What BOOK are you reading right now?

djjd62, when I see your username, I always think of "didgeridoo"...

<That's okay...my mother thought I was a little nuts, too...>

Adding a note to myself, and anyone else interested -
more on Claudio Magris (Danube): http://artandlove.wordpress.com/2009/06/19/claudio-magris-cosmopolitan-intellectual/

Empire Falls, Richard Russo

That was a good read, DrewDad...

The Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
Bizzzzarre!

a great read, i've got all the original comic books and a copy of the TPB, i've re-read it about every two years for the last twenty years

if you've not read V for Vendetta, you should check it out

THE SOPRANO STATE a non fiction book that couldnt be made up with any more humor. New Jersey shows the rest of the country what corruption is all about. Like the guy who went to a drive-in teller and deposited a phony check for 25, 000, 000$. He then withdrew several piles of cash from this account before he got caught. Is everybody in New Jersey connected or just immensely stupid? (I leave you to draw your own conclusion)

The authors, (Ingles and Mclure are their names) left me wanting more of these stories. Therein were several dozen reasons why Ill never attempt to live in New Jersey
Jimmie Breslin's THE GANG THAT COULDNT SHOOT STRAIGHT. is nothing compared to this quick read.

PS its nonfiction.

My son Nigel, who gave me The Watchmen for my birthday, had previously
loaned me V for Vendetta.
We had a pretty good "justice vs. vengeance" discusion afterwards.

listening to actually

In Chapter Four of the Bible, Cain kills Abel. It is the world's most famous murder. But the Bible is silent about one key detail: the weapon Cain used to kill his brother. That weapon is still lost to history.

In 1932, Mitchell Siegel was killed by three gunshots to his chest. While mourning, his son dreamed of a bulletproof man and created the world's greatest hero: Superman. And like Cain's murder weapon, the gun used in this unsolved murder has never been found.

Until now.

Today in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Cal Harper comes face-to-face with his family's greatest secret: his long-lost father, who's been shot with a gun that traces back to Mitchell Siegel's 1932 murder. But before Cal can ask a single question, he and his father are attacked by a ruthless killer tattooed with the anicent markings of Cain. And so begins the chase for the world's first murder weapon.

What does Cain, history's greatest villain, have to do with Superman, the world's greatest hero? And what do two murders, committed thousands of years apart, have in common? This is the mystery at the heart of Brad Meltzer's riveting and utterly intriguing new thriller.

reading at this time



Mister B. Gone marks the long-awaited return of Clive Barker, the great master of the macabre, to the classic horror story. This bone-chilling novel, in which a medieval devil speaks directly to his reader"his tone murderous one moment, seductive the next"is a never-before-published memoir allegedly penned in the year 1438. The demon has embedded himself in the very words of this tale of terror, turning the book itself into a dangerous object, laced with menace only too ready to break free and exert its power.

A brilliant and truly unsettling tour de force of the supernatural, Mister B. Gone escorts the reader on an intimate and revelatory journey to uncover the shocking truth of the battle between Good and Evil.

This book that is so fascinating to me, Danube, this thicket on every page, is an english translation of the italian author's Danubia, Magris being born in Trieste and a professor at the university there. I've wound my way to page 63, learning, learning. It just occurred to me, I should buy the book untranslated, in italian, as a follow up. My italian was spare in the first place and is rusty at that. That could keep me busy for years to come... let's say an hour a page, given the complexity. Although, doing that, by the end of the book I'd be a faster reader of italian text.

That's a flawed concept though. I did read the Aeneid in latin, and I wouldn't have called myself fluent at the last page. Stupefied, perhaps. Maybe just stupefied in a faster manner.

currently listening too



Between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities...there was an age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars.... Hither came Conan, the Cimmerian, black-haired, sullen-eyed, sword in hand...to tread the jeweled thrones of the earth under his sandalled feet.

In a meteoric career that spanned a mere 12 years before his tragic suicide, Robert E. Howard single-handedly invented the genre that came to be called sword-and-sorcery. Collected in this volume are Howard's first 13 Conan stories in their original versions and in the order Howard wrote them. Included are classics of dark fantasy like "The Tower of the Elephant" and swashbuckling adventure like "Queen of the Black Coast."

Here are timeless tales featuring Conan the raw and dangerous youth, Conan the daring thief, Conan the swashbuckling pirate, and Conan the commander of armies. Here, too, is an unparalleled glimpse into the mind of a genius whose bold storytelling style has been imitated by many yet equaled by none.

Short stories

"The Phoenix on the Sword"
"The Frost Giant's Daughter"
"The God in the Bowl"
"The Tower of the Elephant"
"The Scarlet Citadel"
"Queen of the Black Coast"
"Black Colossus"
"Iron Shadows in the Moon"
"Xuthal of the Dusk"
"The Pool of the Black One"
"Rogues in the House"
"The Vale of Lost Women"
"The Devil in Iron"

The set is noted for presenting the original, unedited versions of Howard's Conan tales.

I am savouring every sentence.


(joeblow, I have a book for you ...)

I would like to express my gratitude to Kara and spikepipsqueak for encouraging me to take on Moby Dick. I am half way through it and it truly is wonderful. And in many ways.

Thank you dear dears.

I am reading through several juvenile novels which were given to me by the local bookstore because they are advance copies. It's pretty cool to see books at that stage.

I read and liked Killer Pizza by Greg Taylor (love this one - about monster hunters), The Beef Princess of Practical County (country/farm life) by Michelle Houts, The Loser's Guide to Life and Love (boys in love) by A. E. Cannon.

I am currently reading The Humming of Numbers (set in a fantasy monestary) by Joni Sensel.

I have twelve more books to get through! Next will likely be You Know Where to Find Me (about the wake of a suicide) by Rachel Cohn.

DJ, that Conan book looks cool! Would it be suitable for 12 year olds do you think?

good for you, spendi...

Moby is one of my faves.

ehBeth, Thanks for letting me know about this, I loved A Fine Balance by the same author.

Spendi, glad you decided to take the plunge. It is rather wonderful, eh?

Oh, I love Mistry!

I met him once, he made a real impression as just a sweet, kind human being. Very quiet and modest.

I'm reading "The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down":



It's for my Deaf book club and I suspect it was chosen (not my selection) because of the parallels between Hmong culture and Deaf culture. Interesting, but depressing reading.

well i'm a big fan of howard and stuff like that (burroughs tarazan, robeson's doc savage), i've got PDF copies of all three volumes that make up the set, i'll pm you a link to them, and you can peruse them see what you think