What are you reading?

[lizwilliams]

I nicked this from arcaedia and hope she won't mind, but we have a rather differently composited f-list, so...

...what are you reading?

I'm avoiding SF for the immediate future (i.e. until I finish this book) and re-reading Anais Nin's Diaries, which mainly cover the 20s through to the 50s. She's an interesting writer - more surrealist than erotic (Henry Miller persuaded her to write porn for a $ a page and her results have granted her more mileage than her novels, which is somewhat unfair). I'm also reading a book about the composition of women's domestic altars.

And you lot?

Comments

[swisstone.livejournal.com]

Various bits of the Clarke and BSFA Award shortlists - Accelerando, Air, Living Next Door To The God of Love, and some book called Banner of Souls, the author of which escapes me ...

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

>and some book called Banner of Souls, the author of which escapes me ...

I read that. It wasn't as good as it could have been.

[nwhyte]

Terry Pratchett, A Hatful of Sky; A. Merritt, The Moon Pool.

Lining up Lawrence Durrell, Bitter Lemons of Cyprus next.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Aha! I loved Bitter Lemons (I actually nicked one of the settings for a short story, years ago).

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The Once and Future King and a selection of Cicero's letters.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

IIRC, it was Cicero who kept complaining about his son's swanky new bathroom (it had windows and a view, for gods' sake - what do you need those for?). OTOH I may be thinking of Tacitus.

[autopope.livejournal.com]

Currently reading: New Scientist, a handbook of forensics (aimed at the much-too-interested public, but quite useful for all that), "Blood and Iron" by Elizabeth Bear (in manuscript), and "C: Mansfield Cummings and the founding of the Secret Service".

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

> "Blood and Iron" by Elizabeth Bear (in manuscript),

You are a lucky person!

[tanaise.livejournal.com]

I've mostly finished my latest library dose of Chick Lit, and so I may actually read the SF/F I've got sitting around at home instead of just looking at it and thinking, "gosh, i should read that," so I may start reading the second Sarah Ash fantasy novel, the 4th book of Crown of Stars, The Iron Tree (First of Cecilia Dart-Thornton's new series), The Hallowed Hunt, or Crystal Rain.

But then again, I may just go to the library and pick up more books and read them instead. :)

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I really liked Cecilia's first - I haven't got around to more, but due to lack of time rather than inclination.

[ortho-bob.livejournal.com]

Martin Amis's "The Last Days of Muhammad Atta" in the New Yorker, Flann O'Brien's The Dalkey Archive and just finishing American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century by Kevin Phillips.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

>Flann O'Brien's The Dalkey Archive

He's just great. Is that the one that has the man who swaps molecules with his bicycle?

[jaylake.livejournal.com]

I must confess that I initially read this as "a rather differently constipated f-list."

Sigh.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

>I must confess that I initially read this as "a rather differently constipated f-list."

I suspect this speaks volumes about the usual tone of this live journal.

Although we might be. You just don't know.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

I am reading four books at once, oddly: On Fencing by Aldo Nadi and Fencing is My Life by Sergei Golubitsky (this last is fascinating as he began his fencing career in the USSR and his accounts of being an athlete during the reign of the Communists--can you say that, the "reign" of Communists?--is illuminating). Also a random SF book which is so very very bad that I am reading it out of amazement that it made the shelves. And a book on small business management.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

>I am reading four books at once, oddly:

But this is not odd! It is eminently reasonable!

[pigeonhed.livejournal.com]

...your LJ of course!

Plus all those books that wicked Eastercon dealers forced upon me! (Didn't get chance to say Hi, am afraid.)

And see my latest post at pigeonhed for the things I want to read if time ever permits....

But it should be Howard waldrop. It should be Howard waldrop. It should be Howard waldrop. Write out 100 times 'It should be Howard waldrop.'
Must write that article.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

>...your LJ of course!

Head enters recursive loop and eventually explodes

I used to see things by Howard Waldrop through one of my writing groups, as he and Leigh Kennedy sometimes work together. It was always a treat.

[arcaedia.livejournal.com]

Of course I don't mind (and I borrowed it in the first place myself - from nephele. As I mentioned on my own journal, I've just started Jonathan Lethem's Fortress of Solitude (I didn't mention at all which manuscripts I'm in the midst of....)

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I love Lethem's work. He's such a good writer.

[solsticedawn.livejournal.com]

I'm currently reading "Dead men do tell tales" (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385479689/sr=8-1/qid=1145985268/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-0550062-5887211?%5Fencoding=UTF8). It's written by a forensic anthropologist. Unknown to me, I walked right by his lab last summer in Gainesville.

I'm also waiting for "A Feast for Crows" to come back to the local public library; I'm next on the list for a "hold".

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

>I'm also waiting for "A Feast for Crows" to come back to the local public library; I'm next on the list for a "hold".

I haven't got to this yet, but I plan to!

[mithriltabby]

The latest issue of Scientific American, and Neal Asher’s Cowl, which is turning out to be a really intriguing time travel story. I recently posted a reflection on Accelerando and River of Gods and why I’m looking forward to the hypertext editions.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I will be checking this out - thanks!

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes
Little Infamies, Panos Karnezis

At first Little Infamies wasn't quite so good as I'd hoped, but it got better. And better. And now I'm in love with it and wondering how I could persuade someone to let me turn it into a TV series (it's too big for a film).

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Neither of which I have read, though I've been intrigued by the Barthes I have read (can't remember what it was - it was in relation to a philosophy course years ago). Must revisit.

[klingonguy.livejournal.com]

Happily, I've been finding time to read quite a bit lately. Much of it has been "space opera" types of stuff.

I recently finished Rules of Engagement by Elizabeth Moon (the third in her Ky Vatta series).

Over the weekend I started Conventions of War by Walter Jon Williams (the third book in his Dread Empire's Fall series).

Last Friday's mail brought goodies from Amazon: a deck of Mermaid Tarot cards (for a writing project I'm intending) and a copy of Snake Agent which I either read next, or possibly after first reading a Dan Simmons book.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I haven't read that one of Elizabeth's, but I recently finished (and enjoyed) her Serrano Legacy series.

[elarasophia.livejournal.com]

Philosophy - 100 Essential Thinkers by Philip Stokes, to try to fill some of the void in my education, and Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors. The latter is wonderful so far, and the former very useful.

Regarding philosophy: I dearly wanted to attend your philosophy panel at Eastercon, but the trip couldn't be managed this year, sadly. Do you happen to know if there are any summaries or accounts of it posted anywhere?

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I don't think it was but I can check - it was very much a canter through philosohy of mind, philos. of science, AI, ethics, aesthetics - we covered a lot of ground but not in much depth. Justina read it at uni and she's probably retained more than I have. But the audience - my God, abstruse mathematical jokes, the lot. I made a joke about Kant and everyone got it. Mind you, that level of knowledge isn't surprising at a con.

[merriehaskell.livejournal.com]

I am most determinedly not reading anything at the moment. I have picked up eight books in the past two days and failed to get 10 pages into any of them. The fault, I believe, is in me, not the books.

I just finished a cool book by an osteoarchaeologist about medicine in the Crusades, cunningly entitled Medicine in the Crusades, and have decided to reread, in random chunks, a book about Apache place-naming called Wisdom Sits in Places until my brain is ready real reading again.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Both sound fascinating! All this makes me want to closet myself away for a month and just read other people's stuff.

[caskared.livejournal.com]

Aside from stuff I'm editing I've been dipping in and out of a few things for a while:

Marshall McLuhan 'Understanding Media'
Jean-Francois Lyotard "The Libidinal Economy'
Will Self 'Dr Mukti'
Graham Greene 'The Human Factor'
William S Burroughs 'Last Words'
And I've been lent 'The Number 1 Ladies Detective Agency' as some fluff.

[camies.livejournal.com]

Carlos Ruiz Zafon 'The Shadow of the Wind'
Stephen Pollington 'First Steps in Old English'

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I really like the idea of first steps in old English, for some reason.

[bookzombie.livejournal.com]

Currently about 1/3rd of the way through the latest Joanne Harris, Gentlemen and Players which is turning into a rather fun sort of revenge tragedy.

Also reading John Gribbin's Science: A History (in chunks) and almost finished Dave Langford's The Complete Critical Assembly, which is my current 'read while the computer is booting up' book!

Next up after the Harris: Something called Darkland...

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I must check out Harris - never read any of her work. But I hear good things.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Just finished Chaz Brenchley's Bridge of Dreams (in proof).

Reading a Master's thesis submitted to the University of Leipzig (in English, fortunately) on the place of Bryan Talbot in British comics.

Trying to decide which of my birthday presents to read next.

[kefiraahava.livejournal.com]

1) =American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century: Social, Political, and Economic Challenges=

2) =Higher Education in Transition: A History of American Colleges and Universities=

3) =The Chronicle of Higher Education=, both the weekly issue and the daily news digests, and if I get a chance the subsidiary =Arts and Letters= review portion of it

4) =Inside Higher Ed= online, daily news and views digest (I read both #3 and #4 because #4 is like the =NY Post= to the =Chronicle='s =New York Times=)

4) various freelance, about which I can only say it's SF

5) On the rare occasions these days I can allow myself the treat of non-grad-school/non-freelance reading, I'm either rereading Dorothy Sayers, picking out random poetry to reread (Neruda was the last I picked up), or reading the newest in the John Hemry's JAG-in-space series, which is quite good IMO. I did just also finish =Garlic and Sapphires=, Ruth Reichl's latest memoir about being the food critic for the =New York Times=. Very good and has recipes.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

You wouldn't be attending grad school, by any chance? ;-)

I re-read Sayers a lot and I'm going to look out for the Reichl book: sounds great.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I'm reading a lot of sf on my vacation. I'm finishing up Alis's Crown of Stars series (on the last tome now), and next on my list is something about a snake agent.

[wishus.livejournal.com]

Almost nothing for pure pleasure, it seems!

Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness, interspersed with various academic texts and a book on Gender Studies terminology.
I have 2 books on the go for editing as well.

Having said that, I'm dipping into Storm Constantine's last Wraeththu book when I get the chance. I still haven't finished this quarter's Mslexia. It's depressing me. I daren't count what's in my 'to read' pile.