So...what's everyone reading?

[wolverine_men]

You could've posted that a couple of posts ago- would've saved us all that effort.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

and see, I thought that was my point all along.

[wolverine_men]

Ok- i'll just agree to that otherwise someone will say that I wanted to start a flame war or something. That videogame post totally ruined my mood.

[wolverine_men]

Besides the Magician series, has Feist written any other good books?

[Entsuropi]

A) The empire series, co-written by jamie wurts i think.
B) "Faerie Tales", a modern horror thing. Very good if i remember correctly.
C) The Serpent War series is more of the same. It's got nifty characters.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

I'd move Faerie Tale (no s) to the top of that list, but otherwise that's most of his readable material, unless you really enjoy books based on the author's most recent role play session.  The Krondor series is partcularly terrible, while the books set in Medkimia that are not part of a "series" are just kinda lame.

[wolverine_men]

I am reading Silverthorn now. It's a continuation of his magician series. They form a part of the Riftwar triology along with A Darkness at Sethanon.

[Entsuropi]

I'm starting to reseach ancient assyria. I got 5 books on the cradle of civ out from library, ignoring all the ancient egypt (over used topic, boring now) and ancient india (need to follow up on that, know nothing about the region before we brits turned up and little after).

I also borrowed a book that was originally published in 1962, "the penguin book of lost worlds". Reprinted in 1966, which is when my moms copy came from. She had it rebound, its oop now (athough you could get it from the british national library, since it contains a copy of every book published in britain since 1911. They are passing an act that says websites also have to be stored, for posterity. If EUOL or HoM's books comes here, at least one copy will be put in there). Fascinating stuff. THem finding FIVE THOUSAND year old reliefs and frescos just blows me away. I instinctively respect tradition and stuff thats been around a long time, so that is just incredible to me. Priceless.

[Lieutenant Kije]

So I found myself in the mall the other day, and I always make a stop at the bookstore, just to look, and I saw...

that Orson Scott Card has written a new Alvin Maker book!  Yeeehaw!
It's called The Crystal City or something like that.  Anyone read it?

After Ender's Game (just the one book, not the rest of the series) the Alvin Maker stuff is my favorite of Card's.

[stacer]

Orson Scott Card has written a new Alvin Maker book!

Finally! Though the last one took a turn I really got bored with, so I don't know if I'll enjoy it. I tend to really love the beginning of OSC's series, and then get bored with them toward the end. Like in the 3rd or 4th Ender book, how the entire planet was Brazilian? Maybe it'd be more interesting to me now that I've had Brazilian roommates, but it turned me off when I read it back in the early 90s. And there were some other things about the end of that series that just got boring.

I have been reading about the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia in 1793. One book is a nonfiction children's book by Jim Murphy (probably junior high reading level), the other is historical fiction by Laurie Halse Anderson called Fever 1793. I love nonfiction children's books, especially the better ones coming out recently--you get the general idea of an event or idea, and then if you want to know more, you can investigate further into adult books, journals, active research, etc. But if all you want is the general idea, you get a quick, enjoyable read.

Of course, then there are a lot of issues involved with children's nonfiction--what parts of the story are told, what parts left out, how much citation is necessary for a reader to be able to trust an author's authority, etc. But for a general idea, I still like children's nonfiction.

[fuzzyoctopus]

I'm re-reading Heinlein's "Citizen of the Galaxy", for about the hundredth time.

It's my favorite Heinlein book.  

[Mistress of Darkness]

I just finished A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones. It's a YA book, but still very good.

I am now reading E. M. Forester's A Room With a View which I have a better chance of finishing than Red Badge of Courage which I only got halfway through. Despite that, ARWAV still makes me very sleepy when I finally pick the book up at 9:30.

My lunch breaks have been dedicated to reading business type books. I finally finished Good to Great and I highly recommend it to anyone. It is well-written and the subject is interesting. I am now reading Built To Last by the same author. After which my dad has recommended that I read The Search for Excellence.

[stacer]

It's a YA book, but still very good.

Haven't I taught you anything? You should say, "It's a YA book, AND very good."

Right? Right? I should have taught you better!  

BTW, Diana Wynne Jones has a lot of really good books. Read Fire and Hemlock, if you haven't. Also the Chrestomanci Chronicles (a series) are interesting. They're middle-grade books--a quick read.

[fuzzyoctopus]

 Diana Wynne Jones is really good. So darn good that Miyazaki's is going to make Howl's Moving Castle into his next anime movie.

That's how good she is.

[Mistress of Darkness]

A new Miyazaki movie!

/me faints with joy

Sorry stacer! You are so right. I am very sorry.

This is my joyeous post that I finally found a hardback copy of Patricia C. Wrede's Talking to Dragons! The art on the dustjacket is probably the best and most true to the book I've ever seen, and I've had the other three for quite a while now. Now I have a full set (I love it when things match)! Best news is the book is in great condition.

Among other great news, they have rereleased Sorcery and Cecilia (and in hardback!) probably in preparation of the coming release of the sequel. SAC was the book I could only ever find in paperback for $80--that's how rare it was. I am very pleased.

I am currently reading James and the Giant Peach. I must be getting old. This is the first time I've balked at the fact that his parents were gobbled up by a rampaging rhinoceros just escaped from the London Zoo. Why do you think he wrote it that way? Even if it was first published in 1961.