Current book being read/just finished

[canaan]

http://www.litographs.com/collections/all

this is awesome

[eddysnake]

Currently reading Tarzan of the apes. Love it, really have an easy time getting into Edgar Rice Burroughs stories.

If anyone is into comics, you should check out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection books. Extremely nice hardcover books with all the original comics (which are great) and stories from the creators (which are equally awesome). Really nicely done, would make a great gift.

http://www.amazon.com/Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles-Collection/dp/1613770073/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354802068&sr=1-1&keywords=Teenage+Mutant+Ninja+Turtles%3A+The+Ultimate+Collection+Volume+1

[Troy Loney]

http://www.litographs.com/collections/all

this is awesome

Read Miss Dalloway a couple of weeks ago. Way more easy to follow than To the Lighthouse, and thus more enjoyable. It was an extremely quick read and i'll have to read it again.


Finishing up Jude the Obscure and The American by Henry James this week. Two very interesting takes on marriage.

[canaan]

im glad you enjoyed dalloway.

id like to hear your take on Jude when you're finished with it.

[Kraftster]

Ordering this as a gift today and might try to read it really quickly before wrapping it in time for Christmas.

[Godric]

Ordering this as a gift today and might try to read it really quickly before wrapping it in time for Christmas.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

I really really hated Hitchens. Really hated him.

[shafnutz05]

I just finished Hawke, the first book in the Alex Hawke series by Ted Bell. It is completely mind-numbing adventure fiction (think of a British caricature of Dirk Pitt), but I enjoyed it for what it was.

I just started a pretty ambitious read, Shadow Country by Peter Mathiessen. It's a mostly fictional work that combines the three books in the EJ Watson series. So far, it's definitely good, but I can tell there is going to be extensive character development. Won the National Book Award in 2008 for fiction.

Takes place in turn of the century southwest Florida, pretty fascinating to see what it was like living in that part of the country at that point in time.

[Gaucho]

Hai, I'm into my 8th Ballard.

[Shyster]

Just finished up Dodger by Terry Pratchett. It’s a non-Discworld book set in 19th-century London. Pratchett’s trademark irrelevant humor is abundant throughout, and it’s an enjoyable read. I don’t know how long the author will be able to continue to work (Pratchett was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in 2007), so every new book is like an unexpected gift.

I'll probably next read Forbidden Grounds: The Case Against Employment Discrimination Laws by Richard Epstein.

[LeopardLetang]

Takes place in turn of the century southwest Florida, pretty fascinating to see what it was like living in that part of the country at that point in time.

that's very intriguing. turn of the century is my bag. what's the gist so far?

[shafnutz05]

Takes place in turn of the century southwest Florida, pretty fascinating to see what it was like living in that part of the country at that point in time.

that's very intriguing. turn of the century is my bag. what's the gist so far?

So far so good. As I said, the story all seems to revolve around this mysterious "EJ Watson" character, known as Mr. Watson in those parts. They aren't sure where he came from, there are rumors he is a fugitive, etc. I am about 40 pages (they are long pages) into it, and so far each chapter is essentially a written narrative from the points of view of different characters in the book.

As I am finding out more about the biographies of each character, it's rapidly starting to pique my interest. To answer your history question, I think it does a great job thus far of portraying the picture of that area at that time in history.

[Troy Loney]

im glad you enjoyed dalloway.

id like to hear your take on Jude when you're finished with it.

Spoiler:

What a depressing ending....after all the tribulations he had gone through I was really expecting something good to happen in the end. Sue was definitely off her rocker, she was putting up major red flags throughout the story, and obviously the incident with the children would make most people lose, but I do think the way she lost it is emblematic of her craziness. But they weren't even the saddest, or most helpless characters in the story, I'd give that to Phillotson and Father Time.

A little over the top somber, but still a fascinating plot to follow.

Jude and Sue never get married. Father Time hangs himself and Jude and Sue's two children. Sue then gets religious and remarries Phillotson, Arabella tricks Jude to remarry her then, who then dies miserable shortly after that.

[Gaucho]

Maybe you should spoiler that.

[Troy Loney]

There spoilered....although I don't think it needed it (now it does though).

[Digitalgypsy66]

I'm reading Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay...the book that launched Dexter, the Showtime series.

Very interesting, slightly different take than the show. The show simplifies the characters a bit, but Batista works for the morgue and isn't a detective. Laguerta is portrayed as a moron and brown noser, which isn't that way on the show. It looks like the first season sticks pretty closely with the this book, and then goes its own way.

[Gaucho]

There spoilered....although I don't think it needed it.

Probably right. I guess it's too late to say never mind...

[canaan]

im glad you enjoyed dalloway.

id like to hear your take on Jude when you're finished with it.

Spoiler:

What a depressing ending....after all the tribulations he had gone through I was really expecting something good to happen in the end. Sue was definitely off her rocker, she was putting up major red flags throughout the story, and obviously the incident with the children would make most people lose, but I do think the way she lost it is emblematic of her craziness. But they weren't even the saddest, or most helpless characters in the story, I'd give that to Phillotson and Father Time.

A little over the top somber, but still a fascinating plot to follow.

Jude and Sue never get married. Father Time hangs himself and Jude and Sue's two children. Sue then gets religious and remarries Phillotson, Arabella tricks Jude to remarry her then, who then dies miserable shortly after that.

Spoiler:

Just heart-wrenching the way Father Time goes out. one of my favorite plot points in any book. There is just a strong sense of "They can pull this out; theres hope" and then kapow.

[canaan]

im gonna start reading "This way to the Gas" again. im in the mood to lose faith in humanity all over again.

[Gaucho]

You mean you regained it at some point?

[canaan]

You mean you regained it at some point?

once in a while, i get a burst of "maybe they arent all bad" in my brain, but i dont want that notion to gain any steam so its good to beat it back down.

[Gaucho]

I know that feeling.

[Troy Loney]

im glad you enjoyed dalloway.

id like to hear your take on Jude when you're finished with it.

Spoiler:

What a depressing ending....after all the tribulations he had gone through I was really expecting something good to happen in the end. Sue was definitely off her rocker, she was putting up major red flags throughout the story, and obviously the incident with the children would make most people lose, but I do think the way she lost it is emblematic of her craziness. But they weren't even the saddest, or most helpless characters in the story, I'd give that to Phillotson and Father Time.

A little over the top somber, but still a fascinating plot to follow.

Jude and Sue never get married. Father Time hangs himself and Jude and Sue's two children. Sue then gets religious and remarries Phillotson, Arabella tricks Jude to remarry her then, who then dies miserable shortly after that.

Spoiler:

Just heart-wrenching the way Father Time goes out. one of my favorite plot points in any book. There is just a strong sense of "They can pull this out; theres hope" and then kapow.

Spoiler:

I was sad because I felt so bad for Father Time and just wanted it to work out for him. But to the main plot, the only thing I didn't like about Jude was that he kept using Arabella as leverage with Sue. They placed themselves in most of their difficulty, but then I think what he did made his situation impossible.

[Gaucho]

I created a monster.

[TheHammer24]

Hi everybody!

I've read The Dragon Tattoo and the Hunger Games trilogies this year, eclipsing the number of novels I've read since high school by . . . six. Looking for some suggestions. I like crowd-pleasers, I think. The Millennium trilogy was definitely better than the Hunger Games (totally different worlds). But I would love a crime novel or better yet a complex plot like Larson wrote.

[eddysnake]

Hi everybody!

I've read The Dragon Tattoo and the Hunger Games trilogies this year, eclipsing the number of novels I've read since high school by . . . six. Looking for some suggestions. I like crowd-pleasers, I think. The Millennium trilogy was definitely better than the Hunger Games (totally different worlds). But I would love a crime novel or better yet a complex plot like Larson wrote.

check out the George Smiley spy books by John Le Carre

http://www.smileyspeople.net/books.php