What book are you currently reading?

Question

Do you have a favorite author? What book have you read that you would recommend avoiding because you were disappointed? Have you ever had a book make you angry (I was FURIOUS when I read Stepford Wives).

Answer 1

Just finished Kurt Vonnegut Jr's Mother Night, which was really pretty good. Currently reading The Furies by Suzy McKee Charnas. I read her book Motherlines and it was pretty good but a little wacky. The Gate to Women's Country by Sheri Tepper was good I thought. Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land made me made with its sexism, but I liked the religious/social commentary. In sci-fi I like Andre Norton a lot (it's a woman) and Robert Asprin's Myth series is funny. Have liked some of Marion K Zimmer's stuff, though I was never able to make it all the way through Mists of Avalon (it's 800 or 1200 pages or something like that). Outside of sci-fi, go to P.G. Wodehouse's The World of Jeeves. It's a collection of short pieces, about this englishman and his butler. It's hard to describe, but it's crazy funny. At least check it out from a library or something, it's the best thing I've read in years. Outside of fiction, I'd recommend browsing through memoirs/biographies. Recently I've liked Get Happy (Bio of Judy Garland) and An Enduring Love (autobio of Farrah Pahlavi, the widow of the Shah of Iran. Well written, really touching, and really informational as far as the history of Iran before the revolution.
I bought an "anthology of humor" once that made me hopping mad. I just couldn't believe it, because I bought it online (thru amazon), and when it came it was just a blank book. On the first page it told you to collect your own jokes/stories and write them down there. WTF? I can buy a freaking blank book and collect jokes on my own - when I buy an anthology of humor I expect to get funny stuff somebody else already wrote down!

Answer 2

The best book I've read in a while is Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts, and also The Memory Keepers Daughter by Kim Edwards, I just finished with that one and it was really good...I am currently reading the Davinci Code and then I will read Angels and Demons. oh and my all time favorite author is Ernest Hemingway, and I also love Sylvia Plath. My favorite poet is Pablo Neruda. If you want to read a really great book by an unknown author read The Little White Trip by Peter Joseph Gallagher, if you order a copy he will personally sign it to you and everything and it comes in a really neat custom made package but aside from that it is an awesome book about a true story I read it in one day I couldn't put it down...go here to order a copy...
www.thelittlewhitetrip.com or www.myspace.com/thelittlewhitetrip

Answer 3

Currently reading "The Orange Girl" by Jostein Gaarder. It isn't as good as some of his other books (Sophie's World, The Solitaire Mystery, Maya).
Favourite authors (I've read most of their books if not all):
Jodi Picoult
Iain Banks (the Crow Road is the best)
John Irving
Douglas Kennedy (the Pursuit of Happiness)
Marian Keyes
Armistead Maupin
Jasper Fforde (a bit strange, but excellent)
Jennifer Wiener
Anita Shreve
Harlan Coben
Roald Dahl (children's and adult fiction)
Douglas Adams

Other favourite books:
London by Edward Rutherford
Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett (nothing to do with spies!)

I don't recall a book making me angry, but Donna Tartt's Secret History has frustrated me... unable to finish the damn thing and I've been trying to read it for 10 years!

Answer 4

Title question: currently reading "Tales from the Perilous Realm" by Tolkien
1) No, I have three favourite authors: Isaac Asimov, Tolkien and G. R. R. Martin
2) & 3) No, I've never read books that were disappointing or that made me angry. I did read a book that was incredibly annoying, though, but not many people outside my country might be familiar with it. It's called "Moromeţii" by Marin Preda.

Answer 5

I am currently reading S. M. Stirling's Dies the Fire. My favorite author is David Weber, a sci-fi writer. I've read all his books. I am also into Robert Jordan's Wheel of time series and a Dean Koontz's fan. I don't recommend Ted Dekker. I read his book, Blink, by a recommendation from a friend of mine, and it started out as a sci-fi book, which i am a fan of, but only towards the end did i find out a religion book, a-la-Left Behind, but it is a bigoted version.

Answer 6

I just finished a few minutes ago Albert Camus' The Outsider.

I don't have a favourite author. I like a whole variety.

I would not recommend Birds Without Wings by Louis De Bernieres. Maybe it was partly my own fault as I was expecting it to be as great as Captain Correlli's Mandolin.

I haven't read any books yet that made me angry (hmm trying to remember.....)

Answer 7

I'm currently reading Jennifer Roberson's The Lion Throne, Chronicles of the Cheysuli.

My favourite book of all time is the Hitchhiker's Trilogy of Four by Douglas Adams.

Don't bother reading Forever Amber, that was cheap trash.

Answer 8

omg. Way to bring me down to earth! I havent read a book in forever. How embarassing. I used to love Fiction such as Koontz, King, Sheldon. I was reading alot of true crime, HAD to stop after "Little Boy Blue" & "The Girl in the Box". i've been into TV & Internet for several years. I used to LOVE to read. I'm checking out Stepford first thing Monday!

Answer 9

AVATAR OF NIGHT by Tal Brooks is a great read because many of his experiences had a direct parallel to mine. I know he didn't lie about his experiences, because I could FEEL the truth in his words. Must be a soul brother of mine. He tells of his entrapment under the guises of a teacher from India called Sri Satchya Sai Baba, who many think is the supreme Anti-christ of all times, for he calls himself our Creator and has molested thousands of children globally. Crooked governments have done nothing to stop him so far. So, if you're a fighter, a warrior against pedophiles and injustices against the children, read his book and join the fight. Mother Earth would greatly appreciate your help, I'm sure. There are websites everywhere talking about this, all dedicated to fighting this foul beast, Sai Baba of India. He actually is dying, thank God. This creep makes me angry, really angry.

Answer 10

* I am currently reading Dan Brown's 'Angels and Demons'.
* My favourite author remains W Somerset Maugham.
* I would recommend that you avoid reading Arundhati Roy's 'The God of Small Things' (1997) - which, in spite of winning a Booker Award that year, remains a mediocre attempt at 'period' fiction.
* 'The God of Small Things' also made me very angry, about how sheer marketing hype can get a non-seller into the best seller bracket. A well-read and discerning friend once commented, that 'it is the most bought, but least read work of fiction, ever' !