December reading list?

[httpwebwitch]

Sorry to keep bugging you about this every few months.
I've exhausted my reading list again.

Read any good books lately?
I'm always game for anything related to webmastery, but I also like historical fiction, mystery/suspense, academic, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, biographies, humour... shucks I'll read anything really.

I'd also like to hear from anyone who has ordered a Kindle in Canada. Does it suck?

[grandpa]

Recently finished "The Sparrow" by Mary Doria Russell. Very engaging.

Looking forward to reading the sequel, "Children of God".

I'm trying to get started on "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer. It nearly a non-starter - I might give it up. Tedious reading.

[ytswy]

historical fiction, mystery/suspense

I've been reading C. J. Sansom's Shardlake books recently which I really enjoyed. Detective type books set in the latter days of Henry VIII (dissolution of the monasteries period). Especially good if you have any interest in the Reformation.

[LifeinAsia]

Just finished reading "1,000 Dollars and an Idea: Entrepreneur to Billionaire" by Sam Wyly. Not your typical "How I became a billionaire" book. It's very interesting how his earlier companies helped lead to what we have now with the Internet (early attempts to create a commercial "Internet" and his work in leading to the breakup of AT&T).

[httpwebwitch]

>> I'm trying to get started on "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyer

I tore through all the Twilight books a while ago. My impression throughout was that indeed they ARE written for young girls. Oh, so romantic, so tragic, so full of forbidden passions and bizarrely complicated relationships (werewolves and vampires and humans, oh my).

If you can read beyond that, they are engaging stories, and I liked the parts when the vampires were battling each other.

[Syzygy]

Three recent reads that I'd happily recommend:

* The Pocket Book of O Henry
* I'd rather be the devil: Skip James & the Blues (biography) - Stephen Calt
* Burn, baby! Burn! - The autobiography of Magnificent Montague

[Old_Honky]

Anything by Larry Niven, particularly the Ringworld series. Anything by the greatest ever fantasy writer Philip Jose Farmer, the world of Tiers series, the stupendous River world saga or my personal favourite "Time's Last Gift".

Also if you haven't already read it the graphic novel "Watchmen".

[phranque]

i haven't read them myself but my best friend keeps insisting i should read the entire "Master and Commander" series.

[graeme_p]

Sci-fi:
David Drake's Bleisarious Saga: in a interesting historical setting, and the first three books are available as a free download from Baen Free Library
The Mote in God's Eye
The Left Hand of Darkness

Biography:
The Global Soul, Pico Iyer. What its like for people like me!
Surely your Joking Mr Feynman.

Other non-fiction:
I Fought the Law, Dan Kieran. I just started this. Did you know there are two American monuments but no British one at Runnymede?
The Economic Naturalist, Robert H Frank. More wide ranging and less sensationalist than Freakonomics.

Contemparary fiction:
Reef, Romesh Gunesekera. Brilliant. I always recommend this.
Foucault's Pendulum, Umberto Eco.

Fantasy:
Till We Have Faces, CS Lewis. A retelling of the Eros and Psyche myth. His best book.
Le Guin's Earthsea series. A lot of people read the first three as kids, but she wrote another three and short stories.

Religion and Philosophy:
Science and the Renewal of Belief, Russell Stannard. May not be your cup of tea, but if your interest in philosophy stretches to it, there is a lot that is interesting and unusual(whether you agree with him or not). The author is a physicist.
Something by Bertram Russell to balance the above?
A History of Philosophy, Copleston. Eleven volumes covering everything. Pick the one that interests you.

[grandpa]

>> The Left Hand of Darkness

Did you mean In the Heart of Darkness?

LeGuin wrote the Left Hand of Darkness.
Ditto on LeGuin, nearly everything by this author has been a good read. I admit, I didn't like Changing Planes.

[arieng]

Quick, read these two great sci fi classics before they are destroyed by Hollywood in the next 2 years:

Neuromancer by Willaim Gibson (where the term cyberspace was coined)
The Hyperion Cantos by Dan Simmons (truly a stunning read)

Both won the Hugo Award for best novel.

[graeme_p]

@grandpa, I did mean Left hand of Darkness. That said, Heart of Darkness is worth reading too - it would certainly be on my list of classics to read, but I generally do not suggest books like that in this sort of context because people are too likely to already know them.

I just got a bunch of books are a belated (five months late!) birthday present from my family, including Le Guin's The Dispossessed, Pratchett's Making Money, and non-fiction ranging from Stuart Sutherland's Irrationality to Galbraith's The Great Crash of 1929.