What 📔book are you reading right now?

[Eledhwen]

I was given 'The Other Boleyn Girl' by Phillipa Gregory, for Christmas. It's the fascinating tale of the power struggle between the powerful Howard/Boleyn family and the Seymours during the reign of Henry VIII, as told (in the first person) by Anne Boleyn's younger sister. It highlights the appalling use to which daughters were put in a medieval world ruled by men. I've never read a book like it. I'd finished it by New Year.

I notice that it has been made into a film (out in February 08); but I also notice that even in the trailer it deviates somewhat from the story in the book. I'll probably go and see it anyway. Official film website

 

[Josephine]

I'm reading Gregory Maguire's "Wicked". For those of you who don't know it, it's the life story of Elphaba, the woman who's later to become the Wicked Witch of the West. I rather like what I've read so far. I know the musical based on the book, of course, and I'm curious to find out how different they are.

 

[Eledhwen]

I'm reading Gregory Maguire's "Wicked".

That's one I want to read! Pass it over here when you're done.

 

[Firawyn]

Re-reading the Harry Potter books right now...

 

[Eledhwen]

Re-reading the Harry Potter books right now...

I did that, as soon as I'd finished The Deathly Hallows. It was really entertaining to take in the story development with the foresight of knowing what it is building up to. A story in its first bloom is exciting, rich and immediate; but a good book can stand a re-read, producing 'December roses' in its second bloom.

 

[Barliman Butterbur]

I did that, as soon as I'd finished The Deathly Hallows. It was really entertaining to take in the story development with the foresight of knowing what it is building up to. A story in its first bloom is exciting, rich and immediate; but a good book can stand a re-read, producing 'December roses' in its second bloom.

I usually enjoy re-reading good books. But for me HP is an exception. I find its underlying substructure so blackly malevolent, I have just pretty much set it aside for good, now that I know the nature of the evil that's been trying to get at Harry from his birth. And the gratuitous gore that builds up as one traverses the volumes is something I don't need to experience again.

Barley

 

[Firawyn]

I did that, as soon as I'd finished The Deathly Hallows. It was really entertaining to take in the story development with the foresight of knowing what it is building up to. A story in its first bloom is exciting, rich and immediate; but a good book can stand a re-read, producing 'December roses' in its second bloom.

Honestly, the way I read books is...in a word, quickly.

The first time I read, I'm so excited about the plot that that is all I pay attention to. Second reading usually has me examining character development, then perhaps the vocabulary, then examples of foreshadowing, etc.

Basically, I do a different aspect of a literary analysis each time I read the book/s. This way, I find, a book never gets old or over read. (Assuming, of course, it was worth the read in the first place.)

 

[Majimaune]

Re-reading the Harry Potter books right now...

I'll do that...eventually.

 

[Firawyn]

Getting ready to start "The Goblet of Fire".

Year 4 here I come! Yes, I'm am very much on a roll!

 

[e.Blackstar]

I'm reading this strange cocktail of A Clockwork Orange and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. After that I've got Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha to attend to.

 

[Rhiannon]

I'm almost done with The Neverending Story, but I'm also working on Plan B by Ann Lamott and Bird by Bird, also by Ann Lamott, as well as a collection of Edna St. Vincent Millay's poetry that I've been working on for a couple of months and John Crowley's Little, Big, which I have been reading, very slowly, for two years now.

 

[HobbitGirl]

I am currently reading The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth by Ruth S. Noel. After six years of being a fan of (read: being rabidly obsessed with) all things Tolkien, I'm finally, Finally, FINALLY learning Quenya and Sindarin. How sad is that?!

 

[Majimaune]

Paris In The Twentieth Century by Jules Verne.

 

[Turgon]

I'm currently reading Crusade by Robyn Young. I read her first book Brethren last year and quite enjoyed it, this one is the follow up. Sadly I'm a bit confused as I have forgotten most of what took place in Brethren. It's starting to come back to me mind. Just finished reading Young Bloods by Simon Scarrow, which is about the early careers of Wellington and Napoleon. It was quite good. And I never knew the Duke of Wellington had been an accomplished violinist - so there you go.

 

[e.Blackstar]

Mediated: How Media Influences Your World and How You Live In It
Siddhartha

 

[Mike]

Re-reading: Miecz Przeznaczenie ("The Sword of Destiny), by Andrzej Sapkowski.

Also Reading: "Tales of HP Lovecraft" (Currently halfway through "At the Mountains of Madness")

Also Reading: "Weep not Child" by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o for my Postcolonial literature class.

And, actually, reading a lot more non-fiction books - both textbooks and research - for my classes. I'm up to the ears in readings and essays right now...I don't know if I can make it...(especially while simultaneously writing two short stories)

 

[Durin's Bane]

I'm reading Dan Brown's Digital Fortress now... certainly not his best book...

 

[Aisteru]

To mimic the first post to this thread, I am re-reading LOTR as well as The Canterbury Tales by Chaucer.

 

[Mike]

Kref Elfow by Andrzej Sapkowski.

So far (pg. 60), it's excellent. English translation ("The Blood of the Elves") comes out later this month or next month, apparently.

 

[Prince of Cats]

Tolkien's Fellowship of the Ring