Steel have you read a book called Pedro Paramo, written by a compatriot of yours named Juan Rulfo?

It's cropped up on lists of recommendations for me and I'm wondering if I should get it

I borrowed a copy of The Hobbit from my sister when I visited. I finished it last night. I'm pretty pumped for the movie now, but I'll wait for the inevitable BluRay EE to buy it.

It's much lighter in tone than LOTR, and it shows how it was aimed at children in small details, although that doesn't mean there are no grim parts and dying characters. Great book.

bugsonglass said:

Yes the Hobbit is very much a childrens' book - a very good one but still difficult to go back to after TLOTR

How so?

bugsonglass said:

Like trying to get pleasure out of doing elementary algebra after you've done advanced calculus

I didn't know reading a book was meant to be like solving a puzzle.

Halfway through The Universe in a Nutshell, and just bought The Grand Design. I've also started The Demon Haunted World.

OMG, OMG! I just bought Wolves eat Dogs yesterday. A novel featuring my favorite book detective, Arkady Renko, of Gorky Park fame. My hands are itching to start it right now, but I have a couple more books on my platter right now.

Finished Too Many Curses, and have now started A Nameless Witch by the same author. It's about a young, cursed witch and her familiar, a demonic talking duck, that go on a quest. The duck sold me on the book. So far it's quite humorous and fun to read, just like Too Many Curses.

travo said:

What is Too Many Curses about?

Here's the book description from Amazon:

Book Description

The wizard Margle the Horrendous takes special pride in never killing his enemies. Instead, he transforms them into various accursed forms and locks them away in his castle. His halls are filled with his collection of fallen heroes and defeated villains, along with a few ordinary folk who were just unfortunate enough to draw Margle’s attention.


It’s Nessy’s duty to tend this castle. It’s a lot of work, but she manages, taking pride in housekeeping talents that keep the castle from collapsing into chaos. But when Margle suddenly dies, everything begins to unravel. Nessy finds herself surrounded by monsters, curses, a door that should never be opened, and one very deadly dark wizardess.


Nessy doesn’t have might or magic on her side; she’s just a kobold: short, furry, and sensible. Her allies aren’t much better: a voice without a body, an angry fruit bat, a monster under her bed, a wizard in a jar (or some of him, anyway), and a one-eyed, one-horned, flying, purple, people eater. It would be smarter to walk away, but taking care of the castle is Nessy’s job, and that’s just what she intends to do.