watchya readin'?

[Donkey Hoatie]

I try to read 52 books every year in my quest to read 1,000,000 pages. I've kept track every year since 1995. It's cold, and I'm just looking at reading some junky page-turners and eclectic stuff for right now to pass these winter months. Here's what I'm currently reading, and what's in the queue:

Jo Nesbo - The Thirst. I'm not really a "mystery/crime" kind of guy. But, these usually go quick enough that I can move on to the next piece. I'm about halfway through and it's pretty OK. Not the best one of his, but definitely far from the worst.

Stephen King and Owen King - Sleeping Beauties. I've read everything King has ever written (outside of the Dark Tower Series, which didn't work for me, and a couple of his co-authored pieces), and many of them multiple times. Looking forward to this one.

Alessandra Mattanza - Street Art: Famous Artists Talk About Their Vision. I'm fascinated by the Banksy-types of the world. Both what they do, and how they do it. Hope this one doesn't suck.

Morten Andreas Strøksnes - Shark Drunk: The Art of Catching a Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean. I know, you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, or by its title. But, this one sounded too good not to pick up. If it sucks, I'll ditch it.

Leon Black - The Book of Leon: Philosophy of a Fool. Man, does this guy crack me up. He steals every scene he's in on Curb Your Enthusiasm. I've found that about 2/3 of comedian books are terrible. Hope this one's in the better 1/3.

Andy Weir - Artemis. My sister loaned it to me and said it was "OK." That's sort of the consensus that I've heard from others. All the above books are library ones, so I'll finish those up first before diving into this one. Should have them all finished by Valentine's Day at my usual pace.

[Nostalgiabuff]

Reading Sleeping Beauties by Stephen and Owen King. it's a good read but not really drawing me in like King's books usually do

[drquest]

I've been reading Watership Down, but didn't get to read any over the past couple of weeks.

[pmwasson]

I didn't know Joe Hill had a new book out. Thanks! I'm going to try Autonomous also.

I recently read Andy Weir's Artemis, which I thought was pretty good. It has some similar themes as his first book, The Martian. The Martian is probably a little bit better, but Artemis was definitely a page-turner and holds up well.

[MRP]

I just finished a couple of books: Autnomous by Annalee Newitz, a new sci-fi novel that was recommended by Warren Ellis in his newsletter and that caught my attention. A future (2144 AD) where corporations(especially big pharmaceuticals) have divvied up the world into trade zones and copyrights and trademarks are the most valuable commodity, a female Robin Hood-like drug pirate operating out of a submarine named Jack passes a bad batch of reverse-engineered generic drugs which leads to uncovering corruption at one of the pharma corps, but the more interesting thread through it is the idea of autonomy in AI and human-like machines in this world. Neal Stephenson and others liken the impact of this book to what Gibson's Neuromancer did to cyberpunk over 30 years ago, and it really does explore a lot of new grounds that touchstone on issues facing today;s soiety as all good sci-fi does.



and Strange Weather, a collection of 4 novellas by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son and writer of Locke & Key one of the best new comics of this decade) whose newsletter I subscribe to...



all interesting, but Snapshot (the first) and Rain (the 4th) were the best of the bunch.

I am currently reading Why Comics: From Underground to Everywhere by Hillary Chute a thematic examination of auteurial comics and the cartoonists who make them. Chute was an assistant to art spiegleman on Metamaus and is a professor of art, literature and visual communication at Northeastern University. While things like Siegel & Shuster's Superman and Marvel's Sgt. Fury get some mention (in the chapter on the theme of war) it is cartoonists like spiegleman, Robert Crumb, Los Bros Hernadez, Joe Sacco, Chris Ware, Mariana Satrapi, Linda Barry, Allison Bechdel, and others producing work that doesn't really get distributed in the comic book direct market but in the mass market of the book trade after emerging from the undergrounds that she is examining in this book. It's a fascinating read. I've read a number of these author's works and familiar with some of the others. but it has also presented me with whole new vistas to explore. I have a couple of chapters left to finish.



On deck: The Storm before the Storm: The Beginning of the End of the Roman Republic by Michael Duncan (another book brought to my attention by Warren Ellis' weekly newsletter Orbital Operations).



-M

[PNGwynne]

I just read the Penguin Horror HC of Ray Russell's gothic fiction. (These are nice, affordable editions, 6 in the series and introduced by Guillermo del Toro.)

That whetted my whistle and now I'm revisiting Poe in a companion volume.

I've always been an avid reader. I don't get distracted, but I find I don't concentrate as well/get sleepy more than I used to.

[Iron Mego]

Slowly re-reading Pet Sematary.

[palitoy]

For the last few months I'm trying to read more, it's been absolutely wonderful although I will admit, the discipline is hard to maintain for me. I'm easily distracted.

More of a Non-Fiction type personally, I just finished "You are a Badass at making money" by Jen Sincero (which i'd rate 5/5) and am currently into "How Google Works", which I'm enjoying as well.

What are you reading these days?