What I just finished: China Mieville's Kraken

If you like science fiction, weird fiction, and/or geek fiction, here's the one to read. Check out the New York Times article on the author.

"Geek Chic"

Those of you who found "geek chic" ["A great graphic definition of 'geek'"] interesting would probably love this trilogy by William Gibson: Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, and Zero History. I heard a fantastic conversation with Gibson on a podcast--probably This Week in Tech--and he said he based Pattern Recognition's heroine on his daughter. The protagonist is super-sensitive to brands;it's wonderful to see what she's doing years later in the last book in the series. Fashionistas, read! Everybody else, please read it too! You can't read any fiction much better written than Gibson's lapidary [look up this awesome word!] prose.

More great contemporary authors!

I just finished several brainy, funny sci-fi works by Charles Stross, available at the TCC Southeast library. And if you like cyberfiction, I recommend Daemon by Daniel Suarez. (Update: And if you read Daemon, you won't be able to live without reading its sequel, Freedom.)

What I just finished reading--and highly recommend

Cory Doctorow's Makers, which you will love if you enjoy tinkering with computers and/or any other machine.

I also recommend his Little Brother.

My recent–and recommended–reading

Fiction:
Doctorow, Cory. Little Brother. Excellent novel about 17-year-old who fights back against the state after a terrorist attack. Great cryptography and hacking details. The TCCD Southeast Library has it.

McCall Smith, Alexander. 44 Scotland Street novels. These were and are serialized (just as Dickens was!) in The Scotsman.

Jerome, Jerome K. Three Men in a Boat (To Say Nothing of the Dog).Originally published in 1889, but I just now read it.
Also see Willis below for her tribute to it.

Mysteries:
Airth, Rennie. Anything.
Cleverly, Barbara.
Finch, Charles. Anything.
King, Laurie R. The Sherlock Holmes/Mary Russell series, which just keeps getting better.
Winspear, Jacqueline. Anything.

Poetry:
Hafiz, as rendered by Daniel Ladinsky. These are not literal, but marvelously modern, idiomatic re-creations of Hafiz that will lift your spirits.

Science Fiction:
Willis, Connie. Anything, but especially To Say Nothing of the Dog, Bellwether, and, if you can find it, All Seated on the Ground (Christmas novella about aliens that will crack you up.)


Non-fiction:
de Blij, Harm. The Power of Place: Geography, Destiny, and Globalization's Rough Landscape.

Marino, Gordon. "Kierkegaard on the Couch." A boxing coach and philosophy professor, Dr. Marino can make even the impenetrable absolutely clear–and entertain you while doing so.

McDonald, Sarah. Holy Cow. An Australian woman’s memoir of living in India. Funny and enlightening.

Mehta, Gita. Snakes and Ladders. Wonderfully funny essays about her native India.

Mortenson, Greg. Three Cups of Tea. Building schools in Afghanistan.

Trapani, Gina. Upgrade Your Life (previously published as Lifehacker; by the founder of the blog of the same name).

Weller, Anthony. Days and Nights on the Grand Trunk Road. A modern adventure through India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan.