Books you're currently reading???

[BigV]

found the copy of ender's game during a hunt for a tool. I'm happy to report I found the tool and the book. I'll put them both to good use right away.

[Chocolatl]

Ploughed through my signed first edition copy of Neil Gaiman's latest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, today. "They" say it's his best, HE says its his best, but it is decidedly not my favorite of his work. I didn't find myself swept away by it. Usually his books leave me feeling either like my heart has been buoyed up by a breath of life, or like my soul has been bruised by an aching sadness. This one did neither. I feel like I missed something or like a piece of the book is missing. Still a good read, though.

[Chocolatl]

Randomly picked up a novel called "666 Park Avenue" by Gabriella Pierce at the library today. Started reading before lunch and just couldn't put it down -- finished it this evening. The tag line is "what if your mother-in-law turned out to be an evil, cold-blooded witch... literally?" I was expecting it to be a paranormal romance type, but it was less of a romance and more of a drama. It wasn't saccharine as I thought it would be. Fun read.

(Apparently there was a short lived tv show on ABC based loosely on it, but from what I can tell it didn't share anything but the basic premise of socialites in NYC being witches.)

I'll be going back to the library for the sequels tomorrow.

[Griff]

Reading The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi. This is the second book. If you want a different reality, holy shit this is it.

[wolf]

Enola Gay: Mission to Hiroshima - Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts

[Gravdigr]

"Folk Medicine of the Mammoth Cave Area" edited by Lynwood Montel

Very interesting for me, as people used to come to my grandmother from all over for various cures/treatments/salves/poultices. And such. I can remember, as a young child, my grandmother calling all over creation asking if the people she was talking to knew where there might be a patch of this weed, or plant, so she could get the roots, or what have you, to make something for someone who was traveling a fair distance to get it, and she wanted to be sure and have it ready, because these kinds of people really relied on some of this stuff. Hardly ever accepted any money.

[Gravdigr]

Now that I think about it, she must have been somewhat regionally famous, to an extent.

[DanaC]

Grav, that's really fascinating. What an interesting lady.

[limegreenc]

the 100 year old man who climbed out the window.
like forrest gump with explosives

[wolf]

I am almost too ashamed to admit that I read 50 Shades of Grey. It's like porn written by a not very imaginative virgin.

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Chocolatl

Ploughed through my signed first edition copy of Neil Gaiman's latest novel, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, today. "They" say it's his best, HE says its his best, but it is decidedly not my favorite of his work. I didn't find myself swept away by it. Usually his books leave me feeling either like my heart has been buoyed up by a breath of life, or like my soul has been bruised by an aching sadness. This one did neither. I feel like I missed something or like a piece of the book is missing. Still a good read, though.

Yes; it had the open-endedness of a short story, but the length of a novella. Sort of a long short story.

I am now reading the Anne books, by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

[Sundae]

Briefs Encountered
Julian Clary
A ghost-comedy-of-errors. Written by out and proud English comedian Clary, the book is full of the sharp comments and one-liners you would expect. It is also touching and slightly savage by turns. Quite frothy, but well-observed. Richard Stent, actor, buys Noel Coward’s house (which Clary lives in) only to find some things bump rather than bang in the night. Great period detail and an obvious love for the property and former owner.

The Boy Who Could See Demons
Carolyn Jess-Cooke
I’m sure I’ve reviewed this before.
Trouble is, the posts I delete by mistake tend to be the longest, and I get so furious I have to log off rather than smash my fists againt the keyboard until they bleed.
This is a marvel of a book, set in Northern Ireland, It shows the fallout of the Troubles on the second and third generation. Told in the voice of an equally prescient and naïve child, it questions what is true in memories and reality.
It’s accessible, but in turns dark and disturbing. It can also be laugh out loud funny.
It left me thinking and puzzling and assessing after I finished it. I reread it again almost immediately, to see how it panned out with what I thought I knew at the end.

The Small Hand: A Ghost Story
Susan Hill
Now I usually love Susan Hill. Her books haunt me.
Perhaps I did not give this one enough time. I just didn’t engage with it very well.
It’s not overtly spooky - Hill rarely is - so perhaps it will work on my sub-conscious until I have to read it again. Any books which feature abandoned gardens are worth a second look.

Couple of Janet Evanovitchs
Equivilant of a takeaway delivered to your house.
Convenient, filling and joyful. Forgotten next day. Nothing wrong with that.

Dare Me
Megan Abbott
Interesting book set in a stereotypical American school, focusing especially on the cheerleading squad. I say stereotypical because I have no idea whether it is real, but it is written by an American author. It’s dark; teen girl jealousy, bitching and revenge. There is a glossary, but I had to look up many cheer terms online; I was pleased I did though, added to my meagre sum of knowledge.
Probably worth a read, short and fast-paced even if it is uncomfortable in its stark representation of teens.

Apocalypse Cow
Michael Logan
Really enjoyed this. A good, honest Scots voice in the tradition of Iain Banks and Irvine Welsh, although utterly unlike them. The humour veers from bawdy and current to subtly referenced and classic. And yeah, there’s gore. The heroes (?) feel like real people faced with overwhelming odds, and are quite capable of f**k ups. Read as a horror and it will surprise you with a belly laugh.

Graceland
Christopher Abani
This book is both whimsical and unrelenting. It details the life of a young lad in Lagos, Nigeria in an uncompromising way. Drugs, alcoholism, murder, sleeping rough, rape, prostitution. But also friendship, family ties, both acceptance and denial that this is all there is, and a touch of superstition. And flashes of humour - this is not a hard book to read.

[Sundae]

Going through the books I've had out on my library card, there are a fair few I can't even be bothered to mention.

These ones are special though:
Broken Homes
Whispers Underground
Moon Over Soho
Rivers of London

by Ben Aaronovitch

In the first book, Peter Grant, a newly qualified Police Officer, mixed race (this ends up a reasonably imporant factor, as well as being of cultural interest), working for the London's Metropolitan Police, meets DCI Nightingale during what appears to be a routine enquiry.

What follows is a magical romp through London, Police jargon, pop-culture refs [Aaronovitch wrote for Dr Who] and sly humour. Oh and some mystery, dangling ends and blowing shit up. Usually by accident.

It's marvellous. Can't recommend to everyone, but if you can get it free or cheap do try it. If you're a furriner you might want Wiki handy too. Not being patronising, I've had to sip from the Wiki cup at least once in every book.

ETA - I think they are in order above. I'm not great on placing books if I've caught them as they come out.
EATA - You read from the bottom up!

[Sundae]

Pandaemonium
Christopher Brookmyre
Another Scots author. Absolutely zings with the real voices of teens whose trip to a retreat to deal with a traumatic incident does not offer the peace they sought. Graphic violence, swearing, sex, drug use, anti-establishment views and the supernatural; what’s not to like?
Well, there is an extremely large cast of characters who also go by nicknames. And some stereotypes that while they are later exploded do sully the narrative initially.
It’s fairly densely written for a slash & burn, but I count that in its favour.
I want to read more from this author. Oh, I forgot to mention he can be extremely funny as well as hand-over-mouth shocking.

Hater
David Moody
I recently saw Pacific Rim. Guillermo del Toro said something like he wanted audiences to walk out pale-faced as if they’d been smacked in the face. It was good cinematic fun, but it didn’t have that effect on me.
Hater did.
It’s low-down-dirty, smash-and-grab, nasty, violent and thought provoking. It’s no classic, no Last Exit to Brooklyn, it’s just a grisly horror that does what it says on the tin.
England is plagued by an ever increasing series of uber-violent attacks on random citizens and no-one knows why, when or how the next will happen.
It’s simply written, short, fast-paced once the action starts, but haunting.
Oh and btw, the Guillermo del Toro ref wasn’t random, he has written the comment on the back of the book.

Your House Is on Fire, Your Children Have Gone
Stefan Kiesbye [German author, English book]
Interesting. It seems to start as a series of disconnected stories, but you know from the start that the protagonists grew up together. Each chapter advances a different part of the story and shows a different perspective. It should be disjointed, but it is held together by a particular mindset and location, by the unmentioned, or rarely mentioned history of the village and the mores and morals of different generations. Some revelations are staggering, some can be anticipated. It is decidedly creepy, dealing as it does with the innocence and brutality of childhood, especially confined in a remote village with violent secrets.

[DanaC]

Aaronovitch's books are da bomb. I loved Rivers of London.