What you reading?

[Robert]

What books are everyone reading at the moment? I've just finished reading Mike Moore's books (Dude and Stupid White Men), and for something completely different, have gone onto Paradise Lost...BIG mistake.

What did everyone else think of Moore's books? I kinda found em scary.

[Magill]

Did you mean scary in that you didn't like what he was describing (that is, you found the subjects to be scary), or that you found his opinions (the way he was spining the stuff) to be scary?

I've read Stupid White Men. It was a quick read and I realize that it's intended more to make people angry than to pose some detailed analysis. I know I should be motivated to do some further research on my own, but I'm too lazy.

As I said in an earlier thread, I was rereading Ender's Game. I finished it last night. I supposed I'll probably go through the Speaker sequels, but I don't know if I feel like it.

I bought The Once and Future King to read on the plane ride (went to Paris last week). It took me forever to get into it. One of my favorite authors (Robin McKinley) cites this as one of her favorite books, but it just isn't doing anything for me. I'm probably about 75% of the way through. I really am not enjoying it, but I feel duty bound to at least finish it.

Continuing with the Arthurian thing, I was also reading The Mists of Avalon. That book is actually pretty weak, too, though I've found it more interesting than The Once and Future King. No matter what version of an Arthurian tale I'm reading/watching, I think Guinivere is incredibly ditzy and vain (not unlike Jessica Simpson) and that Lancelot is a big prig. Maybe The Dark is Rising series is an exception to that.

A book I want to read is called Bringing Down the House. I bought it for my boyfriend to read on the plane. It's about this group of MIT students that went to Vegas, counted cards at the blackjack tables, and got lots of $$. He let me read the opening chapter and pointed out some more interesting sections. It seems like it would be a fun, quick read.

[Head Mutant]

I didn't like the Speaker books nearly as much... they're almost completely unrelated. Go with the Ender's Shadow books instead.

[Robert]

Magill said:

Did you mean scary in that you didn't like what he was describing (that is, you found the subjects to be scary), or that you found his opinions (the way he was spining the stuff) to be scary?

I found it scary as what it dealed with, like the elections being rigged and stuff.

[Magill]

Head said:

I didn't like the Speaker books nearly as much... they're almost completely unrelated. Go with the Ender's Shadow books instead.

I started talking about this in the Ender's Game movie thread, but I'll go more in depth here (since we're actually in the Music and Books forum).

I like Ender's Game for what it is--an adventure story with bits of untrustworty adults and governments thrown in. I don't see it as much more deep than that. Back in the movie thread, someone (don't remember who) said it was the story of children with the mind of adults. Card said as much in the intro. This really rubbed me the wrong way. Not to brag or anything, but I was a pretty smart kid. However, I was a smart kid. Yeah, sometimes I had "more mature interests", but I was still a child and still thought like a child. Card says something about how he never felt childish, and it just rubs me the wrong way. So maybe since I don't get this theme, I tend to dismiss Ender's Game as a mere adventure story.

On to the sequels/side projects . . .

I love the Speaker sequels. As Justin says, they're not really related. Card admits as much (that he shoehorned Ender into them). However, I think they tell a much more profound story. I liked (again, in Card's words) that you get to see the adult Ender. For those of you who haven't read the intro, Card says that a lot of sci fi/fantasy revolves around adolescent characters--basically characters that are mature enough to go off and have adventures on their own, but that aren't bogged down by families. I enjoy seeing the adult that Ender became. I like the conflicts between humans and piggies and

SPOILER: Click to show

the new bugger colony

and I like seeing how Ender was able to help heal Novinha's family. I also found the writing to be better. There are still times I cry when reading them. It's usually in Speaker for the Dead

SPOILER: Click to show

when Pipo is killed by the piggies and Novinha realizes she can't marry Libo in order to try to save his life

and in Children of the Mind

SPOILER: Click to show

when Jane enters the mothertree and causes it to bloom for the first time in thousands of years

and

SPOILER: Click to show

when Wang-Mu realizes she loves Peter, but has to compete with Novinha's and Miro's affections for Ender's auia's attention

.

As for the Shadow stuff, I really enjoyed the first 2. This time they're adventure stories with politics thrown in. There were some times when Bean's unusually small size or unusually large intelligence seemed like they were a bit too unusual, but I could get over it. I also enjoyed the geopolitics (I was reading Shadow of the Hegemon, specifically

SPOILER: Click to show

the bit about the treaty between India and Pakistan

right around Sept 11, 2001). However, by the time I got to Shadow Puppets, I got pissed off. So much so that I sold my hardcover copy of it (I rarely sell books that I own, though I confess I may buy the paperback). It's like Card was trying to do the same thing with Bean and Petra as he did with Ender. Basically, have them grow up and want families. It worked for me in the Speaker series, probably because Ender was given another 20+ years to mature and because it was 3000 years into the future. But Bean and Petra seemed like they always were, until *boom* they decide they want babies. It didn't seem real to me. For the first time in reading his books, I felt like Card's personal religious beliefs were preaching to me through his fiction.

I'll stop hogging the discussion now. I promise.

[Lissa]

I hated the Mists of Avalon- I found it very sexist, especially towards men. (Not that the women were much better.) Oh well. For someone who;s a fantasy person, I'm not all that much into King Arthur anyway.

I'm currently doing the split personality thing. I just finished the first three Princess Diaries, by Meg Cabot. I know it sounds totally silly, but they're actually really good books, even if they are brain candy. I really like Mia- she's charismatic and funny, and I can totally relate to the sort of teenager she is (minus the princess thing). I also think she's a great heroine to be handing to young girls, because she's good without being remotely nauseating.

The other series I'm reading is the Coldfire series, but C.S. Friedmen. VERY good, even if it is a bit difficult at times. It took a while for the characters to grow on me- and some of them never have- but Damien and Tarrant have me hooked.

Not sure what's up next. It depends on what I unearth as we unpack.

Lissa

[Al]

I'm currently trudging through George Eliot's Middlemarch, and have been for some time. I'm determined to be done by midway through next month. 'Cause it'll be the middle of march. Get it? See, the book is called Middlemarch, and it'll be the middle of march. It's a joke.

Nevermind.

I did take a break in the middle of it to read Digital Fortress in the hopes that Dan Brown could actually turn out a good story as well as an interesting premise. No dice. Like the Da Vinci Code, a very neat idea that's supported by a cliched and boring story. Bummer.

Before Middlemarch, I also read Bringing Down the House and thought it was neat, though by the time it was over I was dying for it to end. Overall, a nice diversion from my average fare.

Since I got my bookstore job, I've increased my to read title from about twenty books to 43 currently, and next on my list are Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter and Stones in his Pockets.

Oh, and I've also taken to listening to audio books in my car as a way to escape Victorian fiction for a while. I just finished the Michael J. Fox autobiography, Lucky Man, which was good but not great, and two audio plays by Neil Gaiman Snow Glass Apples and an angelic murder mystery whose name a can't recall. I highly recommend both. Currently, I'm listening to Animal Farm because I've never actually read it (and those suckers actually gave me an English degree) and am enjoying it thoroughly.

More later, now tired. Good night.

Al

[Landatauron]

Still Life with Crows by Preston and Child

[neutral]

Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett

Anyone else kind of wish he'd stop writing discworld novels? (Said by someone who owns every one, and will probably continue to buy them).

[Ms. Jellybean]

Oooooh, I read Mists of Avalon. Of course, I kinda liked it. I've always thought that the story of King Arthur was a bit boring, but Mists made it at least remotely interesting...

Anyway, right now I'm reading The Beatles: The Authorized Biography, Being a Green Mother (by Piers Anthony), and The Taming of the Shrew. On my trips to the library I always try to include something of culture and dignity along with the commercial bestsellers.

I also read the four Princess Diaries books, in fact I own them. They're great to read, and I also agree that Mia is a good role model. When I read the fourth one, she was exactly like me, as in her tastes in movies and mannerisms... I was hearing Twilight Zone music...

Has anyone else read any of the Incarnations of Immortality series, by Piers Anthony? (Green Mother is the fifth one)

[Lissa]

Oooooooooooh. New Terry Pratchett novel? What "set"? (any chance it's the witches?)

But yeah, I can kind of see your point. But like you, I'll buy em and read em as long as he writes them, even if they do get a little predictable.

[Magill]

Lissa said:

I hated the Mists of Avalon- I found it very sexist, especially towards men. (Not that the women were much better.)

You know, as I was reading The Once and Future King, I realized it was almost the same thing, in reverse. There are no likeable female characters--Guinivere, Elaine (though there are like 3 of them in there), Nimue, Morgause--they're all witches or unfaithful or conniving to sleep with Lancelot. And the men aren't much better--Arthur seems dumb, Kay was a bully, Lancelot I just don't like, and Merlyn doesn't even seem wise.

[duckie]

Landatauron said:

Still Life with Crows by Preston and Child

What do you think of this book? I've read everything else by Preston and Childs, but have been waiting for this to get to paperback.

[duckie]

Ms. said:

Has anyone else read any of the Incarnations of Immortality series, by Piers Anthony? (Green Mother is the fifth one)

I've got all seven books, but only got as far as finishing With a Tangled Skein (the third one). Plan on working through the others eventually, but was losing some interest in the series. I loved the first book, but thought the next few weren't quite as good. Figured I'd get back into it as soon as we unearth our books from the garage (we just moved, still have a lot of our books in storage, where our cars should be).

How was Wielding a Red Sword? I'm planning on reading it regardless, but it would be good to get another person's perspective on the series...

[duckie]

I'm currently working through a couple of books:

Sons of Heaven (Terence Strong)
Maps in a Mirror (Orson Scott Card)

On deck:
Pastwatch (OSC)
The Black Ice (Michael Connelly)
Far Side Unabridged (Gary Larson)
Dead Sleep (Greg Iles)
Whisper Who Dares (Terence Strong)

I've worked my way through quite a few books in the past several months. Of my recent reads, I think my favorite is Mystic River - it really kept my interest throughout.

As for the current reads, I'm glad I picked up Maps in a Mirror, am really enjoying it!