Oh great, Maggie! I loved 'A Quiet Belief in Angels' too and will get that one too now. Thanks.

I'm currently reading The Way of the Shadow, by Brent Weeks. It's about a kid who grew up in the slums, but was given a chance to apprentice to the city's greatest assassin. He takes that chance and must learn to be impartial. No friends, no lovers, nothing.

I've just started reading some book in the Dragonships series by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. I don't know what it's about; the only reason I have it is because the book that I wanted to get from the library (Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophesies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman) was donated to the library by some group and it's not allowed to be borrowed, only read inside the library itself. Boo, I say!

I recently completed a book entitled "Out" by Natsuo Karino. It is one of the first books by a Japenese writer to gain attention in the mystery field.

It is really a subtle urban horror story when people get caught up events and the resulting acts moving out like ripples in a pond to further complicate their lives. I've read various opinions on the translation from Japenese to English, but if anything was lost, I wouldn't know.

Having read "Memoirs of a Geisha" this really brings the life of women in Tokyo into a modern day light.

I am re reading Bill Bryson books. I had forgotten the laugh out loud parts were so hilarious. I am on 'Lost Continent" at the moment. The first chapter about Iowa just had me helpless yet again.

I'm reading a biogrphical book, "Nosotros, los Franco." written by Pilar Franco Bahamonde, Francisco Franco's sister. It's thrilling though a bit biased.

Funny, ren - I picked up a copy of "The Mother Tongue" the other day at the used bookstore, so I'm rereading Bryson right now too. That one is not so laugh out loud funny, but still very interesting.

Just finished 'The Behaviour of Moths' by Poppy Adams. A very unusual book with a great deal of information about moths interspersed in an almost 'gothic' tale of two eccentric old sisters in a very odd house. I didn't think I was going to enjoy it, but it was rather better than I thought it would be.

And I've just embarked on 'The Girl who Played with Fire' by Stieg Larsson. I really enjoyed 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' last year, and this one is equally compelling. An excellent and intriguing read so far, but it's a VERY long book so it might be a while before I get round to my final report on it!

Maggie, I finished it last month and it is compelling reading indeed. I am now waiting for the next one. He is a brilliant writer.

Charterhouse of Parma, by Stendhal. Awesome book!

Aurian and it's three sequels, by Maggie Furey. At 3-4 days per tome (I don't have much free time for reading these days *sniff*) I should be finished by the weekend.

A set of fantasy fiction which was recommended to me in the early 90's, and which I have only just gotten around to. I would have loved it then, and am enjoying it now but find it poorly written in many places, descending into banalities, stereotypes and trite humour to move it along in places, which is a pity.

Still, a good idea and an easy read with it's moments of brilliance, I still give it a + rating.

I've just begun reading 'The Book of Dave' by Will Self. It's a dual narrative, and I'm finding it a bit tricky because alternate passages use Mockney for the direct speech. So sometimes the only way to work out what is being said is to say it out loud and try and work out what it means.

'We nu viss woz cummin, i woz onle a matta uv wen'
'Wen we wuz vair vey layd enifink we wannid on uz'

And as a teacher, I shudder as I catch a glimpse of the possible future of spelling and grammar.

Im working my way through The 'Lincoln Rhyme' series by Jeffery Deaver, they are rather good thrillers actually.

I'm not surprised that's difficult to read Jabberwok!

Talking of spelling, I saw a poster in the dentist yesterday drawn by a 7 year old. It had drawings of teeth with,
'Yore sposter cleen yore teeth two times a day'....made me chuckle. I loved the word 'sposter' for supposed to lol

I finished 'The Girl who Played with Fire' and would recommend the series wholeheartedly. Lots of matters raised in the first book of the trilogy, 'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' are now beecoming clearer, and I can't wait for the last volume to be published.

Also read another R.J. Ellory book, one of his earlier ones, 'Candlemoth' which I also enjoyed, although I'm beginning to detect that he's rather fixated on a CIA involvement in the assassination of Kennedy which manages to find its way into all of his novels.

Just beginning 'Guernica' by Dave Boling. So far it's a bit of a family saga, setting the scene for the horror that happened there.

And, Jabberwock, I admire your tenacity in reading such a book. If a book isn't clearly written, I don't bother reading it. Is the story worth the effort? Please let us know!

I'm reminded of reading "Trainspotters" - the first hour or so were pretty difficult, but after that I got the hang of it. Sometimes an unusual style really adds to the book, so that the same story written conventionally would not be nearly as strong. And sometimes it's a self indulgent PITA.

I'm rereading the Outlander series, by Diana Gabaldon. I hear the next book is coming out soonish, so I want to refresh my memory

Quote:

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I can't wait for the last volume to be published

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I can't either, Maggie, but when I looked, it was so expensive, I just have to be patient till the prices drop.

"Cowboy Feng's Space Bar and Grille" by Steven Brust, and it's getting more intriguing by the page...

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo , by Stieg Larsson. So far, I am not finding it to be a very thrilling thriller.

I was the same for me for the first few pages and then it grabbed me. I hope it does the same for you!

Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone series.

8th Confession by James Patterson, the newest installment of The Women's Murder Club series.

Just finished 'The Earth Hums in B Flat' by Mari Strachan. A superb book, set in a little village in Wales in the 1950's. It's a lyrical, descriptive and totally intriguing story of a young girl, considered a bit of an 'oddbod' by her sister and her peers, and how she 'solves' the mystery of the sudden death of one of her neighbours. It's much more than that, though, and I recommend it highly!