Currently Reading

It's been a little while since I've done one of these updates...

Reading Now: Consider Phlebas, Iain M Banks - This is Bank's first book in his Culture Series. It's fast-paced, engaging, and interesting, but it's not making any favorites list for me. The plot's a bit scattered, but it's incredibly rich in the culture (snark) that's inhabited the galaxy. There's epic space warfare, orbital ringworlds, politics on a vast level and a cast of interesting characters. Honestly, this is a very cinematic and fun read. I'm blowing right through it - 200 pages in 2 hours!

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Mark Haddon - I started this book a while ago, about an autistic man trying to solve the reasons for a dog's death. How Starbucks Saved My Life, Michael Gates Gills - Old, White guy gets job with black boss in retail after a high powered job, learns about self. Meh, it's nothing that I'd buy full price, but it's interesting. Blood and Thunder, Hampton Sides - I've had this book on the reading list for over a year now. It's fantastic, but I'm so burned out on history that I'm not sure when I'll get around to finishing it.

To Read:

The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi - This is the next book that I'll pick up after I finish Phlebas. It's gotten a bit of buzz around the SF blog world. It takes place in a future Thailand, involving GMOs, Genetic engineering and Politics. I'll probably begin it tonight. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman - This has been a long recommended read for me, and I've been on a bit of a military SF kick lately, so this is one that I'm really looking forward to tackling. Shadowbridge, Gregory Frost - Gregory Frost came to my attention about a year ago when Borders dropped his books. I complained about it here. This looks like a really fun book, part of a duology. I've got both books, Shadowbridge and Lord Tophet, and I'll likely get to them sometime this fall. They look to be quick reads. Traffic, Tom Vanderbilt - This book has long facinated me - I love driving, and this book porports to talk about why we drive the way we do. It's something that I've given quite a bit of thought to, especially while in traffic. The Power Makers, Maury Klein - This book looks really interesting, about the struggle between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison, looking at their work and how they helped to bring about a modern United States with electricity and steam power. Tesla has been a figure in American history that has long facinated me, and this type of history is really interesting, something that I love to read about. The Next 100 Years, George Friedman - This book's popped up on a couple of SF blogs as well - I got it along with The Windup Girl. It's a look at the next 100 years and how the economics, politics and wars of the future will play out. I wonder how much of it will come to pass. The People's Tycoon, Steven Watts - This is another personality/history book that I'm really looking forward to - Henry Ford. I'm going to be ramping up a project that has to do with automotive history, and this is going to be the first step towards that project in background research. Theodore Rex - Edmund Morris - This is a biography of Theodore Roosevelt, one that's been highly acclaimed, and a person that I'd like to learn more about. This has been on the list for a while. Time to actually read it when I can get to history again. The Ghost Brigades, John Scalzi - This is the sequel to Scalzi's Old Man War, which I reviewed here. I really enjoyed the first book, it was a fast-paced, entertaining read, and it really set up for this second book. Tales from a Perilous Realm, JRR Tolkien - A collection of Tolkien's short stories, 5 of them. It looks like a fantastic read.

To Read, Tier 2 - These are books that are on the to-read list, but not a huge priority... yet.

Andvari's Ring, Arthur Peterson A Game of Thrones, George RR Martin The Echo of Battle, Brian Linn Kindred, Octavia Butler The Warded Man, Peter Brett Woken Furies, Richard K Morgan Anathem, Neal Stephenson