What are you currently reading?

Sphere by Michael Crichton

I was going through my parents library they have in one of the coverts by the living room, and as I was going through the books out of pure curiosity, I stumbled upon this book. I went on to read what it said on the back - you know where it gives you a little symbiosis of the book. Well, I read it, and I officially became interested.

Symbiosis of Sphere said:
In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface of the water, a huge vessel is discovered resting on the ocean floor.

Rushed to the scene is a group of American scientists who descend together to the depths of the sea to investigate this astonishing discovery.

What they finds defines their imaginations and mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a spaceship of phenomenal dimensions, apparently undamaged by its fall from the sky. And, most startling, it appears to be at least three hundred years old.
Click to expand...

Now tell me that doesn't want you to read the book?
 
Making Money - Terry Pratchett

I reread Going Postal a while ago, naturally I progressed to rereading the second Moist novel. It is a classic Discworld story, incredibly well-written but completely ridiculous characters and plot, razor sharp humour that frequently flirts with the existential, and just a terrific read overall. I think Moist might be my favourite Pratchett character, though the books based on Vimes are a close second
 
Currently reading Birdsong, with a little bit of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone on the side.

I first read Birdsong 4 years ago. At the time I was too young and didn't engage with it or finish it. Now I'm finding it enjoyable and relaxing; I haven't reached the war section yet though...

I'm still drawn in by Harry Potter. I picked it up just to glance at earlier today and now I feel compelled to finish it. J.K. Rowling isn't a MASTER of words, no. She hasn't created something poetic. But the books are certainly well written. They're perfect for the audience she hoped to reach, and they appeal to the child we all have inside. They're funny; the ideas are creative; her description in the first book is perfect (I remember it being a little OTT in book 5 and 6); and her characters are all great! :)
 
Currently reading: Unreal Development Kit Documentation

They offer a free license for non commercial & educational use. Im checking it out. :T If only to remind myself why its generally not a feasible option for normal people.
 
Finished reading Ender's Game again. I absolutely love the Ender and Shadow series (written by Orson Scott Card). So much, that I picked it up at the library (same copy I read last year :gasp:) and was immediately engrossed in it again. I understood the beginning much better as well. Then once I finished it, I decided I'd just read the rest of them again. Shadows in Flight comes out in January, so I'll have plenty of time to read through the other 8 books before then. Picked up Ender's Shadow, the parallax to Ender's Game. I love the Shadow series more than Ender's xeno-related series, so I'm going to read them in the same order again. I really like how things unfold on Bean's side, and it's another book that takes place in the Battle School, which I really like as an environment. Should be a good read (again) :grin:
 
Dead Babies by Martin Amis.
There are no dead babies in the book, though I'm not sure if that's good or bad. It's supposed to be a parody of one of those country house murder novels where x man people go to some house in the country in some place in England and one or more of them gets murdered. Except in this version all the characters are complete bastards and generally horrible, they take massive amounts of drugs all the time and one of the people at the house is leaving nasty letters for people to read. It's funny and there's also a fair amount of disgusting things in the book. Some are supposed to disgust and others are supposed to be amusing. I'm enjoying it so far, but it's not great by any stretch of the imagination and is nowhere near as good as Money or London Fields.
 
"Prep" by Curtis Sittenfeld.

I just picked it up this past weekend (and only on Chapter two since college students don't really have the time of reading anything that's not related to school assignments,) it's a pretty good book so far.

Since I'm pretty bad at summaries, I'll leave this link -> here <- so anyone who comes across my response can read it.
 
Tai-Pan by James Clavell

About the European opium trade with China during the 1840s. The books stars Dirk Struan who is head of the great Noble House; the best European trade company in China. Gives a good comparison between European and Chinese cultures.

The Odyssey by Homer

I read the Iliad a few years ago and I'm just now getting ready to read the Odyssey.

After I finish with Tai-Pain, I'm going to start another book by James Clavell, Gaijin. I may read some Sherlock Holmes, too, and maybe the Aeneid.
 
I keep flitting at the moment... I'm still reading Birdsong and Harry Potter 1, but have also started Vilette by Charlotte Bronte and the first book from the Edge Chronicles series... All are good, but I just can't settle. :(
 
The Woman in Black by Susan Hill

I wanted to find some ghost fiction to read, so I hastily dashed off to the library and forgot which book I had in mind to borrow. So instead, I took this from the shelf, and wow, it's a bit of a nostalgia trip because I read it years ago as a kid and it absolutely terrified me. The version I read years ago had creepy images from what I take it to be the film adaptation of the book sporadically placed in some of the pages, and the edition I have now appears to be the same one - with the same image of the ghost staring out of the nursery window there that terrified me years ago.

I guess re-reading this book destroys a lot of the tension it optimally has when you read it for the first time, and even as I was reading it in the dark with only the lamp on, it didn't do much for me. The addition of some images was a nice touch I suppose, but that's it. Still, I enjoyed it a lot, and it still gives me slight goosebumps, particularly at the end when
his wife and kid die.
 
I am tempted to say this thread, but if that ends up being something said previously, I would be eradicated from existence. Sadly the rest of the world could not live without my beauty buoying it up

I am reading one of the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly books, possibly the greatest satirical series I have read. It parodies a certain affluent Dublin lifestyle
 
'Castle in the Air' by Diana Wynne Jones! I'm a great fan of her work. :) Her stories and characters are so quirky, and the writing style helps you get completely involved in this different, wacky world with strange creatures and people. The descriptive language is fairly minimal, yet she paints a vibrant picture! This book's an unrelated sequel to 'Howl's Moving Castle.' Very good so far! :)
 
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.
I started it a couple of weeks ago as I like to read fiction when I have exams. It's part a whodunnit type novel, but it is also about the Catholic Church in the 14th Century and the persecution of heretics and about the issue of ecclesiastical poverty. It's far more of the latter and I would have prefered more of the former, but it's quite good, probably a bit long too, but the author resisted it being edited much.
 
'Count Karlstein' by Philip Pullman.

Despite Pullman being one of my favourite authors, I've only read 'His Dark Materials' and half of 'The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ.' I thought it was about time I change that. This has been sitting on my shelf for YEARS.

It's pretty darn good. It's based on a play Pullman wrote with his students when he was a teacher, which means there are LOTS of quirky characters and a fun-filled, wacky plot.

At times, the story reads like a series of personal reports. Although certain chapters are written by the protaganists, other sections of the book are written through the eyes of the side-characters; for example, a policemen and a rather posh woman. These different narrators each have very individual voices which bring the story to life. Their perception is questionnable, but this is what makes the story so exciting. :)
 
Little Man, What Now? - Hans Fellada

It was recommended to me, seeing as I'm doing extensive studying on the Weimar period. It's basically the tale of a former bookkeeper of whom has recently married with a child on the way, and the effects of economic strife that has befallen the country, as they struggle to attain a decent income and cling on to jobs.

It's quite a depressing book actually. You already know that this won't end on a happy ending on a realistic level in conjunction to how difficult the period of the Depression was. Yet you just don't want things to turn out badly, and as you do this, you strongly empathise with the young family. It's definitely a timeless classic, though sadly I can't really finish it. I just realised that this is a 3-day loan book and it's already on hold by someone so I cannot renew it.
 
The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan

Yup, I am FINALLY getting around to reading the Wheel of Time series. Whilst I was dying to pick up Gardens of the Moon for the third time - I really do love the Malazan series - I figured it was time for me to give this infamous series a go, since the last book will (hopefully) be out by the time I'm ready to read it, and after reading the Mistborn trilogy I think very highly of Brandon Sanderson, so the series is guaranteed a good ending at least...if I get that far. It was a toss-up between this and Janny Wurt's series, and since that series will extend a bit further into the future, this won out.

It reminds me an awful lot of Magician, same old style of writing. Time will tell if I actually grow to enjoy it, though. Still in the process of familiarising myself with everything, but the opening caught my attention. Nothing like an ambiguous power struggle to make you want to find out WTF is going on :wacky:
 
I am about to start Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella; apparently it the most Chick-lit book you could find that's come out in the UK recently. I love silly books like this, so I will post and let you all know what I thought sometime. :)
 
The Help by Kathryn Stockett

Naturally, instead of just renting the movie or going to see it in the theatre, I went ahead and got the book so I could read it instead...being the rebel that I am :lew:

This book is about the almost live in African American maids of the early 1960's in Jackson, Mississippi. These woman were so amazing, each with their own story of growing up and how at very early ages, they went off to raise other people's children and clean their houses, day in and day out.

I haven't finished it yet, though I've been told by others who have read the book that I will be let down with the ending :( Really though, this is one of the best books I've read in a long time. Its hard to put it down when I start reading it.
 
I'm re-reading the Maximum Ride series, and I've made it to School's Out Forever so far.

The whole thing is obviously far-fetched, but I do like how James Patterson sort of twists real life and this insane other world into one. The character relationships are cute, too, the way the flock thinks of themselves as a family. Dang it, Fang, start liking Max already. D< And I like all the constant plot twists. It definitely keeps you reading.
 
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