Books you're currently reading???

[infinite monkey]

I read another one by her-The Real Life Adventures of Lidie Newton or something. It looked really boring, but ended up being a compulsive read.

I enjoyed A Thousand Acres. Like you said, it seemed it might be boring but it really wasn't. It was compelling as well.

[casimendocina]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

I've just finished the second book of Steig Larrsen's Millenium series. I found the first book a bit of a drag to get into, but once I got there, it was great. Last night I was up till 3 am finishing the second book. (I looked at the clock at 10.30 and decided to give myself another hour. Next time I looked - after turning the last page - it was just before 3am.)

I'll get started on the third one tonight, although I don't expect to last long.

I couldn't put them down until I'd finished the whole series, even though the second one got to be just slightly on the contrived side (she said putting it mildly). Once I'd finished though I was happy to move on to something else.

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

I enjoyed A Thousand Acres. Like you said, it seemed it might be boring but it really wasn't. It was compelling as well.

I'll check it out. The place I'm renting/housesitting at the moment has the most fantastic collection of books. I've started reading Christopher Hitchens The Trial of Henry Kissinger. I saw Hitchens on TV years ago and thought he was a complete tosser. Then I read Clive James' latest memoir about a year ago which stated how incisive Hitchens was and thought perhaps that I shouldn't wipe him off the slate entirely.

I'm also about halfway though a Year in the Merde by Stephen Clarke. Thought it was going to be a really good book. It's alright, but can take it or leave it.

[lookout123]

Daybreak Zero. It is the follow up to Directive 51. It is part SciFi, part apocolypse/post-apocolypse, part political intrigue. A bit wordy at times but a couple of fun novels.

[Griff]

Finished 1453 and well into Spinward Fringe.

[TheMercenary]

Just finished The Roots of Obama's Rage a fantastic read.... Explains a lot of how the man thinks. First read Dreams From my Father by Obama himself, fits like a glove. Well footnoted. Explains a lot of how this fella thinks.

[casimendocina]

Dreams from my Father made an 8 hour plane flight pass very quickly. I'll have to check out the other one you mentioned.

[Clodfobble]

Just started Spin. Really nice understated sci-fi, at least so far.

BUT... the voiceactor (I'm actually listening via audiobook) is the same dude who did The Worthing Saga. He's not my favorite guy to begin with, and now I'm having a really hard time separating him from the previous novel. Especially since the main characters in both books have the same damn first name.

[skysidhe]

Originally Posted by lookout123

Daybreak Zero. It is the follow up to Directive 51. It is part SciFi, part apocolypse/post-apocolypse, part political intrigue. A bit wordy at times but a couple of fun novels.

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Just started Spin. Really nice understated sci-fi, at least so far.

BUT... the voiceactor (I'm actually listening via audiobook) is the same dude who did The Worthing Saga. He's not my favorite guy to begin with, and now I'm having a really hard time separating him from the previous novel. Especially since the main characters in both books have the same damn first name.

These two caught my eye. I will check them out.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

Just started Spin. Really nice understated sci-fi, at least so far.

BUT... the voiceactor (I'm actually listening via audiobook) is the same dude who did The Worthing Saga. He's not my favorite guy to begin with, and now I'm having a really hard time separating him from the previous novel. Especially since the main characters in both books have the same damn first name.

I don't generally listen to books is this a common problem?

[DanaC]

Can be. The reader can make or break an audio book. Some readers just give it life (David Tennant is one that does, as is Nick Briggs) But some either sound as if they are reading, or just have the wrong voice for the story. Some can make each character that speaks sound like a distinct individual, others just sound all the same, or do different vioces that don't quite work.

It's rare I totally turn off a story because of the reader but it's happened a couple of times. I didn;t click with the reader of the Sookie Stackhouse stories and fell off them quicky because of it. The reader of the Dexter books by comparison, was so good that despite having strong preconceived notions of how the character should sound because I'd come to it through the tv show, his voice became Dexter's voice for me very quickly.

[Clodfobble]

Originally Posted by Griff

I don't generally listen to books is this a common problem?

It can be an issue sometimes. Just like putting the wrong actor in a movie role. Sometimes someone you never would have cast yourself turns out to do a fantastic job in ways you never imagined. And sometimes it's still Tom Cruise no matter what costume you put him in.

I don't need distinct character voices so much, just enough that I can tell who's talking during long conversational scenes. Overall delivery is more important to me, and the guy I'm talking about (Scott Brick) has this kind of over-dramatic lilt to everything he says. But he's done tons of audio books, especially sci-fi, so obviously someone thinks he's good.

[infinite monkey]

omg, I so hope there aren't any audiobooks read by Bill "One-tone" Paxton or Kevin "Monotone" Costner.

[TheMercenary]

A history of TE Lawrence in 1916.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

omg, I so hope there aren't any audiobooks read by Bill "One-tone" Paxton or Kevin "Monotone" Costner.

Or William Hurt

[wolf]

i did it, I finally finished Vanity effin Fair.

It consumed my reading time from March 28 thru May 6, 2011.

I read other books in the middle, else I would have tackled it more quickly. I did get into a big push at the end to get it over with.

912 pages in which less happens than in the average episode of Seinfeld. And there was no Soup Nazi.

I am now reading Beneath the Bleeding by Val McDermid for fun and S'Mother: The Story of a Man, His Mom, and the Thousands of Altogether Insane Letters She's Mailed Him by Adam Chester for review.

I also have Doctor Who: The Gunfighters by Donald Cotton going. I don't like his style as far as Doctor Who novelizations goes, so it's not as fun a read as most of those old Doctor Who Target novelizations, which I am attempting to read in broadcast order.