What Books Are You Reading Right Now?

Picked up these used books at a recent book fair but I haven't read any of them yet.

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Just finished reading the new Jack Reacher book. It was ok. Their were some chronological issues. For example, it takes place in 1991 and a character in it buys a 20 year old Ford Explorer. 1991 was the first model year of the explorer so that's impossible.

I'm about to start reading "Avalanche" by Michael Wisehart. It is the final book of the "Street Rats of Aramoor series, which is a prequel of sorts to the Aldoran Chronicles. Both are excellent series.
 
Just finished the latest Davenport/Flowers book, "Judgment Prey", by John Sandford. I really enjoy these books, they move along, some violence, some humor. Next up is "Ride the Devil's Herd" by John Boessenecker, "Wyatt Earp's Epic Battle Against the West's Biggest Outlaw Gang", I've had this for a while, forgot about it until someone recommended it.
 
Just saw a documentary re: JD Salinger on TV & pulled out my copy of "Catcher in the Rye" to start reading again to see if it still holds any interest to me.

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sgt1372 said:
Just saw a documentary re: JD Salinger on TV & pulled out my copy of "Catcher in the Rye" to start reading again to see if it still holds any interest to me.

iu
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That book will forever remind me of the movie "Conspiracy Theory"


While sick I started reading the "Iron Druid" series by Kevin Hearne. It is absolutely hilarious. I love it, I'm on book 4. Best character is the protagonist's dog. It's like a combination of fantasy and mythology that takes place in somewhat modern day (2011+). Lots of great pop culture references.
 
JTB_5 said:
I’m reading Preface to Paradise lost by C. S. Lewis in preparation for reading Milton’s Paradise Lost (again).
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Never having read C. S. Lewis's Preface, I will share some fun facts about John Milton and Paradise Lost.

Upon entering college in 1965, I learned to my surprise that Paradise Lost was a great introduction to reading German! German, like Latin, is a highly inflected language, and writers in their classical styles favored very long sentences with the principal verb last, to make sure you're still awake at the end. Paradise Lost Book 1, verses 1—6 is a good example of this, and in verses 6—16 he equals all the ancients and moderns I have read, except for Hegel. Milton was the Commonwealth's Latin Secretary from 1649 to 1660. He composed and translated the Commonwealth's diplomatic correspondence and overseas propaganda, all in Latin according to mid 17th century practice. and his English-language writings reflect his habit of writing and thinking in Latin.

As Secretary for Foreign Tongues to the Commonwealth Council, Milton attended Council meetings as a minister without portfolio, and his conference of the fallen angel leaders in Hell, Paradise Lost Book 1, reflects those meetings "with only the names changed to protect the innocent" as Sgt. Joe Friday would say.

If you would like to see Pandemonium, seat of government for all the Devils in Hell, go to London and visit St. Paul's Cathedral! This is Old St. Paul's as Milton would have seen it in 1630, with Inigo Jones's neo-classical West Front.

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In 1661, Christopher Wren began advertising for a rebuilt St. Paul's based on Inigo Jones's West Front, with the steeple (destroyed by lightning in 1661) replaced by a grandiose dome. His prospectus was illustrated with drawings, which would have been described to Milton (who went blind in 1652) by his daughters and paid transcriptionists before the first edition of Paradise Lost was published in 1667. After Old St. Paul's was gutted in London's Great Fire of 1666, Wren followed his 1661 drawing in building the present St. Paul's Cathedral, only changing the nave from a Greek cross to Roman.

This photograph is St. Paul's Cathedral undergoing cleaning in 1977. The cleaned part is the way I saw it in 1985 and the way Milton imagined it in 1667 (minus the London bus).

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The hasty multitude
Admiring entered; and the work some praise,
And some the architect. His hand was known
In Heaven by many a towered structure high,
Where sceptred Angels held their residence,
And sat as Princes, whom the supreme King
Exalted to such power, and gave to rule,
Each in his Hierarchy, the Orders bright.
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Paradise Lost Book 1, Verses 730—737
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Christopher Wren rebuilt most of London's principal churches destroyed by the Great Fire. Milton imagined Pandemonium, like the $100,000 Swiss wrist watches of our time, cased in 18 karat gold alloy.

The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it.

—William Blake, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790)
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Started re-reading Neil Gaiman‘s collection of short stories, Fragile Things. They’re so bizarre.

Been reading less and less these last few years, mostly listening to audiobooks and documentaries while I work in the shop. My attention span isn’t what it used to be.
 
I've been reading the Jack Reacher series in between a few others. I like stories about the sea and especially the East Coast. "Fatal Forecast" is such a book, by Michael Tougias. Somewhat similar to "The Perfect Storm" but a survival story. Tougias also wrote "Ten Hours to Dawn" another very good read.
 
Win Heger said:
I've been reading the Jack Reacher series in between a few others. I like stories about the sea and especially the East Coast. "Fatal Forecast" is such a book, by Michael Tougias. Somewhat similar to "The Perfect Storm" but a survival story. Tougias also wrote "Ten Hours to Dawn" another very good read.
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Eyyy same here. ‘Bad Luck and Trouble.’
 
Recently finished ”The Lost Tomb” by Douglas Preston. Preston is the co-author of the Prendergast series but writes some great true stories. This is a collection of 13 articles he wrote over the years, each with a short update. Easy reading, some paleontology, some archeology, some murder.

Before this I read “The Great Circle”, a really well written novel, not sure everyone would like it. My advise, read some reviews.
 
"The Confidante" by Christopher Gorham is the story the amazing Anna Rosenberg. The subtitle "the untold story of the woman who helped win WWII and shape modern America", unreal that few know who she was. It's a pretty easy read, moves through her life from boardrooms to battlefields, to the Dept of Defense. I like the backstory on some history, this fits with "A Woman of No Importance" or "The Last Hill'.
 
So I started reading "Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi late last year in parallel with a book on creativity and it took me way longer to finish them both togheter than if I had read them in sequence. Last time I try this. I read somewhere that it helped retain information but don´t think it works for that purpose too. Has anyone tried it with more success?
Next on the list is "On Writing" by Stephen King that I am starting now,
 
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