Last, Current, Next

[otherlander]

*I'm plagiarizing a thread from the original forums*

What's the last book you've finished? What are you currently reading? What do you plan to read next?

Feel free to reply to this as many times as you wish :D

As for me:

Finished:
"Ragtime" by E.L. Doctorow

Currently reading:
"Dreamsongs", volume 1, an anthology of short stories by George R.R. Martin
and
"Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer (Yeah, I know...)

Next on the list:
No idea :D

[Doktor Estrella]

Finished: New Moon by Stephanie Meyer and Crank by Ellen Hopkins (I have a legitimate excuse for reading the "Twilight" series: attempting to access the minds of the youth and all...but the angstiness rivals Harry Potter...)

Currently Reading: Soul Music by Terry Pratchett and Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott

Future Reading: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman and the rest of that frustrating "Twilight" series.

[otherlander]

The "Twilight" series is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me. I just can't stop reading it. I even bought the hardback edition of "Breaking Dawn" on my recent trip to England, just to be sure I had it in the house. I'm also looking forward to the movie.

It does get frustrating at times, because I feel the author's writing style is simplistic, even a bit naive. And, since you finished "New Moon"", I think you'll agree with me that the "revelation" in the first half was quite predictable, yet it dragged on and on before stating the obvious. (I'm being ambiguous because I don't want to spoil anyone who might want to read the series, but I think you know which revelation I mean).

[segundus]

I'm about to head off to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam for just over two weeks and I'm collecting reading material from the local library.

So far I'm due to collect Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things, and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess.

Always looking for suggestions as the plane trip isn't going to have a terribly good film selection, so need something meaty.

M.

[otherlander]

Segundus,

The books I always mention first when asked for recommendations are those in George R.R. Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series. The first one is "A Game of Thrones". That should keep you busy...

Also, another meaty book with a fantastic story is "Tigana" by Guy Gavriel Kay.

[arabella]

Last: The Robe of Skulls by Vivian French, and Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Current: American Nerd by Benjamin Nugent, and The Somnambulist by Jonathan Barnes

Next: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

[Bracton]

Last: JD Salinger Franny and Zooey
Current: Graham Greene, The Honorary Consul
Next: - open to suggestions -

Estrella – Ghostwalk is fantastic.

[otherlander]

Arabella - I thought "Ender's Game" was great. When you get to read "The Historian" do share your thoughts, it's on my shelf too :)

Bracton - What did you think of "Franny and Zooey"? I, for one, loved it almost as much as "The Catcher in the Rye".

[Doktor Estrella]

Arabella & Otherlander: I've read The Historian as well and I would love to talk about it when we can get a chance.

Bracton: I love Ghostwalk, but I'm reading rather slowly--the poetic language of it is such that I wish to savor it.

Arabella: I thought Ender's Game was alright, but I prefer OSC's Enchantment much more.

Otherlander: As for the "Twilight" series, I'm reading through it rather quickly; I can understand the appeal, but the protagonist's immense amount of angst is rather overburdening on the reader--as I explained to someone the other night, it's as if Meyers distilled all the hormones and emotions, trials and tribulations that one experiences from the beginning of puberty until the age of 20 and embodies it in the character of Bella Swan, throwing in unbelievable klutziness to boot. I feel as if the only saving grace is the prose, which is thankfully straightforward and compelling (though naive), otherwise the first books would have been thrown across the room after Bella's ludicrous introduction to Forks High School. And I won't get started on the whole seductive granite vampire thing...I'll save that for another rant or thread as the case may be ;)

Former: Soul Music by Terry Pratchett (Yay! Music with Rocks In!)
Current: Eclipse by Stephanie Meyer and Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott
Next: Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

[The Colour of Heartache]

I've also read The Historian and have been wanting to read Ragtime ever since I discovered the brilliant musical based on it. I also wanted to read American Nerd, which I completely forgot about. How are you enjoying it, arabella?

Previous: Hapgood by Tom Stoppard and Watership Down by Richard Adams, the former of which still baffles me and the latter of which I remembered fondly from when I was little.

Current: Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America with Einstein's Brain by Michael Paterniti. This book is AMAZING and the best part is that it's completely true. This journalist goes on a road trip with Dr. Thomas Stoltz Harvey, who did the autopsy way back when, and Einstein's brain, which resides in two tupperware containers in a plaid dufflebag in the trunk of their car. Seriously, it's fantastic. I'm kind of obsessed with it.

Next: I think it will be Longitude by Dava Sobel about the search for a way to sailors to keep accurate measure of longitude or The Suprising and Wonderful History of Sweeney Todd by Robert L. Mack. I accidentally ended up with almost all non-fiction here at school due to a packing fluke, so we'll see what happens.

[Violet]

Previous: Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman. It was ok but not brilliant, the descriptions of love struk me as unrealistically strong especially for love at first sight but mostly I have serious moral issues with the characters casting spells to force people to fall in love.

Current: Into the Woods by Lyn Gardner and The End of Mr Y by Scarlet Thomas. into the woods is a nice adventure story that but I don't see the deconstruction of faerie tales some people have called it. The End of Mr Y is a much deeper book, a bit slow going but good, there's a bit of rough (and in at least one case gay) sex so if that bothers you avoid it. Fortunately the actual depiction doesn't last for more than a few sentences so it dosn't distract from important stuff like plot of character.

Also I'm reading Y: The Last Man about as fast as I get the next volumes, a brilliant comic series about the only two male mamells to survive a viscious plague. Yorrik and his monkey. I like the authors view on how gendercide would affect society: Its just as screwed up but it has a diffrent set of problems, not counting the additional problems caused by the fact so many people died.

Future, just had a birthday so something from the big pile. Probobly something light after The end of Mr Y. Maybe the next Artimis Fowl.

[Edimene]

I read Watership Down last May and really enjoyed it: the way Adams can write using a perfect rabbit-ish point of view struck me very much!

[Edimene]

Finished: Tell Me the Truth About Love, by W. H. Auden.
I adored these poems! especially Funeral Blues, Calypso and As I Walked Out One Eveneing.

Current reading: Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, by Jonathan Safran Foer.
I'm nearly at the middle and I say this book is great!

Next: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini & The City of Your Final Destination by Peter Cameron; I haven't decided yet which one will be the first.

[otherlander]

Edimene, I loved "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close". Have you read "Everything is Illuminated" too?

As for me...

Finished - "Eclipse" by Stephenie Meyer
Current - "Glamorama" by Bret Easton Ellis and "The Conspiracy of Evil" by Christian Jacq
Next - I'll decide after finishing "Glamorama"

[Edimene]

Otherlander, I've finished EL&IC and loved it! No, I didn't read Everything Is Illluminated, but I certainly will! Have you read it?

[otherlander]

I haven't read "Everything Is Illuminated" either, but I do own the book. I've seen the film based on it, which I loved, but I heard that the two are very different.

I like Jonathan Safran Foer's style, it's very modern and simple, but very heartfelt at the same time. His wife, Nicole Krauss, has a similar style. Her best known work is "The History of Love", which is one of my favourite books :)

[Qoquaq]

Nights in Rodanthe..Nicholas Sparks-reading now
The Choice..Nicholas Sparks-just finished

Robin

[Doktor Estrella]

Former: Mort and Hogfather by Terry Pratchett, Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott, The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, Beyond the Spiderwick Chronicles: A Giant Problem by Holly Black
Current: Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke
Next: Breaking Dawn by Stephanie Meyer, The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, Welcome to the Jungle by Jim Butcher

[otherlander]

Last: The first volume of the Romanian translation of "The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror"

I found it at a bookcrossing event and I'm not really interested in reading the second volume, as the number of disappointing stories was larger than the number of stories I liked. I loved Jeffrey Ford's "Boatman's Holiday" though. Here's a fair review of the book, written by a girl I know. http://books.mostly-harmless.ro/some-great-stories-and-an-ugly-cover/

Current: "The Anubis Gates" by Tim Powers

I've heard a lot of good things about this book. I read about 60 pages out of 450, so I can't say much except that I'm enjoying it so far.

Next: I love J.D. Salinger, so I plan to read "For Esme - With Love and Squalor" (aka "Nine Stories"), "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" and "Seymour - An Introduction".

[The Colour of Heartache]

Last: The Island of the Day Before by Umberto Eco. Slow but fascinating with lots of philosophical and navigational asides, about a man shipwrecked on an abandoned boat searching for the 180th meridian and dreaming of a great love.

The Superfluous Man by Ivan Turgenev. I was in the mood for something Russian and depressing and I am rather fond of Turgenev. A quick read, but very interesting and exactly what I wanted.

Current: Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Continuing with the Russian and depressing theme, I storted of ended up reading it by accident but now I'm intrigued.

Next: Who knows? I've got another Turgenev (On the Eve) and had been thinking A Tale of Two Cities but I made need something lighter after all the depressing Russians.

[segundus]

Last: Abarat by Clive Barker.

Current: My Booky Wook by Russell Brand, Why Do I Say These Things by Jonathan Ross, Abarat II by Clive Barker.

Next: Probably The Tales of Beedle the Bard. J.K. Rowling's attempt at short stories with footnotes. I don't think it'll work.

[Edimene]

What do you think of the Abarat series? I like it but honestly when I got the books I was expecting a bit more... Actually, I like the poems much more than the prose!
Do you have any idea of when will the third novel be realesed?

[Edimene]

Last: The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley; veeery interesting!

Current: Sunset and Sawdust by Joe R. Lansdale; it's the second novel I read by this author (after A Fine Dark Line)... he's not a masterworker but his books always make me have a real good time.

Next: Death on the Installment Plan by Louis-Ferdinand Celine; at last I managed to take this book at the library and now I'm eager to start it.

[segundus]

What do you think of the Abarat series? I like it but honestly when I got the books I was expecting a bit more... Actually, I like the poems much more than the prose!
Do you have any idea of when will the third novel be realesed?

I'm liking it. I find Barker's naming conventions to be unique and fun. The story itself is a bit patchy, but it's slowly being pieced together to form something - but what that is is frustratingly far off, I feel.

No idea as to when the third novel is released. I'm guessing 'soon' from what I've read, but 'soon' can mean anything! :)