May you read a 1,000 books this month...

Not reading at all right now. :( Generally, by the time I get back from work, get the children to bed and have spent the evening trying to find homes for things around the new house, I fall asleep before my head hits the pillow. I intend to read The Queen's Necklace next, as Kelpie so kindly provided me with a copy. :) I'll review it when I get time to read it. Then it will be 'Eve' by Aurelio... I've been promising myself I would read that for a long time.
 
On Saturday, I tore through Between Planets by Robert Heinlein. I can see why Heinlein is held in such regard when I read a book like this one - far from his finest, it sparkles with imagination and intellect, tells a tightly-paced story about a compelling central character against a vivid political and inter-planetary backdrop, and doesn't exhibit the soapbox-like nature of many of his later books. Sure, there's the glorification of the military life that later found full expression in Starship Troopers, and a clear bias towards anarchism/libertarianism (which as always sits awkwardly with Heinlein's love for military discipline) but at no point do they take over the plot. The depictions of Mars and Venus are pretty wildly innacurate, but on the other hand Heinlein has his requisite moments of techno-clairvoyance, predicting mobile phones and stealth aircraft. If only more people wrote juvenile novels with so much verve and maturity.

Now, I'm re-reading Wyst: Alastor 1716 by Jack Vance. I've been told by long-time Vance fans that the real fun starts once you begin re-reading Vance's works, and they're right. Also reading the David Duetsch book in fits and starts.
 
Currently indulging some re-read of Discworld : After Men at arms I'm intoFeet of Clay
 
I finished Dreams Made Flesh last night. I so enjoyed reading about my two favourite characters again from the Black Jewel series.
I thought it was a nice idea of Bishops to write a few short stories about those characters from the series, about times in their lives that hadn't been explored. I can think of a few characters I would like to read short stories about too. :D
 
Near the end of Eldon Thompson's Crimson Sword which I'm juggling with Ian Macleod's House of Storms (the sequel to very well written Light Ages). Want to get to House of Leaves soon, along with finsihing up Mr. Gary Wasner's works.
 
Out of the sci-fi realm, with the new translation of Karen Blixen's Out of Africa.
 
I'm halfway through Beau Geste but losing interest, and I'm finishing-off Borges' Labyrinths for school.
 
Just finished Paula Volksky's The White Tribunal, starting David Gemmel's Quest for Lost Heroes. Reading Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five for school.
 
Thought I would have a rest from sci-fi world for a while but no. Just received the long lost work from Jules Verne: Voyage à travers l'impossible (Journey into the impossible) , one French space opera by Roland Wagner Le temps du voyage (Time of the journey) and a reedition of Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry stories : Agent of the terran empire and Flandry of Terra.
Just don't know where to start... :)
 
Read Le temps du voyage As usual with Roland Wagner, a good mix between space opera and satire. A very good read.
Currently into the Poul Anderson ones. It's quite dated and a bit mysoginistic, yet a good laugh too.
 
Woken Furies has been forced out of my lap by "The Ascendancy Veil", the third (and possibly final, I'm not sure) installment of the Braided Path series, by Chris Wooding...
 
Rereading-

Lord of the Rings : J.R.R. Tolkien

The Hobbit : J.R.R. Tolkein


Reading For First Time-

Sabriel : Garth Nix
 
I just finished reading "Worse Than Watergate", by John Dean. Not fiction, of course - wish it were. But it was an interesting book, comparing the penchant for secrecy of the Bush/Cheney White House with that of the Nixon White House, and concluding that Bush and friends are much, much worse than Nixon ever were - and Dean should know, as he worked for Nixon. This is a book that will make Bush supporters angry, but I think it makes a strong case for watching our leaders here in the US very, very carefully, and not taking anything they say at face value.

Oh, and Novocaine...that's a much better green you're using now. Thanks. My light-sensitive eyes (I've got allergies that do that to me) are very appreciative.:)
 
Well I'm forced to admit that the Da Vinci code, for all Dan Brown's inept writing, was a thoroughly enthralling story (at least for a history student with a love for Da Vinci and the formative years of christianity-I was surprised to find Brown doesn't leap into *too* many pitfalls). Now I'm onto Moorcock's 'Revenge of the Rose' (Christ can that guy write-yet his high standards make me wonder whether he hired a chimp to bash out the Hawkmoon series).
 
Dead Riverdragon said:
Well I'm forced to admit that the Da Vinci code, for all Dan Brown's inept writing, was a thoroughly enthralling story (at least for a history student with a love for Da Vinci and the formative years of christianity-I was surprised to find Brown doesn't leap into *too* many pitfalls). Now I'm onto Moorcock's 'Revenge of the Rose' (Christ can that guy write-yet his high standards make me wonder whether he hired a chimp to bash out the Hawkmoon series).
Click to expand...

I read The Da Vinci Code recently and found it OK, but nothing special. Some of the clues were better than others. Did anyone else pick up on the Bishop's name? Bishop Aringarosa - unusual name, but my habit of doing crosswords helped me a bit... Rosa is Spanish for red and Aringa is Spanish for Herring. Therefore, the bishop is Bishop Red Herring! How bad is that?! :eek:
 
I'm reading I Will Fear No Evil, one of Robert A Heinlein's later novels - the windy, preachy, cranky ones. This one's mostly about sex (although it should mostly have been about personalities and how they may survive brain death and combine with other personalities) and it's amusing (if at times annoying) how Heinlein uses a supposedly liberated approach to that salutary activity to further his own interests as a chauvinist and rather lecherous old git, putting lines like this in the mouth of his female lead: 'But contraception is a girl's responsibility, Boss.' Oh. How - convenient. Still, fun to read and disagree with. :p
 
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