2013 Books! discussion

What are you currently reading? Post it here!

Paper Angels: A Novel by Jimmy Wayne & Travis Thrasher

So far a good Christmas read! :-)

Nothing. I have no access to books at all. Except for the ones I already have.

I'll list here the books I am actively reading. In general, I have 4-5 books that I am reading at any given time. So, most active to least right now:

1. Stanley Park by Timothy Taylor.
2. World Orders, Old and New by Noam Chomsky.
3. Moby Dick by Herman Melville
4. The Sea by John Banville

Hello, Al. Yes, I wondered if Kat would have invited you too. I think MD is a book for when you are a bit older. When I tried it when I was young, it didn't do much for me. It is far FAR better now, now that I am approaching decrepitude.

Ah, familiar faces :)

I'm like Guy - one book is never enough...

1. Jack of Diamonds by Bryce Courtenay
2. Bruce (Springsteen) by Peter Ames Carlin
3. K9 Cops by Nigel Allsop
4. A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

I don't know how you guys can do that!!! I am a total book nerd & read like crazy, but I have ADD issues and can never read more than one at a time!!! :-)

Oh, let's see...what am I "reading"? It seems to be a little bit of everything.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Iliad by Homer
The Original Argument: The Federalists' Case for the Constitution, Adapted for the 21st Century by Glenn Beck
Red Leaves and the Living Token by Benjamin Burrell.
And I'm kind of giving up on The Age of Zeus by James Lovegrove but I haven't quite put it down forever yet.

If I read more than 1 book at a time I'd probably never finish a book!

Haha. Yeah, sometimes that happens....

Dickens is an amazing author. I haven't gotten around to reading A Tale of Two Cities, yet, though. But, it's on my (albeit broken) Kindle, so when I buy a new one, I'll read it, as well as all the other classics I haven't read yet.

I always read more than one book at a time. I think I'd go crazy if I didn't.

I'm actually enjoying Dickens so it's nice to read something for school I actually like.

I'm reading the latest Felix/Dick Francis book Dick Francis's Bloodline

Thank you, Kat, for the invitation!

I’ve been leafing through this one:

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23...

It’s the kind of book you can just pick up and open to any page; it’s loaded with photos; and the captions are in English, German, and French. There’s a volume for each of the decades of the 20th century. I have most of them.

I forgot. I've also begun:

5. Animus and Anima in Fairy Tales by Marie-Louise von Franz;
and
6. On Literature by Umberto Eco.

I own and have read #5. I must get a copy of #6.

Guy, I know I’ve asked you this before, so I appreciate your patience. How do you set up those links?

No problem, M. There are three ways, one super easy and preferred, except sometimes it doesn't work. The other one is just a variation on the normal html link creation. The third is to use the mechanics of the GR process to work around overly prolific authors, who by their output confound GR.

1) Easy. Immediately above the comment box, just right of centre are the words 'add book/author'. That is a link to the GR create a book link. So, if I click on it now it will take me to a window that will ask for the title of book I'm looking to add. That is the 1st of two tabs. The second allows you to search by author. Once you have found the book and/or author you want, click the 'add buttons'. (If you click on the title or author buttons that will take you to the GR profiles of that book or author).

So, to add Animus and Anima I click on 'add book/author' type in the title then do the search, then click on add. I will get this: Animus and Anima in Fairy Tales That is how it looks, but the html code looks like {book:Animus and Anima in Fairy Tales|75548} except that the '{}' brackets will be the squared braces '[]'.

Same Process with author, but after you have searched and found the book, the author search field will be pre-populated for you.

You also have the option of putting the cover image instead of the book title. So, after you have found the book you want to add, and before you click add, look to the bottom of the 'add book/author' dialog window: the default is 'link', but the alternative is 'cover'. You would get this:

. The html text for this looks like: {bookcover:Animus and Anima in Fairy Tales|75548}.

2) This way is mechanically simple: in a browser window in Goodreads, find the book profile you want to add. Highlight and copy the url (address), then create the anchor link normally. So (a href="url address")Name of book(/a), but use < instead of ( and > instead of ).

3) Convoluted, but not really hard.

But now it is time for me to go. But here's the clue: follow the Goodreads book link format above, but go to the book profile and notice the number that GR has assigned to it. So, for example, with Eco he had over 270 pages of books listed! The little GR add book menu didn't work. So I found the book and got its Goodreads url:

http;//www.goodreads.com /book /show / 534972.On_Literature. The GR number for this book is 534972 and the title is On Literature without the underscores. You can manually build the Goodreads book link with that number and title.

So type sq bracket "[" the word 'book' then full colon ":" then title (without underscores) then vertical line '|' without space on either side then the GR book number and finally close with the closing sq bracket "]".

Or copy an existing one and substitute the number and name. This then allows easy link to cover by changing the word 'book' to 'bookcover'.


Good luck!

Guy, thank you! This is more helpful than you can imagine.

@ Hilary, I think ADD is why I *can't* just read one book at a time... I'd like to finish at least one of these by the end of the year!
Lincoln
American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from the 1940's Until Now
Gone Girl
Arguably: Selected Essays

M, you are more than welcome! And so glad it has helped.

I just finished Paper Angels by Jimmy Wayne. Very good read for Christmas time! I was planning on starting Wuthering Heights. I'm afraid though...it's a classic and an older book. I'm afraid I won't like it. lol

I'm currently reading

I'm reading The Count of Monte Cristo

Kat, I read that about 35 years ago! OMG!

I am almost done with Forever by Stiefvater

Guy, I've been meaning to read it ever since I saw the movie, and was just now able to get a hold of it.

1 - The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson (I'm trying to finish this one before Jan 8th when the final WoT comes out...)
2 - The Cat Who Walks Through Walls by Robert A. Heinlein (audible)
3 - Rule 34 by Charles Stross
4 - The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown
5 - Fables, Vol. 4: March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham
6 - The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny (my edition is 1-5 in part 1 and 6-10 in part 2, I'm only in book 1)

I'm currently reading
1. Covet by J.R. Ward
2. The Mabinogion
3. The Hobbit
and others that I'm not sure I will ever finish.

Safe Haven and 1984 =]

I'm read Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey, a group read for one of my Goodreads groups for January. It's incredible! I don't read much sci/fi,but maybe I should!

I've finally started reading Inheritance by Christopher Paolini.

Kat wrote: "I'm reading The Count of Monte Cristo"

Kat, I just got a book note from Powell's Books about the author. It turns out that it was loosely based on his father's experiences, as were the Musketeers. His father was half black, and quickly excelled as a military officer with Napoleon's army. Here's the description:

Publisher Comments
By the author of the internationally bestselling biography The Orientalist, The Black Count brings to life one of history’s great forgotten heroes: a man almost unknown today yet with a personal story that is strikingly familiar. His swashbuckling exploits appear in The Three Musketeers, and his triumphs and ultimate tragic fate inspired The Count of Monte Cristo. His name is Alex Dumas. Father of the novelist Alexandre Dumas, Alex has become, through his son's books, the model for a captivating modern protagonist: the wronged man in search of justice.

Born to a black slave mother and a fugitive white French nobleman in Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), Alex Dumas was briefly sold into bondage but then made his way to Paris where he was schooled as a sword-fighting member of the French aristocracy.

He was only 32 when he was given command of 53,000 men, the reward for series of triumphs that many regarded as impossible, and then topped his previous feats by leading a raid up a frozen cliff face that secured the Alps for France. It was after his subsequent heroic service as Napoleon’s cavalry commander that Dumas was captured and cast into a dungeon — and a harrowing ordeal commenced that inspired one of the world’s classic works of fiction.

The Black Count is simultaneously a riveting adventure story, a lushly textured evocation of 18th-century France, and a window into the modern world’s first multi-racial society. But it is also a heartbreaking story of the enduring bonds of love between a father and son. Drawing on hitherto unknown documents, letters, battlefield reports and Dumas' handwritten prison diary, The Black Count is a groundbreaking masterpiece of narrative nonfiction.

Review
"Colorful and utterly captivating, The Black Count proves that truth is not just stranger than fiction, but in this case is the root of such classics as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. Tom Reiss uses the incredible adventures of mulatto French general Alexander Dumas, father of the famed novelist, to inform his lucid exploration of Caribbean slavery and revolt, the French Revolution, and the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte. This is history that is vibrant, gripping, and tragic." William Dietrich, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author of Napoleon’s Pyramids and The Emerald Storm.

Review
"Tom Reiss's The Black Count is totally thrilling — a fascinating, beautifully-written and deeply-researched biography that brings to life one of history's great forgotten characters: the swashbuckling, flamboyant, and romantic mulatto count whose true life belongs in a Hollywood movie or Alexander Dumas story. No wonder the Black Count helped inspire his son's masterpieces The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers." Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem: The Biography and Young Stalin.

Review
"Rousing and thought provoking, The Black Count is an adventure like no other. I marveled at every twist and turn of this remarkable true story. It’s a brilliant choice of subject, brought to life with the charm and personal touch that have become the trademark of Tom Reiss." Laurence Bergreen, New York Times bestselling author of Columbus: The Four Voyages and Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life.

Review
"The Black Count is an important and necessary book about one of the great forgotten heroes of the eighteenth century. Before there was Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, there was his father, General Dumas, whose extraordinary life and achievements were the inspiration behind many of his more famous son's novels. Tom Reiss has written a masterful biography; richly detailed, highly researched and completely absorbing. The Black Count is a triumph." Amanda Foreman, New York Times bestselling author of A World on Fire and Georgiana.

I'm currently reading: Bertie: A Life of Edward VII

Hey everyone! I'm probably not gonna be posting in here much since I read so quickly, but I'll update when I'm starting a new series :-)

Today I'm starting the Demonica Series (Pleasure Unbound) by Larissa Ione. The plan after that is to re-read the Lords of Deliverance (Eternal Rider) since the new one just came out in that series.

Happy reading everyone!

New one because I couldn't find my others two days ago. Mockingbird by Chuck Wendig

Happy New Year! I have two books coming over from 2012 that I still need to finish reading:

Frankensteinand The Princess Bride.

The first that I'm starting in 2013 is The Cat in Ancient Egypt.

My goal is to read (or finish reading) 50 books this year!

I'm reading Creatures Of The Pool by Ramsey Campbell. I started it in December, I don't really like the book because it's just down right boring. I'm going to slug through it though, I very seldom quit a book once I started it, so I read on.

. February book. I am also reading but it will take me a while to finish.

I'm reading

I've just finished Watch Me Die By Erica Spindler It was a pretty good read

Been reading Sacrifice by John Everson for a few days, It's okay not really grabbing me just yet but I just started it so it will get better.

Lorraine wrote: "I'm read Wool Omnibus by Hugh Howey, a group read for one of my Goodreads groups for January. It's incredible! I don't read much sci/fi,but maybe I should!"

Lorraine, I just started reading this recently because my husband started it and he begged me to read it with him. It is pretty good so far! I'm only 25% through. My husband is about 65% through it!

I am also reading In Silence by Erica Spindler. I like this book so far too! I currently stopped at page 100 to read Wool...it's so hard for me to read two books at once!

Hi Heather: Hope you'll love Wool as much as I did - it's a book that gets recommended by word of mouth - I've told a couple of friends about it and now they've read it and hopefully will recommend it too.

I'm currently re-reading an old favourite of mine This Rough Magic by Mary Stewart. Set on the island of Corfu, with rambling rose gardens, orange groves, a dolphin and ... a mysterious death.

I'm reading Killing Lincoln. I think its about to get to the interesting parts!

I'm finished reading The Shoestring Club By Sarah Webb and The Caller By Karin Fossum and I'm still reading In The Springtime Of The Year By Susan Hill and I've started It Had To Be You By Sarah Webb

I'm reading Mariana by Susanna Kearsley. It's a fascinating book about traveling back in time to another version of yourself. A young woman is drawn to purchase a house, and when she moves in, she goes into trances of a past life when she had lived there in the 1600s. I've always been intrigued by time travel novels. Loving it!

I finished The Queene's Cure, which was kinda disappointing. I think when it comes to Elizabeth I, I should stick to the movies and biographies. I love historical fiction though so I wanted to give it a try.

Now I'm reading 11/22/63; King's going to annoy me to madness by the time I finish the book but I expect to enjoy the subject matter and my Kindle won't be showing up until sometime next week, so in the mean time I'll be working on this. :)

Currently reading Wicked, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and Evil Star.

I'm reading Dualed by Elsie Chapman right now and am loving it.

I've picked up The Princess Bride again, as well as Cats In Ancient Egypt. Hope to have both finished by the end of next week.