Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine So what are you READING?

John Irving is very talented. "The Cider House..." rules!

I got sooooo into the Vampire Chronicles when I read them in high school! I couldn't put them down! I think I read 'Interview with the Vampire', 'The Vampire Lestat' and 'Queen of the Damned' all in about a month! And I'm not someone who's normally into the whole vampire mythology thing.

If you kinda like 'Interview with the Vampire' Rokk Steady then make sure you read 'The Vampire Lestat'! Its the best one in the bunch and offers some radically different interpretations of key events in the first book. I swear - all my perceptions of the characters changed when I saw the same story told through a new person's set of eyes.

P.S. Thanks for all the 'Catcher in the Rye' talk people. You've peaked my interest enough to want to read it and form my own opinion now!

Mechana: Winter's tale is a favourite book of mine. copy stolen a while back and been trying to find a new copy ever since.
AFOBoy: it's set in New York, and it's kind of a love story, but it's just one of those beautiful, magical stories that defy description. giving a plot outline doesn't really do it justice.

as for current books myself, haven't been able to get new books at the moment so been rereading all Terry Pratchett's discworld books.

Got Winter's Tale from the library yesterday - the reviews at amazon made it sound very enchanting. Also bought a new Ian Rankin, Fleshmarket Close; he's one of my favourite mystery writers.

I'm still plodding along in "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell." I'm at about page 550 and the man with thistle down hair is beginning to piss me off.

i thought INTERVIEW, LESTAT, AND QUEEN were the best books by far, an excellent read. I also enjoyed Witching Hour, though i found it a bit dragged out and a tad disturbing. What is it with Anne Rice and making at least some character either gay or a straight guy having a gay enounter, never understood the purpose behind these revelations.

Scott says I just have to post this.... One of the biggest pieces of my history, which eventually lead to my meeting Scott as well, was when I was a total Goth chick, completely submerged in the vampire culture except for the hours I put on my Sheriff's uniform and worked my night shifts at the jail (quite a culture divergence, I know) Anyway, I got in so deep that I made in-roads with the New Orleans crowd, via the Los Angeles, Chicago and New York crowds first. In this life-altering period of about five years, I learned quite a lot about things other people only dream about. I also, fortunately, lived to move on and out of that phase of my life. Basically, everything in the 'game' of Vampire the Masquerade draws on reality. Yes Virginia, there are vampires !!

But, anyway, part of my experiences included spending three weeks in New Orleans in 1991, the last two weeks of October and first week of November. Through my writing for various independent vamp publishing outlets which ran from xeroxed pages stapled together and mailed out, to slick magazine and soft-cover book styles, I met some of Anne Rice's 'inner circle.' Long story short, it was my honor and deeply spiritually challenging priviledge to meet and spend time with Anne in her home and office and to get to know her. As it turns out, at that time, my good friend Muriel was one of Anne's cadre of Lesbian lovers. I believe that Anne is brilliant, but unfortunately, I also believe that years of drinking and popping pills in her younger years have taken their toll on Anne's mind and I think she's snapped. Whatever connection she had to the spirit realm, and I believe she had one, vanished and left her scrambling to keep cranking out books for the money. True fans, one's who 'get' Anne, can tell when the muse left her But what a wonderful ride it was while it lasted. Her characters, especially Lestat and the vampires, will live on in our imaginations forever. The Chronicles are mostly genius. Her descriptions absolutely delicious, even if they were so rich they made you ill as you pondered them.

I am glad I broke free of her world, or else I never would have met and loved Scott. But I am so thankful I got a glimpse into it for a short and magickal time.

her books have certainly been disappointing, and not just lately either. I couldnt even get through VIOLIN
SERVANT OF THE BONES was barely readable
BLACKWOOD FARM and its follow up BLOOD CANTACLE gave me good reason to say i could live without another vampire chronicles book. I just really enjoy the other vampires so much more and i wish i could get better stories with them.

I would agree that the first three books are must-reads if you're into horror/fantasy/vampires. Interview is, by far, the greatest artistic achievement of the three (but my favorite is Lestat).

Well, I am glad to have read your guys' thoughts on the vampire chronicles (non-Mormon Saturn Girl, your post was especially fascinating). Now I am looking forward to reading Interview with the Vampire for the book club. Thanks, guys!

Hmmm... Having read most of her works, I'd have to say that the true impact of Interview isn't really felt until after you've read Lestat, then you see both sides of the same coin and can feel the texture of the characters and the events.

Just finsihed reading Little Children by Tom Perrota. Loved it. Read it in one night.

On to A Curious Incident in the Dog of Night.


Still have not gotten the muster to start reading Johnthon Strange again...

I must confess that I got about two thirds through INTERVIEW and threw it away in disgust. What a load of girlie nonsense. No sex and not nearly enough violence. Too flowery by far.

Just finished Excalibur, again, the third and last of Bernard Cornwells Arthurian books (the best series of books I've ever read).

Now I have the seventh Thomas Covenant book (not including the pamphlet) to look forward to.

Am also reading a book called Eats, Shites and Leaves, a book about crap English and how to use it. Vaguelly humorous.

And sitting waiting to be picked up is a book entitled How To Support A Crap Football Team. Do you think my wife's trying to tell me something?

Two going right now:

My Century, by Gunter Grass. He writes a 3-4 page story or vignette for each year of the 20th century. It might have more resonance if you know contemporary German history outside of the Nazi years - but each entry is a gem, and you get a real sense for each era. What a writer!

The other is Moneyball, by Michael Lewis (of Liar's Poker fame) about baseball - specifically, Billy Beane and the Oakland A's. Lewis explores how Beane used statistics to choose the optimal players for the team, for the least money. He was entirely at odds with traditional scouting methods - and his approach paid off. It sounds dry, but it's funny, captivating and reads like an adventure story. I could care less about baseball, but this is a fascinating read. I love it when contrarians succeed.

This sounds fascinating! I'm especially interested in the early 20th Century before the rise of the Nazis. (I wrote my undergraduate thesis on "Gender Roles in Nazi Germany") I might have to check this out..

Cobie you can read?

Just got a new book Collapse: Why Civilizations Succed or Fail

Interesting book. This guys examines certain civilizations - like Easter Island, Mayan - in a 5 point framework from a very unibased point of view. He dosen't condem and he dosen't judge. He just presents the facts and extrapolates what could have lead them to fail or succeded.

Don't let my over-sexed, alcohol induced, spelling mistake making self fool you, Vu! I'm a certified grad student with a passion for the classics, 19th Century Russian romance literature and a whole host of other stuff

I only wish I had the chance to squeeze more books in when I can between school reading and all the DC/Marvel comics I buy!

19th Century Russian Romance? I perfer the more friendly 17th century myself

Your just one big alt id aren't you

Lermontov's Pechorin has influenced my love life for half a decade!

And that is probably a bad thing

I read some of the Anne Rice "Vampire" novels a long time ago. Don't remember much about them... I think I read Lestat first. This must have meant it was good because I would have never touched "Interview" or "Queen" if it wasn't. I don't remember "Interview" at all. "Queen" bored me. I stopped reading it around page 50 and never picked it back up.

As for recent readings... The Star Wars: Dark Rendezvous book is a darn good book. One of the best from the Galaxy Far Far Away. It's a bit of a prelude to the prelude of the upcoming movie. It is a very good take on Yoda, Dooku, Padawans and the nature of the Force. Excellent Star Wars story. Can't say enough good things about it.

I read Cloak of Deception (the prelude to Episode One) recently too. I couldn't find too much wrong with the "story", but be prepared for an awful lot of political wrangling (almost thought I was watching CSPAN a couple times while reading it). Definitely needed all of my patience to get through it.

Jedi Trial and Cestus Deception (two recent Star Wars releases) were both pretty entertaining reads. Very fast paced they were. 'Trial' was more militaristic than any other SW book I've read (and I've read just about everything except the New Jedi Order books and they're next). Being an old military dog myself... It appealled to me. Cestus Deception was just good.

As for what I'm reading now... The Han Solo Adventures is on my mantle. Pretty good so far but I'm only 60 pages into the first story. Since I've already read the Han Solo Trilogy.. I'm expecting the Han Solo Adventures to be quality entertainment.

Can't wait to get my hands on Labyrinth of Evil tomorrow... the prequel to episode III. Should be good stuff.

Finished "the Great and Secret Show" by clive barker a few days. Found it pretty good, one of his better books. Just started to re-read "Swan Song" last night

After Blood & Gold by Anne Rice finished mid November i've read Le Morte De Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory.

Ok i got really bored with the knights banging each other in the heads, jousting, etc. But I did see some depth in the overall story...lots of it actually. No suprise it reminded me of the Illiad. Fate, karma, and how us humans fuck it all up. Boring...but i took lots of it. (and it wasn't ALL boring...but Tristram got boring fer sure)

I finished that last week and then went on to read the Last Bow by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I read the collected Adventures of holmes a few months ago and LOVED IT. So i read the Last Bow which wasn't as good but I liked it lots. Gonna buy more Holmes stuff. Any suggestions? Has anyone read Adrian Conan Doyle's books? I was gonna go for those next (Exploits of Holmes).

I am read Harry Potter's and the Sorcerer's Stone (the 1st one) currently. I'ts aight...i haven't gotten into much but not turned off yet.

btw, i read Interview by Rice when I was 14. I liked it then...but I tried to reread it like 5 years ago...and it was pretty lame/girlie/eh. But Blood & Gold by Rice...loved it.

I thought the first Harry Potter book was called 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'. Did it have a different name in the States?

yeah blacula, it does. It's called the Sorcerer's stone here in the states.

Apparently the American Publishers didn't think that us American's could comprend what the Philososphers could mean. They also edited some of the very English stuff out of there too and made it more Amercainized. But with the 2nd book on, I think the publishers realized they didn't have to do that for the kiddos.