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Welcome aboard Ty. Just took a look at your book on Amazon, seems to be doing well!

This Edgar Allan Poe book is beginning to drag a little. The Gold-Bug William Wilson Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar The Island of the Fay The Sphinx MS. Found in a Bottle Eleonora A Descent into the Maelström Conversation of Eiros and Charmion The Murders in the Rue Morgue The Mystery of Marie Rogêt The Purloined Letter The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade Only 224/556 pages in, 12/39 stories read. I am hoping the best is yet to come! There are some really good short stories here. I think the writing style (of those times) is not for me, seems to take me twice as long as usual to get through the old fashioned style and wording. I will probably fly through a modern book after finishing this one! So far, my favourites have been: The Gold-Bug - A story of a man who becomes seemingly crazed and obsessed with finding 'hidden treasure', after finding a peculiar, gold scarab near a shipwreck. The Murders in the Rue Morgue - A (horrific) murder mystery set in Paris. A Descent Into the Maelström - A story of three fishermen/brothers in Scandinavian waters, and a giant whirlpool/water hurricane.

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran, a truly magnificent work.

I can only read one seriously, which I'd call my 'real' current reading book. This particular book will usually get read about... 25-50 pages a day depending. Then my fiancee and I have a copy each of a book which we'll read together at bedtime, so we can discuss it better etc, as she doesn't get to read much these days with the baby and all. This book will be read around 25-50 pages a week. I tend to read the introductions and stuff, maybe the first couple of pages of books I'm intending to read after I finish my current one. This isn't consistent though.

Could that be 'The Purloined Letter'? I'm still about 200 pages from that one. The stories are a little... I don't want to say hit and miss, but I have found a couple really good and then others honestly don't make a whole lot of sense to me. Some of the stuff is dated also. It's all of a high standard mind. My favourite so far is 'The Gold-Bug', a story about a man who finds a gold scarab near a shipwreck, and seemingly becomes a bit mad trying to find the hidden treasure. Sadly 'The Raven' isn't in the book I have.

Read a few more Edgar Allan Poe shorts (The Island of the Fay, The Sphinx). Went to the library today and picked up I am the Secret Footballer, apparently by '?', and The Landmark Speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard. Also, I received two books in the post which I swapped on ReadItSwapIt, they are Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and An Angel Healed Me by Theresa Cheung. Should keep me occupied for most of the month.

Still reading The Fall of the House of Usher and other stories by Edgar Allan Poe. My progress so far: The Gold-Bug William Wilson Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar The Island of the Fay

Back in the day I used to love reading Tom Slemen's Haunted Liverpool series. In the beginning he used to compile a book full of short stories based on local legends and folk stories and apparently used to research them thoroughly etc. In the later books it seemed like he was just writing lazy fiction/horror stories with no believability or substance. I couldn't read one of them now because I'm too cynical. Also, back around the same time I bought a big book of Edgar Allan Poe, read about five stories and got bored. Just read one of those same stories last night and was blown away by how good it is.

The Gold-Bug by Edgar Allan Poe. An amusing story, a bit racist by todays standards.

Hi bobblybear, thanks for the welcome. It is indeed a bit of heavy reading, but I've been away from reading for too long, so it seems the only appropriate way to go!

Never. I couldn't live with not knowing what had happened in between. I'd sooner quit a book all together.

Just finished reading Education of a Wandering Man by Louis L'Amour earlier today. Going to finish off the month reading a few Edgar Allen Poe short stories.

Not the best lighting as it was taken late in the night. Only a couple of days old picture of me.

Joined my local library today and got out two books: The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Tales (Edgar Allen Poe) The Diary of Samuel Pepys (Samuel Pepys) Have three weeks to finish them both!

I was born and raised in the north west of England, near Liverpool. I am relocating to London with my fiancee and our five month old girl.

I'm 26 at the moment, 27 in November.

I intend to re-read The Prophet (Kahlil Gibran), a book which I've read a couple of times a fair few years ago. Then, I have Tao Te Ching (Lao Tzu), Thus Spoke Zarathustra (Nietzsche) and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (Omar Khayyam). Three books which I purchased in 2012 but never felt the urge to read. I intend to get through them before I start building a fresh 'To Read' pile. These four books will be read due to a sense of necessity. Once done I'll be looking towards my Amazon wishlist, which currently contains: Letter from a Stoic (Seneca) Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings (Abolqasem Ferdowski) Lives (Plutarch) (Unsure of which edition) The Call of the Wild (Jack London) Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky) Life of Samuel Johnson (James Boswell) The Complete Poems and Tales of Edgar Allen Poe Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization (Richard Miles) The Peloponnesian War (Thucydides) I also want to learn more on ancient Egypt and the old West (American). Also native American stuff interests me, wild west gunfighters/outlaws, all that stuff. I'm looking for a good, affordable book on Belle Starr but so far no luck!

Thanks once more for the welcomes! A bigger turnout than I'd expected. It is very interesting indeed. It is set shortly before, a fair chunk during, and I assume the final part will be shortly after the Great Depression, so in and around that era, 20's to 40's. It is really well written, the author switching between tales of his travels and work (which vary widely the world over and are all entertaining), to his obsession with reading, listing books he read and how he procured them. Also a lot of history and lore about the areas he traveled. There's a fair bit of philosophy mixed in, mainly stuff focused on the subjects he is writing about and the lessons he learned from his travels etc. Overall a very good book in my opinion, I'll definately be looking up more of his work as a result. Thanks BookLover, I've only been here a little over a day and I'm getting some ideas already. I think it's more a fear of losing inspiration than actually not having any to begin with. I took a break from reading so at the moment I only have the one book knocking around which I'm currently reading, makes me feel oddly bare. I'll only be comfortable once I'm sitting here with a stack of 'To Read' books.

I browse in stores and buy online. Waterstones and WH Smith are my mainstream local bookstores and the prices are ridiculous in comparison to Amazon or eBay. It is fun browsing and purchasing from charity shops too, but I often get carried away and end up buying too many books which I don't/won't read.

Thanks for the welcome guys/gals. It amuses me how ritualistic this type of thread.appears to be.

The majority of other fantasy stuff seems a little too childish after reading A Song of Ice and Fire. Basically nothing compares, you'd do yourself a favour just re-reading Ice & Fire. The Wheel of Time (Robert Jordan) - The storylines and plots are predictable and the romance is as if written by a ten year old boy. Has none of the grittyness of Westeros. I gave up after the first book. Malazan Book of the Fallen (Steven Erikson) - I managed to get two books into this series before giving up. It is set in a massive world, with a lot of different storylines going on at once. It can be quite confusing but after a while it is a little interesting. However a lot of the scenes are repetitive and basically he uses too many words to say something which could have been said in a fraction. Just too long-winded for me. You might find five pages of every 300 to be interesting. The Riftwar Saga (Raymond E. Feist) - I got about 50 pages in to the first book of this series. It is written like a childrens book. I may have judged it too soon, but personally I am confident in my judgement that this author will never reach/has never reached the level of Ice & Fire. The Kingkiller Chronicle (Patrick Rothfuss) - Nowhere near the standard of Ice & Fire, but the best of the rest in my opinion. Has a unique/refreshing spin, although he does go a little 'God mode' with his main character. The series is set for three books and then I assume he'll go on to another 'Chronicle' from another characters perspective as the world he is building, you get the impression he has barely scraped the surface and he's already two books down. J.R. Tolkien - The majority of his fantasy work was written with his small children in mind as the target audience. Tells you everything you need to know. These are my personal opinions and you may find that you enjoy some of these books. I set out on a similar path as you once finishing book five of A Song of Ice and Fire, and so far I've found nothing but disappointment.

Hello, thanks for having me. So far this year I've read The Histories (Herodotus), and I am currently reading Education of a Wandering Man (Louis L'Amour). I don't get so much time as I'd like to read books and I am lacking inspiration these days.