Reading List

In the 2 1/2 months I've been on my "sabbatical", I've:

Re-read:

• Pat Conroy: Prince of Tides still sucks in comparison to the rest, Lords of Discipline still shines, the Great Santini is still the best of all. Discovered his first, self-published, The Boo. Still need to read his latest, My Losing Season.
• Ann McCaffrey: Including the new ones she is writing with her son. S'ok, brain candy.
• Armistead Maupin. Had to re-read all the Tales of the City novels so I could even remember what was relevant to his latest, Michael Tolliver Lives, which I hadn't read yet. More brain candy.

New:

• Stephen Clarke's Merde series. If you like Bill Bryson, you'll like these, though they are fictionalized rather than technically non-fiction. First time in a looooong time I've laughed out loud at a book.

In the middle of:

• Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture: I've heard great things about the actual lecture, and will watch it at some point, but when I saw it had been turned into a book, I had to pick it up.

Anxiously awaiting:

• Anything new by Jim Butcher. Apparently he's got one coming out from the perspective of Dresden's brother, but the next actual Dresden Files book doesn't come out until next April.

I hate reading political books during an election year. Too many of them are pumped out so fast and suck so badly. I prefer waiting a year or two into an administration when the real books come out.

If anyone knows of a truly fantastic author to recommend, I'd love to know. So many are so bad these days. And if you think Jodi Picoult or Jonathan Franzen are good authors, don't bother with the recommendations. I'll read brain candy crap, not crap disguised as supposedly good fiction.