what are you reading right now?

[Falagar]

Right now I'm doing:
Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut
The Stone of Farewell by Tad Williams
Starship Troopers by Heinlein
Edda, when I can get it back

[Rían]

Oh, isn't the Hobbit fun, Nel? I LOVE the opening lines! Some of the best in all literature, IMHO.

I'm almost done with Milton's Paradise Lost. What strong writing!

[Khamûl]

Originally posted by Beren3000
EDIT: and has anybody here read The Godfather?

Not I. Sorry.

[BeardofPants]

I have an idea that Iron Parrot read the Godfather, but I could be just remembering funny.

[ethuiliel]

Oh, isn't the Hobbit fun, Nel? I LOVE the opening lines! Some of the best in all literature, IMHO.

I agree!!! The hobbit has wonderful opening lines...

In a hole in the ground there live a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yeta dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

I wanna live in a hobbit hole...or maybe a human-sized hobbit hole.

[Nerdanel]

Originally posted by RÃ*an
Oh, isn't the Hobbit fun, Nel? I LOVE the opening lines! Some of the best in all literature, IMHO.

Yes, it indeed is. I just love Bilbo's 'discussion' with Smaug!

[Beren3000]

I'm currently reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. A very good read for Christians and skeptics alike (at least in my opinion).

P.S: Falagar, can you please give me feedback on Slaughter house 5 when you finish it? I had it recommended to me but I don't know if it's really worth it.

[zinnite]

Originally posted by Beren3000
P.S: Falagar, can you please give me feedback on Slaughter house 5 when you finish it? I had it recommended to me but I don't know if it's really worth it.

Not addressed to me, but...

It is absolutely worth it.

[Radagast The Brown]

I'm re-reading LotR (inclueding prologue and peoms, not inclueding the appenixes. Orders from the master...)

Also, reading 'Equal Rites' by Pratchett, and 'Wheel of Time' (I'm on the third in the series) by Robert Jordan.

I was trying to get the second book of Dune - went to the library, positive I could find it, but I took 'Children of Dune', thinking it's the second book. I have already asked from BoP once... and forgot it til now. Can somebody please tell me what is the second book in Dune?

Thanks.

[Hawklan]

at this moment in time Im reading the following :

King of the world by David Remnick - its about the rise of Muhammad Ali

Philip Lynott the rocker by Mark Putterford - the story of the greatest ( imho) frontman ever seen or heard !!

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Beren3000

I'm currently reading The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. A very good read for Christians and skeptics alike (at least in my opinion).

You should read Till we Have Faces by Lewis - a wild book. I only know a handful of people that have read it. It took me about 20 years to figure out!

[cee2lee2]

Originally Posted by RÃ*an

You should read Till we Have Faces by Lewis - a wild book. I only know a handful of people that have read it. It took me about 20 years to figure out!

Maybe I'll give it another try. I like Lewis (Narnia, the space trilogy and Mere Xianity), but this one has never been high on my list to read. It's been about 20 years since I first tried it.

[BeardofPants]

Right now I'm reading Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey". It took me a while to finish "In the Name of the Rose", but it was good. I'd recommend; not your usual murder-mystery that's for sure.

[Halbarad of the Dunedain]

I just got a huge mythology book in the bargain section at the book store, im reading that and it is really helping me with ideas for my book!(Tolkien's LotR was in some parts heavily based on norse mythology) Im also reading LotR for the second time this year, and trying to finish, or rather start Angels and Demons by Dan Brown. There is another book I just saw at the bookstore the other day but I cant remember the name, I will edit this post when I think of it... "something Leaves".
The title is House of Leaves! finally got it!

Any recomendations on books? im not really looking for sci-fi, or fantasy at the moment so if anyone has read any other genre's let me know!

[Beren3000]

I'm currently reading The Divine Comedy by Dante. Haven't gotten far enough yet to judge it but it sounds really good from the introduction

RÃ*an, is this Lewis book a Christian one or no?

RTB, how do you like Wheel of Time so far?

Halbarad, I'd recommend Paradise Lost (RÃ*an can tell you better than me what a thrilling read that is) and I'd recommend The Jester by James Patterson and finally (if you haven't read it) The Godfather by Mario Puzo

[Radagast The Brown]

Originally Posted by Beren3000

RTB, how do you like Wheel of Time so far?

I like it, really want to read the next book. I won't, probably, get it though, but in a month. *sigh*

There are things that repeats themselves. I heard there are about 20 books in the series? Hmmmm... do you like it?

[Valandil]

Reading something you probably won't find anywhere - Growing up on Orient Road by Rose LeMasters Tate. It's one of those 'vanity runs' with a small circulation.

To give background, for 5 years as a boy we lived in the small Southern Illinois town where my dad was born & raised and where his parents still lived, it's name was Orient. It was a coal-mining town and grandpa was a miner (and local union organizer back in the bad ole days). The author grew up on a farm a mile south of town and watched the place grow... then taught school in the area as a career. She was born in 1907 and this book of her memoirs was published in 1983 ... no idea if she is still alive today. Borrowing the book from my dad.

What's cool (and amazing) is that they just did EVERYTHING for themselves! She says the only things she remembers buying at the store were; coffee, tea, sugar, salt, pepper - maybe 2-3 other things of that nature (I forget her whole list). She gives detailed instructions about how they did everything... grew their own food, how they canned all sorts of things, butchered hogs, gathered honey, how they did the laundry... EVERYTHING was such a major job! I'm just over a third of the way through it. She was 7th of 10 children (but the two youngest, both boys, died in infancy - her mother must've been in her 50's when she had them) - and she lost one older brother in a coal mine collapse and her only older sister in a drowning. Sounds like they had a nice house, at least one hired man and hired girl and a fair amount of land... when she was 5 they had sold the mineral rights (coal has just been discovered) under their previous 200 acre farm for $100 per acre... which paved the way for their later, more well-to-do lifestyle... still a lot of hard work). Orient Mine #1 (where Grandpa worked) became the largest coal mine in the world, until surpassed by Orient Mine #2 - which still holds the record. Those mines are all shut-down now... sulfur content is much higher in the Illinois coal than that in Pennsylvania / West Virginia / Kentucky - and nobody has found a way to make the 'scrubbers' cheap enough that it's worthwhile to mine it on a large scale. (hence the long-depressed southern Illinois economy)

Fascinating account of life less than 100 years ago... especially since it seems 1000 years removed from today, with all our modern conveniences.

[Beren3000]

Originally posted by Radagast The Brown
I like it, really want to read the next book. I won't, probably, get it though, but in a month. *sigh*

There are things that repeats themselves. I heard there are about 20 books in the series? Hmmmm... do you like it?

I really like it. I recently finished book 5. I started on book 6 but found that about 70 pages or so are missing (*does Homer Simpson impression* "lousy cheap books!" ) So I've postponed reading it until I can find a complete edition. I don't know about things that repeat themselves. The only thing I can see repeated through each book is the tricycle: haven-adventure-haven.
Have you found anything else?
The series is gonna be about 13 books long (main sequence books) and 3 prequels, amounting to 15 books in all. Enjoy reading!

Val., I envy you the patience to read such a book. (No offense meant there! )

[Valandil]

Originally Posted by Beren3000

Val., I envy you the patience to read such a book. (No offense meant there! )

None taken... it's easier in this case because both of my parents know the author, and I've read half a dozen personal names and several family names I knew from my own childhood... as well as knowing the places she's talking about. Plus - my grandparents grew quite a bit of THEIR food (in addition to grandpa's mining job) and grandma did lots of canning.

So - this particular book is a 'touchstone' of sorts.

[Rían]

Originally Posted by BeardofPants

Right now I'm reading Jane Austen's "Northanger Abbey". It took me a while to finish "In the Name of the Rose", but it was good. I'd recommend; not your usual murder-mystery that's for sure.

Oh, Northanger is hysterical! IIRC, C. S. Lewis said it was one of his favorite books to read while sick; just pure fun. Some of the guy's (forgot his name) comments are really funny. *looks in bookcase - rats! I must have loaned it out* And one of my favorite comments is made by the girl (double rats! Can't remember her name!) and goes something like (spoken with sincerity) "I don't speak well enough to be unintelligible"