American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

It's my first book by Gaiman and landed on my lap via a friend who recommends him highly. I had planned on reading a Thomas Pynchon novel prior to being lent this book, but now that's been bumped down to next-up in my reading list.

Old fashioned space sci-fi, huh? Have you read Dune or anything off Orson Scott Card's Ender Series?

Currently, Slaughterhouse Five again. One of my favorites. Next on my list is definitely House by Mark Danielewski. It's really freaking daunting though.

The Myth of Sisyphus: And Other Essays by Albert Camus.

I picked up this recommendation from someone on here a couple weeks ago. I've been slowly making my way through this book since then. It's very good so far, but I cannot read it quickly. I think I have finally found my antidote for nihilism in absurdism.

For this week I'm itching for some old fashioned space scifi.

Maybe this? :

Like TelecineTheDog suggested, Dune. If you haven't read it, you are seriously missing out. I can't sing enough praises for Frank Herbert's work.

I'm not reading anything at the moment. I was in the middle of The Orphaned Worlds by Michael Cobley but I've strayed away from it for other junk.

Last week I reread the "His Dark Materials" series. It was still good.

My grandfather sent me a box full of books and I picked one at random to read during a power outage. It was "Shōgun". It's really not great, but it's something to do.

EDIT: ay whatever font's used here should display special characters as the same size as regular, no? It's just an o with a macron

ōoóòŏôöøǿɔ

only the common diacritics display properly

I'm reading the unpublished memoirs of a Finnish settler in the Keweenaw Peninsula of Upper Michigan. His family moved to an uninhabited bay in the early 1900's, and he wrote the memoirs in 1965. My family has had a cottage on the bay for several decades. It's a combination of descriptions of daily life, and anecdotes ranging from pranks to drownings. It's a fascinating read.

Reading a few essays from A Communion of Subjects, which is an anthology about the views and uses of animals in religion and science. I recently attended a conference at Oxford University on the topic of animal rights and how they relate to research animals, and it was quite interesting. As the sole practicing scientist among the crowd of 150 or so people, I was both heavily queried and loathed by some of other attendees (mostly theologians, philosophers and historians, plus non-academic activist types). But anyway, I learned some valuable stuff, and hope I taught some valuable stuff, as well. The book is an outgrowth of some talks I had with people there.

On the plane ride, I tried reading Milan Kundera's new book, A Festival of Insignificance. Short as it is, I put it down half way through. By the half way point, which is only like 75 pages, I found myself getting less and less interested with every page (and I'm a Kundera fan, generally). So even though finishing it would have taken only minimal effort, I gave it up. Too many things to read in the world to waste time on books that can't hold my interest.

Next up is Murakami's South of the Border, West of the Sun. I'm hesitant to read it, because it is the only full length book of his that I haven't read; I'll be sad to have no more material immediately available (except short stories, but I've never been a fan of short stories as a format; I'll read them eventually, I suppose).

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. Seminal post-apocolyptic novel. I'm about half way through; it's a bit of a slow starter but interesting nonetheless.

I also learned from this book (just yesterday) that apparently, in the first half of the 20th century, people believed that you could identify 'people of color' who were 'passing as white' by checking for a bluish tinge to the half-moons of the fingernails. Weird and not at all true, btw (as far as I could tell from the googling).

I Know Where The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou.

I'm not sure why, but I've had a craving for autobiographies lately. None that are about celebrities; those are far too dreary. I finished rereading The Glass Castle (the author currently escapes me) a few weeks ago and I still haven't had my fill.

I haven't been particularly fond of sci-fi for a while now, so unfortunately I can't help scratch your itch. :)

Old fashioned space scifi! I read Old Man's War a while ago, and it was pretty great. I've been vaguely intending to hit all the sequels, but I have a much longer reading list than attention span and not a lot of free time. (I have to get through some Iain M. Banks first ...)

The big space scifi I've been hitting lately is Ancillary Justice, which is space scifi but I wouldn't exactly call it old fashioned. It's pretty brilliant speculative fiction, and probably the last Hugo winner we'll ever see that isn't written by a white supremacist. At least it went to a great work.

I'm also reading Mary Roach's "Gulp". It's a pop science treatment of the digestive system, and it's as funny and gruesome as one would hope for.

Today I'm going to start City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. I was super impressed by one of his previous works, The Company Man, and my expectations are very high for his new book. After I finish that, I'll probably read William Gibson's The Peripheral, then something by Cory Doctorow.

I'm currently reading Cockroach, by Rawi Hage. I'm maybe 25 pages in and I'm hooked, and in some ways repulsed at the same time.

Pretty serious for where I do most of my reading - the Bathroom. It's where I spend a select amount of quiet time, and let's face it, i'm not doing much else at that point. I used to study for exams by leaving my notes in the bathroom. I've considered starting up a #bathroomreadersclub before, with a general focus on short literature, but idunno if it'd gain any traction.

Earlier this week I blew through The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas on my days off--both kinetic, punkish, and overall spiky works, well worth reading.

Currently on James A. Michener's Poland, a historical novel. Very clumsy prose-wise and bland character-wise but rather insightful w/r/t state-building and the relationship between government and society. I'm about halfway through.

Next in my hopper is Camus' The Myth of Sisyphus and other essays and then Robert Caro's The Power Broker.

Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury

I recently read "Fahrenheit 451" and love it so I bought some of his books (other one is The October Country).

I just started All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy.

It's been sitting on my shelf for months along with Cities of the Plain. My girlfriend bought me The Crossing for my birthday, so now that I've got the trilogy I figured it would be a good time to start :)

Enjoying it so far. It doesn't seem nearly dark and calamitous enough yet to be a Cormac McCarthy book, so I'm constantly bracing myself waiting for something tragic to happen... Which I'm sure it will eventually.

EDIT: Yep, I spoke too soon. Damnit.

I'm starting Dust by Hugh Howey, the end of the Silo Series (Wool and Shift came before). It's my favorite kind of post-apocalypse, with the focus on social and political systems (rather than a purely introspective survival story).

I'm reading Don't Make Me Think for the second time, but it's sorta the first time as I previously read the older version on my Kindle. I'm over my Kindle. I really like reading physical books again.

I'm pretty sure I should read this book at least once a year. Sometimes when you are learning so much about new stuff and keeping up to date on the latest trends and technologies, you forget the basics.

Great Expectations. I don't have any great expectations for it, but it's assigned so I have to read it. grumble grumble. This better rock.

I am halfway through The People who Eat Darkness, just finished Smart Cities and will start with Countdown to Zero Day: Stuxnet and the Launch of the First Digital Weapon. I wouldn't reccommend the first one, as my criticism of it was the same as yours for your book.

I'm on summer break so I finally have some time to really read for pleasure. In the last week I finally read To Kill a Mockingbird, and Philip K. Dick's wonderful Ubik, as well as Stephen King's Misery. All really fantastic books in their own right. I think I'll read something a bit different this week - I was thinking of starting Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher series, and also maybe reading some shorter books like The Third Policeman.

If you're looking for some good space sci-fi, look no further than Red Mars by Kim Stanley Robinson. Fantastic book. Some really good science heavy sci-fi is The Third Body Problem.

- The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.

I think it's alright, so far. I'm about half way through, and it's kind of boring, in terms of things that are actually happening. On the other hand, I think the characters and how they interact is done really well, which is probably the focus of the book.

After I finish that, I have:

- A Street Car Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, which, after reading the description, I'm really not looking forward to.

- The Quiet Room by Lori Schiller, which I'm kind of looking forward to.

It's going to be a fun two weeks.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides

Still slowly working my way through this, it's not as well written as the first two but the story is engaging.

Please do post these weekly, it reminds me to read more!

The Broken Empire Trilogy by Mark Lawrence. Currently on The King of Thorns.

Klein's stuff. The Book of Heroes. Nexus.

I bought Blackout by Sarah Hepola earlier today so that. Kinda. I haven't started it yet