What BOOK are you reading right now?

Dance with Dragons arrived Wednesday morning. I can't put it down.

I wonder how far along he is on The Winds of Winter (book 6). I remember reading how impatient Fire & Ice fans were in waiting those 5 years for Dragons. I just started the series, so a minor wait won't affect me much at all.

Like you I've just started it. I was really impressed by the TV adaptation of Game of Thrones and started reading just before the last episode. Some books grab me, and I just keep reading. The last book, 'A Feast For Crows,' had a message at the back, dated June 2005 stating A Dance Of Dragons would be out in a year. That's got a lot of people impatient and irritated from what I read on the web. There should be another 2 volumes to go, some reports say he's already written some, others say he won't start until next year. Some worldweary cynics are telling people to make up their own endings because it will never be finished.

I haven't seen the TV series, but was amazed to see the rating it got on IMDB! 9.5/10. I can't remember ever seeing a rating that high...except maybe for Sopranos.

It's what got me into it. The best thing about it is nobody is safe, it's the opposite of Star Trek. The guy in the red jersey who's not Kirk Spock or McCoy dies. In Game of Thrones everyone is in the red jersey.

I just put The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu on my TBR list. One reviewer at Amazon describes it thusly...



I figure I might need something along these lines when I get to the last page of Martin's last book I'm devouring them!

That's what it did to me. He has written some novellas as well.

It sounds rubbish to me. It breaks every one of Henry Fielding's rules about fiction writing.

Why does the "elemental spirit" attack the ship and kill the occupants. Why not give them all a blow job or conjure up portions of fish and chips with mushy peas? Can it forecast the winner of the St. Leger? Can it do anything useful?

Is there a reason for it to attack the ship other than to cater for the reader's obsession with destruction, killing and mayhem?

I think you're confusing it with The Tempest. Ariel attacked the ship at Prospero's bidding.



Is that your idea of a good Friday night?

No. I'm an askesis fanatic.

Your rigorous self control is always in evidence. Well that's Friday sorted, what about Saturday?

Just finished (audio book)

Special Projects in Calamity Physics

What a whirlwind the ending was!

Started " Atlas Shrugged" Went 1/6 th of the way then thought "Fountainhead needs to be read first so went and bought it.

Just got started on "The Meaning Of Everything," and I'm enthralled by the information on how words were imported from so many countries, but the fact that Old English is really based on the first settlers, the Celts, from northern Danube. The Romans settled in England for 400 years, and had their influence not only to the culture, but to the Latin-based language also. What followed were the Danes, Anglo-Saxons, the French, and the Vikings.

By the time the Oxford English Dictionary was being developed which took over 70 years, the imported words from the Middle East and Asia was also extent.

Fascinating!

I'm a retired English teacher, and the story of English is a major part of our curriculum. We usually start with Beowulf though.

Funny about that. I read Atlas Shrugged years ago, and recently started Fountainhead. Half way through, I was still looking for a character with a hint of sanity, gave it up as a bad effort and took it back to the library.

I read Slumdog Millionaire last week. It was so good I would have checked out the movie if I had known the storyline.

Have you read "The Meaning Of Everything" by Simon Winchester? If you hadn't, I highly recommend it; it'll provide some insights not only from its historical perspective but the famous and not so famous characters who have influenced the language.

I've finished Zoo Station by David Downing. Excellent, possibly not liked by all crime or spy novel readers though. It's a throwback to the cool kind of writing done by Le Carre, maybe more cool than his. I'd call it a classic espionage book. Not the best seller type of big bang stuff every few pages - but a slow build of dread for good reason. It's set at the beginning of 1939, in Berlin. Fascinating and well written, reputedly well researched. He has written others in what I think of as the Station series.


Now I'm beginning a book by Cormac McCarthy, Cities of the Plain.

I've tried McCarthy before, and gave up early on All the Pretty Horses. I thought the author was babbling incoherently and couldn't stay with it. I think I mentioned this before on a2k and someone told me that was using a drug or two at the time (not that I'm sure of that). I kept it though, since I understood him to be a good writer, in case I could get myself to try it again. Not yet, but I had this other book of his purchased at the same time, that I didn't bother to even try back then, just putting it in the to-read stack.

With Cities of the Plain, I know I'm going to like it though I'm only on page 16.
I'm taking it slowly as sometimes I've had to read a page and the next one another time or two to figure out who the people are and what is going on. No spoon feeding by the author.. but once I cotton on to how he writes, I think I'll appreciate it. Will report later.

I've not, I've just started Zoo City by Lauren Beukes, don't know what I make of it yet. I'll bear Mr Winchester in mind when I finish. Thanks for the heads up. I'm not likely to forget the name, there's a whopping big reminder 14 miles north of me.

Zoo station was recommended when I bought the last Bernie Gunther book. I have been tempted to give it a go, so it's nice to hear something positive about it.