I don't know what the heck to call this thread!

[berk]

One Thousand and One Nights by a lot of different writers most probably.

What a delightful read. Great, great book.

Which translation, out of curiosity?

[Addams]

In French. Translated by a dude named Antoine Galland apparently.

(kindle version)

[berk]

Ah, I see. I've been thinking of reading it again myself, and have been wavering between going for the most recent English translation I can find or perhaps Sir Richard Burton's late Victorian version or something even earlier.

Myself, I'm a little over half-way through Charles Dickens's Hard Times. This is a bit of a departure for Dickens as it's much shorter and faster moving than most of his novels. Might be a good one to try for people who usually find his style too wordy or his books too massive. I like it so far, but at this point probably wouldn't rank it amongst his very best.

[Moriarty]

Gone Tomorrow by Lee Child

[Slam_Bradley]

The Most Amazing Man Who Ever Lived by Robert Rankin

Cornelius Murphy is back. Along with his friend Tuppe, Boris the alien-sheep, Norman the dead boy and Thelma and Louise they face off against a horde of evil Hugo Runes. All in a day's work for an epic adventurer.

I actually felt this was the weakest of the Murphy novels, though it's still a very good read. It's funny, moves along at a good clip and has the classic Rankin continuing jokes and self-awareness.

I suspect that this one might be a bit obtuse if you're not already familiar with Murphy, Rune, et. al. But if you are, it's a fine ride.

[Moriarty]

The Darkest Day. The Washington-Baltimore Campaign During the War of 1812. by Charles G. Muller

[Deathstroke]

I finished reading the Star Trek Voyager novel The Eternal Tide by Kirsten Beyer.

[Roquefort Raider]

Ah, I see. I've been thinking of reading it again myself, and have been wavering between going for the most recent English translation I can find or perhaps Sir Richard Burton's late Victorian version or something even earlier.

I read Burton's translation earlier this year and can vouch for its high level of fun! The mindset was remarkably modern, I thought.

[Moriarty]

61 Hours by Lee Child

[berk]

I read Burton's translation earlier this year and can vouch for its high level of fun! The mindset was remarkably modern, I thought.

Excellent, I might go for that one, then. It'll fit in with all the other Victorian era books I'll be reading over he next several months.

Speaking of which, I just finished Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South, which I enjoyed very much. I tell ya, no one ever wrote page-turners like the Victorians. The reader's involvement, the emotional intensity, the sympathy and interest the reader feels for the characters and their lives, are all developed to the highest degree in these books. Dickens is the best-known, of course, but there were others and Gaskell's one of them. She's a new discovery for me - I hadn't read anything of hers until this past year, but I can recommend all three of the ones I've read so far: Mary Barton, Cranford, and now this one. She was from Manchester, or lived there much of her adult life, and both MB and North & South deal with class and labour unrest related to the manufacturing industry in the north. Cranford's different, a sort of gently nostalgic look at life in a small village.

[Slam_Bradley]

The Outfit by Richard Stark

Parker is tired of The Outfit gunning for him. So he devises a plan to have his friends stick it to the man. And all hell breaks loose.

This really feels like more of a direct sequel to The Hunter than The Man With the Getaway Face did. Parker has to deal with the fall-out from bucking "The Outfit". This is Parker action from Stark with just a couple of niggling concerns that knock it down a tad in my estimation. It's never particularly clear how Parker got fingered to The Outfit after his plastic surgery. It probably doesn't matter. He did. But it's a bit of a loose end. The other thing was that I wasn't super in love with the areas of the book where Parker wasn't present. His buddies pulled of some good heists...but that wasn't why I was reading.

Still a great read.

[Roquefort Raider]

China Mieville's Perdido street station. I was surprised that it's fantasy; somehow I expected some kind of cyberpunk techno-noir (I never read Mieville before). However, if the first fifty pages are any indication, it's gonna be pretty good fantasy!

[Moriarty]

Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

[Expletive Deleted]

It's the Christmas season, so I'm re-reading Christopher Moore's Lamb.

Also, at some point in the near future I'll be starting to re-read the "Wheel of Time" series. Not because I want to, really, but because I've put in too much time over the last twenty years not to reach the damn finish line.

[Slam_Bradley]

It's the Christmas season, so I'm re-reading Christopher Moore's Lamb.

I love that book.

Also, at some point in the near future I'll be starting to re-read the "Wheel of Time" series. Not because I want to, really, but because I've put in too much time over the last twenty years not to reach the damn finish line.

That's a lousy reason to read something.