I just finished "The Rossetti Letter," by Christi Phillips. It takes place in Venice, Italy, and is about the Spanish Conspiracy on Venice in 1618. I LOVED it; there is just the right amount of history, fiction, suspense, romance, etc.
The book follows the account of (fictional) courtesan Alessandra Rossetti and her part in the Conspiracy(real event). Laced into all this is a woman named Claire, of present time, who is completing her dissertation on the topic and travels to the Venice of today, to complete some research to her topic.

I definitely recommend this book... .

I'm reading a couple books all at the same time. Some are for school others for me. Dragon Fly in Amber from the Outlander series. Bridges of Madison County. Lord of the Flies for school. and 1984

I listened to Boneman's Daughters on a trip to Peoria (from Florida) and really enjoyed it. What are some of his other titles? Are they mystery/suspense?

I am currently listening to "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett, I got it from Audible, and it is very well done, there are different readers for the different characters and it is like listening to a old time radio program. I am half way through and enjoying it very much.
I recently listened to "The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo", a very good story, a little hard getting into it at first but worth it.

Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix i'm almost done though which means I can start the 6th one finally!

I've just finished Michael Stipe's biography. There's "Freddy Mercury. Life in His Own Words" waiting for me. Meantime I dip into "Haiku Year".

I've been working my way through the 4-book series of Twilight, New Moon, and now the third one Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. It's simple reading for teenagers and young adults, great for speed-readers like me. In my opinion it isn't nearly as good as other vampire novels, such as by Anne Rice and Laurel K. Hamilton, but it's still a good alternative for those younger readers because it has no adult content so far.

the whole Virgin River series by Robyn Carr..a wonderful author of romance..now that I have some time off..I lose myself in a book

Had this book on my shelf for ages and have just picked it up... Blue and Yellow dont make green Michael Wilcox. Seems like a good read so far.

the 7th Harry Potter book. I finished the 6th one in time for the movie

The Gormanghast Trilogy - Mervyn Peake

Dexter. It's a very good book. Based on the show Dexter.

I'm reading the Jack Higgins 'Sure Fire' series.

I really don't understand why the series has had so many average reviews, because it's actually quite a good read.

Hi there... well I'm reading the book " The Historian " by Ellizabeth Kostova, is a novel that try to put toghether the history of Vlad Tepes and the fiction character Dracula, it seems good so far... but still have lot to get to the end

awwww..man, you guys ever read, ANGELAS' ASHES by Frank McCourt? I loved that book, and the movie was pretty good too, anyway, Mr. McCourt died Sunday, at 78, the cancer got him.. may he rest in peace.

Yes, I have read it. And the following novel 'Tis'. Very good books. I used to cry many times during reading 'Angela's ashes'.

Sad he died.

I've just finished reading the second and third book in Trudi Canavans trilogy "Age of the Five" and Kristine Hannahs book "Magic Hour". All those three books are extremely good, if I had the time I would definitely read them again!

Are these fantasy? What genre would you place them in?

"Age of the Five" are fantasy books, but "Magic Hour" is maybe romance/psychological.

I've just finished re-reading the five books of the Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy. You should try them.

I know this isnt a 'book' but has anyone seen 'orphan'? I love scary movies, I want to see that one and 'the collector' ...those both look like they are going to be great scary movies..

I've saw 'Orphan' in preview a few weeks ago, and I seriously recommend it. It has some badly presented parts, but it's overall a really good (creepy) movie.

I'm currently reading a very creepy book. It's called
"'I' - The creation of a serial killer" By Jack Olsen.
It's about Keith Hunter Jesperson, or 'The Happy Face Killer' as he is known, and he has told the writer of the book, why he killed, and why he enjoyed it so much. Extremely weird stuff.
I'm on page 40, and it's increadibly disturbing so far. Nevertheless, very fascinating.

I am currently reading "Drawn to Life" by Walt Stanchfield.

From the 1930s to 60s were regarded by many as the first golden age of animation. This was due in no small measure to the efforts of Walt Disney, who established very active on-job training and research groups among his staff to try to advance understanding of the basis of effective character animation. Rapid progress was made across these years in knowledge, and the had clear results in the quality of the films released.

However, by the 1970's, Walt Disney was dead (1966) and many of his veteran staff were also retiring or dying. In the later 1970s it was realised that young staff were no longer getting the sort of training which formerly occurred, and that this was adversely affecting the quality of the output, and ultimately the box-office. Furthermore, it was realised that there was a relatively short window of opportunity to make amends for this, as veterans were becoming very elderly. A policy was enacted to make a new strong push for an educational environment, veterans were encouraged to write up their knowledge (one result of this was Thomas and Johnston's book "Illusion of Life:Disney Animation" started in 1977 and published in 1981) and retired animators were brought back to mentor and teach.

One of these was Walt Stanchfield, who ran evening classes for Disney animators from 1980 until his death in 2000. The classes took the form of short-pose drawing sessions and discussion, and were accompanied by handouts of notes, and these acquired legendary status (I remember hearing of them when I was doing some computer animation in 1999, from online contacts I had with professional computer animators) but they were not available. Now, in 2009, (I've been waiting a decade to read these books) they have at last been published, in the form of 2 substantial (but relatively inexpensive) volumes.

They are rather informal, they don't provide a course in animation (for that, you'll want Thomas & Johnston's"Illusion of Life" mentioned above, and Richard Williams' "Animator's Survival Kit"), but are packed with good information, much of it to do with gestural drawing, capturing the life of poses and actions, visual storytelling, and of the importance of constant practice of core drawing skills. They are very readable (though sometimes a little rambling and repetitious - but there's so much good stuff in them, that can be readily forgiven), and I'd highly recommend them for all interested in drawing figures from life or imagination, anyone interested in visual storytelling in drawing/painting or animation, and all who are interested in cartooning or caricature.

Dave

dave that sounds like something i would be interested in putting in my drawing library, I love figure drawing.. you are always packed with the best info..

Toni, that reminds me of the first book like that i read as a youngster, my very first 'true' serial killer book i ever read, was the 'son of sam' it made a very lasting impression on my young brain, not for the better either..I was about 11 or 12, didnt even understand it all, but what i did stuck there..it is true that kids are impressionable for sure.. i shall have to give that one you are reading now a try too.

I was gonna buy this but Dave's ruined it by giving away the plot now!

lmao..

I think the book called Angel from Darkness written by Dennis McDougal is a very similar stuff, too; you may try it, if you are interested in such kind of genre.

What I am reading right now, are Italian renaissance novels - the stories are quite funny sometimes.

Just borrowed it from the library
And now I'm creeped out again.

Toni.

Heeeellou Toni,
how about Angel from Darkness, what do you say - did you like it or..?

Currently, I am reading the book called Infidel and it is written by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who is a Dutch activist, intellectual, writer, and politician.

It is an autobiography - she writes about her childhood and youth in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Kenya and about her trip and life in the Netherlands.
I think it is a very emotive (and sometimes a sad) book; it describes the way of life of those women, who live in strict Islamic society.

I loved it! Very, very strange book. Really interesting when considering the psychology behind it.
Thanks for the recommendation.

Toni.

Testing.

The book im reading now is called Charles Bargue Drawing Course.

The Bargue-Gerome Drawing Course is a complete reprint of a famous, late nineteenth century drawing course. It contains a set of almost two hundred masterful lithographs of subjects for copying by drawing students before they attempt drawing from life or nature.

Charles Bargue

The Bargue book is excellent, but expensive. However, you will usually find it at a better price from the Dahesh Museum:
http://www.daheshmuseum.org/museumshop/ind...p?productID=285
(the organisers of the republication) than from Amazon.

Bargue plate copies, done very accurately, are widely used as part of the training program at modern Ateliers.

My good friend Paul Foxton details how to go about doing a Bargue copy at home, in his blog:
http://www.learning-to-see.co.uk/bargue-5-1


Dave

I'm re reading Marked a house of night novel by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast I'm re reading the whole series so I can read Tempted the newest book.

I am hooked on dragon books, sooo iam reading the last dragon chronicles right now. when i finish that i'm going to read Airborn.

I'm reading "Lost Dogs and Lonely Hearts" by Lucy Dillon. It's a cute and easy read

I am currently reading 'The Reality Dysfunction' by Peter Hamilton. It is seriously hard sci/fi and the first book of a very large trilogy (almost 4,000 pages in the three books). If you like this kind of thing, it is a must read.

I just finished The Zen of Seeing and started Zen Seeing, Zen Drawing, both from Frederick Franck.

For the ones who don't know it, it's about letting your drawing hand make what your eyes see.

But is it any good?

Yes Songsparrow, it is.

I decided to do a challenge with my wrong hand where I never could write with. Before I started I made the drawing the way Frederick Franck teaches in his books and I am surprising myself now.
I like the first one best but I got the answers on my questions out of the second one where I'm halfway now.

Hi, I'm reading 'The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.'

I read pretty much constantly, and am excited to see that a lot of you have read (and enjoyed) a lot of books I've also read (and enjoyed). Right now I'm reading a selection of interviews with Andy Warhol, and just finished reading a sub par biography on him. I'm also re-reading Being Peace by Thich Nhat Hahn, which I've read many times and is always a comfort to me. I recently finished Audrey Niffenegger's Her Fearful Symmetry, which was spellbinding. I chose it because I enjoyed The Time Traveler's Wife so much.



I read this last year and LOVED it. I recently watched the movie, and while Peter Jackson made a gorgeous film, I feel like he lost a lot of the raw emotion that's in the book.

I am reading "Don't call them ghost's"

Chris your book sound very good ....I am reading In the minds of Serial Killers ...its a book on where they grew up and the upbrining they had and how we compare or find characters that stand out ...its a book used for profiling ...crazy I know but its good reading ...and if I read I like to learn something .

I did an independent study on serial killers in high school and find them fascinating from a psychological point of view. I'd love to check this book out, who wrote it? And I'm with you, I read a lot of nonfiction because I like to learn.

It's a great book Kim. It's actually a story written by the woman who actually experienced what the book is about. It's not your typical "Ghost Story" book, but an amazing relationship which she had with child spirits that were in her home. I'm a believer so it's a great easy read.

I also love books like the one that you are reading. If you like profiling books, if you don't watch it already. check out Criminal Minds I think it's on CBS Wednesdays. It's my favorite show and I never miss it!!!!

After you mentioned it I went to my bookstore website and read couple of pages from it. It sounds so interesting it's now on my list of books to read.