This is a thread to tell us what book you are currently reading, and what you think of it.

I'd like it to stay relatively on topic for once, as it is a worthy subject, so I'll probably delete pointless posts.

The books I read are mainly within the Fantasy or Science Fiction genres, though I wouldn't mind branching out a bit. I don't read very quickly, partly because I usually just read at night when tired, and partly just because I take my time over the words.

Anyway, I recently finished reading The Gameplayers of Zan, which is good as an imaginative and memorable SF book, with lots of original ideas, but it was rather slow moving.

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I'm now reading The Hobbit! I read it when I was very much younger, and I think too young - I'm really enjoying it now though; it's clearly aimed at quite a young audience, but Tolkein's world still comes across magically. The plot is very linear, but the settings and characters really come to life.

What have you been reading?

I am slowly but surely working my way through all the Terry Pratchett books. Also reading Animal Farm! I usually have quite a few books on the go at once.

I've just finished Stalin: In the Court of the Red Tsar by Simon Montefiore. I'm currently reading Rik Mayall's autobiography, although it's crap. Once I finish it I'll move on to my Catherine the Great book, also by Simon Montefiore - I really like his stuff. I just love Soviet (and, to an extent, Imperial Russian) History really. I'll probably end up reading the biographies of all the major Bolshevik players - Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Kamenev, Zinoviev, Rykov, Kallilin and Molotov. I'm just sad in that way.

I think I read too slowly to have more than one on the go, that would take forever!

In the last few months I've rediscovered Shakespeare a bit - I never really disliked it at school, but it wasn't really the same as reading it for one's own enjoyment. I've only read The Tempest and Julius Caesar so far, but I want to get round to King Lear soon.

James wrote:I think I read too slowly to have more than one on the go, that would take forever!

And add that shit to Uni reading. If I were to read what I usually read recreationally on top of all my course reading, I'd have no time for anything else. I just wish I'd done history instead of politics.

I hardly read anything in the library today, it sucked

I never have time to read anything for enjoyment at the moment. I've been reading a lot of plays from the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century. They're not bad.

I've still got to read the last Harry Potter. Fuck.


I hope Ginny is ok..

The Hobbit's brilliant James, you'll love that one! A much easier, if slightly less involving read than the full blown LOTR. The Two Towers was one of the most brilliant reading experiences I've ever had.

I've just finished reading Slaughterhouse 5, by Kurt Vonnegut. What an unbelievable book. So profound and enlightening. Despite the fact that it's about war and death (and time travel), it's a really positive book that makes you think of life in a different way. It's based on the author's time in WWII where he was a POW and taken to Dresden, where he lived through all the bombings of madness towards the end of the war. It was also pretty funny in places. But it just really makes you think about life in general. Such a great book.

Now I've just started to read A Clockwork Orange. Only about 3 pages through so I can't make much of a judgement yet, but it's quite funny and entertaining so far (I haven't encountered any voilence or rape yet, but I imagine it's going to get slightly less humorous soon...)

And once I've done that I'm going to re-read Brave New World, as it's absolutely fucking mind-blowingly amazing.

Clockwork is brilliant, the language seems daunting at first but is so natural. Currently reading "Century Rain" by Alastair Reynolds, which is very easy going.

Since I finished uni I've got way more time to read for pleasure, so I'm currently reading 'The Age of Innocence' by Edith Wharton. It's about New York high society in the 1870s, and, from what I've read so far, seems to be partly about challenging the conventions of that time and society.

Before that, I read Jules Verne's 'Journey to the Centre of the Earth', because it had been sitting on my shelf gathering dust for at least ten years... I was very disappointed that no dinosaur attacks featured in the book, as its cover suggested.

Star wars comics, from start to finish.

Ahhh I have to read what feels like a billion books per week [English Lit student] for Uni, some of which are so tedious it makes me want to read them while hanging upside down off a cliff just to make the whole reading experience mildly more interesting...

That said I've been reading lots of Conan Doyle and I really his style, and a bit of Poe... I very nearly wrote Pie then... I'm enjoying the classics. I'm re-reading the gunslinger as well though, rather enjoy a bit of Roland on the side. There's only so much toffery I can deal with!

Damn, I knew there was something I needed to get last night!!! My mate has loads of Pratchett books to lend me, I've read em all already but not for years...

so yeah, soon to be reading lots of Pratchett!!!!

Since my course started I haven't had much leisure reading but I did manage the His Dark Materials trilogy early on. Really, really good Not sure which book was my fave but they are definitely not merely books for kids. Check em out.

Glad you liked Slaughterhouse 5, Jon. I recommend it to all. And, if you can, read Le Guin's The Dispossessed. It's awesome, I will re-read.

Currently reading Teaching as a Subversive Activity after finishing Deschooling Society and After Deschooling: Now What.