I've just finished reading The Andromeda Strain - Michael Crichton

I am juggling 5 books, currently.

It's average for me.

3 books:
-Nero Wolfe: The Black Mountain
-Sword Of Clontarf
-Seabiscuit: An American Legend

are re-reads.

2 books:
-A Tale Of Two Cities
-Merlin's Mirror

are new reads for me.

Handmaids Tale speculative fiction in the vein of Brave New World or Farenheit 451. Its basis is what would happen to women should a Taliban like religious right were to take over the United States.


I friggin' love that book. It scares the crap out of me.

I'm reading Kitty Kelly's "The Royals". It's so tacky and tell all-ish. ;D

i'm reading "mike nelson's movie megacheese."

http://www.stomptokyo.com/store/img-books/nelsoncheese.jpg

good book, but possibly the most ridiculous cover of any book in my collection. it’s a little tough reading it on the metro.

Just finished re-reading "The Mist" by Stephen King. This is my all time favorite story by him, even though I was seriously traumatized by it. Everytime the fog rolled in to the Monterey area, I'd freak out. :D

The movie comes out next Wednesday. I have been waiting YEARS for them to make this movie. Unfortunately, I heard they messed with the ending, which might suck. BUT STILL! The movie! *squeals like a little girl*

http://www.all-about-agatha-christie.com/images/crookedhouse.jpg

The first Agatha Christie book I've actually finished. Now I'm reading 'Murder At The Vicarage'.

Now I'm reading 'Murder At The Vicarage'.


I read that again recently.  I've also not long finished Ten Little Indians, Murder on the Orient Express and Murder on the Links by her.

Currently reading some book about why losing weight is not the answer to my unhappiness. Can't recall the exact title.

I read that again recently.  I've also not long finished Ten Little Indians, Murder on the Orient Express and Murder on the Links by her.

Currently reading some book about why losing weight is not the answer to my unhappiness. Can't recall the exact title.
I have previously read all of the Agatha Christie murder books. For my particular favourite, I cannot remember the title, and can only remember ithe book by the who did the murder.

The Great Interlude, Neglected Events and Persons from the First World War to the Depression  -  Francis Russell

I just read something called "and don't forget to rescue the princess" by Marc Bilgrey, which is one of the funniest books that i've ever read.

From: TOKJCT

Just finished Patricia Cornwell's "Potters Field" and "At Risk" both fine Cornwell.

Then zipped through Dean Koontz's "Phantoms"...very good...and I rented the Video from the library...also good, but, as usual, not as good as the book.

Couldn't resist reading the book of the movie I already saw..."The Devil Wears Prada", which was better than the movie!

Now I just started Rosamunde Pilcher's Another View" which I think I already read, but I simply love her stuff...and I didn't realize how much until I started this current book.

and that's all for now, folks!

peace Lee aka Tokjct 8)

Yeager: An Autobiography
By Chuck Yeager


I dig him.

Yeager: An Autobiography
By Chuck Yeager


I dig him.




The only contest I ever entered was a Pepsi( I think) promo, the prize was Chuck Yeager would take you up in a jet for a ride.  I lost.

The only contest I ever entered was a Pepsi( I think) promo, the prize was Chuck Yeager would take you up in a jet for a ride.  I lost.


wow!  that would be really amazing.  i could die after that.

a long time ago i had a chuck yeager thread...no, i had a short story thread and i wrote a little biography about him.

Vindication, A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft - Lyndall Gordon

Thanks to ChuckieG and a good suggestion, I am back with my TOKJCT logo..."V"  ;)

Anyway...I finished that Rosamunde Pilcher novel, "Another View"...for the second time...and it was wonderful...again!

Now I'm into Patricia Cornwell's "Unnatural Exposure."  It's another Dr. Kay Scarpetta novel and I'm a quarter way through it and it is very good.
Definitely up to Cornwell's high standards.

peace...Lee

Vindication, A Life of Mary Wollstonecraft - Lyndall Gordon


Fascinating subject, dry book, don't think I can do it.

I've just finished Flowers in the Rain and other stories by Rosamund Pilcher.  I am trying to read some book about improving my memory but I don't think it's quite what I was looking for.

...I am trying to read some book about improving my memory but I don't think it's quite what I was looking for.
...as long as you remember where you put those books?

Just finished "The Lost World" by Michael Crichton. Now I need to find something else to read.

I need some new books. :P

Decided, finally, to double up...ie that is...to start a second novel whilst still reading the first.


So I just started..."Get Shorty" by Elmore Leonard...So far...it reads well...and, NO...I did not see the movie. 8)

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/images/n0/n243.jpg

Can I tell you 'whodunit'?

I read The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox by Maggie O'Farrell and ran right out and took out Maggies other book After you'd Gone.  Been a long time since I liked an author this much  ;)

Reading "The Gun Seller" by Hugh Laurie right now. Like everything else he does, the book is excellent. And I'm not just saying that because I'm crazy about him. :D

OK....I finished Elmore Leonard's  "Get Shorty"and I loved it.  Chili Palmer is one hell of a character..."Look at me!!!!"

Followed it up with Leonard's sequel "Be Cool"  also starring Chili Palmer...the lovable hero!

Then I whipped through a Dean Koontz novel, "The Face", which was one of the few I had not yet read.  All I can say, as a self-styled "maven" of Koontz is that this was one of his weirdest works...very interesting.

Finally, I just finished reading another Elmore Leonard work, (without Chili Palmer), called "Killshot."  Very exciting...and plenty of great dialogue, which seems to be his specialty. 8)

 

"P.S. I Love You" by Cecelia Ahern

The Citadel- A J Cronin

"P.S. I Love You" by Cecelia Ahern



I just finished this book...it was so good! Now, I want to see the movie (it just came out).

King Coffin- Conrad Aiken

The Mermaid Chair by Sue Monk Kidd.

I recently reread A Farewell to Arms. Great book.

Currently reading the French translation of The Alchemist, which is a novel originally in Portuguese by Paulo Coehlo (sp?). And I sorta told someone I would read The Celestine Prophecy.

I took three books with me on holiday and I did not read any of them.

Other voices, other rooms by Truman Capote

I took three books with me on holiday and I did not read any of them.


Which probably means you had a pretty good time.  :)

Just picked up two very good Patricia Cornwell, "Kay Scarpetta" novels...which, I think bring me up to date...chronologically.
First, (for 50 cents), I found "TRACE"...a very exciting thriller...which preceded "PREDATOR." After finishing that one, I'm currently reading, what I think, could be her latest Scarpetta novel...published in 2007...called "THE BOOK OF THE DEAD"...and it is developing very nicely. http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/09/snake.gif

Just finished reading a Kay Scarpetts novel called Unnatural Exposure.  I'm reading them all out of order - just picking them up where I see them going cheap or free.  This last one was bought for a small donation to the local Mountain Rescue team when I was in a cafe in North Wales at New Year.

At the moment I am about halfway through  'Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen'. I'm loving it! Has anyone else read it? 

Just picked up two very good Patricia Cornwell, "Kay Scarpetta" novels...which, I think bring me up to date...chronologically.
First, (for 50 cents), I found "TRACE"...a very exciting thriller...which preceded "PREDATOR." After finishing that one, I'm currently reading, what I think, could be her latest Scarpetta novel...published in 2007...called "THE BOOK OF THE DEAD"...and it is developing very nicely. http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/09/snake.gif
It's a new year, shall I give that JTR book of PD Cornwell another go?

I was watching Book Beat on C-Span the other day, (I think), and I jumped in on a discussion of Rev. Billy Graham and his wife Ruth.  The author being interviewed mentioned that THE best biography of Ruth Graham was written by Patricia Cornwell.
I haven't read it...but that' s very interesting.  It's called, "RUTH, A PORTRAIT: THE STORY OF RUTH BELL GRAHAM."

Anyone who's been reading the Kay Scarpetta novels has to be aware of Scarpetta's (Cornwell's) fondness for cooking...particularly Italian style.
Cornwell's written at least three books on cooking! :P

Other voices, other rooms by Truman Capote



I think Truman is one of the best writers of the 20th century.  He is in my top 5.

At the moment I am about halfway through  'Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen'. I'm loving it! Has anyone else read it? 
I urge you all to read this book it's brilliant!

Other voices, other rooms by Truman Capote


That's funny, I read "In Cold Blood" for the first time this fall. 

Then I re-read Ernest Hebert's "The Dogs of March."  This is a rather obscure title, but worth your while to pick up on Amazon.  You can find them cheap.

I am now tackling Vincent Bugliosi's "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy."  I still have over 1300 pages to go.  Mr. Bugliosi worked on this book for 20 years.  He's going to prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin of JFK and there was no conspiracy.  He'd better present a hell of a case.  I'm only as far as 4:30 on the afternoon of November 22, 1963!

That's funny, I read "In Cold Blood" for the first time this fall. 

Then I re-read Ernest Hebert's "The Dogs of March."  This is a rather obscure title, but worth your while to pick up on Amazon.  You can find them cheap.

I am now tackling Vincent Bugliosi's "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy."  I still have over 1300 pages to go.  Mr. Bugliosi worked on this book for 20 years.  He's going to prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin of JFK and there was no conspiracy.  He'd better present a hell of a case.  I'm only as far as 4:30 on the afternoon of November 22, 1963!


American Experience on PBS is airing Oswalds Ghost.  it is worth a look

  Just finished the graphic novel "Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi.  Bought it after reading an article about it in the paper...

  Based on the author's experiences growing-up in revolutionary Iran...

 

American Experience on PBS is airing Oswalds Ghost.  it is worth a look

I'll see if I can find that.

I just finished two books.

First, Each Man's Son by Hugh MacLennan.

It's a novel about a young boy and his mother from Cape Breton Island, who are trying to get by as best they can while waiting for the boy's prize-fighter father to return home from an indefinite career trek. Meanwhile the local doctor takes an interest in the boy, and commits himself to doing everything in his power to make sure the boy gets an education and doesn't end up working in the mines. But his efforts aren't long tolerated, and his meddling along with other factors leads to tragedy.

Second, The Last of the Crazy People by Timothy Findley.

This is one about an 11 year-old boy from a well-to-do family in Ontario which is truly dysfunctional, and not in the cute Malcolm in the Middle way either. His reclusive mother detests anything that reminds her of motherhood (including her own children) after giving birth to a stillborn. His brother is a 22 year old prep-school drop-out who drinks too much and lives in the family library. His aunt lives in her office full of pictures of dead relatives, and she lives only for her brother (the boy's father). His only companions are the housekeeper, who has been his caretaker his entire life, and his pet cats. He passes much of his free time giving the birds and mice his cats kill proper burials in a field near his house. The family sinks into more and more emotional turmoil, and nobody will tell him anything. No one in the family will really talk to each other, and the boy is left to figure out why his family isn't right on his own. This drives him to a terrifying conclusion about what must be done.

Of the two, I liked the latter the best. 

Just started Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.  I read it a few years ago but have forgotten any details of the story.

That's funny, I read "In Cold Blood" for the first time this fall. 

Then I re-read Ernest Hebert's "The Dogs of March."  This is a rather obscure title, but worth your while to pick up on Amazon.  You can find them cheap.

I am now tackling Vincent Bugliosi's "Reclaiming History: The Assassination of President John F. Kennedy."  I still have over 1300 pages to go.  Mr. Bugliosi worked on this book for 20 years.  He's going to prove to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lee Harvey Oswald was the sole assassin of JFK and there was no conspiracy.  He'd better present a hell of a case.  I'm only as far as 4:30 on the afternoon of November 22, 1963!


i put down the capote briefly to peruse "Very Funny, Charlie Brown!"  ;D
I read "in cold blood" last year. it was terriffic.
I have read Bugliosi and I find him clear and easy to understand but not very gripping.  Hope you like it.

  Just finished "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs"  by Chuck Klosterman...

  If you were born between 1965 and 1978 in the US you'll "get it"...

  "In and of iteslf nothing really matters.  What matters is that nothing is ever "in and of itself"...
                                                                                                                                ~SD&CP

The Gentle Madness of Book Collecting -Nicholas A. Basbanes

Last years Kathy Reichs, as ever I can't stop reading once I start and am not getting anywhere near enough sleep!

The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and the Invention of Murder
By Daniel Stashower

   Just finished "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs"  by Chuck Klosterman...

   If you were born between 1965 and 1978 in the US you'll "get it"...

   "In and of iteslf nothing really matters.  What matters is that nothing is ever "in and of itself"...
                                                                                                                                 ~SD&CP
i amazonned this and it looks cool. do you recommend it? ???

i amazonned this and it looks cool. do you recommend it? ???


  Oh, s*it!  Sorry I missed this one, Tia...

  Yes I do recommend it.  His observations and ramblings about ordinary pop culture are crative/insightful/funny.  I especially loved his musings on "Saved By the Bell" and internet porn, the cultural significance of "The Empire Strikes Back" to an entire generation (not what you'd think...) why the Dixie Chicks are/were the new Van Halen and comparisons of Marilyn Monroe and Pam Anderson.  Published in 2003 so it's not too dated.  Good stuff...

  I'm resisting the urge to post entire paragraphs out of the book, I won't, but definately check it out... :)

I have just started to read "The eBay Business Handbook" by Robert Pugh. All this could lead to something big.

Black Coffee - Agatha Christie.  This was one of her plays that has been adapted into a book.

Black Coffee - Agatha Christie.  This was one of her plays that has been adapted into a book.
I have read all of the books by Agatha Christie and this appears to be one that I did miss out on for the title is not familar to me.

I have read all of the books by Agatha Christie and this appears to be one that I did miss out on for the title is not familar to me.


Nor me - that's why I bought it!  And it didn't appear on the list of Agatha Christie books and plays printed in an omnibus Miss Marple book I have

It says 'Adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne'.  It was printed in 1997

Nor me - that's why I bought it!  And it didn't appear on the list of Agatha Christie books and plays printed in an omnibus Miss Marple book I have

It says 'Adapted as a novel by Charles Osborne'.  It was printed in 1997
That explains a lot, is this play in book form only available in the US?

That explains a lot, is this play in book form only available in the US?


Apparently not

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/agatha-christie/black-coffee.htm


Also it apears that a film was made in 1931/32 with Austin Trevor playing Hercule Poirot.

Apparently not

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/c/agatha-christie/black-coffee.htm


Also it apears that a film was made in 1931/32 with Austin Trevor playing Hercule Poirot.
There seems to be many reprints of the book.

There seems to be many reprints of the book.


Isn't that true of many popular authors whose books were first published many years ago?

Isn't that true of many popular authors whose books were first published many years ago?
Dickens always has a new cover for each new generation. It is a Disney effect.

Pretty is what changes by Jessica Queller

The Hanging Valley - Peter Robinson

The Lollipop Shoes by Joanne Harris.

The follow on from Chocolat which is one of my all time favourite books. This is proving to be just as good.

Just finished The Isle of Dogs by Patricia Cornwell

I am about to start The Fifth Elephant - Terry Pratchett.

Mystic River by Dennis Lehane

Hardy Boys Classic Collection volume 1.  I've read The Tower Treasure and The Secret of the Old Mill and I'm just about to start The Haunted Fort.

I'm also part way through The Great Gatsby

Eternal Life? by Hans Kung

Just finished Playing with the grown-ups by Sophie Dahl. Odd book, but I got it free with a newspaper so I gave it a go.

Just finsihed Bill Bryson's African Diary and I am now reading Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent

Just finsihed Bill Bryson's African Diary and I am now reading Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent
I'm finally reading his Thunderbolt Kid book.

Age of Betrayal - The Triumph of Money in America 1865-1900  Jack Beatty

Hamlet's Mill: An Essay Investigating the Origins of Human Knowledge And Its Transmission Through Myth by Giorgio De Santillana and Hertha Von Dechend ... very fascinating!

I'm back to Vincent Buliosi's "Reclaiming History."  I put in on haitus over the winter.  300 pages in, they haven't even killed Oswald yet!  And you've still got 1350 pages left to go~
:P

A Creed for the Third Millennium by Colleen McCullough

I finished the following 3 books within a day of each other:

Too Many Cooks- Rex Stout
The Festival- H.P. Lovecraft
Seabiscuit: An American Legend- Laura Hillenbrand


zi love Lovecraft  THE STRANGE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD

Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro    very rarely do I re-read anymore, but this is a magnificent book and a magnificent movie.  I think Ishiguro is one of our greatest living writers.

I just read 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' as a friend said it was the best book she had ever read ever..I really struggled with it. Each to their own I guess.

Bones to Ashes - Kathy Reichs.

The Magus by John Fowles

The Other by Thomas Tryon, a very spooky psychological thriller turned into an equally scary movie in 1974.

I just finished The Dollmaker by Amanda Stevens

Moonspender  - Jonathan Gash

The Final Conclave by Malachi Martin

I've just finished reading Picts and Martyrs by Arthur Ransome.

I'm a bit puzzled now though.  I picked up this book in the library because I remembered reading it about 30 years ago and wondered if it would make more sense now.  However the story I remembered and this story aren't the same!  :o  Some of the story I remembered is mentioned as happening maybe a year before.  :-\\  Now I want to recall the title of the book I thought I was going to read.  Any Ransome fans out there?

Paddy Whacked: The Untold Story of the Irish-American Gangster by T. J. English

After I read it Sig grabbed it, he reads maybe one book a year but couldn't wait to get his hands on this one.

NAOMI KLEIN: THE SHOCK DOCTRINE

I recommend everybody read this book before Election Day!!!

The Mesmerist - Barbara Ewing, very good so far.

I am going to my main library to see if the book "The Bisley Boy" by Chris Hunt is on the shelf.

A Way Up North in Dixie, A Black Families Claim to the Confederate National Anthem - Howard L Sacks and Judith Rose Sacks

I knew Dixies was written in the north, I didn't know that it was written by a freed slave, the co-opted by their white neighbor. This is as good as finding out Danny Boy was written by an Englishman  :)

NAOMI KLEIN: THE SHOCK DOCTRINE


Follow it up with Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged. 

The parallels are actually pretty damn chilling.  The two authors have been adopted by opposite ends of the political spectrum because they'd disagree on the solution to our present mess, but there's no denying that both would agree on its cause.

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

Yes, y'all already know I am obsessed with these 4 novels. So much so that I have read them 4 times in the past month. They may be labelled for Young Adult, but once you pick them up you can't really put them down. The love story is amazingly written to the point where you can feel the gut-wrenching turmoil. I definitely recommend this saga.

I just finished Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

Now I'm reading The Cat Who Can Read Backwards

The Twilight Saga by Stephenie Meyer

Yes, y'all already know I am obsessed with these 4 novels. So much so that I have read them 4 times in the past month. They may be labelled for Young Adult, but once you pick them up you can't really put them down. The love story is amazingly written to the point where you can feel the gut-wrenching turmoil. I definitely recommend this saga.
Is that the vampire stories my friend was telling me about, that are being made into a film with the guy who played Digory in Harry Potter?

I am going to my main library to see if the book "The Bisley Boy" by Chris Hunt is on the shelf.
The book is not in stock at my library, but it is still in print.

Is that the vampire stories my friend was telling me about, that are being made into a film with the guy who played Digory in Harry Potter?


Not sure what the film is called but they are advertising something with that actor in it.  Everytime it comes on Elizabeth points out who it is  ::)

eta: well his latest movie is calledTwilight

I'm trying to get my hands on the new Stephen King novel. Someting about Sunset...I cant' really remember the title, but every bookstore in town is on backorder for it. It sucks! I wanna read it.

I'm stuck with reading Prince's poerty/coffeetable book, which is okay, but it's so darn BIG!  :o

I'm trying to get my hands on the new Stephen King novel. Someting about Sunset...I cant' really remember the title, but every bookstore in town is on backorder for it. It sucks! I wanna read it.

I'm stuck with reading Prince's poerty/coffeetable book, which is okay, but it's so darn BIG!  :o


Just After Sunset.  Walmart claim to have it for $14  :-\\

Is that the vampire stories my friend was telling me about, that are being made into a film with the guy who played Digory in Harry Potter?


Sure is!
I am not sure if the movie will do the book justice - books are always better anyway! ;)

  Finished Slackonomics (Lisa Chamberlain) and am starting The Virgin Suicides (Jeffrey Eugenides)...

Some old book that belonged to my grandfather (I took all his books before my grandmother sold them) called "I Jan Cremer".  Dunno if people from The Netherlands have heard of it because it is supposed to be about a Dutch painter who is..........ummmm......very wild. :o

It says it is autobiographical, but inside near the copyright date, it says "fiction".  Go figure.

Some old book that belonged to my grandfather (I took all his books before my grandmother sold them) called "I Jan Cremer".  Dunno if people from The Netherlands have heard of it because it is supposed to be about a Dutch painter who is..........ummmm......very wild. :o

It says it is autobiographical, but inside near the copyright date, it says "fiction".  Go figure.


  Out of curiosity, I looked it up...

  Interesting fellow.  Sort of like the Jack Kerouac of the Netherlands...

  http://www.jancremer.com/

Keeping Faith
by: Jodi Picoult

The Romanov Prophecy by Steve Berry

Making Money - Terry Pratchett.  Moist Von Lipwig leaves the job of Postmaster General to take over as Master of the Mint

Life in the North During the Civil War George Winston Smith and Charles Judah

I'm currently reading POINTS Women Have Them  MEN NEED THEM.  It's supposed to be a humorous relationship guide

Aquinas on Mind by Anthony Kenny

Just read The Whitethorn Woods - Maeve Binchey. I've now started The Boleyn Inheritance by Phillipa Gregory.



I love Maeve Binchey's books...haven't read that one though

Decisive Battles of the Civil War  Lt Colonel Joseph B Mitchell. 

    Short and sweet synopsis of the important battles of the U.S. Civil War.

Keeping Faith - Jodi Picoult

Decisive Battles of the Civil War  Lt Colonel Joseph B Mitchell.   

    Short and sweet synopsis of the important battles of the U.S. Civil War.


I don't think I've read that one.  I've got three Civil War books waiting for me to read. :)