February 2011 and I am reading...
Oh, that was such a good book. Loved that one Alecia. A few months ago I got it on a complete whim and gave it such a good rap in here. Well, not in here, but in the monthly thread of the time. Anyway, point is, it's a great book.
Just picked up Beat the Reaper and Jazz
Am now reading Nostradamus Ate My Hamster by Robert Rankin.
If you never heard of Rankin, he's an English comedy writer. He's in the same kind of school as Pratchett, Adams, & Elton.
Very silly, very English, occasionally very funny.
SOLARCIDE.COM My blog/writer's hideout. Stories and interviews by me and by special guests. Together we can kill the sun. Come lend a hand.
Latest update - What The Eyes Behold by Mike Frounfelter.
We Are All Made of Glue was rubbish. You know when there are a couple of interesting charactersn in a book, and it could be better but it isn't because the narrator is just so unlikeable? Yeah it was like that.
But I'm onto bigger and better things now, I'm just about to start The Stand by Stephen King.
Treasure Island (R.L. Stevenson)
Is Room worth buying? It's on a buy one get one for £1 at WHSmith, where I work, cause Richard and Judy chose it. However, they usually choose such pulp books I wasn't sure if it was worth it.
Currently reading Catcher In The Rye
You look like the type of guy / gal, who would like:
Rereading The Secret History by Donna Tartt.
No shit? Me too!
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
Currently reading Catcher In The Rye
Well, I really enjoyed Room, so I'd say yes! I don't know how much £1 is worth in American dollars, though. I paid $10 for a Kindle copy, I think.
I just started reading The Night Listener, by Armistead Maupin
The Wasteland and other poems- T.S. Elliot. Nate would kill me, but what can I say- I love poetry.
FUBU and KFC have anounced their move to combine forces and fullyn focus on targeting more 'ethnic' audiences. In other news, McDonalds, Starbucks and Wal-Mart have combined to become The United Corporate of America. Moving on...
The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
nice
I picked up Ryan Adams' Infinity Blues, Sylvia Plath's Collected Poems (for my brother's birthday), Ellroy's The Black Dahlia and I stole a copy of Franco's Palo Alto because I was kind of curious but really didn't want to pay for it. The other stories suck just as much as that crap he published over at Esquire.
So, I'm reading a poem here and there from Adams' collection and just about to start my first ever Ellroy. Very excited.
I really resent taking book recommendations from those two vulgarians, but some of the books on there are sheer delight (The History of Love by Nicole Krauss, Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris)!
Then of course you've got a book like No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay, some of the worst crap I've ever read which apparently had Richard in tears. It's a real mixed bag.
At the moment I'm reading Invisible by Paul Auster. I got it for Christmas and I spotted that it was a pick for OCBC recently. It's a page turner, all right.
Last week it was Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, Nick Flynn's Another Bullshit Night in Suck City, Gilbert Sorrentino's The Abyss of Human Illusion, Earth: The Book (The Daily Show), and I'm halfway through Blake Butler's Scorch Atlas. I like his staccato writing style quite a bit, but I have to take it in small doses of just a few stories at a time, as the apocalyptic mood starts to wear on your soul.
I enjoyed the Black Dahlia. I imagine its better if you haven't seen the movie all ready.
I tried to get some Paul Auster on my Kindle, but I'm spoiled with free books and $13 sounded like a lot for an e-book.
I'm always surprised when people mention reading Another Bullshit Night in Suck City. I picked it up on the bargain table at B&N for $3 (in hardback) about 5 years ago. I didn't think it was very good. Of course I think Monica Drake might be the only other person I've seen mention it, maybe one other.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
The thing about Suck City is that I had to keep reminding myself it was nonfiction, because I found myself judging it in novel terms. The writing's very good, I think, but it's lacking in plot construction and such because of this. And it's very repetitive.
I met Nick Flynn 3 years ago in Galway, he's good people.
Autumn, The City by David Moody.
The Complete Short Stories of Maupassant, on Kindle.
So, no one thought it hilarious that I stole Franco's book?
Oh, well I'm a mod. I can't condone stealing... publicly...
If I'm to be honest, I didn't plan on stealing it. And, now, I feel kind of bad about it. Kind of. It was just to good an opportunity to pass up, really. I had already bought the other books and was meeting someone at the bookstore and Palo Alto was just staring at me from a little end cap and I picked it up and read a little bit of it, and considered buying it, but then thought about the million other books I'd rather buy before that and then I just found myself too intrigued to put it down, but too tight to remove my wallet from my pocket and the next thing I know I'm leaving the bookstore and showing the person at the front door my docket and they checked it and said, yeah, yeah, cool, have a good day and then I was walking out with one extra book. Pretty funny, really.
I was amused. I definitely wouldn't spend money on it.
Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
The Silent Land by Graham Joyce.
When I Was Five I Killed Myself by Howard Buten.
Got it on a recommendation, not something I would have picked up otherwise but so far I'm enjoying it.
SOLARCIDE.COM My blog/writer's hideout. Stories and interviews by me and by special guests. Together we can kill the sun. Come lend a hand.
Latest update - What The Eyes Behold by Mike Frounfelter.
The James Dean story by Ronald Martinetti.
The Samaritan by fellow Cultie, Fred Venturini.
Nice. What's it about, how's it going etc. etc.?
Just started A Clash of Kings I'm so in love with this series, but I'm scared I'm going to finish them all and it will take him 5 years to get the next book out 
Nice. What's it about, how's it going etc. etc.?
It's about a guy who can self-regenerate. It's pretty good so far.
Like Wolverine?
Like that cheerleader.
"A celibate clergy is an especially good idea, because it tends to suppress any hereditary propensity toward fanaticism." -Carl Sagan
"Am I cruel? Probably. Is she an idiot? Yes." -jane s.
@Kirk and Steve
Yeppers.
Just go on with the books, you won't be able to stop. I've never liked fantasy before I read that series, and I'm so so happy I did.
Just go on with the books, you won't be able to stop. I've never liked fantasy before I read that series, and I'm so so happy I did.
Who wrote it?
Just go on with the books, you won't be able to stop. I've never liked fantasy before I read that series, and I'm so so happy I did.
Who wrote it?
George RR Martin. Also, now reading The Terrorist by John Updike.
Just go on with the books, you won't be able to stop. I've never liked fantasy before I read that series, and I'm so so happy I did.
Who wrote it?
George RR Martin. Also, now reading The Terrorist by John Updike.
Yeah, my Aunt reads a ton of fantasy stuff but this series is one of the few she has told me to check out. I like fantasy when it's done well and this is really good.
I should have took her advice and gotten into them years ago.
It's going to take him another five years to finish the next one whether you finish the series or not. I think its all ready been five.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
Sonbert's forthcoming novel, We Are Oblivion (yes, I'm bragging about having an ARC--whatofit?)
I got my ARC of this yesterday. I will read it at the weekend.
Christopher Moore's You Suck. Needed a palate-cleanser after some heavy reads.
Gillian Flynn's, 'Dark Places' is SO good! I recommend it to anyone that likes literary, darkly humored, complicated and artful crime/mystery type books. It's a also a quick, but satisfying read that demands a second read almost immediately. (I read it in a day, but I didn't do anything else that day except eat a couple of sandwitchs.)
I just finished By the Time We Leave Here, We'll Be Friends by J. David Osborne, but I didn't really understand it at the end. It was really entertaining, though, and silly-violent, which I generally enjoy.
I'm definitely digging the reading choices of everyone here. A lot of people reading stuff on my (way too long) to-read list. Makes me want to plow through my currently-reading list so I can get to the next set of good stuff!
Usually I'm really good about only reading one to two books at a time, but I went on a book buying binge and got like 40 books within the space of a couple of weeks, so I got a little overeager and started too many.
I'm currently reading:
1984 by George Orwell - almost done with this one, I've been wanting to read it for years now and only just got around to it. The prose is drier than I prefer but it's a great story. One of the few books that has really made me appreciate how fortunate I am to have the things I have - simple things like always having butter to put on my bread, free access to chocolate and the option to languish naked in my bed with the one I love whenever and for however long I choose. I have a hard time appreciating the things I'm lucky to have, so having a book manage to hit it home to me was a big deal.
Teatro Grottesco by Thomas Ligotti - I'm only a couple of stories in, but man I love this guys prose. So far I'm reminded of a lot of Bradbury's work - stories that are kind of undeveloped and not that interesting, but prose strong enough to enrapture a reader from beginning to end regardless. When I finish the book I'm going to read it again, because I have a feeling there's more to his stories than initially meet the eye.
Prime Evil anthology - I have to say this is one of the best horror anthologies I've ever read, and I've read a lot. An incredible lineup of authors who have submitted some real gems. I only have one story left in the collection but, barring one, I have very much enjoyed the other stories, and that's a pretty big feat for an anthology (in my experience I tend to dislike at least half the stories). Highly recommended.
Stories Volume 1 by Ray Bradbury - This guy is just amazing. He's the master of humble purple prose. He has without a doubt written some of the most original, beautiful imagery I've ever read. I've read maybe 500 or so pages of his short stories so far and though a lot of the stories are not really to my taste, his strength of writing never wavers for an instant. He has some wonderful plots too, I particularly like his story 'The Next In Line', I read it in some since-forgotten anthology and bought this massive short story collection of his immediately after. One of the best purchases I've ever made.
The Mammoth Book of New Terror - I've only read a couple of stories in this anthology so far so I can't really judge. Won't say anything on this for now.
Writer's Workshop of Horror edited by Michael Knost - This is the first on-writing book I've read (barring a quick skimthrough of King's On Writing when I was a lot younger) so I'm not sure how it stacks up in the grand scheme of on-writing books. Of the essays I've read, most were stating-the-obvious, one was flat out embarassing for all parties concerned with the writing and publishing of it, and two were complete eye-openers. I believe this book was well worth the price of admission just for those two gems I've read so far.
I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot more from me soon. 
Just finishing Handling the Undead. My next read will be either Lolita or Homicide: A Year On the Killing Streets, haven't decided yet.
"The rat inside your brain rules the world."
Citizen Kane SUCKED!!!!!!! True fact.
Alcoholism is the cure not the disease.
Go on an read Lolita, its not very long.
"I'm glad I live in the GPS era. In a different century, I would've set off to visit the other side of the village and wandered off into the mountains and been eaten by a carnivorous plant. Or discovered the Americas."
-LaJessica
I read this as go and ride Lolita, it's not that long.
I read this as go and ride Lolita, it's not that long.
I might just do that.
"The rat inside your brain rules the world."
Citizen Kane SUCKED!!!!!!! True fact.
Alcoholism is the cure not the disease.
Room - Emma Donoghue
I'm on a roll with REALLY good books this month. I got this one on my Kindle on a whim and I can't put it down. Gonna finish it up tonight.