I'm currently reading a great book titled The Devil in the White City by Erick Larson. It's very good about the America's "first" seriel killer who murdered women in Chicago during the World's Fair that took place there, it also follows the life of an architect who is in charge of building the buildings for the fair. Anybody else reading anything decent?

I'm reading "Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway". In painstaking detail (almost too much), it details the events of the battle, hour by hour, mostly from the Japanese perspective.

After that, I have the new Stephen King book, "Cell", laying on the table. Something about cellphone use turning people into murderous zombies. King must be writing non-fiction these days.

I've also been occasionally thumbing through the enormous "ESPN Encyclopedia of College Football" that I received for Christmas.

Last night I finished Book 6 in King's Dark Tower series... an egotistical, self-indulgent piece o' crap, IMHO. Book 7 left. I hope it's significantly better. I loved the first three Dark Tower books. But, like everything else King churns out, it just seemed to go downhill over time.

After I finished the Dark Tower series I'll probably move on to a nice, safe murder mystery... maybe a Sue Grafton or Diane Mott Davidson.

peacefrog - post your thoughts about the ending when you finish book 7. I'm always curious to hear what others think of the ending after waiting so long.

Long time no see. Good to have you back. I just read One Bullet Away by Nathaniel Fick and it was excellent. It's a true story about his career as a marine captain doing recon in Afghanistan and Iraq. He doesn't use a lot of vulgarity or trash the military like a lot of books like this do. He's also from Baltimore.

Gap Creek by Robert Morgan - nice read, ok (Morgan is from somewhere around here - Morgantown, I think?)

The Lovely Bones by Sebold - nice read, although hokey in the end

Next up for book club: Alice Walker's Now is the Time to Open Your Heart

Also reading Poe for American Lit class. Also assigned is On the Road by Kerouac.

I hate reading two books at the same time.

Just finished it.

Personally, I thought Book 6 and Book 7 were both incredibly self-indulgent. The whole Stephen King As Himself bit really annoyed me... the man seems to have an inflated idea of his importance.

Regarding the ending, I thought it was a cop-out. And depressing. But not at all surprising. King often does the cop-out ending, so I was expecting something like this.

The man can write a story, though. Cop-out ending or not, the Dark Tower series is a hell of a ride.

WVU - I just spent some of my Borders gift cards I got for Christmas on "The Devil in the White City". I was a little hesitant because the reviews at Barnes & Noble were split 50/50 between 5 star and 1 star ratings. I guess it's a love it or hate it book. We'll see....

I also grabbed Manhunt: The 12 Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer. I'm not usually into Civil War-era stuff, but this mix of crime and history tantalized me.

And for you Stephen King fans out there, I finished "Cell". The first 250 pages were old skool, apocalyptic King in all his glory, but the ending got all trippy like the rest of his recent stuff. Worth a read if you're an SK fan, but nothing for the casual reader to bother with.