I'm reading The Authenticity Hoax, which has been really good so far, and I'm only like two chapters in.

Ooo, without even opening it I can tell I'd totally agree with that Authenticity Hoax thing.

I've been reading a Choose Your Own Adventure in Español, trying to beef up my language skills. I don't know how I read so many of them when I was 9. They're really dumb.

Finishing up Packing for Mars by Mary Roach. I love her. . .absolutely love her.

On San Juan Island, I was browsing through a very cluttered used book store, and happened upon this, which led me to also buy this.

I have never read O'Brien before, and I expect to get hooked and be able to post here again after several years.

I'm about a third of the way through Rule of the Bone by Russell Banks. Cloudsplitter rocked my world, I thought I'd try some more Banks. So far, I have really mixed feelings about the protagonist, but it's sure compelling.

That sounds interesting BP.

Under the Banner of Heaven. It's good, but it is taking me forever to get through.

I'm almost finished with the finance book I'm reading, which means I'll need an interstitial non-finance book soon. I read Bret Easton Ellis' new novel "Imperial Bedrooms" a couple weeks ago. Not his best, but still satisfyingly disturbing, which I think is the point of read his novels.

I just finished Mitchell's newest novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. It was great, as I expect all of his work to be.

amro: I started that book a number of years ago, and for whatever reason put it down. I should get back to it.

I just finished In Cold Blood. It was ok - not as great as I expected it to be. I'm awaiting the arrival of Wicked Beyond Belief: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, I'm reading Hot Water Music by Charles Bukowski. It's very dirty, as most Bukowski is. I love it.

last night, I finished Scud: The Disposable Assassin (The Whole Shebang!). So now it's back to the series I've been reading: Astro City, Planetary, Animal Man, Ex Machina, and I just picked up the first two Scott Pilgrimses. I'm on the second volume of each (except Scotty P.).

I'm reading The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. I am enjoying it very much. I read her short story collection and I love her writing style. It's casual and engaging. She's a great storyteller.

The last book I finished was Veronica by Mary Gaitskill. Let's just say her writing style is not casual and light. The actual story is depressing and not terribly interesting but Veronica kept calling me back. The way Gaitskill writes is amazing. She continuously goes off into these extraordinary descriptive streams. I can't explain it properly.

I just finished Mitchell's newest novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. It was great, as I expect all of his work to be.
I have heard great things about this book. I have read articles and heard interviews. I read the first few pages. What's holding me back is my brain. I don't think I'm smart enough to read this book and keep up with all of the characters. :-)

I'm about to wrap up Ted Conover's "Coyotes" about traveling back and forth across the US/Mexico border with illegal migrants in the mid-80's. It's been a good read, but not mind-blowing. I imagine when it first came out it opened some eyes, though.

That and my Chem and Physics texts. They're rivetinzzzzz...

Eric Klinenberg's Heat Wave, on the deaths of hundreds of people from heat over a couple of days in 1995 in Chicago. I really need to find something less depressing to read next.

And I'm totally checking out The Authenticity Hoax. That's right up my alley. ThePinkSuperhero, if I'm remembering correctly, I notice you read a lot about successful women. That's neat.

I'm in the middle of Bruce Olds' Raising Holy Hell, which is sort of like Banks' Cloudsplitter meets Ondaatje's Collected Works of Billy the Kid.

I've been doing a lot of reading this summer, and without a doubt, the best thing I've come across was Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work.

I'm reading the Legacy, by Kristen Traister. I'm only a little ways in so far but really enjoying it. It's a novel about three Australian friends, one of whom dies in 9/11--I'm guessing secrets will come out.

Iain Banks, The Steep Approach to Garbadale, about the interactions and revelations of an extended family over the years. As one of the Amazon reviewers points out, it's not quite The Crow Road (which I loved), but it's close. Like most of Banks's novels, this is set against the backdrop of an estate in the highlands of Scotland, with a few English and Borders locations thrown in to vary the mood. Banks is one of the few contemporary novelists that I enjoy reading (apart from SciFi/Fantasy authors like Connie Willis or George R.R. Martin). Even his less good novels draw you in, so that you really care about the characters.
Before that, Terry Pratchett's Unseen Academicals. I get the feeling that pTerry is trying to reel in the Discworld series and tie up loose ends before his Alzheimers takes irrevocable hold. But this is one of his better books.

I'm trying desperately to go through even some of the books I get on BookMooch! There are several larger ones I'd like to tackle, but I'm just not in the mood for something weighty, in any sense.

Just finished: The 19th Wife. Eh. Especially since I've watched Big Love, it seemed a little flatter and more cliched than I might have liked.

Just started: Lord John and the Private Matter. I hadn't read any of the Outlander series yet, though I have them waiting. After lots of formal faux-19th-century-pioneer narrative in the previous book, I admit that I already liked this one from the first page, where (DON'T JUDGE ME) Lord John notices a sore on a fellow aristocrat's wang while at the chamber-pot, and that becomes a plot point. It made me giggle; this is clearly not an Austen novel, but more towards the Kate Beaton end.

I'd been reading Deborah Crombie's Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James British police procedurals and liking them a lot. I was a fan of Elizabeth George, and this hits the spot without being too gruesome or involved. Easy to pick up and enjoy in whatever amount you have time for, but still well-crafted.

We are STILL working our way through reading A Girl Named Zippy to each other at night. It's very sweet and yet still witty in a silly, smart, relatable way, so I'm happy it's still going.

I'm reading Eldest on my ereader, Frannie and Zooey (of course!) in regular book form, and listening to the last volume of Shelby Foote's The Civil War on my commute.

Danf, I am so crazy about the O'Brian series. May I suggest you start with the first book, Master and Commander? Also, have you listened to Patrick Tull's narration of these books? It is tremendous.

Also, Madamina, I like the Outlander series, I admit it! I actually liked Outlander itself the best, but so far all have been entertaining. I did learn some English/Scottish history I didn't know, so they also had some redeeming educational value.

I'm reading Neil Gaiman's Fragile Things at the moment. I'm enjoying it, but only in a kind of odd way that is difficult to describe. For one thing I like to really get into a story over a period of time, so the short story format isn't my thing. I'm also finding a lot of the themes in the book to be rather depressing. I think he just writes so well that I want to keep reading.

Before that, I also just finished Unseen Academicals. I thought it was good, but not great. I just didn't get the same feeling of dramatic tension as I got from many of his other books, I guess.

I just finished Mary Karr's three memoirs: The Liars Club, Cherry and Lit. All three books are really well written. Liars Club especially speaks to me of my own childhood; not necessarily specific situations but the crazy alcoholism and instability of what's happening on a day-to-day basis. The mister doesn't read non-fiction but he is reading Liars Club after listening to me talk about it.

Oh, I wouldn't consider the Outlander series trashy (that's reserved for my, well, trashy books), but just the fact that I giggle at wang-related incidents.

Carry on!

Five textbooks and a little Carrie Fisher. I desperately need something to read and i'm looking over what everyone is reading for possible perusal. I want all the books people are excited to read, recommend those. One of the last books i was excited to read was The Arsonist's Guide to Writers Homes in New England. Trashy books are happily accepted as well, like the Sookie Stackhouse books.

I read two excellent non-fiction books recently: The Age of Wonder ('How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science') and Anita Albus' The Art of Arts ('Rediscovering Painting'). I've started Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin (aka Every Man Dies Alone), but haven't made much headway through it yet.

A pretty stupid play about a gassy pregnant woman.

Oh, rainbaby, you can't just leave us hanging like that!

Madamina, yesterday.

I also recently enjoyed The Help.

Ooo, thanks youngergirl... I thought I'd read all of Bukowski's fiction. I just downloaded Hot Water Music to my Kindle a moment ago (instant gratification is a wonderful thing -- Kindles also now come in black, and I really want a black one :( -- only $139 now, too; actually, I'd like an iPad, but they're way too expensive).

Some of the samples I downloaded to my Kindle last week aren't so hot. It's good I got the samples before I bought.

I do like Mr. Peanut, by Adam Ross, though. A husband's fantasies of killing his wife (eep). Well-written, funny, and wonderfully demented so far.

I suck at reading lately. I was never one of those CRAZY VORACIOUS people who read books in a couple days, but...I had a steady diet. I fear the internet had replaced reading for me to some extent, and it's something I've been trying to swing back the other way.

Right now, I'm rather slowly making my way through "Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits" which is a sort of unauthorized biography, written by Barney Hoskyns, who has written a number of music bios that I've really enjoyed. His tone is respectful of the man who doesn't seem to want anything written...so it's still a decent read.

Oh man, I'm still reading Book World Without End. I started reading it at the same time as a friend so that we could discuss the page-by-page crimes against good sense and the English language, but I slipped and he zoomed off to the finish. I need to just hold my nose and wade through the rest of it on my own. I have to finish it, I have to know if they get that f$#@!ing bridge built or what.

On the Road... still. Oh, I will have things to say when I finish this book. It makes me glad that the bookclub threads linger. I'm also reading And then there were none by Agatha Christie for a different bookclub, and The Other Wind by Ursula LeGuin is in the car for random out-and-need-a-book moments, and I've got a collection of apocalyptic short fiction downstairs. I just finished reading The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester (and oh, how I loathed it. It is the mutated offspring of far too many plot bunnies).

A pretty stupid play about a gassy pregnant woman.

Coffee, meet monitor screen. . .

I've bogged down at about 500 pages into Infinite Jest and I'm just not sure I can pick up the momentum to finish. I've moved on to Stieg Larsen's Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Bill Willingham's Fables series.

Thanks for the reminder, Susurration--I meant to pick up a copy of Unseen Academicals when it came out and then promptly forgot.

I have heard great things about this book. I have read articles and heard interviews. I read the first few pages. What's holding me back is my brain. I don't think I'm smart enough to read this book and keep up with all of the characters. :-)

It gets easier as you keep going. The beginning is rough, because the characters don't start to separate themselves in your mind until you get into the book a little bit. Reading it was a bit of an investment, but IMO it pays off in spades.

the latest thing I have been (re)reading is Alice in Wonderland (the free edition) on my iPad. Children's / YA illustrated books are a pure marvel on the iPad. So glad the mister got me one!

I'm reading a trashy pulp fantasy on my iPhone; one so trashy, in fact, that I'm not even going to admit what it is in public.

I haven't bought or picked up an analog book in... well, forever, really. Since the iPhone Kindle App came out, anyhows. I don't miss it a bit, but then it's because I don't have any emotional ties to books as concrete items; my loyalty is to the content not the delivery device. I mainly tended to buy cheap paperbacks anyhow, and our house is so much better off without.

The mister initially wrinkled his nose at the concept of reading on the iPhone, but he picked up the habit shortly after I did.

I really can't explain how much I appreciate always having my entire library available to me right there in my pocket. It's akin to the feeling I got the first time I splurged and bought an mp3 player, and was near-instantly able to carry all my tunes around.

I'm about to dive into the Alice books, too, lfr! (Though mine will be the oversized annotated editions, because that's what I have in the house.) The way you describe that really makes me itch to own an iPhone, though. The appeal of carrying a whole library around in my hip pocket is pretty magical.

LFR, haven't you found that the iPhone/Kindle makes trashy reading soooooo much easier and less conspicuous? When I am pretending to be a put-together professional at the bus stop, nobody needs to know that I read Harlequins.

I just finished Being and Becoming, Myrna Loy's autobiography. I really got to like her, but I think I need a regular biography of her because she glosses over some stuff I really want to know, and there are a couple of things I want a different perspective on.

My lunch reading is Complicated Women, about women in pre-Code movies. It's too superficial for my tastes (which makes some of his opinion-as-fact statements really clunking obvious), but I am compiling a list of movies I would like to see or re-see.

Next up: Christopher Moore's Fool. And then, when I'm on vacation, I've got books about the 1930s and the Portland Vase lined up.

I also have custody of my mom's ipad for a few weeks, so I'm going to try out some e-books. (A negative experience with the original e-readers was really disappointing, so I've never really dabbled with more). I'll have to poke around and see what I can find.

I'm reading Look At Me by Jennifer Egan, which I picked up in NYC a few months ago but have only just got round to reading. I'm enjoying it immensely, about half-way through it.

Oooh, BoringPostcards, I totally wanted to read Authenticity Hoax! I almost bought it, but...and I can't believe I'm saying this...but, I looked at the index in the back and there was no entry for 'hipster', which I thought was too odd to conceive. I really wanted to jump to the part where I could read his thoughts on authenticity and hipsters and then couldn't believe that it wasn't there at all! Anyways, I'm now reading Ender's Game and I. Love. It.

LFR, haven't you found that the iPhone/Kindle makes trashy reading soooooo much easier and less conspicuous? When I am pretending to be a put-together professional at the bus stop, nobody needs to know that I read Harlequins.

great flying spaghetti monster, yes! All the Kindle App ever shows is a nice professional-looking wall of plain white background / black text. I do so much editing/proofreading of contracts for work on a daily basis, and so much technical reading for my coaching clients, that nearly 100% of my recreational reading is in the "popcorn novel" category.

as an aside, I guess it's weird to attribute personal clutter and disarray to something as simple as a serial book-buying habit, but I have to say that my housekeeping capacity has improved a metric shitload since I dumped the piles / boxes / shelves of cheap crappy paperbacks off at the secondhand store and quit buying analog. Actually I think an interrelated theme maybe that the mister also insisted we switch to online billpay / taxes and soforth at around the same time. We don't even own a printer; anything we need to save we simply print to PDF and file it electronically. And I haven't bought music or other media in hardcopy format since four or five years ago now. The house is so much easier to keep neat without piles and reams of paper, books, CDs, film, photos, DVDs, etc., and their associated shelves, bins, boxes, sorters... etc. ad nauseam. 99% of our media lives on a small shelf within one of our 4 1TB paperback sized external drives, which are on a regular time machine / sync backup schedule.

back on topic (well sort of) the iPhone 4 retina display is worth every penny for the upgrade IMO.

I guess it's weird to attribute personal clutter and disarray to something as simple as a serial book-buying habit

Oh, not at all! I have long observed that when my home is in terrible disarray --- the kind of disastrous mess that makes people think I've been burgled --- all I have to do is pick up A) all the clean laundry draped around the place and B) all the stacks of books sitting on every surface, and it's tidy again.

Very useful aside, lonefrontranger! I am online for bill pay and taxes, so why am I keeping my receipts and statements and so forth? Couldn't I just toss my receipts -- which show sales tax, still a substantial tax deduction -- once inputted, and PDF file my statements like you? *Mind boggles at thought of time and space saved.* Not yet ready to dump the CD, DVD, and photo collections, but it is true we rarely if ever add to those any more.

bearwife, I am a records manager and legal assistant by day. Some of the key crucial things I've learned through this role (especially as regards Important Documents) is that:

a) you really cannot keep everything. It just. does. not. work. not to mention it's a critical time and productivity suck. For every Important Document that Corporate Packrat can somehow triumphantly procure from those tilting piles on their desk, there are at least a half a dozen Even More Important Documents they've got buried in there which are, for all intents and purposes, lost for all time. Ask me how I know this.

b) anything that's really THAT important and you lost it? Guess what? in this modern age, it's in multiple redundancies in someone else's system, if not your own. Lost a vital invoice? call the vendor. Don't have the originals of that contract? Make nice to your supplier and they'll send you a scan of theirs. Can't find your taxes from 2 years ago? call your accountant, or worst case, the IRS, and they've got backup. As I rarely pay cash for anything, my bank / debit card statements are my go-to for record of transactions, et cetera, and all that stuff's online so there's no sense keeping it in hardcopy.

c) all documentation has a finite legitimate lifetime, beyond which keeping them is actually detrimental to good personal or corporate business practice. Outside of the official retention period (i.e. taxes and receipts), as my boss just loves to say, they stop being records and start becoming evidence.

as for the physical media, I'm lucky to have a diligently clutter-averse engineer as a life partner. He made himself busy ripping / burning our entire joint collection to the media drives almost from the moment we began cohabitating. We had a ton of duplicates too, which were top of the list to get hauled off to the secondhand store.

Not to say our house has sterile empty Unhappy Hipster-esque decor, either. It doesn't. We kept all the really cool stuff like vintage board games and the ginormous conch shell I brought home from Key West, all my dad's handed-down first edition Oz books, some nifty 50's engineering tomes and old airplane models he's collected and soforth. It's just not got piles of clutter.

sorry to derail, but obviously this is something I'm fairly passionate about and which has significantly positively affected my own coping skills and state of mind :)

Well, I think you have just had a BIG effect on our rather cluttered house in general, and my study in particular. I do toss financial records after 7 years, but even better simply to have them on my backup drive and toss them NOW. Thanks mucho.

Senyar, Jennifer Egan's most recent novel (A Visit from the Good Squad) is also excellent, if you haven't read it yet.

I just finished a really bad wanna-be-SaTC novel about really unlikeably neurotic people in New York (it was exactly what I was looking for at the time, because I was in semi-trashy-novel mode, except for the whole "bad" and "unlikeable" issues), and then I just started Trouble by Kate Christensen, which I'm so far enjoying.

I keep trying to find books that are on that perfect dividing line between chick-lit and literary, but I'm mostly just picking books at random based on cover summaries, quality of review blurbs, and whether I like the first few sentences, so it's been a little hit-or-miss lately.

Before that I was on yet another Agatha Christie rereading binge. Cards on the Table and Death on the Nile are really, really good mystery novels.

Warnings.

Last book was science fiction classic "Soldier, Ask Not" by Gordon R. Dickson. Pretty good, but did't blow me away.

Before that it was "Alone in Berlin" by Hans Fallada (alternate title "Every Man Dies Alone") about a middle aged couple in Nazi Germany mounting a tiny, doomed campaign of resistance. Very good, but not the most cheerful book in the world.

Mostly I've been re-reading old Terry Pratchett books though, lack the energy to get into something new.

fleacircus, I'm glad that someone else finds Follett's prose so excruciating! I read Pillars of the Earth in the same vein, wincing all the way, because I wanted to find out what happened. I got half a chapter into World Without End and gave up, because I couldn't bear the moronic sentiment (and the dreadful writing) ...
FishBike, I found that Unseen Academicals improves on the second reading. The first reading was just strange: lots of new characters and a new mood in Ankh Morpork. Not what you'd expect, having followed the regular cast for so long (where has the Bursar gone? - I never did work that one out). But on a second read, I got into the characters more and started to realize that this is one of pTerry's more thoughtful books.

Madam Bovary, of all things.