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

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

I have read all of his books. He is one of the few authors that make me laugh out loud.

Did this make it into the Book Club Voting?

[Bluesman7]

Snow by Orhan Pamuk

[Zipr]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Did this make it into the Book Club Voting?

No, this is extra-curricular.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Now for a classic: Kai Lung's Golden Hours, beautifully converted from the Project Gutenberg text by Patricia.

And I must say how much I'm enjoying it. This isn't a book you can skim-read. There are often subtle meanings that will pass you by if you read too quickly. For example, here's the end of one story I've just finished, which, of course, requires a little explanation & contains spoilers, so is wrapped in tags.

Spoiler:

Our hero, Chang Tao is required to determine whether the beautiful Melodious Vision is really human, or a dragon who has been enchanted to bear an exact resemblance. He succeeds, and (for reasons I won't go into) thereby gains the favour of the dragon Pe-lung, who can also appear in human form. So Chang Tao marries the human Melodious Vision, which might be a good "happily ever after" stopping point. But there is an afterword:

...in a later time Chang Tao encountered in the throng one whom he recognized. Encouraged by the presence of so many of his kind, he approached the other and saluted him.
“Greeting, O Pe-lung,” he said, with outward confidence. “What bends your footsteps to this busy place of men?”
“I come to buy an imitation pig-tail to pass for one,” replied Pe-lung, with quiet composure. “Greeting, valorous champion! How fares Melodious Vision?”
“Agreeably so,” admitted Chang Tao, and then, fearing that so far his reply had been inadequate, he added: “Yet, despite the facts, there are moments when this person almost doubts if he did not make a wrong decision in the matter after all.”
“That is a very common complaint,” said Pe-lung, becoming most offensively amused.

And then there are the aphorisms, e.g:

It is one thing to ignore the Rites: it is quite another to expect the gods to ignore the Penalties.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by lilac_jive

I have read all of his books. He is one of the few authors that make me laugh out loud.

His review of a local production of "A Christmas Carol" can make me literally roll on the floor laughing. The audio version is even funnier - with his deadpan delivery.

[kennyc]

I swear I posted earlier but I must have typed it all out and then not posted....or wrong thread

In addition to my to-be-read list growing my in-the-middle-of-reading list is growing as
I just started Sam Harris's - Letter to a Christian Nation.

It starts with some almost unbelievable Gallop Poll numbers regarding religion and Christians in the U.S.A. such as only 12% believe life resulted from natural processes independent of "god(s)" and over half believe that the Earth and Cosmos was created about 6000 years ago.

I find this almost unbelievable and will do some googling/research to confirm it.

[ould]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Yes. The trailer ends with "In 2010 the trilogy begins."

All 3 movies have been released abroad already and can be found if one looks around. I have seen the first two and both were pretty decent albeit they have subtitles if that bothers you.

Kevin

[kennyc]

Just read another chapter of Sagan's "The Varieties of Scientific Experience" during my lunch walk and man I must say that guy does go on, and on, an on....

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I noticed in the paper this morning an ad for the movie starting next week..

I'm hoping the movie will be good. I've read 61% so far and it's really good. But I hope they don't skimp on the book in the movie.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I just finished 'Naked in Death' by J.D. Robb. I have read the whole series in paper (the last few in ebook) and picked up ebooks of all of them in a recent Fictionwise sale. It was fun to go back and read the first one, see the first descriptions of all the characters etc. I have so much new stuff I feel a little guilty doing a re-read, but it's a fun series and I can go through one of these a day so it's a quick read for me.

The most recent Robb book I've read so far is Conspiracy in Death. It was quite good. I'll get to the next one maybe the end of April. My TBR next list is big enough. Maybe I'll make it the first book I start in May.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Bump it up your TBR list. It's worth it.

Actually, don't just bump them up, replace what you are now reading with The Gril with the Dragon tattoo And then finish that book after and then start The Girl Who Played with Fire after.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Fledchen

I started Pawn of Prophecy this morning and am a third of the way through it. Going by the synopsis of the series, I could not figure out why it is so popular because the basic premise has been done to death. I'm glad I gave it a chance, because so far the execution has been excellent. It's not billed as a comic fantasy, but I've been chuckling throughout.

It's not just the plot that's good, but the characters. That's why it's so good. There are plenty of similarly plotted fantasy books out there with weak characters. This one has really good characters that you want to stick with.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by roger the rabbit

I finished *The girl who kicked the Hornets nest* the third book in Steig Larsens Millenium triology a few days ago. What a great pity there will be no more!!

*The Girl with the dragon Tattoo* is a bit of a slow starter for the first couple of chapters, but stick with it as it is overall a great read. 4.5 stars from me

*The Girl who played with fire* is a page turner from start to finish and probably the best of the three. It certainly left me wanting to know what happens next! definitely 5 stars from me.

*The girl who kicked the Hornets nest* was also an excellent and compelling read and completes the story.
I only rate it behind the second book because for me as an international reader there was more information of historical Swedish politics than I thought was necessary. Though I would still give it a 5 star rating.

Overall the best 3 books I have read in a long time.

These books are most definitely a trilogy and should be read in order. I can see why there will be three films and am waiting for the DVD so I can watch it in my own language here.

I expect most readers Like me wondered what happened to Steig Larsen & how he died. Having googled it there seems to be sad circumstances.

My mother has read all three of them and rates them like this....

#1 The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest
#2 The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
#3 The Girl Who Played with Fire

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by kennyc

I swear I posted earlier but I must have typed it all out and then not posted....or wrong thread

In addition to my to-be-read list growing my in-the-middle-of-reading list is growing as
I just started Sam Harris's - Letter to a Christian Nation.

It starts with some almost unbelievable Gallop Poll numbers regarding religion and Christians in the U.S.A. such as only 12% believe life resulted from natural processes independent of "god(s)" and over half believe that the Earth and Cosmos was created about 6000 years ago.

I find this almost unbelievable and will do some googling/research to confirm it.

That's a pretty good book. I read it several years ago.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by ould

All 3 movies have been released abroad already and can be found if one looks around. I have seen the first two and both were pretty decent albeit they have subtitles if that bothers you.

Kevin

As a lover of silent movies and someone who has more than one foreign film in his collection, I can assure you that subtitles are no problem for me! Thanks for that info!