My mother is reading Twain, they were able to squish the volume down and fit it in a Kindle, I just can’t believe how big the print is.
My recent library loaner is “Going Postal” by Terry
Pratchet, the Douglas Adams of fantasy. I just got
to the part where Moist von Lipwig, former conman
and the new postmaster of Ankh-Morpork, has
discovered the old sorting machine built by Bloody
Stupid Johnson. The inventor thought 3.14159…
was an untidy value for pi, so he made the wheels
with pi=3. This of course required the creation of
pocket universes, quantum uncertainty, etc., the
end result being that they found mail in the hopper
50 years before it was to be written. Soon, the post
office was filled to the brim with undeliverable future
mail and therefore had to be closed. Now they’re
trying to dig themselves out and revive the service.
I never thought the post could be so funny.
UPDATE: I’m past that part.
Going Postal is great. I need to reread that one. You can continue reading the adventures of Moist von Lipwig in Making Money.
Terry Pratchett is wonderful. I’m his mother, you know, even though he’s older than me. 
My local library has an “Adopt an Author” program and my husband and I “adopted” Terry Pratchett about a decade or so ago. When you adopt an author, the library automatically buys every new book by that author and sends you the bill. They put a little sticker inside the book cover acknowledging the donor, AND they let the donor be the first one to check out the book. It’s a great way to share your favorite author(s) with your community. I still haven’t read his most recent book, though – my library is being REALLY SLOW about getting it. They told me it was on order a couple months ago and I haven’t gotten an invoice yet.
I also have a large shelf (though still incomplete) of Terry Pratchett paperbacks at home. I received a couple more for Christmas and just reread them: Unseen Academicals and Thud.
What a nice idea, I’m going to borrow that if you don’t mind?
There’s NO WAY I could ever read that! 
it sounds much to true to life…
I have finally gotten around to reading As I Lay Dying by Wm. Faulkner- I intended to read it earlier in the year, loaned it out and recently got it back- I love it!
I got The Reluctant Fundamentalist for Christmas, and opened it with a sigh of ‘oh dear, it’s about Important Issues’ (I feel that a lot of books and films get undeserved praise & hype if they’re Worthy. Like The Kite Runner.) This one’s very well written, though, and keeps me coming back, but my final verdict will depend on the ending.
My favourite bit of “Going Postal” was the villain’s parrot, whose cry was “Twelve and a half percent! Twelve and a half percent!” Mr Pratchett spells it out near the end, but I’m happy to say that I worked it out.
Yes indeed, those over-hyped worthy books do not leave you smiling.
Very good ending, actually.
I’m home with a bad cold, and just finished ‘Whale Season’ by N.M. Kelby. I wouldn’t call it great literature, but it’s wildly bizarre, fun and highly entertaining. http://nmkelby.com/www.nmkelby.com/The_Novels.html
Halfway through Atlas shrugged, starting Three cups of tea.
Is this a first read? You know how Ayn gets us all wound up around here.
Randy?
This thread should stay current. I know I always love to hear of a good book.
I recently finished Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal, by Christopher Moore. As with all of Moore’s books, it has plenty of laugh-out-loud funny parts, but I think it is also surprisingly respectful of the figure of Jesus Christ. I think most of my Christian friends* would enjoy it and get a good laugh, as would my atheist friends.
*To put up with me, they need a sense of humor and a relaxed, tolerant outlook on the world.
I’ve just finished reading G.Bruce Knechts’ book The Proving Ground …it’s the story of the disasterous 1998 Sydney to Hobart yacht race in which some of the sailors lost their lives..It was a gripping read even if you’re not a yachtie and I looked forward to picking it up at every reading session..
I’m now reading Frequent Fyer by one,Kinky Freidman.I’ve never read any of his books but remember seeing some video of him and his band,The Texas Jewboys 
A kind of sarcastic Country and Western outfit !..very funny.
Kinky is also responsible for one of my favourite quotes . “Find what you like and then let it kill you” 
..
Next book will be one that I bought at a garage sale last week for 20 cents..The Untold Story of Israel by Jaques Derogy and Hesi Carmel… I’m hoping for a better understanding of the Middle East troubles after reading this..
The Kinky Friedman books are fantastic. He’s been described as a cross between Sam Spade and Groucho Marx, and that’s a very apt description. He himself is the main character and the books are populated with his real life friends, including Willie Nelson. They’re laugh out loud funny, the stories (murder mysteries) are often ingenious and the Kinkster is a keen observer of human nature. They’re sort of best read in order starting with Greenwich Killing Time because various recurring characters appear and disappear but it’s not totally necessary. Great fun. I gotta go check and see if there are any I’ve missed: thanks for reminding me.
‘Blues Mandolin Man – The Life and Music of Yank Rachell’, by Richard Congress. Very well done, IMO.
Hi, Everyone.
I’ve rereading Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy (“All the Pretty Horses,” “The Crossing,” “Cities on the Plain”) for the third time. I don’t think there are any novels other than these that I’ve read three times.
I read Daniel Woodrell’s “Winter’s Bone,” last weekend and admired it a lot (as I did the film.)
Finishing up Patti Smith’s “Just Kids.” Much of it I’ve found tedious. I wanted to like it more than I have.
That surprised me too. Aside from some nods
to the Infancy Gospel, and trips to India that
the Hare Krishnas love so much, it left the
character of Jesus largely intact and just played
with those around Him. I love what Moore did
with Judas.
My favorite quote from “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me”
this week: When discussing Gov. Palin’s use of
the widely unheard-of phrase “Blood Libel”, Mo
Rocca said, “I thought it was a Cormac McCarthy
book.”
As well as ploughing/plowing through Elizabeth David’s Bread and Yeast Cookery - I can’t find plate 1, which distracted me - I am enjoying re-reading the Lucifer series of Graphic Novels, by Mike Carey. This is a spinoff of the Sandman series. Mike Carey ably carries on Neil Gaiman’s creation.
In the Sandman series, Lucifer empties Hell and gives the key to the Sandman. After bumming around Australia, he opens a nightclub and plays piano in cabaret. This continues his experiences, beginning with a commission taking him to Tzodsil - Navaho country - Navaho myth. In the story, Blue Flint woman calls him “Atse 'hashke”, which means “First Angry”. I finally got around to looking up the name, and I’m glad I did.
Graphic novel enthusiasts will enjoy. Those who imagine comics are kid’s stuff, should steer clear.
Right now I am reading The Deerslayer by James Fenimore Cooper. I just finished his Last of the Mohicans. Since many of the classics can be downloaded to Kindle for free I have been reading many of the books I haven’t read in over 50 years. In the recent past I have read Robinson Crusoe, The Time Machine, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and others. I am finding meaning in some of these books that I never understood when I was younger.
Ron