Finally signed up for the goodbooks and rated some books. You can find me here:

http://www.goodreads.com/thxlbx

Reading the 3rd Odd Thomas book by Koontz. First 2 were good reads

Nice looking store. It's missing the inevitable bookstore-cat, though. Unless it's a real lazy bookstore-cat.

I prefer the book itself, mostly because I'm a bibliophile rather than a bookworm, the latter being much more impressive and noteworthy.

But I liked Slate taken Jonathan Franzen to task here: http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_te..._readers_.html

The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century, by Ian Mortimer. It's very good, well layed out, easy to read and comprehensive. I also bought it on audio, so I can read it at home then listen to it in the car or at work. It's quite fascinating; I'm a historian focussing on medieval England myself, and it gave a lot of depth to what I alredy knew, and expertly done. I recommend it highly.

Ah, here it is . . .
http://www.amazon.com/Time-Travelers...8109207&sr=8-1

Paperback ten bucks new. Go get 'em.

Neill Stephenson - Reamde

A book of three plays by Sartre. I just finished, "No Exit". An interesting one act. I like plays and stories that involve hell or the afterlife, generally.

I haven't heard good things. General tenor seems to be "good as a thriller; not good as a Stephenson book".

I read a ton in January. From Snow Crash to Demonstorm to Voyage of the Chathrand to Diving the Wreck and City of Ruins to The Magicians and The Magician King. All really good. Now I'm going a little old school and reading the Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny.

The Hunger Games.


I'm on the 3rd book. Good shit.

I just started reading Robopocalypse by Daniel Wilson. I'm only a few chapters in, but it's been enjoyable so far. It's essentially World War Z with robots.

I thought it would be more of a techno-thriller, but it's more of a thriller right now (about halfway through).

Long frickin' audio book. Good narrator.

Currently reading Chuck Palahniuk's "Haunted"...don't know that I'll actually finish it though. Have the distinct feeling (after reading "Diary", "Fight Club" and another Palhniuk work I can't recall the title of), Chuck may have been a one hit wonder with "Fight Club".

The following summation of a review of "Haunted" pretty much sums up my feelings thus far and I'm only 80 pages into the novel:

In Tasha Robinson's review of Haunted in The A.V. Club, Robinson wrote that gruesome scenes are "piled up to such extremes that it seems like Palahniuk is just double-daring himself to top each new vile degradation with something worse."

Shock novels get old quick for me...

Okay, what gets a person into medieval England? Certainly not the irritating prose.

Aries (you may already know this) but on the BBC History Magazine's website historyextra.com they have radio podcasts, and that Ian Mortimer appears on a couple. If you go to their site and search his name it'll pull up some podcasts where he discusses that stuff. Normally there's a few subjects included in the podcast so you may have to fast forward if you just want his piece.

Just finished The Supernaturalist.

http://www.amazon.com/Supernaturalis...8124188&sr=8-1

Just started The Tehran Initiative.

http://www.amazon.com/Tehran-Initiat...8124262&sr=1-1

just finished Those Across The River. Very good book, pretty creepy for a book.