mmkay, I haz read some goodly books lately.
Just finished Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. An entertaining and educational read. Like reading a whole book by your favourite columnist.
Also just finished Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? for the second time. It's the Philip K. **** novel that Bladerunner, the cult sci-fi movie is based on. I studied the film in my final year of high school - twas great - so easy to write about in exams. The book is way different than I remember, but better, in a way. The film is epic, and I'm not usually a sci-fi fan.
Another one I've just finished (seriously, these have all been in the past week) is Justine Larbalestier's Magic or Madness, the first in her trilogy about magic. It's really, really, really good! I can't wait to read the next one, Magic Lessons.
I'm still working on Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World. For something subtitled a novel about the history of philosophy, it's a surprisingly easy read. It does get a bit heavy at times, but really gets intriguing on page 283. The premise is basically a 14 year old Norwegian girl unknowingly embarks of a philosophy course, and it's really interesting.
Also reading some short stories by Narayan. Great author. I love Indian literature.
Oh, and I read Dolphin Music the other day. It's a short, simple read with deep themes, kind of 1984-ish, but not so dark and depressing. I was previewing it to teach to an ESOL class of 15 year-olds. I think they'll enjoy it, and the language is simple enough for them to understand, but rich enough that they won't get bored or feel like they're being talked-down to. I know for a fact that I could never write strong, 3d characters in such a short space, so any criticism I have of the book is just nit-picky.
In my own writing, I'm currently working on a based-on-a-true-story short novel, an epic fantasy tale and a few others. One in particular, I keep seeing that little girl who played Latika in Slumdog Millionaire as my main character (who is, as yet, unnamed).
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