What BOOK are you reading right now?

the novellas are in various other publications (but i managed to find them on the net), the 3rd one, The Mystery Knight is in the Warriors compilation

Have you read any of the Bernie Gunther novels by Phillip Kerr, pure Candler, set in Nazi, and post war Germany? They're really addictive, the next one's out in October, I can't wait.

speaker for the dead by orson scott card

That's on my to do list too.

I've read a lot of his, but not that one. Glad you like it.

That is such a good book.

the guy's a genius!

Thanks for the tip izzy: I'm on it!

Finished listening to The Weed that Strings the Handman's Bag by Alan Bradley. Another murder mystery with the precosious Flavia de Luce.

Moved onto A Red Herring Without Mustard. The third book of the above series.

I started on 'The One From The Other,' it was a free gift with a bookstore magazine. I then had to go back a bit, they're all pretty much self contained, but it's best to start from the beginning. The first three are all available in one volume Berlin Noir.

I read Hillaire Belloc's William the Conqueror today. A 1st edition Peter Davies 1933. Lovely just to hold. I do judge books to an extent by their cover. I like to know that the publisher was a devotee of literature.

I wouldn't trust a free gift as far as I could throw the Atlas Mountains I'm afraid.

What's Berlin got that we haven't in the Noir department that's remotely tempting. Things are Noir enough as it is without going looking for more.

You don't know what you're missing you sanctimonious old sod. I was in Amsterdam, with no other reading matter. I was very pleasantly surprised. I like Chandler, and Bernie Gunther is a brilliant character. Kerr's attention to historical detail rivals George MacDonald Fraser. Look him up on Wikipedia.

A negative for Amsterdam I hadn't considered.

The acute observation of human dynamic interaction is what I prefer and I'm not really bothered if the author makes up the historical details as long as they are not too daft. All historical detail is daft to some extent.

I read most of the Wiki entry at your behest.

Just finished Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne - The Rise and Fall of the Comanches. Man, those Comanches were baad, are were they just talented? Incredible research by the writer into how and why these Indians became the most powerful, almost Mafia-like, people of the west. Quanah, the powerful handsome Comanche chief, had a white mother who was abducted as a child.

Also read Song of the Deer, the great sun dance journey of the soul by Thunder Strikes with Jan Orsi. Offers a fresh perspective on the evolution of soul consciusness while remaining grounded in our practical day-to-day life. Quite unbelievable, the authors even have some say about sex in the process. That's a first!

I thought this was going to be good, but light, transit reading



not so much. It's been really difficult to stop reading at transfer points.

Vanity Fair by Thackery (i haven't read it in almost 40 years, and am pleasantly surprised).

The Spinster and the Prophet (forget the author's name--an academic historian) about Florence Deeks of Toronto, who, in 1925, sued H. G. Wells for plagiarism for the publication of The Outline of History.

The Influence of Sea Power on History, 1660-1783 by A. T. Mahan.

Vanity Fair has tended to crowd out the other two.

I've read Belloc, I remember being bored, but, alas, I don't remember the exact bit.

Or, not alas.

Still, every so often, I think Spendius is constructing piles of posts re his persona, one way or the other, literary, or personal.

Just rec'd in the mail, Simon Winchester's "The Meaning of Everything." The book cost .01c, and the mailing was $3.99. For a hardcover, it's a bargain, because it's still in excellent shape. It's about the story of the Oxford English dictionary. Winchester is a master at research before he writes his books, and is able to bring out the personalities involved in any endeavor. I'm now into about four books, but I'm sure I'll finish this one before the other four.

I'm reading Richard Rodriguez' autobio, Hunger of Memory.

I remember him well but not always well. Something about his tv presentation, the wait for the import of his words to sink in, his public voice, as he explains in the book, didn't work for me, but that is a style issue to some extent.

Anyway, I'm learning by reading much more about him.

Back later. I bought the book a while ago because I was interested; am just at the start.