Ok, post in here whatever you're reading at the moment. Don't just post a title, though -- give us a bit of a run-down. If you like it, sell it. If it's horrible, and you're only reading it for school/work/to sound impressive at parties, tear it apart. Make this a thread worth reading, not just posting in.
I'll start.
I'm sort of on a break from reading, because I'm -- well, lazy -- but the books I am in the middle of:
WYRD SISTERS by Terry Pratchett
I'm reading this because I am doing a play version of it for a production company at my old uni. I've never read Pratchett before -- though it had been suggested to me ad nauseum -- so I didn't quite know what to expect. But it's a lot of fun, and I particularly enjoy how much Pratchett was willing to subvert cliches with his characterisation. It's very English, though, so you have to be into that absurdist, ironic kind of comedy, but if that's your thing, you can't do a whole lot better than Pratchett. A familiarity with fantasy literature also helps, obviously. In this case, the story is a mash-up of Hamlet and Macbeth, which is why this company (a Shakespeare-oriented company) has asked me to do it with them.
The play version which I found online -- apparently adapting it yourself is verboten -- is pretty godawful, so I'll be "enhancing" it myself.
I'm also re-reading THE HOBBIT, which I always find to be longer than it was the last time I read it. I manage to forget entire plotlines. Before my last re-read, I forgot entirely about the Battle of Five Armies. But it's one of my favourite books ever -- much more than Lord of the Rings (which is where my aborted username comes from) -- and is such a joy to go back through every time. This is my fourth of fifth time, I guess.
And RIGHT HO, JEEVES by P.G. Wodehouse
This is my third time through this -- my favourite of the hysterical novels by Wodehouse, who came up with the archetypal save-the-day-Butler "Jeeves". This time, I'm actually recording it into an audiobook for my friend's birthday present, so I'm not just re-reading. I've spent about 7 hours on it, and I'm halfway through (the recording software was difficult to get the hang of, so the rest shouldn't take so long). If you have any love of the English language at all, you'll love anything by Wodehouse -- with people like Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Douglas Adams, A.A. Milne, Christopher Hitchens and more all referring to him as the undisputed Master of English comedy writing, how can you not?
Bookmarks