What is currently on your Night Stand/ What are you reading?

fragile · Post by **fragile** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 1:41 am

Well,

On the top we have Still Life with Woodpecker, Feirce Invalids home form hot climates and Even cowgirls get the blues all by Tom Robbins.

I am on the second pass of cowgirls at the moment, and I cannot actually decide if I like his style or not.

Quirky definitely, and his books can be very engaging, but somehow I cannot help but feel he is trying too hard to be different, and quirky, when he is only really capable of writing a 'normal book'.

It might just be me, but....

Also on my desk is Harry Potter and the order of the pheonix This is possibly the best book yet in the series, and the third HP book that I have found extremely difficult to put down.

Under my nightstand there is 30+ English motorcycle magazines, and Douglas Adams' Salmon of doubt which makes me cry every time I open it.

Trebor1503 · Post by **Trebor1503** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 10:55 am

Reading Steve Perry's "Brother Death" now

Superenigmatix · Post by **Superenigmatix** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 6:20 am

Salt - Adam Roberts - debut novel by new (to me ) Sci Fi author

A Big Boy did it and Ran Away - Christopher Brookmyre

Just about to start this and really looking forward to it. He's very funny and pretty violent too. Start with his first book Quite Ugly One Morning. Highly recommended.

fragile (hi!) Tom Robbins is great - don't forget Cowgirls is now 25 years old or so. Woodpecker was wonderful and Jitterbug Perfume was too. I haven't read a couple of the later ones as they are hard to find out here. I would avoid Another Roadside Attraction unless you really like him.

There's a phrase from Woodpecker that has stayed with me all my life - "He had a smile like a fox eating sh*t from a wire brush"

sE

Trebor1503 · Post by **Trebor1503** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 8:20 am

"Andersonville" by MacKinlay Kantor

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/bookse ... 9563&itm=1

Acclaimed as the greatest novel ever written about the War Between the States, this searing Pulitzer Prize-winning book captures all the glory and shame of America's most tragic conflict in the vivid, crowded world of Andersonville, and the people who lived outside its barricades. Based on the author's extensive research and nearly twenty-five years in the making, MacKinlay Kantor's bestselling masterwork tells the heartbreaking story of the notorious Georgia prison where 50,000 Northern soldiers suffered - and 14,000 died - and of the people whose lives were changed by the grim camp where the best and the worst of the Civil War came together. Here is the savagery of the camp commandant, the deep compassion of a nearby planter and his gentle daughter, the merging of valor and viciousness within the stockade itself, and the day-to-day fight for survival among the cowards, cutthroats, innocents, and idealists thrown together by the brutal struggle between North and South. A moving portrait of the bravery of people faced with hopeless tragedy, this is the inspiring American classic of an unforgettable period in American history.

Trebor1503 · Post by **Trebor1503** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 9:42 pm

Reading thr first 4 books of the King "Dark Towers" saga... hope to finish this week...

bob k. mando · Post by **bob k. mando** » Mon Aug 11, 2003 10:25 pm

The Secret of Life by Paul McAuley
i picked it up because it looked like an sf book that actually had a little, you know, s in it. that's quite a rarity these days.

unfortunately, while it seems to be an excellent look into the overinflated minds/psychology that reside in the ivory towers not much has been happening yet and i don't particularly enjoy reading about these kinds of characters. maybe i'll finish it someday but unless it picks up a lot it's going to get a <5 from me.

Superenigmatix · Post by **Superenigmatix** » Sat Aug 30, 2003 6:52 pm

I remembered you mentioning this book and I saw it in my to read pile so I've picked it up.

I think I like it more than you - it's not a must read but not bad - about a six or seven so far. I read about 150 pages last night after not being able to keep my eyes open the previous week for more than 10 pages - not the book, me very tired at the moment!

The characters aren't particularly nice but maybe a little more realistic than some books.

Funnily enough I saw both the 'Mars' movies in the last couple of months - both pretty bad; 'Red Planet' in particular

and this would have been much better - not that Hollywood would ever be able to keep to the original script

steve · Post by **steve** » Mon Sep 01, 2003 6:03 pm

Well i'm having a go at 'Building with straw bales'-Barbara Jones,and 'Solar water heating-a DIY guide'-Paul Trimby.
And NO i don't wear sandles and have long hair

Trebor1503 · Post by **Trebor1503** » Fri Sep 19, 2003 10:24 pm

I do believe I am going to read "Red Rabbit" by Tom Clancy.

Beaver · Post by **Beaver** » Sat Sep 20, 2003 3:45 pm

After 4 months, I've finally finished Shelby Foote's 14 volume Civil War: A Narrative. It was very good. Tons of detail and very readable.

Now I'm reading Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett. It'll be nice to finally write a new review here.

Post by **Darb** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 9:27 am

I've taken a break from Harry Potter 5 to teach myself how to use BBQ water smokers.

Superenigmatix · Post by **Superenigmatix** » Tue Sep 23, 2003 10:19 pm

I found a copy of Michael Fox's memoirs in a sale and got it for my wife - but it's quite well written and I've found myself reading it. Don't normally go for this kind of thing.

sE

Post by **Darb** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 8:18 am

I think reading that would give me the shakes.

Sorry .. parkinsons humor

Superenigmatix · Post by **Superenigmatix** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 4:04 pm

ooooooooooo - low blow

Post by **Darb** » Wed Sep 24, 2003 5:02 pm

Not as low a blow as Michael Jackson at a slumber party

Ooooh, that was baaaaaaaaad, so bad, you know it ... w000 ....

/me moonwalks & grabs the family jewels

"Somebody stop me !"
- The Mask

Kilgore Trout · Post by **Kilgore Trout** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 8:06 pm

The True Brew Handbook -- A Beginner's Guide to Home Brewing

All 35 pages of it. To hold me over until I get a copy of The New Complete Joy of Home Brewing

Post by **Darb** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 8:11 pm

Only 35 pages ?

Egads, the pamplet I wrote on meadmaking (unpublished) is nearly that long

You'll like papazian - he's both enthusiastic, and extremely helpful

That reminds me - I should probably get around to posting a review of that book over in Critic's Corner, and add it to our database of authors/books

Kilgore Trout · Post by **Kilgore Trout** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 8:24 pm

That was fast, Brad. I write a post with the work "brewing," and you show up in five minutes.

What happens if I type, "BBQ," "mead," "TDOW," or "leg hump"?

(Contrary to popular opinion, the above placement of quotation marks relative to the other punctuation is entirely correct, at least according to the conventions of American printers.)

Trebor1503 · Post by **Trebor1503** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 8:46 pm

Easy, Brad would post on how to BBQ your dog if you get mad at him for leg humping, which you would only do if you were drinking too much mead, and then creating a new font for posting your receipes on this site.

If I guessed right about TDOW being [Type Designers of the World] that is.

Trebor1503 · Post by **Trebor1503** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 8:47 pm

Brad...still waiting on my story... I gave you the parameters days ago

bob k. mando · Post by **bob k. mando** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 9:04 pm

treb
If I guessed right about TDOW being [Type Designers of the World] that is.

possibly in an alternate universe .... but not in this one. TDOW is an acronym for "The Dogs Of War", a distributed computing sub-team over at the Ars Technica forums.

kansas
the above placement of quotation marks relative to the other punctuation is entirely correct

what's this about placing the comma inside the quotes? i don't believe i'm familiar with this convention. is that in the NYT style guide or something?

Kilgore Trout · Post by **Kilgore Trout** » Thu Sep 25, 2003 9:35 pm

bob k. mando wrote:what's this about placing the comma inside the quotes? i don't believe i'm familiar with this convention. is that in the NYT style guide or something?

My source is Harbrace College Handbook, 7th ed., (which really dates me if anyone cares to research it. My technical writing textbook says the same.

Commas and periods are always placed within the quotation mark, colons and semicolons are always placed outside, and the placement of dashes, question marks, and exclamation points depends upon whether they apply only to the quoted matter or to the whole sentence.

Unfortunately, what is correct often looks incorrect. Many people apply the contextual rule to all punctuation. I had a boss who knew the rules but would do it incorrectly (and force me to do the same) so as not to appear ignorant to his superiors.

bob k. mando · Post by **bob k. mando** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 2:37 pm

hmmm. i have to say, that might be 'the way things are done' but it doesn't make any rational sense. fer instance a period signals the end of a sentence .... just as do question marks and exclamation points. to say that one of these marks 'always' belongs inside the quotes while the other two are open to interpretation is just ... flaky.

but that's english teacher's/profs for you. they aren't real big on consistency.

Non · Post by **Non** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 6:20 pm

Virtual Light by William Gibson

It's very light reading. I'm trying to decide what to start next; choices on my shelf are;

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

V. or Gravity's Rainbow both by Thomas Pynchon

Beaver · Post by **Beaver** » Fri Sep 26, 2003 10:34 pm

I finished Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman. I was pretty disappointed with it. It was very readable, but not nearly as funny as I thought it would be...barely slightly humorous in places.

I'm now reading Job: A Comedy of Justice by Heinlein.

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What is currently on your Night Stand/ What are you reading?

I'LL HUFF AND I'LL PUFF