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Recently my father gave me the huge History of Impressionism by Peter Feist (that is the very same book I paged through in the library, discovering the identity of the Mysterious Woman With Mysterious Red Umbrella, so I grew very fond of it and lent it several times. Later I found it at a book shop. It cost much, but I still had book vouchers so I went home and was going to pick up the book the next day... but it was sold already!).
It's a beautiful book but now that I'm the Slime Oozing Out From Your TV Set with that cursed cold that's been going strong for 6 days, I set to read Anthony Burgess's Pianoplayers. Which is a fun little book, and the journey through Italy in it might be the only thing that could possibly beat the Frenzy Potato Truck Scene. Top class black comedy.

I just found a rare volume in a second-hand bookshop... (some of) Asimov's mysteries. I'm devouring it. *wields knife and fork*

Sounds like you've both come up with some good books.

What a coincidence (or IS it? ) that it was the same book as the one you found the GK3 painting in, BBP.

I didn't even know Asimov wrote mysteries!

Nothing quite so unusual for me. I'm currently reading Spook Country by William Gibson. A good book so far and suiting my current genre mood, but my reading time has been cut down by Mass Effect 2, so it may be a while before I finish it.

This semester's given me a lot of reading time because of how my schedule's worked out. Since Thursday, I've read Darkly Dreaming Dexter, John Grisham's The Associate, and I just finished Grisham's The Confession.

Tomorrow I'm starting Truman Capote's In Cold Blood.

I'm currently reading Aristotle Detective from Margaret Doody (an excellent read), Thanks, Jeeves from P. G. Wodehouse and finishing Glimpses by Lynn Flewelling.

Hey, you like Wodehouse? Dad collects those.
If you can find them, there's a comedy series made out of it starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie that's pretty good.

BBP wrote:Hey, you like Wodehouse? Dad collects those.
If you can find them, there's a comedy series made out of it starring Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie that's pretty good.

I'm just at the beginning, but it seems very good.

I read about that series. I'd like to see it, if only for Stephen Fry, who's such an amazing actor (and therogue's avatar )

They're all on YouTube. I know it's not the best way to watch anything but I'll be a rockstar before they release something like that on the continent.
Here is the delightful theme song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78BS_7lKgJw

I have a new Mercedes Lackey book from the library, which I'm really enjoying. It's the most recent novel in her Five-Hundred Kingdoms series. I love novels based on fairy tales and I like the lighter, more humorous approach she takes with this one.

I actually did have a look for some George R. R. Martin novels, but they didn't seem to have many in at that branch and none of the fantasy ones.

Not sure I'd like her fairy tale stuff, but I love Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series.

Maiandra wrote:I actually did have a look for some George R. R. Martin novels, but they didn't seem to have many in at that branch and none of the fantasy ones.

The first one, if you need, is A Game of Thrones, and if I'm not mistaken, is also available in electronic format from Amazon.

dotkel50 wrote:Not sure I'd like her fairy tale stuff, but I love Lackey's Heralds of Valdemar series.

I've read most of those and really loved them too. I think I got a bit over-saturated when it got to the owl-whatever trilogy and I gave her a break as an author for a few years at that point.

I actually started back reading her work with another fairy tale novel she wrote, The Black Swan, which was more serious than the 500 Kingdoms books. I really enjoyed it and liked that it was different than what I had previously read of hers.

I also recently read her novel about Guinevere from the Arthurian legends and really, really liked it. She did a great job with that one. Again, different than what I'd read previously of hers, but great.

The 500 Kingdoms are more light-hearted than the Valdemar series. They have more of a fun, adventure/humour/romance feel to them, but they're still a good read. There are excerpts from each on her website. Most authors seem to do that these days, so it's a good way to see if you like the feel of the books.

AndreaDraco wrote:

Maiandra wrote:I actually did have a look for some George R. R. Martin novels, but they didn't seem to have many in at that branch and none of the fantasy ones.

The first one, if you need, is A Game of Thrones, and if I'm not mistaken, is also available in electronic format from Amazon.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind. I don't normally buy books, since I read a lot and it gets expensive after a while, but I'm sure I can find it at one of the library branches.

Since we're all speaking of fantasy authors, one of my new favourites is Jaqueline Carey. Especially her second trilogy. I absolutely loved the final book of that trilogy. Maybe I was just in the right mood when I read it, but I haven't enjoyed a fantasy novel that much in years.

Her first trilogy was pretty good, but a little dark for my taste and a little more awkward, since it still felt like she was getting the feel for her world. Her most recent trilogy is very good.

Maiandra wrote:Since we're all speaking of fantasy authors, one of my new favourites is Jaqueline Carey. Especially her second trilogy. I absolutely loved the final book of that trilogy. Maybe I was just in the right mood when I read it, but I haven't enjoyed a fantasy novel that much in years.

Her first trilogy was pretty good, but a little dark for my taste and a little more awkward, since it still felt like she was getting the feel for her world. Her most recent trilogy is very good.

I've only read, and only partially, Kushiel's Dart, but I didn't like it very much: for once the Italian translation is pretty bad, full of ridiculous archaisms, and then I had a hard time relating to the main character, who struck me as incredibly conceited and artificial. But if they get better, I might give them another chance some day!

AndreaDraco wrote:

Maiandra wrote:Since we're all speaking of fantasy authors, one of my new favourites is Jaqueline Carey. Especially her second trilogy. I absolutely loved the final book of that trilogy. Maybe I was just in the right mood when I read it, but I haven't enjoyed a fantasy novel that much in years.

Her first trilogy was pretty good, but a little dark for my taste and a little more awkward, since it still felt like she was getting the feel for her world. Her most recent trilogy is very good.

I've only read, and only partially, Kushiel's Dart, but I didn't like it very much: for once the Italian translation is pretty bad, full of ridiculous archaisms, and then I had a hard time relating to the main character, who struck me as incredibly conceited and artificial. But if they get better, I might give them another chance some day!

I don't tend to trust most translations to be true to the original, but the first trilogy did suffer from overuse of archaic phrases such as "mayhaps" and such. That's why I said I only kind of liked it. That was definitely one thing that got on my nerves reading it.

However, either I got used to it eventually, or she toned it down some because I didn't find her tone bothered me much in later books. If you start with the fourth one, Kushiel's Scion, it has a different protagonist and I think her tone and portrayal of the world is more natural.

On the other hand, maybe we just have different tastes in writing style and you still won't like it.