What are you reading?

[Emmers]

I've started the "Watch" series again... for probably the 20th time...
Currently busy with "Feet of Clay"

Ah, good stuff!

[swreader]

Have been reading If I Die in Juarez by Stella Pope Duarte, a really important and incredibly beautifully written book about the murders, mutilations, dismemberments and disappearances of the young women of Juarez, the Mexican city immediately across the border from El Paso, Texas. The book is meticulously researched (took her 3 years to do the research) and exposed her to a certain amount of personal danger. For years, the police and the factory owners "looked the other way" and basically blamed the women for their rapes and torture. But at least of the drug cartels is heavily involved, and they have put a contract out on the woman investigative reporter from El Paso who has written the most about the book (and who is in some ways a character in Stella's book).

It is, in many ways, a harrowing book--because it deals with a dreadful situation. Stella said yesterday at a book group discussion at our library that there are over 5000 "disappeared" young women from Juarez. Most of those who have vanished are between 15 and 25, and a few even younger. Some bodies (or parts of bodies) have been found, but others have just vanished. It's a novel that makes you understand the horror and desparrate hopes of the women of Juarez who have begun to fight back with some success. It also makes clear the real evil that seems to dominate this city where the US has dozens of maquiladora factories, as do other countries. Stella says international attention has already begun to help some, but more is needed. It's strange that we have heard so much about the atrocities in Africa, for example--but the brutal rape, mutilation and murder of 5000 women right across the river from the US has gotten almost no national attention in the US--let alone international attention. Somehow, this has a relation to one of the messages of Monstrous Regiment.

All three of Stella's books, this one and Let Their Spirits Dance and the collection of short stories Fragile Night are now available on Amazon UK. So, I urge some of you to try reading her work. Let Their Spirits Dance is about the continuing effect on families and survivors of Vietnam--and unfortunately is still horribly relevant today. And while it is set in the US--it speaks to all those who have troops fighting in foreign wars.

[50ft queenie]

I'm at my 3rd re-read of the Science of Discworld, currently on the third book.

At the same time I'm trying to read "Goedel, Escher, Bach: The Golden Braid" but I can't seem to read one page without having to look up 29523 things on the internet. So the progress is SLOW! xD

[Periwinkle]

I just started:

A Midsummer's Nightmare by Garry Kilworth


A Midsummers Nights dream is my favourite Shakespeare play and I love Puck - I played him in Youth Theatre even though I'm a girl lol

So far very entertaining and twisted - just like Terry's stuff -there is an underlying Dark side !!!!

[VesuvianRuin]

Currently reading the Wheel Of Time series by Robert Jordan (who passed away in 2007).

The Wheel Of Time books are absolutely fantastic classic fantasy. There are overtones of Tolkein in this epic story. There are currently 12 books (including a prequel) and a thirteenth on the way. Jordan had nearly finished the final book in the series when he died but left enough detailed notes for the book to be finished for him (due 2009, finished by Brandon Sanderson).

The story revolves around 3 friends, Rand, Mat and Perrin who unconsciously and unwillingly shape the world around them and the actions of the people they encounter. There are the friends of the 3 protagonists, the mysterious Aes Sedai who use the One Power (think Jedi Force mixed with magic) and the lives of the people that these characters touch.

I am now on the fifth book in the series and have already bought up to book 9 in anticipation. I am really loving these works as you can immerse yourself in them totally.

A recommended read.

[GREEBO]

I am reading Priestess of the white by Trudi Canavan.
I have just finished the firt three of her books and they are very good, well paced and I found them absorbing. So as a result I am now reading the first in a new series she has written, so far so good.

[Tonyblack]

Gilliam on Gilliam and autobiography of Terry Gilliam.

[communityfriend]

Currently a good 2/3rds of the way through Mr Clarinet by Nick Stone. Superb thriller / crime writer set in Haiti. Very sinister and one heck of a page turned.

Also have Conn Igguldens Gates of Rome on the go again. His books are another set that i can read over and over again.

[Jarmara]

Currently re-reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman which rocks even better the second time around.

I've just finished being absolutely addicted to Mike Carey's Felix Castor novels and eagerly awaiting the release of the next one in October and if I haven't got my weeks mixed up my current favourite comic book - Garth Ennis' The Boys - should be out today so I'll be reading that as soon as I'm back from the comic shop.

[Tonyblack]

Currently re-reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman which rocks even better the second time around.

Oh I love that book! Have you read Anansi Boys yet?

I saw a first edition hardback of American Gods in a charity shop yesterday and was tempted to buy it - but it wasn't in the greatest of conditions.

[Jarmara]

Oh I love that book! Have you read Anansi Boys yet?

Yup Had a similar flavour to Neverwhere I thought, really enjoyed that too.

[VesuvianRuin]

Neverwhere and American Gods are my favourite Gaiman books (as well as Good Omens of course!).

The TV series of Neverwhere produced by Lenny Henry was also quite good despite a low budget and thought Paterson Joseph made a fantastic Marquis de Carabas, pretty much how I imagined him.

[silverstreak]

My most favorite author is of course Pterry but I do have a close second in the shape of Tom Sharpe.Just finished The Midden again,I think that his most accomplshed book is Porterhouse Blue.

[Witch from Lancre]

I love Tom Sharpe but all his books are still up in the roof space with everything else.

I have been re-reading Frank Herbert's Dune books and am now half way through Chapter House Dune, the last one.

[Nausica]

Currently reading the Wheel Of Time series by Robert Jordan (who passed away in 2007).

The Wheel Of Time books are absolutely fantastic classic fantasy. There are overtones of Tolkein in this epic story. There are currently 12 books (including a prequel) and a thirteenth on the way. Jordan had nearly finished the final book in the series when he died but left enough detailed notes for the book to be finished for him (due 2009, finished by Brandon Sanderson).

The story revolves around 3 friends, Rand, Mat and Perrin who unconsciously and unwillingly shape the world around them and the actions of the people they encounter. There are the friends of the 3 protagonists, the mysterious Aes Sedai who use the One Power (think Jedi Force mixed with magic) and the lives of the people that these characters touch.

I am now on the fifth book in the series and have already bought up to book 9 in anticipation. I am really loving these works as you can immerse yourself in them totally.

A recommended read.

I love these books. Recently read them all again, it was great picking up some of the details and connections I'd missed previously.

At the moment I'm rereading another series - the Tomorrow series by John Marsden. I've nearly finished the first book, Tomorrow When the War Began. These are teen fiction books about the consequences an invasion has on eight teenagers. They're pretty good (with a very Australian feel!), highlighting a lot of questions about morality - and mortality - that people sometimes find themselves struggling with. They're also very action-packed.