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Nearly 1/3 of the way through Dies the Fire by S. M. Stirling. Not bad at all. I've also read his book Conquistador.

My favorite quote so far: "[The cat] wasn't taking the trip well; cats seldom did, being little furry Republicans with an inbuilt aversion to change." As a cat owner who has moved cats halfway across country more than once, I know this well!

Funny thing, as I was reading the opening acknowledgements, I learned that Stirling happens to be reasonably close friends with Charles de Lint--probably my favorite fantasy author ever.

So what are you reading? Share a quote or a bit of trivia if you like.

I am currently reading Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. So far it's pretty unquotable at least so far as fancy turns of phrase are concerned. It is interesting, though, and quite engaging. I might even finish it in pretty good time so I can get started on The Five Ages of the Universe by Fred Adams and Greg Laughlin before everything has to go back to the library. Now there is a book I have high hopes for.

I'm reading several books at the same time. One is an ethnography called Becoming Tongan on the process of socialization of Tongan children, literally how they become Tongan. The second is Dead Witch Walking by Kim Harrison which takes place in a world where a bio-engineered tomato caught a virus and killed off most of the human population leaving the formerly outnumbered supernatural population or Inderlanders as they're called. So now in terms of policing there's the human bureau and the Inderlander. The Interlander is called the IS. The main character is a witch who has decided to break her contract as a runner with the IS and they have a put a death threat on her. She has decided to prove a prominent business man, Trent Kalamack, is running a drug called Brimstone that the IS has wanted to nail for a long time, figuring that this would get the threat called off. It is a rather fun book I've read before full of witches, vampires, fairies, pixies and more. My third book is The Mysteries of the Middle Ages: The Rise of Feminism, Science , and Art of the Cults of Catholic Europe by Thomas Cahill. Looks pretty good so far, I'm only on page 50 or so.

Well, in this case the computer does still exist. It was a matter of the virus couldn't touch the Inderlanders...all science still goes on except for the bioengineering part because that is feared like, well, the plague. It has also been 40 years since the virus.

Shadow Dance by Julie Garwood. I usually read deeper stuff, but hey I got the book high from finishing it in a day. It was worth it. wink

I'm reading Sense and Sensibility at the minute. I've gotten over my prejudice of Jane Austen from reading and analysing Pride and Prejudice for English Lit.
I tried reading both those books when I was 13. I finished Pride and Prejudice, but struggled and got bored. I didn't even manage to get halfway through Sense and Sensibility.

I think maturity=probably quite important. I'm finding S&S a bit dry, though. I just saw a BBC adaptation that was great, which kind of lead my to try it again.

I'm reading Doing It by Melvin Burgess. It's a good read. It caused a huge stink because of the sexual content when it first came out, but I don't get the fuss really- maybe I'm too desensitised.

reading Pendragon Merchant of Death really heavy for the age group it is marketed to domokun