What are we reading right now?

[Dunnyman]

Currently racing through Harry Turtledove's Man With The Iron Heart, a post WW2 novel where Heydrich survived the assassination attempt and began to organize a Nazi underground resistance in case Germany fell to the Allies, and how a gruesome death toll begins to divide America as we must decide whether staying on top of the defeated Germans is worth the cost in lives. Turtledove does his usual masterful job of creating some great characters in his eerie mirror for our own times.
Also digging Bentley Little's The Academy, and yep, still sleeping with the lights on. This guy is good.

[TemporalWisdom]

Working my way through the Hornblower series.

[zircona1]

Just started reading Jeffrey Toobin's The Nine, about the Supreme Court. I'm only 25 pages in.

[HGervais]

The Dark Side by Jane Mayer. Outstanding reporting and a very well written book but a difficult read. The deeper I get into it the more depressed & angrier I become by what has been allowed to happen by our government. Impeachment should be on the table.

[Future Man]

Obama Nation. Not really. But I could see myself reading it. Unfortunately, like a lot of people, left and right, the politically minded texts I tend to read are those whose conclusions I am predisposed to agree with, so the author typically doesn't have much work to do when it comes to me.

[tucco]

Harriet Tubman: Portrait of a Life........fascinating, best bio of Moses ever
also
The Quantum Zoo.......also fascinating, readable laymans' book about the "wow" aspects of Quantam physics/mechanics....one fact from the book: If all the empty space were were removed from all the atoms in the world, the entire human race could fit in a space the size of a sugar-cube.

[Dunnyman]

The Quantum Zoo.......also fascinating, readable laymans' book about the "wow" aspects of Quantam physics/mechanics....one fact from the book: If all the empty space were were removed from all the atoms in the world, the entire human race could fit in a space the size of a sugar-cube.

You oughta see the 101 in the Bay Area on a Friday afternoon where 93.7% of the entire human race is on a freeway that's only two lanes in either direction.

[hoytereden]

I just got 10 back issues of Video Watchdog to almost, nearly have every issue. I'm just starting to delve into some great reading. Easily, my favorite film magazine.

[Gabriel Girard]

Skin Dip by Carl Hiassen. He writes the funniest, wackiest thrillers and he always has nasty things to say about the way people are threatening Florida's ecosystem.

[Mitchell Hattaway]

Skin Dip by Carl Hiassen. He writes the funniest, wackiest thrillers and he always has nasty things to say about the way people are threatening Florida's ecosystem.

True dat. I'm in the middle of Nature Girl myself. Also reading Rob Schrab's Scud the Disposable Assassin--The Whole Shebang!

[tucco]

The Quantum Zoo.......also fascinating, readable laymans' book about the "wow" aspects of Quantam physics/mechanics....one fact from the book: If all the empty space were were removed from all the atoms in the world, the entire human race could fit in a space the size of a sugar-cube.

You oughta see the 101 in the Bay Area on a Friday afternoon where 93.7% of the entire human race is on a freeway that's only two lanes in either direction.

Well, I guess there's still some research to do.....lol

[Steve T Power]

1st draft of Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Bastards. It ain't particularly good. It isn't horrible, but it isn't amazing either. If QT is on his Triple-A (i'm talking Pulp Fiction) game, and he gets the right cast, this could work brilliantly (read in a void, the Pulp Fiction screenplay ain't all that either). More likely, i see this failing miserably.

[Jon Mercer]

Every five years or so I make an attempt at Dan Simmons' Hyperion. Then I decide my time would be better spend with a claw hammer and some nails.

[Steve T Power]

OK, so i finished Inglorious Bastards, and it actually wound up being pretty awesome. I'm actually really looking forward to this now. If anyone cares about more detailed thoughts, i'll share.

I'll say that in the state i read it (labelled "Final Draft" - Dated July 2nd), if it all comes together in casting/filming, it'll be QT's best behind Pulp Fiction.

[Salo]

Embarking on American Psycho. Good times, I hear.

[Jon Mercer]

Embarking on American Psycho. Good times, I hear.

Good book, it's a bit of a slog at times, but good book overall.

[BrettCullum]

Embarking on American Psycho. Good times, I hear.

If you can get through all the endless descriptions of food and clothes, it's pretty good. Don't tell any women what you are reading. Although the movie softened that blow quite a bit. It's kind of a rough, jaded read. If you like it though you need to check out RULES OF ATTRACTION and GLAMORAMA afterwards. They all tie in nicely to make a trilogy of sorts.

[Salo]

Embarking on American Psycho. Good times, I hear.

If you can get through all the endless descriptions of food and clothes, it's pretty good. Don't tell any women what you are reading. Although the movie softened that blow quite a bit. It's kind of a rough, jaded read. If you like it though you need to check out RULES OF ATTRACTION and GLAMORAMA afterwards. They all tie in nicely to make a trilogy of sorts.

[Kenneth Morgan]

I'm in the middle of Paper Lion by George Plimpton. After that, I'm back to the Nero Wolfe series with Three Witnesses.

[BenSaylor]

Just finished Generation Kill by Evan Wright, but haven't watched any of the mini-series on HBO. Would definitely recommend the book, however. Now am reading The Dying Animal, the Philip Roth book that's the basis of the Ben Kingsley-Penelope Cruz movie Elegy. Also been trying for the last several weeks to finish The Man Who Saved Britain: A Personal Journey into the Disturbing World of James Bond by Simon Winder. It's good but very dry, and I can't read more than about 10 pages at a time before getting tired. (I generally only read just before going to sleep.)

[Sonam]

I recently finished The Road, and after this and No Country for Old Men, I think I've had my fill of Cormac McCarthy's pretentious boredom. I've bumped L.A. Confidential to the top of my reading list, after keeping James Ellroy on my "I'll get around to it" list of authors for years. Which means it'll probably be a couple more weeks.

[BrettCullum]

I've been reading WORLD WAR Z - a fictional oral history of the global zombie war. It's up to be made in to a movie, but the novel itself is so influenced by Romero that it would be a crime to give it to any one else. Except maybe Zack Snyder...

[Dunnyman]

I've been reading WORLD WAR Z - a fictional oral history of the global zombie war. It's up to be made in to a movie, but the novel itself is so influenced by Romero that it would be a crime to give it to any one else. Except maybe Zack Snyder...

Just for kicks, the author's father might make a helluva zombie movie.

[BrettCullum]

I've been reading WORLD WAR Z - a fictional oral history of the global zombie war. It's up to be made in to a movie, but the novel itself is so influenced by Romero that it would be a crime to give it to any one else. Except maybe Zack Snyder...

Just for kicks, the author's father might make a helluva zombie movie.

Okay, to clarify for those who don't know... the author Max Brooks is the son of Anne Bancroft and Mel Brooks. He was a comedy writer for Saturday Night Live from 2001 to 2003. His first book was merely a jokey "handbook" on how to survive a zombie attack. Then he came up with this whole "oral history" epic which is told each chapter from the perspective of a different character around the world. Brad Pitt's production company PLAN B bought the rights to make the film. Max says he doesn't want to write the screenplay, because he feels he is not educated enough in how to do those things yet.

But his father would be an interesting choice.... "ZOMBIES ON ICE!"

[Paul Kile]

I know few here will care to seek these books out, but I am re-reading two aviation histories by Graham White, R-2800: Pratt & Whitney's Dependable Masterpiece and R-4360: Pratt & Whitney's Major Miracle. These weighty tomes discuss the development and use of two important radial aircraft engines. The R-2800 was an 18-cylinder "workhorse" that powered many military and civil aircraft of the 1940s and 50s. The R-4360 was a 28-cylinder monster that was the largest production piston aircraft engine ever built.

In the continuing jet age, few people recall that large aircraft were once launched aloft by big, heavy, vibrating, thrashing piston engines. Most people think of radial aircraft engines as a quaint anachronism, sort of like Watt's steam engine. These books make you realize the amount of complex engineering that needed to take place to make these engines reliable. Vibration control, heat dissipation, lubrication, igniton, supercharging and turbocharging: all these problems and more had to be hammered out by years of engineering development.

If the jet engine had never been invented, we would still be depending on these sorts of powerplants for flight. Airspeeds of 350 miles an hour, fifteen hundred hours between overhauls, spark plug changes after every flight, and a flight engineer in every cockpit to keep these finicky beasts under control.

Fascinating reading.

[Parklife]

I'm in the middle of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond. A fascinating read about the collapse of ancient cultures (Easter Island, Pitcairn Island, Anasazi, Maya, etc...) how some cultures have adapted and survived (Japan, new guinea) and what we (as a world) can learn from the past.

[Mitchell Hattaway]

Finished James McBride's truly awful Miracle at St. Anna on Sunday. Now making up for it with Richard Ford's Independence Day.

[Jon Mercer]

Neuromancer by William Gibson. After which I'm deciding if I should continue with the Sprawl Trilogy, or read Dune. I've never actually read Dune.

[BrettCullum]

...or read Dune. I've never actually read Dune.

It's a good read, but cumbersome. It has a dictionary in the back you have to refer to now and then just to follow the lingo. It also like its movie incarnations, goes on and on and on. But truly it is the only way to experience the story. Once it gets rolling, it's actually a really fantastic read. Of course the sequels follow the law of diminishing returns. I think I gave up after HERETICS OF DUNE. Although I hear there is a new one coming out which traces the years between DUNE and CHILDREN OF DUNE written by Frank Herbert's son. Anyone read that one yet?

[arciooh]

Finished the second Dexter book (excellent as the first one!), now I'm reading Blink...

[Steve T Power]

...or read Dune. I've never actually read Dune.

It's a good read, but cumbersome. It has a dictionary in the back you have to refer to now and then just to follow the lingo. It also like its movie incarnations, goes on and on and on. But truly it is the only way to experience the story. Once it gets rolling, it's actually a really fantastic read. Of course the sequels follow the law of diminishing returns. I think I gave up after HERETICS OF DUNE. Although I hear there is a new one coming out which traces the years between DUNE and CHILDREN OF DUNE written by Frank Herbert's son. Anyone read that one yet?

UGH!

There's pretty much Dune, and Dune: Messiah... Children of Dune is where it all goes off the rails...

[Gabriel Girard]

...or read Dune. I've never actually read Dune.

It's a good read, but cumbersome. It has a dictionary in the back you have to refer to now and then just to follow the lingo. It also like its movie incarnations, goes on and on and on. But truly it is the only way to experience the story. Once it gets rolling, it's actually a really fantastic read. Of course the sequels follow the law of diminishing returns. I think I gave up after HERETICS OF DUNE. Although I hear there is a new one coming out which traces the years between DUNE and CHILDREN OF DUNE written by Frank Herbert's son. Anyone read that one yet?

UGH!
There's pretty much Dune, and Dune: Messiah... Children of Dune is where it all goes off the rails...

Yeah I couldn't even finish Children, on the other hand I think that God-Emperor Of Dune is a masterpiece but it seems to be one of those books that you either love or hate.

As for my reading I'm about 50 pages into Rendez-Vous With Rama and I'm liking it a lot.

[Paul Kile]

As for my reading I'm about 50 pages into Rendez-Vous With Rama and I'm liking it a lot.

What a great book! I read it back in my college days, also the later sequels. Don't expect whiz-bang endings, that wasn't Clarke's style when it came to the Rama books. But the sense of wonder (and of Man's puny place in the universe) comes through loud and clear.

[Dunnyman]

I'd gone through a few whodunits lately, and my local used bookstore had a copy of The Floating Admiral, which was written in the 30's by all the leading mystery writers of the day, a chapter at a time, under some strict guidelines as to what they could change and introduce to the story, without anyone knowing the entire thing beforehand! It's quite good, with each writer tossing in a few little distinctive tweaks of their own and it wraps up quite nicely, but then you get to read what each author envisioned as the solution, and it's doubly impressive. OOP now, but worth a looksee if you can find it used. I'd love to see Koontz, King, Little and the rest of the horror writers do something similar now.
And I couldn't wait, it just kept staring at me from the kitchen table, so I opened Christopher Moore's The Stupidest Angel-A Heartwarming Tale Of Christmas Terror, and in between hysterical laughter, there's plenty of "Oh man, this guy is some kinda twisted" comments. Truly, truly recommended. And if you're not of a...sensitive nature, try Lamb the story of Jesus's best friend, Biff.

[BenSaylor]

Just finished King Lear, which I had kinda-sorta read in college but didn't really absorb. Currently working on The Last Sherlock Holmes Story by Michael Dibdin, which pits Holmes against Jack the Ripper. Not bad so far.