What is everyone reading these days?

I just picked up Fast Food Nation, Gardening for Canadian Dummies and Gardening for the Faint of Heart ....hmmm I think I am attracted to books with funny titles

I just finished House of Leaves, by Mark Z. Danielewski - it's a book about a movie that doesn't exist, with footnotes and annotations by a guy who finds that finding these notes has affected his life in a very strange way. It's like HP Lovecraft has a baby with Jorge Luis Borges, and they leave it to be babysat by Umberto Eco.

I'm about to start The Club Dumas - the book The Ninth Gate was based on. This was one of my favorite movies, so I expect big things out of this book.

My mother bought me the Dr. Phil diet books, so I suppose I'll read those too. Later. When I'm done reading real books.

Wow, House of Leaves sounds interesting, I will have to check that one out

Does "Good night Moon" count? Actually I just finished reading a book for the first time since having Buddha Baby apparently he doesn't care as long as I am on the floor reading beside him .....So, I just read "Seven Years in Tibet" and I am off to the library this afternoon for something else....Life is good

M.M.

I just started the latest in the Ender series, this one is Shadow of the Giant and so far it's good, but not AS good as the others. Although I won't have a final opinion til I'm done.

Learning PERL by O'reilly, waiting on a Tim Powers novel I just ordered.

Yesterday while on the bus ride home I was deeply engrossed in FastFood Nation and I was suddenly overwhelmed by the smell of McDonald's french fries - the guy 2 seats up from me was eating on the bus - kind of funny considering what I was reading about!

Okay, I finished Shadow the the Giant last weekend. It was really good. But not the best of his series in my opinion. It did leave me with the feeling that there are a few more books to come out of this series in the future.

Still on my Orson Scott Card kick, I started another of his series called "The Memory of Earth" series. It is excellent so far. I love the ideas that he comes up with, so many interesting details that I would never think of for a future world and future governments, like having a computer program control what people can think about in order to allow them to live in peace, and those people worshipping the program as a god, unaware that that is what it is. I love it.

Yeah! I went to my favourite cheapie book store today and picked up more books by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - "No one writes to the Colonel" and "News of a Kidnapping".

I also picked up a book called "Caliente!" dubbed " The best erotic writing in Latin American Fiction"... and a book on Globalization, Neoconservatist and the Canadian State. That last one will probably make my head hurt

Mauv - I'd be curious to hear how you like "New of a Kidnapping" It was a very small book, and I just couldn't bring myself to finish it. Didn't feel like his writing to me and the subject matter was depressing as ****. I just finally gave up on it. But then, I usually find myself starting one of his books, reading like a quarter of it, putting it down for something else, then finally reading it a year later and wondering what took me so long. Maybe I was just in the wrong mood.

Personally I think I would rather read the erotic stuff then the other one.

I have recently started "Climbing Higher" by Montel Williams (the talk show host). It is about his battle with MS, among other things. It is a very good read so far.

I usually don't check out this thread because everything I'm reading is for my academic work. I'm almost done with my MA and I'm planning to take a break, so I'll be joining y'all here.

lizziness: My partner and I named out thrid cat Ender Wiggins after that series. He's read almost the whole series. I read one of the books last summer. I plan to devour them once I have time.

hannah - I think you will love them. They are all a quick read too. I like both branches of the series. The xenocide part is more philisophical and the shadow side is more strategic. I'm sure it will be nice to going back to reading because you WANT to for a chance.

Recently finished Small Island by Andrea Levy. This was the book choice of my book club I belong to (I mean people that read a book and get together to discuss it, no a mail order book club!). This is about people from the Carribean Islands coming to UK and what happend to them when they got here. Apart from the sad stuff - racism, death, poverty etc, there were funnier moments such as one character who landed here and his wife came over at last. She always thought herself quite superior and was horried to find they were living in one tatty room!

Other than that I have been reading some kids books.

I love the Dead series by Debi Gliori - I have read Pure Dead Magic and Pure Dead Wicked. Great fun. A spider that wears pink lipstick, a rat called multitudena (cos of the number of babies), a dragon who in the second book finds out he is a female, an au pair who is a cross between Mary Poppins and Mrs Doubtfire. Terrific stuff.

I have also enjoyed Eoin COlfer's Artermis Fowl books about a 12 year old criminal mastermind and the only thing to stop him is the little people (Leprachauns) It has been described as "Die Hard ....with fairies". I have also just finished Wish list which is also by the same author. A girl has died and because she took a wrong turn in her life is destined to go to **** but takes a wrong turn and it is decided that she will accompany and old man (whose place she helped burglarise) to tick things off his wish list (things he always wanted to do etc). There are sad bits about her life and some really funny bits too.

If you or your teenage children loved Harry Potter you/they may like the above.

I read two Artemis Fowl books a few months ago, I loved them, what fun. I admit I read to my kids so I can read their books.

I just finished "The Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio" about a housewife in the 60's married to an alocholic and raising 12 kids, who keeps them going by winning 25 words or less contests. Bright, funny book. It really inspired me to stop whining so much about my circumstances and write satirical poetry instead. I also finished CJ Cherryh's "Foreigner" about a group of human space travellers who's ship breaks down. They land on a planet inhabited by a race who are physically similar but mentally completely unlike humans. It follows the human ambassador and his desperation to understand and make connections with a people who cannot make connections as humans do. Interesting but a little slow... But I find all of her books a little slow.

I'm slogging through Da Vinci Code now, finally broke down... Hate IT! It is bad writing wrapped in a bad plot disguised as a religious thriller. Why do the really good books so rarely make the NY Times bestseller list? And how does such bad writing sell so much?