I don't know, but it better be soon, I've already forgotten half the story. Between that and the Dark Tower series I was beginning to think King and Martin were out to drive me insane waiting for the next piece of the puzzle. Luckily King finally finished Wolves of the Calla. But Martin has left me hanging for far too long. :angry:

Snow Crash and Diamond Are are both legendary books, I keep copies of both. I enjoy Stepherson's writing style but christ, he needs to learn hwo to end a fucking book. Seriously, take the ending of Cryptonomicon for example, talk about quick! It's like he got bored and just wrapped it up in a page. It's not terrible and doesn't really detract from the books but it's...distinctive.

It's been a year or two since I read Cryptonomicon, but I agree with you. He spends 600 pages building an excellent story, and the ending takes less than 10 pages. Still, Crypto was an amazing book. He has so many ideas floating around in his head that he tries so hard to link together into a story.

Quicksilver is almost 1000 pages. So you get your money's worth. Forget about taking it out of the library though, most people don't have time to read a book that long before it's due back. And it's a popular book, so the waiting list keeps you from renewing.

Just finished "Northern Mysteries and Magick" by Freya Aswynn, so I'm back onto "Fire Upon the Deep" by Vernor Vinge, which I'd interrupted for the research.

Just got a big tasty box of books from the Conservative Book Club too (*rubs hands together*). Hannity's new one is in there, and Treason (yeah, the one by the Devil in the Blue Dress) and a book about the atomic spies at Los Alamos.

(oh and the current "bathroom book" is "An Idiot's Guide to Shamanism.")

I bought my copy at the wonderful Foyles in London, hardback. It's been sitting on the pile ever since.. :(

I do find that massive mess of ideas facinating, bits of so many ideas and concepts floating around. As someone that's worked with the kind of individuals in Cryptonomicon (loved the guy with the house with the whireboard-walls) it hit a real chord with me, that feeling of riding this incredible wave of innovation, living in a swirl of ideas.

Did you read them all yet? If you liked them, try The Talisman and Black House.

I knocked off Engine City last week by Ken MacLeod. It was weaker than the first two in the series but not bad. He must have gotten some feedback from his publisher that folks wern't getting it because he was much more explicit about his vision of gods etc.. I don't think it was necessary. I still like Star Fraction the first book I read by him the best.

I had had my head pretty deep into some historical analysis of 11th century Britain for a while when my Ex loaned me a little fiction. I hadnt read any fiction for about two years and was kind of pleased at having a little light relief in my reading.

I didnt expect much of the book.....Its won literary prizes which I am ashamed to say generally turns me right off :P I love literature but I get myself quite wound up at the tight definition in some circles of what exactly constitutes great literature and theres always that Schoolroom worthiness to be ware of hehe

So.....I started reading and am currently halfway through one of the best books I have read in a decade or more.

"Life of Pi"

I can highly recommend it. Beautiful. whimsical, laugh out loud funny, dark in places.... a heady mix of philosophy, theology, zoology and humour. Bravo

QUOTE].[/I'm getting desperate.

"One Hundred Years of Solitude". Supposed to be this literary masterpiece. Nobel prize winning author.

I'm over 300 pages in, and I don't get it.

The names are mostly the same, which gets very confusing after the first 3 generations, and the writing style is jumbled and goes from present to future to past with very little segue.

This is supposed to be the best book he's written. And I still don't get it.

Has someone else read this? Can you tell me what I'm missing?
[quote]

I remember reading that on the recommendation of a total Marquez fanatic. ...I loved it, but I could no more explain it than you. I think I liked the fabric of it. It almost doesnt matter what the detail is.....its the smell and the feel of the endless rain, its the grief that underlies the economic realities of oppression and its the hybridised culture born of previous culture clashes, magical realism at its finest though I know many object to that term. Its a fantasy woven by a storyteller poet to while away the hot hours of political frustration

I just finished (yeah, I'm a latecomer sometimes) The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Yeah, the Steve Covey corporate rah-rah book. I'd actually been meaning to read this for some time ... The hospital went all TQM-y about the time I started there. I had studiously avoided reading any of the indoctrination manuals or becoming too actively involved.

It's interesting to see how far, over a 12 year span, you can stray from the original intent (Having a megalomaniacal Executive Director makes that a lot easier, of course).

My coworkers were becoming a bit frustrated with my attempts to apply what I have learned from this fine tome ... but they realized I was going to be all right when I yelled at the office manager, "Give me a fucking break, I'm trying to be proactive and think win/win here, BITCH."

(That's a real quote, not one made up for the purposes of your amusement. After all, I don't work in a normal office.)

*chuckles*

It seems to me that almost everyone reads one book at a time. My wife does that. She can't stand the fact that I read several books at once and can follow each one.

What I'm reading now:

1) The Templars' Secret Island - The Knights, the Priest and the Treasure - Erling Haagensen and Henry Lincoln

2) The Man Of Mt. Moriah - Clarence Miles Boutelle

3) The A to Z of Serial Killers - Harold Schechter and David Everitt

4) The Secret History Of Rock - The Most Influential Bands You've Never Heard - Roni Sarig

5) UFOs, JFK, and Elvis - Conspiracies You Don't Have To Be Crazy To Believe - Richard Belzer

I would suggest "UFOs, JFK, and Elvis" to anyone.

I often have several books on the go. Right now i am reading the "Life of Pi" , "Harold:The Last Anglo Saxon King" and "Bede's Hitoria Ecclesiastica"( though that last one is actually a printed out copy of translation I found online :)

I have great difficulty with crossover if the books I am reading are too similar though.....so....If I am reading fiction ( seemingly rare these last couple years ) I might have a humourous contemporary novel on the go at the same time as some high fantasy....Usually always have at least one piece of historical analysis on the go....I found though that I had to give up reading any historical fiction set in the middle ages when I have historical research/study to do as that tends to confuse matters.....

I just completed "Pandora's Star" by Peter F. Hamilton. Has anybody else read stuff by this guy?? I think I'm more impressed by this than I have been by any other new-to-me author I've come across lately. It's an extremely complicated story, with several seeming disjointed threads coming together as the book closes. (I don't say end, because it's a cliffhanger as we await the next volume.) In fact, it took me a really long time to read it by my standards (4 weeks for 750 pages)--I read most normal fiction pretty quickly. But I never felt like it was dragging at all.

Oh, and I just started Neal Stephenson's "The Confusion" on Wednesday. I like it so far.

One of my all time favourite book titles was "Gun, with Occassional music" cant recall the author now, but it was a hell of a good book. Same guy did one called Amnesia Moon, he's an Australian sci fi writer...which reminds me, has anybody else noticed that Australia has produced some damned classy Sci Fi authors?

"On Killing" by Lt Col, USA (ret.) Dave Grossman.

excellent booking examining the psychology behind making an ordinary citizen into a soldier capable of pulling the trigger on another person.

before that "Company Commander" by Charles McDonald. again excellent memoir of WWII replacement officer. he went on to become chief historian for the army.

Whooeee ... Lt. Col Dave!!

He's a very cool guy, great speaker. Good fun at a conference.

I've been meaning to read his book. Thanks for bringing it back to my attention.

it is a very easy read wolf, you could blow through it in a weekend if you wanted.

Oh.....Does he lecture at Sandhurst? Is he a surprisingly young looking chap for that rank and designation? If so he was the fella I saw on a documentary recently "The Truth about killing" He was fascinating

Not Sandhurst thats the english place, whats the US military academy?

he did teach at west point but at the time my edition was published he was on staff at Arkansas State.

as far as good looking? that is kind of subjective and i kind of lean towards leggy brunettes, without, well you know - a penis.

Attractive, yeah, but good looking? Probably depends on lighting.

What I do know is that he gave the best explaination for the action of neurotransmitters in critical incident stress situations ... involved an analogy about a screen door and a pit bull.

I didnt say goodlooking....I said surprisingly young looking for his position. To be credited withthe invention of a whole brand of pshycological study and be claimed in documentaries as " the worlds' leading expert in the psychology of killing" suggested to me someone older, I was surprised when he looked younger thna I had imagined he would.

*chuckles* interesting that both of you equated young looking with good looking though

although.....thinking about it he was attactive in a quirky low key kind of a way

I just strip-mined the public libraries of Allegheny County to set me up for the rest of the summer. God bless interlibrary loaning.

Finished:

The Teeth of The Tiger by Clancy. Remarkably shorter than his other works, blew through it in a few days. Kind of a tentative nature about the whole thing, like he wanted to get it out in stores before anything more happened in the real world and fucked with his plotline. Not as much politically naivete as Executive Orders or The Bear and The Dragon, but still there.

Glorious Appearing by Tim LaHeye & Jerry Jenkins. I think this is the last book in the Left Behind series, not sure if they're going to keep going. I'd read the rest, so I wanted to see how it was all capped off. It was somewhat funny to watch them sidestep the parts of the Revelations prophecy that they didn't know squat about. I swear, there's a part in the book where a character goes "Why will Jesus be letting Satan back out into the world after a thousand years? Hey, look how shiny Jerusalem is!"

Currently Reading:

Fluke: Or, I Know Why The Winged Whale Sings by Christopher Moore. Nice to know it's not just the toeing of the sacrilege/blasphemy line in Lamb that drew my appreciation, this guy is genuinely a hilarious and skilled writer. Coming up on the end, worth a read from everything I've seen thus far.

On the Stack:

The Summons and The Last Juror by Grisham

Star Wars: Survivor's Quest by Timothy Zahn (The father of the Star Wars novel - YAY!)

In The Presence Of Mine Enemies by Harry Turtledove

Neuromancer by William Gibson

Syrup by Maxx Barry (of Jennifer Government fame - good book, that)

The Confusion by Neal Stephenson

Waiting for Pickup:

Bob Woodward's book, the title escapes me at the moment.

The DaVinci Code

Quicksilver by Stephenson

Probably a few more that I can't recall ordering in.

I saw someone recommend just outright purchasing Stephenson's books, as opposed to getting them out of the library due to time constraints. They're right, his stuff alone will break even the stoutest of mule's backs hauling it home, let alone eat up your time. Does no one else have over-the-phone renewal through their library? I refuse to believe that Allegheny County is avant-garde with anything.

At our library the "new book" period is 2 weeks, with a 2 week renewal if nobody else has asked for it. That looks like enough time for me to finish The Confusion--I'm over halfway so far.

Since upgrading to a new catalog system 2? years ago, the Delaware County public library system lets you view your checked-out items on the web and renew them. They are supposed to be adding phone-based renewal, which they do not have at the moment.

I recently finished John Le Carre's "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold", on Jag's recommendation, and I really loved it, I'm looking forward to reading more of his work. I was bitterly disappointed by the ending, until I realised that it was the only ending that would make sense.

Currently reading "Dark Tide I", from the New Jedi Order series.

I read "The Da Vinci Code" a short while ago. It was a pretty quick read, and I guess I enjoyed it, but some of the theories raised in the story were just too implausible for me to remain "in" the story. That said, it was an excellent lazy day diversion.

Edit: fixed a misspelling helpfully pointed out by Lookout, below. :)

The Owner's Manual for the Brain

Good book, but pack a lunch, it's huge.

It's a great cover of many of the governing ideas about the mind, the brain and how they work together to make a person who they are.

is that intrigue for the lactose intolerant?

I'm trying to find the time to get started on Imajica.

"I specialize in unlikely."

I really, really liked that line.

Damn. Spy. Correcting now.

sorry perth - i'm not really that anal retentive, i just couldn't resist.

have i mentioned that Airplane is one of my favorite movies?

Oh, I appreciate you pointing it out. I hate spelling errors as well, especially when I'm the one making them.

Spelling errors are one thing, but at least you didn't have a camera crew there to catch you mis-spelling "potato" to an 8-year-old.

Rumor has it that the Secret Service had standing orders "If Bush dies in office, kill Quale."

Just a rumor.........

maybe.........

After the Ecstasy, the Laundry.

Very interesting book, with an awesomely funny title.

Perhaps Tomas Rueda should read this one to help cope with his OOBE.

Redemption by Leon Uris. Not a bad read.

Uris can tell a story, but it's been a while since I've read him. Maybe I'll pick one up.

I'm reading Stephenson's Zodiac right now. Its remarkably different than crypto but still makes science readable. Very Cool.

Also just finished Bill O'Reilly's "Who's Looking Out For You."

Quick read, but a lot of sensible stuff in there.

? Bill O' LIely :-)

Just finished re-reading Songlines by Bruce Chatwin. *Pats self on back* I used to be one of those people who read several books at once and polished off 3 or 4 books a week. Now a days I haven't been able to sustain the concentration to read a book through beginning to end for at least the past 4 years. My neurologist suggested trying to read books I've read in the past, and it worked!

Just finished 'The Dice Man' and also trying to get through 'The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist' - worth reading? Some interesting points in The Dice Man, re personality and the construction of the 'self' - I do recommend it, although unfortunately as with any best-selling border-philosophical fiction it glamourises its rather valuable message to the point of ridicule. Shame.

Tommy Franks - American Soldier. i would recommend it to others. there are a few "love me" parts in it, but overall a good read.

I'll just go right on ahead and assume you're not talking about a biography or autobiography of Andrew 'Dice' Clay ...

I just finished reading "Shaman" by Sandra Miesel.

Pretty solid fantasy novel, which had some interesting aspects to it, particularly the nanny-state society the main character lived in.

Wouldn't have picked it up on my own, but a coworker leant it to me. He had gotten it because he is doing a review on one of the author's other books, and wanted to get some of the flavor of her early work before starting.

I read Neil Gaiman's biography of Douglas Adams, so of course I had to reread the Hitchhiker's Guide. I'm currently up to book 4.

I'm on my fourth Patricia Moyes book in a row. Love me some British mystery authors. Huzzah, Chief Superintendent Tibbett! :D

Some John Grisham book...lemme go look and see what the title is...

"The Street Lawyer." I bought it at Lambert Airport in St. Louis last week to pass time...I've read about 2/3 of it, and it's great thus far.

"The Dark Tower" the last of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I'm setting aside my entire Thursday afternoon to reading this book.

I'm also reading "Modern Systems Analysis and Design" You have to love college text books. :3eye:

Fear and loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S Thomson
Natasha's Dance by Orlando Figes

They're currently rerunning the Guide on BBC Radio 4, here's a link to related stuff.

I've been listening. Fun!

The American Leadership Tradition

Actually more interesting than it seems to be from the title. Takes a look at various moral issues across the political landscape, from Washington to Clinton, with side trips to visit Henry Clay, Booker T. Washington, and John D. Rockefeller.

At long last, I've started "The Blind Watchmaker" by Richard Dawkins. It's been on my "to read" pile for too long.

Blazed through DaVinci code in about five or six hours. Very entertaining. I bet that guy is farting through silk.

I thought that was the lamest mystery story I've read in years, but all my hippy chick, new age friends swear it's the most significant thing they've read in years (probably a true statement on some of their parts).

Once I break out of work today and get to the book store, I'll be buying and reading the 3rd issue of Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things (a comic graphic novel for those not in the know) and Terry Pratchett's new book Going Postal. I expect to get through both over the course of this weekend.

Rainer Rilke; took me hours to pick just one last night. Do Barnes and Noble employees ever look at you like you need to get a life? (I did put the remaining 49 books back before closing time)

I have an edition of Rilke (picked up off a clearance rack for a buck) that has the original German text on the left with the English translation on the facing page. The poems really do read better in German, but it's interesting to see how the translator worked, made word choices, and so on.

Frank G. Slaughter "Constantine" " The miracle of the flaming cross."

the complete short stories of O. Henry. Say what you will, they make for good third-shift on the crazy ward reading.

Just pulled that up on Amazon. What an interesting array of reviews they have listed there.

One star......or five. Too bad I dont actually read books and instead prefer to watch Fox News. I might give it a go. :biggrin:

Jon Stewart's America -- has anyone else picked this one up, yet? I started cracking up the moment I opened the cover and saw the old school book check-in/out stamp on the inside cover.

I give it higher marks than The Onion's Our Dumb Century. :thumbsup:

Any book banned by Wal*Mart has at least one thing going for it.

My favorite quote so far: "The Magna Carta was signed 1n 1215. This is, by law, the only thing you are required to know about it."