Dead Until Dark (Southern Vampire Mysteries) by Charlaine Harris

Oh my, are these Sookie Stackhouse stories entertaining. I am not a big vampire story fan but she is a wonderful writer (it reads like butter) and I like the heroes (I can't say that about a lot of vampire stories).

Here is part of a review from AudioFile:
Having an affair with a vampire has one main benefit for Sookie. Her predilection for reading minds doesn't seem to work with him. But as is common with vampires, violence follows in his wake, and she becomes afraid that she might be more than just a spectator. AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine


Soooo? What are you reading?

A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson

Oh my, is this a well written book. I swear that if Bill Bryson wrote the phonebook I would discover humor, depth and characters I never saw before.

Here is a review from Amazon.com:
Returning to the U.S. after 20 years in England, Iowa native Bryson decided to reconnect with his mother country by hiking the length of the 2100-mile Appalachian Trail. Awed by merely the camping section of his local sporting goods store, he nevertheless plunges into the wilderness and emerges with a consistently comical account of a neophyte woodsman learning hard lessons about self-reliance. Bryson (The Lost Continent) carries himself in an irresistibly bewildered manner, accepting each new calamity with wonder and hilarity. He reviews the characters of the AT (as the trail is called), from a pack of incompetent Boy Scouts to a perpetually lost geezer named Chicken John. Most amusing is his cranky, crude and inestimable companion, Katz, a reformed substance abuser who once had single-handedly "become, in effect, Iowa's drug culture." The uneasy but always entertaining relationship between Bryson and Katz keeps their walk interesting, even during the flat stretches. Bryson completes the trail as planned, and he records the misadventure with insight and elegance. He is a popular author in Britain and his impeccably graceful and witty style deserves a large American audience as well.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Da Vinci Code...actually finished it two weeks ago but worthy of mentioning....it was riveting...utter nonsense but a very well written book despite that minor detail!

p.s. either Dan Brown was a history flunkee or he is intentionally misleading his readers with bogus information.

I was hoping for something a little more controversial to be honest with you.

Just finished reading "Six Degrees of Sep" recently again. Amazing script. Working on it in class now.

I'm rereading Wuthering Heights....

I'm now reading "Blue Blood" by Edward Conlon, a great memoir of a New York City police officer.

Kbeaz: Yes, A walk in the Woods is very funny and enlightening. Bill Bryson rules!

NYPD is such a weird issue for me. I've played a detective about 100 times for a nice paycheck so I feel like I know them. I admire them so much, and they have such awful jobs in so many ways. They deserve our respect and support.

And that doesn't mean I like everything the government or police do, no way.

"The High Window" by Raymond Chandler.

Grandmaster of the detective novel.

Most sublime irony. Toughness and sensibility in a perfect pairing.

"Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife. Literally, a history of the number and the intellectuall and cultural clashes it generated. Not an acting book by any stretch, but an interesting and worthwhile intellectual diversion.

Finally broke down and read the Harry Potter books. I got hooked and flew through the first five. I need to get the sixth done before the last one is released in July. They are amazing!!!

The Thief of Always by Clive Barker

This book is like a dark children's story in which a young boy named Harvey is coaxed by a mysterious, magical stranger named Rictus to go with him to a wonderful place called the Holiday House. At this house, the days are always warm like summer, the evening cool like fall, and the nights snowy like winter. A child can have whatever their heart desires - of course, there's a horrible catch...

Kind of sounds like going to Neverland Ranch now that I think of it...

~CallyGull~

I'm reading The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. I have to say, I think I'm horribly under-read. I just finished up A Farewell to Arms. I'm not Hemingway's biggest fan, but in general I thought the book was good. He's very much about short, declaritive statements and I'm such a sucker for poetic prose.

Eco's book is great. I hear that students of linguistics and semiotics love the book because it's full of that stuff, but I think the plot really moves the story. Highly entertaining.

Aside from all the fun books I'm reading for my classes... I'm reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire. Very good so far. I'm also reading A Practical Handguide for the Actor

quote:

Originally posted by actinghopeful:
AI'm reading Wicked by Gregory Maguire.

I think I am the only person in the world who did not like Wicked. The book started very mythic (for example, the three midwives and the birth in the clock) but just became a very dark soap opera. The play was kinda silly with the emphasis on all all the WoO stuff and tacking on the happy ending.

From my personal writing point of view, a great idea that that was not executed well.

I also need to say that I saw the play with the original touring cast... the actors were great.

You know, I can't remember a single tune from that show.

Yadayada, yeah, I see what you're saying about the book... it took me a while to get into it... the first time I started it, I made it about 5 pages in and had to put it down. Then, I started reading it after I saw the musical, and I've been really enjoying it.

Now I'm also reading a book called Not On Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast