"Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches" by Marvin Harris. It's an anthropologic look at why we still have certain traditions. IE: Hindus dont eat meat; in the book contains Harris's theory as to why they began to consider the cow sacred in the first place. Very interesting book.
Sounds a bit like Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." Certainly doesn't sound like my cup of tea. Sounds like a propaganda fest, and I stand on the opposite side of the aisle as the author. As to boring books that I've started reading and just couldn't finish, I wrote a post about one such book, called The New Testament Code--it's one of the types of book I generally like, religious interpretive nonfiction discussing historical aspects of the gospels, canonical and non canonical, but it was so boring and poorly written, I simply couldn't make heads or tails out of it. By sheer will and determination, though, I made it about 100 pages in to this 1,000+ page monstrosity. I wrote a post about it on the "worst books" thread. Truly the worst book ever written as far as I can tell. http://writingforums.org/showpost.php?p=477373&postcount=431 Charlie
Currently reading David Baldacci's "The Simple Truth," about 1/3rd of the way through. Good book so far, fast paced, recommended! Almost halfway through the painfully difficult due to its 17th century English, "Life of Rev. John Murray," and expect to finish soon. Also listening to Dean Koontz "Dragon Tears" on audiobook. Fairly typical Dean Koontz, if you like Dean Koontz, you'll like it. Since last post, also listened to and finished the following audiobooks: "Heartsick" by Chelsea Cain. Very good, albeit very gruesome, detailed descriptions of a man being tortured. Awesome book. "Heart Shaped Box" by Joe Hill. Another good one, highly recommended, good plot, suspenseful. "Plum Spooky" by Janet Evanovich. Part of her fun and hilarious Stephanie Plum series. It was Plum funny... "Relic" (abridged) by Douglass Preston, Lincoln Child. The library could only get me the abridged version. I hate abridged, but I listened anyway. I still feel I have to read it--to me, abridged is like an extra-long preview rather than the real thing. I actually listened to this one before, abridged--I checked a different library to see if they could get it unabridged. When they got me the abridged version I listened to it again. Already checked out of the library and ready to listen to next on audio: "Before I Say Goodbye" by Mary Higgens Clark "The Search" by Iris Johansen Also finished (regular book) The Manor by Scott Nicholson.
I'm re-reading the entire Legend of Drizzt set by R.A. Salvatore. It's a 22 book series, and I don't think it's done yet. I own all but 7 of them. It's a really awesome series, and combat is done amazingly well.
"Monster Blood Tatto" turns out to be wonderful, like a mix of Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. Oh, and I'm also reading "The Catcher In The Rye" by J.D. Salinger. Love it (but I'm only 18 pages in)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte I hated Monster Blood Tattoo. I couldn't get through it. I quit halfway through and sold it to the used book store.
I recently started the Blood of Kerensky Trilogy by Michael A. Stackpole. Writing and character development isn't as good as his X-Wing, but it's freaking Battletech man, that stuff is so cool. I grew up playing the MechWarrior games and he stays so true to the source material. Only problem with these books is that they are wicked expensive. I've had an unread Roc reprint of Volume 3: Lost Destiny sitting on my shelf that's probably worth about $40-50. Brand new will run you about $65, a trashed copy which is what I'm getting for the trilogy will go for about $5 each. That's for the reprint! The original FASA prints run almost twice as much. And these are paper backs! Supposedly this is the absolute best of the Battletech books, and the fans really want them!
I'm in the middle of The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. It's pretty good; its unorthodox presentation style and enjoyable characters make it a hell of a novel. Also, I picked up a copy of Creating Short Fiction: The Classic Guide to Writing Short Fiction by Damon Knight. Hopefully, I'll get around to that in the next week or so.
I'm reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest - It's this alternate history/dystopian steam-punkish thing. It doesn't have me hooked yet. Also it appears to be published by the Sci Fic channel which makes me feel a little dirty reading it.
I'm about halfway done with the first book of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin series -- Master and Commander. And before you ask, no, its nothing like the movie EIE
That's because: 1). It's a movie haha 2). More importantly, its a compilation of three of his most popular novels of the enormous naval series.
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. Her writing style makes me giggle....but it's still quite enjoyable. We're studying this book at Uni.
Under the Dome by Stephen King as well. , Only 1/3 of the ay through..so far okay...quick start, lot of build up. Hope t offers something in the last third. Im liking the Chraccter Jim Rennie. Oh, yes i do.
Finished reading both. "The Catcher In The Rye" was absolutely marvelous. I found Holden to be both a whiney bit*h and a great person at the same time. "Monster Blood Tattoo" was good, but not anywhere near what I'd call great. Now reading "Shoot The Moon" by Francis O'Roark Dowell.
Rereading--since I haven't in a long time--The Second Summer of the Sisterhood. As wonderful and entertaining as I remembered it to be.
I just finished reading Blood of Kerensky Volume 1: Lethal heritage by Michael A. Stackpole. It is ungodly cool if you are into Battletech and MechWarrior. Stackpole does an amazing job of juggling so many different perspectives in this massive war. My only gripe was that the characters work out there problems in the same way and the character Victor isn't very convincing at all. The hand to hand and shoot out scenes are really exiting, but during the 'Mech combat it seems like they are all standing still sometimes, but I should mention this series predates the MechWarrior games so no one knew how much the Mechs actually moved. We now know the strafe shoot the crap out of each other! I ordered Vol 2: Blood Legacy about a week ago. I can't wait for it to arrive!
