For those who are new ... we discuss books. I list what I'm reading, and people comment with what they're reading. Sometimes I post a special edition on a particular genre or topic.
cfk has Bookflurries on Wednesday nights, with links to lots of other diaries about books and reading on daily Kos .
If you like to trade books, try bookmooch
Just finished
A re-read of Small Gods by Terry Pratchett. In this one, Pratchett goes after fundamentalist religion. This is, I think, the first of the Discworld novels to show that Pratchett is more than a funny writer, but also a wise and brilliant one. My review
Worth dying for by Lee Child. Another in the Reacher series. But it's going downhill. My review.
Now reading
The Inheritance of Rome: Illuminating the dark ages by Chris Wickham. A really good history of Europe and western Asia, from 400 to 1000 AD.
The Great SF stories volume 1: 1939 ed. by Isaac Asimov and Martin Greenberg. I have this whole series on my shelf and I think I will re-read them
The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton. Far future science fiction of the space opera variety. Just started.
The autobiography of Mark Twain. Twain's autobiography is unusually structured, and I am still in the introduction that explains the book.
Just started
Stiff: The curious lives of human cadavers by Mary Roach. This was recommended in last week's WAYR, and it's really interesting. But you probably don't want to read it over lunch.
A reread of Jingo by Terry Pratchett. More glorious Discworld fun. Years ago, Klatch and Ankh-Morpork fought over a small island of no particular significance. It sank. Now it's arisen again, and the war is on! Pratchett aims his satire at prejudice and the sort of blind patriotism that is pathetic.
This is your brain on music by Daniel Levitin. Fascinating. One of the few traits shared by every human culture is music. Why? What does it do? How does it work? Mothers everywhere seem to sing to their babies. Levitin started as a musician and producer of music, then got interested in the science of sound and music perception. How do we recognize songs? Why do we like some music more than others?
And some technical books for work.