David Copperfield

Iron Hand of Mars. Lindsey Davis.

Ovenman. Jeff Parker.

I didn't know your talents extended to reading jimbo. Impressive!

Just read Smashed - Growing Up A Drunk Girl by Koren Zailckas.
I think Brianna recommended it to me, but I just happened to see it in a charity shop. Her story is nothing like mine, but some of her descriptions of coming off and going back on booze, and her descriptions of depression really resonated. I've sent it to my Mum because I think it's worth reading. With a note to say it doesn't mirror my experiences! Don't want Mum to suddenly start worrying I was drinking spirits at 14!

Currently reading The Mill on the Floss, George Elliot. Working my way through all the important books I seem to have missed out on. It's holding my attention better than Dickens or Austen because it's funnier. Even if I have to switch my brain into a slightly different gear in order to appreciate some of the sly humour.

Just read I Can't Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Disappointed. I loved Fried Green Tomatoes...and Daisy Fay and the Miracle Man, but recently they've been too winsome for me. Perhaps I was less cynical when I read the other two. Nah, they were definitely funnier and harder hitting.

What else... Oh - I read a great book the other week Darkmans by Nicola Barker. It appears very simple to start with, but the strands of story soon begin to diverge and the characters really draw you in. I found myself looking out for them in my daily life and realising with a start that they were fictional. It's set in the present day but the past resonates in the story. It's almost but not quite supernatural and you're never really sure whether you can trust the characters to report what is really happening as they all have their own problems and agendas. Well worth a read.

I'm also working through Patricia Highsmith's Ripley books - I've read them slightly out of sequence and just finished Ripley Underground. Am going to see what else they have for me when I finish on here (I'm at the library).

Oh and finally I also picked up If I'm So Wonderful Why Am I Still Single in the charity shop. It has almost but not quite persuaded me that I will go speed dating on Valentine's Day as it advises treating looking for a partner in the same way as you would looking for a job. Good point. And just as scary.

I'm reading for a class: Witchcraft in Colonial America---great stuff. If she looks like a witch, you build a bridge out of her...no, wait, you see if she weighs the same as a duck...or...

I'd like to see someone try that with Wolf! :corn:

agreed! :)

Thud! by Terry Pratchett

*then*, now that I'm hooked, I want to get them in order.

The Color of Magic, (done) and The Light Fantastic, (done) and now Equal Rites (underway, at last).

Recently completed DeathNote 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 by writer Tsugumi Ohba and illustrator Takeshi Obata. I'm trying to keep up with SonofV.

If you haven't already read the early ones, it's worth noting that they evolve quite a bit across the series. Early discworld novels have a different flavour to the later ones, but are entirely worthwhile in their own right. Where the later books concentrate primarily on mirroring our world, the main focus of the early books is to satirise the fantasy genre of the day (as well as comment on our world). The style changes quite a bit from there.

The main character in the first two books (and recurring at various points across the first few) is Rincewind. Excellent character. I loved him.

Playing for Pizza John Grisham

Just finished Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk. It was definitely entertaining, but overall he's just not really my thing. A lot of the gimmicks get old (you know the running joke in Fight Club about "I am Jack's ruptured spleen," etc.? There's like four or five different gags like that, and they just keep repeating.) And then the "twist" I was promised on the back cover was not really a twist at all, just a bizarre way to wrap things up because there was nowhere else to go. But I did like it, despite my bitching... To be honest, I think his writing style just works better on film (like, say, Fight Club) rather than book format.

Now I'm halfway through Orson Scott Card's Songmaster.

Just finished The Companions by Sheri S Tepper. Worth reading, but not her best. Didn't help that I'm not a dog person I suppose.

Found some more Laurell K Hamilton's Anita Blake books. They improve when they're not read back to back (I read 5 in one weekend once) as she repeats many phrases and descriptions and for an attentive reader like me that really jars. So Cerulean Sins and Narcissus in Chains pleased me - now I just have to wait another 3 years before picking up the next one.

Along the same lines I'm reading Dimestore Magic by Kelley Armstrong. I enjoyed Industrial Magic but disliked Haunted (any book set in heaven gives me the shudders. With the possible exception of Dante's Paradiso!) It's okay so far - I'll see how I feel about Broken when I've finished both.

I have a pile of books (safely stowed in a big shopping bag since tidying my room yesterday) to get through. My problem is remembering them when I'm here!

Have you read Hamilton's fairie series? A bit of the same problem, but at least they're a change of pace.

I was not impressed with Dimestore Magic.

I read "The Tale of Tom Kitten" by Beatrix Potter last night. lol
Little one actually let me read the entire book. Ok, its not that long. But he has the attention span of about 4 pages when it comes to me reading. I also recommend "B is for Bear" by Roger Priddy and "What Floats" (Baby Einstein series).

I'm reading Wicked. I could have sworn I'd read it before, but it's like reading it for the first time. Great book.