Friday, July 07, 2006

Bookshelves

What are you reading right now?

Me:

-Label of Microsoft Office Suite CD, as computer has suddenly decided it severely dislikes Word, not that I can blame it

-I am trying to get to know my new Papa, so bedtime reading is "Salt of the Earth," a very long interview with "pre-16" Pope Benedict when he was but a Cardinal. Awwww, BabyPope! It is tough going, since it's translated from the German and my people are not known for succinct communication. I think I saw maybe one sentence that was less than fifteen lines long.

-Because people have been bothering me to read him for years, Meal Reading is "The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide" by Douglas Adams, which I find alternatingly brilliant and exasperatingly over-the-top. I'm on the third book. You won't believe this, but... it's better than the movie. Man. That NEVER happens.

-For editorial reasons, my own crap. Over. And over. And over. And. Ov. Er.

die software creator die at: mb@blondechampagne.com

26 comments:

Cbell said...

"The Devil Wears Prada" because I want to read the book before I see the movie so that as I'm watching the movie I can think "Wow, the book is so much better".

Anonymous said...

I am an AVID bookworm. I can read anything. I tried to read Douglas Adams at LEAST 25 times, and only made it as far as page 45 before I would throw it down in frustration.

My problem? Well my dearest hubby (the one telling me to read him, and that I'd love him) neglected to mention that the book I was trying to read was actually the 3rd book. Ya know, the one where Arther is living in a cave, with a long beard and a bone in his beard, and then they are in the middle of a cricket game, and then aliens come down, and....yeah.

Gee, I wonder why I was confused? Honestly I tried to read that book for 5 YEARS! When I figured it out and read the 1st two, the third one made MUCH more sense!

I LOVE those books now :) I totally thought that Adams must be insane, and my hubby too, when I was 1st attempting to read him.

I am reading 'Get Shorty' by Elmore Leonard. I keep picturing Danny Zuko as Chili Palmer. Kinda funny in my head ;)

Anonymous said...

"The Poisonwood Bible"

Pam said...

I recently finished Twelve Sharp, the latest Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evanovich. I highly recommend it.

Ophelia said...

"Brimstone" by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child. There is just something about their character of Pendergast that absolutely fascinates me.
Tamar - I would highly recommend that you pick up "Good Omens" by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman. This is a must read, especially if you liked "Hitchhiker." Absolutely hilarious!!

Anonymous said...

A couple of books - "Pretender" by C. J. Cherryh (scifi) and "Have Your Cake and Kill Him Too" by Nancy Martin (murder mystery). I'm in summer reading mode.

graycie said...

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. if you like Adams, you'll love Pratchett. Start with The Light Fantastic -- The series is well worth doing in the right order, and TLF is the first.

As far as Hitchhiker goes, I have to admire someone who puts four or five books in a trilogy.

Anonymous said...

Finished 2061 and 3001 by Arthur C. Clarke (bought it through Amazon which is not that great for us mexicans because of the delays and the multiple taxes, so I'm gonna wait another month till I order MB's book along with 5 or 6 more to lower shipping expenses). I'm gonna start La Reina del Sur by Antonio Pérez Reverte, and also plan to re-read Caballo de Troya 1 by J.J. Benítez, which is a book I first read when I was like 16 or something, about a military project that involved time-travelling to witness the last days of Jesus. The book is like 800 pages or so, the author has written 7 books on the series in a 15-year lifespan and he hasn't finished! I wonder if he ever will... Oh! so many books and so little time :-(

Anonymous said...

I'm reading "Dress Your Family in Courderoy and Denim" by David Sedaris. Absolutely hilarious, I definitely recommend it and his other books (Naked, Me Talk Pretty One Day).

Anonymous said...

Just finished The Last Templar on a plane back from France... something of a DaVinci Code ripoff, with a different but equally compelling plot twist about what "the secret" is that the Templars have been guarding.

Given the stir that DVC caused I cannot imagine why this one hasn't been banned, burned, and otherwise caused the same uproar. But a great plane/beach read !!

On the plane ride outbound I started the Jonathan Alter book about the first 100 days of the FDR presidency, but I left it in a taxi so I don't know how it turned out :).

gryphonesse said...

right now?
http://blondechampagne.blogspot.com

heheheh

okay, sorry, had to be the smartass. Just finished this month's National Geographic. I need to go raid Half Price Books for more hardback materials. I've read everyting in my house at least five times. And all the Orson Scott Card stuff at least ten times. Last book published within a year that I read? "Coroner's Journal" by Louis Cataldie. Yeah, I'm weird.

kittybrunette said...

I am reading a lovely book by Helen Fielding, not as good as Bridget Jones though. It is "Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination". Definitely a summer read.
For Sedaris fans, pick up "Holidays on Ice" for the Christmas season. You'll spit eggnog through your nose. I just finished "Dress Your Family..."

Anonymous said...

Grammer Queen! I L.O.V.E. Evanovich's Plum novels! Good to know that that one is out. I'm poor, so I'll wait for the soft cover.

O- I'll check it out! TY!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Carrie said...

I'm finishing up Steve Berry's "The Third Secret." Not overly impressed, although I enjoyed both "The Amber Room" and "The Romanov Prophecy" by the same author--maybe he should stick with Russians, instead of the Vatican...

Also, since I'm incapable of only reading one book at a time, I'm also reading "Mayflower" by Nathaniel Philbrick, which is a nonfiction book. I feel somewhat obligated to read it, since we can actually trace our family back to the Mayflower. I've been partway through one of the X-Wing novels (I think it's "Wedge's Gamble") for a while now, and I started "Delectable Mountains," which is a Benni Harper mystery by Earlene Fowler. Evanovich's "Eleven On Top" is next in line. (Since I wait for the paperbacks, I'm a year behind.)

And the "Hitchhiker" books are classics--my copy of the "trilogy" is currently on loan to a friend. The movie, however, was...enh.

Rick said...

Your post and the comments remind me that I've been neglecting my reading. Some of my favorites are the Hitchhikers' Guide the the Galaxy "trilogy," The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, The Harry Potter books, and Catch-22.

Catch 22 made no sense when I read it in high school. I read it again after I'd been in the Air Force a while and found it made absolutely perfect sense.

Anonymous said...

Oh man! LOTR is definitely on my top list, I remember how sad the march of the ents made me feel, the thought of going to your certain dead with content resolution struck a deep cord in me. And of course Samwise Gamgee is one of my favorite characters, in the books and the movie too.

Anonymous said...

For fun summer reading:

Janet Evanovich's "Twelve Sharp" -- this last one was pretty good. If you haven't read any Evanovich, start at the beginning. A couple of the early ones are 'laugh so hard you snort milk out your nose' funny.

Naomi Novik's "His Majesty's Dragon" -- Napoleanic War era historical fiction... with dragons!

To keep my children happy:

"Mysteries of Udolpho" for my Brit Lit major daughter and "Copperhead" by Bernard Cornwell for my son.

I'm not quite sure when my children turned into reading Nazis... but they get quite uppity with me if I don't immediately read *everything* they recommend. : )

Dantelope said...

I'm quite certain I am the only one reading Uncle John's Ultimate Bathroom Reader....

Can anyone spare a square?

Anonymous said...

"Slaughterhouse Five" by Vonnegut

Anonymous said...

Let's see...I'm reading several right now...

All He Ever Wanted by Anita Shreve

Always by Lyndsay Sands

The Idiot's Guide to Bringing Up Baby

Anonymous said...

What am I reading right now? Well ... YOU :). And, for the second or third time, "The Sea, The Sea" by Iris Murdoch because I love her so. Just finished re-reading "Rebecca", too, by Du Maurier, for one can never tire of such brilliance :) x

Anonymous said...

dantelope: Love the UJU Bathroom reader, maybe because I love useless trival. I need to get my own copy one of these days.
I usually read 2 books at a time. Some kind of murder mystery or horror type novel for my lunch break at work, and a romance novel for at home. A girl's gotta keep her fantasies alive.

Anonymous said...

Good job, everybody. Not one single copy of anything by Madonna.

OSA said...

I read cbells comment and nodded. I just finished reading the devil wears prada because I want to go the movie and see how much better the book was.
I picked up "undomestic Goddes" because if you can't read chick-lit (what exactly does this mean anyway?)during summer when else can you?
I am listening to Kite Runner when I exercise. I want to stop because it's making me cry, but it is such a beautiful book.
Also I am reading the Secret Life of the Bees because my high school teacher recomended it. And when I googled the title (just now) I can see they are making it into a movie with Dakota Fanning as Lily?!

Rachel_K said...

Read Twelve Sharp the day after it was released - I love all her books - make me laugh. Still trying to get through the March issue of Vanity Fair, still...My daughter just turned 2 and I spend most of my time reading to her - Goodnight Moon and any of the Violet books from Baby Einstein. Anything Disney. For my benefit I will read anything, the cereal box, the toothpaste tube, my receipt from the grocery. I love to read. One good thing has rubbed off on my baby. Whoo hoo!

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