't forget the classic

Spoiler:

Atlas Shagged.
http://happyvalleynews.wordpress.com...atlas-shagged/

haha! that link is pretty funny.. and very true.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

The film of this book has been on my mind for a while, so it's just been downloaded into my soon TBR pile ...

Shute, Nevil: On the Beach

The book is quite a compelling read! The quiet depiction of how ordinary people face certain death - with no hope. A chilling book that spawned a classic movie.

[GeoffC]

A classic movie, why It's in my mind at the moment I've no idea because it's decades since I've watched it .

[BearMountainBooks]

Listening to "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. It's hysterically funny in parts, but...kinda boring in other parts. That's the trouble I have with audio--no skimming the parts I'm not terribly interested in! The first chapter about did me in with his purchases of camping gear. I think for anyone who is a hiker or camper this chapter has happened to them--so in my case the sticker shock and gear stuff wasn't so much funny as "Been there, done that."

I don't recall if he did the reading of it himself. Not that far into it, but both Mom and I are enjoying it well enough.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

I did start After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar, though, which is an anthology of short stories set in (where else) a bar, that travels through time. It's got a story by Anton Strout (he of the Simon Canderous series) in it, which is really why I bought it.

I know several of the folks in the anthology, and there was a launch party for it at Lunacon the weekend before last. (The party was lively. All concerned hope book sales are likewise.)

I'm waiting for the "Two Beers and a Story" collection, spawned by challenges at several SF cons where authors gathered in the bar, had a couple of beers, and wrote a story on the spot. It's interesting to watch, as some very good authors have problems just sitting down and turning out a story in a sitting.

An assortment of stories from such gatherings are in the hands of an agent, but this far, no takers.
______
Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Next: Lyra's Oxford by Phillip Pullman. Bought in September 2010. I really enjoyed the His Dark Material trilogy, so I'll be interested to read this little bit of extra stuff.

And at some point, we may even see The Book of Dust.

It's a nice grace note to the series, with some of the little extras interesting, like the advert for the exhibition of Benin bronzes, curated by none other than Mrs. Coulter.
______
Dennis