What are you reading?

[SteveJ]

'The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde' by Peter Ackroyd.
Magnificent book. Wilde's matchless speech/writing is mimicked perfectly by Ackroyd. The book looks back on Oscar's rise and fall, during his last days in exile. It's wonderfully touching, and possesses all the beauty of nostalgia and the poignancy of regret.

[Omni]

Kurt Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions. Loving it.

[ellie]

Love Oscar Wilde Steve..I have a book of his quotes which I bought at Trinity College Dublin.
Ive always got a few books on the go.Ive recently been reading H.G.Wells books and read about 4, Im now on 'The Invisible Man'..good read.
Im also reading 'The Jesus Dynasty'  by American professor James D Tabor,a biblical archaeologist and its a fascinating read..of Jesus the man,his family & followers with all the history of that time.
Im also reading a book on the Druid phylosophy,which is interesting..did you know that our Archbishop of Canterbury is a cultural Druid?

[SteveJ]

Oscar was just...unique. Obviously, many people have read his more famous sayings, but I'm certain there's no-one else in the history of the world who, when asked how one should arrange Japanese fans, would reply: 'Why arrange them at all? Why not let them occur?'   

[Talisman]

Have finished 3 books during my week long sojourn on Lundy -

Random Acts of Heroic Love by Danny Scheinmann
The last Town on Earth - Thomas mullen
The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini

[Ken100]

Not reading anything at the moment.
I'm spending far too much time on here!

Anyway, next up will be some local history books for research for my next novel.

Cheers,
Ken

[Xerika]

Steve Welsh(ish)bloke. Love Oscar and also Ackroyd so it sounds like an excellent combination. I'll put it on my Amazon wishlist immediately. The only problem is, when I think of writers that I really admire, my next thought is usually: 'Why do I bother? I could never be even 2% as good as they are.'

Omni. Enjoy. I first read 'Breakfast of Champions' about 30 years ago (I was very young at the time  ) and it is still one of my favourite books of all time. Vonnegut no doubt knew about all the so-called do's and dont's of how to write a novel and probably thought, 'Sod all that. I'm doing it this way.'

I've just finished Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's 'Long Way Down' and I'm now on Ian McEwan's 'On Cheshil Beach'. Clearly, I'm on a theme at the moment to read books by authors whose names begin with 'Mc'.

[SteveJ]

Brigadier Xerika: I had to get my copy from Ebay, mate. Honestly, one would think it really was Oscar who wrote the book - it's that good

[Gyppo]

Two books on the go at the moment, although I finished one of them this morning before getting up to face the day.  I'll probably go back and read a few sections again.

That was Hemingway On War, a collection of his articles and extracts from his longer works.  I enjoyed it, but I realise Hemingway isn't for everyone.  We did Hemingway at school and it stuck.  Not exactly comfortable reading, but I liked it.

The other book is The Thief Of Time by Terry Pratchett.  A nice light-hearted bit of nonsense.  I like the way TP plays with words and various well-known mythologies and cultural icons.  He entertains, which also means I can put a Pratchett book down when I get tired and pick it up again later with a smile still on my face.  Occasionally there is a Pratchett book which just leaves me cold, which has the feel of a 'potboiler' just dashed off to clear a tax bill or some other pressing debt, but in most of them you can sense the writer having fun with words.

Gyppo    

[Don]

Goldberg Street.  It's a collection of short plays and monologues by David Mamet

[MsBook]

I just finished reading 'A Travel Guide to Heaven' it was wonderful and exactly what I've been looking for to describe what Heaven is really like...I do believe in the other side, we all have our own beliefs.I don't wish to offend anyone but the thought of never being able to see my brother again is unbearable. Anyway It's reasearch for the book I've been working on for some ten years off and on it has been a real struggle for me but I have such a desire to write it...I know it needs lots and lots of work but hopefully I will be able to accomplish it before I go to the other side .

I am now reading 'Vienna Prelude the Zion Covenant Book I' by Bodie & Brock Thoene No one is safe...In 1936 Nazi darkness descends upon Europe...Every person is only one step away from being swept into the nightmarish tide of evil. 

It's an awesome book so far...if you like this kind of reading...and I do.
Historical. 

[Age]

-MWC

-The Zombie Survival Guide

[Talisman]

I read Ian Mcgregors On Chesil Beach as well just before I went to Lundy - a small but interesting book 

[thatollie]

Misery - Stephen King
Our Game - Le Carre

And I've still got Plato's Republic just waiting to be read.

[Ken100]

-The Zombie Survival Guide

Is that a handbook of zombie killing techniques?
Do you know something the rest of us don't, Age?
BTW, if you're into zombies then you really should read (if you haven't already!) Dying To Live by Kim Paffenroth. It's very good and has one of the grossest, and yet emotionally highly charged, scenes I have ever read. Almost all the reviews I read of that book referred to it as 'THAT scene'!

Thatollie, is this your first time reading Misery? If it is, I'm jealous, I'd just love to approach that book for the first time again. Hope you enjoy it!

Cheers,
Ken:)