This weekend I bought two books and finished them both.

Real easy reading. A must for Harry Potter fans;

Garth Nix, as Australian writer wrote three books about a kingdom where bad magic battles the good and where necromancers rule.

The first; Sabriel, I read on my way back from Amsterdam to Paris and made me forget I was surrounded by irritating people.

And when I bought the second, I found out there was a third, so I finished Liarael and it's follow up Abhorsen in one and a half day...

So there ya go.
What are YOU reading this week?

Sabriel
After receiving a cryptic message from her father, Abhorsen, a necromancer trapped in Death, 18-year-old Sabriel sets off into the Old Kingdom. Fraught with peril and deadly trickery, her journey takes her to a world filled with parasitical spirits, Mordicants, and Shadow Hands. Unlike other necromancers, who raise the dead, Abhorsen lays the disturbed dead back to rest. This obliges him--and now Sabriel, who has taken on her father's title and duties--to slip over the border into the icy river of Death, sometimes battling the evil forces that lurk there, waiting for an opportunity to escape into the realm of the living. Desperate to find her father, and grimly determined to help save the Old Kingdom from destruction by the horrible forces of the evil undead, Sabriel endures almost impossible exhaustion, violent confrontations, and terrifying challenges to her supernatural abilities--and her destiny.

Lirael
Fourteen years have passed since the necromancer Sabriel bound the Greater Dead Adept Kerrigor beyond the Ninth Gate and helped restore King Touchstone to the Old Kingdom throne. Now she rules at his side as Abhorsen, the sole necromancer of the Old Kingdom, keeping the people safe from the dark power of Free Magic. But this is not just Sabriel's tale. It is also the story of Hedge, a mysterious necromancer who is digging up a monstrous evil that could utterly destroy the Old Kingdom. And it is the story of Prince Sameth, Touchstone and Sabriel's only son, who would rather fight an entire army of Dead than disappoint his beloved parents. And Sam's friend Nick, who has unknowingly loosed Free Magic into the Old Kingdom, blissfully ignorant of its complete malevolence. But mostly, this is the tale of Lirael, the only daughter of the future-seeing Clayr who does not possess the Sight. Burying the pain of her Sightlessness in the Clayr's great library, Third Assistant Librarian Lirael's insatiable curiosity will soon lead her to an unbelievable destiny that may even be connected with that of the great Sabriel herself.

Abhorsen (just out)
Returning characters Lirael, former Second Assistant Librarian of the Clayr and now an Abhorsen-in-Waiting (the Abhorsen's "birthright and charge [is] to maintain the borders of Life and Death"), and her nephew, Prince Sameth, along with Disreputable Dog and the mysterious white cat, Mogget, are ensorcelled in the Abhorsen House by a Dead creature, Chlorr of the Mask, who is in league with the evil necromancer Hedge. They break out to try and rescue Sam's old friend, Nicholas Sayre, who has been tricked by Hedge into digging up Orannis, the Destroyer; if Hedge's plan succeeds, the evil now contained by two separate hemispheres will join and annihilate all life. The grotesque imagery of the Death realm provides a haunting note, which Nix offsets by the brightness of the main characters' quest to defeat the Destroyer. At once an allegory regarding war and peace and a testament to friendship, this thought-provoking fantasy also resolves the true identities of the popular Dog and Mogget characters-and suggests that Nix may still have more tricks up his sleeve. Ages 12-up.

"Fairweather Eden" by Michael Pitts and Mark Roberts

"The Green Mile" by Stephen King.

At the moment I´m reading "Papillon", don´t think I have to explain...it´s a classic one.

Thanks for the tips Gooey, I´m a big Harry Potter fan so will deff. read the books you recommended.

Jasper said:

It is not the same, of course, but really enjoyable. Th elast time I finished a serie of books this fast was when I discovered Hrry Potter...

I've been going through White Teeth by Zadie Smith lately. Thus far, it's a great read. I wish I had more time to finish it, though. I rarely have time to do non-school reading

I'm still working through Jude Wanniski's The Way the World Works. Really rich stuff, some of the best supply-side economics I've ever read--right now I'm reading about how much trade goes on that the government isn't even aware of and cannot tax; how the big national output figures can be highly misleading, etc. Cool shit...

"To America" by Stephen E. Ambrose. (It was a gift) It's basically about how the U.S. was built/made from the beginning, and goes up until (I'm guessing) now. He's a little too patriotic for my taste, but I guess you have to expect that from an old, white, American historian.

Just finished:

Spider, by Patrick McGrath, and now I'm ready for the new David Cronenberg movie... Brilliant, understated and thoroughly recommended.


Nearly finished:

Inconceivable, by Ben Elton. just a good laugh after the less than upbeat Spider (though it continues the movies-of-books theme). very funny in places, just a bit too clever in others.


Next in line:

Inventing God by ??? as far as i can tell, it's one of those kinda disjointed 3 narratives in one books (stories of 3 people leading up to 11 september). sounds good, if a bit heavy.

gooeythehamster said:

The Harry Potter series was so much fun, I read them all within two weeks. So if you advice Sabriel I will check it out.

The Tree of Man -- Patrick White.

I didn't think you Australians had it in you.

Lord of the Rings

I am reading 'The Salmon of Doubt' it is a collection of unfinished pieces of writing and short stories by the late great Douglas Adams.. Recommend this to anyone who likes his work

The Godfather, again.

Sula - Toni Morrison

Beyond the Curve from Kobe Abe

and

Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure

I am currently reading the following:

"Time Travel in Einstein's Universe: The Physical Possibilities of Travel Through Time" - J. Richard Gott

"Gimmick" van Joost Zwagerman. Want tja, af en toe moet je
toch echt wel weer eens zo'n lekker makkelijk nederlands
proletenboekje lezen over hoerenlopers en neuken met kutjes
volgesmeerd met pindakaas. Ik moet nog 5 pagina's. Daarna
ga ik denk ik maar weer eens wat fatsoenlijks lezen

3 art books:

Rembrandt,Leonardo and The World of art.

1. Stupid White Men - Michael Moore
2. The Gold Coast - Nelson DeMille
3. All the Valentine's that u lovely orgers sent me ... NOT

lashious said:


Hey, is "Stupid White Men" good?

I'm a huge fan of 'De Grote Bosatlas'. I have the most recent issue.

It's an atlas made for schools with lots of statistical information represented in maps. It tells me everything about trade, climates, languages, soil types, cultural backgrounds, history, education, incomes, pollution, population density, planology, tectonic shifts, economic activity, natural resources, ecosystems, etc.

Whenever I can't sleep, I teek a peek in it and my eyes will fall down right away!

minneapolisgenius said:

I second that...I'm thinking of reading it...any good?

By the way I'm slowly making my way through "The Art of Looking Sideways" which is a compendium of pictures and interestings stories on just about everything. Everyone should check this book out. It's expensive, hardcover and very big, but very, very interesting.

Currently reading Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy as well as ALIAS RECRUITED (an original prequel novel based on the hit TV series created by JJ Abrams) by Lynn Mason.

I dig Tom Clancy novels, and I read a lot of them, including the offshoots, NetForce, OpCenter and Power Plays. I aso dig ALIAS -- great show on ABC, as well as spy/political/intrigue novels. Takes me to another world.

I just purchased over the weekend three paperbacks -- Year Zero by Jeff Long, The Sigma Protocol by Robert Ludlum, and By Dawn's Early Light by Philip Shelby.

Year Zero deals with an archaeologial project called "Year Zero" -- the search for the historical Jesus and an ancient relic that was sold on the black market. Pestilence threatens to wipe out humanity.

By Dawn's Early Light deals with this type of "ALIAS" female spy that is recruited by a covert govenment ageny to hunt down moles and spies along govenement corridors.

But knowing me, I will read these three books about a year or two from now. I have a stack of paperbacks, some Tom Clancy, some others, some Stephen King, that I need to read.

Talk to me in 2005 when I get finished
[This message was edited Mon Feb 17 15:47:45 PST 2003 by a2grafix]

'Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid' - Douglas R Hofstadter

'Plum Sauce' - Richard Usborne

I'M CURRENTLY READING...

Dead Souls by Nokolai Gogol.

While were at it, for those of a political bent I strongly recommend Globalisation And It's Discontents by Joseph Stiglitz

My two euros

Icenine will b please to learn i'm working myself thru an introduction to Russell. At the same time trying to read The Karamzov Brothers, but school started again, and with 10 pages a day, no end in sight any day soon.

Understanding Reading Problems, Assessment and Instruction and Guided Reading, Good First Teaching for All Children

After nearly 2 years of reading volume upon volume of spiritual works (The Four Agreements, The Way of the Kabbalah, The Direct Path, and on and on and on...), I'm finally getting back to fiction.

Last week I picked up "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay: A Novel" by Michael Chabon. He wrote "The Mysteries of Pittsburgh" and "The Wonder Boys," both of which I enjoyed immensely. Looking forward to some escapeism.

Incidentally, his latest book looks like a fun read:

"In Summerland, his first novel for young readers, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon attempts an American Narnia. Inspired by Lewis and Tolkien, he's created his own magical landscape on which to paint a sweeping fantasy quest, but mixes the same ingredients--folklore and new inventions--in a distinctively American way." amazon.com