MAY I ask you what you're reading?

I love that guy's books!

I read Precious yesterday and I hated it a whole lot. I'm definitely not going to watch the movie, no way. Seriously, I hated that book.

I'm 100 pages into the thrashiest of thrillers called Girl 4 by Will Carver. I'm exhausted this past week so can't handle anything to serious.

Just finished It Came From Del Rio. Don't let that cover fool you, the book isn't light-hearted at all. I really thought, given the description, it wouldn't be as heavy/dark as it was. Highly recommended!

Starting Zee Bee & Bee (Zombie Bed and Breakfast) by David James Keaton.

I saw a clip where the mom threw a remote or something UP THE STAIRS and it hit Precious in the head. I laughed....

The General in His Labyrinth by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

My dad left one of that guy's book here at Christmas but it's in Spanish so I can't really follow it.

He's one of my favourite authors, if you ever come across anything in English, you should try it.

You guys, listen. Don't judge me, but I read Fifty Shades of Grey last night because I will read pretty much anything and I keep hearing about it, thinking it's got to be a joke.

Oh my God. That is the absolute WORST piece of shit I've ever read in my entire life. I can't even begin to adequately convey how awful it is. This author makes Stephanie Meyers seem like Dostoyevsky. I'm honestly shocked that the series has a "legitimate" following, and that the author HAS MADE A BAJILLION DOLLARS, HAS A GINORMOUS FANBASE, APPEARS ON TALK SHOWS, AND HAS SIGNED A MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR MOVIE DEAL.

The main character is this totally insipid "college graduate" who can't even be horny the right way. "His mouth moved South"..."He pressed his palm down there" (I'm serious...she uses the phrase "down there" repeatedly). The female character's constant inner monologues consist of "Holy shit!", "Holy crap!", "Holy cow!", "Holy Hell", "Jeez!", "Crap", "Double Crap", "Oh Jeez", and "Oh crap". Every fucking time she said that (which was every other paragraph, and I'm not even exaggerating), I heard it like this:

WHY IS THIS ACCEPTABLE AND CONSIDERED TO BE ACTUAL LITERATURE?

You know, when the whole Twilight thing happened, I was like, aight, people are reading at least...right? Who am I to judge? Even though actual grown women were going ape shit over it, I let it slide because I've been known to enjoy some shitty shit in my life (I justify my one time love of Sweet Valley High based on the fact that I was an eleven year old child when I read the books). But this shit takes the cake. I'm really disturbed by this whole thing. WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?!?!?!?!? This is where things are headed:

First of all, wow, have you managed to finish it? I have to admit I downloaded it, but decided I won't bother as soon as I saw 429 pdf pages. Secondly, how is "down there" a phrase fit for a wannabe erotica novel?

Yeah, I finished it last night...it's a really quick read. "Down there", "my behind", "my inner muscles","his impressive erection", etc. Anais Nin is rolling in her grave.

Yeah, don't even mention her in the same paragraph. She wasn't very explicit either, but come on, at least she had literary value.

Well what did you expect from the title? Fifty shades of a FUN color?

Hmm. I've never palmed a girl before. I'll have to look into that.

Also, she totally ripped the name "Mr. Grey" from James Spader's character in Secretary.

Those books sound gross. A girl from roller derby is really in to them right now. I gave her a copy of my boyfriend's first book a while ago - she started but hasn't finished it. Fuck Fifty Shades of Grey!

I'm a third of the way through Wizard and Glass by Stephen King for the second time. I want to catch up on the Dark Tower and read his new one on my holiday.

It's a trilogy so it's actually 150 Shades of Grey! How dreary!

Wizard and Glass is my favorite one. I've got the new one but haven't started it yet.

Just finished listening to the audiobook version of Miranda July's book of short stories, No One Belongs Here More Than You. I had read one of the pieces a couple of years ago, and didn't connect with it at all. But when I listened to it, and maybe it was the way she read it, but I thought it was completely brilliant. After I finish reading Silk by Caitlin Kiernan, I think I'm going to read The Orange Eats Creeps. Back when I was in college, I used to love Burroughs, but haven't read anything like that in years. So it will be like returning to my roots.

I liked the movie Me and You and Everyone We Know a lot more than No One Belongs Here More Than You. Seemed like her writing was kinda missing something. I'm not really surprised it's better when she reads it.

Quantum of Solace by Ian Fleming. I don't know why, but Bond having sympathy for the Cuban rebels really surprised me.

You guys, listen. Don't judge me, but I read Fifty Shades of Grey last night because I will read pretty much anything and I keep hearing about it, thinking it's got to be a joke.

Huh, somehow this made me decide to try and read either Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey, if only to check just bad it is (it will be fun at the very least).

Finished Zombie Bed and Breakfast. It was great. I thought it was just going to be a funny zombie story. It was a little more than that. I recommend it to anybody that wants to read a quick zombie story.

Started reading The Thin Man for LR's book club.

I didn't remember this. That kid is soooo cute. Cringingly cute.

I'm reading the latest Sookie Stackhouse book Deadlocked. It's mindless and fun.

I just bought the audiobook of The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls. She reads it. I'm reading it for a book club. I'm the book club organizer. I've started creating a list of possibilities for July. They are,

Super Sad True Love Story: A Novel - Gary Shteyngart
The Language of Flowers: A Novel - Vanessa Diffenbaugh
The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
The Book Thief - Markus Zusak
Rules of Civility: A Novel - Amor Towles
Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese
Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail - Cheryl Strayed
Wolf Hall: A Novel - Hilary Mantel

and yes, also,

Crossed - Ally Condie
Divergent (Divergent Trilogy) - Veronica Roth

I thoroughly enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife.

I finally finished The Thin Man. I loved it and Pete, I have to agree that it's better than The Maltese Falcon.

I have so many books to read but I'm not sure which one to pick up next!

How To Do Things With Words - J.L.Austin. This should've been for my exam yesterday, but I like pragmatics and will keep on reading.

Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay.

I'm about to start Hello Kitty Must Die by Angela S Choi. It looks interesting and it had just arrived in my favourite bookstore, so I don't know anything about it.

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan.

Loved Never Mind, my favourite book I've read this year. Now reading The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark. I'm considering teaching after university, making my students the crème de la crème!

I've Wishlisted Never Mind based on your recommendation. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Did anyone by any chance catch Mark Z. Danielewski's story in the latest Black Clock?

AVG won't let me go to blackclock's site...

Did you hear about MZD's new project? It sounds insane.

Glamorama.

Let me know what you think Irina. It seems like nobody likes that one, but I thought it was a pretty good read. It's a tougher read for some reason, but I'm glad I finished it.

I loved Glamorama! It's the only B.E.E I've read. I loved the interview chapter where they tried to ask him about politics and stuff, babe.

I've just started Chuck's Stranger Than Fiction which I've had forever but completely forgot about. I love the opener about loneliness being a group activity.

I liked Glamorama too, and it's the only BEE book I've read.

I stand corrected.

I'm a MZD newb, actually, am pre-newb, I haven't yet read House of Leaves. After I finish Silk by Caitlin R. Kiernan, I'm going to start that one, or The Orange Eats Creeps. Not sure.

So his new project? Looking on his wiki page, I guess you mean The Familiar? Haven't heard about it. Have you read his other books? Are you going to buy The Fifty Year Sword when it comes out in Oct (good timing, just in time for some Halloween reading).

If you've never read Caitlin R. Kiernan, and are curious, this is a story of hers (which I myself have not gotten to reading, but she says it's one of her best),
Random Thoughts before a Fatal Crash

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/jacketcopy/2011/11/mark-z-danielewski-se...

I've only read House of Leaves, and that book sure takes you on a journey. It's a lot of work to get through it. But, man, it's so worth it. It really plays with you.

I have Only Revolutions, have never gotten around to even starting it.

And, I plan on buying The Fifty-Year Sword when it comes out.

The Familiar sounds exciting! Thank you for that info, PGoutis01.

No problem! You can call me Pete

The Stone Raft by Jose Saramago, because Glamorama is going too slow.

I've gone back to Ju-On the novelisation of the Grudge movies by Ken Ohishi.